Not this time of year in Valencia. Needless to say, yesterday none of the teams still training here docked out; with more periods of torrential rains and heavy winds forecast over the coming months, seems a wise decision to be moving our winter act to Auckland. From today's Valencia Life newsletter....

STORMS PARALYZE PORTS
The massive rainstorms continued to fall in the Valencian Community yesterday, , with one of the first effects being that the Port Captain of Sagunto ordered the facilities closed due to the weather conditions, and yesterday over 90% of the Valencian Community fishing fleets could not set out to sea. The storms also brough tremendous traffic tailbacks on the V-30 and V-31 roads to and from Valencia Port, and this was worsened by the continuing strike of the stevedores. Firemen from Paterna had to intervene on several occasions to stop homes and garages being flooded, whilst there were also electricity cuts in Carlet, Sagunto, Xeraco and Tavernes de la Valldigna. In Castellon some 350 pupils remained at home after clases were cancelled, and a woman was killed after being swept away in her car as she drove near Alzira. In the three provinces, enormous amounts of rainfall were registered with 138 liters per square meter being recorded in Tavernes de la Valldigna (Valencia Province), 62 liters per square meter in Agost (Alicante) and 58 liters per square meter in Xert (Castellon). The storm is expected to relent somewhat throughout today as the Farmers Union stated that the rains accumulated represented 50% more than is usual at this time of year.