Alora rejoices as Jesús comes home

 

Alora Rejoices as Jesús comes home

 

                                                    Jesús de las Torres

The drums returned yesterday afternoon. Crowds gathered in the Plaza Baja for 'un traslado' (transfer). Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno  de las Torres who was last seen reversing at speed  up Calle Ancha was due to return in style to the parish church where he will stay until called upon again. He has been in the  chapel up at the castle in the part of the original church which was not destroyed in the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 (300 miles away).
 In Lisbon, itself,  between 10,000 and 100,000 people were killed. It was the equivalent of 8-9 on the Richter Scale which was not invented until 1935.

 

The Richter Magnitude Scale

 

 

The doomed church of Las Torres was built on top of the mosque abandoned by the Moors in the 1480s. Jesus de las Torres does not spend much time up there. (22 days this time).  I think it is felt that he will be safer down in the parroqia.

                                     El Castillo. The chapel is on the far right

The castle itself has had a lot of work done on it recently. Possibly thousands  of tons of concrete have been used to make the ruins stable and on the whole it looks a lot tidier, especially since all the crumbling empty funeral  niches have been demolished and removed. It certainly looks good from a distance when the new floodlights are on and during the morning and evening  the kestrels circle the towers  with obvious pride.

Unfortunately the ayuntamiento has decided it can no longer afford the services of Joseli who has been the vigilante (caretaker) for the last couple of years while the work was going on. He has 4 or 5 dogs and a horse which grazes on the hillside. There is massive unemployment here and Joseli has no chance of getting another job.  He used to sing in a folkloric group and is a prominent character in the Plaza Baja. Naturally he is very upset and angry and I think he  told me the other day that one of the new floodlights has already been ripped out. He speaks a bit quickly, especially when he's cross.

                                                                 Joseli

I was told by the owner of the house with the disappearing balcony that it will all be sorted out tomorrow. His balconies will be rebuilt and with proper supports. People still stand in little groups looking up at the empty balcony. A reader of this blog (there are some) asked me how I managed to photograph the balcony just before it collapsed.
Hmm. amazing floorsight I guess.

I sprayed the grapevine with sulphur yesterday. It burns the eyes a bit but it keeps the Powdery Mildew away.

There was a winner of the popular caption competition. Mrs.Moran of Bromley suggested.

                  
                                    "I swear, Toblerones at the airport, this big!"

Off to Portugal tomorrow.

April 7th. 2013