Well, our latest Hamish problem is that he is turning into quite a clever dog. The last few mornings he has been reappearing in the house after we have put the dogs out in the morning. After we both blamed each other for either not putting him out or not shutting the door, we found oursleves flummoxed. Until this morning when we watched as he climbed through the door a la Tinkerbelle. Admittedly he doesn’t have quite the style of Tinkerbelle and appears over the door and then collapses on the floor in a similar manner to Bambi when he is trying to walk on ice.
Hamish has also let himself out of the puppy cage. We have been shutting him in, which he doesn’t like, so last night he opened the door. I have noticed him sit when the others do when asked, which I thought was co-incidence – however I wonder now if he has learnt that already.
We’re going to take him to the vet tomorrow, who I think will be pleased.
Everything is back to normal now. The big holiday was this last weekend and Monday was a holiday. The three kings bring the presents on the night of the 5th, but if you have been naughty then they just bring you a lump of coal. The three kings parade was on Saturday night and the kings were transported around the village dispersing sweets. They were followed by children and adults alike who were filling up bags with sweets. The parade ended at the Nave with the kings giving presents to the children.
New year was fun, we went down to the square for 12 where fireworks and cava flowed. We went to Tony’s parents house which is above their bar and had a balcony view. This was good as we didn’tn get covered in cava or shot at with a firework. We tried to eat 12 grapes at mid night which is the custom to bring luck. You are supposed to eat one for each chime of the clock. It is harder than it sounds. Being Spain, the midnight festivities signalled the beginning of the parties, not the end, and everyone went back to homes and garages for food, and then at about 3 o’clock, started to move around from party to party eventually all getting together in a single place. I did think that potentially you could spend all night just following other people around and never meeting. And don’t think this was just the renegade youngsters, we bumped into the Mayor and his wife, in the streets armed with their drinks moving onto the next party at goodness knows what time.
They then all started again the next afternoon – Ian went along for a bit, but I went for a walk instead. I don’t think we are genetically geared up to have that much fun. Going for a walk was a bad move as I had to return past a few parties and was invited to ‘fiesta’.
Huge amounts of food and drink were consumed, each individual party had its own Jamon – a pig’s leg, and people just sliced off bits and had on bread. There were also a lot of fires and barbeques.
This is also pig killing time of year. Unusually for a vegetarian, this doens’t worry me too much. I wouldn’t go to a mantanza (killing), but I do think that the fact the pig goes from field to barn to table in such quick succession is a lot kinder than other ways of doing it. Also, the whole pig is eaten and everything except teeth and snout is used. The meat and sausages from a single pig will keep a family in meat for a year.
It takes a day to do the whole process and groups get together to help, the men do the butchery bits and the women make sausages. These will now be hung in the outdoor kitchens to dry. Ian says he would go to a mantanza, however I am not sure how he would cope.
Classes start again tonight – must dust off the lessons…