There’s an avenue I like to walk along in Chipiona. It has a large white villa, a semi-modern apartment block and restaurants; a mini boulevard lined with eucalyptus trees that leads you straight to the sea. In January it is quiet. I walk across the empty square at the top of the avenue passing Manolo’s ice cream kiosk, boarded up for winter. A handful of cars are randomly parked. The only bar open serves afternoon coffee to an elderly couple. …
As the family get ready for the New Year’s Eve celebration – the second main celebration of three over the festive season in Spain – Benjamin and I take a trip to the jetty where the fishing boats come in with their daily catch. Benjamin’s mother has already been here earlier this morning to buy the seafood for the family evening meal on December 31st. There are twenty-two family members coming for dinner and Carmen (Benjamin’s mother) insisted on going…