Before I launch straight in I need to apologise again for such a delay in publishing this blog! I was all ready to go after Christmas but became very unwell, and that actually eventually resulted in me being carted off to hospital by ambulance – not quite as exciting as it sounds! I had been having difficulty breathing after any basic level of exertion, and it seems my blood oxygen levels were dangerously low and needed to be dealt with as a matter of some urgency. Oh yes, and while there I also discovered I tested positve for flu, in spite of having had the vaccination. It’s no wonder I felt so wretched!
To cut a long and boring story short, three nights, a number of CT scans, X-rays and different treatments later I got home again, and was never so glad to be in my own bed.
The medical staff were brilliant, from my own GP who had carried out an ECG in the health centre and immediately had me admitted, to all the staff in the hospital. Nothing was too much bother for them, they were all very kind, caring and professional. Best of all was being looked after and waited on at home by the husband, what a man!
So there you are, that’s my excuse for this being late, and I’m sticking to it! Thankfully I’m now feeling much better, back in the land of the living, though still breathless but I’m working on that one. I am very happy to report that after the battery of tests I can state that my heart and lungs are normal, and I just need to work on breathing exercises in order to increase my lung capacity. I have to say I’m also very happy I gave up smoking 16 years ago – I dread to think what shape I’d be in if I hadn’t.
So, on to the weather. There’s been far too much of it recently. This is the longest, coldest and wettest winter in Spain for about the last 20 years, and everybody is heartily sick of it.
There has been so much rain recently, mainly throughout Andalucia and across into Portugal. As usual, in our part of Murcia we seem to have missed the worst of it, we’ve had a few sharp showers and some blustery days but that’s about it. Others have not been so lucky, with widespread flooding and structural damage. We did have one very interesting hail shower, they covered my car roof and windscreen. I haven’t seen hailstones for years!
I think that everyone is looking forward to the warmer weather. Spanish houses aren’t really built to cope with the cold and damp. We have a very big, old house in the country – and no central heating! Fortunately we have two big log burners, and we also have aircon units in the sitting room and in our bedroom, as well as a trusty electric blanket on the bed, bliss!
There’s the best sign ever that spring is actually on the way – the almond trees are bursting into bloom. Our trees are a few days behind the rest down in the valley, as we’re that bit higher up, but it is so heartening to see the fabulous display of blossom which literally seems to have appeared overnight. So, so beautiful.
One of the things needed in this pre-spring, generally dreich weather is something guaranteed to brighten us all up – well those of us who are women, anyway! And no, I’m not getting into the “what is a woman” question, it’s a very stupid premise and everyone knows the right answer even if they try not to admit it!
So, my go-to trick is….red lipstick! I choose the scarlet type rather than the crimson shades, suits me better. It always makes me feel I can face the world with a bit of scarlet lippy. The one I use is by Maybelline, and is long-lasting. So long lasting that it’s flipping difficult to get off last thing at night, but sooo worth it – Taylor Swift eat your heart out!
I have bought loads of red lipsticks in the search for the perfect one – it turns out there are quite a few that fit the bill, though the Maybelline one remains my favourite. However, I have to say that the selection from Temu, Shein etc look absolutely fantastic lined up on a wee shelf! Their packaging is amazing, even if sometines the contents are not…
It was Peter’s birthday last week, and we had planned to go to Granada for a few days to celebrate. We’d found a lovely hotel in the city centre and then…I ended up in hospital so we had to cancel. We can go another time, but its such a shame as we had bagged ourselves a real bargain. It would have been impossible as my mobility has been very limited, so we’ll just try again when everything improves.
I had ordered a big ballon for him which I intended to blow up and hide in the house – it’s a big house so I assumed there should have beeen plenty of hiding places. I hadn’t reckoned on the balloon actually being taller than me, and I knew I hadn’t a mission of blowing the thing up given I find it difficult to catch a breath at all. Then came the real issue – in tiny print it said it had to be filled with helium! Well, we’ll just have to find a shop where we can do that, I’m determined to get it inflated! So all in all not the most well-planned and executed birthday, but the upside is that he’s now an OAP so he’s now getting his state pension!
One of the things I love about living here is how shops are decorated both inside and out, to make their goods more attractive to the crowds, they’re so inviting. Here’s just a few of the places we’ve seen over the last wee while…
and finally just inside a shop specialising in all kinds of jamon….
Okay, another wee snippet from the “say it like it is” brigade. I spotted a notice in our local health centre last time I was there, in among all the advice on giving up smoking, getting vaccinations etc. This one was encouraging us to do a bit more exercise, and simply stated “Mueve el culo”. It means “move/shake your ass”….no other explanation needed!
And another wee laugh – you know how I’m always giving out about the standard of driving locally? Well it would appear that parking abilities are similar…get out of that one!
Due to being a tiny bit unwell (!) lately we hadn’t been out for lunch anywhere so yesterday while we were out on a spot of business we decided to try out somewhere we hadn’t eaten before. It’s on the far side of Hondon de las Frailes from us, and as we were out that direction we thought we’d give the Hondon Hub a try. It’s very English, and a bit different from our usual, Spanish restaurants. However, we’d heard good things about the food and as it was close to where we were we called in. I wish we hadn’t. I really wish we hadn’t. In the 18 years I’ve lived in Spain I think there have only been 3 other occasions where the food was so unacceptable and, frankly, inedible.
There was only one other couple eating when we got there, and they soon left, so it was only the two of us in the whole place. I ordered fish and chips – I love to have this about 3 times a year, and was really looking forward to a big piece of freshly battered fish that’s always on offer somewhere local on Fridays. Peter ordered a chicken kebab. Both dishes came with chips.
After we’d ordered we commented to the waitress about the bad smell in the room – she explained they’d “just had the drains done”, at which point we weren’t sure if we should stay or not, or if the restaurant should even have stayed open…
What follows is our honest opinion on the food we were served, so the restaurant needn’t think of suing us for defamation or whatever! My fish arrived, not fresh, a frozen offering which was hard, almost too hard to cut, like a Birds’ Eye one which had been microwaved too long. Tasteless. I had expected freshly battered fish. Silly me. Peter expected a chicken skewer – what he got appeared to be chopped up bits from a bag of frozen chicken kebab meat that you can get in supermarkets. The pieces were so small we weren’t even sure whether or not it was chicken. It looked like a mixture of old bacon rind and sliced mushrooms. Very, very greasy, very odd colours of black, brown and grey, and a very odd smell. Just swimming in oil. It was accompanied by a small, round, pitta bread which wasn’t even firm enough to cut open a pocket.
The chips were just awful. They were handcut, but appeared to be old, certainly not fresh. They were flimsy, soggy, only just warm and very, very greasy. When squashed with a fork the oil just ran out of them. A couple of bites later we felt we really couldn’t continue as it was so dreadful.
We decided to leave, and told the staff exactly why. One member of staff checked with the kitchen and said she was told everything was fresh – whoever told her that was being more than economical with the truth.
I have to say that the two staff members were very nice, very polite and very friendly. However this didn’t make up for the drains atmosphere or the extremely poor and frankly inedible food. We will, never, ever be back.
As we were already in the Hondon Valley we drove another few kilometres to Hondon de las Nieves Bombay restaurant where we often eat. We had absolutely delicious Indian food and left that particular establishment very, very happy!
If you’re ever out that direction and feel hungry, take my advice and do not, I repeat, DO NOT stop at the Hondon Hub. Keep going until you reach the excellent Bombay restaurant in Hondon de las Nieves and give yourselves a real treat.
That’s it for now, I’ll try not to leave it so long next time! Off now to write a review on Trip Advisor…hmm!
It has been a bit too long since the last blog, forgive me, life has a way of interfering with the best laid plans! We are now racing towards Christmas and summer seems a long time ago. Where on earth has this year gone?! It seems to have vanished in the blink of an eye. We had a last gasp of real heat where the temperatures exceeded 38C in the shade, but are now sliding down to a very pleasant 24C or so in the sun, in the daytime. Night temperatures from this weekend are expected to fall to single figures, so it’s time to put the duvets back on the beds, instead of just using their covers, and get the big log burners fired up. The clouds down the valley are starting to look quite amazing, like ribbons of candy floss – this always heralds the changing of the seasons. This is actually the view from our en-suite bathroom, definitely a loo with a view!
Peter has been busy cleaning the chimney flue things from the two big log burners. Not the nicest job in the world but at least when he goes up on the roof to get the brushes down the flues he doesn’t break any tiles. So now both fires are clean and safe, ready for the colder weather. He even treated himself to a special vacuum thing for cleaning out the remaining soot and ash…how very grown-up are we?
We had Peter’s cousin Tom, and his wife Carmel, over to stay for a few days. Tom was a builder, and he helped Peter close in the fire surround and chimney breast in the sitting room, right up to the ceiling. That probably isn’t the technical term but I think you know what I mean! Then our friend Jake came over to plaster it all, and now, as I write, Peter is getting the last coat of paint on so we can light the fire tonight. It is so brilliant to have the flue etc all enclosed now, it looks so much tidier.
I went with Peter to collect some of the building stuff we needed, from a massive B&Q type place the other side of the city. We had pre-ordered and paid online so thought it would be a simple matter of just rolling up and collecting the stuff. Good grief, we couldn’t have been more wrong. We kept getting directed from one area to another, and becoming more and more frustrated by the minute, nyerping away at each other. Well, that’s not strictly true, I was the one doing all the nyerping, the husband is usually very calm, but even he was beginning to lose patience – probably with me! The moral of the story is …..never bring your wife/husband to a builders’ merchants, unless you are keen to meet again in the divorce courts!
We’ve had our first log drop from Angel, our great log man. His Dad is also called Angel and is a bit of a pet – I always get a hug when we go to the yard to order the logs, and he often gives us lots of fruits which are in season, like pomegranates and almonds. He gets jars of home-made lemon curd and home-made limpncello from us in return.
Peter has all the logs stacked away now in the big dry store. We actually still have quite a lot left over from last winter but wanted to get at least one load in before the rain came, and we’re very glad we did! We’ll get another delivery next week and that will probably be enough to keep both big log burners going all winter. Angel is great, he always delivers when he says he will, and he always leaves us 4 huge crates of kindling at no extra charge. I’m glad we’re well stocked up now for winter – we’re too old to be cold!
There have been severe storms again along the east coast of Spain, though mostly confined to the Valenciana community. Barcelona has been hit quite badly, as have some areas near Malaga, and Mallorca has also taken a battering. Some areas have suffered awful flooding again, but hopefully not as destructive as last year’s disaster. Very scary weather patterns all over the world at the minute. We always seem to miss any of the more extreme weather where we are, thank goodness. Let’s hope for a calmer and more settled winter.
Now this wouldn’t be much of the usual blog I produce if I didn’t mention where we’ve been out to eat recently, would it?! Well, on the recommendation of quite a few people we headed out for lunch recently to a restaurant called El Don, set in an industrial estate in the nearby town of Aspe. Before some of you query what a restaurant is doing in an industrial estate, it’s quite normal here! There are great units available to let, it’s very convenient for those who are working in the vicinity, and parking is a doddle.
El Don is a family concern, and on the day we went, there was Elana, her husband (who does the cooking) and her brother all in attendance. They are known for their big platters of barbequed meats including pork, chicken, sausage, chorizo, along with chips, salad, crusty bread, various dips, and their own blends of five different kinds of salts!
Well let me just tell you that the food was just fantastic! Flame grilled meats, so tender, brilliant breads and salads, all so tasty. I was really taken with their home-blended salts, and was lucky enough to receive a sample of each as a gift!
We will most certainly be back before very long.
At the minute it seems that life is one long round of little home projects that need doing, interspaced with medical appointments. Peter has been to hospital to have two little basal cell carcinomas removed. One was already done before, but the surgeon wanted to make sure it was okay so he chopped out a bit more. That should hopefully be the end of the matter. I’ve had to play nurse again, changing the dressings every day. The stitches are now out and everything looks grand.
As for me, I am so NOT used to being unwell that it makes me a very bad patient. I’ve had some really annoying breathing problems which means I can only walk about 50m before needing to stop and catch my breath. I had an angiogram done – worst thing ever! It took two hours and was seriously far more painful than giving birth. If they ever want to do another one they’ll need to give me a general anaesthetic first. Anyhow, the upshot was that my heart seems to be fine. That is a relief, given that my mother had a heart attack, her brother had a heart attack, my paternal grandmother died from one as did my Dad. So, the next round of exciting investigations was to do with my lungs. Now, my Mum died from lung cancer, and even though I stopped smoking more than 15 years ago it was hanging around in the back of my mind as a bit of a worry. Well after various scans, X-rays and MRIs, and something right up my nose (dear goodness that was horrible, I thought I was going to be sick in front of people!) it turns out I don’t have lung cancer, and I don’t have COPD. What I do have is chronic asthma, and it’s entirely manageable and I’m very, very happy with that. Now that the fierce summer heat has left us I’ll be back on my exercise bike on the terrace clocking up the kilometres and hopefully doing the old lungs some good.
To celebrate the fact that I’m not actually dying (I’m really not joking, I was seriously worried for a while) I was treated to lunch at one of our favourite restaurants in the city, the Mercado de Correos. Fabulous place, with amazing variety of foods, from Chinese, to traditional Murcian, from seafood to grilled meats, from brochettas to pulled meats in bao buns, from full courses to tapas, all delicious. I have written about this place before, as we like it so much! All along the sides are little stations serving the food, so you can choose anything and have it brought to your table. Spot the happy chap waiting for a beer to enjoy with his food!
They also have the most delightful patisserie, so of course we had to choose as few little cakes to bring home. One of them didn’t make it as far as the house – I made the mistake of driving so the husband managed to eat one straight from the box on the way back!
I think we’re now both finished with the medical stuff for a while, as my next two review appointments are April and September 2026, so we can relax into winter and enjoy ourselves, even if it is at a slower walking pace!
Oh, but speaking of medical stuff, I love that when we’re in the health centre waiting to be seen, everyone who rolls up, without exception, looks at every single person waiting, and with a big smile says either “hola” or “buenos dias”. It’s so polite and also so very friendly.
When Tom and Carmel were here we were able to take them to see a cooperative wine bodega in the Jumilla valley, the Bodegas Almazara BSI winery, which is a famous wine-producing area near to us. This bodega works in partnership with producers and retailers, and was an extremely interesting tour. It’s the biggest bodega we’ve ever been to, and was just fascinating.
I couldn’t get over the size of some of the barrels used to store the wines – here’s Peter beside one, and remember he’s 6’3″ so these things are huge!
Our guide was Victoria, whose command of English was excellent, and whose knowledge of the bodega was first class- and she made it all very, very interesting. She was accompanied by Maria José, and when the main tour was over were treated to sampling red and rosé wines, as well as their utterly delicious olive oil. To accompany the drinks, we had plates of beautiful cold meats and cheeses, and gorgeous fresh crusty bread. No need for lunch after that feast! And no, I wasn’t able to sample any of the wines, as I was driving, but I have to say the bread dipped in olive oil was fabulous, and we came away with quite a few bottles!
That’s not the clearest photo in the world but I think you can tell we had a great time! There are many worse ways to spend a Sunday morning…and via Groupon the whole thing cost €18.74 in total for the four of us – bargain!
One of the things I still find difficult to get used to here, even after 17 years, is that almost everything closes down in the afternoons, at 2pm, not opening again until around 5pm. I get caught out now and again when I might need a specific shop or garage or whatever, and then remember they won’t be open until later. Restaurants, bars and supermarkets stay open, of course. In fact, I find the best time to do a grocery shop is around 3pm as most of the population is living it up at home with big relaxing lunches, meaning there’s no crowds to push through with a shopping trolley! Saturdays are another thing altogether. I used to love Saturday afternoons at home when we could indulge in a bit of shopping, meet with riends for coffee, and the towns were generally very busy. Here, anything that closes at siesta time, ie, 2pm on a Saturday, doesn’t open again until Monday. Very different!
Oh I have to tell you about an interesting encounter Peter had recently in town. He was having a coffee when a fairly bedraggled man asked him if he wanted to buy a razor for a euro – he produced a couple of wrapped razors. Peter declined but bought him a beer which is really what the chap was after in the first place. The man then produced some cannabis resin and asked Peter if he wanted to buy it! No harrassment, no rudeness, no threatening behaviour, the chap just wanted a beer, which Peter bought for him, and I believe he also treated the man to a card trick or two!
That’s about it for this time, I shall try to be a bit more on time in future! I’ll leave you with my poem written in honour of my maternal grandfather, to remember Poppy Day.
Firstly, I need to say that very recently we lost a wonderful, funny, knowledgeable and long-standing friend. Peter Thompson was a well-respected local historian from Dervock and Ballymoney – and had a phenomenal collection of military memorabilia to prove it! He really put our wee village, Dervock, and our market town, Ballymoney, on the map, and raised their profiles to give them their proper place in the history of our island.
On a more personal level, I have known Peter and his lovely family just about all my life. Every time the husband and I made our journey home to see friends and family Peter was always included in that group, and was really more family than friend. We always came to him armed with some special Spanish brandy, and equally, we never left his house empty handed!
The craic with Peter was always great, and we shall miss his humour, that wee twinkle in his eye, the wealth of stories he had to tell and the laughs we had while remembering times past. Never forgotten, always missed, always in our hearts. I just can’t believe we’re not going to see him next time we’re over home. I shall miss you forever my friend, I hope you’re having fun somewhere. Cherish your friends, amigos, you never know when is the last time for everything.
Quite a few people have been asking me about how easy or difficult it is to make friends when you move to a completely new area. The short answer is that it is and it isn’t! If that sounds more than a bit of a cop-out, what I mean is that it is really easy to gravitate towards people who speak your own language, especially if you are trying to learn a completely different language altogether.
But beware – not every smiling human is your friend! One of the things we all miss when we move to a foreign country is our friends. If you’re fortunate, then you will still have a circle of friends “back home” with whom you regularly keep in touch. Over here in Spain, as in probably every other foreign place, if you want to make friends you need to go out and find them. There are always lots of “extra-curricular” activities and clubs you can join, chances are you will meet a group of people who share your interests. However, a word of warning – unlike your friends back home they won’t share your history, nor you theirs, so it may not always do what it says on the tin!
Having said that, we have made some wonderful friends here in Spain. Some have turned out to be a lasting delight, and we are always cheered when we get together. Others have fallen by the wayside; some are simply no big loss, some have turned out to be a crushing disappointment, and some have eventually shown themselves to be just out-and-out nasty! It’s actually no bad thing to let go of the ones you don’t need – your job is not to obtain approval from everyone you meet, that’s something you’ll never get.
Goodness knows there are weirdos everywhere, and it’s best to keep well clear and don’t engage with them. We know a couple of people who have turned out to be very, very odd, who used to be friends – or so we thought. One person now seems to view me as the wicked witch of the west – I’m really not, though, I’m actually quite nice! It is indeed often a relief to separate from such toxic ones. Here’s something to make you wonder – were told by a number of people that a certain person’s husband had undergone fairly major surgery and that they all believed she was hoping he wouldn’t come round from the anaesthetic. Good grief, when I remember how desperately ill Peter was a few years back,and how he nearly died, I would have moved heaven and earth to make sure he recovered, and happily, he did. Mind you, that same woman also told a lot of people that she thought my husband was “drop dead gorgeous” and that she thought she “might have a chance with him”. Err….quite right to the first part and utterly, utterly deluded by the second, and gave us both a good laugh!
Another idiot who decided he no longer liked me spread lots of lies about me. Actually he seems to lie about quite a lot of things – for example he apparently knows Phil Collins well. Err, don’t think so! I gather while he was working in a supermarket he caught sight of him once. In fact he’s simply another unhappy, deluded and jealous person whose life hasn’t quite turned out as well as he had hoped, a bit like the woman I mentioned. Beware, there are quite a few of them around, and it always comes down to jealousy on their part. It’s not your job to soothe the jealous feelings of those who can’t stand their own failings and their own less-than-perfect lives, so just walk away. Life’s too short to deal with unnecessary drama. A great Polish proverb says “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” Very liberating!
Ideally you would want to have a fairly wide circle of acquaintances, and within that circle there will be a couple of people you can really trust. Like I said, life is far, far too short to bother with people who are never going to be part of your “tribe”, so love the ones you’re with, and set the rest free to annoy somebody else!
Our friends back home are still so cherished, especially my best friend Wendy – we’ve known each other all our lives.
This photo, I think, was taken at my 40th birthday party, we look so young! Err, that’s because, compared to today, we WERE so young! Wendy sent it to me in a wee special frame, for my birthday – very precious memories!
Now, I know you think I’m always talking about food….here’s some more! On the “let’s get a bit healthier” mode, we make banana and porridge oat muffins, great for breakfast, great any time.
Here’s the recipe:
225g porridge oats
Small pot of plain Greek yoghurt
2 eggs
Big tablespoon of honey
2 tsp baking powder
half tsp baking soda
2 ripe bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
Grease muffin tins with non-stick stuff or with butter – don’t use paper cases as the muffins will stick to them.
Put everything in a big jug and use a hand blender, go for it till the mixture is mostly smooth. Give the batter a stir once or twice to make sure all ingredients are properly mixed.
Pour the batter into muffin tins dividing equally among 10 muffin holes.
Bake in a pre-heated 200C oven for 15 ish minutes until a toothpick inserted into centre of muffin comes out clean.
Let them rest for a bit in the tin, then carefully remove them and allow to cool completely on baking rack.
Makes 10 muffins.
If I’m adding Nutella, I put a wee bit of batter in the pans, then put a wee dot of Nutella in, then top it up with batter. If you’re adding herbs etc then just mix it straight in to the batter.
This one’s my favourite – if I have frozen raspberries or whatever I do the same as with the Nutella – half fill, add a raspberry (or blueberry, or whatever you like!) and then I top with a raspberry and a bit of mint, or whatever takes your fancy. Very healthy. very good for you and very tasty!
Yum! Incidentally, if you spell “muffins” backwards, it’s what you do when you take them out of the oven!
More food….there’s a Chinese restaurant in San Javier we go to now and again. I just can’t believe the feast they serve you for about €10 per person. That includes starter, main course, pudding and half a bottle of wine each.
Couldn’t beat it! By the time I remembered to take a photo we’d already gobbled down our starters, so here’s the mains – chicken and almonds, and shoulder of lamb, with rice and noodles.
One of the nicest places to eat locally for us is Restaurante Esquina de San Anton, owned by our lovely friend Beatriz.
(Photos by Efren Sanchez).
The food is absolutely delicious – definitely a cut above the ordinary. Prawns, steaks, fish, everything freshly cooked and beautifully presented.
We often call in for tapas, not just the full lunch menu, and always find the food to be just sublime – little cod balls in the lightest imaginable batter, huge langoustines in a light, crispy tempura coating, smoked salmon rolls….the list goes on! It helps when you get a great welcoming hug from Beatriz as well! Actually the last time we were there she gave us a bottle of the restaurant’s own wine to take home, and very nice it was too.
Hard to beat a well-rounded rioja!
The other night we went over to Ciudad Quesada for dinner at the restaurant of another friend, Joe. His restaurant is the Patagonia Grill House, and is famous for its steaks, burgers and mixed grills. So, for two people, this is what a mixed grill looks like – it’s accompanied by baked potato, chips and salad, and it takes some eating!
The mixed grill comes with flank steak, pork, chicken, Argentinian chorizo, black pudding and ribs. Just as well that for the previous day we’d eaten very little, in preparation for a bit of a feast! Joe, like Peter, has Polish family origins, so they always enjoy a bit of a chat.
Oh good grief after that last lot you’ll think we do nothing over here except eat from one day to the next! Well you wouldn’t be far wrong, but we do tend to only eat one meal a day, and most often at lunchtime. I can’t understand how Spaniards can sleep at night after a big heavy dinner, often not even starting to eat until at least 10pm!
Okay so here’s something I’ve been banging on about for far too long now – the fact that our water supply is so unreliable, not to mention such poor quality.
We’ve lived in this house now for more than 6 years, and we have never had a single day of uninterrupted water supply. Either the pipes that serve the area get so clogged with calcium that the water can’t flow, or the neighbours using hoses, washing machines etc mean the water pressure isn’t enough to ensure it reaches our house further up.
I’m sick of it. Absolutely and utterly sick of it. For goodness sake Fortuna was a Roman town – those Romans weren’t daft, they knew there was plenty of water underground, which is why they settled here and, more to the point, why we have a beautiful spa centre with outdoor pools heated all year round due to thermal springs. Remember, the Romans could make water flow uphill…why on earth can’t the Spanish do the same?! It seems like I’ve turned into a “Karen” by continually complaining to the water provider here, Aqualia. Well, not quite, because at least my complaints are entirely reasonable and justified!
When my daughter Alice and her friend Helen were here with us on holiday recently, we had the worst stoppage to date. It happened the day before the girls were due to fly home – we had no water at all for more than 24 hours. Drinking is not an issue as we use bottled water for that. Washing, brushing teeth and flushing toilets is another matter! Baby wipes are always in plentiful supply in our house, and we are always careful to keep plenty of spare bottles of water in the bathrooms to get a bit of a wash, helped along with baby wipes.
.
It’s just as well we have a pool, as we can use buckets of water from there to flush the toilets successfully. We thought that the recent power outages all across Spain and Portugal were bad – well I can assure you that it’s a heck of a lot easier to do without electricity for 24 hours than without water.
Now, here’s a thing – we kept checking with out range of elderly neighbours if their water supply had been restored – always a negative answer. But….nobody had contacted the emergency phone number for Aqualia to report the fault. Well, nobody except us. We phoned continually, to no avail. Eventually, the next morning, we went to the local Aqualia office – only open from 09:30 until 13:30 Monday to Friday. I was determined to sit there until I got photographic evidence that someone was actually in our wee hamlet doing whatever they needed to do to restore the water supply. However, I was really pleasantly surprised – the chap in the offic was most helpful, and got on the phone straightaway, directly to an engineer who promised to effect the repair that morning.
We bailed out for brunch locally, and it’s no exaggeration to say we were overjoyed to meet up with our lovely friends Julia and Kelvin – such a lovely interlude to a very stressful time! By the time we got home the engineer had been, cleared the cal from the pipes supplying our wee road, and the water was flowing freely again. Hooray! However it always begs the question – why don’t the neighbours ever phone to report a fault and see when it might be repaired? The Spanish seem to be more content to generally just follow the “wait and see” routine. Anyway, we’re all back to normal – for now. And as a result of all that we have arranged to install a big water deposito hat the house, with electric pump, so if the mains water ever stops for any reason, the pump will come on and we’ll have all the water we need. Assuming we don’t get a water AND electricity stoppage at the same time….
All this week it’s fiesta time in Fortuna, when there is a full programme of events from 8th to 17th August. The days – and nights – include lots of activites for children, foodie events, music shows, sporting events like cycling races, football tournaments, parties, and last, but not least, a massive parade through the town, celebrating the Roman history of Fortuna and its opposite celebration of its patron saint, San Roque.
The town is always packed to bursting, with crowds lining the streets especially for the final night’s parade honouring the Roman heritage and the patron saint. The events are extremely well organised, with many locals taking part in the actual parades. The restaurants which line the main street provide extra tables and chairs but if you haven’t booked a table for food well in advance you need to be prepared to stand for a long time!
Everything carries on well into the night, and the main road through the town centre is usually closed off from around 17:00 until around 08:00, so that gives you an idea of how long the partying lasts! I genuinely don’t know how the people can last, they must have an extra long siesta in the afternoon to prepare for being up all night.
Okay, as the Pythons would say, now for something completely different. I’ve said before that our health service here is really excellent, and when I hear about some of the difficulties experienced by people in the UK I am very happy with the Spanish service. It’s usually easy to get an appointment with a doctor – if there isn’t anything available online in the very near future we can always call in to our health centre and be seen by someone, as it’s a 24 hour emergency response centre, and the staff are always very helpful. I went online yesterday to look for an appointment with Andrea, our GP, and got one for today!
When Peter had a concern about a little mark on his temple he was referred to the dermatologist, seen at the clinic, and had localised surgery to remove what turned out to be a basal-cell carcinoma, all inside 4 weeks from the initial GP appointment. Very reassuring.
We’ve been decorating the pool courtyard, though I have to confess it’s been quite difficult, due to the heat. That space is a real wee suntrap, but when the temperature in the shade is 40+ you can impagine what it’s like in full sun! We have two big parasols we put up at one end of the pool to provide a bit of shade and relief from the relentless sun. I bought a few retro style tin plate pictures and Peter put them up at one end of the pool, very funky and different, I love them! I’ve also started making a “summer tree” from a big dead branch which I painted partly white, with plenty of gold and silver glitter. We put it in a big pot with a bunch of wee fairy lights round the base of the “trunk” and hung some more solar lights on the branches. It’s far from finished but looks great at night! We’ve also started adding more little solar lights round the courtyard,it’s a lovely place for a midnight dip.
Next…here’s some things I hate about my life here (yeah right!)
Finding loads of bunched up cyclists on the road in front of me. I’m actually very considerate with cyclists, I don’t crowd them, and when I overtake I leave a full car width plus between us. But…some are just so inconsiderate, they ride in big groups, often strung out so you haven’t a mission of passing them, then they slow down so you’re stuck in third gear for about three kilometres. Dreadful anos. (Use google translate for that one!)
Men who utter inane things and immediately laugh like donkeys at how clever/amusing/grown up they are. Even if they comment about how hot it is, they immediately roar with laughter. One of these days I’m going to ask them why they think that’s funny…
Peeling and de-veining langoustines. Back-breaking over a kitchen sik with the sieve to catch the bits. Missing some of the “stuff” in their alimentary canals and wondering if anyone would notice if I jsut left them the way they were. And afterwards your hands smell like pants being worn by a toddler who’s being toilet trained….
Car drivers who have no idea that their vehicles are fitted with indicators. It turns into a game of “guess where I’m going next”. If they’re indicating to turn left you daren’t overtake, even when you KNOW that indicator has been flashing for the last five kilometers. And god forbid you woud take a chance turning out of a T-junction when the approacing car indicates that it’s turning in….it’s not. Hold your ground and don;t be tempted as you’ll simply be rammed, and what’s more it will all be your fault!
I really, really hate cleaning out the washing machine drawer,as our water here is so vile the drawer gets all gungy and disgusting. Has to be done though, so good spray of something strong, toothbrush, and away we go trying to get every last disgusting flake out.
Even worse is cleaning the dishwasher filter. Vile. Just vile.
Idiot foreigners (usually from the UK) who turn their noses up at traditional Spanish food. They won’t oder albondigas, for example, but will happily eat meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce. Err….albondigas ARE meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce!
When it’s too hot for too long. Weeks of 40+ C in the shade is really not pleasant.
The cost of air travel from here to Belfast – flights to the south of England cost pennies, but very different for us Norn Iron people!
Things I love about my life here:
Eating the langoustines!
The warm weather which lasts for months.
Our lovely big house with its thick walls meaning it’s cool in summer and warm in winter.
Our two big log burners keeping us warm in winter.
The new aircon unit in the sitting room – cool or warm air, whatever we need, whenever we need it.
The aircon unit above our bed, especially in the heat of summer, absolute bliss!
Fresh food everywhere.
Fantastic value when eating out. (More of that in a minute!)
The really wonderful friends we have made here.
Our neighbours, so friendly and helpful.
Our mechanic, Javi, who always gets our cars through the MOT!
Our genius phone expert, Emanuel, who always sorts out my mobile phone when I’ve mucked it up by doing something stupid!
Cost of hotel stays in Spain, more of that later too!
The fact that we have Irish passports – makes life so much easier.
My fabulous husband.
the fact that we have an actual bodega in our house!
It’s very easy and inexpensive to have a wee break away in rather decent hotels in Spain. Prices are so much lower than in the UK and so value for money is hard to beat. For example, we have booked a full board 3 night pre-Christmas trip up the coast to a gorgeous hotel on the beach and just up the coast, for €179 each, can’t wait! We’ve also booked a very nice hotel right in the centre of Granada, for 3 nights, for a total cost of €122. Have a look at these and see why it’s not difficult to plan a couple of days change of scene. First is the Hotel Cap Negret, in Altea, wonderful! Look here: https://www.hotelcapnegret.es/
Right, back to food, as I did say above somewhere! We went out for lunch to celebrate our recent wedding anniversary, to a lovely restaurant called Roca, in Aspe, which is about 40 minutes from us.
Very well decorated and maintained, in beautiful “Scandi” type colours, very soothing and relaxing. Spanish restaurants were traditionally full of dark wood furnishings and strip lighting that did nothing to create any kind of pleasant ambience, but happily all that is now changing. Roca is most definitely at the “posh” end of the market but wait till you hear this….
To start with I had crispy cannelloni stuffed with soft pork cheek confit, with a truffle sauce. Peter had special flavoured rice with chicken and chickpeas. Both dishes utterly sublime, and beautifully presented, and actually enough to qualify as a main course. We then chose the same main course, Iberico pork fillet with vegetables and potato wedges in a merlot sauce. Melt in the mouth and absolutely sublime. For pudding Peter had pistachio and white chocolate tart, and I had a baked cheesecake with strawberry preserve. Oh. My. Word. Beyond delicious, the whole meal. And you won’t believe this but that menu del dia costs €15 per person. Extra for drinks etc, but seriously, €15 per person?! Amazing! You can see why we eat out so often here – the quality of the food is wonderful, and the value is unsurpassed! I have no photos of the food because we were so overcome that we just “got tore in” as they say in very polite Norn Iron circles!
I think I might have written enough this time so will end by just letting you know about a friend’s new business here, Flowers by Sammy. My friend Samantha has started this business since coming to live in Spain, and my word the flowers she produces for you are fabulous! I’m actually a big fan of “not-real-but-look-better-and-last-longer-than-the -real-thing” blooms, and these days the plastic look is gone, and the modern flowers are simply beautiful. The website is at https://flowersbysammy.es/ feast your eyes on these beauties!
I’m sure you’ll agree they’re simply stunning!
That’s it for this time, no doubt the next issue will be filled with more foodie adventures to make your mouths water, not to mention the brilliant time we had when Laurie and the grandchildren were here.
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I have been very remiss in not writing this up for so long – I hope you haven’t all got bored waiting and gone elsewhere!
The first thing to let you know – for those of you who didn’t know – is that I’ve been in hospital. I’d been having chest pains and shortness of breath for months, but just thought it would pass, (stupid woman!) so didn’t really do anything about it until I realised I couldn’t walk more than about 40 metres without stopping to catch my breath and let the sharp chest pains subside. Not great fun, and really more than a bit worrying, given the history of heart trouble in my family. So, I eventually went to see Claudia, our GP, who referred me to the outpatient cardiology department at our local hospital. Got an appointment within about a week (great health care service in Spain!) and when I got there they wouldn’t let me go home! So, admitted first to the high dependency ward to be monitored, then to a 2 bed ward, still attached to various wires. Eventually I was taken by ambulance to a different hospital to have an angiogram done. Well, two hours later and some of the worst pain ever – including comparing to a kidney stone and giving birth twice in the past – it was done. After the shock of all that I was glad it was over, but have vowed never again unless I have a general anaesthetic – and I’m not joking! I haven’t even translated the medical documents yet, as I don’t care what they did, I just know I didn’t need a stent – I think – but they cleared a bit of something to let the blood flow again. The outcome is that I can now walk just about anywhere with no chest pain, hooray! I still get a bit out of breath but that is down to the asthma so is no bother.
Truly the whole thing was an awful experience, but I have to say that all the medical, admin and housekeeping staff were absolutely brilliant, the most friendly, helpful and caring people ever. Nearly as good as the husband, who is simply the best.
Now for the funny bit – I always like to find a bit of humour where I can, it makes difficult situations and people easier to cope with. So… while I was in hospital recovering and starting to feel better I really craved something tasty to eat, and the husband was a complete dote and brought me in a takeaway from a great Chinese restaurant on the tram route into the city. So delicious, sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style never tasted so good!
A while after I got home, while being fussed over and cared for so well by the husband, I decided to take a wee trip into the city, really just to jump off the tram, go to the restaurant, and order 4 of the meals to take home for the freezer. I wasn’t doing anything energetic, just getting off the tram, walking 20 metres across the road and then back on the tram again.
So, I got off the tram, crossed the road, walked the 20 metres to the restaurant, (great to be able to walk without needing to stop!) and ordered my takeaway. Immediately I ordered, one of the Chinese members of staff said “Oh, your husband was here last week and told us you were in hospital, he brought you this food! He’s very tall and did magic tricks for us!”
Oh my word that man certainly makes a very positive impression everywhere he goes, but goodness knows how they recognised me as up until Peter was there the previous week we’d never been to that restaurant before?! These little episodes fairly brighten up the days!
So much of our time lately seems to be taken with eating out. Not much wrong with that, life is short, the food here is great and the value is unbeatable! A couple of places we’ve been to recently include El Rancho in San Isidro, about 40 minutes from us, and Bar La Amistad in Cañada de la Leña, about 30 minutes from us.
We went for dinner one evening to El Rancho, they have a fantastic deal which comprises a starter of a big well packed salad, a main course of a 10oz sirloin steak plus potato wedges and veggies, and a pudding of a silky chocolate mousse, plus a drink. Total price is €15 per person….how could you NOT go out to eat for that value and price?! It was utterly delicious – we’ll be back!
Here’s the salad and steak – we’d eaten the chocolate mousse before I remembered to take a photo!
So, to Bar La Amistad. It is a newly opened bar/restaurant owned by the lovely Ann and Ray, and my goodness does Ann know how to run a kitchen, as well as being the loveliest, friendliest person! It’s in a weeny hamlet not too far from us, and has a very active Spanish as well as non-Spanish clientele, which is the ideal balance. Ann is helped admirably by Marta, who never seems to stand still, always making sure the customers are well fed and watered.
We recently went for the menu del dia, a set menu. I had gorgeous farmhouse pâté to start with, then a huge serving of fish and chips, followed by ice cream. Peter had tuna salad to start, then chicken curry and rice, and chased up by cherry pie and ice cream. Everything freshly home-made. Plus a drink each. Plus fresh crusty bread and alioli. Total bill for the two of us was €22….how could you beat that?!
Melt in the mouth batter on that fish, everything was perfectly cooked and really delicious. Oh, and a bonus at the bar – I made a new friend, Claire Moles, from Belfast, who heard my accent and stopped to chat, so if you’re reading this Claire, hello again! Claire’s now living in Spain so no doubt we shall catch up with each other again sooner rather than later. Norn Iron people like to find each other even in different continents and countries!
Still on the subject of food, Mercadona supermarkets have put up the price of their Portuguese custard tarts, from 40 cents to 55 cents – how very dare they?! It’s a really big jump, so I decided to have a go again at making my own. They turned out to be reasonably good, though should be better next time. Actually next time I’ll give in and make the flipping pastry as there’s no doubt it turns out far better than the shop bought variety.
In spite of what you see in the photo, I made 10 of them but by the time I found my phone to take a photo there were only 6 left, so they must taste okay!
Speaking of Mercadona, it is one of my favourite supermarkets, in spite of recent price rises. Their own brand makes are fantastic quality, and I especially like the cosmetics and perfumes range. They offer a whole raft of perfumes which are excellent dupes of originals, for both men and women, all retailing at around €8 each. The scent lasts for ages, and you’d be hard-pressed to tell which is an original and which is a Mercadona dupe. Their seasonal ranges of scents is also amazing. I think I might have told you before about my favourite, a very citrus-scented spray which lasts almost all day, light, summery and refreshing for only €10, couldn’t beat it!
It’s labelled as lemon, cotton and wood, and is the most delightful find!
Another real find is their own-brand foundation. I have always used Estee Lauder, Double Wear Maximum Cover, 30ml with SPF 15, which covers a multitude of sins. I usually buy in El Corte Ingles at around €54 each time – just as well it lasts a while! Well, Estee Lauder is now no more since I have discovered Mercadona’s own brand Cover&Fix, also 30ml, but with an SPF of 25, and it costs €5.50 – yes you read that correctly! It is just fantastic, covers everything and looks very natural – well, not TOO natural as prefer the even look that a good covering make up gives me as opposed to how I look when I crawl out of bed first thing in the morning. So, natural but not THAT kind of natural! These are the little finds that brighten up the days of old retired dolls like me! One looks far bigger than the other but they’re both the same amount, 30ml, so one is far and away better value for doing the same job.
My lovely daughter Alice, who now lives in England, came over to stay with us for a few days, and brought her friend Helen with her. The weather was horrible, cold and wet, but the girls wanted to explore a bit of the area and to catch up with some old friends that Alice has known since she originally lived with me in Spain.
It was so, so lovely to have them here, even if the weather left a lot to be desired! Hopefully they’ll come back in the summer when they can just relax in the pool – Alice always gets so tanned people think she’s Spanish!
Oh, earlier I put myself in the category of “old dolls”. Well, make no mistake, no matter what age you are, you can still feel like the age you fixed yourself at many years ago. So, somewhere inside, I’m about 35, fit and healthy, energetic, strong, able to do most things. However, the body will be 70 next year (oh good grief twice as old as I feel inside!) and I’ve realised that I’m no longer much of any of those things on the outside. In many ways it doesn’t matter too much, as we have a generally much slower pace of life here so there’s no need for rushing around wearing ourselves out. However, I get annoyed when I realise I’m not as flexible as I used to be. When I drop something on the floor I consider for a minute if I really need to pick it up or if it can just stay where it is! So, walking (now that the heart and lungs have improved a lot), the exercise bike on the verandah (where I can do 10km without realising as long as I’m reading my kindle at the same time!), and of course being in the pool all day every day in the summer is great exercise all round, and especially for helping the breathing. After what seems like an interminable winter the temperatures are rising fast and we’ll soon be complaining of 40C+ heat again. Bring it on I say, but thank goodness for our daily cool breeze on the terrace, well needed.
So, confession time – in order to make shopping etc a bit easier I have bought a wee granny shopping trolley!
Actually it’s not as “elderly” as it might be, as it seems half the population in Spain uses them, old and young, women and men. It makes a lot of sense, as it’s considerably easier to pul a trolley than to lug around heavy bags of vegetables or whatever from the shops and markets. So maybe I’m not so old after all, just a bit more funky and on trend than I thought!
The weather has been a bit grim, plenty of rain which is great for the gardens but not so great for holidaymakers. It is April, so we always get some showers, which means our fruit trees get a well-needed soaking and start to really come alive. We might only now get a couple of days more with showers and then that’s probably all the rain until about November or December. Our vines are flourishing, and our orange and lemon trees are looking a lot happier. The whole countryside springs into life, with millions of little wildflowers appearing as if from nowhere. They cover the hills and the ground, and provide amazing colours like purple, yellow and white.
Last spring we had a pair of little sparrows who built a nest under one of the roof tiles at the front of the verandah, raised their wee family and then disappeared. This spring we noticed a nest on the ground, but there are two wee sparrows being very busy backwards and forwards just under the front of the verandah roof tiles.
We don’t know if it’s the same two sparrows as last year – do they live that long? Did they want to build a new nest so chucked out the old one? Who knows? We just enjoy watching them flutter in and out!
Some of you might remember that last year my little granddaughter Lucy had her hair cut to donate to a charity that makes wigs and hairpieces for children who have lost hair as a result of cancer treatments. Not only did she donate her hair, but she raised over £1000 in sponsorship, and she’s sort of done it again! This time she has made lots of little woven bracelets and has sold them to friends and family as well as neighbours and everyone else she could think of.
She raised £150 to give to the Children’s Cancer Unit, in support of her friend Isla. We are so, so proud of her, always thinking of other people and wanting to find ways to help. What a wee star!
I spotted something interesting as we cme up the road home recently – a strange looking way the leaves and little branches had grown on one of the pine trees, like a big, round ball. Very funky looking!
I have found out that this anomaly (that word always reminds me of the Star Trek series!) is called a witch’s broom, witch ball. It looks a bit like a big bird’s nest, but is just the way it grows. In folklore it is also supposed to signify a witch living nearby, I’ll just leave that there for a minute….!
This made me laugh – I’ve just found the perfect T-shirt for Peter…
Finally, I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, and with the weather being colder and wetter it’s been lovely to be able to snuggle down on the big sofa, in front of the fire with a book, while himself is watching some football match or another. Coming into summer it’s a joy to be able to relax outside in the warmth of the sun, reading and sipping very cold drinks. I usually have more than one book on the go at a time, I like to swop them around depending on my mood. I’ve just started reading Frank Delany’s “Ireland”, and am enjoying it immensely. I’m also reading “The Shape of a Life”, by Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis, about how geometry and mathematics shape our universe. I love numbers, so I suspect this is going to be a very revealing book! My favourite periods in history are medieval and pre-history, so for pure enjoyment I’m revisiting “The Clan of the Cave Bear”, by Jean M. Auel, the first in a great series. This house is rarely silent, so for music at the minute I’m listening to anything and everything Ana Vidovic has performed – if you like Spanish classical guitar you will love this!
Quick recipe for crispy chicken wings coming up, easy and delicious for nibbles with some Turkish flatbread:
Separate wings into mini “drummers” and “flats”. Pat dry. In a big zippy bag mix a good shake of salt, black pepper, onion salt, garlic salt, chicken seasoning, Aromat, BBQ mix, pimiento dulce and some baking powder. I still have a wee jar of Marks and Spencer seasoning for roast potatoes – if you can get some of that then do, as I like to add a shake of it to the mix. DON’T skip the baking powder (NOT baking soda!) as that’s what helps crisp up the wings. Shake them in the bag till they’re well coated and leave in the fridge for a few hours. Cook in the air fryer at 190C for about 20 minutes. Serve with warm flatbread. Yum!
That’s it for now, I’m off outside to relax in the sun while tonight’s chicken wings are doing their thing in the fridge, ready to roast later. See you next time!
My life in Spain 