It is insanely hot.  And it’s been insanely hot for weeks.  It will be insanely hot for many more weeks.  The highest we’ve had recently was 44 degrees and we’re averaging around the 40 degrees mark for most days.  34 is considered a cooler day.

Welcome to Cordoba and its environs. 

Is it nice at the moment?  Not really.  So why do we and millions of others stay here?  Well, it’s only for a few months, you start to get used to the rhythm of the days and nights, it’s been this way since time began and people have  coped with it and it  means we have great weather for most of the year.

Is it getting worse?  Yes.  I’m not sure anyone could dispute that.  It will slowly, incrementally but surely get worse as the years progress.  In fifty years there is a lot of doubt about how liveable this part of the world will be.  Will we be around in fifty years?  Who knows?  Maybe!

Anyway, back to the present.  The school year has finally finished without a single present from any student. 

WTF? 

I know, right?  Outrageous. 

We did have lots going on at the end of the third term.  I went away with year 9 to an adventure camp type of place which was so Spanish it was almost a cliché.  I don’t mean that in a nasty way at all, we had a lot of fun.   We had a Year 13 Graduation ceremony where everyone except me got very merry indeed, including some of my year 11 students and where Sonalee was feted as the amazing IB co-ordinator that she is. 

We have left the house in El Higueron to return to the village for the summer and bringing everything, including two annoyed cats, back with us.  My word, how easy it is to accumulate crap!  I think I’ve done about 5 trips back here during the last few weeks with a van full of stuff.  The house feels stuffed.

But it’s so good to be back in the house, despite the heat.  So good.  It’s our home, it’s the home of the dogs and the cats.  Do we ponder how we can stay here permanently whilst still being able to enjoy the perks of earning a wage?  Of course we do, every single day we are here.  We hope to figure it out soon.

Meanwhile, the plaza bar has reopened after so long.  The plaza is the centre of the village, the heart of it if you will.  For it o have been silent has had a negative effect on everyone here that we know and probably more that we don’t yet know. 

And we are on our holidays.  True, we have to find a new place to live in Cordoba in September because we feel the need to spend some time somewhere different there.

The difference this time is that we know people in Cordoba, we know the area and we have more than one week to find somewhere to live; yes, looking back it was quite the quick change in circumstances for the both of us when Sonalee got the job.  This time we don’t have to try to buy another car! 

And we’re still finding stuff interesting about Cordoba.  We saw Texas the other night as part of the Guitar Festival there.  They were brilliant.  Seriously good.  The venue was amazing, an outdoor amphitheatre with views of the Mesquita and the old town. 

Naturally the only downside were the Andalusians who insist on talking really bloody loudly whilst ignoring the band because the conversation is the most important thing in the world.  This is normal for Andalusia.  There are always people who will discuss, at length, what their neighbour said to them, what their mum cooked for lunch or what they bought in El Corte Ingles or whatever inanity they need to offload despite the rather brilliant event going  on around them.   It’s a thing here.

I swear, if there is an Armageddon where the Devil’s minions come to take us all to Hell, there will be thousands of Andalusians who will be discussing what their boss told them to do or what the  tomatoes were like at Mercadona and who will be completely oblivious to the end of the entire world. Don’t get me started on what would happen in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse.

Anyway, we’ve been told, by  various people, to never go to the theatre here.  

As we end the first week of our holidays we realise just how much work needs to be done on the house and how much it is nice to be able to just be here with all of the animals. 

Ciao

Hasta Luego, inshallah

Ayubowan

Paul

PS:  Texas really were very very good.  It’s hard to choose a favourite if I’m honest.  Maybe this one.    Or this one.