Today is Dia de Andalucia, a day of celebrating the uniqueness of this beautiful community. In recognition I intend to wear a suit of lights, eat chorizo and dance Sevillanas all day…¡OLÉ!

I love it when we have public holidays here because, like everything else which is supposed to be set in stone they get manipulated. I think we’re second only to Italy when it comes to public holidays, we have sixteen, but we also have what are known as “bridging days”. These are extra days which are tagged onto a public holiday, unofficially, but it’s expected that everybody takes them. So, for example, if a holiday falls on a Tuesday we take Monday as well. If it falls on a Wednesday we take Thursday and Friday off. Seeing as today (Monday) is a holiday everybody took Friday off.

I spent Friday fitting radiators. They’re probably old news everywhere else, but here in the land of the smiling mule ceramic radiators are the new and very exciting “must have”. They’re slim ceramic panels which have two settings, nuclear meltdown or off, BUT they use the same amount of electricity as a light bulb and have transformed Palacio Andaloo into a toasty warm home. Living in a house with metre thick walls is lovely in the summer, but through this winter it was often warmer outside than in!

Andalucia, ¡solo hay una!