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.
“Did we die well?” those soldiers say
Their bones still resting where they lay
“Will you recall the price to pay?”
They knew when they had gone away
That most would die in fields of clay.
And looking up, to skies of grey
And here below in screaming fray
Are boys and men, all forced to slay
To fight the fight that others say.
Let guns be silent now, we pray
Around the world on Poppy Day.
My life in Spain 