Friday, October 13, 2006
New Covered Sports Facility for El Palmar School
Whilst this may not be an item of major international news, it does have certain importance. In a press release from the town hall in Buenavista del Norte, we learn that the local council is to spend 127,000 euros to cover in the sports facilities at the rear of the local school here in the El Palmar valley.
That, in itself, is news, however, it's the reasons that somewhat amused me.
As has been mentioned on these pages before, there seems to be a state of denial amongst local populations that there can ever be extreme weather. I hear it here every winter and summer, "never been this cold / wet / hot / whatever before", they say.
Of course, the reality is that it has. Not in the areas tourists visit, of course! :)
Well, here's official confirmation from the town hall itself, who say the reason they are about to wall and roof in this pitch is because it is one of the "principal demands of the residents", "taking into account the adverse meteorological conditions in the area, mostly in the months of autumn and winter, when the climate does not permit the practice of any type of physical activity in the open air." (Emphasis added.)
There you have it. Sounds like it's a known and regular occurrence to me - regular enough anyway to construct this covered sports facility that the town hall says will become one of the most important centers of leisure and entertainment in the area for the, roughly, 200 people in the district of an age to partake in sports activities.
The fact is that the El Palmar valley, shaped as it is as a deep bowl, attracts and holds cloud at any time of the year. The reward for suffering these adverse meteorological conditions is, of course, the wonderful fruit and vegetables from the fertile land and the profusion of year-round spring flowers, wild birds, thousands of butterflies and other flora and fauna that are not seen in other parts of the island.
Whilst in the south it rarely drops below a comfortable in short sleeves 15 degrees centigrade at night, up here in winter, it can go as low as 10 degrees by day, which with the added humidity and the lack of heating, can feel bloody cold indeed, though I always doubted and, this news appears to confirm, that it is not, "every year for the past few generations has been miraculously colder than the last".
El Ayuntamiento de Buenavista del Norte prevé la creación de un polideportivo cubierto en El Palmar
