¡Viva La Nieve!

It’s been a notable week so far.

On Tuesday Gail and I had visitors.

A German gentleman by the name of Severin Kodderitzsch emailed me a couple of weeks ago and told me that he was thinking about getting a Tiki 38 and wondered if he could come and have a chat and take a look at ‘Gleda’. Of course I said yes.

Roll forward a week and Severin and his wife Theresa were in Cartagena. They flew from Berlin to Malaga then drove here just to spend a few hours with us before flying back.

I tell you, that Wharram bug sends you crazy in many ways.

Anyway we spent all day talking Wharram and sailing. We showed them the boat, walked around the city a bit and had a lovely lunch. Severin was already quite knowledgable about Wharrams. Some years ago he’d visited Wharram HQ in Devoran and talked with Ruth.  Subsequently he’d built a Hitia 17. He and his wife currently live in Washington DC and he sails on the Chesapeake Bay so he knew Anne and Neville Clement when they were there on Tiki 42  ‘Peace IV’ .

It’s lucky Gail was there to keep Theresa entertained.

I haven’t talked so much in ages but it was great to natter with a fellow carrier of the Wharram bug.

It’s a good job they were here on Tuesday though, because Wednesday was a very different day.

Yes, that brings me to the weather.

Historic is the right description.

2016 in Murcia was classified as ‘very warm’ overall. January 2016 in Cartagena was the warmest for 50 years.

When we got here in September it hadn’t rained in months. Farmers were protesting in the capital Murcia because their crops were dying due to lack of water. It was the warmest and driest September many could remember.

Then the week before Christmas Cartagena had 221mm (8 3/4 inches) of rain in 48 hours. That’s more than the total average rainfall for an entire year here. It turned out to be the wettest December in 75 years of records.
The farmers that had protested a few months before had their crops washed away.

January 2017 now looks like breaking records for being the coldest in decades.

Yesterday (Wednesday) the highest daytime temperature was below 3˚C making it the lowest daytime temperature recorded here in 33 years.

But it was yesterday’s weather that really made history.

It snowed for an hour. Big wet flakes of it.

Big deal you might say.

Well consider this. The last recorded snowfall in the centre of Cartagena was 78 years ago in 1939. The Spanish Civil War was in its final months.

So for many here it really was a big deal.

Apparently the deputy major of Cartagena was giving a press conference in the old town hall. As she was speaking an aide approached and whispered something in her ear. She turned to the assembled audience and said “I am informed that it is beginning to snow in the city”. At which point many turned their heads to gaze out of the windows.

Sadly the snow didn’t last.

It turned to sleet and then to rain and it hasn’t stopped now for 24 hours.

Life on ‘Gleda’ isn’t easy when it’s wet and cold. It’s getting to both of us.

But it’ll be better soon. Things change quickly here. Last Sunday we sat outside all afternoon at the BBQ. The photos of my weather station below were taken 5 day apart.

I’ll leave you with this little video I found.

For those of us bought up in colder climes it’s easy to forget how magical snow can be if you’ve never seen it before.

You don’t need to speak Spanish to pick up on the excitement in their voices.

By the way, that little beach that pops up at 1:15 is Cala Cortina. It’s where we swam on Boxing Day and New Years Day.

As the old boy says at the end; “¡Viva La Nieve!”

 

El equipo de @MeteoCartagena y @MeteoAlertaCT quiere mostraros en este vídeo lo que sentimos cuando suceden estas cosas en #Cartagena #Nieve pic.twitter.com/ZIKDaBESSp

— Meteo Alerta CT (@MeteoAlertaCT) January 19, 2017