Ups and downs … of the barometer!

After something of a struggle this morning, the sun has finally got his hat on and is coming out to play. There are still some clouds around but there’s a good deal more blue in the sky than we have seen for several days, most of the week in fact. Some people even had their winter coats and boots back on yesterday, which seemed to me to be rather excessive. Residents of very long standing here obviously have a different perception of cold. It’s not been what I would call cold, just dull and occasionally rainy.

The main problem for most people seems to be the extreme contrast as we went from full blown summer weather to late winter/early spring overnight. I would blame it on my having made gazpacho, something which usually works like a real temperature reducing spell, but we did manage to have several days more sunshine after I made the gazpacho and before the weather changed. And anyway I put it away in the freezer as the grandchildren who were about to arrive would all turn their noses up at it.

It was just as well that the good weather did continue for a while as we had promised the grandchildren that they could play in the pool while they stayed with us. And, yes, they did manage to do so and it was a great success. Everyone stayed in the pool until their finger-ends turned wrinkly. What probably did for the sunshine was inviting some friends to bring their children round to join in the fun.

They duly arrived with swimsuits, towels, armbands and all the rest of the paraphernalia needed for fun in the pool with small children. The day which had been changeable from the start took a serious downturn in the late afternoon. I watched little Rafa take a running jump into the water. His gleeful smile turned to a grimace of horror as he hit the water and felt the temperature. As a matter of fact it wasn’t too bad provided you kept moving but it was clearly a shock to his small system. And so, after the bigger kids had braved it for a while longer, we retreated first to the playground and then indoors for pizza and crisps.

It would seem, though, that Vigo has come off quite lightly once again. I read in the paper this morning that they are thinking of declaring A Mariña on the Lugo coast a zona catastrófica because of the damage caused by the storms and torrential rain. Much of the north coast has been similarly battered. Places like Ribadavia have been flooded and I am told that they have had temperatures of 6-7° in Orense, where they were up to 30+° just over a week ago. And here we were complaining because a bit of rain stopped us doing a trip to the Islas Cíes!!

Looking at my geeks’ weather chart on my computer, however, I notice that we had far more days of sunshine and fine weather in May and June last year than this.

I feel rather sorry for all the fin de curso parties and excursions being planned by schools as the end of the school year approaches. The small daughter of some friends of ours is off on a camping trip with her class this weekend. Most of the northern half of Spain is still on alert for rainy weather but apparently southwest Galicia should see fewer showers than most places. So maybe they’ll get away with it. Otherwise, poor kids! And poor teachers if they have to deal with 20+ wet 7 year olds under canvas!