There is weather in Spain.

[baratron]

We are going to Madrid tonight. It's all very last minute. Basically, it's Richard's birthday on Sunday, he has next week off work, and I need to see some sunlight before I go insane. As my college course is on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings it's possible for me to have long weekends where I go on Friday and come back on Monday afternoon. (This will be even easier next term when it's Tuesdays and Wednesdays.)

Problem is, we're not very sure if there's going to be sunlight. I've checked five different weather websites, and got five different answers. They range from Fog on Saturday and Black Cloud With Two Raindrops on Sunday through to Sunny on Saturday and Sun With Small White Cloud on Sunday. The temperature ranges are highs from 10°C to 17°C, and lows from 3°C to 8°C. All we can actually conclude from this is that weather will exist.

Yep, I know that to guarantee sun we should have gone for one of the Canary Isles or Cyprus; but major cities ensure food I can eat, a good public transport system and things that we both want to do. I'm not sure what there is to do in some of the Canary Isles apart from lie on the beach and get drunk (which appeals to Richard about as much as an extra hole in his head); nor how navigable they are without a car. That requires more research than we had time to do.

Anyway... as usual, we have booked the hotel based mainly on its proximity to the centre + free wifi (the one we chose claims to be eco-friendly, gay-friendly AND listed the free wifi four times in the description!), so I expect I'll be online about as much as I ever am at weekends. Just letting you know :)

Comments

[nitoda]

Have a wonderful time and I hope, some sunshine!

[softfruit.livejournal.com]

Coo, fabulous last minute plan! Regardless of the weather it'll be Time Away From Stuff which'll be good for you.

[meirion.livejournal.com]

Have fun!

I am half wondering whether just to go to Corsica and not come back in the next couple of weeks for similar reasons. Sorting out all the disasters first would be good, but may not be possible.

[mjl]

It's weather like that when forecasts giving one weather symbol for each day is really a bit pointless. Looking at the pressure/satellite maps gives the more meaningful answer that there is currently a load of cloud over central Spain, and that cloud will move away south to be followed by a clear patch which will be followed by a band of heavy rain showers. The forecasters clearly don't have much clue how fast that front is going to move or when the rain will get there, but aside from when they're talking on TV or radio, the forecasts don't communicate the degree of uncertainty...

Not that it would actually help you with planning if the forecasts said "don't know", but at least you might get to that point from one website.

As for the canaries, I've been to Tenerife for a beach/alcohol holiday, and heard from various people afterwards about other stuff, which does exist, but I didn't see any of due to not leaving the tacky resort - some pretty old villages, volcanic landscape things, parks and reserves with unique flora and fauna. The bus services for getting around Tenerife are apparently not bad, but getting around anywhere using local bus services would certainly require some planning (or enough time that you don't care about wasting lots of it by not having planned), and probably would be hard to do much in a weekend.

Anyway... enough of the unrequested advice... I hope the cloud moves off quickly and the rain doesn't get to Madrid until Monday and you have a good time there.

[skibbley.livejournal.com]

Have a fantastic time, I was there recently - and I recommend http://www.yerbabuena.ws/ for good veggie food.

[ludy]

have a great time

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

I saw this one and thought you'd appreciate it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_rubber_bleb_nevus_syndrome