Well it seems that summer has finally decided to arrive over the last couple of days or so - and about time too! We've now lived here for more or less five years and have never known it to take so long arriving. On occasion we have watched the UK weather forecast with envy which is not a thing I ever thought I'd be writing.......
Something else that is taking too long arriving is my Covid jab which I have still heard nothing about. I'm speaking to the GP tomorrow about my asthma and will most certainly be asking why, when they have been vaccinating my 5 year age bracket (which I'm at the top of!) since 17 May, I have heard nothing at all. Watch this space! Ian was fine after his Astra Zeneca jab last week 💪 he doesn't have a date for his second one yet, but Spain is doing them 3-4 weeks apart generally and very much so here, so he'll hear in due course.
On Saturday, a wet and rainy day, we took ourselves off to the caves in Benidoleig, a village in the Orba Valley about 5 minutes drive from here towards the sea. They are called the Skulls Cave (in translation) as many human as well as animal bones from more than 50,000 years ago have been found there.
The cave system is about 300 metres long with lots of domed caves that can be as high as 20 metres. It was really lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I believe there's a concert by a male voice choir in one of the chambers soon and I'm sure the acoustics are amazing!
I think I may have recently mentioned the problem one of our neighbours has had with a rainwater drain. When it rains hard (and lately it has done so quite often) the manhole cover in their garden is lifted by the force of the water and floods their garden which pours out of there and down our unmade road, creating a river which disappears into the garden of a property at the end of our cul-de-sac (currently empty) from where we fervently hope it flows onward into the fields. Amongst the rainwater are some rather unsavoury items, the most mentionable of which are wet wipes which have been disposed of inappropriately. A couple of weeks ago the Spanish water board, a local police officer and a specialist van appeared and sent a robot down the drains from the manhole cover in our garden as I think it was felt the problem lay somewhere under our property due to the position of the neighbour's problematic manhole cover. The robot was connected to a computer in the specialist van and it was fascinating taking a journey down the drain 😝 Turns out there were some tree roots causing the water to surge through and eventually created sufficient pressure to flood the neighbour's garden, so we were told the drains 'heavy artillery' to remove the tree roots would be next and might take time to sort out between the water board and the town hall, maybe months. And then yesterday morning they turned up with no advance warning (of course!) complete with a tanker type lorry plus various other vehicles. I was going out and when I returned nearly 5 hours later they were still here! 😲 Ian managed somehow as he doesn't speak Spanish and they didn't speak English, but apparently the tree roots have all been cleared now so hopefully no more flooding!
The reason I was out was because I attended a painting workshop which I will be going to every Monday in June, to learn more about oil painting. So currently I'm working on a still-life of lilies. I'm enjoying my art so much and am so glad I took the plunge into it. And I've met some lovely people in the process which is a massive bonus 👍
We've been doing a lot of gardening lately despite the increasing temperatures. Still, we've got a pool to jump into as a reward at the end of it and currently the water temperature is just a shade over 26 degrees which is none too shabby 😅
love the drain story.
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