Sunny Spain!?!

One of the things that most people associate with Spain is the Sun. Lots and lots of sun. That’s the reason why so many European expatriates, especially Brits and Germans, are settling on Spain’s Costa Brava and Costa Blanca and Costa Del Sol in what must be the largest movement of foreign nationals to Spain since the Spanish Civil War.

My parents are part of this exodus, and have been living in South-Eastern Spain now for six years. So, my dear wife and I decided to have a nice holiday with my mum and dad, thinking that we wouldn’t have to take any cold-weather clothes because, well, it’s Sunny Spain, right?

Wrong!!

Things started getting ominous when we were approaching Alicante airport on the evening of the 28th May. Just a few moments before landing, we hit some very dark and very lumpy clouds which were very definitely un-Spanish. The last time I flew into Spain, the sky was completely cloudless, and the landscape below was dry and desert-like. This time, after we eventually landed after a somewhat shaky approach, we came into a world that was more like an English Spring afternoon - bright sunlight diluted through clouds and a surprisingly fresh breeze. It even rained on the way to Mum’s place.

Mind you, this was a blessed relief after the stifling heat of the Sarawak Dry Season which we had left more than 24 hours before. And it was much warmer than London. When we arrived in London that morning, I experienced my first cold in over 8 years.

Mum had told us not to bring any warm clothes so we followed this directive, although Annie wore a shawl, and a bandana on her head because she is much more sensitive to cold than I am.

This was fine for the first couple of days when it was genuinely pleasant to experience some bright sunlight and gentle coolness which blew away some of the cobwebs of jetlag. However, on the third day, we woke up to find that not only had the water supply been cut off, but that it was raining like canines and felines! This was more like August in Bognor Regis than a morning in Spain in late May.

The water supply, my Mum told us, goes off fairly often, especially following a water protest by the expatriates (one of which had only just taken place apparently). As you can imagine, some of the shine was beginning to rub off of this new-found Paradise. Even more of the shine came off later on in the day when we walked up the road in the pouring rain with winter coats wrapped round our shivering bodies to have high tea with one of Mum’s friends. I found it very difficult to maintain my holiday mood, dressed as I was in t-shirt, three-quarter length shorts and sandals. I felt pretty stupid, and angry and freezing bloody cold….

But to cut a long story short, the water supply soon returned, a Spanish official doubtless feeling that the expatriate community had had enough punishment. And, for the last few days at least, the sun has had his hat on, hip hip hip hooray, and the rain has been turned down to a sprinkle.

Here’s to the rest of our holiday in Sunny Spain!