Hot Countries and Rain - not a good mix!

What has happened to this weather? We seem to be in the grip of winter (perish the thought - and perishing it was today too!)

Last week I wrote about the rain here and how Spain struggles to cope with rain as its not the norm here. We used to live in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Most of you are probably more familiar with Dubai which is about an hour up the road, although last year Abu Dhabi staged its first formula one Grand Prix which put it on the map in some people's eyes. Anyway the U.A.E. as a whole had very little rainfall. So little in fact that when clouds were spotted a plane was sent up to "seed the clouds". This was done by spraying some sort of chemical (?) on the clouds which made them rain - yes really. Derek worked in one part of the military airport and would see the plane go up and then ring me to warn me that it was going to rain. Honestly - this is exactly what would happen.

I would then make sure that I was where I needed to be or back home before it rained if that was at all possible. Rain in Abu Dhabi was not good if you were driving. For one thing it was very localised. There was a particular flyover that I have driven over many times and there has been a torrential downpour on one side and nothing on the other. Storm drains were full of sand as well as rubbish (just like Spain really) and the camber on the roads was fairly non-existent in many places so rain collected in the middle rather than running off so aquaplaning was an added "interest".

The most "interesting" and potentially hazardous thing was that many (most ?) of the locals drove just as fast as normal but put their hazards lights on. "Look out here I come and yes I am a hazard so get out of my way". It worked beautifully! (They did it in fog too - not funny!).

Another interesting little quirk in Abu Dhabi was - back to this camber thing - the water would collect on roundabouts and get deeper the closer to the centre it got. So well meaning people would place buckets, empty paint pots, breeze blocks etc around the deep part to keep people from driving into it and potentially breaking down. Great, very public spirited of them - that is until the sun starts to dry up the rain and then inexplicably there are breeze blocks and other items in the middle of the road of a roundabout. You see those lovely public spirited people didn't think to remove the markers when the need passed and so now we had a new hazard.

So, back in Spain,do you think that perhaps because we didn't get a great deal of rain in the Autumn (ie none) that some well meaning sole has popped up and sprayed the clouds? And if that is so could someone please confiscate the keys to his plane? ......

Till next time - (hope webbed feet are in this summer!)

Sunny (?) Spain??

Well - now I really am going to keep this blog up. Promise.
It came to me last week reading comments on Facebook and other social networks, you can take the folk out of the UK but you cant take the UK out of the folk!! WE STILL TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER! And yes didn't we give it hell. We have lived in Spain for just over five years and I have to say that yes, the weather around Christmas and New Year was the worst we had encountered but it amounted to DAYS of rain not MONTHS.

Yes, we all have different reasons for coming to live in Spain but for most of us, if we are honest, the weather is a major point. And for about 300 days of the year its great but boy oh boy don't we moan when we hit a glitch.

There is a reason for this though. Spain does NOT DO RAIN. It quite simply cant cope. The roads become littered with debris that is washed out of the storm drains (the storm drains that for 2 thirds of the year are rubbish receptacles!). Then there is the mud. I have never seen two dogs conceal so much mud about themselves. They gather it like flowers from a meadow (poetic - yes?) and then hide it surreptitiously beneath their fur only to be shed in lumps (both wet and dry) over furniture, clothes, car - hmmmmm! Special !

But for those of you not yet arrived and those still agonising over the decision - its not all bad. Spain needs its rain. We "apparently" now have enough reserve water for two years if it doesn't rain again in that period. (Hmmm not quite sure who is responsible for that information). Whatever the reserves, we do have lots of water and should be able to enjoy a fine old summer of swimming, watering the vegetables and most importantly showering!

And now we are enjoying lovely warm weather with the odd day not so great but really back to situation normal for a Costa del Sol January. Phew!