BLUE SKIES, nothing but blue skies...

We have had no rain for over a year – one shower exactly seventy-four seconds long doesn’t count – and the Government have finally admitted there’s a sequia – a drought. They have asked people “not to waste water” though they haven’t actually banned its use – that might cause an uproar – and we can’t upset the tourists by asking them to use less. The street cleaners are still hosing debris off the pavements rather than sweeping first, and the public gardens are still watered daily, often with sufficient pressure to wash passing cars as well.

Savings are being made, of course. The plantation owners have been suffering from cuts in supply, frequent enough for some of them to be reduced to watering their fields by bucket – an arduous task in temperatures of over 40*C. Private complexes such as ours have tried to economise by reducing the number of trees in their gardens, so we have had the sad sound of chainsaws.

Despite all this, nature refuses to lie down - there must be some moisture in the air because my bedroom door is sticking.

 The barbed-wire plant has gone from grey to green, the weeds on the abandoned building site look healthy, and even the pepper-tree stumps are trying to grow again.

¡Viva la naturaleza!

PEPPER TREES

On my morning walks at the moment I pass a line of pepper trees that overhang the road to the roundabout. Anyone going to Las Chafiras or heading for the motorway must drive under them, but to see their full glory you should really be walking.
Millions of peppers on each tree create the impression of a pink blush in the morning light, and the ground beneath the trees is littered with fallen seeds, still encased in their papery pink coats.

Not all the trees ripen at the same time, so some are still in flower, some have bunches of immature green seeds, some are already dropping their fruit.
The scent is bitter-sweet - think of the smell of a pepper sauce on your steak, subtract the cream, and you'll get some idea. Even brushing your hand over a twig of the feathery leaves is one of nature's gifts.