Gecko Towers
It’s early September and though the roasting heat of August is a thing of the recent past – like a light switch being turned off around the 1st September which is entirely usual – but we are still enjoying daily highs of around 30⁰C.
Taking a break, around 11.30, from trying to decipher the complexities of updated rules concerning the relocation to Spain of a family comprising one EU parent and non-EU (Brit) parent – shortly before my head explodes – I hear shrill voices. They are coming from two elegant ladies peddling recently hired push bikes down one of the connecting streets to the beach in San Pedro de Alcantara – near Marbella.
“I don’t like this” says one pushing heavily on the pedals, “I am getting hot and burnt!” They each wore a wide brimmed but fine straw hat and from beneath well-cut shorts protruded alabaster white legs.
(Ed. The Spanish for a hat – including those you wear for protection in the Sun is – “sombrero” derived from the Spanish word for “shade” – “sombra”)
At this end of the beach it’s a fair distance from their hotel. How do I know this? Their tell tale Day-Glo wrist bands, is the giveaway, that permit access to the hotel, its buffets, spa and the many other compelling holiday delights.
This year, it has to be said, that many Brits displayed great fortitude and some wallet elasticity for surmounting otherwise untenable odds to make the trip at all. A UK staycation wasn’t on the list for these ladies. After nearly two years of uncertainty the cost of a couple of PCR tests on their return to the UK was a modest price to play for a real dose of Spanish sun. And we all agree that September really is the most wonderful month here!
For some unfathomable reason, we British have an uneasy yet slightly addictive relationship with the sun. It’s not like the UK never sees the sun but we just don’t seem to know how to handle it to best effect.
Each year I learn more from the standard Spanish approach to enjoying a life in the Sun.
The locals seem so much more cautions, certainly respectful, of the immense power of the Sun’s rays. Their enjoyment starts either early in the day or later but rarely both. From about 9.00 am there is a steady stream of those heading to the beach to enjoy the morning sun. It’s not so intense and has a fantastic warming effect. However, this group of sun worshippers, having swum in the sea and talked to their friends, will be off the beach well before their usual lunchtime at 2.00.
For those Spaniards not on holiday, they tend to head for the beach from about 4.00 pm being joined by those working in shops and offices later in the afternoon and they’ll all stay until dusk. With the equally soothing effects of the later afternoon Sun to warm you and gently tan your skin prior to an evening’s stroll and supper.
So how can our happy holidaymakers protect themselves? After all from about Christmas the tanning product advertisers go into overdrive – to crest in about July – delivering new forms of oil or cream based coatings and increasingly complex Protection Factor numbering. Whichever is used – unless it’s a 50 factor complete block (which we used to use on our kids noses when they were young, is often blue in colour and made them look like US football pros – some caution needs to be exercised.
Speaking to a lady who grew up in Africa. Her comment related to sun creams. While I have no way of knowing whether this is true, apparently some products that purport to be sun protection, in fact contain fat. Her comment was that the very idea of drenching yourself in fat and then sitting in the sun to fry – seemed just ludicrous. In Africa she behaved just like our Spanish neighbours – never being in the sun for too long, never at mid day and never returning before 3.30.
If you have access to a music site on the internet, please listen to the song “Sunscreen” by Baz Luhrmann. It is perhaps the very best advice delivered in an altogether self-deprecating way about Life – oh also the use of some skin protection. The core of Baz’ advice is “Use Sunscreen”!
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Please call me, Mark FR Wilkins, during usual business hours on +34 600 343 917 or, if you prefer, or e-mail me at mark@roslegal.es
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