Spanish views from a small town

Yesterday, I had problems with my wifi internet. Neither of the two routers worked on the computers, yet they went just fine on the phones. This morning, both worked well until I just sat down to write. It's taken forever to pull up this page, and I wonder just when I can finish it. My intention had been to go to Boiro this month, when the year-long contract on one of them ends, and change to fiber. Telefónica passed its fiber cable along our road a couple of years ago, and now it seems it provides service. Other companies rent out the cable, and I've been told I can now contract internet by cable. But the office where I went to ask is in Boiro; there is no telecom office of any kind in Rianxo. So, now I have to wait for both townships to open. I fear I might spend a few weeks without internet of any kind. Perhaps the problem is due to the freezing temperatures we've been having these past nights. This morning, when my husband got up, he lit the fire in the wood stove in th...

It's not particularly cold these days, at least not by New England standards. The thermometers show temperatures in the low fifties, upper forties during the day, and upper thirties at night (max. 13ºC, min. 3ºC). Yet, I get out of bed shivering and stay shivering most of the day I'm at home. Inside the house it's not much warmer. While, in the mornings, the contrast is greater, it's not really warm inside the house. The joys of having a wood stove as the only generator of heat in the house. When I get up, I try to move to warm up. If I'm going out, so much the better. While driving, I turn on the heater, and the car warms up, sometimes too much. Whatever store or office I step into is warm and heated. I'm warm, my feet are warm, and so are my nose and fingers. I don't usually wear a coat, because the reality is that it isn't cold . Walking and stepping in and out of heated places warms me enough.  At home I light the fire. If I don't go out, I w...

This past week most of Europe has entered a deep freeze. Temperatures have gone down to -30ºC in much of eastern Europe, -20ºC in central Europe, and snow in such impossible places as the Greek islands and Sicily. Northern Spain has also taken a hit, and there are places in the foothills of the Pyrenees where more than a meter of snow has accumulated, as well as cities shivering with cold at -5ºC. This week a trough of air straight from Siberia is supposed to inundate most of Spain with temperatures that will dive to -15ºC in the more mountainous areas.  But it's expected to be a dry wind in most of Spain, which means if there is any precipitation it will be on the lee side of the Pyrenees. It will be a case of open skies and feeble sun that won't warm the skin of a lizard. Thirty years ago the forecast was the same, but the outcome on our western coast was different.  Historia de Rianxo That January, a tongue of frigid air descended from the nether regions above Siber...

Today, for the first time in over a week, the only clouds are thin, high streaks in the vivid blue sky that show no threat. The air is clear and you can almost think your eyesight has grown sharp, considering how far into the distance you can see everything clearly. However, we are in February and that sharpness has a price - cold. Finally winter has arrived, just in time for it to leave. Places in northern Spain that usually get their first snowfall in December got it in February this year. Ski resorts finally have snow to sell, instead of just fresh mountain air. Kids who live in mountainous areas finally have a snow day as snowplows do their work. Drivers dust off their skills at adjusting tire chains to cross mountain passes. The weather has turned seasonable after a fall-cum-spring that had everything flowering early. But that's it, seasonable. Temperatures here on the Galician coast have fallen to around freezing at night and rise into the upper forties during the sun-ble...