Talking of the rain-loaded gales, the Motril fire service has been receiving special courses on how to deal with flooding, seeing as two out of every ten call-outs during last year required them to pump out floodwater from basements, etc. All, told such call-outs numbered 75 during 2010.

The course, which 15 firemen attended, lasted 30 hours and covered the theory and practice of using motorised pumps to evacuate water.

Ironic, isn’t it: they spend all their working life spraying litres and litres of water into buildings, then have to take courses on how to get it out of them.