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 by John Clare
The Late Spring
There are a lot of things
wrong with Portugal, but..... I do live here, and I'm not a complete
masochist. There are rather a lot of advantages. It could be warmer,
and one of these days I shall organise my winter months somewhere
warmer than the Algarve. But for the moment it's got to be better than
braving the foul weather that smites Northern Europe these days.
It looks as though cold weather will be upon us for some time. I have
long railed against those cheats and liars who would have us believe in
global warming, and that such warming is bad for the planet. I fully
believe there is not much that mankind can do to thwart that monster of
a star just across the firmament that we call the Sun. When it puts out
more heat, we warm up, when it puts out less, we cool down. It's almost
as simple as that. Obviously there are other factors, but the sun beats
all the others hands down.
The current problem is that the sun's magnetic radiation has dropped
off a cliff over the past few months, and no doubt that is why we have
had such a nasty run of weather. I'm sure you've seen the pictures of
the harvest in Iowa, stopped by snow. ...Yikes!
Well, it's rather cold here in the Algarve as well. Temperatures are
well down. We have just had two months of almost non-stop rain, and 26
inches of the stuff has landed in my once empty swimming pool. This is
not good.
Spring usually gets into gear sometime in december, with the jonquils
in bloom. I usually have a vase of them on my table at Christmas time.
This year I didn't see any until well into january. However, things are
definitely looking up. The jonquils are braving the low temperatures.
Oxalis has raised its yellow heads everywhere. There are irises spiking
above the stones. In the market last saturday there were bunches of
mimosa for sale. The almond blossom is out. Spring is definitely here;
a bit chilly round the knees, but it's happening.
The oranges are a dark orange colour instead of sickly yellow, so they
are sweet and juicy, and the buds on the almond trees are showing a tip
of leaf, and, if the weather can stay warm for a while, they will be
fully in leaf within a week or so.
Times are hard here economically speaking. A new hotel that opened only
seven months ago with 150 bedrooms had only 12 guests the week after
christmas, and looks to be down to about two at the moment. Some idiots
are building two more massive hotels not a mile away.
Carvoiero, which is usually buzzing over the holiday period, looked
silent and empty over Christmas week. The visible tourists could have
fitted into a minibus. I counted no less than two couples eating in the
four restaurants I passed. The ministry of tourism, or as I call it,
the ministry of invention, reckons we have just had our fourth busiest
year. Which only goes to show that there will be no push for more
tourists from the frozen north, and this place will gradually fade into
insignificance.
It is a great pity that we have to put up with business being run by
half-witted politicians with dodgy eyesight and half a brain cell.
However, we are still surviving. My friend Will has just spent a couple
of weeks putting in my outside dining room under a pergola behind the
house, and turning the builders' yard that my front garden has been for
the past five years into a real garden.
This is going to be a no maintenance garden, with plants that require
no water, and will smother any impudent weeds. I have chosen succulents
and rock plants that survive out on the western headlands. Lets hope
they thrive and make the place look authentically Algarvean.
And lets hope it stops raining for a week or two.
John Clare
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