More on the weather

We needed rain and we got it.

After the bad weather of last week, Saturday looked promising. One of our neighbours remarked about it as she passed our house with her dogs. The lady was not best pleased though when I told her that the return to sunshine would not last.

By yesterday afternoon, the rain started and became torrential as the night drew on. Since our houses don’t have guttering, the water runs off the roof and down the gulleys from where you can hear it lashing down onto the pavement below.  You don’t need to go outside to know when it is raining hard!

By the time Pam and I were ready for bed, it had eased off but was still raining heavily. This morning, although the clouds are broken and it is dry, there is still the threat of rain in the sky. However, whatever rain we get over the next day or so should not compare with that of yesterday. What we will get tomorrow though are strong winds which will ease off by Wednesday.

I remember our first neighbours, who had arrived six months before us, said they had abandoned their winter coats when they came to Spain. They imagined that the weather here would be mild all year round and so were neither prepared for the cold of winter nor the heat of summer. Although there is little chance of us seeing snow in Bigastro, we have experienced frost and we certainly need heating in winter to keep warm.

Although our houses are not built in the same way as those in Britain with a cavity between a brick outer wall and a breeze block inner, they do have two skins of hollow brick with a waterproof thermal barrier between them. Those that have windows facing south get the benefit of the warming sun through them - even in winter. And in summer, there are shutters to keep the heat out.

Pam and I may have been fortunate (or circumspect)  in choosing a house with the right aspect because we find it comfortable to be in all year round. The only issue we have is that we pay for our open view when the wind blows hard from the west.