Is it safe to come out now? Is it all over yet?

It seems like every day has been Sunday for the last couple of weeks. Today is Three Kings (Spanish Christmas), so it’ll all soon be over. ¡Felicidades! Backtracking; The food fest that is Christmas was completely overshadowed by the South East Asian disaster. In conjunction with a local radio station The Other Mr. Andaloo opened school last week as a drop off point for donations. The response was fantastic and we’re just waiting now for either a container to take the stuff from Algeciras or a military plane from Gibraltar.

I don’t know why but I find New Year’s Eve depressing. I always make a point of being in bed before midnight, so when the village electricity supply blew out at 10pm I took that as my cue to take a book to bed. Barrrr Humbug…..

Yesterday was the day that Spanish kids get their presents from the Three Kings. Legend has it that an angry old giant lives in the mountains of this part of Andalucia. On the day of Three Kings the giant pulls a cloud from over the mountains and places it over J de la F. Frightened that the Kings wouldn’t be able to find the village the kids go out at mid-day and run wild through the streets dragging strings of tin cans behind them, making as much noise as possible. Unfortunately I’d forgotten about this custom, so as the kids were let loose I was trying to drive home. It was chaos, but great fun. Last night we watched the Kings arrive. In Malaga they arrive by boat, in Granada by elephant and in J de la F they came by tractor. (The whole thing was very basic, but somehow that made it more special).