My first attempt to sketch in a long time... was... hmm
SatScenes: Sketching in the mountains…
June 25, 2011 by
Where did the sun go?
June 24, 2011 by
Last time I checked the sun was shining – where did all the mist come from?
Málaga is still in Andalucia right? The South of Spain? It hasnt suddenly been transported to the South of Wales has it?
SatScenes: A Gift from our Neighbour
June 11, 2011 by
We received a wonderful gift from our local storeowner´s husband – a jar of his very own organic honey! When you taste this stuff you realise the honey they sell in stores these days is no longer pure honey (mostly concocted out of sugar), there really is no comparison
It really made my day!
SatScenes: Fiesta 25th Anniversary Virgen de la Esperanza
May 14, 2011 by
Partying till dawn
January 16, 2011 by
When the small villages have a fiesta they really known how to party – the majority did not even arrive in the square until well after midnight!. After Rocio Cortes finished her performance, Milenium returned for a good while, rapidly followed by dance music with such a heavy base the early wall vibrations felt merely like a gentle quiver in comparison – the front wall felt like it was sitting upon a rhymical earthquake!
The lovely thing here is there is no age division. The young and old dance to everything, and often till dawn. Its a unity which, to a large extent, has been virtually lost in my home country.
I understand from the little agenda before me we will have a series of processions today – some of which will involve proud owners parading their animals/pets around the village after they have been blessed by the Priest, San Antón being the Patron Saint of Animals. There will be free food and drink around 2pm followed by more live music, childrens theatre and another procession. The fiesta will conclude at just after midnight…
Satscenes : Fiesta de San Anton
January 15, 2011 by
As I write this I am not only listening to the music but also feeling it through the soles of my feet as the very fabric of this building shakes in time with the beat! The band is called “MILENIUM”. Now thats the real experience of living in the center of these quaint rural villages – quiet my arse!
Fiesta de San Anton
January 13, 2011 by
The preparation for the fiesta de San Anton is in full swing. Yesterday hundreds of small lights were hung in the main Plaza de Constitucion (right outside my house!) and down each of the small winding streets.
Today a large stage has been erected.
Just one more day to go I believe and then chaos will reign supreme outside our door night and day, well, at least for the weekend!
Incidentally I am in the process of working on a new site entirely dedicated to the Axarquia region of Spain which will, hopefully, be available in both English and Spanish (once I overcome some technical hurdles including a certain muli-lingual plugin and wordpress custom menus). The site is Axarquia Hoy, and will go live next month. If any residents of this area would like to contribute to a sub-site dedicated to their own locality within Axarquia please do contact me!
A Postal Mystery
December 28, 2010 by
I waited in because I held out hope some of our presents may arrive today. They didn´t but I did not catch sight of our friendly local postman either.
One of the downsides of living in rural Spain is the postal service. I´ve read many horror stories over the course of the last few years and many tales of rooms in various communities where post belonging to expats is just heaped up and never delivered. I cannot personally vouch for these stories but, to be perfectly honest, it would not surprise me.
We have had no post (and therefore no presents) for ten days. There was only one bank holiday during that time.
¿Donde está mi correo?
29 December 2010
Postman turned up today and rang my doorbell. I had parcels and post. Not all the expected gifts have turned up as yet – two significant ones are still missing.
Strangely no news of either the hamper or the subsequent refund have as yet been received.
It CANNOT be December
December 1, 2010 by
Every time I consider we are rapidly approaching another New Year my brain crashes with denial. December?! It cannot be, surely?!
It appears I am now an accepted member of the community. So much so they now feel free to take the piss out of me something chronic. Today it was on the subject of the weather. They teased me extensively, hoping I had not moved to Spain for “better weather”. This was as we all looked out of the store window at the howling winds and pouring rain.
When I mentioned the weather in some parts of the UK were far worse they did not seem to believe it was possible – until I mentioned the several feet of snow now encasing parts of the country.
They then proceeded to tell me last year was the first time they had snow in 50 years! Marvellous. I managed to find the following montage of images (which I hope the owner will not mind me using!)
I have heard there is snow in the province of Granada – the mountains of the Alpujaras – which is the next mountain range across from us! There is every chance it could snow again, especially now I live here! I do tend to bring this sort of weather with me.
Our first delivery from amazon.co.uk went wrong. My mother´s birthday is next week and our family decided to send gifts from amazon.co.uk – since they now offer free delivery to Spain on orders over £25 pounds. The failing, on this occasion at least, was not the failing of amazon but rather their local delivery agent (MRW) who, despite living in the nearest town, decided our central village residence was “inaccesible” and refused to deliver. This, I discovered, via tracking on Amazon and their website. When I called they refused to give an explanation as to why my perfectly accessible centrally located property was inaccessible. They offered to redeliver today – but rather than deliver direct to my home they simply abandoned the three parcels at a nearby bar. This I had to discover for myself after finding the parcels “Delivered” on their website and then having to call headoffice and local offices until I could find someone capable of giving me an answer!
I do have to give credit where its due however. Amazon.co.uk responded to each of my queries with them in less than 30 minutes – which, in my experience, is a customer service record on the web! Each email was polite and provided solid answers to my questions.
This year I am embracing Christmas fully. There is going to be a tree, christmas decorations and lights a plenty in our home. I am embracing the Winter Solstice and finally feeling not at all hypocritical (actually, I dont have to, since Christmas as we know it is pagan in origin and has bugger all to do with the birth of Jesus). So, I´m not a pagan either, but hey… what the hell! Pretty decorations, lots of food and celebrating the turn of year with those people who really matter.