7 AUGUST 1982, Page 17

Shaming

Sir: Being away — Gibraltar! — I missed seeing the issue of 19 June: in Patrick Marn- ham's article from Costa Rica he refers to their formal paseo but then goes on to add, `which one rarely sees today in Spain'.

Que verguenza! Shame on you! I do not know when Mr Marnham last visited Spain; maybe he was passing through and changed trains at Atocha.

Ever since the recorded social history of the Iberian peninsula the paseo has been, and still is, as traditional as Holy Week, Seville's feria, bullfights and the Sunday football matches; not only in the cities but in every village.

Peter W. Hopkins

Tajo 17, Heliopolis, Seville, Spain