From late May up until after the travelling fair has been and gone, round and about the first weekend of September, it very rarely rains in our part of Andalucia. This year the heavy rains didn’t sweep in till a week or so ago.
“To every cloud there’s a silver lining,” is the sort of thing boring old farts in pubs will tell you when it’s tipping down in Swampton Mirely and you haven’t brought a raincoat, so I won’t bother.
Instead, I’d like to point out that, typically Andalucian, to every cloud there’s a dazzling, multi-coloured lining trimmed with gold down here. Once the clouds start drifting back Conil de la Frontera is treated to some stunningly spectacular sunsets and sunrises throughout September and October. I tried to capture a few. And a miscellaneous selection of what I have always referred to as ‘other stuff’.
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lets just keep the bulls and stop the fighting! was away in the delights of Doncaster when you posted this so enjoyed catching up today with the lovely Angelicart and views both scenic and political – another old saying seems apt though ‘there’s gold in them there hills’ 🙂
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Thanks, Laura. Angelica will be very pleased to hear you like her pictures; she’s a very hard worker indeed. Perhaps I should send her up into ‘them thar hills’ for if there is gold she won’t stop digging until she finds it! 😀
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quizá el oro está debajo el torro – seriously though Angelica’s gold lies in her brushwork
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Lovely images Bryan, reminded me of where I lived in Mid-North SA, similar climate, and so brought a slight feeling of homesickness….
Angelicas paintings are of course, superb.
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Yep, googling a few photos of Mid-North they look mighty similar, especially with the windmills. I think our part of Andalucia might just have a few more forest areas.
Thanks for popping by!
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So those bulls are still around… Last time I saw one was in the last millenium… Some things never change, it seems… 😉
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I think the north of Spain has pretty much done away with them. Catalonia, in particular, saw them as representative of the Franco era.
But you have to remember we’re at the opposite corner of Spain, almost exactly an hour’s drive from Jerez, known throughout the world for its fine sherries and home to the Osborne sherry company. The bull is the company’s trademark and still features a lot in the countryside around here. A law passed in 1994 stated the signs should be removed. But after many complaints a compromise was reached by just removing the name Osborne from the bulls, as so many tourists had come to see them as a trademark of Spain. Of course, the company may live to regret the association as bullfighting is in steep decline with huge numbers of Spaniards seeing it as cruel to animals. And about time too!
Coincidentally, there’s a British politician name Osborne a lot of British folk wouldn’t mind removing just now, for trying to remove the tax credits for underpaid workers that have kept them just above dire poverty.
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Jerez de la Frontera… Also known for its ‘gitano’ community that is very passionate about Flamenco… 🙂
It surprises me that even in Spain there is an opposition to bull fighting… In a way, indeed – about time!… But there is a whole world of culture and character behind it, threaded with the way they think, see things, life and react to it all and I never thought they would let go of that… Some probably still never will… I have only seen bits and pieces of it on TV when I was visiting a friend who would follow each corrida on TV like other people watch football. Usually I made sure my back was turned to the TV. Too much empathy with the bull…
O, you have those too? 😀 We have some politicians like that too here. And a new word has been added to the Dutch language > Turtletax… (which in English really sounds good too with an extra dimension to it 🙂 ) The lady’s name who came up with it, causing our energy bills to go up by some € 400 a year, is Turtleboom… It’s causing a lot of protest at the moment as there are no exceptions for the poorest, for the people out of a job, the retired… at least, though I searched in all news items, I could not find any indication that there was. But removing her is not really an option, I’m afraid 😦
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Yes, there’s a big gitano community in the area and flamenco is incredibly popular. Camarón de la Isla, the most famous of all flamenco singers, was born in nearby San Fernando. His father had a blacksmith’s forge in the old gypsy barrio of Conil, before he and his wife upped sticks and moved to San Fernando. There he ran another forge.
The opposition to bullfighting has really expanded over the last decade. Animal welfare is taken far more seriously these days, with regular demonstrations at various bull-running festivals that still go on in pueblos all over the place. There is even a lot of feeling going against Pamplona, but that is such a big money spinner for the local population I doubt anything will change there in the near future.
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Those are some mesmerizing skies.
“Boring old farts.” Hahaha. Aren’t you glad you escaped that fate?
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Give me time, give me time 😀
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So, you are the first to realise I’ve been on Mars the past month or so! 😉
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Love these. I’ve also noticed a certain eerie similarity between the first one and the just released pan from Mars, sent by the rover. Disquieting. Cheers
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Great photos, Bryan! Must admit we have been enjoying the change in seasons and seeing the river fill up again here.
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Thanks, Wendy. After months without it´s good to see a drop or two of rain hereabouts. What is even nicer is knowing that all the green sprouting up so quickly, as a result, will magically transform into carpets of flowers before Christmas.
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