Monday, August 31, 2015

San Ramón

The ultimate day of the fiesta is the day of San Ramón which is celebrated on 31 August.


This year the midday service was held in the ermita as the church was still undergoing renovation work.


Everyone was dressed in their best...


...for the mass...


...and several people were wearing the traditional costume or traje regional.




Lunch for the entire village took place in the Plaza Mayor...


...and everyone was served a plate of paella...


...followed by our homemade deserts.



Everyone enjoyed the meal and the company, a wonderful end to the fiesta celebrations.



But then, shortly after everyone had dispersed, a hailstorm, like no other you have ever seen with hailstones almost as big as tennis balls...



...lasted just over 10 minutes and destroyed virtually everything in it's path...



...especially if it was made from plastic like the swing settee,..



...our garden relaxer seats,...




...my YingYang mobile, shattered!, as well as the solar heater for the jacuzzi...



...and 2 out of 3 of the wall light globes.



There will be a very poor crop of olives to harvest this year as so many were torn from the trees by the hailstones.



Similarly, the current crop of peaches has been decimated and all the damaged fruit has been discarded. The almond harvest too will be reduced. This has a knock on effect not only for the farmers who have lost their crops but also for the casual labour employed to collect and sort the produce. The only people to benefit from the storm are the roofing contractors and the car repair centres.


The force of the hailstones had also broken many of the tiles on the terrace as well as chopping up the hosepipe between the jacuzzi and the solar heating panel.



Although our car was parked under an overhang to give it more shade from the sun it was still exposed to the storm and suffered a lot of damage to the windscreen, every plastic part and the body panels.


The last time the village of Torre del Compte witnessed so much destruction was over 75 years ago during the Spanish civil war.



At least when a bomb explodes it is over within a couple of seconds. Here, the bombardment was constant for over 10 minutes.



Someone, or something, had obviously offended San Ramón for him to have sent the storm to punish the village. Maybe he was upset because his statue was not taken around the village as it is every year when the service is held in the church but because this year, as the mass was in the ermita, he was not carried around the village.

To see the video of the TV and local coverage of the storm, click HERE



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Sunday, August 30, 2015

Around Torre del Compte from the sky

I have recently bought a drone, actually, 4 drones. The first, I lost as it flew away from me on the first day! It's in the countryside near here somewhere. The third one is probably on a roof in the village somewhere - just waiting for the workers to get up there, it's got my phone number labelled on it! I've still got my second one and I recently got a 4th. However, I'm getting a little better at flying them. They do make their view quite interesting as we are never likely to see it from our viewpoint.


To see our Agave in flower with the village behind, click HERE.


To see Torre del Compte, from above and beyond, click HERE.



To see La Ermita in Torre del Compte, click HERE.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

¡Fiesta!

Wednesday 19

The fiesta traditionally starts with the Chorizada en la Cooperativa, sausages on the land next to the school playground, at 19:00



Small bonfires are lit and everyone cooks their sausages, eats them in bread and drinks the wine all provided by the fiesta team.


After this, many people go around the village visiting the various peñas, drinking a gin and tonic at every stop and having water thrown over them between the stops - great fun and they enjoy it - but we come back to our house.

Thursday 20


This year because of the renovations to the church, the mass for San Ramón is held in the ermita.


As always the choir are in fine voice and the musicians note perfect.



At 19:00 in the school playground there was a performance by the Jota group Aires del Matarraña and very good they were too. 

The regional costumes worn by the entire group were superb and involved changes of costume for different dances. The dancers themselves were excellent and performed tirelessly even including the use of castanets. Two of the dances were performed by the next generation of dancers and they did very well as did the 5 and 6 year old girls who each sang a jota. The musicians played superbly and the solo singers were very good indeed.

To see my video of their performances, click the links below.

Jota #1: 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scVAtOylsis&feature=youtu.be

Jota #2:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHMaRlaKOk&feature=youtu.be

Jota #3:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS3IBHqRcGM&feature=youtu.be

Jota #4
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnkhDRfpPS0

Jota #5
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJQFs1b_fzw

Jota #6
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE_SkoczE-w

Jota #7
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSUa8uoNo-0

Jota #8
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfq_yOMUptw

Jota #9
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFsIM0hJgeY

Jota #10
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YMyKbzCfrI

Jota #11
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riX1RQAJCLQ

Jota #12
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY8V_vzCXL0

Jota #13
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLGdLwbC95U

Jota #14
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6modKJFnZmU

Jota #15
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVfOvX7Vpck

Jota #16
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxY7nnesJx4

Jota #17
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BBG0S3ZCuc


Friday 21

A highlight of the fiesta over recent years has been the Concurso de Disfraces and this year it was very well supported as always.




To see the performance in the Concurso de Disfraces, the Fancy Dress, follow the links:





6. Lo Karkás

The only problem this year was that the groups were not lit by the stage lights as there was a hint of rain in the air. As it turned out, it didn't rain a single drop but I had to video the performances by streetlight.



After the Fancy Dress competition, there is always time for a drink at the piscina with friends.

Saturday 22

The final night of this part of the fiesta was a meal in the Plaza Mayor where everyone took along a dish to share with friends. Margaret and I made Sweet and Sour Chicken which was absolutely delicious and is not the sort of everyday Spanish food you might come across unless you visit a Chinese restaurant.


On the stage behind us was a magician. Very entertaining.