Val & Petes Weblog

Last Thursday we returned to Spain after 17 days in the UK. I have to say that when we arrive in Spain it now always feels as though we are ‘coming home’. After taking an earlier flight than usual from Stansted our friend and neighbour Tom kindly met us at the airport and we were back at the villa by 6pm, much better than the usual 11pm arrival.

It was lovely to arrive to beautiful weather after hearing reports of lots of rain here while we were away. Looks like we did it again folks as the weather in the UK was really good while we were there. The weather has held in the mid-20’s since we have been back which is great as we now hear that it has turned chilly in the UK. 

As always seems to be the norm lately our arrival was greeted by yet another problem that had occurred in our absence. Sigh! This time it was the pool. On arrival Peter opened up the house and went straight out onto the terrace and there was our pool with the water level down by about 15inches, the pump running and water pouring out of the jets like fountains. Investigating further he found that water was running out of the backwash pipe all over the back garden, just what we needed after all that rain!

We had commissioned a new guy to care for the pool while we were away as our regular man had left Spain to return to the UK for good. Alex had been in that morning to clean the pool and had not switched the backwash valve off properly - hence the problem. Was he embarrassed or not! Well, they say that some good comes from bad and a little bonus has come from this - a bulb had gone in one of the underwater lamps and remembering what difficulties we had last year replacing one we had just left it unlit. Now with the water level down and Alex feeling embarrassed he has replaced the bulb today and fitted a new valve to the backwash. He is also going to reimburse us for the loss of water so all is not gloom and doom.

With all the rain while we were away the garden really looks lush and green and everything seems to have grown out of proportion. The tubs and baskets look great thanks to Sarah’s ministrations and surprisingly very little cleaning, apart from windows and a quick wash of the terrace, needed doing. I suppose the rain helped in washing all the dust away that we usually return to. 

Peter’s chest, arm and shoulder have made a miraculous recovery. Probably recovery was accelerated when Tom invited him to join him at the driving range to hit a few balls on Friday! Peter thought he would give it a try and found it not too painful, now he has no excuse not to do those heavy jobs around the house!

I have got back into my crafting. I am now into Parchment Craft and am really enjoying it. When I was in the UK I bought the materials I needed and now find it better working with the proper paints, pastels and inks as the results are so much more satisfying. So the family can look forward to receiving really special Christmas cards from us this year!

So here we are in-situ until we return to the UK for Christmas. We hope! Sadly Peter’s 89-year-old Mum’s health is failing and we are anticipating that we might have to return to the UK sooner rather than later. We heard yesterday that her carer had found her on the floor where she had fallen during the night and that she is now in hospital. Fortunately she has not damaged herself but again they say she is suffering from very low blood pressure, severe malnutrition and dehydration and that she also has a water infection. We are hoping that her general health will improve while getting 24 hour care in hospital and that they may be able to find a place in a care home for her when she is ready to leave as she really is not able to live on her own anymore.

Well, that’s all of my latest ramblings. I’ve had my legs slapped again by son David - this time for making my Blog entries too long. He said I should do shorter ones but more of them! Hope this satisfies you David! 

Again I must say that I don’t know where the time flies. A prompt from son David made me aware that it is 11 weeks since writing my Blog. My excuse once again is that we have been very busy with visitors coming to stay and playing catch up before, between and after each set of those visitors. So excuses over, what have we been up to? Let’s see!

July Activities - On arrival back from our wonderful holiday, (which I wrote extensively about in my last blog in case you didn’t read it) we had problems to contend with, again, sigh! A power surge while we were away tripped the mains switch in the house resuting in the power being off for 1 1/2 weeks. We have tried to get this sorted out to stop it happening without success. The up side is that the last time it happened we did get the fridge/freezers and alarm put onto another circuit bypassing the mains so this latest episode did not affect them thank goodness. However, the down side was that the irrigation system stopped working once the battery back up failed and we arrived home to wilting plants and patchy brown grass which had been lush green when we went away. Once we replaced the battery in the control box and reset it all was working fine again and very soon the garden recovered.

The garden recovery was aided by an abnormal amount of rain which descended on us spasmodically thoughout July and August with some days feeling almost wintery. Most unusual for Spain but certainly not as bad as the UK’s summer weather. We do not complain though when we get the showers and even downpours in Spain in the summer as we know it won’t last long and the sun will quickly be shining again. I do feel sorry for the holiday makers who have to cram their vacations into August to suit school terms, save hard to take their families to sunny Spain only to get rain when they are there.

So what did we do in July? Peter got the garden shipshape again, we washed the terraces, did major food shopping and I got to grips with the normal chores around the house and prepared for the guests due to start coming in August. Peter got back into the swing of his golf practice on the driving range (no pun intended) and I settled back down to my crafting. I have now made all my Christmas cards apart from the special family ones and I just have to do the inserts and make some envelopes for the odd sized ones and they will be ready for the post at the right time. Oh, and of course we caught up with friends and did a bit of socialising.

August Visitors - On the Sunday before our first visitors arrived we had a heavy downpour of rain which brought the brown dust of the Sahara Desert with it. This normally only happens in May and was a shock to us to get it in July. Thinking that we had already got ready for our visitors we then had to hose everything down and have a major clean up again on the day before they came. Sigh Again!

Our visitors arriving on Tuesday 31st July were daughter Sally with grandkids, 15-year-old Matt and 12-year-old Robyn together with my niece Sue with her 15-year-old son Regan. It was a first for us and interesting to have two families visit together. Although enjoyable we don’t think we would repeat this as we found we preferred the company of one family at a time more to our liking. You don’t know until you try and both Sally and Sue fortunately understand how we felt and did not take offence as indeed none was meant.

We did not go out and about on day trips as the adults were happy to chill out at the villa for the duration of their short visit and Sally was engrossed in the latest Harry Potter book, which she finished and left for me to read. I found it hard to get into but by the time I was half way through I fully understood why Sally could not put it down. A good read and not the ending I expected. Us women enjoyed many games of Scrabble and Backgammon and in the evenings we all played our fun card game of Uno. Anticipating that the three youngsters might get bored, Peter had gone and bought some pool games - a goal post, basketball net and volleyball net and so we played lots of family games with these. We had also bought some woggles which only cost 2 euros each and were worth their weight in gold. The volleyball players who were the strongest swimmers were deligated to the deep end and found the woggles a good support aid while playing. I naturally was allowed to play in the shallow end where, being nervous in the water, I planted my feet firmly on the bottom of the pool and only attempted to go for balls within my reach. I felt as though I was a bit of a liability to my team members but it was good fun.

We did go out some evenings though. We went for a fish and chip supper and then on to the Irish pub to be entertained by Jooles, our favourite guitarist and we all enjoyed the evening very much and we also had some nice meals out at their favourite restaurants and had a couple of barbies at home. On the Sunday lunchtime we met up with 14 of our friends at the Donkey Sanctuary in Jalon and really enjoyed a lovely leg of roast pork with loads of crispy crackling. Oh and of course we had to do the obligatory market visit - that is always a must with visitors! We had woken to rain but as this was the only chance they would get to go to the market we braved the weather. It actually stopped raining for us when we got there and was quite pleasant wandering around as it was quite cool.

The week flew by and on the afternoon of Tuesday 7th August Peter took them all off to the airport for their flight home. I stayed behind at the villa to do all the cleaning, make up fresh beds and prepare an evening meal for our next visitors who Peter would be bringing back with him on his return journey from the airport. A very quick turnaround indeed!

Arriving on that Tuesday were son David, daughter-in-law Alison and grandkids 16-year-old Tiff and 6-year-old James due in 1/2 hour after the others flew out. Unfortunately they had a flight delay so Peter had a long wait at the airport whiling away the time reading a couple of newspapers and having a snooze. The prepared meal was put on hold for the following day and when they finally arrived at 10pm we made do with Pizzas which was lighter and very welcome.

David and family came for 10 days and unike the others did want to go out during the day a couple of times. Our first visit was to Guadalest, a monestary town up in the mountains. The visit was really for Alison who wanted to visit the big Lladro shop there where David was to buy her birthday present from him to her and she picked two lovely pieces out which were part of her series collection. After the essential shopping we had lunch and then decided to climb up to the top to see the beautiful views. It must be about 12 years since I ventured up to the top and I really had forgotten how lovely it is and the climb was not too difficult. Another trip we went on was a 2 hour drive to the other side of Valencia. The destination was an underground river, reputed to be the longest underground river in Europe. We went on a 45 minute boat trip along this river through wonderful caves with their fantastic stalictites and staligmites (hope I’ve got that right!) and it was well worth the lengthy drive. Unfortunately, the name of the place escapes me at the moment and as I am writing this in the UK I do not have access to the leaflets.

We went to Monro’s Carvery at Pedreguer, which we prefer to the one in Moraira, for Sunday Roast dinner and while we were there we could hear thunder rolling around in the Denia region but the weather for us was hot and sunny. Later that day though the storm reached us at the villa and we sat on the terrace being entertained to a spectacular lightening display over the sea and mountains.

Again we played lots of Volleyball and by this time I was braving lifting one foot briefly off of the bottom of the pool and James loved us all playing basketball and using the goal post with him too (I was placed in goal where I could keep those feet firmly planted! Those woggles we bought were really made good use of as Tiff made up so many different games with them to play with James. They were converted to horses, chariots, racing cars and all manner of things and it was great to watch them play for hours together making good use of the pool. David spent a lot of time helping James with his swimming techniques and with Tiff and James with their diving and Alison did a lot of lazing and soaking up the sun. On one of the bad weather days Alison and I worked together on a Christmas card and she got the bug and is now hand making cards since she’s been back home.

We also took them for the fish and chip supper and on to the Irish Pub to see Jooles again. This time he was with Christian and they were doing a Pink Floyd Tribute, which was right up David’s street he being a Pink Floyd fan. James enjoyed it too but not sure about Ali and Tiff though as they were not keen on the music but they bravely endured it. Again we ate out at their favourite restaurants and had BBQ’s at home as well as some other nice meals and then we played games in the evenings, this time it was Yahzee, a dice game that we have owned for over 30 years and which has given us hours of enjoyment throughout all those years.

We cancelled the obligatory market visit the first week as it was raining again and it was decided to go the following week which was also the day they were due to fly out in the evening. We could not believe it when we woke to rain again on that day too - that was three Fridays in a row! As it was their last opportunity we decided to go anyway and once again on the the way there the rain stopped and although overcast we managed a leisurely 1 and a 1/2 hour stroll around the market without getting a soaking before going off to Holly’s in the Square for a hearty lunch.

It was a very full ten days and again went by very quickly but we had a lovely relaxing, enjoyable time and I think they did too and they did not let the odd days of bad weather spoil their holiday as we always seemed to find something to do that fitted in with the weather.

David and Alison had brought a gift with them for us - a Sky+ box. David connected it up, got it installed and showed me how to use it. Thank you so much for giving it to us and getting it working - I love it as it is so easy to record programs and allows us to record one channel and watch another at the same time, watch a recorded program while another is recording or record two programs at the same time. And it is great too to be able to pause live viewing if interrupted in the middle of a program! David also sorted out a few things on my laptop and showed me how to do some things I was unsure about and he got our bedroom fan working properly too. He also went next door and sorted out a problem Tom had with his PC and TomTom. So a BIG THANK YOU from us all David.

David and Co departed on Friday 17th and we had 9 days to play catch up with our chores and with our friends before our next and last visitors of the summer season arrived. Another downpour of rain the day before our visitors arrived brought the brown dust again so once more we had a major clean up to do yet again. Big Sigh!

Our niece Sue came back on Monday 27th for 10 days, this time with her eldest daughter, 18-year-old Mica. We had lots of ideas of places we could take them and different restaurants they might like but when it came to it they were quite happy to chill out during the day as it was very hot.  We did take them for lunch to a restaurant up in the mountains though. This is a ramshackle old barn called Verde Vent which we can only describe as a rustic eating experience. We enjoy going there and they really enjoyed it too. We also had some good meals out in the evenings but we stayed home a lot, had barbies and played games. Sue and I played a game of Scrabble everyday and found that we were very well matched and managed to get consistent combined scores of over 600 points which is pretty good. We also played Backgammon and Mica and Peter also enjoyed some games too. The pool and jacuzzi were well used and we had a daily 1 hour+ game of water volleyball with Pete and Sue in the deep end playing against Mica and I in the shallow end. I am very proud to say that my confidence in the water grew each day and before long the feet were leaving the ground and I was stretching, reaching and jumping for the ball as well as anyone else, not even thinking about the face or hair getting wet, and really enjoying myself. It was a bonus too when Mica read out of her magazine that you use up 200 calories playing 1 hour of water volleyball! Can’t see any visible results though I must say!

After another great visit it was time to take them back to the airport for their flight home late on Thursday 6th September and then we had only 4 days to play our catch up game again before we flew out to the UK ourselves.

Pool Problems - Throughout August, and while we had visitors, we had pool problems. The water virtually changed overnight from sparkling blue to a murky green. David went onto the Internet and researched causes which basically all came back to filtration. Peter and David followed all the given advice from giving it shock chlorine treatement to adding other chemicals. As the water was testing OK we carried on using the pool and thankfully no-one has suffered any ill effects. We also had the sand in the filter changed as it is recommended that this be done every 5 years and our pool is 6 1/2 years old. After a lot of effort we finally got the pool water back to sparkling blue again only to find a week later it was murky green again. Talking to other people we found that we were not the only ones having problems and the causes have now been attributed to the rain carrying that awful brown dust. When we left to come to the UK on the 11th the pool seemed to be recovering once again so hopefully it will be OK when we get back. We have left the cover off to make life easier for Alex who is looking after it while we are away so I should think that when we get back the temperatures will be well down which means swimming will be over for this year. Thanks David for your input and help with yet another problem!

Back in the UK - We arrived back in the UK at lunchtime on Tuesday 11th September. Friends Pam and Bob met us at Stansted and we stopped for a very nice meal on the way home. Back at the house in Warboys we had a cuppa before P&B departed and then took a much needed siesta.

A Mishap for Peter - Peter then decided to pop out to to get a few essentials from the local supermarket but when he went to get the car out of the garage the battery was flat. He called the recovery service who came out very quickly. Thinking he would help the guy he started to roll the car out of the garage with the driver’s door open and one hand on the steering wheel. As the car hit the slope of the drive it gathered momentum and Peter couldn’t control it and the result was Peter being pinned by his chest between the edge of the car door and the garage door frame. He managed to jerk the car forward a bit and then he was pinned by his jumper and could not move. By now pain had set in as he had taken the impact by the full weight of the car on his upper right chest.  He did not have the strength to move the car again so screamed for help. The breakdown guy who was at his van out on the road thankfully heard him and came to his aid, pushing the car forward enough to free Peter and allow him to collapse onto the seat and engage the handbrake.

Although there was only a 4 inch mark visible on the right of his chest where the door had trapped him he was in a lot of pain so I insisted that he go to A&E and get checked out. A call to friend Bob brought him to the rescue. By this time the car was sat on the drive with engine running so Bob took Peter to Huntingdon hospital in our car to give it a run thus attending to two poorly patients in one go - Peter and the car!

A thorough check showed that Peter had bady bruised all the muscles in his upper right chest, back, shoulder and arm and he was warned that he would be in considerable pain for some time. He was given a cocktail of painkillers with the instruction to take them even if he did not feel he needed them as otherwise he would breathe shallowly and cause a lung infection and he was to do nothing too strenuous. Peter had a very lucky narrow escape as had the car door caught him 3 inches to the left it would have crushed his heart and probably killed him. Let’s hope that Peter has learnt a lesson from the experience and not be so ready in future to tackle things on his own. We will see! One week later he is still in considerable pain and restricted in his activities. He has just got back from a visit to the GP who has really just reaffirmed everything that he was told by the hospital staff. Thank goodness he is able to drive though.

My Health Checks - I have had various tests all connected to diabetes and the results have been good so far. Just got the diabetic clinic to attend next week and that’s that out of the way for another 6 months.

What We Are Doing - We have just got back from spending a pleasant weekend with Sally, Matt and Rob and meeting up with friends today for lunch. Tomorrow we are off to the cinema with Pam and Bob to see Atonement and then we and their daughter Lorraine and son-in-law Geoff are taking them out for a meal on Thursday to celebrate their anniversary. Friday we are off to David and Alison’s for the weekend and leaving there on Monday to go to Norwich to visit Peter’s brother and wife and his Mum. We get back to Warboy’s on Tuesday 25th, I have Diabetic Clinic on the 26th and we wing our way back to Spain on the 27th. So it will have been a busy and eventful visit once again.

Next news will come from sunny (hopefully) Spain!

14th June - Departure We left our villa in Spain at 8.30am making sure we had plenty of time to drive to Barcelona, park the car and find the ship. We did not anticipate any problems as our friend Tom had lent us his SatNav assuring us that the lady inside it would direct us from door to door. We made Barcelona in good time having stopped for breakfast on route and without our trusty ‘friend’ would have carried on the motorway well past the turn off she directed us to take as it was not clearly signed. Having negotiated numerous tolls we travelled smoothly right into the centre of Barcelona port. We could see the World Trade Centre where we had to park the car and now our problems began! We had obviously selected the wrong car park on the SatNav’s map and the dear lady inside kept directing us away from where we wanted to be which was underneath the WTC. We drove around the same route at least 4 times passing the WTC but unable to get to it but finally 1 hour later we sussed it and finally took the right exit off of a very large multi-junctioned roundabout and arrived at our destination.

In the underground car park there were no taxis waiting as we had been advised so Peter had to go up to the street, flag a taxi down and bring it down to the car so that we could load our luggage. We were then on our way to the ship - The Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. Check in was so easy as we had been able to take care of all the preliminaries on-line and before we knew it we were on board.

The Ship - Our first sighting of the ship was as we drove to the pier and it looked big but as we came out of the departure lounge onto a mezzanine walkway at level Deck 5 of the ship our mouths dropped as this gleaming ship rose far above us and just blanked out the sky.

 The Brilliance of the Seas

 First Encounters!

Once on board we went down one flight of stairs and there was our cabin on Deck 4, or state-room as it was called. We unlocked the door and whow, right in front of us was this enormous queen-size bed in front of a big window. To the right were wardrobes with loads of hanging space, and to the left the bathroom and in the area between that and the bed was a lounge area with sofa, TV, vanity unit with cupboards, drawers and a concealed fridge. It was home from home in miniature but very spacious for a cabin with everything we needed.

 Bedroom area of our State-room

 Living area of our State-room

While we were absorbing our surroundings our luggage promptly arrived so we were able to unpack and stow away the suitcases before going up to Deck 12 for a snack and exploration of our home for the next 12 days but before we could do that we were called for ‘muster’. As per the norm we had to collect our life jackets from our cabin, don them and make our way to the theatre on Deck 5 which was our emergency meeting point. We were given instructions on what to do in an emergency and even now I am wondering how we would have followed them if we had been 9 decks up and at the other end of the ship from our cabin where our life jackets were. Thankfully we did not need to find out!

Now we were free to explore and what a wonderful sight befell us, sheer luxury from beginning to end or should I say Fwd to Aft and Port to Starboard! I’ll start from the top - Decks 13 & 12 were the Sports Decks with a Rock Climbing Wall, a 9-hole Mini Golf Course, Golf Simulator, Children’s Water Slide and Pool, a Fitness Centre and a Sports Court. There was also a Disco, a ‘Quiet’ Bar and a Country Club. Then down on Deck 11 was an enormous Casual self-service Restaurant, the Main Pool, Whirlpools and pool bar. There was also an indoor Solarium Pool and Whirlpool (adults only!), a Day Spa with Steam Room and Sauna and where you could get pampering treatments and a Hairdressers. On Deck 9 was the Library which supplied books, newspapers and daily sudoku, puzzles and trivia questions to keep the brain active but Deck 6 is really where it would all happen! There were numerous bars - all with different entertainment to suit all tastes, billiards, snooker, cards and games, specialist restaurants and the CASINO which had loads of gaming tables and dozens of slot machines to squander away your money! On Deck 6 there was a big screen Cinema showing all the latest films and Decks 6 and 5 housed a very large 2-level Theatre and Decks 5 and 4 the main 2-level Minstrel Restaurant and at the centre of the ship on Deck 5 was the Main Centrum which housed all the guest services, numerous shops, photo gallery and art gallery. And right in the middle of the ship was the most beautiful central area going up through the ship from a bar down on Deck 4 right up to Deck 12. This was a real vision of splendour with lighted stairways, swirls of decor, mirrors and glass elevators which could be viewed from balconies and bars on all decks in between.

 The Pool

 The Solarium

The Fantastic Centrum

And it’s Glass Elevators

The Main Restaurant

Would we ever find our way around? Yes we did, although we were forever checking if we were Fwd or Aft and had to remember that on some decks you could not get between the two without going up or down a deck so a lot of walking was involved to get from A to B and back again.

In conclusion of this section I must say that wherever you go in the world there are lazy, inconsiderate slobs who drop their litter, walk away from wherever they have been sat leaving plates of uneaten food, glasses, bottles, unfinished drinks, etc. However on board attentive hard working staff were always there clearing up after those morons and keeping the ship spotless and shipshape for their fellow passengers!  

Our Dining Companions - We were booked for late sitting for dinner and had, at our request, been placed at a table for 10 people so at 8.30pm we went to the restaurant with anticipation to see who our dining companions would be for the next 12 evenings. We were the only Brits at the table, the other 8 being Americans. Our dinner companions were of varying ages and without exception, were lovely people, so friendly and such good fun and we all got on so well together that dinner usually did not end till gone 11pm! There were a family of 4 seasoned cruisers from Florida - Brian and Ann with teenage daughter Tiffany and 8-year-old son Brendan. Young Brendan only joined us for dinner one evening as he was off doing his own thing with the Adventure Ocean Kids Club.  Then there was Kathy and her young daughter Kelly from Frederick celebrating a girlie treat from husband/dad for Kathy’s 50th birthday and Kelly’s graduation and last but not least a couple in their 40’s - Tom and Susan from Georgetown who were enjoying their cruise courtesy of Tom’s company for 25 years of service with them. We feel we have made new friends and hope that we will all keep in touch for many years to come.

 From L to R - Back Row: Tom, Kelly, Kathy, Peter, Tiffany, Brian. Front Row: Susan, Val and Ann

Breakfast and lunch were very informal and we were seated randomly. This meant that we got to meet lots of other nice people too of all nationalities among the 2500 passengers of which the majority were American. Everyone we met and talked with were so nice and friendly and in particular the Americans who were so outward going and loved our English accents. We found it amazing though, considering how big the ship was and how many people were on board, just how often we bumped into the same people as we moved around the ship and how often we were seated with the same people for breakfast or lunch.

The Staff - All the staff on board were courteous and friendly and made you feel that they were intent on looking after you to make sure you had every comfort and enjoyment.

Our state-room assistant, Heather from Columbia, was a jolly soul and always seemed to be on hand. She would greet us enthusiastically as we went off for breakfast and when we got back afterwards the cabin was clean and tidy, the bed made and fresh towels, including some for the pool, in place. She would greet us late afternoon when we returned from shore and ask us what we had done and seen and would note us going back out for our evening activities when she would nip in, turn the bed down, leave more clean towels and leave us each a choccie for a nightcap.  She also made and left in the cabin every night the most fantastic animals from towels, a turtle, elephant and monkey to name but a few.

Towelling Monkey!

 

Turtle!

and Elephant!

Two very nice ladies waited on us at table. Inga from Croatia who was the main waiter, very precise in giving us her recommendations from the menu but very sweet and attentive. She called us Mr. Peter and Mrs. Valerie and said Mr. Peter was her favourite guest as he reminded her of her dad and there was a tear in her eye when she hugged him and said goodbye on the last night. Then there was the assistant waiter, Elvira from Barbados who was so jolly and full of fun and I loved the way she called me Miss Valerie. Although very busy they always made time for a chat and a joke.

 Inga and Elvira

They found time to entertain us too. Of course we had the nightly renditions of ‘Happy Birthday’ and were treated to one of these at our table on Kelly’s 22nd Birthday. When in Italy all the restaurant staff treated us to a bounding ’Nessun Dorma’ and on the last night of the cruise they sang their own interpretation of ‘Hey Look Me Over’ with appropriate words of farewell.

We had ship passes which were used for everything, to get us off and on the ship, into our state-room and to pay for everything on board (this was then billed in total on the last day). The staff were obviously trained to note the name of the person on the card and when they served you or brought you a drink they always called you Peter or Valerie. We also found that they remembered you, knew what you drank and were ready to serve it before you placed your order. It was a nice touch.

Our Life on Board - We were sailing every evening and also had 3 whole days at sea over the cruise period and we soon fell into a regular pattern. Although there was so much to do on board we were content during the day to lounge in the peaceful atmosphere of the Solarium, reading, swimming and languishing in the hot tub and of course always having a waiter at hand to supply liquid refreshment and only moving to eat, eat some more, and even eat some more!

Val swims in the Solarium Pool

While Peter relaxes with his book

and takes the odd shower!

We did venture further afield occasionally though. We played mini-golf and the odd game of Bingo (did not win though) and we joined our new friends to cheer on the more stalwart members Tom, Kelly and, yes, Peter climbing the rock wall. Peter did very well and scaled that wall like a pro and we all thought he did it in the best time. Not bad for the oldest member of the group but then perhaps all his climbing over our mountain garden helped!

Peter and climbing mates Kelly and Tom

and then having scaled the wall!

and still finds energy to play crazy golf!

In the evenings we usually took in a show in the theatre either before or after dinner and were well entertained with some very good acts, among which were the American Drifters, not as good as the originals but they gave a good performance, Tracy Shield, a young woman from Coventry treated us to an excellent tribute to Celine Dion. She not only sounded like Celine when she sang but she spoke and looked like her too and was terrific. Gary Lovini was a brilliant modern violinist oozing with personality and energy and Antoni Salci was another fantastic performer playing all sorts of music on the piano and again oozing with energy. Then there were the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers who gave spectular showtime performances singing and dancing their way through the songs of Broadway shows and Big Time Swing. The only show we did not enjoy was a juggler who had a bad night and dropped as much as he caught! We did not catch all the shows as sometimes if the show was an early one we just went for a pre-dinner drink in the Schooner Bar and from what we were told we missed some other good performances. Then of course at 8.30pm we went to enjoy one of our lengthy dinners before toodling off to the Casino to try our luck and then dropping into bed spent out of our nightly budget of quarters for gambling, tired but happy.

However, on our penultimate night us and our dining friends decided at dinner to form a team to participate in a Quiz Quest in the Colony Bar after dinner. This was hilarious. We nominated young Kelly to be the runner and we were asked to bring all sorts of silly things to the Entertainment Officer. If we did not have an item Kelly begged, borrowed or stole it and we failed on only one item. The requested items involved meant stripping off belts, etc and ladies their bras and so on so you can imagine what it was like. In one round the men had to perform the ‘worm’ and Peter actually had to be stopped as he just went on an on round the dance floor! The final thing each team had to do was to send a man up dressed as a woman and, yes you’ve guessed it, our team member was Peter! Off came his trousers and on went a bra and a scarf and off he went with a mincing walk. He was judged as the runner up but we all thought he should have won. With this excitement over off Peter then goes back with new found friend Ann to enter a twist competition and they won, being crowned King and Queen of Twist and getting loads of naff prizes. It was such a fun time that we wished we had participated in more things instead of relaxing and being lazy.  Our new found American friends were amazed and even gob-smacked at what Peter had been prepared to do as they thought us Brits were a reserved race and the following day everyone was coming up to Peter and congratulating him saying what a good sport he had been.

No photos available here as I did not have a camera but our new found friends are going to send me some. Will publish them at a later date!

Did manage to snap the crowned King and Queen at dinner the next night though!

Having already ordered the Ship Review DVD prior to this evening we were amazed to see Peter depicted in the highlights of the DVD when it was shown on the big screen in the theatre on the last night of the cruise! So his image has gone off all over the world with other passengers who bought the DVD!

Lucky, Lucky, Lucky! - Yes, we had some luck on our holiday. On the first trip ashore in France, I picked up a 50 euro note off the ground. Standing for some time waving it around with no-one in the bustling crowds taking any notice it found it’s way into my pocket to be used as our gambling stake on the slot machines in the Casino.

Deciding one night not to keep pouring our winnings back into the machines we took our pot of quarters back to the cabin to use the next night. While counting them, I dropped them on the floor and as we scrambled around to retrieve them Peter fished another 50 Euro note out from under the settee! Sorry Heather but if you had cleaned more thoroughly it would have been yours but as it was ……..!

But our biggest bit of luck was around midnight on the last night of our holiday. Armed with our saved coins from previous nights we went off to the Casino for our little bit of sin! As I sat down at a machine Peter very quickly announced that he had just won 50 dollars. I put 2 quarters into the machine I had chosen, spun the wheel and lights started flashing together with a message to call the attendant. What had happened?The symbols on the pay line did not match any on the display! Had the machine broken down? The attendant arrived, shook my hand and offered congratulations. What have I done? I asked. He proceeded to run through a permutation of figures and summed up by telling me I had just won 450 dollars which he promptly paid me in notes! After this excitement we tentatively worked our way around a few more machines and between us clocked up a few more small wins then deciding our luck had to run out very soon decided to call it a day, change up the quarters into notes and retire gracefully to bed calculating that our total winnings after initial outlay was  560 dollars (£280) plus of course the 100 euros we found. This was all set off against an expensive purchase we had made in Turkey (see details later on)!

Val with her winnings! 

Trips Ashore - We had some lovely, variable and interesting trips ashore and I could not conclude this diary entry without giving a resume of the places we visited.

Villefranche, France- Here the ship anchored so we had to take a tender into port where we had a choice of ten different excursions to choose from which covered Monaco, Nice, Monte Carlo and The French Riveria. We chose an easy 4 hour trip by coach to and around Nice with a stroll round Nice’s Old Town where we also had lunch. The Old Town was fascinating with it’s big square of outdoor restaurants, lovely flower market, Opera House and many other old typically French architecture. We then drove up the mountain on winding roads with stunning views to the quaint, picturesque medieval village of Eze perched on a cliff face which as well as being pretty was interesting. On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a memorial to Princess Grace of Monacco (Grace Kelly, the British film star).

Typical French Architecture in Nice

The Opera House in Nice

The Quaint Village of Eze

Livorno, Italy- We moored here and had a choice of no less than seventeen excursions covering  the Tuscany countryside, Florence, Lucca and Pisa. As we had already previously visited the first three places we opted for the latter and took another leisurely 4 hour trip to Pisa as I had always wanted to see the Leaning Tower. The coach took us on a scenic drive to an ancient Roman Burial Ground which was also the departure point of the trolley train which would take us into Pisa. A friend had told us that there was not much to see at Pisa apart from the famous Leaning Tower but how wrong could she have been. It was a beautiful city with the wide River Arno passing through it, The Field of Miracles, Cathedral and Baptistry and many other beautiful old buildings along with the fascinating market, as well as the famous Tower. the tower which was started in 1172 but was abandoned having only completed 3 of the 6 stories planned due to the fact that it was leaning. the tower was then completed in the mid-14th century. It stands 180 feet high made from white marble and now leans 14 feet from the perpendicular and defies all sense of gravity and velocity by remaining standing after so many centuries at a tilt of 14 degrees today. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we did not get to climb the 294 steps inside to it’s top level but did try our hand at taking photos of each other looking as though we were holding the tower up! We wished we could have stayed in Pisa till night time as it was a fiesta day and all the buildings and bridges were adorned with thousands of candle holders where candles would glow in the dark and light up the city. It must look magical but not for us as the ship sailed at 7pm!

The River Arno - Pisa

Pisa Cathedral

Will Peter stop the famous Tower of Pisa from falling?

Citavechia, Rome- Mooring again this time we had to choose from fourteen different trips. We again chose a 4 hour trip and as we had already visited Rome on a previous occasion we opted to go on another scenic drive to take in the flavors, history and lovely countryside of Etruscan Italy in the lovely Tuscania region pre-dating the Roman Empire and dating back to the 9th-century BC.  We stopped on route at a family owned famhouse to sample typical home grown Italian products. Yummy!

Pretty Ancient Village of Tuscania

Mykonos, Greece- This is one of the smallest islands of Greece belonging to the Cyclades Group and is only 33 square miles in size with a population of only 5000 people, well outnumbered by the 900,000 visitors they get each year. There was only one excursion available today which was to the island of Ancient Delos and we could not get booked onto it so it was ‘do your own thing’ here. The ship anchored in the bay and we had to take the tender to shore. After a short stroll alongside the sea we found ourselves in Mykonos Town, also known as Chora which simply means ‘capital’. On arrival we discovered a charming village with it’s maze of narrow streets winding among dazzling stark whitewashed churches, shops, restaurants and houses all with blue paintwork and covered in beautiful flora and it’s row of windmills along it’s coastal edge. After meandering around for a couple of hours we sat by the sea and had a humungous ice cream. Yummy again! This was by far the prettiest place we visited on our trip and I loved it.

Beautiful Mykonis

With it’s coastal windmills

and wonderful ice-creams!

Kusadasi, Turkey- In total contrast to our last stop we arrived at this hustly bustly port and colourful town and moored up at the dockside. We had a choice of eight trips to go on here and our chosen one was again a half day only covering the highlights of the well-preserved ancient city of Ephesus and entailing only 1/2 mile walking, so they said but I think our tour guide muddled us up with another one which had 2 miles of walking over rough and uneven ground. Our coach first transported us to Ephesus museum where we saw artifacts and relics found during the excavations of the town and which included two very intact statues of the Goddess Artemis. We were accosted by the many shoe cleaning conmen here who literally cleaned your shoes as you walked. Never being able to be firm and rude and send these people on their way with a flea in their ears we succumbed to sitting down with Peter having his canvas shoes scrubbed (and then walking around with wet feet) and me having my leather ones polished to death. We were then charged the extortionate sum of 10 euros for this service which we did not really want. Will we ever learn?

Our transportation moved us on to the ancient city itself but before we entered we had to first run the gauntlet of the Grand Turkish Bazaar with it’s hundreds of insistent trademen but we made it without temptation. We walked through a long pine tree lined avenue emerging into the ruins where we all sat on ancient stones to be entertained by a group of players reenacting ancient historical events. We then proceeded into the centre of the city and saw the well-preserved Temple of Hadrian, Celcus Library, the Marble Way, the Fountain of Trajan and towering above us the Grand Theatre, an enormous amphitheater which held 24,000 people and which is the largest in antiquity and still noted for it’s acoustic qualities. Then it was run the gauntlet again and we made it a second time! However, when we got back to Kusadasi we were taken to a carpet factory, plied with refreshments and a magnificent display of wonderful Turkish rugs. This is where we got sucked in and ended up buying 2 rugs for our hall in the villa costing £560. We are still in belief that we got a bargain as we did negotiate the price down from £1100 and got a holdall thrown in to carry them home in which will come in handy on future travels! By the way this was the purchase that we offset our Casino winning against so we consider we ended up getting two-for-one!

The Turkish Bazaar

How fake can you get!

The 10 euro shoe cleaner!

The Amphitheater at Ephesus

and the Temple of Hadrian

Piraeus, Greece-  Another ten trips to select from and we chose what we hoped was another very easy one. It was! We boarded a bus with a very informative guide who took us on a tour of ancient and modern Athens stopping only for us to alight and take photographs. From the comfort of our coach some of the sights we saw were Hadrian’s Arch, the Temple of Zeus and the Acropolis in stark contrast to the new Panathinion Stadium built for the Olympics, the Academy, University and National Library.

The Acropolis  - Athens (the old)

The Olympic Stadium - Athens (the new)

Santorini, Greece- We anchored in the bay of Santorini off of Scala below the town of Fira nestled on the cliff top on the main island of Thira. In 1450, this volcanic island erupted forming Santorini’s spectacular crescent shape consisting of three main islands Thira, Thirasia and Aspronisi. There were only 5 tour options here and we did have some trouble getting on one and then nearly blew it.

Becoming wise throughout the cruise we found that having obtained our tour stickers we could make our own way to the coach at leisure without waiting for all the other passengers to move on ‘Go’ and jostling like sheep to get off the boat. It had worked well until now! Today we went to the normal departure point and got on a tender to take us to shore, only to find when we got to land that this tender was only for people on foot not on tours! Apparently they had opened up another departure point for tour groups only at the opposite end of the ship because the coaches were on another part of the island at Athinos port, which necessitated a longer tender trip! By the time we realised what we had done, our tour had already left without us but the staff were excellent. They tendered us back to the ship where a guide was waiting to usher us to the correct departure point. She gave us another tour that was just boarding the tender boats and we were on our way to shore again with no recriminations. Served us right to get clever didn’t it but it added a bit of excitement to the day!

Eventually reaching our coach we were on our way journeying into the interior of the island up very steep narrow winding roads with hairpin bends and no roadside barriers. We went to the highest point of the island where the historical monastery of Profitis Ilias stands which was formed at the beginning of the eighteenth century and today is home to one solitary monk. On the way we were treated to the most breathtaking views over the islands and the bays. We then went on the village of Pyrgos where I was happy to let Peter go off exploring while I sat outside a taverna with other lazy tourists partaking of a large glass of fresh orange juice. Judging by Peter’s comments and the photos he took it was another very pretty village steeped in history. Onwards next to a lovely taverna with more breathtaking views over the island where we were treated to a delicious plate of Mezes (Tapas or Snacks) and rough local wine, which was a bonus for as as it was something we would not have got on the tour we should have been on! The coach took us then to Fira where we were left to do our own thing. After meandering through the long steep narrow streets we moved towards the cable cars which would transport us back down to the port where tenders waited to take us back to the ship. We could have opted to walk down 500 steps or be transported by donkey but me being me took the easy option of course! Anyway we were told later that the latter routes were very steep and smelly from the donkeys so I think we made the right choice!

Fira nestled on the cliff top of Santorini

With access from the port by cable car or donkey

Pyrgos Village Santorini

Naples, Italy- This was our last port of call and the one that I had been looking forward to most after Pisa. Thirteen tours to choose from covering the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Sorrento  and Pompeii but there was really no choice to make here as we really wanted to visit Pompeii, one of the most famous excavations in the world. This was what I had been conserving my energy for as I knew it was not an easy tour. But it was worth all the discomfort and pain I, along with others, was to endure.

1900 years ago Pompeii was a thriving empire when it was devastated by the eruption of Mount Versuvius in 79AD with 30 feet of volcanic ash and pumice stone covering it completely. Today Mount Versuvius is the only active volcano on mainland Europe and although it’s last eruption took place in 1944 there are still emissions of smoke and interior evidence of heat today.

We were not too impressed with Naples but to be fair we did not take a very nice route through the town and everyone drove like maniacs we had never seen before! Arriving at Pompeii we first of all went into a Cameo factory, another ploy to take money from us which we resisted this time!

We then moved on on foot to enter Pompeii by the Sea Gate following yet another brilliant informative guide who also took us along at a very leisurely pace as it was as difficult as I thought it would be up very steep steps and inclines and all on uneven ground and in temperatures exceeding 40C degrees. I considered that I coped very well as even the fittest of the fit were suffering. No ruins have impressed me as much since we visited the Temple of Karnak in Egypt and I never thought any would but we found Pompeii to be everything we dreamed of and more.

Pompeii extends over 66 hectares of which 50 hectares have been excavated and it represents an extraordinary wealth of architectures, sculptures, paintings and mosaics. When the city was buried under ash and rock it created an exceptional preservation of the whole Roman city and the excavated ruins needed little imagination of how the city looked in it’s prime and the lifestyle of the people who lived there before the disaster struck. We saw what were luxurious mansions and villas with mosaic floors, lavish temples, porticos, baths, tavernas, wine shops, flour mills, clearly defined roads with pavements, countless paintings, artefacts and inscriptions and even some of the bodies totally embalmed and encased forever in volcanic ash and rock in the positions that they were in when disaster struck. It is reputed that 20,000 people lived in Pompeii and that 2,000 perished in the eruption. It was awesome!

Mount Versuvius

The Entrance to Pompeii

The Main Street of Pompeii

The End!- We left the ship at 8.30am on Tuesday 26th June and originally it had been our intention to stop over in Barcelona. However, after all the walking on shore, and on ship I will add, I just could not face another two days walking around Barcelona so we decided we could visit there another time. We had made our decision the day before disembarking so we called our travel agent who cancelled the hotel obtaining a full refund a full refund. Back on land we jumped in a cab which took us to our car, turned on Mrs. SatNav and prepared to travel home. Mrs SatNav was wonderful and took us out of Barcelona and all the way home without a hitch and 5 hours later we arrived at our villa, made a good old cup of tea and sat mulling over the last wonderful 2 weeks.

I hope that you have enjoyed sharing our experiences with us as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

Note: Double click on image to view larger picture and visit our Gallery at http://gallery.angier.co.uk for more pictures

They say time flies when you’re having fun but I know time flies as you get older, that’s for sure. Already nearly a month has passed since I last wrote my diary. So what have we been doing? Much of the same really.

The Weather here in Spain has now settled down to long, hot sunny days and it is lovely to get up in the morning and take my first cup of tea outside to sit and drink it in the calm quiet of warm mornings while soaking in our beautiful view with only the bird noise for company. Having said that though we so have an unseasonal quite chilly wind which has been blowing in mid afternoon most days and staying through the evening so we are only occasionally sitting out evenings at the moment. (I’ve just returned to this section as while I have been writing some nasty clouds have appeared and there is the odd roll of thunder. Perhaps we may have some rain today after all!)

The Pool and Jacuzzi are now in full use and very welcome. I surprised myself by swimming 200 metres on my first swim of the year and increased that to 500 metres on my second swim with no after effects.

The Garden  is looking the best it has ever looked. The awful wet weather of April must have contributed to that I should think. The geraniums in particular are spectacular and my tubs and hanging baskets really look fantastic. Such a shame that by August in Spain they go into a dormant stage and we lose the blooms until September when the weather cools a bit. We have roses, lilies, begonias, fuscias, bedding plants, to name but a few, flowering in abundance alongside the palms, cacti and buganvillias and the grass is actually a very lush green for once. I did intend to enclose some piccies but at the moment I cannot work out how to get them into our gallery since my acquisition of a new laptop and my upgrade to Windows Vista. A job for David when he visits in August I think!

Socialising  still continues of course. We are still enjoying evenings at the Irish Pub being entertained by the wonderful talented ageing rockers. Last week we saw Jules Cooper again and this time he was joined by MJ Lewis with his lovely gravelly voice and brilliant sense of humour. Tom and Sarah introduced us to yet another great Spanish restaurant, excellent food and very reasonably priced.

We had a fantastic afternoon last Sunday at a Hog Roast and Quiz in aid of EMAUS which is the local charity for kids in care. The afternoon raised 1400 Euros which will be put to very good use for the kids. Thanks go to the couple who gave up their home and garden in Parcent for a brilliant afternoon. The food was great and the wine flowed so it was no wonder that we did not do terribly well in the Quiz but who cares! The next social event for EMAUS is in July when they have their annual summer BBQ which we are looking forward to.

Friends Bob and Jan have been over on a visit to their holiday home 2 hours away and they came to spend the day with us last Monday. We met up with Bob and Linda for a lunch of paella by the sea and then spent the rest of the day talking over old times in Bob and Linda’s garden over more wine. The two Bob’s and Pete served their apprenticeships together 40+ years ago and we met up again after many years two or three years ago here in Spain so you can imagine the men had a lot of cud chewing to do. Do men chew cud?

The Work Continues as there is always something needs doing isn’t there. Tomorrow we have the decorators coming in again. This time it’s to paint the lounge, dining room, hall, kitchen and utility room so today the job is to remove all breakables, mirrors, pictures, curtains, etc  from those areas in readiness. Hope, having done all that, that they actually do arrive!

Hobbies continue with Pete still pottering in the garden and going for his weekly golf sessions with the men on the driving range and putting green. It must be getting serious now as he has bought himself an iron, putter, glove and some balls and he is contemplating taking some lessons from a professional. I am still crafting and have made all my birthday and anniversary cards up until the end of October. Running out of inspiration for birthdays and anniversaries I decided to start working on designs for Christmas cards. I know we are only just into June but I must start early if I am going to attain my goal of handmaking 100 plus cards this year for Christmas. I still have some urns that I want to paint but time has not allowed me to get round to those yet.

Holiday Time is creeping up on us. On Thursday we are off on our Mediterranean Cruise. I know what clothes I’m taking so it’s just a case of getting them together and packing them while trying to avoid the decorators. We leave at about 8am for a 5 hour drive to Barcelona, which I am not looking forward to I must say. Thank goodness for Tom who has lent us his SatNav. We board ship between 2 and 3pm and set sail at 7pm. First port of call is Nice, then Tuscany and on to Rome the next day. We then sail to the Greek Islands followed by Turkey. Then back to Athens followed by Capri and Naples before sailing back to Barcelona. We have booked an hotel to stay in Barcelona for 2 nights before that daunting drive back home so it will be nice to explore another Spanish town.

4 weeks after we get back we have the pleasure of daughter Sally and grandkids Matt and Rob together with niece Sue and her son Regan who join us for a week and on the day they go back David and his family come for 10 days. Yesterday, our 6 year old Grandson James phoned to say he can’t wait to come to see us as he is missing us, bless him. Is it us he wants to see or is the pool he is looking forward to? I prefer to believe the first option.

Goodbye then for now. I have just heard Peter surfacing from his slumberland so it’s time to go back outside for another cuppa followed by breakkie! Will write all about the cruise when we get back and hopefully by then I will have worked out how to get photos into my Gallery so that I can import them into my blog!

It does not seem possible that we have been back in Spain for almost 3 weeks and even more impossible is that we find our way through almost half of the year. I just do not know where the time has gone. It is certainly true that time passes much more quickly as you get older.

The weather has settled down here now after the awful April that they had while we were away. We wake up every day to bright blue skies and sunshine, the thermometer reading at 7am in the mornings is usually 18 to 20 degrees and it is nice to go and sit outside with my early morning cup of tea. Temperatures rise to the late 20’s as the day goes on but it does not always feel this though as we live high up and there is a chill factor with the winds that are apparent at the moment in the afternoons and early evenings.

The pool temperature is now up to 24 degrees and I really must psyche myself up to venture in and start my swimming again - perhaps today! Peter has filled the Jacuzzi and fired it up so I must start using that again too to soothe the aches and pains.

We have got our new TV at last and chose a 37″ flat screen. At first it seemed to dominate the room but now that we have got used to it it’s a pleasure to watch. It’s an LG and although the son did not rate it highly it had been reported as TV of the month in the reports. I think David was a bit biased as LG used to be known as Goldstar and we dealt in their computers when I was in business and had endless problems with them. Let’s hope they are better at making TV’s! Anyway I think we got a good deal as it was less than £600.

I am back to crafting and still learning new techniques. We have been making wall plaques from plant pot trays and coloured glass pebbles and have just started gold leafing little cherubs to add to the Christmas decor. At home I am still making my cards and have now made all I need up to mid-September. There is so much I want to do to practice the new skills I have learnt and don’t know which to do first and I really get the hump when the housework takes up my valuable time.

I did take time out though to sort all my wardrobes out. It was a job well overdue as my clothes had spread into 2 double and a single wardrobe. I decided to be really ruthless and work on the premise that if I hadn’t worn something for 5 years it had to go and I ended up with 2 big dustbin bags full of clothes, one to go to the charity shop and the other to go into the rubbish. I’m still using the 2 double wardrobes though but the clothes have more space to breathe and I’ve got winter clothing in one and summer in the other so it has some semblance of order!

I have finally sorted out all the issues on my new laptop which had been caused by incompatibilty of transferring from Window XP to Windows Vista so everything is now functioning OK. When I was doing this I came across a document of my life story which I had started to write 31/2 years ago and abandoned for some reason. I decided to write this for my family and future generations as I thought it may be of interest to them. I’ve picked up on this again and made some serious inroads with it. I’ve written 48 pages so far and in my story I am only 20 so as you can imagine it is quite detailed but some of things I have written about have changed so much all ready that I can imagine it could be quite fascinating to kids in the future. If it isn’t I am enjoying writing it anyway as it is conjuring up so many memories.

Peter’s still beavering away in the garden! Whichever house we are in he will always find something to do. It is his hobby though and he does seem to enjoy working the soil and gets a lot of satisfaction from the results. He is also still enjoying his Wednesday afternoons at the golf club with the men. Although they still just go on the driving range and putting green his performance is improving all round now and he was chuffed to bits this week to win the little putting competition that they have between them. Peter is also still working his way through his new camera manual and practicing using the camera in different modes.

We have got back onto the social scene and have been to the pub a couple of times to see Jules Cooper. First time he was with his group the rockets, a base guitarist and drummer who were both brilliant, such characters and fascinating to watch. Then last night we went to see Jules again, this time with a keyboard player doing a Pink Floyd tribute, again very good. There is so much talent around and I always wonder why they are wasting their time doing the pubs and clubs of Spain but like all ex-pats they have had enough of the rat race I suppose and enjoy what they are doing. We also went to a formal dinner which the inauguration of a new branch of the Lions Club set up locally. The meal as always was excellent and the speeches as ever were long but it was a good evening.

Well another day is starting and I must go and contemplate what I am going to use it for! More news soon.

We left our house in Warboys at 1.30pm on Monday to get to Standstead airport an hour earlier than we needed to for check-in in case we encountered delays going through security. We were able to check our luggage in straight away and had a pleasant surprise. As we brought back much more than we took with us to the UK, I had had to pack an extra bag, making three in total and now you are only allowed one each. So I pre-booked it online with Easyjet, thus only having to pay £5 instead of the £10 that would have been due had we just turned up with it. I anticipated that we would have to pay for excess luggage as well as I guessed we wouold be over the weight allowance. We actually had 51 kilos and waited for girl on check-in to tell us how much we had to pay. Surprise, surprise, she said nothing and just put the bags through so we had nothing extra to pay.  So if you prepay for an extra bag does that mean you get extra weight allowance too? Comments would be appreciated.

We went straight to security after check-in and for the first time in 18 months it was a doddle as we went through very quickly. This meant that we had plenty of time to have a leisurely meal and then we decided to go to the gate where we knew there was an area where we could sit and smoke in comfort (probably for the last time though!). Then we sat and we sat and it got to boarding time and no announcement was made, so we sat some more and the morons who always think they can board out of order crowded round the gate getting nowhere and blocking access to people wanting to get past to other gates. We were group ‘A’ to board and eventually boarded 1hr late after squeezing through all the morons who had ‘D’ boarding passes and were blocking the gate for earlier boarders. Sigh! The reason eventally given for the delay was that the passenger wheelchair crew did did not arrive to disembark the wheelchair passengers from the incoming flight until well past our flight departure time. I do wish they would tell the truth as we saw the plane taxi into position to offload the incoming passengers 1/2hr later than it should have done, perhaps there was a short delay to offload the wheelchair passengers, who knows. We know they need a 1/2hr turn-around time so had anticipaed that we would have at least a 1hr delay.

When everyone was finally on the plane we taxied out onto the runway and then sat doing nothing again for ages until we eventually took off. Then when we approached Alicante the pilot seemed to take for ever before he actually decided to land and then he parked the plane at the absolute furthest point from baggage collection. Why, as there were no other planes coming in? So we then had a mammoth walk to get to our luggage and it felt as though we had walked all the way from the UK. Two of our three bags came through quite quickly and then it was wait, and wait, and wait for the third bag. Typical! Not our best flight!

So, as it was midnight before arriving back at our villa, and as we were so tired, we just had a drink and went straight to bed.

The hairdresser arrived at 10.30am this morning so nothing got done until she had been and gone. 1st May is another fiesta day in Spain so that meant the shops were closed but Peter decided to go and see if our little local supermarket was open. It was, which meant that we could at least eat tonight. I set about the unpacking which seemed to take the rest of the day by the time I had hung up clothes, stowed away the kitchen and bathroom commodities that we had brought, retrieved the laptops (2 now of course) from their bags and wired them up, and finally stowed away the mountain of crafting materials that I had brought back with me.

The one thing David was concerned about, and thought would be the most problematic, when transferring all my data across from the old laptop to the new one was the internet connection in Spain. However, when he got home from work tonight he phoned and said he would sort this out. He firstly linked up to the old laptop to obtain the information he needed, gave me the password to put into the new laptop and then linked up to that one to do what was necessary. I think it’s all magic that he performs! I think even he was surprised how easy it was to get the internet connected and now, apart from installing some software myself, I AM FULLY UP AND RUNNING on the new laptop.

Thank you so much David for everything that you did to get me functioning fully on my lovely new Dell. I know I could not have managed without your help without a lot of stress and heartache and I am so grateful to you. By the way there is a bottle of wine under the stairs!

Peter, meanwhile, has avidly been reading his instruction manual for his new digital camera body for his Canon SLR camera and is proud that he has managed today to take some photos, view them, extend the viewing time per picture on the display screen and rotate a picture by 90 degrees!

The weather in Spain still does not appear to have settled down completely following the atrocious weather they have had over the last month and today although sunny there has been a lot of cloud and a chilly wind. Let’s hope it improves soon.

Tomorrow it’s back to craft class for me and the driving range for Peter so we still won’t get to the shops to buy our new TV. In the meantime our friends Linda and Bob have given us a loan of one until we get ourselves sorted out. This means that we won’t miss Grease is The Word on Saturday and Kingdom on Sunday, two programs that we have been watching while in the UK. Thanks for being lifesavers Linda and Bob.

That’s all for now, it’s 10.20pm and still feeling tired from yesterday’s travelling I think I’m off to my bed.

We are now 48 hours away from our return to Spain and I am very much in count down mode and ready to go home. Now the fun really starts. I must go upstairs shortly and perform my magic tricks by trying to pack everything, including the things we have bought in the UK to take back with us. It did not seem much buying a bit here and a bit there but when you put it all together it is a veritable mountain. Every time we come I say I will not buy anything but I always do and I take full responsibilty as it is me who has unfortunately been the big spender.

As we are going out for lunch tomorrow I must also do as many of my household chores as possible today. I have already binned all the lovely flowers I have been given since we’ve been here, they were just about on their last legs and I have vacuumed and dusted. Bedding and towels have all been washed, a couple of nights in fresh bedding won’t hurt to leave until we come back next time.

I did wonder why I was bothering as David will be back here on Monday night but I decided that I should leave things in order for him and hope he will do the same for me when he moves out. Ha! Ha!

The weather here cooled considerably for a few days but was still pleasant and this last weekend promises to be hot and sunny and on a par to the temperatures in Spain. I hope that by the time we get back the weather there has decided to settle down into what Spain should be like at this time of year.

Peter’s brother and sister-in-law brought his Mum to us for a change last Monday and we had a very nice lunch out at the Windmill in Somersham. Mum is really looking old a frail now but she says she feels better than she has in a long time. She is not walking too well and sleeps a lot but then she is now 89 so it’s to be expected. The contrast between her and Pete’s aunt and uncle is amazing though. It is surprising at their age what a difference 5 years make. She always sheds a few tears when we part and I expect that she is thinking the same thoughts as we do with us living so far away. I will leave you to work out what they may be.

We have not done much else this last week except that Peter managed to find more chores to do outside so I have taken the opportunity to use the time finding my way around my new laptop discovering the changes that Microsoft Vista has made to office. Searching around my documents I also found my life story that I started to write 4 1/2 years ago and had abandoned for some reason and then forgotten about. At the time I thought it would be something of interest to be passed onto future generations. I still think it’s a good idea so I have decided to make the effort to finish it and have added quite a lot over the last few days. I have reached my 15th year so far - only almost 50 more to remember about!

Oh, our friends have just arrived unexpectedly for coffee so I must go. Very much looking forward to our return to Spain on Monday and once we’ve settled back there I will write some more. Byee for now!

Needless to say I have bought loads of crafting materials to take back to Spain with me. My excuse is that there is not the vast choice in Spain as there is in the UK. I have part packed to make sure I can fit everything in the cases so now I can’t even remember just what I have bought. I have managed to stay completely away from clothes shops though his time but then I did have my major shopping spree at C & A’s in Murcia just before coming to the UK.

Having son David living in our house Monday to Friday is a bad influence though. As regular readers know David is into high tech and keeps up to date with the latest and best prices for techie things. OH Dad, he says one night. Do you know you can now get a digital body for your Canon SLR camera and this is a very good price at £630 and all your lenses are compatible! It was, as they are advertising it on TV for £799. So of course as we are trying to bring Peter into the 21st century we ordered it and also bought  a bigger memory card for an extra £40. We expect delivery any day now.

Then it was my turn! Oh Mum this is a good deal. A Dell Inspiration 6400 Core 2 Duo Processor laptop with the new Microsoft Vista software and Office Powerpoint 2007, 1.73 GHz, 1014 MB Memory, 32-bit operating system, wide screen, built in wireless, dvd writer and goodness knows what else, and with the carry case and at home maintenance for 2 years in Spain as well as the UK  a snip at £680!

Not much persuasion needed here I must say as my laptop, now 5 years old, had become antiquated, was very slow and had a tendency to crash frequently. Better to get a new one now while I had David around to transfer everything across and install what software he could for me so of course the order was placed.

The new all singing, all dancing laptop arrived yesterday and David started the transfer of data, etc last night. He transferred the main core of things relatively easy but then found that my emails had not transferred. After much frustration he decided that the McAfee Anti Virus Software was preventing some transfers and once he de-installed it everything came together like a dream. I do find that McAfee causes a lot of unnecessary problems and is a pain in the backside at times.

Pity I bought a new external dvd writer 2 weeks ago as now I don’t need it. Still I’ll get David to sell it on Ebay for me.

My ‘old’ laptop will not be totally discarded. We will carry both back to Spain and while it is still functioning Peter will be able to play around on it to his hearts content without fear of damaging anything of mine! I am determined that I will get him using technology and stop him saying that pen and paper is fine for him as he is a technophobic! Watch this space!

Anyway here I am writing my Blog on my new toy and David has set me the task for today to familiarise myself with the new aspects of office. I hope I pass the test!

On less interesting subjects Peter has at last finished painting the house - hooray! He has also done the annual tidying up of the garden, fixed the shed door and a couple of fence panels which had obviously suffered in the gales they had here earlier in the year. Me, kicking my heels, as I had finished my glass painting, looked for jobs to do. The windows, ovens and hob shouted out for cleaning and although not my favourite jobs were duly done and all are now sparkling.

On the health issue front. All was well at the Diabetic Clinic. Everything is still under control and I did not even get the rollicking I expected because I have resumed smoking - naughty girl that I am. So I still do not have to go onto medication thank goodness. I am still waiting for the results of my mammogram that I had on the 2nd. Because I changed hospitals there was a lot of confusion, which eventually got sorted out and the interim report on this year’s screening is that there were no obvious problems but my films from last year had to be requested for comparison which is the reason for the full report being delayed they say. Last info was that if I haven’t heard within 3-4 weeks I am to ring my GP who will chase the report up. Wish I had stayed at Addenbrookes now!

The weather has turned here in the UK the last 2 days. Showers and sun mixed and looking a bit overcast at the moment. We can’t complain though as we have had lovely weather since we have been here. A real bonus as we know that Spain’s weather has not been good for people but has been very good for our garden - I think that is enough said about that!

Last weekend Peter took a well earned break from house painting when we invited ourselves to his Aunt Bett and Uncle Chas’ home in Farnham Common in Buckinghamshire for a couple of days. They are a lovely couple, were pleased to see us and made us so welcome.

Farnham Common is in a lovely unspoilt area of the UK and where they live is on the edge of Burnham Beeches, which is miles and miles of lovely conserved beech woodlands, so when we arrived on Friday we had lunch and then a leisurely stroll through the woods with the trees just beginning to burst forth with lush green foliage was an absolute must. So peaceful!

On Saturday we drove through wonderful countryside and visited two quaint unspoilt villages which are both used frequently for filming. The first was Hambledon which features in many of the Midsummer Murder and Foyles War series on TV. In the pictures below you can see old shop signs, apart from the garage the others are no longer shops but private homes, but the signs remain in place for the film crews.

 The ‘butchers, bakers and garage’. The garage is actually a working service garage.

 Hambledon village church and river running through the village.

As we wandered around we could easily recognise locations we had seen in the TV series.

We then moved on the the village of Terville. This is the village where ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ series was filmed. We got chatting to a villager by the name of Paul and he was so interesting and informative. He told us that all fees for filming was paid into the Village Association funds which was then shared equally between all members of the village so it did not matter if their particular property was not used in the filming. What a lovely idea and how community spirited!

The village is nestled among rolling hills, on the top of which is a very prominent windmill. This was the one shown in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ and the hills were featured in ‘101 Dalmations’. Paul told us that they spent days covering the hills with artificial snow and then days filming. They finished and washed the fake snow away and the following day the real snow came. How typical is that!

He then told us that the wonderful TV drama ‘Mr. Tom’ with John Thaw was filmed there too and told us which cottage he lived in in the programme. He said what a great guy John Thaw was and how he drank in the village pub and became one of the locals. One day when Paul woke up and opened his bedroom curtains he saw Helen Mirren standing on his drive. They were about to start filming the last 2 minute sequence in the film ‘Calender Girls’ and this 2 minutes took all day to wrap up.

As with Hambledon, Terville is also featured frequently in the ‘Midsummer Murders’ and ‘Foyles War’ series and only a couple of weeks previously they were filming there for the new series of ‘Foyles War’ so we will look out for scenes we recognise.

 The rolling hills above the village with the windmill on the top.

 Mr. Tom’s cottage

 Another quaint cottage in the village

Of course their biggest claim to fame is the ‘Vicar of Dibley’ series. Paul told us that his son featured along with many other villagers in the episode where she held a service for the animals. This was 12 years ago when he was 10-years-old and he took his pet rabbit to the ’service’.

The interior of the cottage, where the ‘Vicar’ lived, that we see in the programme is the actual interior, as is the church. The church is very small, much smaller than it looks on TV, and very beautiful and we could not believe that the ‘Vicar’s’ wedding, the last of the series which was shown last Christmas, was actually filmed in 1998.

 The cottage where ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ lived.

 Terville village church which was featured in the series.

 The pretty inside of the church at Terville seen frequently in ‘The Vicar of Dibley’.

Paul also informed us that a reprica of the village was made at Shepperton Film Studios and the programme producers coached the entire village there on one occasion so that they could see it.

It is lovely to see these beautiful unspoilt villages still exist in ‘Dear Old England’. May nothing happen to ever spoil them. Thanks so much to Aunt Bett and Uncle Chas for sharing them with us.

In total contrast, our friends took us out for the day on Tuesday to the Norfolk coast. We went to Heesham, Hunstanton and Wells. The countryside of East Anglia as we drove there, was not for me as interesting as Buckinghamshire, as it is very flat and I prefer the rolling hills but it was still very nice and it was a change for us indeed to visit English coastal towns, so different to what we have become used to in Spain, conjouring up many old memories for us. We walked along the promenade with it’s old beach huts in the lovely warm sunshine gazing at the sea across miles of flat beaches, had fish and chips out of paper (white not news!) played crazy golf, spent an hour in the amusement arcade and sat and had a good old English cuppa tea! Thank you Pam and Bob for a very nice day out.

Needless to say Peter is back to his painting but he is on the homeward stretch now and will easily finish it before our return to Spain on the 30th.

On Tuesday 27th March we left our home in Spain at 7.10am. Next door neighbour and friend Tom drove us to Alicante airport and we endured 1hr and 20mins of traumatic driving through torrencing rain, thunder and lightening. Poor Tom of course had to endure the drive back as well!

We arrived at Stansted airport to the lovliest weather we have ever had greet us on a return trip to the UK in 7 years but it did not last as the next day was overcast and very chilly. Since then the weather has been mixed, lots of sunshine but most of the time a chilly wind but I believe there has been a lot of rain in Spain in our absence so we are not too miffed.

On Thurday 29th we wended our way to Stevenage and that evening we went to see our grandaughter Rob’s school production of Oklahoma. The performance was excellent , particularly when considering that the age of the children was only 9-11 years and we were delighted with Rob’s personal performance too as she played her part to perfection. Friday 30th Sally and Rob were at school and Matt was out with friends so we went off to the lovely hamlet of Radwell where we used to live, to visit friends and neighbours and had a very nice lunch at a local pub with Denis and Muriel.

Still at Sally’s on Saturday, we basically just chilled out but did go out for a little shopping therapy and on Sunday we picked up grandsons, Tom, Robert and Chris and took them, Sally, Matt and Rob out for a Sunday roast. My goodness how the boys have grown since we last saw them 15 months ago. Tom is now nearly 21, Robert nearly 18 and Chris has just reached 14.

Late Sunday afternoon we ventured back home to Warboys. I think I have mentioned that son David is living at our house Monday to Friday as it is close to his current work. It is quite strange sharing the house with him again after so many years but he is no trouble and even sees to his own meals so that I don’t overfeed him and ruin all the good work he has done to lose his excess weight!

On Monday morning I went for my fasting blood test prior to going to the diabetic clinic this coming Wednesday and later in the day had to go for my annual mammogram, which I am awaiting the results of. I’m sure they are fine as I would have thought I would have heard something by now if there was anything untoward.

On the way back from the hospital we did a big food shop which will, apart from odds and ends, tide us over for the duration of our visit and then on Tuesday out came the ladders, paint pots and brushes for Pete to start the daunting task of painting the outside of the house. What he would have done without David and Alison to help him by holding the ladder steady I do not know as he had to get into some precarious positions to reach the high bits. I can’t possibly go out there as it frightens me to death!

 

   

  Peter painting! 

Daughter-in-law Alison and Grandkids Tiff and James came up to Warboys on Thursday 5th to spend Easter with David and us and on Easter Sunday Sally, boyfriend Scott, Matt and Rob and niece Sue and her teenage kids Mica, Kendal and Regan with Mica’s boyfriend Ryan also in tow joined us. We had a lovely day with the 8 young people in one room and us 7, I won’t say ‘old’ as the family may be offended, so I will say older ones, in another room. Lots of chat and laughter was emitted from both rooms and it was good to see how all the young ones got on together. We then went to a local eating and watering hole for a very good lunch and caused chaos when ordering a 3-course meal for 15 diverse tastes.

Today David, Ali and kids have gone to visit friends in St. Neot’s, where they used to live. Needless to say Peter is still up his ladder and I, well I’m writing my diary aren’t I!

So what have I been up to, to while away the time while Peter has been doing circus tricks up on the roof and ladder! Well I have done the usual boring household chores and I hold my hands up and say I have done quite a lot of spending on the plastic again buying crafting materials in no less than 5 different shops. God only knows what I have bought, I will have to take stock and hope I can fit it all in the case to take back to Spain! Thank goodness Peter does not read the Blog!

I have also kept up with my crafting and painted vases for Sally, Ali and myself and I am in the middle of painting another one for my friend Pam.

This is what I have done while I have been here:

And for those interested this is some of the other objects I have painted so far to date:

And these are some of the cards I have made:

I would like to say a big, big thank you to Linda who got me into crafting and who has taught me so much. I love it and love trying all the different things and techniques. Pete thanks Linda too for putting such a big strain on his bank balance when I can’t stay away from the craft shops!

Well, that’s all my news for now. Catch up with you all later.