Winter has de-facto arrived!
A cold front has arrived. For three consecutive days the temperature will fall to minus 1 at night. Today’s the first day we decided to turn on the heating in the whole house. Except for when we’ve invited people to dinner, we’ve only been using the woodburner on the occasional cooler night. It’s small but incredibly efficient, enough to heat the grey salon, green salon and kitchen.
In Sotogrande it’s 14 degrees and sunny right now. That’s a full 10 degrees warmer than here. In Barcelona which is just three hours south of us it’s 9 degrees. It’s interesting how temperatures can be so different in what’s basically the same geographic circle (albeit opposite ends.)
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this colder climate, but I’m not particularly bothered. In fact I quite enjoy the variety. Cloudy days rest my eyes. Southern Spain is so bright I had sunglasses on most of the time, for most of the year. Bessie (border collie cross) and Morgan (brittany spaniel) don’t mind the cold at all, in fact they’re playing outside. Rudy (bodeguero) on the other hand made his opinion of the cold very clear when we arrived in France last December:
My Mazamet 
Haha. Good one Rudy 🙂 Snowy likes to be under cover too. But, as a short-haired Pod, he hasn’t exactly got a lot of fur. Pretty much like bods. It’s a bit colder here (Gib) today apparently, although I’ve not stepped outside. Cinders is on cleaning duty. It is, of course, blue skies and sunny as usual. I like the change in the seasons. But I don’t think I’d like the bill for heating your whole house. Find me in the kitchen (with a Rayburn of course).
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Last year we arrived in early March and were still acclimatizing so we had the heating on for most of the month. It wasn’t cheap, but came out at more or less the same price of heating Villa l’Africaine. That’s because here we’re on mains gas (not available in San Roque) which is much much cheaper than propane (the only thing offered by Cepsa in that area.)
I’m investigating solar panels at the moment. If we can find a way to have them hidden somewhere I think we could probably reduce heating costs dramatically.
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I don’t have one, but it might pay to check out a heat exchanger. Don’t honestly know how it works but I believe it’s one of the ‘green’ technologies now available. Oh and poor Rudy needs a doggy coat!
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I do love the change of seasons where I live. Told my husband we couldn’t live any more south due to that (and that here in the US, southern states are generally full or idiots). Of course, climate change is making that change less distinct. One tiny snow squall so far and it’s mid-January. Our snowy winters have become cloudy and rainy.
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The same geographic circle? Isn’t there a rather large mountain chain between you and Barcelona and Sotogrande.. not to mention the Med’s effect on Sotogrande? These are huge factors in creating different weather patterns. What would be shocking is if you experienced the same weather.
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By geographic circle I meant we’re barely outside of the Iberian peninsula 🙂 But yes, important differences. Some particularly interesting ones here because we’re at the *point* where Atlantic weather and Mediterranean weather meet.
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Wonderful pix of the dog under covers. They make great foot warmers
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That expression says it all….
Can’t say that I am sorry to have left the cold weather behind: the memories of slithering over the ice to the poultry houses with a kettle of boiling water in one hand with which to melt the ice in their drinking bowls are still too vivid.
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It’s -5C where I live right now and that’s super warm for mid-January.
That dog under the covers is adorable!
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