A month in the country - La Flecha

To be honest, La Flecha is not in the country.

It's in the suburbs of Valladolid - a large, historically important city which has much to be admired in terms of its beautiful buildings, which I shared in a post during the time we lived there, but much to be despised in terms of its unrelenting spread over the past decade. Now, apartment blocks stand empty or worse, unfinished, in all possible areas. And whilst fortunately, the many factories are still functioning in this time of crisis, the pollution and smell they create definitely detract from the overall impression as you enter the outskirts of the city.

Getting back to La Flecha - not in the country, but FR's parents' house is a little oasis in the middle of a newly developed suburb that started out as a few houses on a hill and has spread to almost small town size with a couple of schools, several supermarkets, a new health centre and a large plaza topped by the modern 'town hall' or ayuntamiento. The big difference between FR's parents house and most of the others in the town is that it has a garden. With chickens. And cockerels. And tomatoes, beans, flowers and grass. That is something very special and something I sorely miss. (Not the cockerels.)

We divided our time between visiting the coast and the house in Valdepolo, Leon but La Flecha remained our base. And we had some lovely days.

And then there's the uncle with a really cool bike - Ruy in awe.

Romy in heaven

Picnics in nearby beauty spots

Time spent with cousins playing computer games...

Time spent in the garden - lots of time spent in the garden

Los abuelos captured by Romy one day as she went around taking photos of the world through her eyes.

Time spent visiting nearby towns - this is Medina de Rioseco

Where the streets are ancient and interesting

And they make the most wonderful pastries and biscuits and breads

And where a crocodile climbs precariously down the wall....

There are various legends about how a crocodile became linked with the town but I am not sure I can explain them fully. One is that as the church was being built, parts of it were destroyed during the night and eventually, the worker discovered a huge crocodile was responsible. It was killed and its skin hung over the entrance to the chancel - apparently this still here though we never knew the legend, despite visiting the town many times over the past 16 years or so. This is the first time we've seen this new crocodile on the wall so he must have arrived sometime during the past year.
Medina de Rioseco would be a perfect chocolate shop town - maybe not the spot below the crocodile though.

*FR has just told me a more interesting version - he must have stopped to read the information on the banner...I should have done that. The legend begins the same way, in that the church building was being damaged but also townsfolk were being attacked by a monster near the river - el rio Sequilla - so the folk in charge left a slave out by the church one night, armed with a mirror (!) to see whether there really was a monster. By immense cunning and most likely divine intervention, the slave killed the crocodile - the mirror confused it dreadfully - won his freedom and saved the town from its dreadful menace. And there must be some truth in it all because I found this link with the photo of the crocodile skin.

Corner of the garden - chicken shed on the left

Handsome chappie

When you wake to cockerel crows, it does feel as though you're living in the countryside and when you eat fresh eggs that you have heard being laid in the morning, that too feels rather rural. Within a few days of the picture above, we were eating a rather splendid chicken stew - with onions and peppers from the garden too - yes, him.

Being in La Flecha counted towards our month in the country. And we bring back happy memories of hearing the children playing in the garden, playing cards around the dining table, barbecuing delicious ribs and spending the odd evening or two in the beautiful historic centre of Valladolid - just 5kms away. Notwithstanding FR's parents' lovely neighbours, Yolanda and Ermi, with whom I spent a lovely couple of hours chatting, being in La Flecha made me nostalgic for Andalucia; for the warmth and the friendliness of the people and the constant bustle of people living their lives. I'm glad we didn't settle here. I'm glad we came south.

The Last Post..

..from the house of los abuelos!

Last night it was the Cabalgata de Reyes Magos - this happens in towns and cities all across Spain. Here (until more recent years, when Santa Claus began to get in first!) according to tradition, the Three Kings (or Wise Men) bring presents. Makes sense - they brought the gifts of gold, frankinsense and myrrh to Baby Jesus, so the logic is that children (who've been good) get their gifts on 6th January. So on the eve of the 6th (Twelfth Night - or what you will..) there is a fantastic procession as the Kings arrive.

In La Flecha, it was due to arrive in the main square at 8pm. It was raining a bit and so there was even some  doubt around as to whether they would even bother coming! How dreadful would that be? However, news reached us that they would indeed be making the journey, despite the weather.

Now, this being Spain - and us being a bit too English - we missed the procession! Things always happen later than advertised here - always. I tend to want to arrive on time - I don't enjoy waiting for ages but I don't like to be late. So at 7.55pm (OK, I'm being very English about it) we set off to make the one minute hop to the square... and met everyone else going in the opposite direction. The Cabalgata had passed already - I guess they didn't want to hang about in the rain, but were hot-tractoring it to the Plaza de Toros.

So we decided to do the same - just to get a glimpse.

I have never seen so many people in La Flecha!

It was packed and we were all herding into a bullring. I admit feeling a tad nervous.

But we hung on to our children and stuck to the side of the ring until we found a little hidden entrance to a safer place - where the bull fighters hide when necessary!








We could only just make out the stage where the Three Kings were taking the orders from small children.


There was an enormous queue forming in the middle of the plaza as people waited to get hot chocolate that was being served. We don't like queuing so stayed put, listening to the band and picking up sweets that were being thrown around, until like magic itself, los abuelos turned up in front of us with steaming cups of chocolate and sponge cakes to dip in! (They knew the right people, obviously!)


After the chocolate, we decided to go down to the plaza and go on the dodgems 'one last time' - again. On the way, we found the abandoned Cabalgata and the children had fun finding sweets that had been left behind.

I think this one is for Belshazzar (or Baltasar as he's known here)

According to Spanish tradition, (there is precious little information in the Bible itself about the Kings - how many of them or what they brought) each King is from a different area - Melchior is from Europe, Baltasar from Africa and Gaspar from Asia. I would guess from the camel that this is Baltasar's float - if we'd seen them passing, I would have known for sure.

Romy trying on a throne for size

Now, is this Melchior's float from very northern Europe?
Or is it Gaspar's from Asia? Huskies originate in Siberia, so it could be Gaspar's.

(I should have thought to take a picture of the last one too! Then I could have made a more educated guess.)

Have another closer look at this one instead!

The children had fun. And came home with pockets full of sweets.

 ***************************

And as this is the last post from here, I couldn't go without sharing some of the images that surround us here.








Hanging outside the back door at the moment are dead chickens (SO SORRY to the chicken lovers who read!)...

and also little piggy feet, dangling daintily against the window.











Life will not be quite the same when we move - life will never be quite like it has been for the past few months!!  I will miss it - the chaos, the hilarity, the 'manicness' of some days - we have really lived here, no two ways about it.

It seems fitting that this should be the 'last post' as we take our leave. Historically, the last post was played on a bugle to signify the end of the day - be it day's hard work or day of fighting. I can't speak for what a day's fighting feels like as it ends, but I know that at the end of a day of hard work, there is a sense of satisfaction, of peace and, I must say it, of relief.
The end of just another day, yes, but also the end of a very special period of time that we will treasure forever.

The seven severed hands of Simancas

More than 12 centuries ago, when the Moors ruled much of Spain (and don't worry, this isn't a history lesson just a bit of local colour), taxes were demanded of all the villages. When a village didn't pay up punishment was meted out in various forms. To cut a gruesome story rather short - though not to cut out the cutting part - the punishment on this particular village was that seven young women were taken away and had one of each of their hands cut off.
A 'manco' or 'manca' in Spanish is someone missing a hand or arm. The name of the village 'Simancas' comes from the seven - or 'siete' mancas who came from there.
A form of retribution came later in a battle on the ancient Roman wall took place between the Moors (Moros) and the Christians in 939, when the Moors were well and truly defeated.

Plaza Mayor

General Archive of Simancas

Simancas is about 5kms away from La Flecha and about as different in tone and atmosphere as you could imagine. La Flecha is all modern apartments, straight streets, shops and supermarkets - Simancas is ancient, impressive, tiny, twisted streets and attention-calling corners. It is also the national Archive centre of Spain, holding documents, records, manuscripts and information of all sorts that are important to Spanish history. It's many a moon since I've been but we went again this weekend and I'm really impressed at the recent reform and improvement works that have gone on here in the past few years.

Facsimile of a document held in the archives

Illustration done in Winchester, England

Only scholars and pre-booked visits to the inside - but lots of information outside.

Music School

The old hospital - very old!

Simancas is a lovely place to visit and I shall go many more times whilst we live here in La Flecha as it brings me a lot of calm during this time of things 'unknown'. Down by the river, there are some spectacular walks, which leads me on to introduce the new member of our family. Nemo.

Nemo - found

With his favourite little person

He is a rescue dog, rescued not by us, but by Cesar's parents last year. He is extremely timid, quiet and has a damaged back leg following an accident with a car. (Wasn't me!) Since he came back to La Flecha in October with los abuelos and has experienced a bit of fun with the children, he has really come out of his sad little shell. I adore him and I do believe it's mutual. And now, he goes everywhere with us and is as good as gold. He came to Simancas; I take him to the bus stop to meet the children everyday; he came to the pine forest today and Mateo gets up and takes him out in the mornings at the weekend. And we have just received the good news that he can come with us when we go!

Hunting pine cones

He's ours!!

On the swingy thing

There are lots of little green spaces around La Flecha, in amongst the apartments and official buildings and almost always, there is a climbing frame or swings or slides for the children to play on. My children have done tours of the place and have found their favourite spot. It's the 'Swingy Thing' and the boys insisted I went with them today to see it. Romy was out with los abuelos somewhere, so we left her a note, knowing she'd be pretty mad when she came back and found we'd gone out without her. (It doesn't work the other way round - she's allowed to go out without us!)

And off we went.
It's quite a simple but interesting design concept, going up and down as well as round and round, though I did considered it on the dangerous side of 'fun' seeing as how the tyres are heavy, move fast and could easily knock even a large child flying. However, I put these thoughts to one side to watch the fun.

First challenge

is working out how to get on

You first?

No, me!

Next challenge is staying on

Hang on in there!

Arrival of trouble..?

A bit of showing off now

FASTER

All together now.

Yes .. I did!

(Well, wouldn't you!)

El bueno, el malo y el feo

The good, the bad and the ugly - some images taken around our current abode.

When I first came to Spain to meet Cesar's parents in La Flecha, the place was a small but rather spreadout little development of individual houses, all with gardens in an area about 5kms outside Valladolid town centre. It used to be a bit ramshackle in that the people who lived there - like Cesar's parents - had bought plots of land and built their homes with very little intervention from the authorities.

My in-laws' home could be in the middle of the countryside when you look around the garden and I have captured a few images that I have grown to love over the years.

Looking up from the back door, you see the little balcony that leads from the kitchen area in the upstairs where we are currently living.

View from the balcony looking down











There are little 'things' in every corner - symbolic of the habitual horder!

The cat isn't ours but was sitting on next door's wall and looked just right! Is he good, bad or ugly??

In the intervening years, La Flecha has become an urbanisation, with a network of narrow, often one-way streets, a local authority building, a large new library, several 'plazas', shops, supermarkets, a big primary school, swimming pools, even a bullring.. and new homes in the form of apartment blocks - or 'pisos' - that have been gradually expanding the boundaries of La Flecha so that it is now a very substantial place.

View from the front of our house to the right - you can see a small plaza there where the children go to play most evenings.

And to the left, you look towards the main square - La Plaza Espana - which is just down the hill from the house.

And this is the front balcony of our house - and yes, I do put my washing out to dry here - works a treat!!

On Saturday, there was the grand opening of a new bridge that links La Flecha with another urbanisation that has sprung up with considerably less elegance. The road and the bridge are impressive; the area it goes through is less so.














Here you can see the effects of the current economic crisis as building works have been abandoned, brand new pisos unfinished, unlived in and deteriorating rapidly. Awful waste.

 Oh - and of course, on Wednesday, the first stone was laid on this site - of a new IKEA!!











And pertaining to none of the above directly, a picture I captured on the way back from Aguilar de Campoo - and which I rather like - Sunset Christ near Palencia.