Seeing some sights.

We’ve had our son and his wife to visit, albeit briefly. They admired the view from our balcony, especially the rather spectacular sunsets we have been having recently. And they took advantage of the continued sunshine to make use of the pool here. They then went off to have some days by the sea near Baiona and after that to visit other places in Galicia. We’ll catch up with them again tomorrow in Pontevedra. 

My friend Colin in Pontevedra has been talking in his blog about the fabulous summer weather we have been having, the long duration making up for a late start and so on. As regards the late start, a taxi driver I spoke to the other day was of the opinion that summer didn’t start late; it was just that there was no spring. We just went directly from winter to summer with no gradation. He may be right. But the long duration he did agree with. And just the day before yesterday, while out on a walk, we overheard some old dears complaining about it being much too hot. I suppose the upper 20s is a bit hot for late September. 

Anyway, it may be that Colin talking about the weather has put a hex on it. Last night the clouds and mist rolled in and for the first time in ages I felt the need for more bedclothes than just a sheet. Then this morning started with mostly blue sky and just enough cloud to provide a rather picturesque sunrise. Which lasted just long enough for me to take a photo and then faded to grey. As the day has progressed, the cloud has taken over more of the sky. We shall see. 

While our visitors were here we paid a visit to our favourite Vigo fish restaurant, Bar Puerto on Arenal. That place has become very popular recently; it’s always packed. Aware of this we had booked a table and while we were there we saw disappointed people being turned away. At just after two o’ clock one couple was told that there would be no table available until three fifteen; they were welcome to return then. 

Unfortunately Phil was unable to go with us as he had come down with some kind of stomach bug. A great pity as the food was excellent, as ever. And that was probably our last visit for a while as we are off to the UK at the weekend. 

On our way to the restaurant we were strolling along the street called García Barbón when we saw an odd sight. Scuttling along towards us, huddled up close to the buildings, was a hedgehog! A remarkably clean-looking hedgehog! As it got to the entrance to some garages, a lady bent down and scooped it up, saying to it affectionately something along the lines of , “You don’t want to go in there. Too many cars!” We then discovered that this hedgehog was her pet! Yes, her pet! No wonder it looked so clean. Hedgehogs, UK hedgehogs anyway, are notorious for having fleas so you would have to do something about that if you were keeping it in your flat. 

I’d never thought of someone having a hedgehog as a pet. But then people keep ferrets as pets in the UK and they don’t really strike me as pet material either. And hedgehogs are quite sociable in some ways. Many years ago, there used to be one that came into my father’s garden every evening at the same time and approached the back door, knowing that he would feed it. It never showed any signs of fear so maybe they could be tamed and become quite domestic after all. Not a great deal different to some of the very small dogs you see so many of around here. And taking up considerably less space than the huge dogs some people choose to have, a decision that always surprises me in this city of largely flat-dwellers. 

Life continues to be interesting!