Another beautiful day doing a few tidying up jobs on the inside decor and then we decided to work on the garden. We have been desperate to grind off the concrete posts above the fencing which made us feel our house was in prison grounds!!! (see picture)
Having ground 4 concrete posts off we had to grind through the wires which support the gravevines which grow throughout the summer. On the last one we looked up to find the opposite garden across the lane was on fire !!!!! We realised that this must have been started by a spark from the grinder and as it was a fairly windy day, the spark had been carried off in the air and landed on the dry grass which had been previously strimmed but not raked away. In the blink of an eye the fire had spread rapidly and within seconds an olive tree was on fire. We were frantically running with buckets of water to the garden trying to and put the fire out but it quickly became obvious we would never have been able to get it under control. As if by a miracle, along came a local on his tractor which had a water tank on it. He jumped down and immediately set his hose up to begin extinguishing the fire. Along came another local in his van who also helped in putting the fire out. We were so, so. grateful to these locals as without their appearance at the right times, this fire would have got so seriously out of hand we cannot begin to imagine the consequences.
It has taught us such a valuable lesson in respecting both the dry, arid conditions of the landscape because the hot season is still a few months away. It's hard to realise just how dry the ground and trees are as Portugal has had an exceptionally dry winter with no rain at all.
We found out today by a local that the police had called round to inspect the damage (so from having "one foot out of prison" we may have very nearly ended up well and truly locked up!!!!
That's all for now - keep reading for more dramas!!!!
