Wildlife within

This little chap was hanging around on the ceiling above my desk. When I tried to persuade him to go out of the window, he dropped onto the desk (leaving a slimy belly print on the glass surface) then scooted off behind the bookshelf. Hope he's found the way out of the front door now.

On one of our first days here the cat was delighted to catch a gecko. She cheerfully trotted up to the house with it in her mouth - still alive but bleeding from its tail - and had lots of fun chasing it around the porch until David rescued it and set it free in the garden where - we hope - it might have recovered. The cat hasn't come back with any more since then - perhaps they taste nasty.

Fire and water festival: Correfocs i festa de l'aigua

Your teenage son riding a bike laden with explosives and your toddler sliding around in two-foot of noxious-smelling artificial foam is certainly not most British parents' idea of a suitable Saturday night's family entertainment.

But here they really know how to entertain the young people. This weekend was the annual Festa Jove (Youth Festival). It kicked off at 9.30pm as gangs of young people with drums slung over their shoulders pounded out vigorous rhythms and danced around the square. Then they set the place ablaze.

Most (but certainly not all) of the older boys (plus a handful of girls) were clad in flameproof devil suits and they brandished long sticks with firecrackers nailed on the end. Together a group would hold their sticks aloft, touching in the middle, and set light to the lot. One even set his bike aflame.

 As the firecrackers blazed, banged and spun the devils ran and danced through the streets of the village.

Smaller children chased after them (the Catalan version of health and safety in this case being providing your young offspring with some long trousers and a scarf to cover their face). The rest of us dodged the sparks, drank beer and had a great time. (You can read about the symbolism of the correfoc on Wikipedia - it's all about the powers of good and evil.)

After a brief firework display in the village square, a huge canon jetted gallons of foam into the street until we were knee-deep in it. A good way to cool down, for sure, but it smelt vile. Covered in bubbles, people then moved on to the bars and the disco at the football pitch, which apparently lasted until dawn, although we didn't.