Which means it should not be 35º and I should not have to put on the AC in the late afternoon because it’s 29º in my living room. These past two years have been so fucked up here. Way too hot for far too long and NO RAIN. Or at least not enough to make any difference. I mean, you all know l like sandal weather to last as long as possible, but that doesn’t have to be at these crazy temps.

And (here comes the rant) I’m getting so tired of people commenting on how LUCKY we are because it’s all rainy, cold and miserable where they are. Well guess what? It’s actually miserable for us when our reservoirs are down to less than 25% capacity, our crops are dying (olive oil production is half of what it should be this year… for starters) and it’s actually too hot to comfortably take a walk or sit outside. Water bills are going up by 35% starting next month, electricity is already off the charts, and in some cases basic food costs have almost doubled in the past couple of years. Yet our incomes have not increased.

Of course people coming here on holiday think it’s all a fabulous bargain as things are still cheaper than back at home, but do they even give a thought about us? More and more I feel resentful towards tourists who only think of us as their “cheap sunshine break” and especially when they come here, and if we are very lucky and it rains, then omg they feel hard done by because their holiday has been ruined.

And yes I know some of my work is reliant on tourism, to an extent. But my food tour clients tend to be the kind of travellers who fit into my rather niche offering. Which means they are conscious of what’s going on and, I think, travel with a bit more awareness and respect than the average tourist. Because once Sevilla turns into a desert and daily summer temps hit 50º and there is NO WATER… well, that’ll be it for tourism. I don’t think I’ll live to see that day, which I don’t think is that far off, but it still hurts to watch people being so uncaring and selfish. Same old…