Pavements

The main street in Faja Grande is cobbled and late last year they pulled the cobbles up. At first I was fearful that this was going to be another example of "modernisation" by the Camara Municipal and the street was going to be replaced with asphalt. But, no, the cobbles were duly replaced. They weren't laying new drains or water pipes or anything - apparently, the cobbles get relaid at 50 year intervals.

The road was finished last November but at the same time as taking up the cobbles they also drilled up the pavements, mostly concrete. We have been waiting ever since to see how they were going to be replaced and, in the meantime, the village has been looking a bit of a state.

It was the usual story - waiting for the pavement cobbles to arrive on the island - pode ser no proximo barco - "maybe on the next ship" as is said so often on this island.

Anyway, they're now here and work has started.

Work proceeds by some sort of grey sand stuff - I imagine it has some proprietory qualities - being spread and then two lads tap the cobbles into this surface one by one with hammers. So the village resounds to the sound of plink plink - just as it did when they were re-laying the road last year except the road cobbles were bigger so it was plunk plunk.

Here is a picture of a pavement cobble which I picked up as a souvenir:-

There's a container full of these down in the car park. Which makes me think about two things - 1. what sort of machine chops rock into nice small chunks like that (don't know); and 2. how do you transport large quantities of them around (now I do know - in a container like everything else).

This is one of the lads tapping the pavement cobbles into place:-

He crouches tapping away from about 8 in the morning to past 7 at night with only about an hour break at lunch. Being in that position for longer than 3 or 4 minutes wrecks my knees and back!

The final stage of the process is that cement powder is thrown over the cobbles by the spadeful and then the whole is hosed with water so that the cement between the cobbles will set and the excess is washed away. 24 hours later, you have a fully set pavement!

The progress is such that they started work at the top of the village on Monday on the opposite side of the road from us and worked their way down to the village square on that side. We were a bit fearful they'd go the whole way down to the sea on the other side before working their way back up our side meaning we'd be about the last in the whole place to get our pavement done - not the greatest hardship except it's a bit of a hole outside our front door (a health and safety nightmare which wouldn't be allowed further north in Europe). Anyway, I'm pleased to say they've stopped at the village square and are now working their way up our side. So they should be plink-plinking outside us by about Monday or Tuesday, I reckon.

I'll keep you posted and also let you know about the other great excitement which overtook Faja Grande recently - street names and house numbers. We are being dragged kicking and screaming into 19th century!

A Privilege

In the last post I was maybe a wee bit dismissive when I said "Someone commented on 29 Jan ..."

Actually it was Joe who said "ello! I am so jealous...i was born in Santa Cruz,Flores and lived in Caveira until i was 3. My parents brought us to the USA in 1980. When i was younger we would often visit every other year for a month or so. I have not been back to the island since 1997 but plan on returning soon. I can't even begin to tell you how much i miss it."

It's nice to be reminded that someone out there envies your situation and I must say this has happened a lot since we've been on this island. It is a privilege to be here and I will think about you Joe next time I get a bit irritated about some aspect of life here (like that very bumpy bit on the road to Santa Cruz - that minor sort of thing).

... I'm sitting here trying to think another minorly irritating thing about this island and I can't think of one. They do exist, obviously, but nothing big enough to get under my skin that I can remember it now.

It's a privilege to live here.

Hello Again!

Well it's been two years and two days since I last wrote in this blog and I doubt if anyone bothers to check it anymore - although I see someone left a comment as recently as 23 January: thanks for that.

Since I last wrote, the palheiro in our garden has been renovated into a nice holiday studio apartment if anyone's planning a visit. More details on my website - http://fajagrande.com/

I've also got quite a lot of pictures of the island (mostly Faja Grande, inevitably) on my flickr photostream which you may wish to have a browse through - http://www.flickr.com/photos/24718842@N04/sets/72157612759668115/ This also has some photos, old and new, of Scotland where I'm from and used to live.

I'll try and write something more soon. The big thing going on in Faja just now is they're at last laying the new pavements (sidewalks - passeios). Does that sound interesting? Well it is to us!

Spot the Difference!

Compare with the image below.

OK - I'll put you out your misery to tell you that the lady pushing the shopping trolley has changed!

Ta-rah!

New delivery of new plastic pags for Jose Antonio and Linda. We had a laugh tonight (anyone with weak sides better go and get their corset on now) that the lady depicted is Linda and that she'd been dragged from the 60's (when she was about 6) to the 70's (when she was - whatever!).

The long winter evenings here just FLY by!

Weather (last time)

I believe this is how it works that here in Faja it can be chucking it down, yet over in Santa Cruz on the other side of the island (only 12 kilometres away) it's bright and sunny. It also explains how it can be chucking it down here in Faja, yet it appears bright and clear out to sea. And how, if you drive over to S Cruz, you have to put your fog lights on once you're up in the Zona Nevoeiro (I may have spelt that wrongly). Cloudy zone - to drive from Faja Grande to S Cruz, you have to ascend to 600m/2000ft.

It is actually quite something to drive over the top of the island - creeping along with your fog lights one minute and out into bright sunshine the next!

This is a west wind scenario. The moist Atlantic wind rises over the west (left) cliffs of Flores and dumps rain and cloud over the west coast but this "bad news" has fizzled away by the time you get over to the east (right) coast at S. Cruz. In an east wind, the position reverses and in changeable weather, you see how you can get four seasons in one day!

Plastic Bags (again)

Article in this week's "Economist" (sort of UK equivalent of "Time") suggesting they've been banned in San Francisco.

Next stop, Santa Cruz das Flores.

Please note, I am not - repeat NOT - some sort of hair shirted hippy-dippy tree-hugger. For Pete's sake we managed to resist all attempts to recycle our waste when we lived in Edinburgh. But the fact that you COULD recycle in Edinburgh got under my skin enough to notice that you can't do it here even if you wanted to - well, let us say the Camara Municipal of Lajes das Flores doesn't seem to be promoting it in any shape or form at all. Nor am I aware whether the Governo Regional of the Azores has any policy on recycling.

Is it because the environment (ambiente) of Flores is still just so pristine that nobody's woken up to the fact that there could possibly be a problem if we don't watch out? That's my theory.

Weather (again)

Sorry if I seem a bit obsessed with the weather on this blog but when you've got the Atlantic Ocean at the bottom of your garden, it becomes more of a preoccupation. Also, people tend to assume the Azores are "tropical islands" - i.e. "sun kissed palm trees, white beaches and blue seas". (Well certainly blue seas, one or two palm trees but black beaches - volcanic, you see).

I've digressed already (but isn't that the point of a blog?)

Anyway, I wanted to share this satellite image from earlier this week which encapsulates a "weather moment" very clearly:-



Flores is the little dot in the (small) red circle to the left of the pic. Note the line of cloud (white) over us. That was a cold front. It's moving south east. When the satellite snapped this pic at about noon, it was raining very hard. But a couple of hours later, in the afternoon, it cleared up and was bright and sunny as the front passed over south east: we emerged into the clear - but cold as it was coming from the north west - air behind the front as the satellite pic clearly shows.

Weather in action, as it were, brought to you by the Finnish Meteorological Institute's website available (free) at this link: http://www.fmi.fi/weather/rain_5.html