I haven't been living in Spain for a few weeks. I had some very sad family business to attend to back in the UK. But now I'm back here, at home in our little Spanish village... and it's so darned hot!
I arrived back in Spain, at Malaga Airport, early in the morning. When I left the UK, the weather had been mild (the usual 'British Summer' in fact). My husband had told me that the temperature in Spain had taken a few leaps upwards, so I was well prepared for the blast of hot air which hit me as I soon as we got outside the airport.
But even being away from Spain for a little while requires 're-aclimatization' when you get back here. For the first few days, even a short trip uphill to our little Spanish village shop felt exhausting. Nevertheless, I love the sunshine here in Spain, so I am definitely not complaining. Especially when we can 'chill out' just a little under the air con in our village bar, drinking a long cool cerveza...
However, the heat in Spain (and particularly in more central areas) has caused serious problems of heath fires. When I watched the fires raging in a couple of Spanish tourist areas, it brought home to me how difficult it is for the Spanish fire services to cope with fires in remote regions. I was also glad that our little Spanish village is relatively free of trees to catch fire. There are some pine trees, but they are on the edge of the village and not that close. Or so I thought...
But a few days ago we had a heath fire on the borders of our little Spanish village and, as we watched the fires rage (and accumulate across the scrubland at the mountain top), we realised just how scary it can be when the main thing you rely upon to put the heath fires out are Spanish helicopters (one in this case), which can only 'bomb' the fire with gallons of water at a time... and then have to fly away to pick more water up.
Watching a Spanish Heath Fire burn and grow, while you wait for the helicopter to return can be a little unnerving...
Here is a picture of one of the heath fires which raged close to our village. It got a little too close for comfort...
I've posted a few more pictures of the heath fire which threatened our little Spanish village on my other
Life In Spain blog. They show the fire progessing and the eventual (happy, thank goodness!) outcome.
I love living in Spain, but sometimes life here can get a little
too hot!