When summer changes to autumn.

How do we know autumn has arrived in Spain? We don't have the colours of the changing leaves, we don't see hedgerows full of fruits and we don't have the farmers out in volume trying to harvest the crops before it's too late.

We do have the darkness of night starting earlier and the mornings starting later, we do have the cooler temperatures compared to the recent summer and we do have a change in the tree fruits we can buy at market.

So, we know autumn is here, how has that changed how we live from the first 4 months of our new life here where so much of our time has been spent living outside, enjoying the constant sun and adapting to doing chores early morning , walking the dogs before the sun was up over the mountains and forgetting what it was like to have a pair of jeans or anything other than sandals on your feet.

When we arrived in Spain in May it was already into summer, and the villa doors have been open since we arrived to let any cool breeze circulate through the villa in an attempt to stay cool. The shutters have been down on any room we weren't in to keep the heat of the sun out and even when we were in the lounge the shutter at the side window was down and the one across the patio doors was half shut - to anyone passing they must have thought the Dracula's had moved in, but it's the way the spanish live and for understandable reasons. It's the english that have it wrong when they come over here and the first thing they do in the height of summer is throw open all the shutters, but with so little sun at home it is understandable. The ambient light is so strong that even with the shutters down you don't need the lights on most of the time.

Throughout the summer the pups have been used to being able to wander in and out as they please, the only time doors were closed were when we were out.

Drying clothes hasn't been any problem, towels would be baked dry with a couple of hours of putting them on the line and bedding could be washed and back on the bed the same day. The biggest issue was making sure that anything coloured was put out to dry inside out so that the colours didn't fade in the sun. Clothes were so light weight that they would be dry within the hour.

We've had our share of insects of every description which I've already covered and the pool saw more action than I ever envisaged, with even me venturing in on a regular basis. Sleep was difficult without the air con on and it was not uncommon for several changes of clothes in a day. THe hairdryer was banished to the back of the cupboard as the heat from it was too much to cope with and the hair, tied up for the summer.

And of course, the biggest change for us was that we had stopped looking out of the window in the morning to see what the weather was like - we just knew, it would be sunny.

Well, autumn is now here, so what are the noticable changes.

Well, for one, we have the shutters open at all the windows when we are in and quite often the doors are closed. The pups have just about learnt to check whether the patio doors are open before trying to go out, they've bumped their noses enough times now to know it makes sense to check first.

The dry air is now very humid and even when it hasn't been raining the air is damp and clothes are taking much longer to dry. Towels are taking days and the bedding? well, don't get me started - finding somewhere to put it out is a big enough headache, now I know why so many of the friends we have made out here have tumble dryers. Spanish homes by nature are smaller than back in the uk (in general) so you don't have the space to have soggy laundry hanging around - looks like we have a shopping trip coming up.

Most of the flies, grasshoppers and other flying beasties have gone but we are now overrun with ants and beetles (I don't think they're cockroaches - time for a google I think- just checked, they're definitely just beetles).

We are back to checking out of the window to see what the weather is like and also, checking the thermometer to see whether it's a shorts or jeans day. It gets too cool to sit outside at night without a jacket and we are starting to see people in leather jackets and boots at night. Quite a change in such a short time. The hairdryer is back in use and the hair is left long once again

It will be interesting to see how things change when the current 'wet' spell is over, according to the locals, the length of the rains is most unusual - more akin to February - oh joy, we have it to look forward to again in a few months.

Another symptom of the autumn is the number of shops and bars that have closed in Terreros. We are a small summer holiday village which sees an increase in population during June, July and August of 10 fold or more and so we have the bars, restaurants and shops to deal with that number of people. Now, the villas and apartments are mainly empty and so the shops etc are empty. I don't know where the workers and owners go for 9 months of the year, but it's obvious they have gone from here. We have several Chiringuito's along the beach front, these are the snack bars and restaurants that cater for the sun worshippers who swarm to the beach every summer. Now, all but one is closed and I've even heard that the hotel on the beach closes for the winter.

We have also noticed the amount we are drinking (water and soft drinks - not beer) has significantly reduced, the beer consumption has remained the same so far (at least it's not started to increase - yet). And the air con is no longer needed at night.

Our first year here was always going to be a learning experience, and unlike in Sheffield, there does seem to be a clear definition to the seasons. We once heard someone who had moved from Canada to the UK say that what they missed about Canada was the clear change from one season to the next, in the UK you have 2 seasons, warm rain and cold rain. Well, in Spain it would seem we have the real change from one season to the next, summer is definitely over and autumn is definitely here.

It will be interesting to see what changes happen when winter arrives.

Who said Almeria was the driest part of Spain?

When we were researching where to move to in Spain, we knew we were looking for somewhere that had warmer summers than Sheffield and was much drier so that we could play golf throughout the year without the need for waterproofs and without wading through mud.

If you do a search on the Almeria climate you get lots of phrases such as 'With an average of 320 days of sunshine per year, the Costa Almeria has arguably the best climate in Spain.'

'with warm summers and winters, the Costa de Almeria holds the title as having the best climate in the whole of Spain' 'The summer season lasts from April until October with temperatures reaching on average 31 degrees in the peak months of July and August' and 'There's no need to bring a brolly, unless of course a freak storm has arrived, as rainfall for summer in the Costa de Almeria is pretty much non-existent with just 1mm in July and August'

AND, that the average rainfall for September is about 1/2 and inch - normally. Well, not this year.

We have had a week of heavy, torrential, thundery rain. It rained on Sunday night, it rained on Monday night, it rained all day Tuesday. Wednesday? well it rained a little and then it rained a lot. This piccy was taken late afternoon, it wasn't dark because it was late it was dark because of the storm. The level of the pool is about an inch below the rim. Now remember the average rainfall is 1/2 for the whole of September? Well we had at least one inch in one day- today the pool is halfway up the rim - but we have had the sun back today.

I thought yesterday signalled the end of summer, I had long trousers on during the day - but, no problem, I have shorts on again today.

I so feel for anyone who has come out on holiday this week, this place is so beautiful when the sun is out, but out of season with so little to do, heavy rain makes the days difficult for holiday makers.

Out here it's not the gardens that are said to need the rain, it's the reservoirs and I suppose it will make sure they are all topped up - but hey, gives us a break now, yesterday the pups were finding it difficult to find a lull long enough to go out for a wee, now that's just not fair on little puppies.

I'm glad we haven't moved to a rainy part of Spain, and being so close to the coast, it all just runs downhill and out to sea!

And the forecast for tomorrow? More rain! Still, I'd rather be here in the rain than back in Sheffield, at least we have warm rain here!

The Terreros Treasure Hunt (Part 3 - The End)

So, we find the train station and we need to find the date the building was built. Lucy and I got out of the car looking for the stone that had been laid somewhere with the date on it. It wasn't on the front, not at the gate, not in the floor. By this time we have been joined by several other groups and we are all now running around like demented chickens trying to succeed where others were failing - and failing ourselves.


Being Sunday afternoon the station was all closed up as there were no further trains and eventually we came across a security guard who was most helpful and gave us a date of 1889.


Now, ask yourself, would anyone from Group 4 Security, looking after a building in the UK know when it was built? No, so why would we really believe that a spanish security guard would be so interested in the building he was protecting to have taken the trouble to find out all about it, including when it was built - oh how he must have laughed when he told his colleagues over a beer that evening how gullible the english are!


No points again! (We did find out later that you needed to go into the station to find the date - it had been open when they had been going around setting the questions).


All back in the cars and Whacky Races style departures saw us all heading for a cove on the north side of Aguilas to try and find out who declared their love for each other in a shady glen on the 19th March 2005














Somehow, I was expecting some lovingly carved hearts, with their names entwined with intricately carved long stemmed roses,


Sadly I was to be disappointed, it seems the advent of the felt tip has led to the demise of this ancient art of wood carving.


We headed back to the car when we remembered we still had several items to collect - not a problem, the Aguilas Plaza shopping centre was about 5 minutes away and was still open, so while Neil & Lucy ran in to do a bit of shopping I took the opportunity to walk the dogs, who had been happily sleeping in the back of the car while we ran around like idiots. We were doing well though, we had only just passed 2 hours and had completed the questions, just needed a couple of photos and these last few items and we were done. We had already met up with the 1st car and they were over the 3 hour time limit and hadn't started back yet - so we knew at least one car would be getting a 6 point time penalty deduction - mind you, they did admit to spending more time in the bar than they should, so they seemed fairly unconcerned about the points deduction.


As we entered Terreros we had everything but a beer mat with a date on it. That's OK, we'll call in one of the bars on the way to the finish. We couldn't surprise them anymore than we had when Lucy jumped out of an almost moving car to take a photo of a man walking dog, or for that matter the man on a bike! (different men)


As I ran into the Montesol, it became apparent we weren't the first. I dived into the bar, a quick 'Hola', picked up a beer mat and headed out of the door when this little voice followed me out saying '.....there isn't a date on that......' 'There soon will be.....' was my response as I continued back to the car without breaking stride. Once back in the car, out came the biro and I neatly wrote on 21.9.2008 We now had a beer mat with a date on - see, initiative - and yes, we did get our 3 points.


So, back at the finish (and yet another bar) Lucy & Neil got the drinks in and checked the sheets to make sure we had answered everything, collected everything and had photos of everything.

















And how did we do?

Well, we didn't get the booby prize for least points but neither did we win, we were mid table. Points ranged from 60-86 and we got 76. But we'd had a brilliant afternoon, seen parts of Aguilas never seen before and learnt a little about the place and of course, will we ever forget the spanish for eagle? Somehow, I think not.

The Terreros Treasure Hunt (Part 2)

Ok, fully refreshed, a quick trip was required to the loo in the bar, not for necessity but because the answer to one of the clues was hanging on the wall next to them. (It's OK, we were only looking for a picture of a Harley Davidson!)



Several questions were related to the square in Aguilas, including one about the type of bird hovering above the castle. This was to be found on the floor of the square where the local crest was inlaid into the paving stones. Now, it would probably have helped if we'd known that águilas was spanish for eagle, but trust me, it looked like a Phoenix to me - no points there then. Another was relating to the type of bird in the fountain in the square - looked like a swan to us - no points scored there either! (We never did find out what it was supposed to be)



Maybe we'll have better luck with the photo - remember, a unique living 'bird' - here's ours, a Strelitzia reginae!





















Yep, a 'bird of paradise' flower - 3 points!







Ok, back to the car, we need more points! A 'brief encounter' would be just the ticket - gotta find the railway station!

The Terreros Treasure Hunt (Part 1)

Sunday saw 13 cars and approximately 60 people (and our 2 dogs) driving around Terreros and Águilas trying to find answers to a variety of clues and collect photos and articles on the list. A little inventiveness came in useful along the way.

We were the penultimate car to set off, so we were soon catching up with those already on route and could gain a little advantage from seeing where people were coming back from. Some of the answers could be found while driving by whilst for others we needed to park up and walk around (headless chickens came to mind a few times, believe me)

There was 1 very simple rule - we were not allowed back to any of our homes to retrieve any of the items. The items we needed to collect were: An item of ladies underwear, a restaurant menu, a safety device, a pocket size image of britain, a spanish Sunday newspaper, a beer mat with a date on it and a fire lighter.

We also needed photos of a unique living 'bird' (take note of the quotation marks!), a British licence plate, a team photo of us all drinking through straws from one glass (dogs were excluded 'cos they can't handle a straw) something with a girls name on it, a local town official, a stranger walking a dog and a stranger riding a bicycle.

We had a time limit of 3 hours and anyone back late would start of with a deduction of 6 points. Harsh, but hey, we had a halfway stop at a bar - without a time limit some maynever get around to leaving the halfway house.

We started off on a short trip along the coast and down one of the coastal tracks to the beach where we were instructed there was a secluded spot for us to remove an item of underwear. Lucy and I chatted about which if us would be the one to remove said garmet - I got the short straw so out of the car I went..........

No, that isn't my leg! 1st item collected.

Several clues later, having seen us at the beach a second time, in a rather nice public garden in Aguilas and having had a debate on who actually did paint the Mona Lisa, we found ourselves parked up at the marina in Aguilas counting painted fishes on a notice board, that was until we looked closer and saw that someone had already written on each of the fish as they'd counted them so we no longer needed to count all 44!

We finished the clues on the first set of sheets and headed for the bar in the main plaza for a well earned rest and a drink (don't forget the straws)

Halfway there.

Wow, Terreros is peaceful again.

2 weeks into September and it's true - the masses have returned home, you can once more get a seat in the bars and restaurants and the queues in the supermarket are no longer than 2 people. Spain has returned to work and left our sleepy little seaside resort to plod along nicely through the winter months.

We have also felt the departure of the intense heat, the evenings are cool enough for long trousers and the days are still warm enough for shorts. The pool is too cold to consider a dip, even after a round of golf, even Brandy doesn't bother to go in anymore. We have turned the temperature up on the shower and we no longer have to change clothes 2 and 3 times a day.

It also means all the activities and festivals have finished, the Sunday market will not be back until next June and we are left to make our own entertainment or sit in our villas until next summer.

So, this Sunday sees a group of us on a Treasure Hunt, there are about 50 of us in a number of cars, setting off at 5 minute intervals - more than that, at the moment we don't know.

I'll tell you all about it next week.

Aaaah, Grasshopper.

Well, we've had the mosquitos, they've been and gone (but due back soon). We've had the flies - loads of them - but armed with a large can of spray you can keep on top of them. We've even had the jumping spiders, the suicidal woodlice and a very nice Stick Insect!

Well, now we have grasshoppers, millions of them .....everywhere. Now forgive me but I thought grasshoppers jumped - I thought they were experts at jumping, infact, I believe from my school days that there is some record they hold for jumping distance compared to size, but trust me - our grasshoppers can fly.

They are quite entertaining little creatures, inoffensive, don't leave a mess and apart from the 'startle' factor they have, I am quite fond of them. But when did Darwin's theory of evolution extend to grasshoppers flying?

I have come to realise that, spiders & flies apart, I am quite intrigued by the variety of insects we have here, and the relative reactions they invoke in the people nearby. But the biggest reaction was to a little green grasshopper which wasn't actually doing much at all.

We were sat outside a friends villa having the obligatory evening glass of wine when our friend noticed a little grasshopper close to the open patio door. She shouted to her other half to stop it going into the villa and so he pulled the patio door closed - only, instead of just pulling it to, it closed completely.

Now, these villas are built to be secure and so all the doors except one lock on closing - and if you are outside enjoying the night air or the days sun you either need to open the one door that doesn't lock from the outside OR make sure you have your keys with you.

Unfortunately, our friends had done neither and so found themselves late at night, locked out of said villa. That's when you discover how a burglar would get into your villa - and also discover how wise it is to have a neighbour you can trust to leave a key with.

A seconds panic over a very placid grasshopper led to an interesting hour.

And the grasshopper? It was one of the newly evolved species - it flew away.

It rains dust here!

One of the reasons we chose to live in Almeria is that it is the driest hottest part of Spain and for an arthristis sufferer like myself, the wamer the weather and the drier the better.



But when it rains here - it doesn't do it in half measurers. It generally rains for a couple of hours, but it is torrential, then a couple of hours later everywhere is dry again because of the heat. We have spring rains and we have autumn rains which are needed to keep the water reserves topped up.



So, yesterday saw us with a grey sky all day, the winds got increasingly stronger and the clouds were building until late evening and everyone was anticipating rain. And it started about 11pm for a couple of hours, we had power cuts, pounding rain on the rooftops and I felt sorry for anyone on a night out having to walk home (Terreros doesn't do taxi's out of season). We were fortunate in our timing that we had been out to friends in the evening and had returned home having walked the dogs at 10.45pm- so even the dogs didn't need to go out. According to neighbours the main storm was south over Africa, but we got caught in the edge of it.



Nothing strange in all of this until I got up this morning and went outside.



Everything smelled fresh this morning, the normal stuffiness had gone (but not for long, it's already back), the sky was clear blue and the sun was once again rising over the mountains but it was like something out of a sci-fi film, everywhere was still, covered with a thick layer of brown dust. The glass table, the chairs, the patio, the pool - all now a single shade of brown. It's as if the Sahara desert has been dumped on Terreros. Absolutely everything outside is coated and if there were any doors or windows open, it was inside the house as well.



As I walked the dogs this morning I passed several houses where people were alreay starting the clean-up process - and there is only one way to do it - a hosepipe and a large yard brush. I understand it may take upto 3 days for the pool to be clear again and that there is a chance it will all happen again either today or tomorrow. At least when you've hosed everywhere down it dries within half an hour, and it is only dust and nothing worse. Talking to some of the ladies at my Spanish class this morning this is a normal event here, but it's happened a little earlier than usual.



I wish someone had warned us before we bought a black car!

Let me share my morning walk with the pups with you......

For my friends in Sheffield.

Throughout the summer it has been important to get up early to walk the pups before the sun comes over the mountains that surround San Juan because of the heat, but now the sun is rising later and the temperatures are cooling so we can stay in bed a little longer.

Having recently been in Sheffield with cold, damp, grey days (sorry Sheffield, summer just didn't happen for you this year - did it?) I have enjoyed being back in the Spanish sun.....

BUT....

This morning was special.

The pups got me up about 6.30am and it was still dark. By the time I was washed and dressed daylight was just visible through the shutters, so I rattled their leads and the pups came running in with their tails wagging so hard the little backsides couldn't sit down long enough for me to put their collars on - they love their walks, every day for them is an adventure.

We always walk through the development towards the mountains, where there are twin peaks and this morning, the merest sliver of a crescent moon was shining from between the two hill tops, it looked posed as if ready for a film-set'. As we walked up the hill at the side of the apartments I turned to look out to sea. We are high up above the villas, bars and beach front here and I had a wonderful panaromic view over San Juan, the lights were still on along the promenade and everything was peaceful apart from the odd cockrel crowing. Idyllic doesn't start to describe it! It's daybreak, the glow of the sun is giving backlight to the craggy mountains, it's beautifully warm with a gentle sea breeze and I can sit and gaze across a still sleeping town out to a gently lapping mediterranean sea - and there are no other people about, no cars to break the peace - not yet.

You cannot help but feel good on a morning like this, with 2 of the most adorable puppies so happy to be out with you.

As I walked back to our villa one thought entered my head - not just that this is San Juan de los Terreros, but that this is MY San Juan de los Terreros - and no matter how bad a day you have or how many problems you have, a moment like this to start the day cannot fail to lift your spirits for the challenges ahead.

I hope I never lose the wonder of where we now live, the early mornings are truly magical.