We’ve done much better with our tomatoes this year. After growing what must have been one of the world’s most expensive tomatoes last year – the one tomato being the sum of our total harvest, this year we’ve done markedly better. However we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed this and we found Bob one day eating his way through the tomatoes on the vine. After Basil ate the one peach that the birds left us, I will be glad when we have the back yard dug over so we can have a proper kitchen garden out there.
We’re still going out on bicycle rids, and still enjoying it. Ian fell off his bike on Sunday, it was difficult to feel too sorry for him as he had slowed to almost a standstill so he could admire a bale of hay and assess it’s photogenic qualities as a photo opportunity. So far, we’ve both fallen off when we were at an almost standstill, not the most impressive site for onlookers. What we’re really enjoying is the way that we are discovering the countryside and areas that we’d never otherwise see. We found a bee farm, well a lot of bee hives, the other day. There was a ‘warning, bees’ sign. I’m mapping all of the lanes that we are taking on Google Maps. We had planned on going to Llerena on Sunday, however I had problems with my bike. On closer inspection the problem was actually my thumb – believe it or not. My bike wouldn’t change gear, however it was where my thumb was too weak to switch the leaver across. Amazing!
The weather has cooled over the last couple of days. We were on orange alert again last week. It was very hot. The advice as always was to drink lots of water, wear a hat and loose clothing and – surprisingly – to use public transport. I didn’t quite get this, however thinking about it, I think it might be telling people to use public transport rather than walking places. I remember when we first moved here how people used to pull us into the shade – and how Ian had a hat given to him a couple of times. I think that we probably do this as second nature now.
The hot weather has meant that we are definitely in the semi-nocturnal life style. Well, obviously we’re not, but everyone else is. On Sunday we went for a walk at about 8 when it wasn’t too hot for the dogs, and thought we’d stop for a drink. All the bars were still shut! We went to the swimming pool bar which was open, and then went to Bar Gato, which had just opened at 10. It started to get busy with people pre-dinner pasao-ing (promenading) as we left about 10.30, and it would be another couple of hours before things started to get properly busy! The village is actually a hive of activity this month with families from the big cities coming back for the month. ‘This is my cousin’, ‘ this is my aunt/uncle’, ‘this is my niece/nephew’ are commonplace as we get introduced to people (all of my class have bought selected relatives round to see Basil). However, because of the semi-nocturnal lifestyle, taking a walk round the village during the long siesta it would be very easy to think that we were here on our own. There are some young children’s activities going on in the ‘afternoon’ – however being Spanish afternoon they are starting at 8 in the evening. I don’t think that we’ll ever get completely used to this!