New year, cold year..

Snow is not something people generally associate with coastal Spain, even here at the north-eastern end of the Bay of Biscay. But snow it did recently, and quite plentifully for one day at least. The resulting traffic chaos brought parts of the city to a virtual standstill, at least as far as public transport was concerned. The snow-covered beach of La Concha, still only lightly covered by the fall of morning snow here, drew many people out with their cameras, the TV included, to record the unusual event. Whilst other parts of Spain, and Europe too of course, suffered far more serious conditions, the snow in Donostia was generally taken as something to celebrate and enjoy.

However, what was fun for one day was much less so the day after. What had melted during the day refroze overnight and ice made pavements quite dangerous. People's thoughts weren't just on the immediate situation though - the question was, what would the weather be like for San Sebastian Day, on the 20th? The fact that Donostia celebrates its most important day of the year in January means that there is always a risk that, after weeks of preparation, the tamborradas face a 24-hour festival of hostile, wintry extremes. In the event, the cold driving rain that had persisted throughout most of the day on the 19th gave way, not long before the magical midnight hour, to calm, dry conditions which allowed the annual raising (la izada) of the city's flag in the plaza de la Constitución to go ahead in a properly festive atmosphere. One hour remains now before the flag is brought down again (la arriada) and Donostiarras start to look forward to the following year's celebrations. This year, however, there will be a significant difference to the ending of the festival - as the strains of the composer Raimundo Sarriegui die away after midnight, the anthem for La Real Sociedad will ring out to mark the beginning of their centenary year. But more of that later...