What’s been happening since the last update?
My last update didn’t include the sad news that my Mum died in September. She had been suffering from dementia for some time and in her lucid moments was deeply unhappy about it; couldn’t understand why she couldn’t do things anymore, didn’t want to read or watch television because she couldn’t remember the storylines. There were days when she couldn’t remember how to eat properly with a knife and fork, but she did love to sing! So sad though it was, I can accept that it was her time.
After the funeral my Dad returned to Spain with me for a couple of weeks. A good rest for him, especially as all my neighbours kept telling him how young he looked!
November here was unseasonably warm, so going back to England for Christmas came as a bit of a shock to the system! Managed to catch up with quite a few people and a Pantomime, but the weather put paid to one trip to The Running Horses at Mickleham (this pub was chosen because of something that happened about 40 years ago!!) to meet up with some of Mick’s old school friends, a real shame.
I returned home to find the rain had started and it barely stopped for about 3 months!! The local reservoirs are now brimming! Recording over 98% full, I don’t think this has ever been seen since they were built in 1973! I’ve found a really interesting website (thanks Ian)
www.embalses.net, it tells you how close to capacity the reservoirs are, compared to the same time last year and the same time 10 years ago. My water comes from a well about 5 miles away and I’ve never seen it, but I bet it’s not as picturesque as these lakes! (Pictures - before and after the rains! – not quite the same perspective, but you get my drift!)
However, Spanish houses aren’t really built to cope with this sort of weather and I had rain in the kitchen, rain in one of the bedrooms and no electricity when I returned home after a delayed flight at gone midnight! Water had got in and tripped the power supply. Fortunately I was forewarned so Trevor and Lynn, who picked me up from the airport, lent me a torch so I could at least get myself to bed – something to sort out in the morning.
A phone call to my brother, Alan, in the morning for instructions meant I spent the first couple of hours working out where the problem was. I managed to get to a point where the lights were working and the sockets downstairs were working – just the sockets upstairs out of action. As this was New Years Eve there was little hope of finding an electrician to help until 2nd January – so come 2nd January Pablo gave me Antonio’s phone number and he came round almost immediately and fixed my problem – temporarily, by bypassing the trip switch!!
No more rain in the bedroom, but the rain continued to pour into the kitchen, dripping into my line of buckets – the downstairs bathroom was at least dripping into the bath! The walls all turned black with the damp and by the end of February I was heartily sick of the rain and cold and damp!
All around me, in Cadiz province, Granada province, Cordoba province and other parts of Seville province the news showed scenes of devastation and flooding.
I also had the sad news that my friend Anne has decided to return to England, I will really miss her company.
Looking back I didn’t really have any excuse to be so fed up. In January I spent a few days with the Pilot family, in Blanes (near Barcelona).
It hardly rained at all; it was great to have some company, even when Joseph decided it would be a really good idea to jump in the river at Besalú (in January!!). In February I returned to Salisbury for a Burns Night Supper and Kate Poole and Ian Lock visited for a few days, sadly I don’t seem to have any photographic evidence of this! Their visit coincided with a visit to a local olive oil factory, which would have been more interesting if it hadn’t been raining! Olives have to be processed within 24 hours of picking, but if it’s raining the workers can’t get out into the campo to harvest the olives. Then we had Andalucia Day, this involved free lunch and some cute kids dancing the Sevillana (like Flamenco but not the same!!).
