The rain in Spain again!!

This morning the estuary, so often a deep aquamarine blue, was an unremitting grey. Clouds piled up over the Islas Cies, threatening to move inland to join their thinner cousins already present. Patches of blue sky came and went like clouds on a good day. And low clouds engulfed poor Cangas and Moaña on the far side of the ría.

As the rain falls steadily again I wonder if I have once again worked reverse magic on the weather, as has happened before when I have made gazpacho, for example, causing an immediate cool spell. On Thursday I invited friends to come over with their children at the weekend to play in the pool. (Our new flat is in a complex with a swimming pool, pista de padel, children’s play area and a garden – quite a change from central Vigo where we lived until recently.) In view of the good weather we had been having the pool was staying open a week longer. So of course the weather broke on Saturday. The day started cloudy with occasional sunshine and went downhill from there.

So instead of sitting by the pool we agreed to meet in town for a drink and a chat. We ended up huddled under a “sun” umbrella, then under the arches and finally inside a cafe on the Plaza de la Reconquista.

Since then, while it has not rained constantly, it has certainly rained enough to make up for the weeks of dry weather. And those weeks of dry weather are official: Aemet (Agencia Estatal de Meteorología) says that summer 2009 has been the third driest this century – OK so it is only 2009 but even so – coming behind 2001 and 2005. They do also say that the summer has been extremely warm all over Spain with the exception of southwest Galicia where it has been cooler than usual. I must say, once again, that it has been plenty warm enough for me here in Vigo. And I really must protest at MeteoGalicia describing the summer as “frío y lluvioso” just because some parts of the region had a bit of rain in July.

So today continues the new trend. When I went out for bread for breakfast, armed with raincoat and umbrella, the sun was shining briefly on Moaña but it was still grey on this side of the water. I scuttled back with only slightly damp bread.

By late morning we had thunder and lightning but not for long. After all, I’m sure the weathermen promised storms for Wednesday, not today. The clouds came down so low that Moaña not only was no longer bathed in sunshine but completely disappeared. And the rain did that very Galician thing of coming down in straight lines as though someone had just turned all the taps on.

For several weeks now I have been scoffing at Spaniards who told me that summer was over if indeed, they would add gloomily, we could be said to have had a summer! But now even I have to agree that it is indeed autumn although not autumnal enough to merit the boots which have been appearing, accompanied in some cases by big scarves – no gloves yet, however! Still, it looks as though it’s time to get proper shoes and socks out and out the sandals away.

Of course, I could just look on this as a period of acclimatisation. Later this week we are flying back to Manchester for a short visit. Maybe the weather gods don’t want me to go into some kind of shock induced by extreme changes in weather! And then it can pick up again for magosto and todos los santos!