it does rain in Spain

May 2004 - It has been raining now for months So much rain that Andalucia now has enough water in reserve to last until the end of 2006, even if we don’t have another drop before then. The farmers are alternately smiling (it’s good for the olives), frowning (it’s bad for the olives) or spreading mud all over the roads from the groves. Various of our friends are either cut off due to their tracks being washed away or mopping out due to the minor floods.

We joined them this week; we went to see our lawyer again to confirm that he hadn’t done any of the things that he promised to do two weeks ago. Whilst we were there, there was great excitement outside as there seemed to be some kind of cloudburst happening. Our journey back up to the top of town involved crossing various small rivers and avoiding rocks washed out of the surrounding ditches.

Arrival home found Roxy, the dog, in a higher state of excitement than usual and a lake in the living room. Feeding the lake was a small waterfall from the back door, which cascaded down the steps. The source of this new water supply was our steps in the back garden which collected all of the rainfall and deposited it at the drain outside the back door which, usefully, has a 2 inch outlet and a grill to prevent debris entering the sewage system. The grill had blocked and the Spanish practice (!) of having doors opening inwards with no threshold and no drip guards had done the rest. Of course, at the front door the same rules apply with a step up to go out and nowhere for the water to flow.

These downpours do bring out some very strange behaviour in the locals. They put towels on the front door step to soak up the water which is running in and then when the rain stops, they mop out the house and deposit the water outside in the street. All front doors are set to close up against the front step and all floors are lower than the step. Therefore all water runs inside the house. No-one seems to put in drip strips, thresholds or consider lowering the step. Even new houses have the same set up and carpenters and builders carry on as if it never rains here. Windows are the same with no drip strips or rebates to shed the water although most houses have outside window blinds which shed the rain but leave the inside of the house even gloomier on a wet day.

On that note, we got stuck along a track one day; as we were at the coast in Malaga, we decided to buy a Daily Mail for some friends near to us and deliver it on the way home. They live up a steep track with a couple of low, muddy points which we had encountered before without problems. The recent rain had intervened and an innocent looking puddle had turned into 12 inches of slimy mud. We got stuck and someone in the passenger seat suggested that I get out and go for help

Being made of sterner stuff and having my best shoes on, I finally got the car moving by rocking it back and forth with the gears until it finally slithered out. All of this was carried out with the car near the edge of a steep drop and on a 1 in 3 gradient. Such are the joys of living in rural Spain. However, we did carry away about 20 kilos of mud and stones which had collected around the drive shafts, gear linkage, brakes, etc.. I washed off the worst of it but the final stone only fell out of the gear linkage when we returned to Malaga. The watching mechanics at the Peugeot dealer were moderately amused by this muddy little car, disgorging stones onto their forecourt.

We never made it to our friends but they told us that they were then stranded as their track had completely disappeared further up. We had got stuck in the “easy” bit….