Tag: writing

Wait…is that summer I see?!

Susurro

At last the weather seems to be on the turn and we are seeing blue skies, sunshine, and temperatures in the mid to high twenties. It’s been a long time coming, and this winter has been so wet, cold and long-drawn out that even I am starting to believe all the conspiracy theories about how “someone” is deliberately manipulating the weather for their own ends. The Spanish say that summer doesn’t begin until the 40th May – yes, that’s not a typo! – though this year seems a bit earlier. The chart below shows our current temperatures, which is lovely and warm, but remember that in July and August they rise to at least 44C in the shade….

The great thing about warmer days and nights is that bed changing is so easy – no mre wrestling with a king-size duvet trying to get the blimming thing into the cover. Just use the cover and pack away the duvet – hooray!

The biggest thing that’s happened since the last blog is that I’m still caught up in a round of hospital visits and tests in order to find out what the problem is with my breathing. So far it seems that the right ventricle in my heart is not properly pumping deoxygenated blood to my lungs, so I get very breathless and can’t walk more than 30m or so without having to rest for a minute. It seems now that there’s also a problem with my lungs in that the alveoli aren’t functioning properly, meaning my oxygen intake in seriously reduced. Such fun…not.

Anyhow, the good news is that it should be treatable with medication, which will make a huge difference. The really good news is that the health care here in Murcia is second to none, and everything is done quickly, no waiting around for referrals to consultants, tests etc. I’ve had quite a number of tests so far, with another two to come, which will then give the medics a very good idea of exactly what is going on. I even had a cardiac scan carried out during the national doctors strike – there were only three of us in the waiting area for our appointments so it was relatively quick and easy.

My GP had arranged for an oxygen tank to be delivered to our house, so I can “plug myself in” and get a bit of a boost. It’s a heavy beast, and a bit noisy, but makes a real difference to my breathing when I need to take a break and have a rest. These things cost over €1000 so I’m very privileged to have been given the use of one at home, though I dare to suggest it’s never going to be a fashion accessory! It’s currently my new best friend. Well…not really, as Wendy has always been, and will always be my BF, but I’m growing quite attached to it, and here’s the proof!

My pneumology consultant, Javier, also arranged for delivery of a wee portable oxygen machine,a bit like a shoulder bag, which has arrived. It should now be a lot easier to scamper round the house and actually do some chores without having to leave everything to Peter.

Speaking of the husband, he’s being a total star with all this stuff, doing and getting everything for me and generally running around like a slave. He’s even managed to set up the new monitor for the computer – both of us are more than a bit technophobic and when I tried I just couldn’t make sense of the instructions and ended up gasping for breath while trying not to cry, looking at a load of leads, plugs and other assorted bits and pieces. He even dusted and hoovered everywhere around and under the desk! I’m delighted to report that the whole computer area in my study is now just fabulous, there’s only the rest of the room to clear now!

We’ve been doing a fair bit of maintenance at home – well, Peter has – so bits and pieces have been moved from one room to another as things have progressed. We’re finally, I think, getting there – these old houses take a fair bit of looking after! Oh I need to digress for a moment, as it’s just reminded me of a particularly nasty little woman who used to spend her time insulting me online – well, trying to insult me! She posted on one popular forum that she admired me in that she thought it was great when people bought and did up “old, cheap houses”. It’s just that every time I now hear the words “old” and “cheap” I immediately think of her….the not-so-fragrant one with the poisonous breath that would strip paint at 100m and who told everyone she “had the hots” for my husband as he was “drop dead gorgeous”. Well she’s right about the last bit! But I digress, (happily, because it always makes us laugh!), back to the blog now!

The next big (ish) exciting thing to look forward to is my birthday, and it really IS a big one…70! I can’t believe it, somewhere inside I still feel about 40-ish, in my prime, and now I’m a wreck who can’t catch a breath but am waiting to be fixed. Peter loves to plan big surprises – I don’t like surprises at all, not least because I like to have something to look forward to, and I always worry that I won’t actually like the surprise. Well we were planning on having a bit of a do at home, and inviting all our friends over for food and fun, especially as the weather will be lovely. However, we’re putting all that on hold until I get something sorted with the breathing problem as I really can’t face entertaining on any scale at all. So, maybe do it a bit further into the summer? Then we thought we could get a couple of quiet days away down south in Estepona, so I provisionally reserved a fab place from 2nd to 6th June. The great thing about that is that my best friend Wendy, and her husband Ivan, would be staying at their apartment in Fuenguirola so we’d be able to get together for my birthday! Then two things stopped that one – firstly, I’m really not feeling great with the breathing problems, and secondly I managed to book the place for 2nd to 6th June 2027. Yes, 2027. Sigh. Must have been the lack of oxygen to my brain when I was reserving this one! I gather Peter is planning something anyway, but nothing taxing, so hopefully a nice lunch somewhere new, and maybe a night away in a good hotel as I will have my portable oxygen to help.

Spanish wildlife again, and now that the big leggy spiders that I wrote about last time have all but disappeared, they’ve been replaced by little black millipedes.

These wee things are about an inch long and seem to like climbing up the outside walls of the house. They don’t bother me too much as they’re very slow moving. If they get into the house, as soon as you start to brush them into a dustpan to take back outside they curl up into a wee spiral,giving you a chance to get them outside again. The main thing is never to squash them because firstly it isn’t a nice thing to do to them and secondly if you do, by accident, the smell is appalling!

However, it will soon be scolopendra season again, so we are being very, very particular abut ensuring that all mosquito window blinds are securely fastened, and the front door is never left open!

I’ve written about these wee skitters before, they are utterly vicious, with a bite that can even land you in hospital in unimaginable pain, and….they are quite speedy. I have wee tongs in most rooms, ready to catch them if we see them, and dispose of them away from the house. That one in the photo looks enormous, they range from about 2cm to 18cm and I absolutely HATE THEM! Happily we don’t come across them very often at all, as we take good precautions against them getting into the house. Using appropriate insecticide sprays round window and doors also helps.

With the unusual amount of rain we’ve had this winter, and also the heat kicking in, the garden is starting to explode properly. Our almonds are growing very well, they look as if they’re going to be huge. My wee lemon tree has taken its time in growing, but that’s not unusual for the first couple of years after planting. It’s now having what looks like a typical adolescent growth spurt at last, and is beginnning to flower, so the fruit won’t be far behind it.

I have bought some strawberry seeds to see if I can get a result from planting them – it might have been a better idea to buy the wee plants themsleves but hey, I’m ever the optimist! Failing that, I’ll just be continuing to buy the strawberries in the supermarkets!

Now here’s a thing – that photo is of a wee pomegranate bush round the back of the house and up a small hill so it’s actually level with the north facing window in our bedroom. It’s a bit difficult to explain but there’s a bit of a hill immediately behind the house before the main big mountain, which means part of the building is at a higher ground level. Anyhow, this wee pomegranate bush has been utterly neglected as we keep forgetting about it. Peter ran the outflow tube from the aircon unit in our bedroom to the base of the thing, so it can soak up all the condensation from the aircon. It seems to be doing the trick as, for once, we have little red flowers appearing! That’s the first sign that fruit might be on the way, so we shall see what happens.

It’s all very well having olive trees but really it’s far easier to go to the supermarket and buy the oil or, in our case, and because we have fabulous neighbours, we are always presented with at least 5 litres of first press, extra-virgin oil, all the time.

The almonds are different,we can pick them. roast them, do whaever we like with them before eating them. It’s a bit of a pain to shell the things by hand, but the actual shells make very good kindling when saved for the winter. They are getting very big this year with the rain and the heat, almost the size of golf balls!

My PC doesn’t have built in speakers etc as I couldn’t afford anything too snazzy years ago when I replaced the even older one with this current one. I’ve had to order new mini speakers and a microphone from amazon.es and hope that when they arrive we’ll be able to figure out how to attach them to the computer! I’ve just bought a new monitor and oh my word I was ready to throw the blinking thing out the window – and me behind it – as I found it impossible to work out where all the leads went to from the hard drive, the printer and the monitor itself. Usually this isn’t much of a problem for me, I hooked up the previous new monitor with no bother at all, but have to admit this one had beaten me! Then the husband said he’d have a go, which sort of made us both laugh, as he is even more technophobic than I am. However, what he has in shed loads that I DON’T have, especially at the minute with the lower oxygen levels I’m getting, is patience. He’s a very patient man, and he took his time and worked it all out, so I’m typing away here merrily on the computer, able to see everything on the monitor. Now that the new microphone and speakers have arrived it’s easier to have video calls with family and friends, as well as play music while I’m using the computer.

So, well done and a big hand for the best husband!

Because I’m more or less confined to quarters most of the time due to the breathing restrictions (I know, boring,isn’t it?!) I’ve decided to try to improve my baking skills. That’s not really too difficult, as there are only a handful of things I can bake really well – chocolate chip cookies, shortbread, and wheaten bread. I have been determined to master the art of scones, as they’re not exactly available here. You can’t beat a big fluffy scone with some Norn Iron butter and/or raspberry jam or home-made lemon curd!

Well just take a look at these babies – they came out really well! I shrunk the recipe as I didn’t want to be left with a big load of things as hard as bricks, so we got 6 out of it and, err, by the time I went to take the photo we’d already demolished 2 of them…

Very, VERY easy recipe…for the full load you only need 450g SR flour, 240mls of white lemonade, and 240mls of cream.

I’ve said “white lemonade” as everyone in Norn Iron will understand what I mean, but if you live elsewhere then let me explain – white lemonade is the clear one, not the yellow or cloudy stuff – called gaseosa here in Spain

Mix the whole lot in a big bowl, use a little extra flour if you need to bring it together as it’s very sticky. Plop it onto a well-floured board and knead very gently to smooth it. Roll or press it out to a depth of about 3cm, then cut out whatever size of scones you want. Put into a baking tin, with them just touching each other, and bake at 200C for 15 to 20 minutes. Mine in the photo took 18 minutes so keep an eye on them! Just delicious, and totally idiot proof. If this idiot can make them then anyone can!

Oh, back to the health stuff again…since I started writing this I’ve had 2 more tests carried out. One was to extract arterial blood – never had that before and I think I’m never having it again without a general anaesthetic! The phlebotomist lassie said “This will be very painful”…well good grief that’s not what you want to hear before being poked with a needle! She was right, it was absolutely awful and had me shrieking and crying like a baby. Peter had to leave the room…I nearly did as well. Anyway, after much poking and prodding she got enough for the analysis. Horrible experience, truly horrible.

Next delight has been the gamma scan where I was supposed to be injected with radioactive material to show up any anomalies on a specific scan. Well as I’ve already mentioned, above, my body prefers to hang onto its blood supply and is reluctant to surrender even a drop, making the extraction process quite difficult. It proved impossible to inject the fluid into a vein so I had to inhale it in gas form instead. Photo shows the aftermath of just one needle puncture attempting to slide into a vein…After that little episode I was put into a metal tube not unlike an MRI scanner but less comfortable, and watched as a thing went whirling round over my head, it was a bit like being in a Large Hadron Collider…beam me up Scotty.

I wondered if I was going to look like a Ready Brek kid and glow in the dark, but disappointingly it didn’t happen!

So, just one blood extraction at our health centre then one more main test in hospital, and that’s walking while using oxygen. After that all tests should be complete and I’ll know the outcome at the appointment with Javier, the pneumology consultant, on 18th June. I’m hoping the cardiologist’s prediction is true as she felt it was likely the condition could be alleviated and manged via medication. Fingers crossed!

Right, enough of the health stuff, it’s all a bit “poor me” at the minute, but suffice to say that I’m very glad and relieved to live in Murcia where they don’t hang around when giving out appointments and wanting to help you.

I’m currently reading a number of books at once on the kindle, mainly because I’m not able to be as active as I want to, so it’s time to relax and read. Re-reading a brilliant Stephen King novel called “Desperation”. His books are always so insidiously terrifying because they just might be possible….

Also enjoying a lot of great music. As usual I frequently play Anthony Toner, Brigid O’Neill, Staggered Junction, Ronnie Greer and Eilidh Patterson. Loving it all.

Back to the other main event at the minute, the big birthday! Still have no idea what we’re going to be doing other than putting off a party until later in the summer when hopefully I’ll be more able.

However, for those of you old enough to remember Frankie Laine singing the theme song to “Rawhide”, this just popped into my mind when I was trying to complete a form, part of which was asking for birthdate details….I bet you sing this one….

Keep scrollin’, scrollin’, scrollin’

Though your finger’s swollen

Keep those year dates rollin’

On down

Through rain and wind and weather

Your finger feels like leather

Wishing it wasn’t so far down

All those years behind us, good times such a big plus

What’s that on your face is it a frown?!

Not so fast! Missed the year?

Try again, never fear

Further down!  Further down it’s there,

Find it quick, that’s the trick

Further down, further down, further down, further down don’t care!

And on that note I think I should end this here! If you get any amusement or useful information from these wandering blogs please consider subscribing? It doesn’t cost you anything and it makes me feel great! (Well a lot better than having arterial blood extracted!)

Home and away, and home again…

Susurro

Since the last blog, which seems to have been ages ago, I’ve been to Northern Ireland to stay with my daughter and grandchildren…and I owe many of you a big apology! It was a flying visit of only a few days, and I really saw only a couple of people while I was there. Apart from the time constrictions, and wanting to spend as much time with Laurie and the children as possible, I have been restricted in my breathing which makes any exertion very, very difficult as I just can’t get a breath, really more than a bit frightening. It’s why I ended up in hospital some weeks ago, as my blood sats were dangerously low, requiring immediate medical attention. I made a good decision to request special assistance at the airport on the way home, absolutley brilliant, I got wheeled the whole way and didn’t have to life a finger. I should have done it when going outbound from Alicante, it’s a long walk to the gate and I struggled very, very much. However, all is being dealt with health-wise now I’m home. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the health service here is very, very good and I’m grateful for it! I have had appointments arranged within 6 weeks of my doctor referring me, I think this might be considerably better than in Norn Iron!

Now in the line-up is a cardiac scan next week, then an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon about my knee, then three more pneumology appointments, all within a couple of weeks…then I’ve decided after all that lot I’ll be back to normal again! Oh, update coming up later…

Nearly everyone we know has been afflicted in some way this winter, roll on the better weather, at last it’s starting to warm up.

I just loved spending time with Laurie and the children, they are the light in my life and now I can’t wait to see them again!

It was one of my great joys when in Norn Iron to catch up with my two best friends, Wendy and Sandra. Between us we have 210 years!!!! We’ve also known each other for around 60 to70 years, real friendships are meant to be cherished and nurtured, and are so special. We had lunch at Harry’s Shack, and weren’t exactly the quietest of customers, though we were tolerated very well! Sandra lives in England, Wendy is in Portstewart, and I’m in Spain, and it isn’t very often we all manage to be in the same country at the same time, so this lunch was very, very special. I just love those women so much!

To add to this, I recently found, in my Facebook memories bit, a photo of the three of us just before I moved to Spain…18 years between the two photos and if I may say so, we’re all wearing very well!

Here I must give the BIGGEST thank you to Barry and Siobhan who went out of their way to collect me at the airport and take me to get the hire car at Edwin May in Coleraine. We then all headed to The Quays in Portrush for a lovely lunch, and made firm plans for Barry and Siobhan to come to Spain to stay with us! My Peter had sent them over a present of cheeses and meats, as well as some alcohol, which seemed to be well received! I hope they’re still keeping an eye on flights to Alicante as we are really looking forward to having them here…take note, Barry and Siobhan, keep watching the skies!

With the weather picking up everything in the garden and beyond seems to have just taken off. Our lavender has put in an appearance, and my little lilac tree at the side of the house is looking – and smelling – wonderful.

Also showing off are the fig tree and the vines, we have weenie grapes now on the vines so they’ll be ready to eat in a few months, assuming the birds don’t get to them first.

This is one of our weenie lemon trees, which is starting to come on quite well, and you can see our big fig tree just over the wall in the lower part of the garden.

Those tiny grapes are a joy to behold! I have to say, though, that the wildflowers seem to beat the pants off everything – the hills around us are currently filled with millions of magenta-coloured little blooms, a fantastic sight!

We haven’t been anywhere very exciting, mainly as my breathing is so poor and I have zero energy. However, we did go into the city recently, to see a production of the Ballet of Lights, which we’d booked months ago, I was really looking forward to it. Getting there was a struggle, into the city on the tram, so no parking problems. The venue was right by the cathedral, and usually it would be a 10 minute walk to get there, but this time we took a taxi as I just couldn’t walk that far and breathe at the sane time!

The performance was fantastic, just a cast of 6 showing a short version of Sleeping Beauty. All the costumes were lit by tiny little lights. It was something really different and definitely had the wow factor!

We sat at a little bar after the performance, right by the back entrance to the cathedral, in a lovely little square, just to have cold drinks and tapas before heading home, and we were lucky enough to see a wedding taking place.

I couldn’t get near enough through the crowds to take photos once the happy couple appeared, but I got a good shot of the flowers decorating the cathedral door, and the chaps prepping the red carpet for the bride and groom.

I do love doors, of all shapes and sizes. Now I’ll grant you that our front door doesn’t exactly compare to Murcia cathedral but…the husband has been painting it, changing it from plain white to a soft blue, and it looks fabulous so far! One more coat, then paint the metalwork white, and it will look even better…coming up next time.

One thing I’m NOT wildly happy about at the minute is the local wildlife – when it comes into the house! We seem to be finding weird spiders every day, I believe it’s because the weather has been fairly awful, but I’m hoping that now it’s getting warmer the spiders won’t feel the need to come inside! They’re not venomous, so we’re in no danger, but I just hate them with a passion, and wish they’d stay outside.

They’re the odd little things with teeny weenie bodies like full stops, and big long legs. If they’re lucky Peter spots them before I do, and he catches them in a glass and puts them outside. If they’re really unlucky I get there first, catch them in some tissue and chuck them in the bin. I was reading in bed the other night and felt a tickle on my arm…one of them had decided to land on me! Good grief I almost had a heart attack!

Now for some truly shocking news…hold onto your hats…

I know Easter has come and gone,as usual I had bought us each a wee Easter bunny, like the Lindt ones, except from Aldi, as I think their chocolate is much nicer. Peter’s disappeared fairly quickly, while mine hung around in the fridge a while longer as I haven’t had much of an appetite, even for chocolate. A few days later I thought I might have a wee nibble, opened the fridge door, looked towards the back where I’d put the bunny and….SOMEBODY HAD BITTEN ITS HEAD OFF!

Given that there are only two of us living in this house (apart from the spiders!) and I hadn’t been anywhere near it, there’s no prizes for guessing who the criminal has turrned out to be. Indeed, it was Mr “I’m-not-that-keen-on-chocolate-I prefer beetroot” himself! Crime of the century, I’d say, even if it was a calorie-saving move!

So, here’s a wee quickie about how I have noticed life in Spain changing in one area in the 18 years I have been here. One of the biggest changes has come with the arrival, en masse, of the fast food chains. I don’t suppose a KFC or Burger King or wherever will do you much harm if you’re only indulging once every few months. but it seems to me that with the advent of fast food the shape of young people is changing rapidly – they are getting much, much fatter than before. I have no photos to illustrate this as it would not be appropriate to snap someone without their knowledge and put their photo up for the public to see, and nor should we be in the game of body-shaming anyone, especially women. I think we should definitely be in the game of shaming the fast food outlets, they’re just too convenient, and far too tasty!

Still on the subject of food, and you know that we usually eat very little in the way of processed food, as well as preferring everything made from scratch when we’re out…we found a new pizza restaurant recently, and what a joy it is! There are a few pizza places local to us, but almost without exception they use pre-made, miserable wee skinny. limp things with next to no taste.

Forrmento, on the other hand, is an authentic Italian restaurant where all food is freshly prepared to order – what a difference!

Bianca is one of the staff and she couldn’t be more helpful – I can’t eat cooked cheese and often, when I ask for a pizza with no cheese some restaurant staff look at me as if I have just arrived from the planet Eejit. Worse, they can’t provide what I want as the pizzas are ready-made with cheese and tomato already on them. In Formento it’s no problem at all, they make the pizza how you like it. So, no cheese, but plenty of ham and chicken is my choice and my word I think they’re the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten.

Take a look at that feast, wee salad to start and a whopper pizza to follow! Nobody’s leaving here hungry, fabulous food! We got there really early, it was just as well as it filled up very quickly with not an available table left either inside or out. If you want to check out the restaurant, here’s their website: https://formentopizzorante.com/

Drivers in Spain are bad enough, but parking is something that often either makes us laugh like drains – when it’s other people’s parking – or drives us to despair, when someone parks too close or awkwardly to us.

Spotted this one in the city the other day, the car had parked right up against a bin, so couldn’t move forward, then I think rather unexpectedly, someone squeezed right tightly in behind, so they couldn’t move back either.

This is on the same street as the hospital, and we quite often sit in a rather nice little cafe across the road and watch how the locals park….touching another car on the way out of a space is known as a “Spanish kiss”. I think it might pay to drive a bit of a wreck with bull bars and just shove some of them out of the way. No such thing as parking, really, more like abandonment issues, they really don’t seem to care too much!

We were in Ikea the other day, and when we got back to the car we found this eejit who has obviously got severe difficulty with spatial awareness…

Mine is the car on the right, it doesn’t look too bad until you realise that the car to MY right had also slid in very close to me, and there wasn’t much room behind to wiggle out of the space without the need for about a 100 point turn! I wouldn’t mind, but there were at least 500 empty parking spaces in there, so why the need to snuggle up to me is a complete mystery.

Okay, time for something more pleasant now. I’m no drinker, I have about a glass of wine every couple of months or so, but I’ve found something really deliciously refreshing with a low alcohol content I think is just right for hot summer days and nights…so I’m stocking up!

I got these in the famous Mercadona supermarket , lovely crisp white wine with a delicious melon flavour, and if memory serves me well they’re around the €2 mark, so very easy on the bank balance too.

Due to me not having been too well lately we really haven’t been out and about as I get exhausted at the drop of a hat. However, as well as going to see the Ballet of Lights, we had booked to go to a candlelight concert in the city, where there was a pianist playing a selection of Ed Sheeran and Coldplay music. Like the Ballet of Lights, the performances only last an hour, and are fantastic value. We had taken the tram into the city followed by a taxi to the door of the building for the ballet, but for the Candlelight Concert we discovered it was very easy to find by car, on our side of the city, and parking was available on the street outside so once again I didn’t have to walk.

It might be a bit difficult to see but the stage is on a raised platform, with seating all round, on all four sides, so everyone has a great view. The piano was in the middle of the stage, and the whole hall was lit by hundreds of little flickering candles – not real, due to the fire risk, but extremely effective!

Well there you are,in the last couple of weeks we’ve treated ourselves to a bit of culture int he city, between the ballet and classical music, and the best bit is that the tickets are all around €17 so I think we’ll be up for many more experiences!

Okay so back to the medical stuff and the health service here in Murcia. I have had the consultation with the orthopedic chief, and she is willing to do the knee joint transplant, but also willing to wait to see the outcome of the breathing stuff, as I’m more than a bit worried about coping with a general anaesthetic.

I’ve also now had the cardiac scan. All doctors were on strike across Spain from 27th to 30th April,but there was a very small number of staff still available, (skeleton staff?!) so my appointment didn’t need to be cancelled. Having said that, I was the only person waiting in the cardiology area…I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing but it drove up my anxiety levels somewhat! Anyhow, the scan was carried out very thoroughly, and it seems I have a problem with my right ventricle, in that it’s not properly pumping the deoxygenated blood through to the lungs to get the oxygen needed to function properly, and this is probably the cause of my breathlessness. It’s difficult to explain – it’s not like when you’ve been running and get a bit of a stitch and have to bend over to catch your breath. Think of it more like having a blown up balloon, putting your open mouth on it forming a seal, then hold your nose closed and try to work out how to pull in some air. It’s actually very frightening, and takes a while to recover. Now realise that this happens if I walk 30m without stopping, or climb the stairs at home…you get the picture.

The cardiac consultant said she’s happy to wait until the outcome of my appointment with the pneumology consultant on 14 May, and they will then work out a treatment plan. I’m happy with that as it would indicate there’s no immediate emergency, though she did recommend I get some oxygen at the health centre to use at home, which I wil do as soon as they open on Monday. She feels the problem is likely to respond well to medical treatment, which is very encouraging! Maybe the next time we get over to Norn Iron things will be a lot more normal and I’ll be able to walk everywhere like I used to. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and just to give you a laugh, this is the spiral staircase that goes down from our bedroom to the bodega below. Our room was used as a sitting room by the previous owners, but it’s big, and had a wee room off it that we were able to convert to a bathroom, so it made sense for us to have it as our bedroom.

The husband reckons if I get any worse we could take out the spiral staircase and replace it with a lift. I’m trying to work out if he’s joking or not but, on reflection, it could be very useful for taking things – as well as me – up and downstairs! Let’s just say I’m hoping that after all the medical intervention takes place there will be no need for a lift and I’ll be skipping about like a young thing again!

I think I’d better end this here or it will never be finished! If you like reading my wanderings, please feel free to subscribe, it will mean you’ll automatically get sent each new blog that comes out, and it will make me feel really good!

So, till the next time, keep safe and look after each other.

xxx

Premature expectation…

Susurro

Well I really did think spring had sprung at last, but I was sadly mistaken! The almond trees had all burst into bloom, promising better, milder, even warmer weather, and then…like a stock market crash our expectations turned out to suddenly sink like a stone! In spite of all the blossom around, the weather has been very much more Norn Iron, than Spain. I am reliably informed that when our weather here is grim it tends to be much better in the UK in general, and vice versa. Fortunately for us, in Spain, we get far, far better weather here for most of the year. However it was a bit chilly this morning when I headed out to the health centre…

No doubt we’ll all be complaining soon of being too hot with our summer temperatures hitting 44 C again in the shade. Bring it on, I say! Meanwhile we’ve had the most torrential rain over the last while, almost biblical in its intensity, preceeded by violent storms enough to bring down trees in the town.

Fortunately none of our trees at home were adversely affected, and even the delicate almond blossom survived the onslaught.

Now there are two good things about the rain. First, it’s great for the gardens, the plants, the fruit trees and everything else that grows – the earth seems to waken up and throw colour, fruit and veggies in every direction. Secondly, when it hammers it down in Spain you soon find out where, if anywhere, your roof has a broken tile letting the water in!

Peter has spent a day or two up on the roofs checking the tiles and making sure everything was whole and waterproof. Then we discovered that there was water seeping in to one of the downstairs bedrooms via a little crack in the cement at ground level. So, little bit of mopping up a small puddle, send the husband outside to mix up some concrete, and the job’s a good ‘un again. The perils of living in a big old house, sigh.

At this time of year we often see patches of little purple flowers – I suppose they’re really weeds, though they are gorgeous, bright purple in colour, and they really brighten up the area. This year, probably because of the amount of rain we’ve had, those wee flowers seem to have invaded the whole area, they are fantastic to look at. Drive round any corner and there they are, stretching for a long way, just gorgeous. I don’t think my photos do them any justice, they were just taken while I was hanging out the car window!

They look absolutely beautiful, and they are so widespread they just take your breath away.

I do like a bit of colour round the place, which is why we have bougainvillea and jasmine growing in pots up the columns on the verandah at the front of the house. My wee hibiscus also puts on a great show, but I’ve just cut it back hard now, as usual – it just looks like a scrawny stick! I’m not panicking, though I say that every year, and it’s beginning to show tiny little new buds coming on, so it shouldn’t be long before it comes back to full bloom again.

I know I’ve said it before, and I’m happy to say it again and again.and again, but one of the most important things about relocating to a foreign country is learning to integrate with your local community. I’m aware that there are some people living in Spain who have never learned more than a couple of words in Spanish, and they don’t think they should have to learn any more! When I was househunting here all those years ago, one house I viewed was owned by a couple in their 80s who had retired to Spain more than 20 years before. They proudly told me they knew 5 phrases in Spanish – hola, adios, gracias, dos cervezas, and dos cafés con leche. They were very proud of this, and said they’d lived in Benidorm for a number of years before moving south, and in Benidorm everyone spoke English. Well I don’t know about you, but even when we used to go on holiday we tried to learn a few phrases of whatever the local language was, it’s good manners if nothing else!

I’ve been here 18 years this month, Peter’s been here a few years longer than that, and I think our Spanish is fairly competent. Not perfect, but enough to hold conversations, deal with banks, bills, medical stuff and so on. We speak Spanish every day, we have no English-speaking neighbours, so it’s good practice! I might be slow, I might need things repeated often, but nobody seems to mind, and I’m learning all the time.

A couple of weekends ago we spent a lovely afternoon up at our local bar, where there were plenty of neighbours around so we had lots of extra practice at conversation!

Two of our immediate neighbours, Maria José and Epi were there, and it was lovely to be able to sit in a bit of fleeting warm sunshine and chat to them, practising our Spanish and learning a lot more. We also met a new friend, Melchor, whose wife teaches English, so we were keen to swap languages!

Maria José and Epi insisted on coming up to our house, to help us prune our olive trees – they’d seen Peter having a go and reckoned he needed some help! The first day they came they had actually started the work before we even got out of bed, and they did a fantastic job for us! In addition, and as a gift, they brought us a big 5 litre container of extra virgin olive oil from their own trees.

Well what can I say?! We are so, so grateful to have such lovely neighbours, we’re very, very lucky! From Carmelo who helped us sort out our water supply the night we moved in, to Manolo who kept bringing all our logs up our very steep driveway when Peter was so ill, to Maria José and Epi, who worked hard pruning our trees and gave us fabulous olive oil as well, we are truly blessed.

In return, I can keep them all supplied with home-made lemon curd and wheaten bread, and the latest addition, chocolate chip cookies!

Now, here’s a bit of good news. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with pain in my right knee, from arthritis. On a scale of one to ten it can easily hit a nine, fairly hard to bear, and paracetamol doesn’t really touch it. So, off to the doc,who made me an appointment for the following week for an MRI. Got the results a week after that, saw the doc again, and got an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon for next month, to discussknee replacement surgery. (I quite fancy having the knee replaced with a tiger that would roar and bite people I don’t like…) I just can’t complain about the speed with which appointments etc are carried out here, especially when I hear about the lengthy waiting lists for consultations, never mind surgery, in the UK. It seems the average waiting time here for knee replacement is 4 to 5 months, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed and shall let you know what happens. My friend Jules needs a hip replacement – we’re thinking of renaming our wee ladies lunch group the Cripples’ Institute Outings!

Incidentally there’s nothing shy about the Spanish approach to looking after your health – there’s a poster on the wall of our health centre which orders you to “Mueve el culo!”, which translates as “Move your arse!”. Hmm, keep moving, keep young!

As usual we’ve been out and about recently enjoying lunch in different restaurants, all within easy striking distance of home. We go quite often to the Restaurante Internacional in Archena, not far from Fortuna. I’m sure I’ve posted this information before recently but it’s such a beautiful restaurant, with amazing food, so here is is again! We do really love it here, the copper ceilings and little lights on branches make dining a very pleasurable experience indeed!

Someone recently sniped a wee bit about us eating out so often….well with so many fabulous restaurants near us, and with fantastic 4 course lunches including drinks at around €15, sure why wouldn’t you? The husband has now got his state pension so with a nod to all the jealous little people…we’ll be eating out even more often now!

I have to tell you about Valentine’s Day this yuear. Now I know I’m a month late but sure better late than never! A friend of ours has been a bit unwell, and was in hospital recently, and told us of a delightful episode, courtesy of the domestic staff there. They made sure that every patient got a specially made Valentine card, which was so lovely! My friend sent me this so I can show you what the card looked like…

Happy Valentine’s Day! May love remind you of the beauty of the world, the kindness of people, and the richness we carry in our hearts.The translation says “Happy Valentine’s Day! May love remind you of the beauty of the world, the kindness of people, and the richness we carry in our hearts.” Isn’t that a lovely gesture? Now I can show you the one I got from the husband, but you need to remember that the man makes me laugh every day, although sometimes it’s unintentional! He wanted to blow up a heart-shaped balloon for me and put it on the wee lamp on the kitchen table, where I’d be sure to see it. He didn’t allow for the fact that it wasn’t in great shape, and had deflated by the time I saw it. So it ended up looking like an upside down heart or, more precisely, another part of the (male) anatomy!

We’ve had a bit of bother with the big lampost outside our house as the wiring was collapsing and looking decidedly dangerous. We tried contacting the company that the town hall told us had responsibility for all the street lighting, but in spite of continually phoning them and waiting in for a few days in a row nobody turned up – unfortunately normal in Spain! Eventually we contacted our electrician, Miguel who also works for the town hall and he advised them it was a danger, and came out himself to do the safety repair. It looked even more dangerous when he had to scale a couple of big poles to secure everything!

Thank goodness for Miguel, the job was done and everything made safe again!

Here’s what we’ve been buying recently – we shop locally and every now and again we come across something that makes us realise “we’re not in Kansas now, Toto”!

This week I spotted cans of fizzy lemon and watermelon…but the cans were clear! Now I’ve never seen these before, maybe you have, but for us they are a real novelty. And the fizzy drinks were also very refreshing!

I’m not sure if you can easily see that they’re translucent cans but I think they are maybe made from some sort of plastic? Look at the bottom and you might see they are clear. Every time we find something new it’s like that feeling you get when you go on holiday and find unfamiliar groceries etc, a bit of a novelty.

As for crisps, my goodness the Spanish do love their snacks! We found own brand crisps in Family Cash, a big supermarket near us, that taste even better than Pringles for half the money. Got to make the pension stretch!

However, the funniest crisps we’ve seen to date are the following…..

And while we’re on the subject of being rather childish about the “foreign” names of some foodstuffs, how about this to make you giggle like a 10 year old?!

Oh dear! As a balance to all that, we buy fresh produce when in season, and very good it is too, usually from our local market on Saturdays in Fortuna. As a wee reference, how about this for a strawberry?! Not at all unusual, either!

I’m off to Norn Iron tomorrow, just for a few days, leaving Señor Kopczynski to get on with some jobs around the house with no distractions! I had messaged my friend Barry Thompson to ask about taxi firms in the Ballymoney area, to get from the airport. His brother, Peter, had recommended a company previously and they turned out to be great, but I couldn’t remember their name! Well here’s a thing, Barry simply wouldn’t hear of me getting a taxi, or struggling with luggage on a bus to Antrim, train to Ballymoney etc – no, he insisted that he and Siobhan would come and collect me! My goodness, you can never believe how kind people can be, and how grateful we are for that fabulous gesture! Señor Kopczynski is so grateful to them for looking after me that he has packed a wee surprise for Barry and Siobhan…just a little “thank you”, which isn’t nearly enough but is a start!

I want to give a mention here to a great Facebook page and website called BeSpain Savvy. Their website is filled with fantastic information about what it’s really like to live in Spain, the pros, the cons, and all the information you might need to help you settle into a new country with all that it entails.

Have a look at their Facebook page, it’s filled with little hints and tips to make life easier in Spain. They also have a great website, and there’s much more detailed information available for subscribers. Always a most informative and enjoyable read!

Right, I really need to get a move on now and make sure everything is packed and ready for tomorrow, we need to leave the house before 6am for me to catch an early flight!

But before I finish, and thinking about me imitating Hopalong Cassidy with my wretched knee, it reminded me of the time I broke my ankle some years ago, and subsequently wrote the following….hope it raises a smile!

I’m not ancient, I’m not decrepit, I wasn’t drinking, and I do generally look where I’m going but occasionally an uneven surface will catch out most of us! When I broke my ankle my lovely neighbour Sue lent me her husband’s zimmer frame (fortunately he didn’t need it at that time) so I could get around the house easier with plaster of paris up to my knee. Getting round the house was easy. Showering? That was a different matter altogether!

So, in case you might need it in the future, here is my advice on how to have a shower with a broken ankle:
1. Get into shower cubicle.
2. Drag zimmer into shower after you.
3. Realise you’ve been so busy positioning the zimmer that you forgot to take your clothes off.
4. Take off clothes and start again.
5. Hook left leg (with broken ankle) over the top of the zimmer.
6. Realise you look like an advert for Readers’ Wives or Gynaecology magazine, start to cry.
7. Turn on shower, alternatively scalding and freezing your skin.
8. Bend over, balancing carefully, to reach shower gel, realising you look like an advert for an  even more specialist magazine. Cry some more.
9. Load sponge with shower gel, slather on body…where you can reach with one leg up and the good leg bent at the knee.
10. Realise that rinsing is going to be no fun at all….keeping left leg hooked over the zimmer in a vain attempt to keep the plaster dry, start to rinse off shower gel.
11. Notice that bandage round plaster of paris is drenched so aim to exit shower as quickly as possible.
12. Fling the zimmer out and hop after it.
13. Give up idea of washing hair in shower and head for the bath to lean over it instead.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED…….if I lived on my own I’d just stay dirty until the bleeping plaster came off.

Too much weather…

Susurro

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’s Ffffreeezing!

Susurro

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!

Friends home and away…

Susurro

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.

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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!)

  1. 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!)
  2. 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…
  3. 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….
  4. 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!
  5. 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.
  6. Even worse is cleaning the dishwasher filter. Vile. Just vile.
  7. 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!
  8. When it’s too hot for too long. Weeks of 40+ C in the shade is really not pleasant.
  9. 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:

  1. Eating the langoustines!
  2. The warm weather which lasts for months.
  3. Our lovely big house with its thick walls meaning it’s cool in summer and warm in winter.
  4. Our two big log burners keeping us warm in winter.
  5. The new aircon unit in the sitting room – cool or warm air, whatever we need, whenever we need it.
  6. The aircon unit above our bed, especially in the heat of summer, absolute bliss!
  7. Fresh food everywhere.
  8. Fantastic value when eating out. (More of that in a minute!)
  9. The really wonderful friends we have made here.
  10. Our neighbours, so friendly and helpful.
  11. Our mechanic, Javi, who always gets our cars through the MOT!
  12. Our genius phone expert, Emanuel, who always sorts out my mobile phone when I’ve mucked it up by doing something stupid!
  13. Cost of hotel stays in Spain, more of that later too!
  14. The fact that we have Irish passports – makes life so much easier.
  15. My fabulous husband.
  16. 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/

The hotel in Granada is at https://www.hotelsacromonte.es/galeria.html

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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Take care of each other till next time!