Weather in Spain

That leap from Winter to Summer without a hint of Spring!

It happens every year and I forget every year too!  We have had a lovely winter - the end March showed us a bit of temper and threw some rain (that was the day I chose to go to Marbella shopping with a friend - drowned rats - two  of...) but all in all compared to last year it was splendid.

With the start of April we had a couple of murky days and a day when it tried to rain but didnt get very far and now the past two or three days the weather in Spain thinks its mid summer!!! No really - the temperature today is set to be in the 30 degrees centigrade area and its taken everyone a bit unawares.

For instance the animals - if your dogs and cats are bit lethargic or have upset tummies - it could well be due to the heat.  Both of our dogs have asked to be let out during the night this week and they never do that so ...... be alert folks.

And on the subject of animals the ticks are about and although probably not in full flow, they are certainly evident.

The swallows have been around for at least a couple of weeks and are swooping in their wild but measured fashion over the pool for all the interesting (NOT) insect life that are practicing their backstroke.

AND the flowers - its such a feast at this time of year.  The roses are covered in big fat buds (the greenfly and blackfly have not homed in on ours yet!) and all those "flower once a year only" plants are covered in buds ready to burst out.  Garden watering is in full flow (well pot watering is anyway) and around me as I write the neighbourhood is planting, strimming, trimming, rotavating and generally making a lot of noise as the business of converting chest high weeds into tomato plants commences!

I am sorry to say that the Spanish here have absolutely no respect for water and the conservation of same! They allow their pools to become murky green dwellings for hundreds of living "things" over the winter and now the annual pool emptying session commences (not even onto the garden but running down the track).  All that lovely food in that water going to waste whilst they water the newly planted tomatoes with water from our communal well!!

(Man with strimmer is starting to get a bit irritating now actually!!)

The front door is open and the fallen orange blossom keeps blowing into the house on the little breeze that is causing confetti like showers of the stuff all over our property.  Still there are worse things to be drifting into the house than orange blossom.

And so we start again - that little frisson of excitement that heralds the onset of summer (that frisson that is frazzled in July and August) but for now its a lovely feeling of expectation.  And you know what I love, I am certain that the summer here will be sunny and warm (albeit a bit too warm at times).  That same frisson used to grab me at this time of year in England and so often the lovely April and May weather had degenerated into showers followed by rain for the rest of the summer and that early hope drowned by July!

So I might wax and wane a little on the journey but I love summer!! Bring it on!

UK versus Spain

Well we have just done the annual pilgrimage to Blighty and now we are back to start our diet and catch up on sleep.  I am sure we all experience this.  Himself and I only go back to the UK once a year together and its usually pre-Christmas so that we can get everyone into the festive mood and then quietly disappear.

This year we were a bit concerned about the horror stories of weather and cold and snow etc but to be honest it was absolutely perfect.  Standing on the plane waiting to disembark at Exeter Airport I thought I was going to explode with heat - jumper, gilet, coat, scarf and that was just the top half of me!  Get me off here or I am going to spontaneously combust.  They obliged and I got to the bottom of the steps and wanted to go back.  Boy it was cold.  You cant prepare for it you see.  You know its cold because everyone told you so and you watched the weather forecast obsessively but you cant actually feel it until you feel it - if you get my drift!!

Anyway - the furnace like heat of my mother's house soon removed any last feelings of chill and a fabulous week commenced.  We were out every night to a different place for dinner - whether it be family or restaurant  all were yummy and not once were we offered the "low fat option" !!! Hence a quick pre-Christmas lettuce leaf diet for him and I.

On Saturday night we were taken to a special dinner by Derek's son and daughter-in-law to Little Barwick House in Somerset.  This was to celebrate a big birthday for Derek in October. The food was fantastic and I couldn't recommend it highly enough!  The food, staff, company and ambience were just fantastic. Roll on another big birthday!

The whole week was actually a bit of a revelation as one of the reasons we first thought about moving out of the UK was that everyone was so miserable - especially shop-keepers.  Now I think its the opposite.  All the shop assistants were smiling and helpful - particularly if you smiled at them too!  Whereas here I am not sure half the time if I can be bothered to wait whilst the cashiers in Mercadona finish their conversations with each other.  You tend to feel like you are inconveniencing the staff by wanting to pay for your goods!

Of course in the UK they are suddenly mindful of the fact that they do still have jobs and they need to safeguard them.  Here they have always been mindful of that but its not easy to sack anyone here and I don't think not smiling and/or engaging with the person you are serving comes under the list of sackable offences!

I have to heave a sigh of relief though that we left the UK before this latest onslaught of bad weather.  Our local airport in Devon was closed this morning and flights were severely disrupted.  I don't mind the snow if I don't have to do anything like travel.

Here we are going to get rain soon - according to the weather forecast - and I don't like Spain in the rain.  So its a toss up - rain in Spain which can't cope with it or snow in the UK which can't cope with it.  So would I rather live in Spain or UK - the jury is out on that one - ask me in the Spring!

Hmmmm! Well its a good advert for a work at home business anyway - there is always a silver lining!!