The other night my husband was in the kitchen cutting a lime for a gin and tonic, and as I was a bit stuck on the Spanish lesson I was writing (on the perfect infinitive), I decided to take a little break from work and pick his brain at the same time (his Spanish is much better than mine).

While pouring my tonic, I asked him for some examples of the Spanish perfect infinitive. He thought a moment and then started rattling off sentences as he picked up his glass and went to sit down. Meanwhile, my brain frantically tried to keep up with the Spanish as well as to find the rest of the lime, which seemed to have disappeared. A few seconds later I laughed as it was right in front of me but I’d been too distracted to see it. But my husband went one better: he returned to the kitchen to add both gin and tonic to his drink – he’d been so distracted by the Spanish question that he’d done nothing more than squeeze a wedge of lime over the ice in his glass! I couldn’t stop laughing for more than 10 minutes, and I’m laughing again as I write this.