Weathering Malaga

The weather today - scattered showers with sunny intervals.

Now that's a blast from the past, a throwback to when Bert Foord or Bill Giles moved fuzzy-felt symbols around a wobbly map of competing pressure systems, annotated with isobars and jagged fronts  sweeping majestically across the Atlantic. The jetstream? I suppose it must have existed, but nobody ever mentioned it. 

Underlying changes to the climate no doubt have affected our weather patterns over the past half century, however an even bigger change has taken place in the way we talk about it. 

Weather forecasting organisations have replaced descriptive language with icons and data, so a phrase like 'sunny intervals and scattered showers' has been replaced by a black cloud with sun rays sticking out of it and a percentage. So far as I understand the percentages relate to the likelihood of the forecast conditions occurring at any time during the previous hour.

The media, however, so far as the weather is concerned, has eschewed science and instead embraced a tone of biblical prophecy, a wintery snap becoming 'snowmageddon' or a 'beast from the east'; gales slam into Cornwall or like now, Spain is 'ravaged' by rain.

Regrettably, previously sensible organisations such as the Met Office have joined in the fun, now what used to be a 'deep Atlantic low' has been personalised as 'Storm Eric', or whatever. So at the moment we are in a brief lull here in Málaga before being ravaged by Gloria.

In the event the weather in Málaga today was better than predicted, sunny intervals, but no showers. It's a very satisfying city to simply mooch about in. 

It's our fourth visit since 2014, maybe the city is becoming a little more overwhelmed by mass tourism than five years ago, not quite to the extent as Barcelona, Amsterdam or Florence where the authorities are getting to the point of rationing visitor numbers. An article in today's Guardian contains some startling statistics about the issue: Overtourism in Europe's historic cities sparks backlash 

Though Málaga has not reached the stage of being fully Airbnb-brushed, it characteristics that could send it that way: it has an all year sunny climate, ancient monuments and a two Picasso museums (he was born here), it is adjacent to the big resorts of the Costa del Sol, the airport is well served by Europe's budget carriers, it's a cruise boat destination... in a sense it is remarkable the place has not been totally overwhelmed by tourism already.

It still remains a relaxing place to stroll, the central market a place where locals come to buy first class ingredients. It has not yet succumbed to becoming an up-market food court full of trending pop-up restaurants. Granada, Lisbon and Bologna's old markets have all lost their original civic purpose; Covent Garden, of course, was disneyfied decades ago.

Even so, our lunch-time experience today perhaps reveals the shape of things to come. Last year we had a delicious, inexpensive light lunch at a small bar in the corner of the market called 'Happy Fish'. There are no seats, you simply prop-up the bar, order three or four tapas, a couple of glasses of wine and share a small moment of unstylish gastronomic delights.

Today we opted to eat at a similar place to be found in the opposite corner of the market. This time we got seats, a bar stool at one of the tiny tables on the pavement outside. Perhaps the food was not quite as tasty as what we had previously at 'Happy Fish', but this was not our complaint. What annoyed us was that the three tapas and a glass of wine each cost twice as much as last year. Gill queried the bill and was given a printed receipt. The reason for the discrepancy became clear, we had been charged per person rather than per plate. Maybe the locals who prop up the bar are charged one way and tourists and visitors sitting outside another. If so, it's a classic example of how an economy based on tourism alters local custom and practice.

We decided to have a coffee elsewhere, in fact wandering right across the city to the area below the Alcazar. It would be regrettable if Malaga  became a parody of itself, overrun by visitors to the point that it loses its original charm, like Barcelona, Florence and Amsterdam mentioned in the article. However, I am also all too aware that we are part of the problem not the solution.

At least we managed a day out. Tomorrow apparently we are going to be assaulted by Gloria. Fortunately she is predicted to be a little exhausted after her efforts up north - thundery rain is on the cards but nothing cataclysmic.