Cliff Gardner writes from Sunny Spain

Dear Mr Editor,

I have just read the on-line version of the Village Pump as I sit here looking out onto blue skies, palm trees, white sand and a blue sea; needless to say I am not in sunny Wretton. As I write this, I am anticipating our return in a couple of weeks so both Ian Nesbit’s and Ron Watts’ articles had resonances for me as I am aware of the Siberian winter you have been experiencing and we always have problems in our sojourn in the sun.

As the winter gripped theUK, the North wind raced down to southernEuropeand depressed the temperature by10 deg C. This may not sound much to the hardy souls inEast Anglia, but here the building standards are no match for those in the North and so we had to turn the heating up and put 2 sweaters on with long-johns under my trousers.

Then the rain came. Storm water from the mountain raced down the road as there are no drains in the road, and flooded the roundabout on the beach road and the street lights went out for 2 or 3 days. Metal theft is as prevalent here as in theUK, and a couple of months ago we lost the street lights again as some toe-rag had nicked the underground cable.

One benefit of the recession is that a lot of the itinerant petty criminals have moved on, as there are not so good pickings from vulnerable tourists. So things are nice and quiet, all the construction work has stopped, the tower cranes have been left standing like forlorn relics of a past civilization.

But now the sun is shining, the wind has abated and coffee and croissants are being brought out onto the terrace. The sun makes everything seems wonderful and fresh with an abundance of wild spring flowers jostling for place amongst the cacti and palm trees. I even saw a swallow 2 days ago, arriving on the early flight fromAfrica.

And we, like swallows, shall return toNorfolkin time to see the Easter bunnies.

Kind regards

Wretired in Wretton