Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Strawberries, gulls and the Cyclades.


First thing in the morning the town belongs to the gulls and the local dog owners. From the way the gulls strut around the streets it's clear who they think is at the top of the pecking order.


The village cows are content. They sit contentedly on the grass enjoying the sunshine. The weather forecast informs us that a heat wave is on the way. Temperatures on Friday are set to hit 26 degrees. People are told to make sure they have bottled water in store and to check up on elderly neighbours.

The strawberry farm down the road is doing a brisk business with foreign tourists. There are four German registered cars in the parking lot. Their owners are inside carefully examining the strawberry punnets in search for the best ones. The woman behind the counter says that the peak season for strawberry sales is when the English school holidays start in two weeks time. She will increase her turnover by at least half.  

Our postman has headed off to Spain for two weeks with his family. He's cannily discovered that an all inclusive package from Manchester before the English schools break up for the summer is 30% cheaper than those being offered from Glasgow. He has opted for Benidorm for the guaranteed 'sunshine'.

Last night we were greeted with a sky that would have been quite at home in the Cyclades. 



When dogs look at a human they automatically gaze to their left so they can look at the right-hand side of the face, which is the side that expresses emotions most tellingly. They don’t do this for monkeys or other dogs. “It’s just for us,” and may have evolved to gauge our emotions: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453727/how-animals-heal-us-by-griffiths-jay/9780241614358

Texas floods :https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/the-texas-flash-floods

Highway 50:https://www.insidehook.com/travel/guide-loneliest-road-america

Canada :https://scottsumner.substack.com/p/land-of-lakes



7 comments:

Linda said...

Thanks for yesterday's parking tip! I'll report in due course. Currently listening to the traffic report from Radio Bleu Normandie with all the road closures and bottlenecks due to the Tour de France passing through. It'll be interesting to see what Edinburgh makes of it.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Yes, something of a proper summer - shame the postie's gonna miss it! Have been trying to follow Le Tour, but a little difficult with signal in places. Something Gail and I loved to share and discuss - and we would have been planning a 'follow' for the 2027 event... YAM xx

Lisa in France said...

We will be watching how Charlie watches us, but we are feeling skeptical after our negative findings on whether he aligns himself with the magnetic axis when relieving himself. I enjoyed the essay on Canada and agreed with much of it, although I'm not sure about the "more urban" bit. I was sorry to read yesterday that Cabbage appears to be staying where she is. I suspect we are all waiting to see whether another dog (or two) awaits you and the Font or whether the footloose appeal of the traveling life will prevail.

Angus said...

The subject of replacement dogs appears frequently in our conversations. In the meantime we continue to be those annoying people that greet dogs on the beach.

Coppa's girl said...

That really is a spectacular almost "end of the world" sky!
I'm glad that Cabbage and her owner will soldier on together. Having visited dog rescues here, it's sad to see how many old dogs have been abandoned. Some, tragically, have never known a loving home at all.
The "postie" may be disappointed if he's arriving in Benidorm now. I live 20 kms to the north - and it's been thunderous skies and killing humidity for the past 24 hours. Not holiday weather.

Travel said...

Very pretty sunset. I have Le Tour playing on the Ipad as I read blogs and comments on my desktop computer.

rottrover said...

OH! That sunset!