365 Days and we’re still talking

We’ve made it, one whole year of spending 24 hours a day, 7 days a week together, living in a small space.  No work, no fixed plans, just enjoying ourselves doing whatever we want to do, going wherever we want each day and for the things we don’t want to do - well there’s always manjana. There’s been a few small (occasionally  huge) arguments but mainly over travelling.
In the year we have only spent 5 nights not sleeping in the van, when we returned to England for Emma’s funeral and when we stayed with Iain’s dad (the road outside his house is too busy to risk wild camping) and  Iain another 10 nights when he went home to see Emma.  So that’s not bad.  When we started living in our van, most of our friends and family thought we were mad.  The questions went something like:-

Q: Would you like to come and stay over, we have a spare bed for you?
A: No thanks we have a very comfortable bed to sleep in.
Q: Would you like to come around and use our shower?
A: We have a perfectly good shower in the van.
Q: When you come back to England, will you rent a house?
A: We have a luxury motorhome to live in, we don’t need to rent a house.
Q: Won’t you get bored?
A: I very much doubt it.
Q: Would you like to come around for a meal?
A: We’re not living on road kill you know.
Q: Would you like to do some washing?
A: Now you’re talking.

And I would usually end it the conversation with “Don’t feel sorry for us, we have chosen this lifestyle, you’re the ones still working.”
So I thought I would think about the things I do and don’t like about our life-style.

Things I love

1.  We don’t have to work to pay for STUFF, our average cost per night is only £2 more than our council tax was and we spend most nights on campsites.
2.  We have the freedom and time to go anywhere we want.
3.  We have everything we NEED and a lot more.
4.  We are almost always in the warm weather all year round.
5.  We have met so many wonderful people from all walks of life, doing the same thing as we are, so we always have something in common to start with.
6.  We have seen many places that we would not otherwise if we just did normal “holidays”, Toledo, Avignon, Valadollid, Carcasonne, Albir, to name but a few, even in England, we visited Hadrian’s Wall, Scarborough, Lyme Regis, Seaford, Cheltenham  etc etc.
7.  Housework takes no more than an hour.

Things I don’t like.

1.  Sometimes it’s a pain having to go to the showers and toilet block if it’s a bit chilly.
2.  I can’t get my crafting stuff “toys” out and leave them out for when I next want to use them.
3.  I’m not a naturally tidy person and have to work very hard at it, everything has to be put away as it isn’t long before you have to clear a space just to sit down if you aren’t organised.
4.  Sometimes I miss our friends and family.
5.  I like to know where I need to go to buy things.
6.  I’d like transport sometimes so that I can “pop” off to somewhere. 
7.  You can’t always do your clothes washing just when you want to.

So to summarise, the things I don’t like are mainly “niggles” the things I love are fantastic. Weighing it up – I don’t regret a minute and I love the fact that we’re not working any more.

The weather here is still fantastic and in the words of Freddie - we’re having a good time!

It’s official – 19th November and 24C

A couple of days ago we decided to have lunch somewhere different and actually used one of the bars on the seafront (they are always more expensive).  However the view does make it worth it occasionally.

And just a reminder of the view from Albir across to Calpe

We’re still in shorts, sandals and t-shirts during the day, but the evenings are getting cooler and during the night the temperature is even sometimes dropping below 10C. We’re still managing to sit out some evenings until quite late, but you do need long trousers and jumpers now.  My Ugg boots have now made an appearance.

We’ve now been on this site for 7 weeks and I can’t believe how the time is flying.  Of course we’ve been here before so things are bound to be different but as we’ve been here longer than anywhere else in the last year, it’s getting to feel rather like home.
On another couple of trips out with Jo and James we went to a Spanish Fiesta somewhere up in the mountains by Alicante – I think it was Cocentaina.   The whole thing was a bit much for me, too many people, too many legs for the dog.  We didn’t really have any choice but to take her with us.  We would be out too long to leave her in the van and it was too hot to leave her in the car, so I’m afraid she just had to put up with it.  I did have to pick her up a few times when it got really crowded in the narrow streets. There were different sections to the fiesta; a medieval section, a Moroccan section, a food section, a children’s section.  There was so much to see, with street performers and market type stalls selling anything from magic stones to combine harvesters.  The problem was that there were so many people that no one could get near to the stalls to actually browse.  It was a great experience but I wouldn’t go there again.

Simple bunting made from strips of material just tied together, but very effective.

See the authentic “Medieval” Doner Kebab!!!

The Spanish love their fiestas and all the shops and businesses shut for the holidays.  Here in Alfaz del Pi they had a 5 day fiesta this month and we read about it in the local paper which told us that on one afternoon they throw fireworks into the crowd and said “Not for the faint hearted, wear old clothes and cover your head” – so we gave it a miss.  We could hear the fireworks from here so it must have been deafening in Alfaz about 3 miles away. 
Also this month they had the Benidorm Fiesta, we just didn’t get our a**es in gear to get there, but we saw lots of people in Albir dressed really weirdly as they met up to go to Benidorm for the fancy dress parade which is apparently the largest in Europe (but then they would say that!!!). Everyone seemed to have a fantastic time, well those that could remember anyway.
Another day we went up towards Javea again, but this time we went up to the peak at Cap de la Nau.  The view from up here was spectacular.  On a good day you can see across to Ibiza but as it was still warm and hazy we didn’t get the full experience of the view.

It’s not that far away, the hazy rock on the left is the Peñón de Ifach at Calpe

With all those mountains, you have to get around them somehow, or through.  This is the main coastal road between Altea and Calpe

On the way back we visited a very pretty village with a gorgeous cove called Plaja de la Granadella.  There was one very narrow and windy road in and it was the same road out.  We wouldn’t like to have taken our motorhome there and were amazed that there were a couple parked up near the beach.  These French will go anywhere in theirs.

Those rocks may have been there for thousands of years but I still wouldn’t live in that house on the top!

It’s not all new and exciting, we’re still eating out a lot because it’s so cheap, but we’ve changed things a bit, we’re drinking a bit more expensive wine these days, around 2E a bottle instead of 1.  I’m determined not to drink too much so I have a self-imposed curfew of generally no alcohol until 6pm at the earliest.  When I say generally, that’s not a hard and fast rule, if I fancy a beer with lunch then I’ll have one, occasionally, I just don’t want to get into drinking from lunchtime until fall-down time, it’s just so easy here if you are not careful.  The only real exception I make to this is on a Sunday, when we go to one of the local bars for a Sunday roast and have one or two, or even a few more drinks.  As I’ve said before, eating out is so cheap that it’s just not worth cooking with two courses at around 7 Euros (£5.60) including a drink.  The only problem with that is that if we are with friends then the walk home and the subsequent evening can become something like a scene out of “The Last of the Summer Wine”.
Jo has become a real bad influence on me!!!!!! I think not. But last Sunday we actually ate separately and then met up back at the campsite for a Soberano (Brandy).  Jo hurt her ankle some weeks ago (funnily enough on a Sunday afternoon) and James has now got her a “Madge” (mobility scooter named after the character in Benidorm who won’t get out of hers) to help her to get around. 

Well I decided that I’d put it away in their awning for them but then decided that I’d take it for a “Stability Test” first to make sure that it was safe for her to drive.  The men had both gone “for a snooze” by now so it was just the two of us and any unfortunate on-lookers who saw this despicable display of “Bad Brit” behaviour.  Luckily it is very quiet down our end of the campsite and so I had plenty of room as I don’t suppose for one minute that I kept to the 5mph site speed limit.  Well all I can say is that these things are so much fun.  Not much wonder that in Benidorm you have to prove that you are disabled or over 50 to be able to hire one.  Well I’m over 50 so that’s no real recommendation is it? I zoomed off at full throttle, leaving Jo giggling at the pitch.  After a few trial runs I found that you can turn full lock on full throttle and the thing still sticks to the ground.  After about 10 minutes fun I thought I would put it away for her as I had promised.  So at full speed ahead, I headed for their awning.  I managed to get through the door with no trouble and then cut the throttle.  What I had forgotten was that these things don’t have any brakes and they take a few feet to stop.  I suppose they can’t stop dead or you’d have all these old ladies catapulting out of them onto the pavement all the time.   So here I was already in the awning and still a few feet to go before coming to a stand-still.  Yes you can imagine, I had nowhere to go and it wasn’t going to stop until it wanted to.  I was screaming “It won’t stop” and then I managed to crash into the table and the step. Everything was starting to look horrible.  I then had to reverse back off the step to clear all the objects that I had sent scattering.  Of couse having been under the influence of copious amounts of Soberano (what an apt name for a brandy) I haven’t laughed so much in ages. I then scuttled off back to my own van in disgrace.  We also managed to get ourselves on the campsite facebook page (again) Cap Blanch facebook  but this time we were named!!!!  I’m still not sure whether the campsite owner is just putting up pictures of people enjoying themselves or if it is to gather evidence. It was a good job he wasn’t around when I was on the madge or I think we would have been evicted by now. At least being older, we don’t go on too late into the evening and have normally wrapped up our socialising by about 10pm – but maybe that’s because we start so early.

16th November, early evening, jumpers but still in shorts - Javier, James, Me, Jo and Iain

The Spanish gentleman on the left is one of the campsite workers.   He’s probably in his 50’s says he is a free-man, travelling with his push-bike and tent and going wherever there is a bit of work.  During the summer he also did some busking, but unusually with a dancing puppet and at the moment he spends 4 hours a day sweeping up leaves.  He laughs a lot and is always happy. You meet people from all walks of life when you live like this and everyone has a story to tell, perhaps one day I’ll find out what his is.
I’ve been keeping myself busy lately, I’ve nearly finished the three leather cushions for our settee, I say nearly finished, that’s because I’ve now got bored and moved onto Christmas decorations. I’ve decided that I’m going to make all my decorations this year and I want to go a bit OTT as last year we were on the road so I hardly had any at all.  I’ll put them up on 1st December and then post some pictures. I’ve joined the craft club which is another on-site activity so I’m going to see what new things I can learn. Most of the attendees are Dutch (only one other English woman), but I’ve already met a very nice Dutch lady called Didi who’s husband is Irish, so her English is very good. 
Pilates has gone by the wayside, I was really enjoying it but I exacerbated an old netballing injury during one session and had to stop.  So I’m going to wait until I am fully recovered before I return.  I can still ride my bike though, but I think it’s time I got a ladies bike instead of a men’s mountain bike as it’s getting a bit difficult to “get my leg over” so to speak.
James is so desperate to get a pet that he has now adopted a duck.  The duck just flew in about 5 days ago and comes back every day (so far).  James has found out that she (we can’t agree whether it’s a she or a he) loves tomatoes and yesterday she even came when Jo called her.  We keep joking about fattening her up for Christmas but now “she’s” got a name – Daphne, I don’t think that would happen.

One of the young Spanish campsite workers made a pile of leaves for the duck and she has become quite attached to her day bed.

Late afternoon – Jo firmly ensconced in her “Madge” – there’s really no need to salute me!

Connie has got over her op, the stitches have come out and her fur is growing back.  She’s an old lady now and we are surprised at how much she has acclimatised to the heat.  If the temperature goes below 15C she starts shivering. It’s really funny to hear her teeth chattering.  Now I’m not one of those who agrees with dressing up your dogs, but I’ve bought her a jumper – I just couldn’t resist. As soon as she gets up in the morning she runs outside to sit in the sunshine.  I bought her a really cool shower-proof coat in PINK as well.  That will no doubt deserve a picture soon.

I keep promising to give the van a good clean inside, but we’re saving that for a rainy day and we just don’t seem to be getting any.
I’m sure I’ve missed loads but I’ve got Xmas decorations to make so I’ll be back another time ……………………………………………………… One things for sure, we’re having a great time in the sun.

A bit of a rambling

Our internet where we are is not very good, so while I don't have the time to post photos, I thought I'd do a quick cut and paste text only post which is prompted by the Oscar Pistorius case and a “hard hitting” TV drama a month or so ago called “Killed by my Boyfriend”.

How did Riva Steenkamp come to be shot while in the bathroom?

My speculation, is probably biased by my own experience of hiding in a bathroom some 30 years ago.

I have never hidden my story of my abusive first marriage and was once telling a girl I “car shared” with and she told me that having insisted to her parents that she would be OK and could handle it, her own sister had been killed by her boyfriend.

I consider myself to have been very lucky.

I first met Tony when I was 22, he was 24 and I thought I was very lucky to find a boyfriend like him, it was love at first sight. He was a real charmer, good looking, always smartly dressed, always said the right thing, ambitious, self-employed, a perfect gentleman – in public. But privately he was jealous, insecure, was “all talk”, a bit of a “Walter Mitty” and had a warped and sometimes cruel sense of humour. He also had a violent temper, normally when he didn't get what he wanted and particularly when I said I wanted to end our relationship. So the easy thing to do became going along with it and trying not to antagonise him.

The first manifestation of his violence was pretty minor and happened about 4 months into our relationship. We were at a party while visiting my parents some 200 miles from home and I spent too much time talking to a very good male friend of mine. Actually it was Harry, whom I'm still in contact with now. We had been friends since I was 15, purely platonic and nothing more than friends so he was not an “Ex” where there may have been cause for insecurity on Tony's part. Well on the way back to my parents he expressed his displeasure at my behaviour and during an ensuing argument, he hit me, I don't remember where he hit me, but of course there would be no public bruises (I was to learn that later). I was shocked as no-one had ever done that before and I reacted by hitting him back. A quick upper cut under the chin and chipped one of his teeth. I think that shook him!!!! It was all over in a matter of seconds and I thought it was a one-off, I should have been wiser and broken it off there and then, but I would lose face, I'd just told my parents the day before that we were getting married.

The following however, didn't come about because of something bad I did, nor was it in temper.

About a year into our relationship and happened one night whilst we were in bed. There had been no arguments so I was relaxed and could not have foreseen what was to happen next. The bedside light was still on and Tony was on my right side when he put his left arm behind my neck and around my shoulders, holding onto my left shoulder. He then leaned on my right shoulder which effectively held me down on the bed. He then put his right arm across my front, I thought he was being romantic and was giving me a cuddle.

I was totally unprepared for what was coming next.

He put his right hand under the pillow and pulled out the carving knife. With both my shoulders being held down on the bed, he then lifted himself up until the carving knife was pointing straight into my face.

I was horrified and my immediate thought was “If he means this, I'm dead”.

I laid there for what seemed like a lifetime, thinking how the hell was I going to get out of this. The only thing I knew was that I had to keep calm. The silence was deafening and he said nothing at all. I don't think I spoke, I can't remember, I had so many thoughts going through my head. Finally he pulled the knife away from my face, released his grip on me and started laughing.

LAUGHING!!!!! Like it was all a big joke, and that's exactly what it was to him, one big sick joke.

Once I felt I was out of danger, I flew out of the bed and ran for the bathroom as that was the only room in the flat with a lock on the door. I sat in there shaking, wondering what to do next. I was absolutely terrified and really angry, but I knew I had to stay calm. After about half an hour, I was getting cold and I knew I couldn't stay in there forever, so I eventually unlocked the bathroom door and ventured out into the hallway. I opened the living room door (which led to the bedroom and the kitchen) and he had turned off all the lights, the place was in darkness. I had no way of knowing where he was, or what he was going to do next.

I then flew into the kitchen and turned on the lights. By then I was in a rage and had lost my cool, and he still thought this was funny, but then I did say he had a warped sense of humour.

I really don't know what happened next but I can tell you I didn't sleep soundly that night and stupidly I still married him.

WHY you may ask yourself? Simply because I couldn't find a way out of it without:-

1. Losing face
2. Running away and leaving my home, friends and job
3. Being beaten up

This lead to the only time in my life that I have been truly depressed and I know now that this was simply because I couldn't see a way out of my problems, we had already booked the wedding, everything was arranged and the easiest thing to do was to go along with life, don't rock the boat and he only hurt me when I said I wanted to end the relationship, so it would be ok.

About a year later we were married, although to this day I think that if on my wedding day I could have been magic'd away, never to go back I would have gladly taken that option.

As for his violence, well as I said it was normally only provoked by me trying to end the relationship. I felt I could handle it, I was strong, but I was wrong. There was the time when I cowered on the dining room floor two days before we got married saying “Don't hit me, don't hit me”; the reason why I don't like anyone touching my neck; the time he hit me over my head with the heel of his boot and quite a lot more, but finally I realised that I had to get out because I was afraid of what I was actually going to do to him. Then it had to end – somehow, so this was it.

One Friday night, 3 months into the marriage I was driving him home. We had been out separately and I hadn't had any alcohol as I had a 15 mile drive home, he had been drinking with friends. Anyway he decided that he didn't like my driving and we had a row. I don't want to give another long story, so I'll skip his unacceptable behaviour on the way home, but I did think he was going to kill us both if I didn't stay calm and not fuel the argument. When I stopped the car, we both got out (more unacceptable behaviour followed) and I was furious, but we were home safely. I walked up to him and in my “mind's eye” I could see him on the ground with me kicking and punching him, I wanted to hurt him, make him pay and for him never to get up.

Did I actually do this? No, he certainly wasn't worth doing time for and that may have been the outcome.

Instead I walked up to him but I did get in first, I slapped him in the face and said “F**king grow up!” I stood and prepared to defend myself from the fists that would come back. But I was not ready for anything else. He came towards me and actually head-butted me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We'd only been married 3 months. He hit me on my eyebrow, just above my left eye and there's still a dent there now, 30 years later. The force knocked me off my feet and blew me across the bonnet of the car. I was completely stunned.

I won't go into detail about what happened next, but he denied the damage he'd done to my eye, accused me of hitting my head against a brick wall myself. We even went out to dinner with friends the next night, with me not being able to open my eye and he behaved as if nothing was wrong. Our friends must have felt so uncomfortable, I certainly did, I had wanted to hide indoors.

On the Monday I went to work where I was the Secretary to the Marketing Director. As I walked into the office someone said “Wendy's got new glasses.... Oh... Wendy's got a black eye!”. My boss guessed rightly, so did one of the girls, but that's because her boyfriend was also violent. By then I had already resigned from my job and had to start my new job with a black eye, that I hadn't had at the interview.

I was a keen and regular netball player at the time and it was easy to pass it off as a sporting injury, even to my family, so not many people were suspicious or knew the real cause.

I hadn't been brought up with any violence in my family and thought this only happened to “rough” people. I was ashamed and knew after what I had wanted to do to him, I had to get out, I hadn't provoked it at all. I was lucky that we didn't have any children and certainly couldn't consider that in such a volatile environment.

I hardly ate for the next 4 months, which did wonders for my figure, I lived on my nerves. But I eventually wore him down by calmly and at every opportunity insisting that I needed a trial separation. Finally he left, shortly after Christmas. I immediately changed the locks, sat down and suddenly felt hungry for the first time in months – but he took my dog.

I was never alone with him again and I knew he would never touch me if anyone else was present.

Seven years later I had to get him to sign the divorce papers. They had been sent several times and he'd ignored them so I knew I'd have to face him and get them signed there and then. I found out where his “local” was and just turned up one night to the pub, I didn't even know if he would be there and he was not expecting me. I couldn't believe it, he was all smiles as if he was greeting a long lost friend – talk about denial! Ever the charmer. I got him to sign the papers and as I walked out of the door – I shuddered!!!!!! I have never seen him again and never want to.

Of course, my family knew nothing of any of this at the time and for some this might be the first they have ever heard, certainly in so much detail. But then it had to be my decision to end my relationship, not theirs.

If someone, somewhere out there stumbles upon this and it helps, even to help someone understand a loved one who is in a similar situation then it's been worth posting.

Dad's visit and other things

Happy Easter to all my readers.  I've not kept a diary in years, well not since my mum found it when I was 12 and it caused such a fuss.  I decided then it's best not to write down anything that you don't want someone else to read!!!!   Although I don't add all of my innermost thoughts here - well it's hardly secret is it, I have always threatened to keep a diary of our travels but have never done it before. As I actually believe that some people read my blog (maybe I'm a little delusional), it does encourage me to keep it up.  I hope you enjoy this latest installment.

Stop Press – Brandy Alert

Record broken – brandy sighted at 11.05 am – and it had already been drunk.

Visit from abroad

I left my last post with the imminent visit of Iain’s dad, Ronnie.

The first couple of days we had  a lazy time, introducing him to all the sights of Albir, not that there are many and as this is a new town there is very little culture to see, so we decided to hire a car for a day so that we could take him up to Guadalest and Villajoyosa which were the most memorable places that we had been to.

Unfortunately we had to hire the car for 3 days as the rate was the same, so we had to make use of three consecutive days out and about.

Dad joined us for the quiz on Wednesday night but I can’t remember what our name was. We came second. See we’re in quite a little routine in our home from home.

On Friday we went up to Guadalest, which is an old town on the side of the mountain with a main reservoir below.  While we were there, we saw a bush fire up in the mountains and it was interesting to see the helicopters coming down to the reservoir to pick up water and then dump it up in the mountain. Then we went down to Villajoyosa and walked around the old part.  This is very pretty with all the houses and bars painted in different colours and is much more like “old Spain”.

Villajoyosa

Saturday we took Dad to El Cisne.  Although we were doing things that we had already done it was nice to revisit and remind ourselves what it was all about – and we did promise Joy that we would go back to El Cisne before we left.  The Flamenco dancers were brilliant again and it was a different routine this time.  The male dancer – who incidentally is no spring chicken – joined them again after breaking his arm and they were even better that we had seen before. 

That left Sunday with the car and we decided that as we hadn’t seen much of Calpe when we went there that we would  have a look at the “other” side. We’re not that keen on Calpe as it just seems a smaller version of Benidorm and we were absolutely right.  Not a place that I’d be too fussed to go back to.  Moving up the coast we tried to find Benissa, now there are two, one at the coast and one inland, of course, me driving and both the men just sitting back and expecting me to navigate as well, I took a wrong turn and ended up going inland to the wrong Benissa.  Now this was interesting as Mr Always Right isn’t keen on mountain roads and I’m not sure if it is my driving, well this road took us high up the mountain on some very steep and windy roads and of course there was nowhere for me to turn around until we got almost to the top.  The view to the sea was incredible on the way down and we even saw a motorhome on the road.  I would not want to drive the behemoth on that road so if anyone with a motorhome is reading, to avoid the mountain road, you can go to Calpe and then take the sea road.  We totally missed Benissa, probably because the road didn’t go anywhere near the beach, so we decided to travel on to Moraira where the coast road ends.  That was well worth a visit, a pretty seaside fishing village with a very family friendly beach.  There was also a fresh water lake which fed into the sea and this was formed from some underground caves.  The marina there certainly had some money in it with luxury boats of all sorts.  From Moraira you can see across to the other side of Calpe and the penon de lfach (rock at the end).  We really liked it there and have checked out the campsite which is a possible for another trip.

Moraira

On the way back, Iain asked if we could stop at what looked like an interesting church that he had seen from the road on our previous trip.  From the road in the direction of Calpe to Altea,  you can see some golden domes on top of a wooden building nestling in the hills.  I have to admit that I did say that he might be disappointed and that it might be an indian restaurant.  But Mr Right was right again and indeed it was a most stunning church.  In fact it was Church of the Archangel Michael which opened in 2007. This is the first Russian Orthodox Church in Spain which is after all a very Catholic country. Well worth a visit if you are ever in the area.

Church of the Archangel Michael

The best thing was that we would have missed the church and Moraira if we hadn’t been “kicking out heels” hiring a car for 3 days instead of the planned one.

The following day (Monday) we returned the car. Jo and James kindly looked after Connie the smelly one for the day and we all took a bus into Benidorm.  Well you can’t come to Albir without a trip into Benidorm.  

Honestly, we did take him to Benidorm

For us this was the fourth time we had been into Benidorm but Dad had never been there before.  I think there were several times when he was open mouthed at what he saw.  We did the usual touristy things and went for lunch in a back-street tapas bar which was very enjoyable.  A walk along the sea front and the myriad of shops, a couple of souvenirs later we hopped back on the bus and returned to the sanctuary of Albir.

Tuesday lunchtime we took Dad for a big English breakfast at Oasis and he left shortly after lunch for his return journey home.  Ten days had gone, just like that.

So back on our own again with only two weeks left on this site.  We can’t believe that we have been living on this pitch for nearly FOUR months now – where has the time gone;  got bored? – certainly not; got drunk? – only once (well only once badly); done any crafting – not while the sun shines.

We even found a new bar to frequent called MeetPoint.  We had been told it was good but hadn’t ventured there before so after a disappointing meal at a restaurant that was purporting to be posh, we popped into MeetPoint for the customary Brandy and Coffee.  Well this place is great, comfy chairs, flowers on the tables,  nice people and the general feel that you are sitting in your conservatory.  Makes some other places look more like working men’s clubs.  Sorry Dad that we hadn’t discovered it earlier and taken you there.

Saturday and we decided to cook at home – just for a change.  Now I spent about 10 euros on dinner that I then had to prepare, cook and wash up afterwards and you can eat out for not much more than that – so that explains why we go out so often.  It will be a very different story when we get back into France.

We knew that there was live music at MeetPoint on Saturday between 5 and 7 so I cooked dinner before we went out and we would only need to heat it up and serve it when we got back.  But as has happened before our plans always seem to go out of the window.  We got back about 9.30 ‘ish and not in a state to appreciate dinner, so Iain went to bed without any supper, while I dived into bread and salsa dip (home-made I might add).   Dinner will now be served on Sunday – I hope.

It is sad that we are leaving this campsite and we keep saying, only two weeks left here now.  This sounds odd, as we may only have two weeks left, but we are then moving onto somewhere else, we are not going home to our house and jobs etc and keep having to remember that most people only get 2 weeks a year away.  Today, we’ve been living in our motorhome for 5 months and whilst I had to be taken kicking and screaming for leaving behind all our friends, family and STUFF – I’m absolutely loving it.

Easter Sunday

Dave was disappointed not to receive an Easter Egg from us on Friday and we politely informed him that Sunday is the day for Easter Eggs.  But of course that gave us an idea.  So we bought an egg cup and I “blew” an egg (for him!!!!!!!!!).  I then painted it blue in Chelsea colours and decorated it for him.  The initials CFD were put on in “glow in the dark” 3d paint and of course some girly sparkles.  I delivered it to his table at 7.30 this morning and he has been past our pitch a couple of times today but has not yet said anything.  We are waiting until the curiosity gets the better of him to ask what CFD stands for – shouldn’t it be CFC for Chelsea Football Club – then we are going to have to admit our nickname for him “Chelsea F**king Dave”.  Enjoy!!!!!

Happy Easter Chelsea F**king Dave

The Weather

The weather has been fantastic the last couple of weeks.  We have had some really strange sea mists where Calpe totally disappears, but generally it has been getting hotter and hotter. It really is time for us to move on, we even had 28 C this week.  Today is cooler as there is a strong breeze but it’s still T shirt and shorts. If it gets any hotter then it will be time for us to move north. 

Iain keeps saying that he doesn’t tan and I’ve explained to him several times that he has to meet the sun halfway and actually expose some flesh for that to happen.  Even he is now in shorts and sandals and you can see from the picture exactly what I mean.

Nice legs Iain!!!!!

Bits and Pieces

Bizarre

We had met a couple in Wyndham’s one day and that is the sort of place that you get chatting, it’s a very friendly place full of locals and campsite people, mainly English.  The ice was broken a few days before when France were playing England at rugby and everyone was supporting France (because if they won then England would win the Six Nations) but the lady was supporting Ireland – because she was Irish of course, so there was some banter to be had.

A few days later we got chatting to them and it turned out that they lived in Broadstairs which is the town in which I grew up.  It turned out that Greg had lived in the area as a child and that he went to the same school as Iain but was a couple of years older than us.  We swapped names of brothers etc (all our brothers went to the same school as well, as did the ex Prime Minister, Ted Heath) but there was no connection. Suddenly Greg said that he thought he knew Iain.  Well we thought it would just be some vague recollection from  school when he said – “You used to work for a freight forwarding company at Ramsgate Hoverport” – so he did know him after all.  What a memory – that must have been in about 1978. It turned out that they still drink regularly with an old friend of Iain’s.  Well what a small world it is.

Morning Brandy

You must be thinking that we are just on one big round of partying and boozing by now – well you are not far wrong, however now that we are almost here alone – the campsite is emptying, friends have moved on and the Dutch are going home to check their tulips (it’s an Iain joke that not many people get) - we are trying to have some much drier days (that’s drier in drink rather than the weather which has been great).

There is a real café/bar culture here and we have got into the habit of going shopping late morning and then stopping at a bar for a coffee (me) and pint before going back for lunch – I’m not much of a day-time drinker and only drink before 6pm on special occasions – of which there have been too many lately.  But Morning Brandy is something else.  While we are walking to the supermarket, it is not unusual to see people sitting outside bars drinking pints, however we are still stunned to see brandy drinking in the morning.  Here you can often buy coffee and cake or coffee and brandy, the latter is usually cheaper than the former so it is sooooo easy (check out the El Cisne photos).  So on the way up the main street  we go brandy spotting. The earliest we have seen brandy drinking is 11.30 am but the search goes on for an earlier time.

Weather

The weather has been very good ever since we arrived with only a couple of days having rain and even at night the temperature very rarely getting below 10C .  However they do seem to have some very strong winds here and it’s been very blustery although warm.  A couple of days ago we had a very strange sand storm.  I know that it has been reported in the UK but here it actually rained sand and it started in the early evening.  Firstly the clouds were a strange red colour, you could actually see it coming in.  We were out and the cars were becoming covered, it was like snow but very, very fine sand and just a fine mist of rain.  Strangely you add sand to paint to make it non-slip, but when mixed with water and dropping onto marble it was very slippery walking home. This was followed by  some heavy rain during the night and by the morning everything was covered in a layer of very fine red sand dust.

This stuff is a nightmare to get rid of, couldn’t be brushed off and  had to be washed off. By 8 am most of the Dutch were out cleaning their vans and cars.  Luckily our end of the campsite is nearly empty so we only had to share the hose pipes with a few others.  There was a lot of complaining about water pressure but hey, there were a lot of hose pipes being used and they were climbing on their roofs to wash them.  We just sat and watched everyone else and then when they had all finished we set about cleaning our van and furniture.

Poor Hannah and Tomas had only cleaned their van a few days before in readiness for their departure.  We did smile however that after they had again cleaned their van, their neighbour brushed off the sand from the roof of his van and we could see it picked up in the wind and dumped again onto Tomas and Hannah’s.  

Later in the week we have experienced some weird sea mists.  A mist cloud that can come in within 5 minutes and then you are literally walking in the cloud - a bit like December in the UK.  The other day there was a band of it across Altea, whilst in Albir we were experiencing great weather.  It was so bad in Altea that the buses had to stop running.  The other evening we came out of the restaurant and it was warm then only 50 metres away it was cold because of the sea mist - more strange weather.

Neighbours

Firstly I’d like to say that we have been very lucky with our immediate long-stay neighbours.  Hank and Jenny were very friendly, spoke very good English (which came in useful at times) and they had their dog Monty with them.  The other side we had Nol and Meerke who we also got along very well with.  You will probably have already read about our short Sunday when we invited Nol and Meerke to join us. 

In the week before Nol and Meerke left we had a few drinks with them and they took us into Benidorm for a meal.  There are some advantages to having a caravan in that you have a car so at least you are mobile.  It was nice to go out in a car to somewhere else for a change.

We went to a hotel in Benidorm and we saw more of what it was like to be on a package holiday there.  The hotel had about 250 rooms and as I’ve said before overshadowed the side roads.  There was a nice big pool, but I would suspect that most of that would be in the shade for some of the day.

The food was a pretty good buffet service and the dining room could seat up to 700 people.

Afterwards we went to a bar not far away for coffee (and brandy of course).  Now I would liken this bar to a northern working men’s club.  Very little in the way of decoration to soak up the noise and bench seats all round.  It was just what it purported to be “The Cheap and Cheerful Bar”. As you may have gathered by now we are certainly not on the “Cultural” phase of our travelling!!!!!! It sounds like we are constantly in bars – but then when you are over 3 months in a place you can’t do sight-seeing all the time.  And one for Nick, who likes a bargain – the beer was only 1euro a pint – the cheapest we’ve seen anywhere.

We had lovely company however one evening in Benidorm was enough. We came back to the campsite and joined them for another drink – Nol however was being very good, just drinking a couple of beers  as he had to drive in a couple of days.  I’m sure we will keep in touch with Meerke and Nol and hope to see them here again next year.

However………………… as I’ve said before this campsite is 80% Dutch and some of them were less than friendly towards us – we didn’t mind this but some of the short-term stayers near to us did give me a bit of a downer.  We had a couple behind us and another couple next to us who were friends – however we learned that one couple had been here before and no one liked them.  Anyway they seemed to have a problem with our dog, as did some other Dutch on the campsite.  Now dogs will be dogs and dogs pee and poo where they want to.  We never leave the dog outside on her own, always watch her, make sure she doesn’t stray onto anyone else’s pitch  and are fastidious about clearing up after her and straight away. This is a dog-friendly campsite and whilst we take her for regular walks she is a little sh*t machine and there will always be a time when she will pee or poo on our pitch.

Well I had a couple of run-ins with our neighbours,  I was sitting outside when she squatted for a pee.  The next thing I knew the window of our neighbours van was thrust open and heads came out looking at where she had been.  I promptly took her inside. Then the man came out of the van and walked all around and I saw him shaking he head at the occupants as if to say he hadn’t found anything – I knew he wouldn’t.  Iain was out and the neighbour didn’t say anything to me but I could see the looks and feel the vibes!!!!! A couple of days later we were walking to the entrance when she squatted for a pee in the roadway.  Now this is tarmac and although it’s still on the campsite she thinks it’s a road so she thinks it’s ok.  Well this Dutch woman started yelling at me and gesticulating wildly “Off the camping, off the camping”.  By now I was starting to get paranoid.  It’s a long way to the entrance of the campsite and there’s no way my dog is going to get there before doing what dogs do.  Iain said I should tell them to go away in no uncertain terms but I don’t like confrontation so I just scuttle away.

I do understand and respect that not everyone has or indeed likes dogs, however this is a campsite which allows dogs and dogs will do what dogs do, so really if they have that much of a problem then they should choose a campsite which doesn’t allow them.  Legally it is not fouling if you pick up.

Luckily one couple moved off a few days later and the other moved further up the campsite.

Now the campsite is very empty in the run up to Easter and we have no close neighbours, in fact there are only 5 vans on about 25 pitches up our end.  Whilst I wanted to move down the other end at the beginning because they get more sun in the morning, I’m actually happy up our end of the campsite even though it’s a long way from the “Servicios”.

Family

Having dealt with neighbours, I’ll do family next.

A lot of people who winter in Spain have a big pull on the heart-strings to see grandchildren back home.  Often one partner doesn’t want to come until after Christmas or wants to go home early which can cause some problems.   Regretfully,  we don’t have that problem.  I don’t have any children and sadly Iain’s daughter passed away in January and his son is severely mentally disabled and lives in a care home.  He is very well looked after and we will visit him often when we are at home although he probably doesn’t know that we do.

We do both have siblings but they are of course adults and whilst we worry about them all they can take care of themselves.

Both our mothers are deceased, mine 20 years ago this year and Iain’s mum last March.  But we do have two dads who are like chalk and cheese.

Mine – has his own life (and a wife) and having emailed our plan for when we return to England, refuses to see us even if we are in the area – I haven’t seen him for about 9 years now – well that’s his decision.

On the other hand Iain’s dad is 80 this year and I dropped him an email this week to see if he was ok as we hadn’t heard from him for about a month.  The response we received basically said – sorry my internet has been down, I’m fine, see you Sunday, arriving in Alicante at 20.15.  How fantastic is that!   I had emailed in January to say that as we’d be here until the end of April why not come out for a couple of weeks of sunshine which would do him good,  but I didn’t want to push it in case he didn’t want to.  Then suddenly he’s coming with only 5 days notice.  Having nursed Iain’s mum for many years he seems to be getting out and about as much as possible and making the most of things – long may it last.

We’ve booked him into one of the “Log cabins” on site and as the weather is now quite warm I’m sure he will be fine – it was 18c last night.  These are basically a shed but they are fully equipped – I think that’s what is now called “Glamping” – camping in a shed instead of a tent or caravan.

We’re looking forward to seeing him and have planned some days out and a visit to El Cisne again next week. 

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