A few days ago, before it started raining and raining, I was striding purposefully down our street to buy a barra de pan at Antonio and Flores's delightful little corner shop 'Lo Más Natural' when I spotted Antonio 'Zapatero' the cobbler in an unusually jolly mood. Antonio is rather small and has a physical disability that has left him with a 'rolling gait' which can best be described as similar to that of Quasimodo, played by Charles Laughton, in the 1939 film 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.'
Between demonic cackles he was able to point out one of our vecinos (neighbours) lying across the usually dog turd festooned road chucking oranges under a parked car. A small crowd was gathering to watch the fun.
-¿Es un gato? - I enquired,
-No. Una rata-
Towns and villages like Álora all have customs and traditions (Is there a difference?) which are sometimes charming and fascinating and sometimes bizarre and perplexing.I'm particularly fond of el día de la meceero (annual day of the swing and rude songs) when a wooden bench is suspended from two high balconies and young women of all ages get the chance to show off their underwear while capullos (dirty old men of all ages) sing meceeros (rude songs) and shout insults at them. Great fun.
'The day of the rat hunt with oranges'. is a new one on me and I can see its appeal. Unlike the day of the meceeros no food or drink is involved. It will never catch on. There used to be a similar event in Llareggub, North Wales but it was banned after the passing of The Hunting Act of. 2004.
Hardly a year goes by without Calle Cervantes being torn up and resurfaced again. Everyone in town looks forward to the new and interesting road diversions that come into force. You get to see streets that you never knew existed and meet new friends as you find yourself driving the wrong way up a newly designated one-way street. Takings at the Repsol garage down on Calle Constitution have shot up too. It took me 14 minutes to take Mrs. Sánchez to her yoga class last week instead of the usual 4 minutes 50 seconds.
The stylish block paving was a big success at first but after a few showers all the sand was washed away from between the bricks and the heavy traffic through town did the rest.
I expect the work will all be finished when we return to Álora in March.
Now that all the olives have been gathered in from Olivar Caicunes we can think about our return to pre-Brexit Britain for the 'festive season'. The problem we have is that our cruise back on the good ship Pont Aven is booked for the 31st. March 2019, two days after Britain takes back control of its affairs and a new golden age begins on the 'sceptered isle'. So far there is no agreement about Tommy's and Monty's 'Pet Passports' in the brave new post Brexit world. They only work across EU countries so we might be turned away at Plymouth or Santander. Nobody seems to know what's going to happen.
It wasn't good olive picking weather this year. Lots of rain and cold winds took a lot of the fun out of it.
Fortunately 'The Fractured Three' plus other valiant volunteers managed to pick 1757 kg. of olives which we took to the mill to be 'pressed'.
In actual fact olives are not 'pressed' at all these days unless you take them to a traditional mill which is hard to find.
The old method of extracting oil from olives went like this.
The olives were first crushed by massive heavy stones, usually cone shaped in Spain. All the olive got crushed including the 'nut' in the middle. and the skins.
All the mushy paste fell through holes in the flat stones. The paste was then put on big circular esparto mats in layers on the 'olive press'.
The pile of olive paste was then squashed or 'pressed' between the esparto mats and the liquid dropped down into a tank below. This would be a mixture of oil, watery juice and skins.
That was the 'first press' that you read on olive oil labels.
Then the oil had to separated from the water and the 'solid waste'. This happened in a tall tank with a tap at the bottom and one nearer the top for the oil. Oil has a lower 'specific gravity' than water so it rises up above the water and is drained out by a tap.
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The best olive oil was the oil from the first pressing. Later all the waste and the residue on the mats could be pressed again, sometimes using hot water (not 'cold pressed'). This gave inferior oil.
These days the olives are washed and then crushed in an electric grinder, kneaded in a big tank and then the water and oil are separated in a centrifuge.
There is no 'second pressing'. 'Cold pressed' these days means that the temperature of the water used must not be above 80°F.
.... As I was writing this all the lights and power went off so I had to stop. It looks like a total rewiring job. Mrs. S and I leave Álora once again on a sad note.
Before I go I thought the pie enthusiasts among my many readers might be interested in this curious object which came into my possession this morning.
It's a lemon pasty!
See you when the lights go back on.
Juanito Sánchez November 22nd 2018
