August ends but Mallorca’s summer isn’t over yet!

Posted September 1, 2016

Porto Cristo beach in the quieter month of May

Even after more than 10 years of living through August in rural Mallorca, this holiday month takes some getting used to each year. To start with, many of the shops and other businesses in our local town close for lunch and don’t re-open until the next morning. It’s a nuisance if you’re in the middle of a DIY job and run out of something vital to finish it. And that is why we recommend not doing DIY projects in August.

The heat is another good reason to down tools for a few weeks. August is the month when the locals head for the beach early morning or late afternoon. At the end of the day, the tourists are just packing their beach bags and heading back to their holiday accommodation to freshen up for the evening when the locals arrive in groups to claim their spots on the sands.

Holiday home … just down the road

One thing that still amuses me is the number of people who live in Manacor but have a second home in Porto Cristo – around a 10-minute drive away. Many of them leave their main homes to take up temporary residence in the cooler air of the resort for August.

In the UK, it’s more usual for those with second homes to have them further away from their main residence. Former neighbours in Oxfordshire had a cottage in Cornwall. On occasional Friday nights they’d load up the car and head southwest in ever-increasing traffic jams, probably arriving just in time for a cup of tea before it was time to drive back for work on Monday. Having a second home just down the road has some merits …

Dipping into local life in Porto Cristo

This August we’ve again had the occasional morning swim in Porto Cristo. The east-coast resort has a town beach, so the passing traffic (road and harbour) means it’s not a tranquil spot, but it’s perfect for a bit of exercise swimming first thing. We can swim, have a coffee, and be heading home before the town’s roadside car parking charges come into effect at 10:00h.

We’ve enjoyed observing the local early-morning beachgoers. We’ve seen exercise classes on the sands for the elderly; excitable clusters of kids being supervised in various sporting activities, and senior chaps in swimming shorts walking from one end of the beach to the other, toes in the water, as they converse in an animated fashion.

But my favourite sights are the ‘bobulations’. Don’t reach for a dictionary, as you won’t find this word lurking within its pages; it’s a combination of ‘population’ and ‘bob’ – which I made up. These are the groups of local ladies (often of a certain age), who stand chest-high in a circle in the sea or, in deeper water, bob about (still in a circle). They just chat, little exercise is involved. Most wear a hat of some sort to protect their recently re-helmeted hairdo from the sun, but the sea rarely gets a lick at their locks.

August is now over for another year, but you can bet that full-time residents of Porto Cristo will be on the beach early mornings for a week or two more. We look forward to a few more mornings in their company …

Fire in our Mallorca valley

Posted August 8, 2016

Filed under Countryside, Weather/Climate

The valley burns …

Mallorca needs rain. Not what a holidaymaker to the island wants to hear, but residents know that the land and reservoirs are desperate for the stuff. It’s very hot here too, and that doesn’t help the situation.

Add strong winds to the mix – such as those we’ve had over the past few days – and danger may not be far behind. As we sat drinking a late-morning coffee on the back terrace on Friday, The Boss spotted smoke in the valley … and it wasn’t from an early BBQ lunch.

Spot the helicopters …

Bonfires are banned in summer

Bonfires are not allowed during the hot dry summer months and the wind had whipped up the smoke to such an extent that this was clearly a wild fire. I rang the emergency services to report the sighting – and was not the first to do so. We country dwellers waste no time when it comes to spotting smoke or flames where smoke or flames shouldn’t be …

Firefighting kit in action

This fire was a lot further away than the last one we experienced (a little too closely), but it was still frightening because of the speed at which it was travelling, fanned by fierce gusts of wind.

Four helicopters, four planes, 10 fire engines, and around 50 firefighters were soon on scene, working for several hours to get the fire under control and, eventually, fully extinguished. The sea is not far away from us as the crow (or helicopter) flies, and we watched the helicopters making frequent sorties towards the coast, where they would scoop up water in the enormous buckets they carry and return to release the load over the site of the fire.

The helicopter that attended the previous fire we experienced

It was a dangerous and difficult afternoon for these brave people who put their lives at risk every time there’s a wild fire. And ours was only one of EIGHT that burned on Mallorca on Friday …

Shady experiences in rural Mallorca – part 2

Posted July 7, 2016

Filed under DIY & Maintenance, Weather/Climate

Parasol or gazebo? We needed some shade from the sun on our rural Mallorcan finca terraces, but the parasols we’d had in the past hadn’t proved man enough to withstand the odd tornado or unexpected strong gusts that occasionally rip through our valley.

Pretty gazebo on the terrace of Finca Jorbo’s Rosa apartment.

Gazebo then. We saw quite a few variations on the gazebo theme. Some were very attractive – like this one at Finca Son Jorbo in Porreres, where we recently stayed for a night’s B&B (much-needed respite after visitors). But none looked as though they’d survive on any of our exposed terraces.

The sunshade solution for us

In 2011, we found just the thing in Palma’s Leroy Merlin, one of those large out-of-town stores that we’re not that keen on, but sometimes resort to when all else local fails. Although the store didn’t have anything sturdy on display or in stock, by chance we spotted just the thing in a Leroy Merlin catalogue that was on display. It was billed as a Pergola Tenerife and had to be bolted to the ground. Well, that had to be strong, didn’t it?

We ordered our first one (for our small back terrace, most battered by the wind) and waited for Leroy Merlin to order and deliver it. It arrived in two huge packages: one for the framework, the other containing the actual canopy part. Did I mention how heavy the frame was? Being early in the season (we were planning ahead for the summer), there were no strong part-time neighbours around in their holiday homes to lend The Boss a hand. I ate a huge plate of spinach for breakfast, flexed my biceps, and went to his aid.

Erecting the thing was an interesting experience. Once The Boss had bolted the two side columns onto the terrace tiles, the heavy top bar had to be hoisted up and fixed across the top of them. Ladders (wobbly, one at each end), language (fruity), and luck (we didn’t drop it) were all part of the process. It was hard work, but worth it. So much so, we bought another one for the front terrace the following year and put ourselves through the whole process again.

The winds won …

Although the metal frame has (so far) proved invincible, the fabric coverings themselves had become very tatty by the end of last year; yes, the strong winds again. This spring we found a local company to make some stronger (we hope) replacement toldos. It took weeks to get a quote for the work and several more for the new ones to be manufactured and installed, but they finally arrived … after our first two lots of visitors had been and gone home again.

Installing the new covers

It’s been 35 degrees in the shade today. Phew. Perhaps what we should have bought was one of those canopies (seen on a few cafe terraces) incorporating a system that regularly squirts a fine cool mist over those beneath it. Having spent a small fortune on two new toldos, we’ll have to be satisfied with a session with the garden hose …

Shade at last …

Shady experiences in rural Mallorca

Posted June 24, 2016

Filed under Weather/Climate

If you have property on Mallorca with outdoor space – a large expanse of (largely unusable) land like ours, a regular garden, or just a balcony or terrace – you’re going to need a means of seeking shelter from the sun. We love the sunshine, but it’s too darned hot (and risky) to sit in its glare for long.

Our rural finca has only one small covered terrace, in front of the annexe bedroom known as Ray’s Room (my Uncle Ray is one of the few people who stays in it, as it has only one single bed). This terrace is deliciously cool on summer afternoons as it’s swept by gentle breezes that come through the valley from the north. It’s the location of my trust hammock …

Parasols – para sol

Initially we used this small covered terrace as an al fresco dining area, but we had several other terraces at our disposal and relocated our dining area to a larger space. Fortunately the previous owners of our finca – who have become very dear friends and own an apartment in Palma – had left us a few old parasols to provide shade in these open areas.

Hombre, have we had some fun with these things. An early incident involved a rat that had climbed up to shelter inside a closed parasol (which we’d foolishly left outside for some time without a cover on it). Unsuspecting, The Boss opened said parasol, only for the rat to jump out, using his shoulder as a stepping stone to freedom. I still shudder thinking about it. Is it any wonder that The Boss warmly welcomed the various cats that have made our finca their home? Lots of cats = no rats.

Gone with the wind

We subsequently bought new parasols of what we believed were a better quality. They were certainly heavier to manoeuvre when we wanted to move them to maintain shade as the sun made its way across the sky; not too heavy to cope with a very strong wind though. On one occasion, an open parasol at the front of the house suddenly took off (à la Mary Poppins but without the attached saccharine-sweet woman), hit the roof as it blew right over our single-storey property, and landed in a crumpled heap behind the house. Another time, we came home from an outing with friends to find that a mini-tornado had cut a swathe through our property, uprooting furniture and, you guessed it, destroying another parasol.

Another broken parasol (photo by Duncan Matthews)

We had to find a sturdier alternative …

The rain in Spain …

Posted May 13, 2016

Filed under Weather/Climate

This May has been a strange month on Mallorca: cooler than usual, and with some rain (which was, admittedly, much needed after an extremely dry winter). We have yet to fire up the BBQ or eat dinner outdoors, but hope this will all change very soon. A few days ago, while looking for something in an old diary, I read that we’d had a high of 31 degrees Celsius on the same date in that year.

My dad, uncle, brother, his three daughters, and one son-in-law are about to descend on Mallorca for a spring holiday. They were due to be our first visitors of the year but, in mid-April, two of my nieces – who suddenly had a free long weekend – put in a last-minute request to come and stay. It was to be a warm-up for their longer holiday, which begins this weekend.

You say warm; we say cool

Living in a different country to the rest of our families, we like to accommodate even short-notice requests, so we happily said yes and hastily prepared our guest quarters. And crossed our fingers for good weather. My nieces were lucky, donning their bikinis for some beach time and even acquiring a little colour as a result of their time in the sun. We, however, were still wearing sweaters and saying it was cool for the time of year.

Early spring is a time when it’s easy to spot the foreigners who live on Mallorca and those who are just visiting. Visitors from northern Europe are flashing their limbs in t-shirts, shorts, and sandals, enjoying the relative balminess of temperatures in the upper teens and lower 20s. Many of us who live here are still wearing sweaters and jeans.

Because of the unsettled weather this May, we are later than we have ever been in setting up our outdoor spaces for the summer. This morning began with a clear blue sky and pleasantly warm sunshine, so The Boss dragged out his pressure washer (an essential piece of kit, in our opinion), and blitzed the winter muck off all the terraces. We then set up all the outdoor furniture in readiness for BBQs and time to be spent outside … as thunder rumbled in the distance.

And just as we’d finished, this happened …

Almond blossom time on Mallorca

Posted January 26, 2016

Filed under Countryside, Nature, Weather/Climate

The Boss and I have just come indoors after having lunch on our rural Mallorca home’s small front terrace. It’s something we’ve been able to do more than is usual for January, as the weather has been surprisingly warm and sunny for the time of year.

Today’s home-made guacamole (from creamy avocados grown on Mallorca) served with a medley of crisp raw veggies (sounds like I swallowed a recipe description here!) was more the type of dish we’d eat in spring or summer; it was too warm today for home-made soup or a steaming jacket potato fresh from our Jotul log-burning stove.

This winter is proving to be like none that we have experienced since we moved to Mallorca in April 2004. Back then we started to record temperatures and weather conditions in a new five-year diary. It’s been interesting to look back occasionally at what we experienced in those early years:

January 26th, 2005: High 6 degrees C. Low of zero degrees. “Woke to a covering of snow.”

And the same date in subsequent years, highs and lows as follows:

2006 – 11/4 degs C; 2007 – 12/6 degs C; 2008 – 13/6 degs C.

Today our outdoor thermometer (which stands in a shaded position) has registered 18 degs C. And our rural part of Mallorca is often a few degrees cooler than, say, Palma de Mallorca, the island’s capital. We’ve had quite a few similar temperatures since winter officially began – and only a couple of short cold snaps.

The downside to the unusual amount of warm sunshine and blue skies is the lack of rain. Farmers are having a tough time with their crops and, this week, the Balearic government has announced measures to help the agricultural community during this time of drought. Other sectors are also being affected by the unseasonable weather: yesterday I heard of a heating company that has done hardly any business so far this winter.

Mallorca’s dry warm winter has both good and bad sides, but one positive has been the early blossoming of the almond trees across the island. This beautiful, delicately scented blossom never fails to make me smile in the winter months – whatever the weather.

Captured on camera today.

Almond blossom from 2014 – when the sky wasn’t quite as blue as today’s!

If you’re on Mallorca in early February, it would be a pity to miss the Fira de la Flor d’Ametler (the almond blossom fair), which takes place in the town of Son Servera on Sunday, February 7th, 2016.

Keeping dry in rural Mallorca

Posted November 17, 2015

Filed under Countryside, Nature, Tools and machines, Utilities, Weather/Climate

Spotted at Cala Ratjada on November 15th 2015.

Mallorca is enjoying some exceptional autumn weather this year: daytime temperatures peaking in the low 20s; blue skies, and very warm sunshine. This is what the locals call the veranillo de San Martín or, as we’d call it, an Indian summer. It looks as though it’s set to continue for the rest of November at least, which means we may save some money on logs for the fire this year.

But despite the warmth and sunshine, we are still experiencing the early morning mists and fog that are typical at this time of year. Very often the sea mists are below our finca, moving through the valley and creating an ethereal beauty that begs to be captured on camera. Sometimes the mist moves around our house, the swirling droplets visible in the air and settling on the coats of the cats who have adopted the finca as their favourite restaurant and hotel.

Fighting the damp

It all adds up to a damp environment, of course. In our first autumn here I had to throw away several pairs of shoes that had grown furry in the damp conditions. It really was uncomfortable before we had electricity – especially as the gas heaters we were using to warm the house were increasing the dampness in the atmosphere. Once we had an electricity supply, we purchased a portable dehumidifier – and still sing its praises every year throughout the ‘soggy season’.

Our essential finca friend.

The damp situation inside the house did improve dramatically once we’d had a new roof and a chunky layer of insulation added, but our living room still suffers until we start to have regular log fires. It gets no sunshine at this time of the year, and the north-facing wall at the end of the room is built from concrete blocks, rather than stone.

And recycle . . .

With ample sunshine recently we’ve been running the dehumidifier every morning for a couple of hours. It makes a real difference to the comfort level in the room. And because we have had very little rain for some time, the extracted water that accumulates in the dehumidifier’s tank is proving useful in the garden; we do love a bit of recycling . . .

Since I drafted this on Sunday (after enjoying a tapas lunch by the sea), the forecast is for the warm spell to end within a few days. This weekend, from Sunday, we shall see wind, rain, and daytime highs of around 13 degrees Celsius. It’ll be a shock to the system after such a warm and sunny two-thirds of the autumn . . .

October: a Month of Contrasts on Mallorca

Posted October 20, 2015

Filed under Animals/Wildlife, Countryside, Garden and gardening, Weather/Climate

A late-afternoon bath for this robin

This coming weekend on Mallorca we shall be turning back the clocks, marking the official end of the summer. It’s been a long hot one and, although we are already two-thirds of the way through October, we are thankfully still having a few lovely warm days. When the sun shines, we open doors and windows during the day to let in the warm air. As things cool, we close everything up but, in the evenings, the living room of our home in rural Mallorca already feels a little chilly. Oh, for cavity wall insulation . . . if there were a cavity to fill.

Winter Drawers On? Not Quite Yet . . .

We’re at the time of year when the lightest of summer clothes (and certainly anything white) is consigned to storage bags and boxes under the beds. (Buy an old Mallorcan property and you’re unlikely to find many cupboards for storing stuff). But we’re not ready yet to shrug ourselves into sweaters and woolly socks during the day. My much-loved Menorcan sandals (highly recommended for comfort) and I won’t be prised apart until my feet lose all sensation because of the cold. I’ve even worn shorts in the past fortnight . . . but also seen locals wearing thick sweaters, scarves, and boots . . . in temperatures up to 25 degrees Celsius!

The house ‘wardrobe’ also changes. The light sheer curtains that blow gently in the breezes of the warmer months will be replaced by curtains with thermal linings. I’ve already retrieved one pair from storage, ironed them, and hung them. Another two pairs to go . . .

Winter/Spring

October is a month of contrasts outdoors too, with signs of winter, but also of new beginnings. No wonder the Mallorcans call this season winter/spring. We have a garden with plenty of new growth (a lot of it weeds, I should add), but our family of ‘adopted’ cats is eating heartily as though preparing for a prolonged trip to Siberia. On Sunday evening, despite the diminishing daylight, it was warm enough to eat a BBQ dinner outside, for the first time in a few weeks. But a visitor earlier that afternoon reminded us that there may not be too many more alfresco dinners: on our birdbath – sprucing himself up after a long flight south – was that feathered emblem of winter, the robin.

The photo of the robin was taken from inside the house, and the close-up was achieved by cropping the image.

Solar panels get their summer spruce-up

Posted August 10, 2015

Filed under Countryside, Maintenance, Utilities, Weather/Climate

We’re great fans of our solar-powered electricity system. We can run our air conditioning all day without worrying about the next GESA electricity bill – although, of course, such a system does require a fairly hefty investment up-front, so it’s not (as some people suggest) really free power.

During the summer the system trundles along without too much input from us – correction, The Boss. Sure, he still disappears down to the dependencia (the building where batteries, invertor, and back-up generator are stored) every Monday, just to make sure there are no red warning lights flashing anywhere.

Hose at the ready

But during a long hot, extremely dry, and dusty summer, the solar panels do appreciate a little bit of TLC. Which is where The Boss, a ladder, a mop and bucket, and a hose come into play. This morning – just after 7am – he was up a ladder cleaning several months’ of dust and dirt off the panels, first mopping them with soapy water, then hosing off the suds. They’re gleaming clean now and probably soaking up lots more rays as a result.

If anything’s going to bring on the long-overdue and much-needed rain, this morning’s clean-up should do it. Umbrellas at the ready, Mallorca?

A summer wash for our solar panels. Note the presence of Pip – always ready to assist.

Another Job for our Mallorcan Plumber

Posted July 21, 2015

Filed under Building works, DIY & Maintenance, Maintenance, Utilities, Weather/Climate

If you’re going to live on Mallorca, it pays to have a good relationship with a plumber. Over the years we have been here we have spent a lot of money at our local plumbers. During our early time here it seemed that almost every problem we had with the house was water-related.

Cito and his team have come to our rescue many times. He’s had a few good plumbers (and electricians – as his company Ca’n Pedro does both) working for him over that time: Miquel Angel – who once found The Boss prone on the dining room floor with blood pouring from his head after his accident with the low lintel over the front door; Pep – who accidentally put a pickaxe through the cold-water pipe while trying to locate a burst hot-water pipe under our tiled shower room floor, and Rubens (also an electrician), who rescued us when a burst of my KitchenAid blender (I was making soup at the time) caused the whole electricity system to go phut.

Cito seems to be winding down his business a bit – perhaps with an eye to his future retirement – and today it’s Cito himself who’s working at the house, aided by his son-in-law. Yes, another water-related problem at the finca!

Who Needs Hot Water?

Our house has two gas-powered acumuladores (water heater/storage units): one serving our shower room and annexe guest room; the other for the kitchen and our main guest bathroom. Naturally, the latter gets the most use; we had to replace it with a new one quite a few years ago.

The other one has quietly done its job over the years but, a week or two ago, after The Boss had attached a new gas bottle, the thing wouldn’t re-light. As it happens, the lack of hot water isn’t a problem at this time of year. Our water supply comes to the house from our water storage tank in overground pipes and the cold water has been arriving hot in our taps for several weeks, as a result of the summer heat. What should have been hot water in the heater unit was cold. Problem temporarily solved: we’d use the cold tap for hot water, and the hot, for cold!

Our acumulador had lost its looks as well as its functionality!

Cito to the Rescue

Cito came out to inspect the water heater, and removed a sorry-looking part. He came back to us later with the news that a replacement part would cost a couple of hundred euros. As that water heater is at least 13 years old – we’ve never replaced it since we bought the place in 2002 – it made more economic sense to buy a new water heater.

Today it’s been fitted in the small cubby hole housing the water unit. There was a slightly worrying moment when Cito announced that the door wasn’t wide enough to remove the old unit (The Boss had modified the entrance to the room and hand-built a new wooden door and frame a while ago). For a horrible few minutes we imagined having to undo The Boss’s painstaking work, but Cito somehow found a non-destructive solution, and the job has just been completed.

Now we have hot water from the hot taps again. And, while the summer continues, also from the cold taps.

Living in Rural Mallorca

Jan Edwards, Author

Category Archives: Weather/Climate

August ends but Mallorca’s summer isn’t over yet!

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