Sights and sounds

It's not so much the heat that makes it hard to sleep but the 70% humidity that takes some getting used to, whether for sleeping at night, or getting around by day. I had a phone call from a solicitor to make arrangements for a funeral on Tuesday next, someone who was in Geoff's pastoral care but died suddenly. That morning I'll have to take Clare to Malaga airport for her early flight, before going to Velez Malaga Thanatorium for the service.

Clare discovered the joys of the urbanizacion's own swimming pool, with very few people using it in the hours before lunch, then we strolled down to town and to the Balcon de Europa for the vital arrival photo.

Out in the bay, a speedboat was towing a paragliding rig with two passengers back and fore parrallel to the shore. One minute the rig was 50 metres up in the air, the next it was close enough to the sea for the occupants to dip their feet in the water - a little risky at speed to my mind, but spectacular to watch.

After a late lunch and siesta time, we went down to Burriana beach for Clare to have an evening swim, and I took the opportunity to take a few more photos of para-gliders, still out there, from beach level.

I think their land base is somewhere up this long beach, still densely crowded with holidaymakers at seven thirty in the evening, as the sun hadn't yet gone far enough below the horizon to cast the bay into shadow. A running event was taking place in a cordoned area along the edge of the shore when we arrived First the younger school children ran, then adults and teenagers together. Members of the Protection Civile were out in uniform, taking charge of the course crossing points, and making sure beach-goers and runners didn't collide.

While we were eating supper outside on the patio in front of the house, we were astonished at the variety and musicality of bird song issuing from the tall pine tree and a flowering bush just outside. During the hours of daytime heat, the only sound is the high pitched drone of cicadas, sounding like a high tension electrical cable buzzing with static on a damp day.