We're off to Spain at the weekend...

On Sunday we're flying from John Lennon International to Federico Garcia Lorca for a week's stay at our Spanish home in Juviles. (Interesting that Liverpool and Granada both named their airports after famous cultural figures. Up here in Scotland our airports are just called Glasgow and Edinburgh. Prosaic, but preferable to having an airport called, say, Irvine Welsh International.) Anyway, 26 celsius and "cero probabilidad de precipitacion" sounds good. Expect some pictures of local wildlife etc. here in a couple of weeks.

In the unlikely even that you want us, call +34 697914136.

Mira, una culebra!

Someone found this dead snake a block away from the supposedly python-ridden Los Pisillos buildings in Motril the other day, although the workmen removing the roofs to get at the "nest" found nothing. I love the way the guy's pointing; "look at the dead snake! Don't look at the fag packet or the Coke can, look at the snake!"

Every city should have ...

...a big fountain to leap around in when your team wins. Unfortunately, Granada's teams tend not to win much, so people leap around in the Fuente de las Batallas (just off Acera del Darro, and near El Corte Ingles) when Real Madrid win instead. The other night though, it was the national squad beating Italy in the quarter finals of the European tournament that brought 3,000 Granadinos out to get soaked. I don't profess to know anything about football, but it appears that Spain's getting past Italy is a bigger triumph than if they win the trophy itself next week, against whoever. Here's the fuente with some revellers in and around it.

This is just ridiculous

As I expected, the attempt to fumigate the serpents of Motril failed - we learn in this Ideal article - and the occupants of the social housing blocks owned by the Junta de Andalucia are now getting brand new roofs. Watch this space for the imminent discovery of a stash of plastic pythons beneath the slates. Meanwhile, here is a worrying article that suggests more strikes are on the way. Selfish, I know, but this threatens our week's holiday, and that's serious.

A lynx's dinner

That rabbit recipe I promised:

1 big rabbit about 1.5-2 kilos, cut into small pieces
4 cloves garlic
2 onions, sliced
A can of tomatoes or half a kilo of chopped fresh tomatoes
Bay leaves and sprigs of thyme, tarragon, rosemary, whatever you fancy and have to hand
A slug of brandy
A glass of wine
Salt and pepper to taste
More herbs to serve (parsley, probably)
Oil
Brown all the pieces of rabbit, season and keep aside. Make a sofrito of onions, garlic and tomatoes in a casserole dish, preferably a clay cazuela. Add the herbs (retaining a small handful for finishing) and put the rabbit back in the pan. Pour in the brandy and set it alight. When it's burned off, add the wine. Bring to a boil and let the sauce reduce and thicken a bit. Then add water to at least cover the meat. Reduce heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for anywhere between an hour for a tender farmed animal to two for a tough old wild one. Check it every twenty minutes or so and top up the liquid if it needs it, making sure it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. You could do it in an oven, in which case you could probably forget about it for a good while. When it's done, check seasoning and sprinkle the reserved green herbs. This is one of those dishes that British people think should be served with rice, but the Spanish would serve it with fried potatoes or, in the Alpujarra, papas a lo pobre. I fancy pasta with it, personally. A good green salad and plenty of bread and wine are of course essential.

No more on monster

The snake story from Motril has been well and truly eclipsed by the fuel crisis, and it's hardly surprising since one young man was killed on the picket in Granada - knocked down accidentally by a vehicle rather than in anger, I think, but tragic nevertheless. So I think we've heard the last of la bicha de los Pisillos; as far as I know the fumigation has been successful and if I read more I'll link to it from here. Before we say goodbye to La Señora though, top marks to the ad agency who handle the segundamano.com account. Sugundamano is a bit like ebay, and they've been running this banner ad - python for sale - since the story hit the headlines a couple of weeks ago.

No Gas

A national strike by truckers protesting about the price of fuel is causing major shortages in Granada province. The petrol station in Cadiar - our nearest - apparently ran out of gas yesterday (Monday 9th). It's such a big story it's putting the python of Motril in the shade, so to speak. Now police protection is accompanying a convoy of trucks through the province, so supplies should get through, but it looks like it's going to be difficult for a while. I just hope there's some petrol around by the time we pick up our hire car at Granada airport in three weeks. Story here.

Time's up for the Motril snakes

The Motril mother and her daughters are living on borrowed time now. The latest plan is to fumigate the roof tomorrow (Tuesday), once the human inhabitants of the block have been decanted. On the far right of this shot you can just make out the head of a snake - probably. Surely fumigation will only kill the snakes if they are under the roof when the smoke is applied, though? If they're sunbathing on the top again, they'll probably just sneeze a bit and carry on eating pigeon's eggs. It seems the caged-rabbit trap failed, as did an attempt by residents (reported at the weekend) to get the Junta de Andalucia to pay for a complete new roof. Link to latest here.

More Monster of Motril

The serpent story in Motril just gets better and better. Here's Fina, one of the more vociferous of the tenants at Los Pisillos, getting a wee shot in the fire department's hydraulic lift to look for the snakes, despite suffering from vertigo and an apparent inability to shut up. She didn't see a thing - "ni la madre ni sus hijas". However, the firemen planted a trap for La Señora on the roof, in the form of a cage containing a live rabbit. The idea is she'll slide through the bars and swallow the unfortunate creature, whereupon she'll be too big to get out again for at least two days. This plan doesn't take the "daughters" into account; the Motrileños assume the baby snakes will just die when they're deprived of mother's milk. Even funnier though - they were going to try this plan with two hamsters, rather than a rabbit. The hamsters escaped in the town hall and are still at large somewhere amongst the municipal paperwork, breeding. You really could not make it up. I love Andalucia.

The Monster of Motril

There are a few smallish snakes native to Granada Province but 2.5 metre pythons like the one currently terrorising a whole neighbourhood in Motril are not part of the natural fauna of the area. The beautiful creature (christened La Señora by locals) has been living in the eaves of an apartment block for three weeks, supposedly eating pigeons' eggs, and she has some babies with her. Looks like an albino Burmese python to me, though I'm hardly an expert, and she's clearly escaped from someone's flat. The old ladies of the barrio of Los Pisillos are in quite a tizzy, but the authorities have said there's nothing they can do and "anyway, she's not venomous". Follow this link for the story (in Spanish) in Ideal and watch the hilarious video. The head of the snake can be seen clearly over the roof slates and she doesn't look 2.5 metres to me - but maybe that's one of the babies. In one shot you can also see someone's collection of marijuana plants growing on a balcony. Interestingly there are two words for snake in Spanish - culebra means any old snake you might step on in the back yard, but serpiente is clearly the term for a drama snake.

Joke

Sorry about this, but I feel compelled to share a joke.
Q: How many Spaniards does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Juan.