Viva España!!!!!
It’s Hot….!
It’s eight in the evening and it’s hot, humid hot. The world cup final is about to commence and everyone is running around in preparation despite the humidity. The sun lies low beyond the Sierra del Oso and the approaching storm cloud forks the earth with lightning. We pray for a Spanish victory, we pray for rain. An aljibe, (the underground rain water collection tank) that is full is like money in the bank and we want Spain to celebrate. Viva España as we English like to say.
Corto Fuego
The Spanish are fantastically conscious to the risk of fire here in summer. And like most places in the world they cut fire breaks like Roman roads in straight lines across the landscape regardless of all obstacles. This one is on Las Almohallas at the back of Los Gazquez. Obviously for fire breaks to work they need to be free of plant life, be it trees or scrub, otherwise a fire will quickly breech the gap.
What you can’t easily see in this picture are the three guys about half way down the break cutting back the undergrowth with large petrol strimmers. You may make out that the top half of the break is paler in colour to the bottom half. This is the area they have already cut.
Now, in a world of tough jobs this is one of the toughest in my book. What the picture doesn’t tell you is that these guys are going down a rocky slope of about one in eight, they are trussed up like turkeys in security wear carrying very heavy equipment and the temperature on this day was about 36 degrees (96 degrees fahrenheit). No wonder they start at 6 am and finish by 2 pm.
