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Thursday 13 June 2013

Where have 10 days gone? I don’t know, but I do know that it’s getting hotter every day now. We now have to make sure we take some water, even if we are only going for a short walk. On the plus side, you really feel you have earned that beer!
Los Arcos

Monday 3 June 2013

If you follow our Facebook page you may have seen that I have been in England while Jill has been holding the fort here. Well, normal service has been resumed. Jill still does all the work, but I am here lending moral support! We have a very good system. Jill does all the work and I entertain the guests. I wonder who is getting the better deal?

Thursday 23 May 2013

I don’t comment on all of our guests – that would be impossible – but I do like to mention some of them here. Two delightful Canadians stayed here last night. They had been invited to a wedding in Granada and decided to make a proper holiday of it. They went to the Barcelona F1 Grand Prix, then did quite a tour of Spain, including “Rural” Spain, before the wedding. They head back to Canada next week. I hope they recognise themselves here. James and Marisa (see last week’s post) have hardly moved from the roof terrace. They go home tomorrow. We will miss them.

Thursday 16 May 2013

I forgot to mention in my last post. Although we will have a house full of bikers for a week from tomorrow, our son and his wife also arrive tomorrow for a week. Will they be a help or a hindrance? Watch this space.

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Our Irish friends leave us tomorrow. Their flight is at 7:15am, so we need to leave here at 4:30am. No beer for me tonight! Then we have a couple of free days before the next group – bikers! Not just overnight, though. They are using us as a base and spending a week exploring the area.

Monday 6 May 2013

Well, Jill got back more-or-less safely. She fell and bashed her head and blacked her eye on the first day she was in England, but didn’t tell me until the day before she came home. Followers of this blog will know Jill fell and broke her arm in England last Christmas, and fell again when we were back this Christmas, so she doesn’t have a good track record for standing up!

Saturday 27 April 2013

I’m “Home Alone” this week, so I have been out taking some photos this morning (it sure beats doing all those jobs I’m supposed to be doing!) Have a look on my Los Arcos Facebook page. Just follow the link.

Monday 22 April 2013

We have become a regular stop off for bikers doing tours of Andalucía. Seven of them stayed here last night, all Dutch. They are all great guys. They arrive, settle in on the roof with a few beers, eat everything Jill puts in front of them, are very appreciative of everything we do for them, and are gone by 10 O’clock in the morning.

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Another week has flown by. We are really busy here with walking every day and dinner every night. I managed to get a sunburnt neck out walking on Monday, so I’m taking even more care than usual in future.

Wednesday 10 April 2013

As predicted on my Los Arcos Facebook page last week, summer started today. As I type this update it is nearly 4:30 in the afternoon, and it is hot – not just pleasant but hot. That’s probably it now until October or November. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Monday 1 April 2013

I think I have mentioned before, but we have had quite a wet spring. The forecast for the next week or so is changeable, but the temperature is creeping up. Those two meteorological phenomena combined are bringing out the very best wild flowers. Everywhere is starting to look like a meadow garden.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

A lovely walk followed by beer and tapas. The ironing’s done too, so now I can sit back and relax.

Friday 22 March 2013

I can’t believe it is 10 days since my last report! We have been busy entertaining – have a look at our Facebook page. Jill is the master (or should that be mistress?) of the Curry Night. I eat her food every day and even I have been impressed. On the weather front, it is becoming more spring-like every day. The wild flowers are already starting to bloom. It looks like being a bumper year.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

My small van needs testing early next month, so I have booked it in for a pre-test check. Every time I start the engine it looks as though a new Pope has been elected, so I had better get it fixed so as not to confuse things.

Friday 8 March 2013

In Spain we have a vehicle testing system similar to the MOT in England. My minibus has to be tested each year, but my ancient little van has to be tested twice a year. It is a very strict test, done at a Testing Station where they do not do servicing or repairs i.e. they have no vested interest in your failing. Yesterday was my once a year for the big van. Normally the men (they are all men where I go) are quite helpful, if business-like, with me as a foreigner, but the one I got yesterday must have got out of bed on the wrong side. He had to pass me, so I’m OK for another 12 months.

Monday 4 March 2013

Jill and I go walking in the mountains once or twice a week as a matter of course. During the last month or so it has become the norm for a group of us to take it in turns to lead a walk on Sundays. Yesterday the weather turned out better than the forecast had predicted, so we managed a beautiful 15 kms – followed by a beer, of course.

Wednesday 27 February 2013

We had a good turnout for our walk this morning. It was a useful exercise, and I am sure we can move things forward from here. We got some useful ideas, and with some goodwill, some work and a couple of pots of paint, we can get things started.

Friday 22 February 2013

I have recently joined a small group of people from the village who want to improve it in various ways. My personal agenda is to promote Rural Tourism. My first objective is to have the three local walks, known as “senderos” in Spanish, re-marked and made more easily passable. Then I hope to write a leaflet, in Spanish and English, and ask the Town Hall to print it and have it available for visitors to the village. Watch this space.

Monday 18 February 2013

Well, after a fabulous week with our grandchildren, I had to take them to the airport on Saturday for their flight home. You can spend as much money as you like on toys, but the pleasure my lot got from rolling oranges down the hill and chasing them to see whose went the furthest was priceless. I think it’s one of those occasions where people say “You had to be there”. The weather was so good that on Friday they had a paddling pool on the roof terrace.

Thursday 14 February 2013

Our daughter arrived on Saturday, along with her husband and four children. It’s a good job I drive a 9 seat minibus! There are several of us Brits here, so it is quite easy to borrow most things we need. We just had to buy one child seat this time. As it’s St. Valentine’s Day today, Claire and Steve are going out for a romantic dinner for two – at Sole’s, where I went for my birthday treat.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

It’s my birthday today, so Jill is taking me out to dinner. Anybody who has tasted Jill’s cooking will know that no meal out in this area goes close, but it’s good for a change, and it gives Jill a break from cooking. I hope I am in a fit state to do breakfast in the morning!

Thursday 31 January 2013

I got an iPad Mini for Christmas. It means I spend far less time at my big computer, which in turn means I haven’t been updating my news. Sorry! We have been out and about during the past week, looking at new walks. We have discovered some (more) beautiful places. I even had to wear one of my straw hats yesterday to keep the sun off.

Monday 21 January 2013

The weather remains mostly warm and dry (except for Saturday, when it rained all day!). I forgot to mention last week that while we were in England Jill fell down the stairs. She sprained her right ankle and probably broke the big toe on her right foot. She wouldn’t go to the hospital and just strapped it up and carried on. Needless to say, she didn’t go all out at her dance class on Thursday.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

We went to see Les Mis las night. It is a 90 minute drive to the cinema, so we booked in advance to be on the safe side. We needn’t have bothered. Including our party of 6 there were 16 people in the cinema. The film is brilliant, and as only the spoken bits are dubbed into Spanish – about 1% of the film – and the singing had Spanish sub titles, it was just like watching it in English (which maybe explains why there were so few Spaniards in the cinema). We didn’t spot our daughter-in-law in the crowd scenes!