Spanish views from a small town

Today is one of those few days of summer here when the temperatures reach above ninety (33ºC), and the sun is a blowtorch. It is a dry heat, and reminds me every year it comes around that I don't want to live in a desert. It's not as bad as it was back in Boston during my childhood, when the meteorologist would put up the letters HHH on the forecast. Hazy, hot, and humid. I hated those heat waves absolutely. The humidity would envelop me like a second, wet skin, and there was no way to be dry and comfortable. Taking a shower didn't help, because I could never get dry, and would start to perspire as soon as I got dressed.  The heat here is not that bad, but as I get older, it seems my body likes it even less. If I'm out in the sun for a little while, I begin to get a headache. I lose my will to do anything more than sit in the fresh kitchen, hidden from the sun. Thankfully, the bottom floor of our house is cooler, though not cool enough when it's a few days into ...

Most of Spain has been in an intense heatwave this week. Today, it just started to touch us here. Temperatures of well above 100ºF/38ºC have created one of the earliest heatwaves in recent memory. Normally, the first heatwave hits around the end of June, but this year it decided to show up early to the party. As a result, school is still in session. The last day is still a week away, on the 23rd of the month. Children are having a hard time of it in school.  They're having a hard time because the powers that be have decided schools do not need air conditioning. The regional head of health services in Madrid, when asked about the lack of air conditioning, and how students should fight the heat, answered that air conditioning was not a solution for everything, and that the children should use hand-held fans to cool off, suggesting making them from paper as an "important occupational therapy."  This after giving advice on combating the heat. Yes, the man is a doctor.  Th...