Hello Archie

For the first time in my stay here the sky was full of clouds blown about by the, even before sunrise. It's definitely cooler today, though humid, rising from 26C to 29C. I posted my YouTube prayer link to the Parish WhatsApp group before Thought for the Day, in which Michael Banner gave an excellent biblical reflection on the current news concern about institutional neglect of women's health issues in a medical culture still male dominated. He used the story of Jesus and the woman with the issue of blood to great effect. All in three minutes!

Since I've been here, I've had several encounters with cockroaches. I succeeded in killing two but another two escaped. Or maybe it was the same one. The first time I saw one here, my automatic response was to say 'Hello Archie' - instantly, I time-travelled back sixty years. Helen, my sixth form girl friend introduced me to a book by American journalist Don Marquis called 'Archie and Mehitabel. Archie is a philosophical cockroach. Mehitabel, an alley cat in her ninth life. The book is a funny poetic rendering of conversations between them published in the early decades of the 20th century in the New York Evening Sun newspaper. I can't remember when I last thought about that thought provoking read from my adolescent intellectual awakening.

This morning I came down into the lounge to find a dead cockroach on the marble floor surrounded by a myriad of tiny ants devouring the remains. I've had encounters with the ants as well. They're in the carpet and armchairs. Impossible to get rid of them all. After breakfast, I found several spray cans of insecticide and used a small amount sparingly to find out if it would make much difference in the next few days. I dislike the smell. It persists even when windows are open.

I received an email this morning containing an updated car insurance certificate to print out and keeping in the car. I had to supply my driving license details as far back as 17th May, so well organised is the chaplaincy treasurer, but it's taken two months for the company to deliver. Just as well I've not been stopped and had to explain myself, although I suspect such slowness to deliver isn't unusual! 

Last week, I recorded the audio for today's video upload in the chaplain's office. It wasn't ideal with the distant roar of the A7 hard to muffle with windows closed, shutters down and curtains closed. Today, I had time to check out all the rooms in the house for quietness, and was pleased to find that the master bedroom with shutters down, windows and curtains closed was best of all as an improvised studio with pillows to shield the digital recorder. This made for easy recording. Editing the audio files together was straightforward and finished done before lunch 

I cooked some pieces of chicken breast to add to the veggie sauce made yesterday. This went down well with rice. Cooking something basic and adding to it second time around gives variety to my daily fare and allows me to experiment with different flavours - first day Spanish or Italian, second day curry etc. 

While it was too hot to go out before five, I siesta'd for an hour rather than work. Then I walked up the lane alongside the dried up bed of the arroyo, at the base of the hill on which this urbanizacion stands. It's lined for as far as one ca walk, about 750m with tall reeds. A few small holdings and allotments rise up from the west bank, but the steeper east bank is uncultivated. The track up the valley follows the uphill line of the autovia then stops abruptly. I suspect that outside summer water flows in the arroyo. It made me curious about where it flows out into the sea, so I went down to the sender litoral to find out. 

Piece by piece, a picture is emerging of what local geography was like before the Costa holiday building industry got going. It's amazing that despite the high rise concrete and paving, there are still small patches of wildness, and a remarkable number of birds - martins, swallows and swifts, plus hordes of sparrows, though apart from gulls, I've seen no sea shore birds yet. Walking out as the sun goes down, the air is often thick with passerines hunting for insects on the wing, oblivious to the proximity of humans taking their evening paseo. It's a wonderful moment. I wish I could capture it on video.

The sky cleared of clouds as evening progressed and the temperature dropped to 25C, but the humidity remains. It's tiring. Sleeping tonight may well be uncomfortable.