Lemons and Lennon

An article from Andalusian English-language paper the Olive Press here about Driving over Lemons author Chris Stewart and his wife, and their attempts at reducing the carbon footprint of their Alpujarran farm and home. Stewart has managed to squeeze three books out of his experiences near Orgiva, and while they're not Gerald Brennan, they're evocative and enjoyable. I added a comment on another article in the Olive Press, this time about John Lennon in Almería, rashly suggesting that the dead ex Beatle wasn't, in fact, god. And I'm still getting hate mail. I could have published offensive cartoons of the prophet to less opprobrium.

"The Alpujarra is in tears..."

A quote from today's Ideal, referring to the funeral in Cadiar of a young local woman who was murdered early this week by her partner. The couple were both serving in the military and the crime occurred in married quarters in Granada city. Uncomfortably, Cadiar is full to the gills with folk gathered for a fiesta, complete with all the usual bunting, flags, kids' entertainers and wine fountain. The sombre procession of military personnel carrying a coffin through the streets to the church must have been rather surreal amongst that lot. The paper says everyone in Cadiar knew Encarni - which didn't need saying, really, as everyone knows everyone in the Alpujarra. Story here, in Spanish.

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.