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According to the BBC we are experiencing a heatwave here in Spain with temperatures up to 47C in the shade. Yes, it's hot, our own north facing in the shade thermometer has registered 41.8C as it's hottest temperature this year.. it's still early August so we could easily go up from that yet. The truth. It's like this every year here. This is fairly normal August temperatures for our region as the hot African winds blow up through Portugal and the Peninsula depositing a fine orange coloured coating of sand on the car and making the sky look like it might rain. The rain rarely comes. The BBC reported deaths from heat stroke in southern Spain. Again, this happens every year. The increase in temperature puts a strain on the elderly in the same way that winter does in the UK.  I don't mean to belittle the danger. It is very hot and we all have to take extra care because the sun can kill you! But so far this isn't much different from most other years since

My electric combi oven broke. It has been such a great oven and so useful over the past few years that I feel bereft without it. We have this thing. But it too is broken. Not entirely but so difficult to manage that it's hardly worth using. In the UK we expect a certain standard from a cooker. I've discovered that our standard is very high by comparison to what is considered an acceptable norm here in Spain. It is worth noting for anyone contemplating a move over here.. Spanish cookers are basic and when they look fancy they are just basic with knobs on! Literally. So until I can safely light the pizza oven again (temperatures are over 40C at the moment) we will not be having, cake, fresh bread or roast dinners. This is a double blow since I have just started off a new sour dough 'mother' and yesterday's oven catastrophe occurred while waiting to bake the first sour dough rolls. I did manage to make them edible in the gas oven but it was not a g