Summer reflections

The summer’s almost gone.
The winter’s tuning up.

At any rate, that’s what Juana, the bread shop lady, told me the other day. All right, so she didn’t quote Leonard Cohen at me but she did tell me that September is a la vuelta de la esquina, just around the corner, and that thought is depressing her. We were having a rather cloudy start to the day but I reminded her that we have had a fair few days that have begun that way and turned into blue sky and sunshine by early afternoon. She didn't seem convinced but I was right in the end. The sun did shine again.

So, anyway, I went and had a look at my geek’s incorporated weather chart to see how the summer looked. I found that in July and August we have had at least 50 days when the sun shone, not necessarily all day although there are a lot of those days as well, but at least for part of the day. June didn’t look too bad either but I was in the UK for part of that month.

I also took a look at my photo collection for a reminder of what has been going on in Vigo. As well as the range of concerts organised in Castrelos Park and down by the harbour, there has been quite a lot of music on the street....



... which has been interesting!

As well as music, there was art on the street in the shape of Torres de la Alhambra sculptures.

There were free concerts in Vigo’s alameda, the Plaza de Compostela, with a proper stage and seats provided. One evening, coming back from a long day at the Islas Cies - a hard day's hiking, swimming, sunbathing, taking photos, you know how it is - my friend and I came across a Galician folk group performing there, gradually attracting quite a sizable audience.

There have been sporting events, including the rather terrifying stunt bike championships a couple of Sundays ago. This seemed to involve a race down a track which zigzagged though the casco vello and hurtled past the cathedral. There was also a huge crowd watching young men from all over Spain and from outside the country – one young man appeared to have come from South Africa to take part – risk their lives by charging up and down ramps and somersaulting once, twice, three times .... in the air ... on their bikes ... many of them without helmets!

(I still wonder how you LEARN a skill like that! It does seem to be largely a masculine skill. Yes, I know there are girls who take part in these sports and who do mountain biking races and that sort of thing. However, you don’t see many teenage girls out on their skateboards down near the harbour here in Vigo. Neither do you see them honing their stunt-bike and skateboard skills in the park up at the Castro! Have I said enough? )

And then, there were the demos. Groups of protesters have been demanding the re-instatement of workers given the sack by the newspaper, El Faro de Vigo, the said newspaper having dismissed workers despite receiving large numbers of Euros in subsidies from the Xunta de Galicia.

The summer does seem to be continuing, though, despite the gloomy prognostications of my panadera and the sun still shines on Samil beach. I was able to pass on to Juana reports from friends in Manchester of rainy days, grey skies and temperatures of 12°, compared with the 28° and 29° that I have seen on chemists’ signs here in the last couple of days. So I’m not letting doom and gloom get to me. My strappy tops and sandals won’t be relegated to the back of the wardrobe just yet.