When the crow goes up the tree, the skunk comes under the door.
View from the castle 10.00 am. September 28th. 2012
Three years ago yesterday, after a night of heavy rain, Álora woke up to the worst flood in living memory. The River Guadalhorce, bloated by over 200 litres of water per hour per square metre pouring down the hard, parched hills, broke its banks, sweeping away vehicles, livestock and people. I took Tommy the dog for his usual morning walk up around the castle and from up there the extent of the flood was shocking.
.The morning of 28th. September 2012
Scores of people had very lucky escapes as their furniture disappeared down the river along with their dogs and horses. Two people were found clinging to the branches of a tree. Many, including a local estate agent, had not realised that they were living on a flood plain. Not many were insured.
When the water levels dropped, the steel road bridge which had joined the Barriada del Puente for 70 years was revealed. It had snapped in two. A section of it is now decorating a traffic island.
Two days later.
Today 8.30 am (no bridge).
Nobody expected such a flood and people were quick to apportion blame The dam up at El Chorro which harnesses the Rio Guadalhorce for electricity generation was the obvious culprit, but there is never enough water up there to cause a flood like this. Some of the Brits who live up the valley blamed the ayuntamiento for not clearing out the arroyos.(river gulleys). In fact, the explanation was simply that all the mountains and hills that feed the streams that then feed the Guadalhorce were bone dry following months of drought. The prolonged downpour around Álora was the heaviest recorded that night in Andalucía. The water poured off the hills without soaking in and all in a short disastrous burst.
Perhaps we should have heeded this old Spanish refrán (proverb):
,
'Septiembre, o seca las fuentes o se va los puentes'
(September either dries up the fountains or carries away the bridges).
As you would expect, there are many Spanish sayings about the weather. Some of them translate well -others not so well. Many use animals and birds and they rhyme.
Hasta la cuarenta de mayo no te quites el sayo. (Don't take of your sayo until May 40th.)
Cast not a clout till May is out.
a sayo (a very sexy mediaeval under garment).
En abríl aguas mil. (It rains a lot in April)
Cuando la perdiz canta, señal es de agua. (When the partridge sings it's going to rain).
Cuando la corneja va rasante saca bufanda y guante
(When the crow goes up the tree, wear gloves and a scarf.)
Gato que mucho se lava, cerca está el agua.
When the cat washes itself a lot, it's going to rain.
I've got lots more of these. I can guarantee that nobody in Álora will have heard them before. I've just been up to La Plaza de la Fuente Arriba (the top square which is really a triangle) to try them out. Manolo of Bar Madrugón just did one of his growls and tapped his temple. Antonio (Mayito) Mayo,on the other hand, had an authentic Álora dicho (saying) for me.
'El agua de mayo no cala un cayo.' I have no idea what this means except that it is about rain in May (It's just a coincidence that his surname is Mayo) and it has to do with rain on maize husks and mattresses (perhaps).
As I am writing this, the smell of cannabis is seeping into the house again. It's skunk weed I think because it smells awful. They are probably growing it up the street. It's not illegal to do that in Spain and, according to my research, you can smoke it at home (if you join a cannabis club) but not in the street and you can grow three plants at home too, but not using lights as these could be a dangerous fire risk for your neighbours. It's illegal to sell it, though. When I went for my el Jueves magazine on Wednesday, it was next to a marijuana magazine on the display.
I wonder if there's a weather expression involving cannabis.
Here's a sad story.
This is wall tile. You can see this design in the Alhambra in Granada, the Alcázar in Sevilla, in our hall and in many many bars in Andalucía.
A good friend of ours bought a house here in Álora and used these tiles for the front of the house. Muy tipico. He was rightly proud of his facade but made a confession. He thought he had paid 1€ for each tile but had made a mistake (anyone could have done it) and paid 10€ per tile. Oops. They are hand made and, in my opinion, worth every centimo. He sold the house in July this year.
Last week I passed the house on the way up to the castle with Tommy. All the tiles had been removed and four bulging sacks stood outside. My immediate thought was to buy the tiles from the new owner and put them in or on my house. Not to be. All but this one were broken and about to be dumped. The new owner didn't like them. I'm looking forward to seeing what goes up instead. But here's a thing. Apparently the ayuntamiento of this fine pueblo has decreed that this type of tile (called a 'Sevilla') must not be put on the facades of houses here because it not at all 'tipico'. (Our friend will kill me for writing this. Sorry mate.) He paid 1000€ for those tiles!
Readers of this organ may recall the 'case of the red house' down our street which was forcibly repainted white by agents of the ayuntamiento.The bill was sent to the owner.
September 29th. 2014
Juanito Sanchez
