The Last Sunrise

It was just another normal Saturday morning, I was sat on the balcony in the half light of the awakening day, just enjoying my usual first coffee of the morning. Shazza was still in her silent dream world and the outside world was still in its own semi-awakening state, it was quiet and so peaceful at this time of the day, apart from the very faint hum of the traffic noise passing along the coastal road at the bottom of the hill. The lower adjacent residential communities street lights were still lit offering a gentle glow and there was not even a whisper of a breeze, the outside world was a haven of stillness and calm, the heavy palm leaves lay limp and silent and strangely, even the birds were not yet awake, although I knew it would not be too long before their morning chitter chattering would commence. I cupped my hot mug of coffee in the palms of my hands and just stared out of the windows, mesmerised by the lights from the line of freighters gliding silently by on the horizon. The earth’s night curtains slowly began to open and the sun began to rise from the sea, announcing it’s arrival by very gradually turning the sky a burnt amber colour, fading to a more subtle shade of orange, contrasting with the light blue of the sky and the thin, almost translucent wispy white streaks of clouds, the vapour trails from the unseen aircraft thousand of miles above my head gradually evaporated into nothingness. The lights from the freighters disappeared leaving just the silhouette’s of the varying sized ships as they trundled slowly North and South along the skyline. Sat there in the silence it dawned on me (no pun intended) that this would probably be ‘The Last Sunrise’ that I would witness, well at least until the end of March next year, when we would once again adjust our clock’s to officially welcome back the Summertime, I cannot see me wanting to get up one hour earlier just to watch the dawning of yet another day, although I smiled to myself, at least I was lucky enough to still awaken each morning and welcome in yet another day.

It was only a few days later when I read about the passing of ‘Prunella Scales’, an actress probably best known for playing ‘Cybil’ in Fawlty Towers, although I remember her best for watching her, and her actor husband, Timothy West, on their Narrowboat Adventures. She was 93 years old and had been suffering with Vascular Dementia for the last 12 years, but that had not stopped her from continuing to live a full and active life. I read that she had passed away at her home, peacefully in her sleep and I remember thinking that, when my time eventually comes, that’s the way I would like to go 😴

Anyway, as I commence writing this current ramble, it is now very nearly the end of October, yet here we are still with our Summer duvet on the bed, I still awake, on most mornings, to find myself sleeping on top of it, and to an external temperature at 07:30am of 22 degrees(c), it certainly does not feel as though we have now officially just entered the meteorological period of ‘Winter’, especially when, just a day or so earlier we had encountered yet another sweltering 35 degrees(c) 🥵

Whilst this part of the Costa del Sol is of course known for its all year round sunshine, and mild winter’s, the current temperatures we are experiencing are way beyond what are considered normal, which, environmentally speaking, we should be very concerned about, but somehow I don’t think that the issues of Global Warming and Climate Change will be high on the list of priorities in the minds of those that still find themselves sat around the swimming pools, or on the beaches, or sat under the shades of the umbrellas at the numerous Cafe/Bars and Restaurants, enjoying a cold cervesa, or any other refreshingly cool Anti-Covid Vaccine of choice 🤭

Their were however, cooler temperatures forecast to arrive within the next fourteen days, although I often wonder how they can justify giving advance predictions that far in advance, when they cannot get it right over a twenty-four hour period 🤷‍♂️ However, once again they are also predicting some rain during that period, there are times when I really do wish they would actually get it right, we do need some rain, just to freshen things up a bit and, it does seem to be a little unfair that the North West and North Eastern parts of Spain have been getting more than their fair share recently, why can nature not distribute the wet stuff a little more equally 🤔 So, come on ‘Works of Fiction’, put some new batteries in Madam Zelda’s Crystal Ball that you purchased at the last ‘Medieval Fayre’ and try to make yet another rain ‘prediction’ one of the few correct forecasts 🙏

For the next couple of days the much more reliable ‘Forrest Gump’ weather prediction methodology had confirmed that shorts and tee-shirts were still the attire of the day, the ‘Terrel Wind’ had finally abated and the sea state was mill pond like, barely a ripple could be heard as we wandered along the promenade and into town, however, the sun in the cloudless azure blue sky still burnt the skin on our exposed arms and, as we walked at a more sedentary pace, we could feel the trickle of the beads of sweat running down our backs well before we managed to find sanctuary, in the shade of one of the sun umbrellas at Vanessa’s Cafe/Bar on the seafront. It had felt like more of a chore on that morning’s walk, but I felt a lot better as I sat enjoying my ‘Zumo de Naranja con hielo’ (Freshly squeezed orange juice with ice), it was still far too early for my dose of Anti-Covid Vaccine 🤭 Interestingly, in a country full of Oranges, it is the only Cafe/Bar that I have found along this stretch of promenade Cafe/Bars that actually serves ‘freshly squeezed’ orange juice, the rest just have the bottled variety, and with them, you can literally taste the spoonfuls of additional sugar that they contain. Shazza, when she is not partaking of her usual ‘Cafe con Leche’ opts for ‘Agua con Gas’ (Sparkling Water) as she did on this particular occasion. We sat admiring the usual views of the sea and mountains, that never gets boring, but their was a strange quietness about the place, even though it is now the ‘Half Term’ school holiday period, it only seems two minutes since they had gone back from their extended Summer Holidays, oh how time just flies 🤷‍♂️ However, we were left asking the question, ‘Donde esta todos el nino’s’ (Roughly translated as, ‘where were all the ‘Little Darlings’ 🤭) as they were conspicuous by their absence, perhaps the introduction of the new Entry Exit System (EES) had put people off from coming 🤷‍♂️ Personally speaking we were not complaining, for we still had the sunshine, we were able to take our walks and enjoy the same views, just with less noise, although their was a downside to this, as now there were less opportunities to fulfil our more usual pastime of ‘People Watching’, ‘Fashion Police’ or ‘Body Beautiful’ observations which meant that we had to engage in more conversations between ourselves 🙄

Recently one evening we entertained some of our neighbours, the English couple that own the property below us, they are not permanent residents here, they just come out from the UK several times a year to tend to ‘our’ lovely garden area just below our balcony, well okay it is legally their garden really, but the actual reality is that we tend to get to enjoy it more than they do, but without having to do any of the essential laborious garden maintenance 🤭 We sat on the balcony chatting, putting the world to rights, as you do, until gone 1:30am, way past Shazza’s usual bedtime but just about my own more normal bedtime. The balcony doors were wide open, as were the windows, it was warm and their was no breeze so we had lit two large round mosquito repellant candles, lit a citronella aroma scent stick and placed two battery operated UV lights on the floor near the open French windows. The bites on Shazza’s legs the following day confirmed the fact that the only one’s actually benefitting from all of these things, were the companies that produce these totally ineffective products, and of course the mosquito’s who must enjoy the pleasant aromas, and soft lighting, whilst they relax enjoying their scented Blood Spa sessions hosted by Shazza 😂 I am fortunate enough to not attract the interests of these small irritating insects so I remain bite free, but as Shazza was quick to point out, as she scratched away at several large red and painful looking blotches on both her legs and upper arms, that it came as no surprise to her that ‘I am obviously not to everyone’s taste’ 😲

We began to see, and feel, a change in the weather over the next few days, the temperatures dipped to the more normal anticipated at this time of year, varying anything from between 20-25 degrees(c), dependent on the cloud density, it was certainly beginning to feel much cooler now, especially with the sudden 10 degree(c) drop, although not yet cool enough to have to put the Winter duvet on the bed, or have to have the warm air heating on and of course, rather importantly, these grey cloudier days would only be temporary. We experienced some of the wet stuff, but to put it into some sort of perspective, one evening we had no more than a ‘sprinkling’ of light drizzle which was here one minute and gone the next 🤷‍♂️ The following day, the rain didn’t arrive until lunchtime, although the morning was grey and overcast, this time it was a much heavier downpour than the previous day, but nothing out of the ordinary and it lasted for the remainder of that day, and into the early evening but with outbreaks of hazy sunshine breaking through the brief respites throughout the day, natures weather patterns can be very strange at times but it makes for interesting viewing from my elevated observation post 🤷‍♂️ However, the sea remained an eerily flat calm and once again there was hardly a breath of wind, it was a slightly different story just across from us on the opposite coastline, the Western Atlantic side of Andalusia, in the Cadiz Province, and also through the Strait of Gibraltar, who, according to several ‘Works of Fiction’ weather maps, were currently being battered by storms. Although, whilst getting rain in this particular corner of Spain is somewhat of a rare occurrence, we should put it into some sort of perspective and be grateful that we are not further South in the world, near Jamaica, Cuba or the Bahamas, where ‘Hurricane Melissa’ is currently wreaking Havoc and claiming lives 😲

And In Other News……………………

Since my last ramble there has been some interesting stuff appearing in the local Spanish, and the wider European, mainstream media, some of which may impact on us personally and some which may not 🤔

One of the advantages of changing from a UK Driver’s Licence to a Spanish one was, in the UK my licence would have had to have be renewed when I reached the Age of 70 year’s and, if it was renewed, then it would only be valid for a further 3 year’s. When I exchanged my licence here in Spain it was automatically valid for 5 years, taking me two year’s over that 70 year old UK age limit, then, when it was time to renew it, after some basic health checks, it would be extended for a further 5 years. That however, may all be about to change 😲

Now although the next media headline refers to ‘Tourists’, it actually applies equally to all vehicle driver’s in Spain and not just Tourists. There has already been some push back to these, currently only ‘proposed’ new measures and you can I suppose understand why. 😲 You have to consider the type of climate and lifestyle here in Spain, the Spanish socialise a lot and tend to eat out, or go for a drink, with family and friends. Who doesn’t like a beer or glass of wine with dinner, or whilst sat chatting with friends in a Cafe/Bar, but, if these proposed new regulations do come into force, just one beer or glass of wine would put you over the legal limit to drive home, or even cycle 😲

Now a lot of businesses these days are beginning to NOT accept good old-fashioned cash to purchase things, from a simple cup of coffee, entry to Tourist Attractions, Payments of Bills etc. etc. but Governments are still insisting that we are not becoming a cashless society !! Enter the ‘Digital Euro’ 😲

Now let’s be honest, whether we like it or not, lots of things in our everyday lives are becoming digital, ‘Apple Pay’ on people’s iPhones is being used by millions all over the world, although Shazza and I still have not succumbed, but yes, on a good day we can see the advantages, because now the youngster’s don’t get mugged for their purse or wallet but for their mobile devices and even their digital all singing, all dancing, watch, yes a watch that these days doesn’t just tell you the time, but checks your vital health statistics, can be used as a mobile communications device, a calendar to remind you to buy that Birthday or Anniversary Card, It tracks its own whereabouts, it can be used as a ‘wallet’ to digitally store your bus, train or flight travel tickets and can be used to swipe across a machine to pay for fuel, groceries, and buy you a coffee and sandwich at Cafe’s or meals at Restaurants 😲 (In my day such things were called a VISA, MASTERCARD or AMEX 🤭) and now these devices also act as your wallet or purse and give access to your bank account for transfers. Just so that some of you do not think that we, the older dinosaur generation, get completely left behind in today’s society, we do still occasionally get mugged for our wallet’s and purses, but the perpetrator knows that they run the risk of getting hit very very hard with a hefty walking stick 😂 But seriously, what I do find hard to believe, is that there are lots of people actually complaining about the introduction of a digital ID Card 🤭 It’s time to break the bad news to some of them, ‘Big Brother Is Actually Already Watching You’ and you willingly invite them to do so by putting all of your private details and data into your convenient technological devices 🤷‍♂️

And, finally……………… (Thank god for that I hear you gasp 🤭)

Whilst this new digital travel stuff called EES is currently being rolled out right across Europe, not so fast on its heels as it happens, is the next phase, yes, as from 2027, you will also see the Introduction of ETIAS…………….

Isn’t life getting more and more interesting ? I was going to say exciting but thought that that would be stretching things just a little too far 🤭 I do feel a little sorry for the younger generation, but I guess they cannot miss what they never had, the freedom to travel without too many restraints, just flash the passport and smile at the stern faced official, the ability to just turn a dial to turn off the TV or Radio so you didn’t have to listen to all the doom and gloom, and it didn’t have the ability to listen in or track your shopping habits, to be able to pick up a telephone and speak directly with another human being instead of having to go through a list of ‘Options’, or to not have to speak with a piece of AI that cannot always decipher your accent so asks you to keep repeating yourself, a time when newspapers were purchased not for their content, but to be utilised as good fire starters in the grate, or as an alternative when you ran out of ‘Andrex’ in the toilet, when you could walk into your GP Surgery and not have to do battle with Rachel on Reception to get an appointment, or you could walk into your local bank and deposit or withdraw your own money. But now just look at how easy life is made for everybody, we haven’t half had it hard during our lifetime, these days everything is made so easy for folk, so looking back on it all I find myself asking, isn’t progress a wonderful thing 🤔 As my Grandfather used to say, “Eeh by gum lad, it’s a grand life if you don’t weaken”

Until my next ramble……………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida es Buena