We lost Dante today.  He passed away on the sofa at home with his mummy by his side after a relatively short illness from a cancerous tumour that grew aggressively during the latter part of the summer. He was eleven and a half years old.  Now that isn’t bad for a dog who was found…

Firstly, apologies for the quantity of photos. Or maybe not; they’re probably better than reading my inane thoughts. Anyway, we went to Ireland for a trip that we have been telling ourselves we should have arranged for a few years. It was a holiday but it was also a sort of pilgrimage to see the…

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 weather has turned once again.  We are now into the summer season which means the temperature is slowly creeping up to the mid 30’s each day which means more issues with trying to walk the dogs at a time and place where they’re not going to overheat. This means the hills around Cordoba.  It’s…

The weather has finally turned from very wet, at least temporarily, and into the normal kind of weather we associate with Cordoba i.e. hot and dry. It has been pissing it down for about six weeks now, which is not exactly normal and it does seem that a lot of rain has fallen in a…

For the first time in human history the majority of people no longer live in a rural environment. According to the United Nations, over 50% of the global population now lives in cities. The abandonment of the rural environment has grave consequences for society in general, as these areas are healthier places to live, produce…

Tuesday night football playing against the year 12 boys is continuing for me as is the pain in the legs for the two days that follow it.  I am very gradually improving my awareness, touch and fitness but it’s a slow process.  Tuesday night football is also the night when I fully experience the cold…

Priego de Cordoba is the nearest town from our village of Fuente Tojar. It is nearest in distance as the crow flies but is only accessible via a zig-zag road through the local hills; a road that is difficult for huge trucks to access easily. This is being rectified by a new, straighter road that…

Well, that was an interesting year.  And a good one, for the most part. I didn’t manage to finish the book that I have been working on for years but I did write more of it. I didn’t finish the other book that I started in the summer but I am very much nearly there.…

El Higueron is where we live during the week, albeit on the outskirts of it. When we tell people at work where we live they always look a mixture of puzzled, slightly alarmed and unsure of what to say next. This is because El Higueron is in the top fifteen places of deprivation in the…