Algete street scenes

This is the highest point on our little hill and this tower houses the administrative office for our urbanización . I know in the US these bodies are infamous for their zealotry. But these people are benign in the main and don't have all that much to regulate as far as I can see. At least the car and refuse bins provide added colour!

Where our plastic bottle tops go. I thought the heart-shaped container was a nice touch by the council! And I thought the many tops were pretty colourful! Algete street scene no. 11. Best on large.

A bit of a cheat perhaps but included in this series because this lane was once the main thoroughfare between Algete and its neighbour Fuente El Saz de Jarama, The traffic these days goes by a less direct route behind that hill. I'm delighted with this because I live on top of that hill (see note) and a main road here would have spoilt our terrific view! This scene could be late summer in very many places across Europe! I pushed myself with a walk to Fuente el Saz this afternoon, in the heat, a three hour trip there and back, but I found it easier than I expected!

There is normally a clear view of the Guadarrama Mountains from here but, again, there was just enough of a calima (Saharan dust cloud) to make the mountains very hazy indeed but they can just about be made out, especially if the image is enlarged!

Algete Street scene no. 5. Parish church

These streets really do give me good exercise for improving my stamina prior to my eventual walks back in the mountains! Another view right in the heart of the old town. Crikey! And another pure blue sky! We are blessed or what! Actually this is my personal favourite from my streets of Algete series. Sight and sound. Well I sometimes get a trifle homesick! Always loved this even though it has nothing whatsoever to do with the photo! www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE

This street is just below ours. It has a good view to the Guadarrama Mountains. Again a +40ºC day and it certainly felt it as I took my daily constitutional! The two green bins are a necessary evil and are a statement to our times so I think they have their place here! I have to say the light these past two weeks here has been pristine! No editing of shots at all necessary or desirable! Please on full screen and feel free to close in even further!

Another trumpet vine shot but I don't think one can have too many trumpet vine shots! (Seems to work on full screen too)

A street near me. (Algete street scene 1) These dramatic flowers are fairly common here. They look especially good against a granite wall and with a view to the distant Guadarrama mountains. A blue sky helps too! Also everything is as was! No editing at all, no cropping, no enhancements whatsoever. The light yesterday was so pure that I could have read the small print off a can of coke (if I had been so inclined) without my reading glasses! Sight and sound: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NR-hmFrR20 - by the late great Tim Buckley. Simply because it's a summery kind of song and with summer on the way out soon, I get a bit of a sadness creeping in. This song helps cheer me up. By the way, younger members might recognise the name of his talented son; Jeff Buckley. Sadly, both died young and both by drowning. Perhaps best on full screen.

I pass by here every time I go into Algete to go to the shops or to catch a bus into Madrid. A typically hot and dry day. I think the heat comes across here - Certainly over 40ºC that day. (And even the mad dogs weren't out!!) A fair representation of many of Madrid's outer suburbs. Better on full screen. And some happy music! www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvcUb2at7os

Far too hot for children to play out of doors! (41ºC in the shade). In the far distance, on the right is the Sierra de La Cabrera which looks minuscule from here! (See previous upload for note on Algete's position from there!) Another shot from my twice-weekly walk to the shops! www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYy716zmXcM no reason, I just like it!

Algete's parish church and Constitution Square on a blisteringly hot afternoon. The centre of the town where I live (about 40 minutes walk all uphill from here!) I thought I may have inadverdantly caught myself in the mirror opposite, but it seems not! www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkEd3WgR8qw

I try to do these steps at least twice a day as part of my rehabillitation programme, and today I can proudly relate that I didn't have to stop for a breather once, for the first time! It may look easy but there are 98 steps and try doing it in the height of a Spanish summer! And only 2 months ago I was reliant on my walker / zimmer frame! So Isabel, bring on those mountains! :o) www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayL1WTR1Go Just because I like it!

A local park. I've taken similar shots before as the railings and trees seem to go well together!

A view from near Algete to the Sierra de Guadarrama, Madrid Province. Amazingly this is only 17 miles from Madrid centre!

By the front gate, Valderrey, Algete, Madrid. Spot the swallow (or is it a tern or a martin? No prizes, just for fun!) The rose is named ALFRED SISLEY.

Algete Church on yet another very dull day. Iglesia Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. One day I might even go in and have a look round.

Another old olive tree in a local park.