Odd facts.

 Yesterday it rained. 

I believe that there was an element of Sod’s Law, aka Murphy’s Law, in this change in the weather. It wasn’t raining when I went out for a run first thing, although it was a little cloudy. On my way home I noticed that one of the shops near my regular panadería was setting up a stall outside on the pavement but I didn’t really put two and two together until later when it had rained and then cleared up enough for me to go down to the supermarket without needing to put on my waterproof. 

It was then that I saw the stalls all over Calle Progreso and all along my route. Of course, it was the first Saturday in the month and once again the street had been closed to traffic, and the local shopkeepers had all extended onto the pavement in an attempt to boost sales. And once again, as seems to have happened each time I have seen this, the rain came down. To some extent it adds to the atmosphere of community spirit as they all help each other put up makeshift plastic awnings to protect their wares. I just hope they get enough sales to make it all worth while. The rain was intermittent throughout the day and we didn’t venture much further than the cash machine at the top of Colón. 

Before the rain came I had a strange conversation up at the Castro as I returned from my run. Two youngish men, both South American looking, were busy examining something on the ground. One of them was breaking up leaves from the privet hedge and scattering them around. So, because I am an extremely nosy person, I asked them what they were looking at. Ants!! They were quite fascinated by the ants, which were carrying bits of stuff, including privet leaves back to a hole at the bottom of the wall. This, I was informed, was the ants’ nest. According to my informants ants only go out at night and were on their way back. I have no idea how true this is but my new friends and I had a little joke about the ants going out on the town at night, de juerga, and in true Spanish style only just going home in the early(ish) hours of Sunday morning. 

This was just another example of the odd facts and bits of information I seem to have been collecting recently. Just the other day I read that it is not against the law to appear naked in the street unless there are minors present. So before you go taking your clothes of on the streets of Spain, check for children. This news was in a report of a woman who had been arrested, not for taking off her clothes but for hitting a policeman. She had had a go at undressing on the street and then got in a taxi, but decided the price of €3 was too much and showed the driver her chest in lieu of payment, before running off. In a bar she continued stripping until a policeman arrived and picked up her clothes in an attempt to persuade her to get dressed. This was when she hit him. So she was carted off to the police station and charged, not with public indecency but with aggression towards a police officer. 

Amazing stuff!!