Mr Blue Sky

Its a bit of a cliche that we Brits will always talk about the weather and you have to admit it is a good conversation opener. Given the UK summer,  and I use the term loosely, we get a bit nervous about telling you all how hot it is here and of course rain free! As UK residents we lived in the middle, the far end and the top of the country. We did undoubtedly have a lot more"weather" than we do here if you get my drift. Changeable is  the word for it I think. We saw the 76 drought in Cornwall, when we could walk on the dried out floor of the local reservoir and see the remains farmhouses and village. The winter that followed saw us snowed in. And who can forget the 87 gales and how badly wrong the met office got the forecast. So it seems there a lot to talk about when it comes to UK weather. What about Spain then? Is it always Mr. Blue Sky? Well its true we do get a lot of good weather here but the forecast is just as important and in some cases more so. The Weather in Spain brings its own problems as well as advantages. As with all hot countries we have to be aware of very high temperatures because of issues like fire risk and UV  levels. Aside from safety having an accurate forecast is very important with regards using and saving water. Although we use mostly grey water on our garden at the house we utilise the ancient irrigation system at our plot in Huerta. This means we contact the "water man" who will come along and flood the terraces for us. Its not only that we pay for the water we have, it also that it is an extremely precious resource. With  accurate up to date information on Spanish weather we will not water only to find it rains the next day. It also means that, for me at least, I can read the forecast and look forward to a nice overcast day! Well you don't want Mr. Blue Sky everyday do you?

Calais to Nottingham

We stayed at Balladins, Calais for the night and got up bright and early for the Ferry, amazing sunrise as we left Calais, -- when we pulled up in the line for embarkation we parked behind an identicle car to ours even the same colour, sitting waiting and all of a sudden the back door of our car is opened an this guy is looking for something, so i asked him what .. and he realised he was in the wrong car , that he was from the car in front of ours, poor guy was embarrassed but it was funny. my first thought was we were being searched by customs!.
Onto British soil and the traffic is nose to tail virtually all the way to Nottingham, the weather - dreary and wet, Oh well.
Our return journey starts 4th November, we will blog the trip back.

Classic Cars and Bikes

The town hall Square in Guardamar was the venue today for a classic car and Harley Davison display. The weather cleared after a damp morning and there was a fine display of vehicles to look at. Later in the afternoon Spongebob and Dora the Explorer were due to make an appearance. Beer and montaditos were being served for 1 euro and all the proceeds were for Caritas.

Its that time of year again

you know the weather cools down, quite a lot as it happens, leafs start to turn,days get shorter, everywhere gets quieter and as for John? Well he gets out the Hopi ear candles and gives us all some entertainment. This time Joaquin was around to see the whole process, mind you they are effective much more so than any thing the Doc tried. You can see from the photo Joaquin thought it was hilarious, and now he wants to try it himself. If he does I will be waiting to snap away for a few more pics to put in the family album. Makes you wonder what future generations will make of the whole thing. Bit more interesting than your average holiday photos I should think.

NB: Hopi candles came from the Health shop in Guardamar. No ears where hurt in the making of this posting

Weather diary

I have started a new blog "A Brit in Spain weather diary" at http://a-brit-in-spainsweatherdiary.blogspot.com/ or from The Links on this website, i have always found it usefull to be able to look back on what the weather was like for one reason or another and think it may be useful to others. quite often i hear people say things like "its colder than last year" or we dont normally get this much rain in May - well we will be able to refer to the diary in future.

The time has flown

Well here we are with a few days left in Australia, we have had a great time, visited four states and seen a lot of towns, country and wildlife, the weather the last few weeks has been similar to British summer, so when we get back to Spain we will have the hot weather again.
Not had a lot of time to update A Brit In Spain, but have no doubt there will be plenty of local news to comment on and photos as soon as we get back.

Aviation fuel to create rain

In the last two weeks two airliners have had to dump their complete load of fuel to enable them to land again at Alicante , after taking off and finding cockpit warning lights flashing. The last two weeks we have had abnormal amounts of wet rainy weather, could it be that all that aviation fuel in the atmosphere has created this weather situation.

Whats happened to the weather

Well its early April and there is a cold wind blowing and it is cloudy and overcast, not what we are expect this time of year, the past few weeks we have had periods of rain for several days running, cold gale force winds and cloudy skies. In the North there has been floods and deep snow. Easter is nearly here and the holiday makers will be arriving, if it stays like this there will be a lot of glum faces around and chemical tans going back to the UK.

A Yucca for the balcony

Its the time of the year to get some plants and try and put some greenery around the balcony and the solarium so we have made a trip to Los Montesinos garden centre, they have a fantastic selection of plants from tiny cacti to big palms, all look healthy and well looked after, and at very good prices. We came away with a Yucca, some geraniums, several pots of herbs, some seeds and other bits and pieces, total cost €18, we have just got to remember to water them and hope they survive the really hot weather.

Heavy Rainfall in Rojales

The last week or so of poor weather, in particular heavy rain, has had a rather dramatic effect on the Rio Segura.

My daughter and I went out for a walk this afternoon and we were surprised to see just how high the water had risen. The water had brought down lots of rubbish with it, and the council had sent a tractor down to start clearing it away. I can see it being a big job for them!

The Segura is usually in a state of semi drought although it has been known to flood in the past due to torrential rain. However since the canal system was put in place in the 1990s, flooding has not been a problem in this area, as they help to move the water more efficiently.

We are hoping that this cold spell will finish soon and we will have some lovely sunshine again!