the weather

May 2004
In February, the weather had been very warm then cooled due to the constant cloud cover with the odd shower, including hailstones. It got really quite cold and we were so glad we had installed the wood stove which kept the whole house (except the outside bathroom) as warm as toast. It then started to warm up nicely during the day – the other weekend, friends of ours spent the day on the beach at the lake and picked up quite a colour. Then it really rained – at one point it drove at the front of the house and came straight under the front door (no weatherboard as in the U. K.) and around the frames of the windows. The is obviously what happens everywhere as all our neighbours have large towels on their front doorsteps to soak it up. This will not happen when we have our new doors!

It then hailed against the back wall so hard that it took all the loose paint off the wall which we had to negotiate when we went to the bathroom. It then just seemed to rain solidly and apart from the now fixed roof problem and the wet visits to the bathroom, we did not lose the electricity or water and the farm did not suffer any ill affects. There are a lot of advantages to being relatively high, the water passes by – unlike the poor souls on the coast who in some places got washed away or flooded out. We also saw some houses that did not have a water tight roof and the house had collapsed.

In the U. K., we tend to ensure everything is water tight and insulated as the weather is more cold and wet. When it is hot in the U. K., most homes and shops are ill equipped to deal with it. It is the opposite in Spain – it is hot and dry most of the year, so when it is wet and cold, most homes and shops take in rain and get cold. We’ll change all that for our little house I am sure – eventually (or will be become very Spanish and leave it until tomorrow).

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 find out 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 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 that collected all of the rainfall and deposited it at the drain outside the back door that, 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.

Our wet & dry vacuum cleaner was pressed into service and recovered the problem but we did get a sympathy gift from our next-door neighbour of a bunch of wild, mountain asparagus. Delicious with a béchamel sauce.

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 that is running in and then when the rain stops, they mop out the hall/living room 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 some of the rain but leave the inside of the house even gloomier on a wet day.

July 2004
It has been the wettest spring in Spain for a number of years but from the end of May the weather took off – it has got hotter and hotter and now is 30+ most days. I am not complaining but, the tile cement starts to dry in the bucket and paint dries as you are putting it on the wall – I can only describe it as trying to paint with glue. Working after 2pm is difficult. I cannot wait until we can have enough time to really enjoy the weather. I have started walking the dog in the mornings – I have to be out by 7am before the sun comes around the mountain or I overheat. We have both picked up quite a colour but only on our arms and faces, as we really do not have time to sunbathe. Having said that, this weekend at the lake, even though we put on sun block, we both went a bit red.

June 2005
The heat of June and July 2004 became so much more bearable in August when we started to get a bit of a breeze. The heat did make us decide to get air conditioning for the bedroom, as, on occasion, the temperature was 33 in the bedroom at night. Steve put this in himself (something else we won’t ever do again). We hardly had any rain in October or November when it is due and for the most part, except for the cooler evenings which started at the end of October, we had warm sunshine and blue skies right through until the January.

Then the cold winds started, the frosts and then the snow. Ruté missed most of the snow with only a few small flurries. We did keep the wood stove going all day for a few weeks and all in all we did found the house snug and warm. The new windows and draught excluders have paid dividends. The boiler situated outside in it's own little "house" only froze once..

I think it was only a few weeks that we did not have the doors and windows open during the day. The spring has brought very little rain and compared to last year, it is now very warm during the day, reaching 30+ by mid afternoon but still quite cool in the evenings.