La Vida Alcalaína

Spain's royal family, or at least King Juan Carlos, is not having a good time at the moment. Last summer, the King's frequent hospital trips for various replacement body parts over the last couple of years led to him snapping at the press over their supposed obsession with his health: "What you like to do is kill me and have me in a coffin every day. This is what you do in the press." The comments were captured on camera and became an instant You-tube hit. Then Iñaki Urdangarin, husband of the King’s youngest daughter Cristina, came under investigation for embezzlement . The former handball player stands accused of diverting money from his charitable institution to tax havens in Belise and the UK, and has been excluded from any official royal duties. Just before Christmas JC appeared on TV sporting a shiner on his left eye and a plaster on his nose. Apparently he " walked into a door ". Last week the King's 13-year-old grandson, Froilan, sh...

Nightingale ( Ruiseñor in Spanish) There can be few nicer ways to be woken up (at my age, anyway) than by the song of a nightingale.  One has stationed himself in the giant eucalyptus behind our house, a resting place on his long voyage from Africa to his breeding ground in Northern Europe.  He starts trilling around daybreak and carries on through the day - he's at it right now. It makes a change from the sparrows that sit on the window railings, chirping the same note over and over again (each year they nest in our electricity junction box, right outside the front door). I haven't heard my nightingale at night though; according to Wikipedia, only unpaired males sing at night, in order to attract a mate. Listen to his song here The ruiseñor will be on his way soon, but Alcalá is a birder's paradise all year round.  An ornithologist friend who has a house here writes in his blog,  Birding Cadiz Province :   [Alcalá de los Gazules] has a good popula...

It's April, and it's raining. The phrase En abril aguas mil, which is the Spanish equivalent of "April showers bring May flowers", comes from a poem by Antonio Machado: Son de abril las aguas mil.fe Semana Santa, and in Spain it always rains at Easter .  The Almighty must have a strange sense of humour, waiting till the faithful have gathered en masse (pardon the pun) to carry out their strange rituals in the streets, then pulling the plug and allowing the heavens to open. Scenes in Sevilla yesterday, where four of the processions for Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) had to be cancelled : I don't know whether Alcalá's Palm Sunday procession was rained off because I don't intend to leave the house till the skies are clear again, but there are four more processions due this week and the forecast isn't good ... Tuesday 3 April, 8 pm, starting at the church of San Jorge on the Plaza Alta: Procession of the V enerable y Ducal Hermandad d...

Two days ago everyone was predicting that the PP would take control of Andalucía. Well, it didn't happen. They needed 55 seats for an absolute majority in the Junta de Andalucía Parliament and only managed 50. The Socialists (PSOE), who had been in power since the Junta first came into being 30 years ago, got 47, and the IU-V (United Left + Green Party) doubled their vote from 6 to 12 seats and now hold the balance of power. The Andalusian independence party (PA) and the peculiarly apolitical UPyD didn't get any.  Twice as many disenchanted PSOE voters defected to the left than to the right. The percentage vote for PP and PSOE were 40.66% and 39.52% respectively.  The IU got 11.34%. José Griñan and the PSOE team celebrate the avoidance of a crushing defeat WIll the PSOE and IU form a coalition and keep the red flag flying down here in the south?  Watch this space ... To check results for individual locations in Andalucía go to  http://resultados.elpa...

There are some days when you can't bring yourself to turn on the TV or read the papers because you know the news is going to be bad.  Tomorrow is going to be one of those days.  Andalucía's regional elections take place today, and the right-wing Partido Popular (PP) are predicted to win with an absolute majority.  For the first time in its 30-year history, the Junta de Andalucía will not be run by the Partido Socialista de Obreros Españoles (PSOE) and our flagship health and education systems will be hacked to pieces in a wave of savage spending cuts. Party leaders vote in the Andalusian Parliamentary elections Here in Alcalá de los Gazules, where last year the PP  formed an uncomfortable pact with the Izquierda Unida (United Left) in order to oust the PSOE, the situation would be comic if it weren't so tragic.  The eerily invisible Mayor, Julio Toscano, decided to use the money in the town's coffers to pay off a bank loan rather than pay seventy c...

Carnaval is my favourite of all the festivals and fairs here.  The whole town is involved, families come out together to enjoy themselves, everyone has a good time (except perhaps the targets of the chirigotas' ruthless satire), and there is no religious subtext. The fancy dress parade is great example of how creative the alcalain@s can be without spending a lot of money - a flamenco dress made of crisp packets?  Ingenious! Thanks to Chemary Gómez Reyes for some of the photos.  You can subscribe to his YouTube channel CHEMARYALCALA  for lots more videos of Carnaval and other events in Alcalá de los Gazules.

Today, 28 February, is Andalucía Day and a public holiday in Spain's second-largest region. Schools are closed today, but last Friday many schoolchildren will have eaten the traditional Andalucian breakfast (toast spread with olive oil and a glass of orange juice) before putting on plays and singing the Himno de Andalucía . The festival commemorates the date of a referendum of 1980 in which the electorate voted for the Statute of Autonomy , as set out in the 1978 Constitution, making Andalucía an Autonomous Community of Spain.  This means it can raise its own taxes and set its own policies on health and social care, education and cultural development. It is run by a body called the Junta de Andalucía, whose headquarters are in Seville. Its parliament is elected by Andalusian voters every four years on a system of proportional representation. The next election is on 25 March, and the present PSOE (Socialist) majority is expected to be overturned by the right-wing Pa...