"So what is going on then? Does this mean Spain can keep borrowing and paying people?" asked the Madrid taxi driver as he listened to a live radio debate on Spain's banking bailout.
Spaniards had expected the bailout. But many seemed confused about exactly what a €100bn (£80bn) credit line to the country's banks really meant. With Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government adopting a triumphalist tone and ministers insisting they had won a fabulous, almost condition-free soft loan from Europe, that was understandable.
While some celebrated the idea that Spain had cadged billions of euros from Europe for nothing, others worried that it had been forced to crawl to Brussels with a begging bowl. And was it really true that there were no conditions?
"I've already had my salary cut, so it can't get much worse," said hospital worker Pilar González.
Some were impressed after watching the finance minister, Luis de Guindos, claim that Spain had pulled off a magnificent deal. "That sounds really good!" the mother of one journalist texted her daughter while De Guindos spoke live on television. As Spaniards came to terms with membership of a European bailout club that includes – under far worse conditions – Greece, Portugal and Ireland, they also enjoyed some light relief.
Many spent the afternoon glued to the television, watching Spain's World Cup winning team play its first Euro 2012 match against Italy and tennis player Rafael Nadal try to win a record seventh Roland Garros final in Paris. Rajoy's decision to fly for six hours back and forth to Poland in order to spend two and half hours there to watch some football, provoked a mixture of bewilderment and incredulity.
"This is one of those key moments," said radio commentator Fernando Garea. "I don't understand why Spanish prime ministers repeatedly commit the error of denying reality."
The doleful state of Spain's economy was obvious in Madrid's central Retiro park, where tens of thousands of people milled around the annual book fair, but far fewer than usual reached into their pockets to buy. Sales were down 20% on last year, despite fabulous weather, organisers admitted. Newspapers were divided. The pro-Rajoy press avoided the "bailout" word or – like the conservative ABC newspaper – called it a "sweet bailout".
La Razón even devoted its front page to a superman Spanish goalkeeper clearing away the danger of a full intervention. However, a poll in the same newspaper showed that three-quarters of Spaniards would rather see bond yields come down than win Euro 2012. El Mundo newspaper said Rajoy had won a "bailout without humiliation", reflecting the concern expressed by EU and German officials about Spanish pride being a stumbling block to making decisions.
El País and most other newspapers starkly plastered front pages with the word "bailout", but all agreed the deal was far better then the Greek, Irish or Portuguese interventions. They were grateful, however, to fellow eurozone countries. "Without yesterday's courageous decision, not only would Spain's banks and the country as a whole have faced probable bankruptcy, but the single currency – which awaits the results of the decisive Greek elections next Sunday – would have been condemned to break-up and disappearance," El País said in an editorial.
"This intervention is a psychological blow that marks a new point in the history of our relationship with Europe," wrote columnist José Ignacio Torreblanca.
