Heat haze

Just like Britain, Spain has had a dangerously hot weather warning today with a temperature of 32C, but with high cloud and sea mist, we've been shielded from dangerous glare. It's not been too humid. I guess the best word to describe it would be a sultry day. And that's not a word I use all that often. My time was taken up this morning with detailed preparation for tomorrow's christening at San Pedro. 

This was in the church dairy since well before my arrival and I was so busy getting my head around everything needed to carry our my duties here that it only occurred to me this morning that I hadn't talked to the child's parents. An email brought no response, so later in the day I made contact by phone, reassured myself that all was happening as planned. It gave me an opportunity to brief the mother about coping with a fifteen month old who's already running around.

After lunch I drove to Mercadona for some grocery shopping and refuelled the car on my was back. This was a puzzling experience, as I couldn't figure out the instructions on the pump. I asked the young woman minding the till in the kiosk to explain. She spoke quickly with an Andalusian accent, and smiled when I asked her to slow down, which she didn't. She offered to try in English, but I carried on in Spanish, and eventually gathered that one had to leave cash or a card for payment at the till, then the pump is activated. 

OK, I thought, not knowing exactly how much fuel I needed. I handed over a fifty euro note, and the car took that amount, and maybe would have taken more, but I was conscious of  not knowing properly what I was doing. When I returned to get my receipt, the girl handed me five euros and some small dinero, much to my puzzlement. We laughed our way through a Q&A explanation. I'll have to ask tomorrow, but I think this it may be a government authorised VAT refund to lower the cost of fuel, but it could also serve as an anti-theft measure.

I went for a late afternoon walk. The sun shone out through the layer of cloud, so it wasn't too hot. The Playa del Cristo and Playa Seghers were pretty crowded, but not the beaches further west along the bay. I returned to the house falling short of my daily quota. Heat, tiredness, feet painful though not swollen. No virtue in self punishment. I had an hour's call with Clare and Kath who was visiting for the weekend, such a lovely surprise. A simple salad supper of tomato, lettuce, loads of green olives and bread, later than usual, but very light and refreshing. Then, time for early bed. Busy day tomorrow. Too cloudy to stay up and gaze at the Perseid meteor shower tonight. Sad about this.