The best snow in Europe just now..?

Well, that might be pushing it, but while the Alps are suffering with a lack of the white stuff, our own Sierra Nevada opened this weekend with more piste (40kms) than ever before at this time of year. The season's been getting steadily longer and better since we've been coming to the Alpujarra - about eight years - during which global warming has wreaked havoc with the ski industry hundreds of miles north. Here, where you can see Africa on a clear day, no operator is going to give you a guarantee of great snow, but it's getting more dependable every year. Here's a shot from local paper Ideal, showing the first skiers to venture out this year. (They're not going to win awards for photography at Ideal, I'm afraid.) Our house is not for a single-minded skiing holiday, as it's an hour's drive to the slopes, but for a mixed trip which combines winter sports with, say, walking, visiting the Alhambra and a day on the beach, it would be perfect.

This is one of the few places in the world where you really can ski in the morning and swim (comfortably) in the sea in the afternoon of the same day. If you're at our place, you're about half way between the two, as well as close to Granada and surrounded by great scenery in every direction.

Spain's Olympians return from Beijing

I was sorry to see Spain losing out to the US for the gold in the basketball yesterday. The game ended in a very friendly mood, I noticed, with the players hugging and high-fiveing each other. This is perhaps not surprising, as most of the Spanish players (presumably classed as Olympian amateurs for the Games) play for million-dollar salaries in North America and knock about with their adversaries on a regular basis. Away from the basketball court, Spain did less well than expected, and remarkably less well than the UK. We British won loads of medals, which is hardly in the spirit of the thing and certainly not to be encouraged in the future.

Anyway, here is an exclusive pic of "Team Esp" on their return from China. Or it might be some more of the fancy dress from the Juviles fiesta earlier this month.

While we're on the subject, why do we have to say "Beijing" when Spanish speakers can still get away with calling it "Pekin"? Shouldn't they be referring to the Chinese capital as "Veillin" or something like that, just to be fair?