It’s odd, is it not, that one emerges from various amorous calamities not just with yet more wisdom stored away for future use, but also various mementos and keepsakes. The best of them all was a delightful portrait of a giraffe following a fun few weeks with a Finnish lady, because she knew it to be my favourite animal. A Vietnamese Parisian (as adorable as she was unpredictable) pressed a brilliantly designed bloke’s shoulder bag into my possession. Russian Olga donated a business card that declared her to be a Tractor Martekeer – too close to Kompeer the Meerkat for comfort. An Irish lady in Portugal donated a pair of very dark reading glasses which, it seemed to me, she had been using to frame her CNN view of the world for far too long. A British girl gave me a disposable toothbrush entirely in keeping with the nature of…