The End of an Era in Álora. 'The Incorruptible One' Steps Down.

The End of An Era in Álora. 'The Incorruptible One' Steps Down.

Mrs.Sánchez and I are recovering from a short sojourn in the sunny south of Spain. Despite the stalwart efforts of Ryanair to make our trip as difficult and uncomfortable as possible, we were able to bask in the the warm winter sun for a few days whilst carrying out essential work in our Álora garden and on the family estate in Casarabonela that we call Olivar Caicunes. This time last year we made a similar trip, carefully choosing the dates to coincide with a luna menguante (a waning moon) which we were told would give us a better crop of grapes, and it worked!

I don't know what I did wrong but I ended up booking flights that got us there at the start of a waxing moon instead. I'm  blaming that on Ryanair,  who were selling flights for 18.99 each way, but only during a waxing moon. Ryanair are now saying that they are selling their flights too cheaply!
I managed to navigate through their web page without spelling my name wrong or booking a hotel, car hire or reserving a seat; all of which would have added to the bill, but I thought we would need 'hand luggage' or what they now call 'cabin bags', for a couple of changes of clothes, a few mouth organs, a bluetooth speaker, books and sandwiches- the usual stuff. You've got to book 'Priority Class' now to take a bag on the plane, which cost us more than the tickets.

Ryanair decided to teach us a lesson for not booking seats in advance ( 9.00 each) by putting me on row 8 and Mrs.S. on row 33, right outside the toilets. She didn't seem to mind at all! Have I mentioned that Mr S.likes nothing better than to engage strangers in conversation? Well, she had a regular captive supply of new chums to chat to about Brexit as they waited, with plaited legs and strained facial expressions, for the lavatory.

We're very worried about Brexit. We want Britain to stay in the EU. So do Tommy and Monty. At the moment we can take the dogs to and from Spain in our car using Pet Passports as long as we keep their rabies jabs up to date, but after March 29th. their passports will be invalid and nobody knows what will happen if there's no withdrawal agreement. We've booked tickets that get us into Spain on the 28th.of March so we should be able to get back to Álora by the 29th.We have no idea how we'll get back. No doubt, in this best of all possible worlds, common sense will prevail and everything will turn out all right in the end.

Also, the EHIC European Health Card which allows us to get free emergency medical treatment in Spain (two broken legs, a broken shoulder and a broken wrist so far) will become invalid on March 29th. Health insurance for old codgers like us costs an arm and a leg.......

The EHIC card.

Despite our health cover we both came back with colds, the one addition to your flight that Ryanair do not charge for.

Álora hadn't changed much in the six weeks we'd been away. The big news was that our much loved and hardworking Alcalde (Mayor )( José Sánchez Moreno - Epi to his friends and no relation) is stepping down from his post.

Here he is opening a photography exhibition this week (looks a bit chilly down there).

He has been in the post for 16 years, having being re-elected several times. He holds the rare qualification of being a Spanish politician who has never been convicted or even accused of corruption while holding public office. Well done Epi! (You never did put in those drains that you promised us, though.).

During the property boom years in the early 2,000s it seemed as though alcaldes and their pals were being locked up all over Andalucía.
In 2013 there were reported to be 1661 politicians accused of corruption in Spain.
541 of them were in Andalucía.
200 were in Valencia
but only 4 in Rioja.

Andalucía's most famous corrupt politician was Jesús Gil in Marbella. They never brought him to book.

                                    Jesús Gil with some of his closest advisers


At the moment everyone in Andalucía is waiting anxiously for news about the 2 year old boy, Julen Roselló who fell down a well near Totolán, Malaga Province, 9 days ago. He was picnicking with his parents at the time. The well is more than 300ft (94.1 metres) deep and only 12 inches (30cm.) wide and Julen is thought to be 200 ft (60.96metres) down. Rescuers  have been working day and night to reach the boy by drilling another shaft parallel to the well. Miners from Asturias are leading the drilling. Today they hope to begin drilling horizontally and find the lad.

The drilling of these pozos('wells')  was very commonplace a few years ago. Developers would buy a cheap piece of land with no water supply which could not be built on. If and when they found water, the value of the land shot up ; huge profits were made this way. This particular hole had only been covered by a pile of stones with no warning notice.

                                                 Dawn in Casarabonela

The almond trees are in blossom at the moment. We have a few up on our olive patch which we call Olivar Caicunes . Mrs. S. and I went up there early on Saturday morning with Chuster and his cuñado (brother-in-law) to prune our olives. (even though it was during a waxing moon). We arrived as dawn was breaking and the work started immediately. Chuster and his oppo pruned our olives last time and I'd hoped to be able to do them myself this year. It took them about 4 hours to do the lot (124 trees) and clear up the mountains of branches removed, ready for burning. (It has to be done before 1st. May.)

The next step is to put down organic fertiliser - 6 kilos a tree. I'm leaving that to Chuster (his real name is Salvador) too.
He works so quickly that neither Mrs.S. nor I noticed that a recently planted almond tree had been chopped back to its slender trunk. We were staring at it in amazement and dismay when Chuster strode up out of the olives.

'I'm going to put some plums on that', he announced.
It's true that you can graft prunes onto almond trees; they're both of the genus Prunus, along with peaches and cherries and I've seen plums growing on almond trees, but Mrs. S. doesn't like plums.
.
'Do you want black plums or white plums?'
'Er......both'
'Vale'. (OK)
So that`s that.

Speaking of olives, it's just been announced that there has been a 20% drop in olive oil consumption in Spain over the last 10 years :

2008 :    425 million litres
2017:     324 million litres

Hard to believe or what?
Apparently the drop in consumption is mainly among 'young people'  who are turning away from 'The Mediterranean Diet' in which olive oil plays a big role.

Also there has been a big price hike over the last few years, from €2.47 to €4.02 a litre (a rise of 63%!)

Some people might suspect that the price rise in Spain has a lot to do with the the big increase in demand  for Spanish olive oil abroad, particularly from Italy which continues to import Spanish oil and bottle it as 'Italian'. I couldn't possibly comment.

Our own Olivar Caincunes Raw Unfiltered Olive Oil continues to be reasonably priced and very tasty too.


The improvements which our Ayuntamieto began up Calle Ancha as part of a big improvement in what they call El Arrabal (The Poor Quarter) continue.

Following resounding popular acclaim for the 'stairway to heaven' or 'road to nowhere', half way up Calle Ancha, work is well underway to build a 'mirador' (viewing area) round the back of the Castillo Arabe.

At the moment you would have to climb up to the castle and look over the low wall to to see the stunning views. It already IS a mirador.


They built one down in La Plaza Baja de la Despedía,  El Mirador de Cervantes. It is very beautiful and commemorates the time that Miguel Cervantes, author of Spain's only famous book, Don Quijote, spent in Álora a few years ago.

                                                  El Mirador de Cervantes

There was a big opening ceremony with the town band playing selections from 'Man of La Mancha' (To Dream the Impossible Dream etc.) Since it was opened it has remained locked except for special occasions such as Sopas Perotas Day, The Despedia and National Mirador Day. The lady who runs the kiosco next door has a key and will let you in if she is satisfied that you won't piddle in the pool, pinch the plants, smoke marijuana or look scruffy.
Needless to say,  it doesn't get many visitors.

Let's hope that the new mirador will be as successful.

I'm rather proud to say that I am resposible for the 'improvements' made at number 29 Calle De Benito Suarez. 
For many years number 29 has been falling down. In the 50s and 60s it was a shop and the interior hasn't changed in the last 70 years. The  lady who owned it, Ana, made no attempt to repair it and it had become dangerous. The front doorway has been propped up for a few years. My neighbours whose house adjoins Number 29 have been increasingly anxious that it may fall down and take part of their house with it.
I advised them to take out a denuncia (an official complaint) which I wrote out for them just before  we came back to England in November.
Well I never! The Ayuntamiento has taken action and made it safe. I'm so proud. It looks so much nicer now, don't you think?

Pie News

Who doesn't remember the Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney Pie?

We always had one in the cupboard in case supplies of real pies dried up (it never happened) or if we were snowed in and couldn't get out to the shops (which did). I can't remember a time when Fray Bentos Pies did not exist.
In fact, they have been on the shelves of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 1961. You need a tin opener to remove the lid, then you pop it in the oven for 25 minutes, the pastry puffs up and the filling starts to bubble.
For nearly 70 years, thousands of people have successfully opened and heated up a Fray Bentos Pie and tucked in.
Now the company is owned by Baxters Food Group and they have responded to complaints from customers who are unable to open the tin. One hungry and petulant pie punter wrote;

“It is official, after three years of having this pie under my bed in my emergency food box it's going in the bin.”

People just don't know how to use tin openers any more; it's all ring pulls now.
For donkeys' years Fray Bentos have sold their corned beef (also delicious) in lethal steel containers which are almost guaranteed to land you up in A&E with a severed finger or two when you try to use the 'key' to tear back the razor sharp lid . Even so, fearless consumers have continued to buy the stuff by the megaton.
Baxters have rejected the 'ring pull' as too dangerous and are planning to redesign the tin.

How can Great Britain hope to go it alone if the Brits can't even use a tin opener?

We didn't use all our expensive baggage allowance on the way back because Mrs.S. left hers in Álora. Don't ask.

Juanito Sánchez. January 22nd 2019 .

Catherine of Aragon, Pomegranates, Piecrusts and Graverobbers.

Catherine of Aragon, Henry Vlll, Pomegranates, Piecrusts and Graverobbers.

On Sunday, as Mrs. Sánchez and I, with heavy hearts, were undressing our Christmas tree and packing up our traditional festive fairy lights, our neighbour, Chalkie, rang to tell me that nearby Blakesley Hall was open to the public with no admission charge. He only lives across the road and could have just shouted or rung our bell, but English people are not as 'abierto' (open) as Spanish people, especially now we are about to turn our backs on Europe and try to keep out 'foreigners'.
Well, I'd no idea how much the admission charge is normally but I just can't resist a bargain, so off we went. It was a crisp,sunny winter's day. Blakesley Hall is in Yardley in Birmingham ,about 20 minutes from our Winter Quarters, where we have overwintered  for 35 years, and we've never been there before.
                                                            Blakesley Hall

 I didn't know much about Yardley except that it doesn't make cosmetics and it used to have a pub with the longest bar in Europe -The Swan- which everybody called 'The Swan at Yardley', probably because that's where it was and because there had been a pub there on Coventry Road since 1600.

                                                     The Swan at Yardley

It was knocked down in 1997 as was the The Swan Centre, known affectionately as 'The Ugly Duckling ' which was the ugliest shopping centre in Birmingham , if not the whole of the West Midlands.

                                    The Swan Centre 2009 (It's a Tesco Extra now)

So what's all this got to do with Spain, pomegranates and Henry Vlll?

Not much, but I'm supposed to writing about Álora and Spain, so if you bear with me for a minute, all will be revealed.

Say Hello to Dennis, who volunteers at Blakesley Hall on Wednesdays. He gave up his Sunday to show Mrs. Sánchez and I round the creaky old place. He managed to keep my attention for an hour and a half, which is not bad going, and he's only been doing it since April.

All the years and hundreds of times that I've driven down the A45 Coventry Road through Yardley on the way to  the airport or the municial dump or even Coventry, I had no idea that the land around me was once owned by the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain (Los Reyes Catolicos) Catherine of Aragon.

                                        Catalina de Aragon (Catherine of Aragon)

Anyone who went to school or watches the telly (some people qualify twice) knows that Catherine of Aragon (Catalina de Aragon) was Henry the Eighth's first wife (one who didn't get the chop).  She was dumped by him after, 7 pregnancies, for Ann Boleyn (who did get the chop 3 years later). Some say it served her right.
Catherine was a very popular queen, even if Henry didn't fancy her, and they loved her to bits in Yardley. She had a perfect complexion (as you can see the picture) and the story goes that when, in 1770, a new  cosmetic company was looking for a name for their product. They chose  'Catherine of Aragon'

"Use Aragon and thy wrinkles be gone"

but they were banned from using her name  by George lll because of Lege-majesté.

Catherine was very fond of pomegranates, which were introduced into Spain by the 'Moors', and she chose them as her emblem when she came to England in 1501 to marry Henry's big brother, Prince Arthur Tudor, who was heir to the Throne of England. They got engaged (betrothed) when she was 10 years old and married by proxy when she was 14. The couple moved to Wales and Arthur died 5 months later of a mysterious illness. In those days all illnesses were mysterious. It could have been a dodgy granada (pomegranate).

                                                       Yardley Old Church

Dennis told us that if you go to nearby Yardley Old Church (built in the 13th. century) and  look above the original oak door you can see a Tudor rose and a pomegranate which were put there to commemorate the wedding of Catherine and the doomed prince.

 Here's a couple of other things that Dennis told us:

1.The reason that Tudor beds are a bit short is NOT because people were smaller in the olden days but because they used to sleep sitting up in bed to help their digestion after eating all that red meat.

2.Henry the Eighth was 6 ft. 4inches (1.93 metres) tall and he only looks small in the pictures because he had a 52 inch (1.32meters) waist. (very handy if you go shopping for trousers in The Sales).

3. He didn't get fat by eating all the pies because in the olden days they didn't eat the crust.

                                                      Tasty Tudor pies
What a waste!!!

My favourite piece of Dubious Dennis Data is about milk maids who often contracted cowpox from the cows. This made them immune to smallpox when everyone else was going down with it and ensured a pock-marked free visage. And that's why all the chaps used to fancy the milkmaids!
Nice one Dennis.

                                                                A milkmaid

Back to Alora 

Mrs. S and I are off to Álora tomorrow to do a bit of gardening. Last year we pruned the grape vine during a waning moon according to local custom and we had the best crop for years. Unfortunately we could only get a flight at the end of a waning moon this time so, as the Perotes say:
'To' pa' na'' (All for nothing).
The olives need pruning and our good friends from Ireland, Graham and Mary, will be there at the same time so it's worth a few hours of ritual humiliation by Ryanair which seems to go out of its way to make your journey unpleasant and stressful.
After paying more for a couple of pieces of hand luggage than I did for the flights, I decided not to pay another £24 to 'book a seat'. They have allocated us 'random' seats. Mine is in row 8 and Mrs. Sanchez in on row 33, right at the back of the plane by the toilets.
That will teach me to cross Ryanair!

Monty and Tommy have been sentenced to a week's incarceration at the 'Hylton Hound Hotel'.

                                                    Can't we stay here?

It will be good to get away from Brexit for a bit but Spain is having its own problems at the moment. The Andalusian Parliament (Junta) has been taken over by the Partido Popular and Cuidadanos who need the far right party Vox in order to govern. Vox have 14 seats and are threatening to withdraw their support unless the laws against violence against women are dropped........Sound familiar?

The other big struggle is the plan to 'dig up Franco's body'. He is, at the moment, interred in the massive mausoleum at El Valle de los Caidos north of Madrid alongside the founder of the Spanish 'Falange' (Spanish Fascist Party), José Antonio Primo de Rivera.


José can stay where he is because he actually was one of 'los caidos' (the fallen) as he was killed in the Civil War. Franco died with his boots on in 1975 so he's got to go. The other reason is that 'Franco's Tomb' is the focus for gatherings of Spain's neo-fascists who want a return to a fascist dictatorship and make a lot of noise and wave flags. The' Law of Historic Memory' allows  the exhumation and removal of the Generalisimo (so far no-one can agree what to do with the bodyonce it's been dug up..

The priest is in charge of the mausoleum, Benedictine monk Prior Santiago Cantera has said that he will refuse to allow the exhumation to happen. Of course, he will be breaking the law and there will be be a big fuss and even violent demonstrations.
Santiago Cantera has had an interesting career:

Before becoming a Benedictine monk he stood in the 1993 General Election on behalf of the 'Partido Falange Espanola Independiente' (Independent Spanish Falange). He lost.

In 1994 he stood in the European Elections on the same ticket. He lost.

He took holy orders as a Benedictine monk

He got the job of looking after Franco's tomb.

Hmmmm.

Pie News 

Just before Christmas I was introduced to a little gem of a café on Market Street in Shaw, near Oldham. It's called Meats and Eats and they specialise in home made pies.

I had a 'Jackson's Farm Fare Traditional Beef Pudding' with mushy peas, chips and gravy with a cup of tea. Scrumptious. I bought a big cheese and onion pie (homemade) to take back to Birmingham. It travelled well and was delicious.

New feature......Interesting Pie facts.

The world's most expensive pie was sold in Novenber 2005 at The Fencegate Inn, Lancashire (of course). It was served to eight (presumably rich, hungry and stupid) people at £1024 a slice.

Recipe

£500 worth of Japanese wagyu beef fillet
Chinese matsutake mushrooms
French Bluefoot mushrooms
Winter Black truffles
Gravy made from 2 bottles of 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothchild wine
For a topping- edible gold leaf.

I hope they got chips and mushy peas with it!

Juanito Sanchez January 9th. 2019.