Well this was supposed to be a travel blog–but everything changes

I obviously have too much time on my hands.  Here's my memory picture for the winter. Including our friends and the dogs, Paddy, Bree and Connie (The smelly one).

It’s over six months since my last post which was on our way down to Spain in the Autumn.
The journey down was uneventful. We had planned to stay in the middle of France until all the group games of the Rugby World Cup had finished and then race down to Albir for the knock-out rounds.  However England’s early exit from the tournament changed that.  The great thing about living in a motorhome is that you can change your plans really quickly.  So we said stuff France let’s get into Spain and the warm as quickly as we can.

A few nights in Benicarlo at a favourite campsite and then we got to Cap Blanch in Albir for about 16th October.

So back again at our winter campsite.  The same one we’d stayed at for the previous two winters, so nothing new to report there - except that they have finally upgraded their internet so at least the last month we have been able to connect reliably and with much better (if not perfect) speed.

James and Jo were already at Cap Blanch when we arrived and we also had our local friends to say hello to.  Iain slipped back into the pool team for Thursday nights and we went to the Quiz on Wednesdays – so we settled in nicely for the winter.

More people arrived and left and we made some new friends but there weren’t any new ones who were staying for the whole winter.

Parties were in full swing with a street party for 28 (half English and half Dutch) for Christmas Eve and it was so enjoyable that we did it again on New Year’s Day. Look at the lovely weather we had.

A new bar had opened at the entrance of the campsite and although we were determined not to enjoy the noisy place we fell in love with it. The entertainment at Brew Rock is fantastic, lots of variety and we fell in love with Pablo Bloom, Rafa Raposo, Mike, Rafa and Monique (well Jo and myself did, the men just don’t get it) and spent many great nights dancing away in Brew Rock.  We’ve never had so many late nights.

I have to admit to having a bit of a soft spot for Pablo, but I think that's because he reminds me of my nephew.

New friends made – Swedish Willy whom we called “Willy Won’t He” because he kept saying that he was leaving but didn’t seem to get up early enough to get away and Harald – a very noisy, often drunken, Norwegian.  Also Adrian and Debbie from Devon. 

Old friends came by for a visit –  Shirley and Mick, Frank and Flo, Ali and Steve, Ben and Jolande, to name a few – sorry if I’ve missed anyone. 

Oh and of course our Christmas visit from Iain’s dad and brother Sean.

Then there are the regular over-winterers and full-timers at the campsite, Ruth and Paul, Henk and Jenni, Joy and Nick, Dave and Jessie, Meerke and Nol, Hannelle and Thomas, Fabienne and Frey, Hortense and Anton, Linda and John, Didi and Nol.  So as you can see we’ve made a lot of friends over the three winters we have been staying here. 

Sadly we said goodbye to Jessie who passed away suddenly a couple of weeks after she and Dave returned home in March.

Oh that reminds me, I learned to crochet over the winter as you can see my Christmas Angel in the photo with Jessie.  I made lots of things including a monkey and a granny square blanket – it kept me busy.

Also oriental dancing was a favourite of mine.  Iain said that if the teacher looked like this he would come along – I retorted that this is our teacher. Lovely lady Gisele Gibaut always has a smile and a great dancer. I must admit that I’ve a lot more than her to shimmy.

Connie (The smelly one) isn’t doing too well nowadays though.  She’s deteriorated quite considerably over the winter, she’s been deaf for about a year now but she’s now struggling to walk very far - her back legs are giving her some trouble which I’m sure has been exacerbated by the fact that I fell on her a few years ago and caused quite some damage to one leg (that’s another story) also because she spins so much she’s banana shaped and we always thought that she’d have trouble with arthritis.  I suppose that she is an old girl now at somewhere around 15 so it is to be expected.  So now we have a doggie push chair to wheel her around in.  I think we need to rename her Boudica because when she stands up it looks like she is riding a chariot.  We had been pretty limited about how far we could go with her before she got the push chair so it’s great to be able to get out and about again.  She loves it though and is quite happy to be wheeled around.

Benidorm series 8 is being filmed at the moment so there have been sightings of a couple of the cast members – last year it was Janine Duvitski who plays Jacqueline but this year it has been Jake Canuso (Mateo) and this unlikely character. Nathan Bryon who plays Joey Ellis. The picture is courtesy of Jo who accosted him outside Brew Rock a couple of weeks ago and she said he sounds just the same in real life like he does in the series.  For those of you who hate Benidorm, sorry, but we love it, mainly because all the places they visit are real and the people are just what you see in and around Benidorm. You either love it or hate it and the series, just like the place – we do both. 

Now the spring is here and the winter is over it’s been a time to reflect and decide on what we want to do next. 

Our journey to southern Spain and Portugal was scuppered last year when our tenant left and we decided to go home.  Then it took a long time to get another tenant to our eastern Europe plan was cancelled.  Oh well maybe another time.

We thought that we might in a few years replace our motorhome with a smaller one to use for travelling and buy a caravan which we would leave in Spain during the summer months.  This motorhome is great for living in but it’s an expensive ornament to keep in one place for 6 months of the year, it’s very big to move around when we are travelling – I won’t go to southern Italy in this.  Also at 9 miles to the gallon it’s expensive for travelling.  So whilst it is wonderful, it’s also not that practical.

Then suddenly everything changed.  We were planning to leave on the following Thursday and we’d already started sorting out the van ready to do so.  Then the previous Friday morning, I woke up and just suggested to Iain that we get an apartment.  I thought I’d have a battle on my hands but he immediately said, and without any discussion, “I was thinking that too”.  So there it was decision made in 5 minutes.

Later that morning I went to Jo and James to break the news.  They had been our immediate neighbours for the last two winters and like us live full-time in their motorhome.  Jo’s face dropped a mile with disappointment, but that was soon replaced by a beaming smile when James said “We’d been thinking of that too”.

Oooh, exciting.  We then looked at what we would have to pay for renting a decent apartment – a swimming pool was a must.  After some discussion, we struck a brilliant idea, what could we get if we put our money together and shared – yes a VILLA, not two apartments but a VILLA with our own PRIVATE POOL.  Now don’t get too excited, you may have some idea of a VILLA being a big rambling house in the middle of nowhere with views to die for, but in Spain a VILLA is basically a detached house.  The big rambling house is more a FINCA.

So from Friday morning when we decided we wanted an apartment, to Saturday when we decided we’d share a house, to Monday and Tuesday seeing Estate Agents and viewing in Alfaz del Pi, La Nucia and Albir, by Wednesday we’d put down the deposit on our VILLA. That obviously meant that we wouldn’t be leaving the following day as we wanted to get everything signed up before we left.
It was all very exciting, despite the fact that on the Saturday our tenant sent us an email saying that he would be leaving the house at the end of April.  Mmmm – bad timing or what – actually no, it didn’t dampen my enthusiasm and at least it’s better than him leaving in September when the contract comes up for renewal.  At least it’s the spring and we can go home for a while.

So we get our VILLA in September as it’s already promised for holiday lets in the summer.  It’s somewhere near to the arrow head, nestling at the foothills of the Sierra Helada natural park.  Unfortunately it’s up what is locally called “Cardiac Hill” so either we’ll get very fit or we’ll use the car a lot – yes we’ll be returning with a car.  But we will be getting "classy?" neighbours.  It’s just along the road from the Sha Wellness Clinic whose clientele includes Simon Cowell and Kylie Minogue!!! However at 400 Euros for an afternoon's treatment (actually I think that is for a swim) I don't suppose we'll be visiting it very often.

Of course, everyone who knows anything about living in Spain will know that you now hit the Spanish bureaucracy.  NIE numbers must be obtained before you can enter into any contract in Spain, whether it be to buy a car, open a bank account or to rent a home.  This entails filling out forms and visiting the local police station in person.  Although this can be done yourself it is much easier to pay a lawyer to do it for you.  Then you have to wait for the paperwork to come through.  This also puts you on the radar for the authorities that you are living in Spain and that then connects you to the tax office to pay Spanish taxes.  More of that another time maybe.

Once we had the NIE numbers which took about a week, we were in a position to sign the contract on the house.  Well no, not quite.  Despite having asked the Estate Agents twice if we needed to have a Spanish bank account and being told that we didn’t, when the contract was ready to sign they then told us that we needed to. Had they told us that at the beginning we could have arranged it at leisure.  So there Iain and James were running around getting bank accounts, which like everything else in Spain takes ages.  It actually took two days, come back manana and get the account numbers.  So at last we have signed the contract and we are now sitting here waiting for the debit cards to come through.  We could have sorted out the bank account weeks ago and be on our way by now.

When the bank cards arrive we’re off back to the UK.  Live in the house again until we get another tenant, buy a car, sell the motorhome, visit friends and family, go to my Nephew’s wedding then head back to Spain for around 1st September or before. The only problem is that if we sell the motorhome and the house gets rented, then we’re truly homeless until September – anyone feel sorry for us?

Maybe we’ll try real camping and live in a tent.

I DON'T THINK SO!!!

Long time no see

I just can’t believe how fast the time has been going.  We’re due to leave here in a couple of weeks and then we’ll be on our travels again so I’ll have more travel news to report then and hopefully a lot more time to do some blogging.

So it’s nearly two months since my last post, here are some of the highlights well things that particularly stick in my mind.

Nick and Joy finally arrived in January and our feet haven’t touched the ground since, almost literally, I haven’t been out dancing so much in years – I don’t know where Nick gets his energy from.

In February, there was a Dutch 50th wedding anniversary party and Clara, our flamenco teacher did a performance and the flamenco group had a photo

Joy, Ronnie, Betty, Frieda, Fabienne and yours truly. Missing were Hortense and Cora

This brought me onto doing a website for Clara to help promote her business.  So one afternoon Joy, her friend Ellie who was visiting and myself went onto the beach to take some photos and videos.  Here’s a couple – they were pretty good I thought for amateurs.

Then another day, Clara and myself went up into the mountains and took some more pictures and videos. This then got me into photo manipulation and I rather liked the result of this one. Clara is dancing with her shadow which is in black and white and she is wearing vibrant red.


If you liked those then have a look at her website www.claratierra.sbw1.co.uk

I have really enjoyed doing the website although it has taken up quite a bit of time.  But anyone who knows me, knows that I’ve always got to be learning something new and I’ve learned a lot about photo manipulation and videos and YouTube – so for me it was all worth it.

After some inspiration from Joy, I’ve also been working on a couple of websites for myself that I’ve been meaning to do for ages, but they took a bit of a backseat because of Clara’s so they haven’t been finished and will be revealed soon. Oh and look, I’ve got into Pinterest and you can now pin any picture on my blog.

Clara, bless her, than offered in return to give me some private Flamenco lessons and I’ve been learning the four parts of the Sevillana, which is a dance that all Spanish people seem to know but it really is very difficult and takes ages.  I think I’m just about there now and I can get up and dance with the Flamenco dancers at El Cisne and Kaktus and actually look like I know a bit of what I’m doing instead of just jigging around – more of that to follow.

In March, there was another party to celebrate the Dutch leaving – sorry that was for the Dutch to celebrate the end of the winter season, when they all go home to check on their tulips.  Apologies to our Dutch friends Meerke and Nol, Henk and Jenny, we don't see you in the same way as some of the others.

So in one of those inebriated moments, we thought it would be a good idea to put on a “Flash mob” during the party.  Only planning it a week before, we actually only had 2 hours to put together and practice the dance (I did mention the Sevillana takes ages to learn).  Clara was brilliant and this is the result which also gave me another opportunity to play around with videos. It’s only a couple of snippets but hopefully it will give you the idea. Even Iain, Nick, Jo and James were involved as they were the “Clappy Happers” backing group.  Hope you enjoy it, it was just a bit of fun and it proves that old birds still like to get up and dance, the oldest in our flamenco group was 82.

We’ve met some new friends

Paul and Ruth from Wiltshire stayed for a couple of weeks.  Paul has just finished his self-build and it’s all orange inside – yes, even the orange squeezer. Apart from the fact that they were real party animals, my most vivid memory was of a fairly cold evening (still able to sit out until gone 9pm) when Paul was sitting outside wearing an orange and black “Tigger” style onesie.  I couldn’t believe that he would actually wear that in public there could have been a bit of the confidence-juice that had been consumed responsible for that.

Ruth and Paul

Mick and Shirley returned again, we had met them last year and that meant another few nights out. They’ve now moved off to Calpe for a couple of weeks before returning home.

Dave and Pam from Grimsby became new friends and they are planning to come back next year.

We’ve had some birthdays to celebrate

Jo and mine fell at the same weekend in early March so we did a whole weekend’s celebrations.  Meals out, dancing at Kactus (posh hotel on the seafront) – you get the picture.
Nick’s fell on 1st April and I made him a card.  Inspiration is always the problem, but just recently, as I said we’ve been out dancing and partying a lot and Iain and James are a bit light-weight when it comes to staying up late, so Nick always seems to be left with the women.  He was left to entertain 5 women one night, so we have “Nick-named” (rather apt I thought) him “Sultan Nick of Albir”.  Of course he loves all the attention.  Here’s the card I made for him.  We then did a surprise lunch at Wyndhams for him and managed to pull it off without him finding out.  But I don’t think he appreciated this picture too much though.

We’ve also had some falls

James was the first – fell over and dislocated his finger – mmmm well they do call it falling down water. So that meant a few visits to the hospital and a couple of weeks in a sling.
Then Pam, tripped in the street and ended up 4 nights in hospital.  Badly bruised but gladly nothing broken.
The following night,  Liz who lives in Albir  – fell on her way home from the quiz on Wednesday night and we haven’t seen her since but we have been getting regular updates. Hope you are doing ok Liz and also hope we will see you before we go.
Jo finished it off (we hope) by tripping on a piece of metal  on the campsite.  With her already dodgy ankle that meant a trip to the hospital but thankfully nothing broken. But that does of course mean that the Madge is back in action.  It was the day of “all day” rugby so nearly everyone was out at the time.  I’m sorry to say this Jo, but it must have been a sight to be seen with only Jo and Pam down our end of the campsite at the time and Pam, who had only come out of hospital  that day had to walk using her walking frame over to Jo and help her up.  Glad that it’s improving now Jo, hopefully you’ll be up and running again soon.

We’ve found some new places to go

Kaktus

– the posh hotel on the seafront. Last year, Nick always took Joy out on Saturday nights to the Kactus – they do a really good act each Friday and Saturday and there’s dancing of course.  Last year we just didn’t get ourselves organised enough to go, especially as the act doesn’t come on until 10.30pm which was always far too late for us.  But this year we have been making the effort sometimes.  The acts are really good and we do have a great time.

Goa

– not the holiday resort in India, but a Spanish bar just down the road and on the seafront.  I can’t believe we didn’t discover it before.  On Friday nights (late) and Sunday evenings they have Spanish entertainment.  This normally consists of a Flamenco band (no dancer though) which we think is one family. They are fantastic and whilst Iain really doesn’t like the wailing singing that they do, the guitarist is brilliant.  Having done some flamenco lessons we have learned not only the dance but also an appreciation of the culture and the rythms.  I’m really getting into flamenco and I’m sure it is mainly because I understand it so much more and can appreciate it – even the singing sometimes.

Of course all this makes it sound like we are forever in the pub and getting pi**ed.  Well it would be so easy to do that.  There are loads of ex-pat communities over in Spain, retired, not working, loads of time on their hands, living very cheaply off pensions and with a pint at anything from 1.50 euros and large brandies at 3 Euros a shot it is very easy to fall into that way of life.  I for one, don’t want to.

Yes I’ll party, yes I’ll have a drink (and too many sometimes) but I also want to keep myself busy doing other things.  I’ve been doing a bit of crafting stuff but not enough and the days still seem to fly by.  It’s amazing the things that you did automatically seem to be a job these days – even just having a shower, or doing water in/water out is something  to tick off the list of “jobs to do” each day.  It’s also very easy to get lazy.  Each day seems to start with – “Our neighbours are up, let’s pop around for a chat and see what they are doing today”.

Jo and James, Nick and Joy and ourselves are all next to each other and it is getting like one big commune.  Even the dogs just seem to wander from one van to another as if it is just one big pack with separate kennels. Paddy often pops in for a bit of Connie's left-overs.  It’s rather nice really and we do like the campsite life, but we need to leave here for a rest.   You wouldn’t get this lifestyle in an apartment.  However it is lovely when on the odd occasion we just stay in for the night and watch TV together, just the two of us.  However with the warmer weather and now the longer evenings – already the sun doesn’t set until after 8.30pm those nights are getting fewer and farther between.

But we have taken in a little bit of culture

A couple of days ago, Joy and myself actually ventured into Altea Old Town.  It is lovely, pretty white buildings, narrow streets, a church on top of the hill.  As with a lot of Spanish old towns they are on top of hills and it’s a bit of a climb to get up there but worth it. This is much more real Spain than Albir which has really only come into being since the 1960's. For anyone thinking of visiting – we do actually walk there from Albir, it’s about 2 miles along the promenade,  then the climb up.

You can just see the massive hotels at Benidorm in the distance

These young people – just couldn’t make it to the top without a rest

Last week saw the return of the Classical Flamenco Group which we saw in November (I think).  Iain and Nick declined to join us and said it would just be wasted money on them.   As usual (this is Spain), there was very little information about it beforehand, loads of posters everywhere but nothing explaining what it would actually be – so we didn’t really know what we were going to see.  I googled everything I could and we were still none the wiser.  We thought from the poster that it might be a male dancer, if any dancer at all, but we did manage to find out that the guitarist would be the same as the previous performance. I wasn’t sure about seeing a single male dancer because I love to see the ladies dancing in their flamenco dresses, however as Joy hadn’t seen the last performance and the poster did show a man half naked,  we thought we would give it a go.

It was fantastic.  Norman (the dancer) was about 6ft 4 and was like an albatross.  How he moved his long arms and legs at such speed, I just don’t know.  His name is Norman Contreras and here’s a brief snippet of his dancing.

 He must be quite new on the scene as I could only find one YouTube video of him.



The guitarist was Antonio Munoz Fernandez and he must be quite famous as there’s quite a bit on YouTube of him, if you would like to have a look and listen.

So if you ever come across these people, they are well worth seeing.

DUCK UPDATE

The duck has become very tame, it will let you stroke it, James can even pick it up with no fuss and it dominates the two dogs, Connie and Paddy who avoid it at all cost.

However the stupid duck thinks it is a dog and kept visiting Max – now would you torment this dog? Max didn’t know what to make of it and was very curious to say the least.  We had to keep rescuing the duck from a good sniffing and chewing. One day I saw Max had pinned it to the ground.  Another time Max was standing on it’s wing and chewing it’s feathers and the duck didn’t even try to get away. Then Max must have realised that this might be food and one time the duck was rescued after Max picked it up by it's neck.  Things were getting a bit dodgy.  Understandably, although Dave was fed up with the duck tormenting Max, more seriously, Max is a big softie and he didn’t want him to actually taste blood.

One day however the inevitable happened, Dave was throwing the ball for Max and the stupid duck got too close.  Max chased the duck which didn’t take off quick enough and he caught it on our pitch.  Everyone was reluctant to get too close to Max as you don't know what a dog on the hunt might do if you try to take it's prize away. In a matter of seconds, Dave came to the rescue and managed to get Max to drop the duck. Was it curtains for the duck? Well not quite, but it was pretty roughed up, looked very sorry for itself and it lost a few tail feathers so it won’t be flying off anywhere for a while.  It seems to have recovered now but it doesn’t mess with Max any more.

So for now were still stuck with the duck and it's muck.

A couple of days later an egg appeared under James' van.  James was soooo excited - thought he was going to be a grandad. More research on Muscovy ducks revealed that they can lay up to 30 eggs in one batch so preparations were being made for the new arrivals.  Was it the shock of the encounter with Max that had spurred on the duck to start laying? Or was it just a chicken egg!!!!!  Sadly no further eggs have been produced so one solitary egg lies underneath James' van and the duck is totally ignoring it - perhaps she isn't ready to be a mother yet? I think James is now in mourning over what might have been. No one is owning up to the joke but I just wish it had been my idea.

That’s about it, I’m sure there is loads that I have forgotten and apologies to anyone who didn’t get a mention.  We’re on the move again later next week, so there should be more of our travels rather than just our living.  But to anyone thinking of spending winter in warmer climes – Spain is great. Winter lasted about 6 weeks, cool in the day and quite cold at night but I only saw ice on the ground once, early one morning where a small puddle had frozen and I still only wore a coat once and that was because it was raining.

So did we get bored staying in one place for 6 months - what do you think?

See you soon when we are on the road again.

I’m back

Well it’s been a long time since my last post. There’s been so much going on that I just haven’t had the time to think about doing my blog.  People asked us what we were going to do, were we going to get bored etc? But the days just seem to fly by and before you know it, it’s evening again.  We’ve even been trying to have a couple of nights in this week to catch up on a bit of TV and that hasn’t happened.  Now the weather is getting better in the evenings, it’s just so easy to pop round to someone for a quick drink about 6pm and before you know it, the evening has gone and you haven’t had any dinner – again.  It’s a hard life but someone has to do it.

We’ve been thinking about our reasons for doing this, is it to travel Europe or is it to stay in one place and enjoy the warm weather?  Well it’s both really, so we’ve decided that we love it here so much (of course that’s all about the friends we have here) that we will come back next year (all being well of course) and probably spend the whole winter in one place.  This then brings us onto whether we should get an apartment, buy a caravan to leave here in the summer with a small motorhome to do our travelling in, or stay with the van that we have.  The decision is that we will decide in another couple of years – we love this van and although we can’t get to the smaller campsites or travel easily on the smaller roads, if we get rid of the van now, we will never have something as luxurious as this again.  The one decision that we have made is that we will NOT get an apartment. 

The campsite life is fantastic for us.  Now we have Nick and Joy here, and of course Jo and James have been here the since we got here – we are on the same block of pitches D1, D2 and D5, I have to admit it has become a bit of a commune.  The dogs (Paddy and Connie) seem to think that it’s just one big pack and they become interchangeable.  In the mornings Paddy comes around to check that the pack are ok and to finish off Connie’s breakfast.  Of course this also has the advantage that if we want to go out for the day we can leave the dogs with each other and know they are ok.  Only yesterday, Iain was ready to go for a shower at 11 o’clock, but “people” just kept popping round, Paul had a flat battery, so we asked Henk for a jump start, Henk and Jenny were leaving so we helped move their caravan – by 1.30 he gave up and we took the dog out for a walk.  The only time I get to update my blog is in the mornings before we open the door to the outside world.
So what has been going on.

Early in January we saw the arrival of Nick and Joy – great friends we had met last year, so the first day that just had to be an excuse for a get together and we started with a welcoming party.  The next day Nick and Cathy (Tales from Aurora) arrived.  It was really bizarre, we had never met them before but we had been following each other’s blogs for about a year.  It was like meeting long lost friends.  They were only staying a couple of nights before going skiing so we sent them off to have a look at Benidorm.  Nick bought himself a “selfie” stick so we just had to try it out at the Chinese restaurant.  Very successful I must say.

Nick seems to have the hang of it

Cathy brandishing her new toy

It was lovely to meet up with people that we had only known vicariously and hopefully our paths will cross again soon.  Perhaps in the summer we might visit the campsite where Nick and Cathy will be working.

Early in January, Meerke arranged for us to pay a visit to the campsite Boss’ Finca (Estate) and this was a great opportunity to have a look around at a wealthy house in Spain.  About 12 of us went.  Now I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but when dealing with Dutch people there is no approximate time.  We had arranged to do the visit on Thursday and we were to meet at 11.00am as our Dutch friends had arranged transport for us (they have caravans so cars are available).  Nick, Joy, Jo, James, Iain and myself were idly chatting at 10.30am on the preceding Tuesday about how were were going to leave soon to walk to Altea and how we mustn’t be late on Thursday to be ready for our Dutch friends at 11 o’clock exactly.

Something had got lost in the translation though and while we were chatting, Meerke waved to us from their pitch – it was now 10.45 and 10 minutes later she came to ask if we were ready.  We exclaimed that we thought the arrangement was for Thursday and she said no it was today, Tuesday.  So having really tried hard not to insult them by being late for our arrangement  it was suddenly a mad rush to get ready to leave.  Never mind, cameras thrown in bags and jumpers grabbed we only held them up about 5 minutes.

The Finca was only just this side of Benidorm so it didn’t take us long to get there. The old farmhouse dated from the early 19th Century and they are obviously very wealthy people as there were quite a few pieces of old furniture and antiques.  The house even had it’s own Chapel upstairs. 
 There were some very pretty rooms and it was kept immaculately.  The one thing I would say though is that it was FREEZING inside.  These houses are designed to keep cool in the hot summer months, but hey, this was January – no-one actually lives there in the winter (except the housekeepers) and I can’t blame them.

Every autumn the Dutch contingent at the campsite go up to the Finca to pick the oranges.  They asked us whey we didn’t go with them and I (hopefully) tactfully explained that it was because we didn’t understand the posters.  Never mind, perhaps next time.

Things soon settled down with Nick and Joy’s arrival and we got into a fair routine of partying.  However it was so long ago now that I’m sure I have forgotten a lot of what we did.  Either that or the copious amounts of falling down water that has been consumed has made my memory hazy. The problem is that Nick and Joy are on holiday and we are “living” so it’s trying to get that balance.

Oh and I forgot to mention - remember our atrocious antics at our party - getting rather confused as newts and losing our presents - well about three weeks after the party we were out one quiz night and we were handed a couple of bags of bottles of wine and a gift that had been found and were being returned to us.  We were absolutely flabbergasted and couldn't believe the honesty of someone to send them to Wyndhams for us - and we don't even live in the town.  It would appear that when I left the Beach Lounge I didn't actually manage to pick up all the bags and left some behind.  So thanks to Robyn for letting us have them - it wasn't the value of the items but the thought that we were most impressed with.

Quick summary for January:-

• Duck is still around and still making a mess everywhere.
• Nick and Joy have joined us and made up the numbers for the quiz team.
• Weather has been cold(er) but hey we haven’t seen any snow and we have seen a lot of sunshine.
• Still doing Flamenco lessons – and loving it.

See you soon for February update.

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.

I know how to make my husband a very happy man!!!!

Well it’s probably not what you think…………….. but I’ve subscribed him to the Daily Telegraph digital pack.  I should have done this before but he’s such a technophobe and despite being an avid history book reader absolutely refused to have a kindle.  He does enjoy a newspaper and in the UK could quite happily while away a couple of hours a day reading his newspaper.  The offer was 30 days free trial, so I had nothing to lose.  English newspapers are quite expensive over here, 4.5 Euros a day and the digital Telegraph is just £10 a month (and you get a lot more content) – so it’s a bit of a no-brainer not to do it, it’s even cheaper than buying the paper in the UK.

The only downside is that the internet on the campsite is very slow and unreliable. It takes nearly an hour to download the paper and I have to go up to the toilet block to do it. But if we go to Wyndhams – which encourages a pint of slimline to be consumed, it can all be over in about 3 minutes – now where have I heard that before? Just a bit of techie stuff, this means that it can be downloaded and read off-line which is a great advantage to the web version. I did have to connect to the VPN (WatchUKTVanywhere) to kid it we were in the UK to be able to subscribe though.
So now I have at least two hours a day with Iain happily reading his newspaper while I can get on with anything else I want without interruption. Now he’s getting used to that, perhaps I’ll move stealthily onto some Kindle books and see how he copes, he does like the “feel” of a book though.  At the moment it’s still me who seems to have to download the paper – one day I’ll move him into the 21st Century!!

Our first week (and a bit) in Albir

We arrived on Thursday 2nd October and plan to stay until the end of March. Some of our fellow motorhomers would be appalled at the prospect of staying in one place for so long, but we are trying to balance the travelling with the staying put, and for a long stay it is only costing us 12 Euros a night (our council tax was over £8). Since full-timing, which is nearly a year now we have averaged just £10.45 a night even though we mostly use campsites and don’t  wild-camp or use aires very often – not bad eh? Also by staying put you don’t have any fuel costs – so it works out much cheaper than moving around. 

We thought we would pop into Wyndhams on Thursday evening to see what had been happening while we had been away.  It’s funny but we keep being tempted to say “last year” when we refer to the last time we were here, because when you return to a holiday destination it is usually a year later – but we had been away only 5 months.  Mike was in situ when we arrived and was pleased to see us and about 10 minutes later Liz came in with Tina the dog.  Big hugs all round and Liz later said that she almost cried when she saw us. Wyndham gave us a good welcome and we caught up with the news – nothing much had changed.

We had a few drinks with Jo and James on the evening and James offered to take us out for lunch on Friday – we actually declined.  I don’t want to get into the boozing all afternoon and then wasting the day.  We did however suggest that Sunday might be a good day to go out for lunch as I don’t mind writing off one day of the week. As I’ve said before, we tried very hard not to be “Brits abroad” last time, but Dave at Oasis does such a great Sunday lunch and all-day breakfast that it’s difficult to resist.  We also hadn’t had an English breakfast since we left at the beginning of May, so we thought we’d treat ourselves. We toddled off to Oasis on Friday for a big breakfast which consists of 2 bacon, 2 eggs, 2 sausages, beans or tomatoes, toast and hash brown.  All for the princely sum of 3.50 Euros (about £2.80) – it just can’t be beaten and having consumed that for lunch we don’t need any dinner.  Dave was genuinely pleased to see us again and it was good to be back.

Saturday was used to get some shopping and relaxing, then early evening we had a half-price burger in Wyndhams (last of the great spenders), so that was another 2.25 Euros each, plus of course a wapping 1 Euro for chips.  It’s just not worth cooking.  We popped into MeetPoint to see who was around and found to our dismay that MeetPoint had been sold and was closing the following day.  Such a disappointment as we had planned to have our 10th Wedding Anniversary party there in December.  So we’ve now got to find another venue. We did however get invited to the “supping up” of the stock on the Sunday afternoon – oh no – that would be after lunch!!!!!!!

Sunday came around and it was very hot and humid. We popped up to the market for a look around – we didn’t really have anything in mind to buy but just to see what was around.  Lunchtime arrived and we had booked at Oasis for 1.30pm. We collected Jo and James from next door and left at 1.15pm giving us plenty of time to get there, but we didn’t arrive until after 2.15.  Too many bars on the way you might think, but no actually.  Just as we were leaving there were a few drops of rain.  We had the joke that we didn’t need an umbrella because we were British and used to the rain, but we decided to take one “just in case”. We had only got as far as the toilet block and the heavens opened so much that we had to shelter there, the umbrellas weren’t enough.  The dog was terrified of the thunder and lightening and hid under the sinks, we kept saying that it would ease soon, but it didn’t, the campsite was getting flooded and we were there about half an hour.  Once it eased we made for it, the quickest route possible, passing Wyndhams, but we were already late so stopping there was not an option. Again the heavens opened and we had to take shelter under a building overhang.

Eventually we were able to make the rest of the journey – paddling across the roads.  The “dry” river bed was fast filling with rainwater and we’d never seen water in it before.  We eventually arrived at Oasis and Dave looked really relieved, at least he’d had some customers make it – late maybe but at least we arrived. The rain started again and we sat under the awning with our umbrellas to the side stopping the splashing of the rain coming up at us.  I felt very sorry for the dog who had to lie on the wet floor.  27mm of rain fell in just 90 minutes.

There were two missed photo opportunities, I just wish I had my camera with me.  One was a woman on the campsite coming out of the washing up area with a casserole dish on her head – it looked just like one of those old-fashioned German helmets. The second was just the amount of rain so I’ve pinched one from the internet which was taken in Benidorm, just 4 miles away.

As I said earlier, 90 minutes later it was all over, but we had soggy feet for the rest of the day.  Having had an excellent Sunday lunch (we hadn’t had one since July in the UK so we felt it was justified) it was now time to go to MeetPoint where regrettably we imbibed a little too much. On the way back to the campsite it was getting dark and Jo spotted a lone bench table for us to acquire.  So in true “Last of the Summer Wine” fashion we picked it up in the four corners and strutted off down the lane to the pitches.  The only problem was that we had all picked it up at different heights, so we had to put it down and get organised.  I bet the Dutch were thinking “Disgraceful English”. 
Monday and Jo and I had decided to go to Pilates – which is provided twice a week free on the campsite.  But we had to cancel that because we were feeling a “little jaded”.  Monday was then, like Sunday a wash-out and we sat around all day recovering. I’m definitely not getting into that habit. Monday evening we went to eat at one of our favourite places Brisa del Mar and booked our Christmas lunch. They said they had just taken a booking enquiry for 30 and didn’t know if they could accommodate us.  Oh no, first MeetPoint, now Brisa del Mar.  But it turned out that the booking for 30 just wanted one main course for 10 euros and then they would leave.  Now Christmas lunch is a whopping 42.50 Euros each – but then you would expect that on Christmas day, so they turned down the booking and we were in – that’s a relief, we had really wanted to go there for Christmas day.

Tuesday and things were back to normal, feeling much better.  Wednesday Jo and myself went to Pilates – wow I ached in places I didn’t know I had.  I even struggled to get up from the sunbed - I'll bet you're feeling really sorry for me now - not!  We’re determined to keep it up though. 

Wednesday night saw the return of the quiz.  So we planned to walk the dog late afternoon, go for a chinese – less than 5 Euros each including a bottle of wine and then go to the quiz.  However we were much later than planned.  Upon returning from the dog walk, disaster struck.  Well that’s a gross exaggeration, more of a severe annoyance.  We came back to the van and put the key in the habitation door lock.  Unbolted both locks and pulled the handle – nothing happened.  Had the locks stuck? We didn’t know, after some repeated locking and unlocking, nothing changed. Luckily we were not in a caravan or we would have been sleeping in Jo and James’ awning.  But of course with a motorhome we have 3 doors.  So we had to get into the van using the passenger door. 

Now this is a great inconvenience, 1, it’s difficult, 2, there is no fly screen to keep out the mozzies and 3, it’s too bloody hot to have the door shut.  Iain spent the next hour trying to get the lock off from the inside but to no avail.  He said that was more important than going out but I said I’d rather he left it until the following day as I’d rather have a door that didn’t open, than a door that didn’t lock.  So we went out anyway – more about the lock to follow.

Chinese rushed, we arrived at the quiz just as it was starting. Drew was still the quiz master and we had a warm welcome from many of the regulars.  Unfortunately we joined another team of two so couldn’t use our name of “The Campbells have arrived”  but we did come joint first and then lost on the tie break which really annoyed me.  The question was what is the gift for the 10th Wedding Anniversary.  The reason I was annoyed was because it is our 10th this year and I had meant to look that up the other day – never mind I’m not a bad loser and it’s only a game.

Thursday morning we got up, rather late due to the time the quiz ends (and a couple of swifters by me and Jo before bed) and our plan was to stock up on some shopping, visit the locksmith, top up the phone and a couple of other things.  We left the dog in the motorhome and took her buggy so that we could carry plenty.  Now this is Spain and no-one had remembered that this was Valencia day (any excuse for a day off) and all the shops, including the supermarkets, were shut.  So we came back, having only achieved the phone top-up.  Another day before we could get the locksmith out as we weren’t about to pay him holiday rates when we could get into and out of the van, albeit at great inconvenience.

Friday we planned to go out and do what we should have done Thursday, but James had hired a car so he and Jo took me to Carrefour to do a big shop – beer deal 0.71 Euros (56p) per litre so that should keep Iain going for a while.  Iain went up to the locksmith and was told that he couldn’t do caravans, only houses and safes, so Iain was left to have yet another look at the lock and having taken the lock apart as much as possible from inside found that he still couldn’t shift it – this was going to be a real pain – it was evident that the only way to get the lock out was to get the door open, but we couldn’t do that because the lock was jammed. 

A quiet evening in, watching some TV brought Saturday – and another go at the lock.  Iain phoned Motorhome Medics who suggested trying to get the door off from the outside but Iain wasn't happy with that. So from inside off came the door frame, the bolts were pushed back with a screw driver and some hefty kicks to the door and ……………  nothing.  It just wouldn’t shift. Finally we discovered that the main lock had not retracted quite far enough and a bit more persuasion with the screwdriver (not a hammer) and another kick and the door flew open. This had taken a total of 4 hours and from the inside and was a brilliant advert for the security of the locks.  Great – we’d got the door open and hadn’t damaged the door itself. One problem now of course is that the door was open and we had no way of locking it. Quickly Iain took the lock apart and we found the problem.  The bolt on the main lock had sheared off, the spring had become dislodged and the handle could no longer pull the bolt back.

I have now written to the lock manufacturer asking for advice on whether or not they can get us the part of if we need to purchase a new lock.  I’m waiting for a reply.  The good news is that the deadlock part still works, so having replaced it in the door, we can actually secure the van again – phew!

Yesterday (Saturday) must have been a good day as we also had some good news.  Our tenant has told us that he would like to renew the lease at the end of November (although nothing is actually signed yet) so that’s a headache removed and one I can stop worrying about.  Well it was good until Iain fell ill.  I think he must have eaten something that disagreed with him because for the first time ever in the 13 years I have known him he was actually sick.  Not a nice subject I know but he really was very poorly, shaking and shivering.  I know it wasn’t too much alcohol because he would never waste it.  So today we’ve had a very quiet day to give him a chance to recover and for me to catch up with my blog.

So I suppose to summarise:-

We’ve settled very well back into life at Albir and I’m sure we will be very happy for the next few months.  I don’t think I will have much to say without boring my readers senseless but if anything exciting does happen you can be sure that I’ll tell you about it.

We are of course hoping that the weather stays good for the next few weeks.

Be back sometime soon.