Don’t say that!

with a flap and no zip.

It was the lightest of gossamer touches but enough to warn me to feel inside it as I was overtaken by the person who’d jostled me. The purse was gone and a few paces away were two young gypsies, one of them Maria, no longer so slim or beautiful but still recognisable.

Furious and fuming because I was pretty hard­up at the time I shouted after her, “After all the money I gave you in the past now you go and take mine!” In fact I’d never given her all that much, but Maria turned and looked at me coolly over her shoulder and said something to her companion who, rapid as a fish darting through water, slipped something into her hand. It was my purse and Maria casually returned it with neither smile nor change of expression.

I was so astounded that all I could manage was an inappropriate “thank you” as the pair accelerated rapidly along the pavement. On telling Spanish people this 100 per cent true story most receive it sceptically as another instance of Brit invention and inclination to romanticise gypsies.

But it happened, and it happened to me.

They, like many others, also say that giving money to beggars only encourages more beggars but I still feel begging must be a tough way to survive. Anyway, I did what I believed was right at the time and I got my purse back.