Blog #Wikipedia

¿Ay, caramba¡! ..... ¡Calima! ​Calima, haze in English and trockener Dunst in German, is a weather phenomenon whereby small particles of sand, dust, smoke from forest fires and other contaminants are borne by the wind across large distances.

A STORY ABOUT THE MOON has knocked Trump's illegal attack on Iran and Netanyahu's war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza out of the headlines. For the first time in 57 years man is to attempt to land on the Moon again. Three male and one female astronauts from the USA are on their way as we speak, following the take-off of their spaceship Artemis II on Wednesday.

The British invasion of the Costa del Sol began 64 years ago. To be precise, on 1 April 1962 the first ever scheduled flight between London and Malaga took off. The British European Airways (BEA) flight in a Vickers Viscount V 802 had a seating capacity of just 66 passengers.

Easter bonnets, Easter bunnies, Easter chicks, daffodils, Easter eggs, Easter Mass, Easter processions ..... Take your pick! Different countries / cultures have different Easter traditions, although there is a lot of cross-over nowadays. ​Let's take a look at the UK and Spain.

Sunday 8 March is United Nations International Women's Day, although in many countries, including Spain, events continue to take place long after the day itself. Dia de la mujer was officially inaugurated in 1911, when over one million people took part. The UN did not get involved until as late as 1977. ​The theme for this year, 2026, is "Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls".

The weather in the whole of Spain has been atrocious in 2026, with snow, hail, torrential rain, high winds, black ice and widespread flooding. There were yellow and orange warnings for most of the country. To blame were 11 named storms which hit the Iberian Peninsula (and other countries of western Europe) from the West and North between October 2025 and mid-February 2026.

Anis, Coñac, Miura, Orujo, Patxaran ..... What on earth are they? These are some of the words that are bandied about at early morning coffee time in Spain. Inveterate insomniacs or manual labourers and office workers who participate in this early morning coffee ritual, will be familiar with all this. ​Others, especially most "guiris", may not be. Read on to find out more.

I'm a collector junkie - elephants, seahorses, geckoes - and I recently wrote a piece on the subject of interesting quotes and sayings, advice and jokes which appear on fridge magnets, beermats, diaries and greetings cards. I thought it would be fun to write about my "Baker's Dozen" (13).

What's going on? Everybody's retiring! They may not be leavin' on Peter, Paul and Mary's jet plane*, but they're off! ​Since the turn of the year we learn that Peter Jones, the birdman, is hanging up his binoculars; Karl Smallman, doyen of photographic journalism and website building is stepping down; and Paul Whitelock, "Jack of all trades" is slowing down. All three are "hanging up their boots".

Since the start of the year, 1st January 2026, there are some significant changes to the Spanish equivalent of The Highway Code. The two most important adjustments are: everybody travelling in a vehicle must wear a seatbelt; in the event of an emergency, warning triangles are OUT and V16 beacons are IN. But, the rules for beacons have been changed at the eleventh hour.

In the last 50 years two things happened that changed Spain - for ever and, in this writer's opinion, for the good. First of all, 50 years ago last November 20th, Franco finally left us when he died aged 95. Then, the second thing that changed Spain for the better was her accession to the European Economic Community (now the European Union). That was 40 years ago, on January 1st 1986.

The Spanish celebrate Christmas and New Year differently to most other countries. The month-long 'fiesta' lasts from 8th December, Immaculate Conception, through to 6th January, Epiphany. What happens in between is different also. Paul Whitelock first wrote about this back in 2020, when many traditional events were cancelled because of Covid-19. The original article has been tweaked. Here's the up-to-date version.