These days, when I come to my furniture restoration class, the teacher slaps her arms around her body saying ‘Qué frío!’ (What a cold!)
People in our town say that Ronda has no spring. They claim we go straight from winter to summer. Everything is relative of course and I tell them that compared with where I come from, this is spring. When the snow thaws and nature starts to bloom, that is what we in the far north call ‘spring’.
The most florido months in Andalucia are April to June, when the landscape is awash with flowers of all colours. We are not at that stage yet, but the precious feeling of early spring is certainly here. A couple of weeks ago, we saw our first almond tree in blossom. The other day, I detected the first buds on a mandarine tree. And yesterday, on a mountain hike in the province of Cádiz, alpine flours, like tiny daffodils the size of a baby fingernail, were boldly facing the elements.
We are in spring and I dare say, Ronda does have a spring, just a subtler one than one may experience in more northern parts.
