The Sun Will Shine Again Tomorrow

I can understand why, when the sun is shining, that those who are on holiday here, from the very much cooler North, head for the beach and elect to discard most of their clothes, some just trying to darken their lily white skin tones in this very pleasant warm sunshine, whilst some succumb to the lure of the sparkling blue sea and so I do have to confess, that as we sit in one of the seafront promenade Cafe’s, wrapped up in our layers of protective clothing, sipping on our piping hot coffee, that there is a wicked sense of amusement for us when we hear their screams which, unlike during the hotter Summer months, are not from the fun or excitement of splashing around playfully in the warm clear waters and, neither are these shrieks of horror from sudden attacks by beasts lurking beneath the water, simply put, they are from the realisation that the enticement of that clear blue water is actually a deceit, and that it only takes a few seconds of immersion, in what is actually icy cold water, to experience the almost instantaneous lack of any sort of feeling in their limbs. I know we should not take any pleasure in other people’s discomfort, but knowing the outcome of something in advance of it happening does, I have to confess, provide us, and the other onlookers, with some perverse sort of humour 🤭

We had completed ‘Stage 1’ of our redecoration programme the previous week, and within only three days, although we had both thought that it would take us much longer, with putting two coats of paint on both the guest room bedroom, and the balcony walls, but once you get stuck into something, having prepared in advance with the masking up, removal of wall fixtures and covering the floor and furniture, it was pretty much a straightforward affair. The bonus of that was that we managed to get out for our walks more than what we had anticipated during that week, and even enjoyed eating lunch out on a couple of occasions, for the weather too had taken an upturn. The four consecutive days of rain that had been forecast, by you know who, never materialised, in fact it had been quite sunny and reasonably warm, not tee-shirts, shorts and flip-flops warm though, but pleasant enough to enjoy a cold beer rather than a hot coffee and being able to sit enjoying the feeling of warmth on our faces, we were also able to conduct people watching much more discreetly from behind the darkened lenses of our sunglasses 🤭

We have however also been keeping a watchful eye on ‘Storm Éowyn’, which had wreaked havoc in some places within the UK, but also in many other Northern European Countries too, including the Northern areas of Spain and Portugal. Fortunately, for us, apart from an increase in the wind strengths, here on the South Eastern coastline we had remained largely unaffected. However, we may not be so lucky with the next storm that is arriving very swiftly on the coat tails of ‘ Storm Eowyn’, that one being ‘Storm Herminia’. The ‘Works of Fiction’ that we consult on a daily basis, all four of them, were very unusually all in agreement with their individual forecasts, and it wasn’t good news, especially as the National and Local Media news channels were also reinforcing the same bad weather message, although no ‘Flood Alert’ warnings had been put in place for any Regions, just high tide warnings at the majority of the coastal areas 🤔

It was a grey overcast Sunday morning, but it was dry and there was barely a breeze, so we went out for our usual morning walk, it helped to get us out and away from the smell of the paint, which is another of the things that I hate about re-decorating. As we walked through the Marina we observed that all of the tourist Cafe/Bars were all pretty much full, the aroma of bacon swiftly reached my nostrils, and very tempting it was too, but I didn’t succumb, although that was probably primarily due to Shazza who kept yanking on my lead every time I raised my nose in the air as we walked past the plates of Eggs, Bacon and Sausages, calling out sternly at me to ‘heel’ and ‘walk on’, although I actually suspect that it is really because she gets so embarrassed when I keep stopping to mark my territory on every lamppost and palm tree that we pass 😂

The beach had no sun worshippers on it, hardly surprising given the grey leaden sky, but the beach fishermen, and women, were once again out in force, for some it is a family day and they come prepared with their beach chairs and picnics, which is usual on a weekend, there was also a high volume of dog walkers as well as the beach joggers and the yoga fanatics, and why not, it isn’t all about sunshine, you can enjoy the outdoor lifestyle here on most days, unless their is a storm brewing that is, but for now their was no sign of its impending arrival even if the clouds did look rather menacing so for now there was no risk of having to eat soggy sandwiches, or roll up sodden rubber exercise mats or suffering the stench of wet rain soaked canines 🤢

We started to walk past the vast array of seafront Cafe/Bars and Restaurants, outside one of our favourite fish restaurant the waiters were preparing the tables for lunch, not even the threat of wind and rain prevents the Spanish from coming out for their two hour weekend family lunches. We knew the waiters at this one particular establishment quite well and often stop and just pass the usual pleasantries with them, as well as discussing how our respective football teams are getting on, one waiter is an ardent ‘Real Madrid’ supporter, the other a ‘Barcelona’ fan, both teams being fierce rivals in the Spanish La Liga. Very recently both teams met in a Spanish Cup Final, with Barcelona coming out the undisputed victors with a 5-2 win, now of course it would have been remiss of me not to mention it, but Shazza and I decided to depart rather hastily whilst they continued to debate with each other over the parentage and eye health of the Referee in that particular match 🤭

Unfortunately, both of the seafront Cafe/Bars that we would normally stop at for our midway coffee break were closed for a couple of weeks ‘Vacacione’ (Holiday), so we just sauntered along the full length of the promenade to the boundary of our Municipality, delineated by a long wooden footbridge over the river, the turtles that usually inhabit this area were obvious by their absence, perhaps they were aware of the impending storm and had sought refuge upstream 🤔 We turned around and made our way back, through the backstreets, rather than back along the seafront promenade, thinking that it would be wiser to avoid the Police, who by now may be searching for the cause of the battering at the fish restaurant 😂 We walked to another one of our favourite Cafe/Bars, located in a small Plaza, we like this one too, as it is off the main tourist thoroughfare, one street back from the seafront but still with a partial view of the sea, generally the clientele here are primarily Spanish and so we engage in a spot of ‘People Listening’, just by way of improving our language skills you understand, it is rewarding when you realise that you can understand the gist of a conversation, albeit perhaps not every single word. On another day, when we are not in any particular hurry to be anywhere else, which okay I know is most days, we would finish our coffee’s and then order a small cold refreshing beer and make small talk putting the world to rights, as you do. But on this occasion the lack of sunshine meant that being sat stationery for too long made us feel chilled, so we headed back towards and through the Marina to the car, then returned home for lunch where we had a large bowl of Shazza’s home-made spicy red lentil soup with a wedge of her home-made sour dough bread 😋 I sat looking out to sea, waiting for the early signs that the storm was on its way but, whilst the clouds remained a thunder grey, the sea was calm and I began to question whether the ‘Works of Fiction’ had got it wrong yet again. We both strongly suspect that since the devastating Valencia floods, the ‘Works of Fiction’ play safe and forecast every bad weather event in the worst case scenario format, why else would they forecast ‘four’ consecutive days of rain that didn’t materialise 🤷‍♂️

Although the wind had got up just before 8pm, the wet stuff that it brought with it was nothing more than a slight drizzle. It was 2am when I was awoken by the wind assisted rain hammering on the outer security shutters, I could hear the heavy palm leaves thrashing around outside, they were in a right frenzy, ‘Storm Herminia’ had arrived, Shazza didn’t stir so she was well into her dreamland state, I pulled the duvet up around my shoulders and went back to sleep.

We had already decided, that come rain or shine we would be having a leisurely day in the following day anyway, so the rain had not had any impact on that score, we had re-stocked with provisions a few days earlier, when we had taken a day off from painting duties, so we had no reason to go out, the weather could do it’s worst, there were no active flood alerts, but their was at least a positive side to this storm as the heavy and prolonged downpour would at least be sufficient to add to the levels in our Embalce, which just goes to proves that you can always find a positive within a negative, if you look for it 😉

The following day, as I sat on the balcony, looking out on a very dark grey leaden sky, watching and listening to the palm leaves still thrashing around in the tumultuous whistling wind, watching and listening to the rain as it hammers against the French windows, watching as each of the heavy drops of rain somersaulted high off the pavement and road below, I felt safe and secure in my elevated sanctuary. Strangely enough their were seabirds still flying overhead, well more like hovering, much like a trapeze artist crossing a narrow wire, wings tipping awkwardly to one side before re-balancing and then suddenly tipping again to the other side, and not in a calm or controlled way, they were fighting hard against the very strong wind but they never dropped from their invisible high wire and they soon disappeared from my sight. The intensity of the rain decreased for a while and, when it did, I once again could see a very clear visible difference between the horizon and the sea, but it was still too dark to see any freighters who may be challenging the now very rough sea, this break in the weather did not last long, the sky darkened once more and with it, the blackening clouds released yet another prolonged deluge of water.

Shazza found it too chilly to sit with me on the balcony, she instead curled up in the corner on one of the sofa’s in the living room, the two bar electric heater providing her with a cozy warmth, she sat reading, lost in a book on her Kindle, oblivious to everything else going on in the outside world. ‘The Sun Will Shine Again Tomorrow’, or maybe the day after, I thought to myself, because I knew that the rain never lasts very long here, that is the one thing that we can be certain of and one of the many upsides of living in this little corner of Southern Spain.

Being confined I found even more amusement reading one particular story that made the front page in one of the English newspaper headlines, and it came as no surprise to me to see the usual media suspects trying to instigate verbal warfare, ill-feelings and distain upon another neighbouring Nation. It would appear that they have got bored, or tired, of publishing inaccurate garbage about how Spain hate the ‘Brits’, so now they are trying to instigate discord with the French, I can fully understand why the EU were probably even much more pleased than the ‘UK Leave Voters’ with the ‘Brexshit’ decision.

Now, as usual, I can only quote from our personal experiences and primarily from the days when we lived full-time in our Motorhome. Visit ‘any’ large city or town in ‘any’ country and you will rarely experience a personalised welcome, perhaps only in a Hotel, Gite or Restaurant upon initial arrival, but you are a tourist at the end of the day and they just want your money, same as in London, Edinburgh, Madrid, Lisbon, Rome etc. etc. However, we tended to visit the smaller French towns and villages, we practiced speaking the most basic french words, the please and thank you’s etc., which was always appreciated and we were never treated with hostility or unfriendliness. I even remember recounting in my van blog posts how, due to ‘Twat Nav’, in the centre of Paris on a busy four lane carriageway, we came off at a wrong junction in our 9 metre van, there was a tunnel which we realised that we would not get under and so would have to reverse into the busy flow of traffic, one of my numerous van life ‘brown trouser’ moments 🤭 Anyway, seeing our mistake, luckily their were a team of road workmen nearby, they re-directed traffic flow from one of the lanes and assisted us with reversing and getting back into the flow of traffic again, they could have just stood, watched and laughed at our dilemma, but they didn’t and we still remain eternally grateful to them. Now I could go on with numerous examples of our good interactions with people in France, the friendliness and courtesy we have experienced, of course their will be those who have had some not so pleasant experiences, but, do we not all have our bad days now and again 🤷‍♂️ Don’t tell me either that all British people are always tolerant, welcoming, helpful and friendly towards foreign visitor’s, so, and just by way of a reminder, ‘those that live in glass houses should not throw stones’ 😉

And okay go on then, seeing as I am having such a fun time, here is another one for you where I nearly split my sides laughing…………

So, and you have to understand that I do have mixed feelings about sharing this information with you, because in all honesty, do I really want our Swimming Pool, Favourite Beach, Cafe/Bar‘s and Restaurants inundated with tourists from June through to September 🤔 🙄 Well, okay then, as long as you promise not to spread this around and you save us a pool sun lounger and space on the beach when you get here 🤭 “Drum Roll Please” 🎶🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🎶 “There is no ‘Tourist Ban in Spain” 🥳🥳🥳 and just as an added bonus for you, the Spanish may hate their Government, Bureaucracy and the ‘Works of Fiction’, which is a normal state of affairs, but they do not really hate ‘Tourists’ ? The signs and protests are more a bargaining chip to get the Government to provide them with more access to affordable housing, although I wouldn’t advise wearing a Tee-Shirt stating, “I Booked My Holiday Through Air BNB” 😂😂😂😂

Until the next time, stay safe and warm and keep away from floating cars and tree trunks 😉

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena