Frilly

No particular reason for choosing this as my blip, I just really liked these pretty flowers. The photos actually representative of my day are in extras.

 In the morning, S went on a group walk and I made bread and also some courgette soup. When S got back he suggested lunch at the beach -- I didn't have to be asked twice. We went to Cantarrijan, previously blipped here. The restaurant (see third extra) really is open all the year round, and it was quite busy, mostly with northern Europeans of a certain age. We sat outside and shared a salad and a plate of puntillas (tiny deep-fried squid) with a bottle of white wine, finishing ourselves off with cheesecake. By the time we'd finished it was after four, but it was still warm enough to dip our toes in the water and lie on the beach for half an hour. So lovely, especially in February. My expert toe reckoned the water was about 16C, so just about swimmable (though no-one was doing so).

We left the car park, drove about 50 metres and I ground to a halt at the sight of three young male ibex within a metre or so of the road. Guiri had told us she'd often seen ibex on this road, but they were amazingly unconcerned. Plenty of time for S to get the camera out and take a number of photos (first extra) before another car came along and they ambled off up the slope. We were quite excited, though it did seem a bit ironic that S had spent hours yomping in the Pyrenees in a fruitless hunt for ibex, while here you just spot them from the car window.

In other news I've been cackling at this gormless article in the Sun. "Spanish supermarkets secretly hoarding massive stockpiles of vegetables despite British shoppers facing RATIONING" it screamed (they've toned the headline down since). Those dastardly Murcians, hiding vegetables in supermarkets of all places! The Sun journalist seems confused about the concept of "home" and "abroad" where Spanish salads are concerned: "Aisles overseas are overflowing with salad veg while shoppers at home are having to go short. ... Lucy Stewart, 28, from Beckenham, South East London, seethed: 'It’s sickening. The Spaniards should make sure more gets to us.'" (they must make these quotes up, surely?). Apparently nine out of ten Spanish iceberg lettuces are already exported to the UK, so it's difficult to see how they could do more.