Well so much for “dulce Noviembre” or “sweet November”! It’s flipping freezing at the minute, the night temperatures are hovering at just about zero, something we’re not at all used to in southern Spain. Things should get back to normal in a week or so with the night temperatures rising again to double figures. In the meantime we are keeping both fires lit all during the day, to warm up the house. We also have big hot and cold aircon units in the sitting room and in our bedroom, and I have a very effective little convection heater in the study keeping me warm as I type. We really are too old to be cold, and very fortunate to be able to have a full log shed, and to not care too much about the electricity bill when it comes. Much more important to be comfortable at this age! Incidentally, over here at this time of year you will frequently see women outside as well as indoors, fully dressed, but with fleecy, full-length dressing gowns on top – they’re not daft, it keeps them snuggly warm, and I have caught the habit too!
The fire surround in the sitting room is now finished, built by Tom, plastered by Jake and painted by Peter, a team effort! We now just need to finish off each side of the fire to tidy it up. We’ve also ordered an air vent to cut in high up, to let more warm air out from the flue into the sitting room. It’s a very funky retro style antique brass one which we’re having delivered to Laurie’s house and can bring home with us once we’re over in Norn Iron. We also had to order a new top plate thing – baffle plate? It baffles me, anyway – for the sitting room fire, as our current one is cracked but perfectly useable for now. It made more sense to get a new plate as we were told that filling the crack with cement wouldn’t last very long. So, if you’re going to do a job do it right first time! The fires are just so cosy at this time of year, it can be difficut to remember that only a few months ago we were suffering in 42C heat.
Speaking of cold, as you know, most houses here don’t have central heating. We don’t really need it as it would only be used for a couple of months a year, and with the aircon and the big log burners we can be quite cosy. However, today it was really time to change the 10.5 tog duvet to the 13.5 tog one. It took me a while wrestling with it as it’s very big and very heavy. Also you really can’t beat an electric blanket…bliss! The only other thing to do in our bedroom is to keep the spiral staircase down to the bodega covered to keep the heat in upstairs. The stairs go from our bedroom down to the bodega, and that room has 3 external stone walls, designed to keep all the wine, cheeses etc cool.
So, every winter we put our “retired” duvets over the railings and plug the gaps, it’s the only way to keep the aircon heat in up in the bedroom!!
I’ve bought a few things from Ebay which I’ve had sent to Laurie’s since we’re popping over for a wee pre-Christmas visit. To have all that lot – including the two bits for the fire – posted to Spain would cost ridiculously silly money so it’s far better to just bring it all back in our luggage. We won’t be over the allowed weight as the only other things to bring back will be…err…whatever tempts us for wee Christmas treats in M&S food hall! We generally pack very little to bring over, just enough clothes to last us for the time we’re there, so there should be plenty of “empty kilos” for us to fill, with two suitcases, two overhead cabin bags and two under seat bags.
Our winter projects are coming along nicely now. We need to scrape down, plaster and paint two walls in what will be Peter’s art studio. It has huge windows leading outside to an upper terrace, plenty of light to enjoy while creating a masterpiece or two!
The other thing he really wants to get back into is decorating sconces. We need to source some unglazed ones so they are ready to paint and otherwise decorate. We have been giving them to people as presents but we may have to open a gallery next!
I think the examples above are really lovely, with a bit of a Moroccan feel, which we both like.
I’ve been shopping in the “M” place, as it’s known, otherwise really called Mercadona! It’s a very good supermarket but I am also continually impressed by their skincare and make-up range. Here’s what I’ve bought in the last week…firstly, their own brand “Botox”- like serum, which promises to smooth out wrinkles and fine lines. It is a temporary fix, and is best patted gently into your skin and left for about ten minutes. If you fan it for a few minutes it helps speed up things. It’s ony €6 so isn’t a big loss if you don’t like it!
I also got, on the recommendation of my lovely friend Violet, some Skin Glow Tint. Now this looks decidedly odd, as it appears to be a little glass container filled with tiny wee balls, a bit like a rough mustard!
When you use the pump to get it out it comes out as liquid, very smooth, very glowing and with a gorgeous hint of colour. It is excellent, costs only €9 and worth every cent!
Next on my “can’t live without” list is their Maxi Volume black mascara. Oh my word, I have used hundreds of mascaras in my time, from the cheapest to the most expensive, and none of them comes even close to this wee beauty! It never clumps, lengthens your lashes, lasts all day, absolutely fabulous. I hope and pray they never discontinue it as, at under €4 it always has a place in my makeup bag. Best mascara ever!
Now to one of the best bits of living in Spain, eating out! As you know, we do go out to lunch quite often, we like to try different restaurants and it is ridiculously inexpensive so why wouldn’t we?
So here’s the latest line-up. We have a ladies lunch group and we meet for lunch about once a month. This time we elected to eat at our local Chinese restaurant in Fortuna. I was seriously worried about it as we stopped going there after a few truly horrible meals. However, we learned that it has been taken over by a lovely young couple and my word have they made some changes! The whole place is clean and fresh, and the food was utterly delicious – I couldn’t fault it. A very big portion of sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style, with rice and a drink was less than €10. I rather felt a bit sorry for the other diners as there were 17 of us for lunch and it got a bit noisy!
The next place to tell you about is a great restaurant Peter found for us in Cieza, a lovely town less than half an hour from us, it’s the administrative centre for the whole area. It’s called Tarradella’s Restaurante and was absolutely superb. The food was incredible, the presentation a delight, and the restaurant itself was very modern and tastefully decorated. They do a 3-course menu del dia for €16 which is fantastic value!
Next is a real favourite of ours where we will always keep returning to – Ann and Ray’s restaurant, the Red Roof. We went for Sunday lunch recently, and shared a huge portion of delicious paella and a big rack of really tender BBQ ribs between us.
There was a raffle on that day, and we won Sunday lunch for two, including wine! Safe to say we’ll be back very soon!
We also had lunch recently with our great friends David and Violet Millar. They come on holiday quite a few times every year to Guardamar, on the coast, and we always look forward to meeting up for lunch. Suffice to say the craic is mighty and the wine keeps flowing! We had such a lovely long afternoon with them and look forward to the next time!
And now for something completely different…this weekend is the switching on of the Christmas lights in Murcia, they always put on the most amazing show. I’ll post some photos after we’ve been to see it all but in the meantime, guess who’s actually doing the switching on? Only RICHARD GERE, that’s who! Yep, he’s apparently been in Madrid doing something or other and will be in Murcia city this weekend. Very impressive!
And another little something different – this wee visitor flew off my hibiscus on the verandah and landed at my feet the other day, a little praying mantis. Absolutely beautiful colour and posture!
I’ve overrun my time a bit here, but here’s a wee short story which I hope you’ll find entertaining…let me know what you think!
“Billy McAllister was the sort of boy our mothers warned us about. Tall, narrow hipped, black hair and blue eyes, cocky as hell but oh my word so easy on the eye. He always wore Levis, he said that the world was divided into those who wore Wranglers and those who wore Levis. He had a reputation that mothers worried about, and fathers worked themselves into a frenzy about what they would do if he ever came near their daughters.
I had never worn Wranglers, always Levis, even though Saturday jobs didn’t pay too well and it had taken longer than I thought to own a coveted pair. Just the one pair, mind, we weren’t as well off as some of the girls in school, but it didn’t matter. Also, my mother wasn’t sure they were entirely appropriate apparel for young ladies, but she didn’t actually forbid me from wearing them, so I decided she’d eventually get used to it.
Billy McAllister had a car, two years ago his father had bought him a red Cadillac Coupe de Ville for his eighteenth birthday. It was sleek and powerful, not unlike its owner, and all the girls wanted to be the one chosen to sit in the front seat with him. It had a great radio as well, the height of sophistication for country girls like us.
Bill McAllister senior was a big shot in the county. Having made a fortune in luxury car sales he never missed an opportunity to let everyone know just how well he had done. If you consider “well” to be the equivalent of “rich” then fair enough, but alongside his wealth he had amassed a ton of bad manners and arrogance, some of which had obviously been inherited by his son who worked in the family business. Both were ideal salesmen, they were able to persuade men that their status would be enhanced in a particular car, and their charms could persuade a woman to just buy anything at all. Business was brisk, and very successful.
Billy was always keen to show the rest of us how much money he had, treating his boys to burgers at the drive through and cruising for girls who were only too keen to oblige, but who ended up just like used tissues when the conqueror had notched up another mark of victory.
Just another reason why our mothers said he was the epitome of “mad, bad and dangerous to know”, and every one of us was forbidden to get into that car, no matter how much we yearned to.
Gemma Stirling was the front runner. She looked like every schoolboy’s dream, and probably featured in quite a few of them. It didn’t take long for Billy McAllister to succumb to her charms, even if they were so obvious the three blind mice couldn’t have failed to see what was happening. We were sure it wouldn’t be long before she became the chosen one. Gemma was also sure of it, in fact she never shut up about how often she caught him sneaking a look at her. I was sure she was exaggerating, but equally sure it wouldn’t be long before she and Billy really were seen as a couple.
My friends and I spent far too much time wondering and talking about how to snare Billy McAllister and be seen in the front seat of that Cadillac. We all fancied him, of course we did, though in truth we all recognised that none of us were ever likely to come within spitting distance, never mind actually ever getting to sit in that car with him. None of us looked anything like Gemma Stirling.
Until, that is, the day everything changed. I was walking home from school and heard a car pull up just behind me.
“Hey! Hey,Judy!” the voice called, just in case I was in any doubt as to who the call was aimed at. I turned slowly round, hardly daring to breathe.
“Do you want a lift home?” he asked.
“Err, no thanks”, I replied, wanting more than anything to get into that car with the divine Billy, but knowing full well that someone, somewhere would see me and from then on my mother would make my live an utter misery with lectures on the evils of loose women, unwanted pregnancies, ruined lives and worse.
“Come, on,” he laughed, “I won’t bite! I promise!”.
At that moment I’d have paid good money to have Billy McAllister bite me anywhere he liked. He got out of the car and walked over to me. I could smell him, the scent of lemons and something sweet like candy floss on a hot night at the county fair. I think it was the smell of danger but back then all I could do was to breathe in that aroma – it was like mother’s milk to a starving baby.
“Come on”, he said again, “It’ll save you a long walk. I promise I’ll drive slowly and I really won’t bite”.
“No, thank you.” I wasn’t going to let myself be seduced by that charmer. For once I was more afraid of my mother than of not taking up Billy McAllister’s offer. Anyway, I couldn’t understand why he even wanted to talk to me, never mind get me in his car. There were plenty more and better looking girls around who would be only too willing to put out for Billy McAllister. Anyhow, I wasn’t going to take the chance.
The next time I saw Billy McAllister was in Jones and Dickens Funeral Home. He looked even better in the casket, someone had done a great job of genuinely making him look like he was asleep, and ready to jump up at any minute, laughing and yelling “Hah! Fooled you all!”
I knew that after finally accepting my refusal to get into his car he had stormed off in a huge huff, and had taken off with a screech of tyres, yelling something at me over his shoulder which I couldn’t hear. He had probably driven too fast in a temper, and didn’t have time to react when the car slid on mud and screamed towards a rather large tree which refused to give way.
Danger comes in many guises, and not always the obvious ones like speeding, or standing too close to the edge of a cliff. Sometimes danger is carefully and cleverly and so beautifully wrapped up in Levis, looking so, so good, but best avoided.
The world is full of Billy McAllisters, there are always more to go around. When my daughters are older, I’ll tell them about Billy McAllister and of the dangers hidden in plain view. I hope they make the right choices. I really do.”
Next time, Christmas is nearly here, whoo! hoo! Shopping all done, food already organised, looking forward to it!
My life in Spain 