There has been a cold icy crispness in the air for many weeks now, the rainy season had started right at the beginning of December, much earlier than normal this year, but what was more unusual was its persistence, for usually there would be three or four days of continuous rain before the sun would re-appear again, for up to a week or so, before another three of four days of rainfall. Although, the last two winters have actually been the opposite, unusually warm and dry, hence the following two years of severe drought, no chance of that happening again in 2026, as our local Embalse is currently sitting at 85% of its total capacity and, for safety reasons, they are actually having to conduct controlled releases of some of it. However, like most of Europe, North, South, East and West, last year, since the beginning of December and right through until the first week of January this year, the whole of Europe, including our location right down here in the South, the place everyone associates with perpetual winter sunshine, was being battered with persistent storms, many wreaking havoc and causing widespread floods as they do, and sadly, causing some fatalities as a consequence.

In our immediate area we have not suffered any major flooding since the devastating flood of December 2016, but this year, in a space of just seven days, between Christmas and New Year, we had received two ‘Red Alerts’ on our mobile phones warning of a ‘Danger of Flooding’ in our immediate area. Fortunately, although the storms did arrive as forecasted by the ‘Works of Fiction’, the threat of severe flooding didn’t, it appeared that we had escaped the worst, we discovered later that we had been extremely fortunate, as the small community of Manilva, which is just a ten minute drive further up the hill from us, and Estepona, just across the bay and only a twenty minute drive away, were not so fortunate, with flooded streets and homes, rivers and storm drains had been breached by the rising floodwaters and there just seemed to be no rhyme or reason for why we hadn’t suffered the same fate as our neighbouring communities, or was there ? Before the rainy season started we had witnessed the local council cleaning out all of the street drains, and clearing the storm drains of any debris, going as far as cutting back a lot of overgrown shrubbery lining the flood drains and the river beds, which could hinder the rapid free flow of flood waters from escaping into the sea, perhaps they had learned the hard lessons from the devastation caused nine year’s previously, prior planning and preparation had obviously payed off on this occasion.

Apart from the days when it has been particularly wet, and I have to say that there has been rather a lot of those wet days over the last few weeks, even so, we have started this New Year with pretty much the same pattern of activity as we had ended the previous year, that being with taking our daily walks along the seafront. Our walks are generally just about maintaining mobility, rather than for any real fitness objectives, although when we want to treat them as more of an ‘Exercise Session’ we just tend to up the pace in which we walk and often just extend the distance slightly, but the majority of our daily walks generally tend to be a distance of between 3-4 miles, with of course the mandatory refreshment stop at the midway point, well it would be rude not to wouldn’t it 🤭

One of my particular ‘quirks’, and yes I know that I have many of those, they come naturally, with the privilege of age and that is my excuse and I am sticking to it. So, in addition to my other quirks, or shall we just call them casual pastimes, such as the ‘People Watching’, ‘Fashion Policing’ and of course the ‘Body Beautiful Observations’ is the listening to, and observing, the sights and sounds of nature that is around me. Currently such observations are more related to the noises that accompany the strong, and extremely blustery winds, as they unceremoniously barge a pathway through the Palm Trees without even an excuse me, or to the high pitched whistling as this invisible force makes its way down narrow streets and alleyways kicking out of the way anything in its path, paper, tin cans and sometimes even empty wheelie bins (Trash cans to my readers over the pond). I particularly enjoy listening to the sounds of the waves as they crash on to the shoreline, or watch them, like Olympic gymnasts, leaping much higher than the thick block on block sea defence boulders, that protect the small entrance to the Marina, whipping up a spray of sand, grit and often larger pebbles as they do so, which then lay scattered on the surrounding roads and pathways. As I sit hugging my Vaso (Glass) of Cafe con Leche, I watch, almost hypnotically, at the white clumps of cloud as they race each other across the sky, like busy commuters in a hurry to get to their destinations. The debri strewn across the beach serving as evidence, not that any was required, of the very recent raging ‘Storm Francis’ that had hit our coastline. So I guess, if I really want to analyse my own behaviour’s, our walks are not solely as a means of exercise, or just to get from one point to another, they are actually also an excellent medium by way of promoting a good feeling of mental health, now you cannot argue with that and, as an added bonus, neither do you need to queue up at your GP’s surgery to get a prescription for it 😉

However, one of the downsides of this mental awareness activity is that I could also hear ‘other’, more familiar seasonal wintry sounds, although this time they were an unwanted intrusion emanating from the human element, namely the harsh and persistent guttural sounds of phlegm choking coughs, often going hand in hand with the sounds of sneezes, some gentle whilst other’s were much more boisterous and louder in their nature and, no matter where we walked, or sat, there was to be no respite from them, they attacked us from all directions. So although the weather may not have been the best, even in these much chillier conditions, Shazza and I still choose to sit outside in the fresh air, rather than being inside in the much warmer but more confined spaces, where bacterial infections are able to breed and multiply and are more easily distributed to newer hosts, even without any formal pre-arranged invitation. So yes, as a consequence of the Covid Pandemic, both Shazza and I still suffer with that same ‘paranoia’, although perhaps that is not such a bad trait, as we have both managed to remain free, although probably more by luck than judgement, from any of these more ‘usual’ seasonal bugs, as well as some of the more newer more recent one’s such as the newer strain of Covid, or the more recent wave of the Nora-virus that is doing the rounds. I find it interesting that the media refer to these rampant wandering bacterial infections by their respective official titles, whilst the Government’s and associated Health Authorities are still only loosely referring to them as just ‘Flu Like’ viruses, I wonder what they think they could be 🙄 The mandatory wearing of face masks, in clinical and medical environments and in care homes, has been extended here in Andalusia until the 6th February, this, according to the Regional Health Authority is, more of a precautionary measure, rather than an indication of anything more sinister, and hey, why would we have any cause to disbelieve them I ask myself ?

One morning, when we reached the sanctuary of one of our more usual seafront Cafe’s, two of our four ‘preferred’ choices of hostelry still remaining closed for their extended seasonal breaks, we sat outside, overlooking the promenade, beach and sea but were sheltered from the strong wind by their very efficient external patio windbreak, which was conveniently closed to the windward side but open on the opposite side and to the front. We were warmed a little, from both the piping hot coffee and also from the weaker, but still warm, rays of sunshine that occasionally managed to force itself through the somewhat swiftly moving blocks of thick white cloud. Many of the locals, who were sat on tables around us, obviously because all of the inside tables were occupied, huddled beneath their own deep layers of weather protection, many of whom we observed were constantly sniffling into their paper tissues 😲 As is usual they acknowledged our presence in the usual polite manner, which we obviously returned. Their response, to my comment that it was ‘Muy Frio” (Very Cold), was to give a shrug of their shoulders, smile and respond with, ‘Es Invierno” (It is Winter), but their response was not given in a clever or rude manner, just in a matter of fact sort of way, for yes it was indeed Winter, although some did acknowledge that this latest extended period of cold and wet weather was a little unusual for these parts. We had to smile when a woman, who was in a group of other, more elderly ladies, sat to one side of us, pointed at a person passing by the Cafe, this particular individual was wearing Summer shorts and a tee-shirt !! The elderly woman said, not in what you would reasonably consider to be anywhere like a hushed voice, “Obviamente un visitante del Ártico” (Obviously a visitor from the Arctic) before letting out a loud chuckle, her colleagues laughed, we laughed and several of the occupants on other tables laughed as well. Who says the Spanish don’t have a sense of humour ?

This sort of un-orchestrated chatter amongst strangers is common in Cafe’s and Bars but initially, not long after we had come to live here permanently, when our understanding and knowledge of the local lingo was in its infancy, we could never understand what was being said, or why the sudden laughter, Were they talking about us ? Were they laughing at us ? and although we were never made to feel unwelcome, we couldn’t help but feel a little isolated. So, now that we have a little better understanding, we are happy and much more comfortable in our surroundings, it has been worth the effort trying to learn Spanish, although we are both still a long way from being anywhere near perfect, but we have enough knowledge and understanding to at least now be a part of, and not just on the periphery, of such normal daily interactions.

In recent days, the storms have quelled, the mornings and evenings in particular are still pretty cold for this part of Spain, and the rain has not stopped completely, being more of drizzle or light rain rather than the heavier more torrential stuff, and that wet stuff only appears now for much shorter periods during the day, either at some point during the morning, afternoon or evenings, but rarely now for the whole day. The blue sky has returned, bringing with it longer periods of warming sunshine during the afternoons, and being back to the normal expected winter temperatures, which vary between 14 degrees(c) and, on a really good day, 18 degrees(c) although the strength of the wind remains variable from one day to the next, but we can handle going out in the winds.

Now the storms have passed, well for now at least, and the blocked roads and flooded streets in the nearby villages and towns have been cleared, we decided to go and have a change of view for our daily walk and headed the short distance into Estepona. It was a bright and sunny morning, although as we left home at 10:00am the mercury was still only registering 10 degrees(c) but that was better than the more recent 5-6 degrees(c) 🥶 However, by the by time we had reached our destination it had already risen another 3 degrees(c). We parked on a piece of waste ground opposite the large ‘Carrefour’ supermarket at the Northern end of Estepona which appears to also be the new home for the abundance of Winter Sun van dwellers, some temporary whilst other’s looked a little more long term. Recently the local authorities had put a height barrier across the wasteland by the Marina, this is where the majority of Motorhomers used to congregate, including ourselves in our former nomadic Motorhome days, but now they have re-located to this new piece of wasteland, which is right opposite the large Carrefour supermarket, where I suspect they will now choose to stock up on their groceries, beer and wine, whilst also being able to utilise the convenient eateries, situated both inside and outside of the supermarket, and of course their very convenient toilet facilities, during the hours when the store is open 😉 Now of course this will inevitably mean a loss of revenue to the numerous Cafe/Bars and Restaraunts, and the smaller Supermarket, that are located in the Marina complex. However, looking at it from both viewpoints, this large group of nomadic travellers, in their variety of vehicle sizes, shapes, colours and varying states of aesthetic beauty, will no longer be ‘eye-sores’ (Local media description not my own) for the occupants of the numerous expensive apartments that had to once overlook them. This new location, well currently at least as their is a new block of Apartments being constructed to the side of this wasteland, has no such overlooking issues and to be honest, from a motor-homers perspective, it is probably a much better location, as in addition to the large Supermarket across the road, this particularly large area of wasteland is on much higher ground and so not affected quite as much from the flooding issues as was often the case at the other location, which was often water logged, created by the waves that constantly used to breach the sea wall and from the rain filled potholed ground. The new location has partial views of the sea, and is quite literally just across the road from the promenade, beach and sea and still within a very easy walking distance of the town and all its facilities, probably a little closer than the original waste ground park up, so in the end it has turned out to be a bit of a win-win all round for both parties I suppose, but for how long it will stay that way for the Motorhomers, well that is always the perennial question ?

As we walked in to the town along the promenade we saw the state of the long beach, which was in an identical condition to our own after the latest storm and, as we wandered along some of the smaller back streets we could see that a lot of the litter and debris, washed down on the floodwaters, was still very much evident along with water soaked furniture, and personal possessions, strewn outside homes and the small businesses that had been victims of the flooding. The main reason for visiting Estepona on that particular day, a Sunday, other than the change of views for our daily walk, was that for months Shazza had wanted to go and take a look at the Sunday Farmer’s Market that set up in one of the Plaza’s just behind the main promenade, but we never quite found the enthusiasm to do it 🤷‍♂️ It was a very pleasant walk along the long promenade into the town, their were lots of people, either sauntering, like ourselves just enjoying a period of warm dry weather, their were joggers, cyclists, dog walkers, pram pushers (Some even had children and not dogs in them 😂). Unlike our own town,which is just really a normal working town that just happens to be situated right on the seafront, Estepona is a larger and more of what you would consider a holiday tourist destination, although behind the very long and wide seafront promenade is the main town, a combination of the old town and the new much more modern architecture, but it generally blends in well. I must admit that, had we have been able to have afforded it at the time, we would have preferred to have bought a property here, but even then, back in early 2015 , the property prices were out of our price range, now over ten years later, they are way beyond it, so beggars cannot be choosers, as the saying goes, although we do just happen to live in a pretty nice and slightly less touristy location, beauty is in the eye of the beholder as another saying goes.

We made our way to the location of this advertised ‘Sunday Farmers Market’ only to discover that their were just two stalls, each of which displayed the barest minimum of produce, the bulk of it being Oranges, this being the picking season for them. So it appeared that this is more of a Summer Attraction, and our lethargy in not getting here sooner had been to our own detriment, well for one of us it was, speaking for myself, I wasn’t particularly that bothered, I mean ‘ just how many vegetables can a person eat 🤷‍♂️’ Although instant reflection on that question, what with Shazza still well into her our ‘Plant Based’ dietary regime, that was probably a very stupid question Eric, just plain stupid ! Although ‘our’ local Fruiteria owner will be pleased to discover that he won’t be going out of business any time soon 😂 We had not come with any intention of visiting the main shopping area, it would have literally have just been window shopping anyway, because the majority of the retail shops in the main town area were closed, unlike a lot of places these days were Sunday’s are just normal shopping days, Spain still adheres to the Catholic principle of it being a rest day, that is apart from some specific periods during the Calendar year when it would appear that commercialism overrules principles 🤭 Anyway, the temperature had continued to rise as we walked around, it was now a very pleasant 18 degrees(c), so we walked back along the seafront, stopped at our usual seafront cafe when we are in Estepona, for a coffee and sandwich. The seafront was well busy now, not quite the levels of the Summer crowds, but it provided more than sufficient ‘People Watching’ opportunities, I could have stayed in that exact spot for the rest of the afternoon but Shazza had other ideas. She needed a new large saucepan and ‘Carrefour’ would have exactly what she needed, and it was the last time, after the recent festive period, that it would be permitted to be open on a Sunday. Strange really, before arriving Shazza had told me that she only needed one new saucepan, yet we left the store with not only the said saucepan, but also two new cutlery knives and a couple of new pillows for the bed, items that we also apparently required, although were never once mentioned before entering the store 🤔

A couple of days later when we went out on one of our normal daily walks, ‘It Had Commenced Just Like Any Other Day’, it was a bit overcast and chilly, but dry, the ‘Works of Fiction’ had forecast some rain for later in the afternoon, and for many more days in the coming week, so we decided to get out whilst we still could. We were just approaching the Southern end of our local town when, in the distance at one end of the promenade I could see a Guardia Civil police vehicle parked up by the promenade wall, on the actual pedestrian walkway, with its blue lights flashing. My curiosity was raised, could it be that they were waiting to intercept another inflatable dinghy with ‘unauthorised’ Immigrants about to be offloaded on to our beach, or drug smugglers ? These are regular activities that occur all along the whole stretch of this coastline, from La Linea in the South all the way up and beyond Malaga to the North. As we got closer we could see a second Guardia Civil vehicle, one uniformed Officer was stood right on the front of the beach and it looked like he was filming something in the water on his mobile phone, but their was no vessel anywhere nearby, three other Officers were stood on the promenade, one had binoculars hung around his neck. We stood and looked out to see but at first we could not see anything, then as our gaze went to just in front of where the Officer on the beach was standing, we saw something in the water, it appeared to be floating on the surface, but barely moving, with the swells of the waves we could not make out what it was, perhaps a clump of bin bags, a stash of drugs which had perhaps fallen overboard, or been discarded, by smugglers, or perhaps a body 😲 We watched for several minutes, intrigued as to what this shape was in the water, it was close to shore but just a little too far out to wade in and retrieve it, we could hear conversation going on over the police hand held radios that they were carrying, perhaps they had called for a police boat to assist them ? A small crowd had begun to form, we were part of it, and so Shazza asked one of the locals, in perfect Spanish, if they knew what was going on. “Una gran tortuga quedó atrapada en las redes de los pescadores” (A large sea turtle is trapped in fishermen’s nets) they told her. As we continued to watch we saw a large flipper, and I do mean large, it appeared out of the water and was thrashing around frantically, then its large head popped above the surface, this was certainly no small turtle you see regularly in the rivers here, but what was this large species doing here, and this close to shore ?The poor animal was gasping for breath each time it managed to raise its head out of the water, but the weighted net was pulling it down and keeping it under the water, it was obviously getting extremely tired as it struggled continuously to free itself, the frequency of it coming up for air was getting fewer and fewer.

I have often watched nature documentaries on TV which show the impact of pollution in our oceans, many that show a wide variety of species getting trapped in discarded fishing equipment, nets, ropes and many other plastic products, but I never expected to witness it happening before my very eyes on our own stretch of public beach here in Spain. Now to be clear, this turtle was not trapped in a ‘discarded’ fishing net, this small net was one which the local fishermen stretch out from small fishing boats that are, when not in use, parked up on the beach and then hand hauled into the shallow water, they are put out and recovered in the same day but the timings vary according to the tides. The nets remain close to shore to catch generally the small Boquerones (Anchovies) that swim in huge numbers up and down the coastline. We do on occasions during our walks, or whilst sat enjoying our coffee, see pods of dolphins hunting and feasting on them, but we have never seen large turtles like this one along our coastline before. We stood and watched as this terrible scene played out before us for around twenty-minutes, then with no obvious signs of help arriving from land or sea we decided that we didn’t want to watch the animal drown, so we continued with our walk into the town.

After first visiting our usual Fruiteria on the upper high street, where I thought it best not to mention that we were only there because Shazza could not find anything at the Estepona Farmers Market 🤭 We then headed back down to the Plaza where we had noticed earlier that ‘Annie’s’ Cafe/Bar had re-opened. Shazza claimed an empty outside table whilst I went inside to order, on warmer days we would usually just sit, soaking up the warm sunshine, waiting for Annie, or her son ‘Juanma’, to come out and take our order, but as it was overcast and still quite chilly in the Easterly breeze, we chose haste over leisure. Annie was stood behind the bar when I entered and a big beaming smile came across her face when she saw me walking towards her, she scurried around and gave me a hug, and the traditional friendly greeting of a kiss on either cheek, “Hola, Que tal ? (Hello, how are you) she enquired, “Feliz Ano Nuevo, soy Muy bien gracias, et tu ?” (Happy New Year, I am very well thank you, and you ?) I responded. I placed our usual order of two coffees but also added a bacon roll for myself, a rare occurrence these days I hasten to add, Shazza had her much healthier breakfast before leaving home. When Annie delivered our coffee’s outside, she copied the same friendly greeting with Shazza, this extra friendly behaviour is what probably makes this particular Cafe/Bar our favourite, that, and the fact that Annie is our unofficial local language tutor. Not that any of our other three usual Cafe/Bars are unfriendly, quite the opposite, but in them we are just like the other’s, a couple of their regulars who exchange the basic verbal pleasantries.

On our walk back we could see the larger crowd that had amassed around where there was now a turtle rescue operation in full swing. A small motorised Guardia Civil vessel was on the scene, the two people on board attempting to cut the fishing net, but it looked difficult, the swell kept moving the boat dangerously close to the beach where, under the water were sharp rugged rock formations, so every so often one of the rescuers would have to rush back to the wheelhouse to re-manoeuvre the vessel into a safer position. Of course the additional problem was that the turtle was in a distressed state, it had no idea that these people were trying to help it, for all it knew was that they may have been the one’s whose net it had been entrapped in and they were going to kill it, so it became a tug of war as, even in its exhausted state, it still attempted to swim clear and thrashed its large flipper in and out of the water. Thankfully, after watching for what must have been another thirty or forty minutes, one of the rescuers gave a thumbs up signal and we saw the large shape swim out to deeper water and disappear under it. We hoped that it had not been injured, either from its own initial struggles to free itself from the net, or from the resulting rescue attempts.

There are many days when we make this same walk where we see nothing out of the ordinary, but then, very occasionally we witness events like this, or a pod of hunting dolphins rounding up a shoal of sardines then feasting upon them or, fuel smugglers loading large containers from the beach onto a waiting boat even, although some years ago now, a shootout on the beach between the police and drug smugglers who had had their motorised dinghy forced onto the beach by an overhead Guardia Civil helicopter. Over our past ten year’s or so we still consider our lives here to be a bit ‘Forrest Gump’, not with just the weather but with daily life in general, ‘You just never know what you are going to get’.

When we returned home I had to satisfy my curiosity about what sort of large turtle this could possibly have been so ‘Mr Google’ was called upon to assist. I discovered, to my surprise, that there are several species of Oceanic Turtles that survive throughout the Mediterranean, but the largest are the endangered ‘Loggerhead’ and also the ‘Green’ turtles, but which one we had seen we couldn’t really establish, the size could have matched either but if it had have been the Loggerhead, weighing in at an average of 180Kg, then I can understand why the rescue had been so difficult.

The forecasted rain from the ‘Works of Fiction’ predictions, which was supposed to arrive at around 3pm, finally made an appearance eight hours later 🙄 I awoke several times during the night and could hear it tapping quite loudly on the external security shutters but, by the morning, when we got up, it was dry and bright, but no sunshine. This, according to the ‘Works of Fiction’, would be the same weather pattern for the coming week, so we would have to rely on our own ‘Forrest Gump’ methodology to determine whether when, or if, we could get out for more of our walks 🤷‍♂️

Just before I finish with this latest ramble I have to just provide you, my reader’s, with some evidence to support my belief that this world of our’s has actually gone ‘Stark Raving Barking Mad’, and yes, the Pun is intended.

Until my next ramble…………..

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

As this is the first of this new year’s rambles I would of course like to commence by wishing you all a, ‘Feliz y Prospero Ano Nuevo’ (Happy and Prosperous New Year) and both Shazza and myself trust that, wherever you were in the world last year celebrating the festive period, we hope that you had a safe and very pleasant one.

Now then, there is a popular saying, one that is used in a variety of ways, and on a variety of different occasions throughout a year, generally associated with when there is a clearing out of possessions that are no longer required, or just general clutter that accumulates over time, when perhaps people move House or do major Spring Cleaning, or when there is a Change of Government, even a Change of Management or staff etc. etc. but, it is also a statement that is heard more traditionally at the start of each New Year, and that statement is of course, “Out With The Old and In With The New”. I have repeated that same sentence myself over the years, not just at New Year, although now, as each year seems to be racing by, and far too swiftly for my liking, I am beginning to find myself a little less fond of its use, especially when it is a phrase aimed directly at me from my own beloved’s lips, “Happy New Year darling, out with the old, and in with the new” she said, as we both awoke on a rather grey and miserable wet first day of 2026, making sure of course that she put an emphasis on the words ‘out with the old’ and doing so in a mischievous manner, with a wry smile on her face, followed by a cheeky chuckle and wink of her eye. I quickly remind her that we now live in Spain where, ‘officially’, people are not considered as being ‘Old’ until they reach the age of 74 years, “No need to worry then my darling, well not for another five years at least” she says, with a much too hearty a laugh for my liking. So, should I be concerned that she is now looking for a newer, more younger model, rather than the older more familiar one I ask myself 😲 I am confident that I don’t really have anything to worry about, well not for the time being at least, for there is something to be said for us more senior models, familiarity, reliability (If you exclude DIY skills 😁), and there is even a certain comfort in already being aware of all the quirks, groans and squeaking parts 😂

Anyway, what have we been up to since the last ramble ? Well, we entertained what were our last visitor’s for 2025, my Sister and Brother-in-Law from Australia, but I already referred to that in my last ramblings. They arrived with us on the 18th December and departed again on the 22nd December, ready to take on the next stage of their ‘Grand-parenting duties’ back in the UK, before returning home to the land down under, armed with the knowledge, from people already well experienced in the Grand parenting field, that this would be the start of a very long journey for them, and we didn’t mean it in the context of their personal holiday travels, although with two of their three new favourite ‘little people’ now living on the other side of the world to themselves, those long haul trips may also become more regular events 🤭

I think they agreed with us, due to the much cooler Spanish Winter temperatures, and this year, the much wetter conditions, that perhaps their next visit to us should be in the Spring or Summer, to see Spain at its best, with its colourful countryside and Fiesta’s and of course its warm temperatures. But nevertheless, they had enjoyed their few days with us and between the clouds, that brought some light rainfall, we did manage to get out on the three full days that they were with us and they commented on just how relaxed everything felt. I guess living in a busy city the much calmer vibes of this part of Southern Spain is very noticeable.

Once we had driven our guests back to the airport on the Monday morning, we returned and, after a brief stop at our local supermarket, got ourselves settled down at home again, where we enjoyed a somewhat quiet, but very enjoyable, Christmas and New Year period by ourselves. We had our ‘British’ traditional Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve and then, throughout Christmas Day afternoon, and early evening, we had a selection of both Hot and Cold ‘Spanish’ style Tapas, so keeping a foot in each camp as it were. We of course ignored the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts most days and trusted once again in our own ‘Forrest Gump’ methodology, which you will not be surprised to hear, turned out to be much more accurate than the official predictions 🙄 so we were able to get out for our regular walks along the seafront on most days, which was nice in the sunshine, although we did have to get wrapped up against the bitterly cold and icy ‘Polar Blast’ that was impacting the whole of Europe at this time. However, the cold didn’t prevent us from partaking of our usual refreshment stops and people watching opportunities, after all their are some traditions and routines that still have to be maintained, festive season or not, it would be rude not to.

We did however take a break from our walking routine on Christmas Day, not for any religious reason you understand, no purely practicalities, because all of the Cafe/Bars were closed on that particular day, how inconsiderate of them 😂 Fortunately for us, the Spanish do not celebrate ‘Boxing Day’ (26th December) as a National Holiday, so the majority of the shops and Cafe/Bars were once again open and so we were able to once again resume our more usual daily routine. Apart from the almost mandatory over-indulgence of Christmas food, Christmas Music and Christmas Movies, this year’s festive period had been pretty much just normal days on our own particular Calendar, although we had of course spoken, via video calls, or text messages, with our family and friends located in the various different countries around the globe, to exchange festive wishes. To be honest even those family communications are just normal regular events that ordinarily take place throughout the duration of the year anyway, but we at least did get to share the excitement of our Grandchildren as they opened up their presents 🤗 Apart from the calls and texts and consuming some of the more specific and traditional festive fayre for this time of year, for ourselves it wasn’t really that different from any of our normal day’s. But then of course, being retired and already living a life of leisure, we don’t have cause to celebrate, or perhaps fully appreciate, the extended time off from work like a lot of other’s still have to do. All in all, the Christmas and New Year festive period were just normal kind of days for us although, and I say this with a smile on my face, without as many of the vegetables, legumes and many other of the more usual ‘Plant Based’ delicacies we would generally consume on a daily basis, so yes, for me in particular, it did feel rather like a bit of a holiday, as I got stuck in to my Turkey, Mince Pies, Christmas Pudding and all of the other totally unhealthy delicacies that are an essential part of the festive celebrations and, with their only being the two of us, well somebody had to suffer and eat, and drink, the majority of it 😂 However, I am sure that I will pay for that over indulgence when I next stand on the bathroom scales 🫣

Now I cannot say this with any certainty, but perhaps their may be some of you reading this ramble that ‘may’ probably think that we are a couple of lonely old sod’s who live in isolation, but that would be a totally wrong assumption, for whilst we do tend to choose to live a more ‘secluded’ lifestyle, enjoying doing things together by ourselves, rather than in wider social groups, that should not be confused with us being lonely or anti-social. We do still actually enjoy being amongst other people, and also enjoy speaking to them, as and when the opportunities arise throughout the year. Even at this time of year, we have lost count of how many people we have said ‘Feliz Navidad y Una Prospero Ano Nuevo’ (Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year) to, people that we do regularly see and speak to, and even complete stranger’s that we see on our walks or meet in the Cafe/Bars, or exchanging the pleasantries with the familiar faces of the shopkeepers and staff in the retail shops, the owner’s and staff in the Cafe/Bars that we regularly frequent.

I do confess that sometimes we even ask ourselves whether we are a bit of an oddity, preferring our own company rather than joining the multitude of ‘Expat’ groups that exist, so it was a bit reassuring to talk with a German couple we have come to know, who just happen to frequent the same Spanish Cafe/Bars as ourselves. They came over for a chat, and of course to exchange festive greetings, and we discovered that they, like ourselves, were spending the festive period by themselves this year, after having a hectic Christmas in 2024 visiting a whole host of relatives and friends back in their native homeland. We of course also saw some of our Spanish, and other International neighbours, who live in our own residential community, whilst we were coming and going, as well as the Cleaner and Gardner, whose only day’s off were on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, so I don’t know, perhaps it is just an age thing, where we no longer feel that we have to be out partying, or house hopping, or travelling hundreds of miles to be with family and friends at this time of year 🤷‍♂️

We do of course sometimes miss the much closer proximity of our immediate family, that goes without saying, but that also applies to at any other time of the year, not just during the festive period, but we already knew beforehand that this would be one of the more negative aspects of coming to live permanently in another country. However, we do still get to see and speak with them on both Christmas Day and on New Year’s Eve, as well as throughout the rest of the year, thanks to the advances in communication technology, but also, their enthusiasm in wanting to regularly come out to visit us here in Spain, both during our former ‘Schengen Shuffle’ periods and since permanently re-locating to live here, probably more than we had initially envisaged means that perhaps the time and distance apart is not felt as much. So, ‘Isolated’ we are not whereas, our choice of ‘Seclusion’, does have its own advantages 😉

What came as a bit of a surprise for us this year was a rare occurrence, for our particular area of Spain, was the sight of snow on the ‘lower foothills’ of our surrounding mountains, we rarely get to see snow even on the higher peaks that surround our particular area and, whilst frost, snow and ice is not unusual in many other parts of Spain, even Granada has its Ski slopes up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but you can be Ski-ing on the ‘Pistes’ in the morning and Sunbathing on the Costa del Sol beaches in the afternoon, but the white stuff is not a common sight in our particular area, we are much more accustomed to reading about it in the media, as opposed to actually seeing it with our own eyes, fortunately though, even those lower foothills are still a good drive away from us.

Additionally, some of the Costa del Sol beaches, around an hour or so away, in Malaga City and extending further North along the coast, found people waking up to what they initially thought was snow covering the sand, promenades and streets, but it had actually been due to a heavy hailstorm and, as a consequence of the very cold temperatures, it hadn’t melted away.

During the evening of the 27th December, around 9pm, we were sat watching a film on Netflix when we both nearly jumped out of our skins, both of our mobile phones, in unison, let out a high pitched beeping alarm. It was a ‘Red Alert’ from the local ‘Civil Guard Authorities’ warning of ‘Extreme Danger’ in our local area and wider parts of the Malaga Province from rising flood water, even instructing people living in low lying and coastal areas, or by Rivers, to get to higher ground 😲

Now I may have mentioned this once or twice before in these rambles, but neither Shazza or myself are what you would call particularly religious, although Shazza can often be heard in prayer, or at least I think she is praying, for she often uses the phrases ‘Oh My God’ or ‘Jesus Christ’, and not just at Christmas 🤭 However I did just happen to remind her that, very recently, the ‘Authorities’ had held a Tsunami exercise, and on top of that we have also, very recently, experienced several ‘Earthquakes’ in our immediate local area and now, a ‘Red Alert’ informing us of ‘Extreme Danger’ from ‘Flooding’. Now it cannot be just a coincidence that all the world’s Media is full of stories about the increase in the number of ‘Food Banks’ that exist, and of course, the wide assortment of various ‘Bacterial Viruses’ that are currently in global circulation which, once again appears to have increased in this last year, so perhaps these may be considered, although not vocalised by any Governments as being, ‘Famine’ and ‘Pestilence’ 😲 But somewhere deep in the recesses of my memory, I recalled very similar references, to all of these types of events happening at the same time, and published in a certain globally popular book, more usually found in religious buildings, as well as bedside lockers in hotel rooms where, in it, in a chapter that made numerous ‘Revelations’ (You may need to have read this certain book to understand that little quip) but in that particular publication it associated the combination of all of these things coming together as being events that would mark towards the end of the world and humanity as we know it, they used the word ‘Armageddon’ to describe such an apocalyptic event 😲

However, after the loud beeping had stopped, I went on to the balcony and looked out through the windows at the stormy weather, and whilst I could certainly see through the flashing lights in the dark sky, the cavalry of white stallions riding in battalions on the tumultous waves towards the shoreline, and I could hear the heavy rumbles of thunder, created by their rapidly approaching hooves, but I didn’t see any evidence of them being led by the ‘Four Horsemen Of The Apocolypse’. So although it was quite a nasty and chaotic night out in the stormy weather, I assured Shazza that I could not see the troublesome foursome riding towards us, and as we were living on a hill and excess water tended to run downhill, I considered that we were safe enough in our elevated sanctuary, so I sat back down, picked up my glass of Anti-Covid Vaccine in one hand, and grabbed a handful of Salted Peanuts with the other, and we both finished watching the film 🤷‍♂️

I have mentioned on numerous occasions in these rambles at just how strange it appears, that we seem to sit between two weather systems, one to the North of us from Estepona, which as I keep mentioning is only a 20 minute drive away, the other to the South of us, and in the area around the town of La Linea, which is only a 30 minute drive away 🤷‍♂️ So although the media reports from around our own area, and further afield, reflected a weekend of devastation we had appeared to have escaped. We went for a walk the following morning, just to see with our own eyes, whether there had been any sort of localised flooding or damage in the Village, Marina or our local town of Sabinillas, which may not have been disastrous enough to make the media headlines, but there was absolutely nothing, other than the puddles of water after the weekends heavy rainfall. We both asked the same question of ourselves ‘How can this be ?’ but as usual, we could find no answer, not even the locals in the Cafe/Bar that morning could believe the carnage created just a few miles up the road, was this divine intervention ? or, as we more realistically suspected, just another case of sheer good luck 🙏

The remaining days before the next festive event, New Year’s Eve, was just back to the more usual daily routines, walks, coffee stops, shopping, post Christmas clean of the apartment and the laundry. The Spanish celebrate New Year’s Eve a lot more quietly, although the larger Cities and Towns do celebrate with fireworks when the clocks strike midnight, but usually family events are spent at home and the Bars, Cafe’s and Restaurants are not generally open, at least to the general public although larger Spanish family groups may hold events behind closed doors in some of them. The Marina’s, who cater more for the tourist and expat communities do however hold the usual New Year’s Eve parties, but these are generally closed events, where attendance and tables have to be booked months in advance.

The next major celebration for the Spanish is, as I may have mentioned in a more recent ramble, is ‘Three Kings Day’ on 6th January, although the large parades are held the day before. This celebration is actually more like our Christmas Day for the Spanish, when gifts are exchanged and festive meals are consumed, including the traditional ‘Roscón de Reyes’, although I must confess to having our’s a little earlier than we really should have, but just so that our visitor’s could experience something that was Traditionally Festively Spanish, as they would not actually be in Spain for either Christmas or New Year.

On New Year’s Eve Day, Shazza and I conducted our own personal review of 2025 and, we agreed that whilst initially we had thought that we hadn’t done that much throughout the year, it had actually been another reasonably active, and productive one, we had enjoyed several travel experiences of our own, both extended one’s and some mini-breaks, we had hosted and entertained several family visitors, met up with some friends in different locations in both the UK and Spain and, we had completed two major projects in our apartment (En-suite Bathroom and complete redecoration of the apartment), so we had agreed that at least we had not just been sat on our arses over the last twelve months.

So, what do we have planned for 2026 🤔 Well I am certain that this will come as no surprise to you, but again we actually have nothing actually planned, we will just go with the flow again 🤷‍♂️ We do know that their are a couple of official ‘Bureaucratic’ process that we will have to conduct this year, the most important one being the renewal of our residency permit for another two year’s, but that isn’t until June, before that, in May, getting together all the documentation ready to submit our Annual Spanish Tax return, although to be honest they are both primarily administrative processes. We already know, although not exact dates, that at various points throughout the coming year, we will again host family and friends, other than that there will be the annual Fiesta’s and of course our own personal travels, which we have discussed and will hopefully involve city breaks around other parts of Europe and also a bit more exploration around different parts of Spain.

There is one immediate task I now have to complete, as we move into a New Year, and that is to conduct my 2025 end of year Financial Review. I did the same last year for 2024, which I shared with you, as many people who were themselves thinking of making the move to Spain were interested in, although I have to say that the interest came primarily from those living in the USA and Canada. However with that 2024 Financial Review, being our first ‘full’ year of living in Spain, there was nothing to compare it with, so it will be interesting to see how we have done, in respect of any ‘Cost of Living’ variations and what amendments and increases we may need to make to our monthly individual budget pots 🤔 Although I do this review for my own personal benefit, do let me know if you would be interested in me again publishing my 2025 review, but with one proviso from me, this review is based on our lives here, just the two of us, owning our property with no Mortgage or Rent to pay, retired and with no other income other than our Pensions. It will be different for people who are younger and have to work or indeed come with other family dependents.

In conclusion to a slightly longer first ramble of the year than I had initially intended, so at least some things don’t change eh 😂 But can I just say that no matter where you, my reader’s, may be living in the world, yes the grass is ‘sometimes’ greener on the other side of the fence, and sometimes it isn’t, depending on what your expectations are and, of course, if you elect never to cross that fence then you will never know 🤷‍♂️ Yes, the world can sometimes appear to be an unpleasant place to live in, no matter where you live or, what you choose to believe, from reading the usual Media publications or on the numerous Social Media Channels, but remember, especially with the Social Media one’s, the publishers of that content are there to solely make money for themselves, from you, although you cannot criticise them for that. Even the mainstream media headlines, they are only a very small snapshot of what may, or may not, be going on in the much larger outside world and they too, like the individuals on Social Media, are ‘Influencer’s’ trying to influence your thought’s and actions. Yes there are a multitude of bacterial viruses in circulation, some more usual ones and other newer one’s, but that is the same almost anywhere these days and the majority are treatable, either by regulated medications or via your own safeguards and common sense actions. There are lots of things going on this world that do not, or quite possibly, will not, impact on ‘you’ personally and, there are also many things that may, but for which you personally will have no control or influence over, and I wonder where you may have you heard that many times before 🤔 So, let 2026 be the year where you just ‘Live The Best Possible Life That You Can’, yes you may have to navigate some challenges put in your way, but also remember that when they arise, take any opportunities that may also be available to you. You never know, upon reflection, you may already acknowledge and accept, that you may already be living that best life, you just hadn’t realised it because ‘others’ influenced you to believe otherwise, sometimes though, you just cannot see something that is already right in front of you, because you were looking in a different direction 😉

FELIZ ANOS NUEVOS 2026 🎉🍾🍷

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

As I mentioned in my previous ramble, the cooler Winter temperatures had started to descend upon us just as we commenced our short mini-trip to Almeria and although, once we had returned home, the temperatures did start to return to their more normal milder highs for this time of year, between 18-20 degrees(c), with warming sunshine, it was to be only a temporary reprieve. The first week of December arrived with a bit of a surprise, but not a pleasant one, for it started with a whole week of extremely cold air temperatures, not just the normal downward trend that we have become accustomed to here. We both found ourselves having to dig out our warmer longer sleeved shirts, our thicker winter sweaters and even warm outer coats, we couldn’t honestly recall ever having to resort to wearing three thick layers of clothing whilst spending any of our previous Winter’s here in this part of Spain. Sod’s Law struck as well, as our two bar halogen electric heater, that we rely upon to keep us warm during the chillier Winter evening’s, also decided that this would be an opportune moment for it to give up the ghost, so whether we wanted to or not, we had to brave the elements and go into our local town to purchase a new one. So 2025 has certainly been a funny old year, weather wise that is, as we have experienced an unusually and excessively long, and much hotter Spring and Summer period, temperatures up to 45 degrees(c) which, for these parts at least, had been some 10 degrees(c) higher than normal 🥵 and now, here we were, at the beginning of December, experiencing a very much earlier, and very much colder, Winter period 🤷‍♂️ Although putting it into some sort of perspective, as yet, our Winters in this part of Spain do not involve having to face Frost, Ice or Snow, but with the climate changing globally, who knows what we may encounter in future year’s 🤷‍♂️

It had been just a couple of days or so after publishing my last ramble, when I was sat on the balcony enjoying my usual morning coffee, gazing out of the window lost in my own little world of thoughts when Shazza graced me with her presence, “Did the earth move for you this morning my darling ?”, she said with a rye grin on her face. ‘Oh my God !’ I thought to myself in horror, dementia must have finally set in, quite suddenly and with no prior warning, for surely I would have remembered such a rare rampant bedroom olympics event like that happening 😂 I hadn’t at that point perused the morning news media, I am never in a hurry these days to see what ‘Doom and Gloom’ is happening around the world, usually it is just the same shit just a different day, however I guessed that somewhere here in Spain there had been yet another Earthquake. They are not that unusual here and happen many times throughout the year, although usually they are minor quakes, or one’s that occur up in the more mountainous areas, like the Province of Granada for example, or even out in the Alboran Sea, the part of the Mediterranean which lay between Southern Spain and the coast of Africa. So it did come as a bit of a shock (No pun intended) when she informed me that the latest ones had occurred in both Fuengirola, only one hour North of us, and a smaller one even closer to home, in Estepona, just twenty minutes away 😲

However, unlike a James Bond Martini, we were ‘Niether Stirred Or Shaken’ 😂

There was another local media article that morning, and one that did grab my attention, one which involved an event that we both agreed that we should make the effort to go and see as, according to the journalist who reported on it stating that we ‘may not’ get another opportunity to see it for another 17 year’s, this event being a ‘Super Moon’, although I did mention to Shazza that, if all goes according to my personal mortality plan, thinking of my ‘Blue Zone’ age target here 😉 then we should both get to see at least another one, perhaps even more. Shazza just gave me one of her looks and then said, in her pessimistic tone, “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself my love, what with all of these viruses doing their rounds once again, Super Flu, Covid, Nora Virus, Monkey Pox, Avian Flu, Wild Boar infected with African Swine Flu, Western Nile Disease and TB, and that’s only if World War III doesn’t kick off and get us first” 😲 I laughed, “Is it staying so cheerful that keeps you going my darling ?” I asked her 🤭

Now in relation to this ‘Super Moon’ and to be completely truthful, I should say that it was perhaps just one of us that was probably more eager than the other to go out in the freezing cold to stand staring up at a moon and, as the less than enthusiastic one pointed out, we would very likely get to see it anyway from our very own balcony, Mmmmmm 🤔 she may have a point, I thought quietly to myself. However, as quick as a flash I asked her, by way of an example, “Would you have preferred to have gone and actually looked at Van Gogh’s Paintings, in an exhibition hall or, just to have looked at pictures of them on Google 🙄” She smiled mischievously, “But ‘you’ would still actually physically get to see this Supermoon with your own eyes, and not just a photograph of it, and from the warmth and comfort of your own home” she said. I laughed again, “Damn it, okay you have got me there” I replied. She then smiled and said, “But, if you do really want to actually go out and see it, we could always go to the Marina where we could perhaps partake of Dinner whilst watching it, so we could enjoy a nice meal and a dose, or two, of Anti-Covid Vaccines into the bargain, Win Win !” She said with a smile, and in a manner that sounded very much like I had been manipulated, once again !

As it happened, neither of us actually got to witness this ‘Super Moon’ event, as the ‘Works of Fiction’ decided not to play ball and instead, on the one night it was due to appear, they served up a thick carpet of cloud, that not even the golden rays of a ‘Super Moon’ could penetrate, so it wasn’t that ‘Super’ was it 🤷‍♂️ So, in the end we did not bother going out for Dinner therefore I lost out on two counts, no Super Moon and no Anti-Covid Vaccines either ☹️

Now those of you with a good memory may recall that, in a very much earlier ramble, nearer the beginning of this year, I mentioned that once we had got our new bathroom renovation completed, that our last major task was to finish re-decorating the whole apartment. We had initially re-decorated it throughout, when we first bought the apartment in 2015, which although that may seem to be a long time ago, in all fairness, for the first eight years we had owned the apartment, we had not been living in it full time, just for two ‘separate’ three month periods every year during our ‘Schengen Shuffle’ trips, so in my view it wasn’t looking that bad. We had however, already made a start on some of the rooms earlier this year, just before the arrival of our Summer guests, that included the guest room and bathroom, the kitchen and the balcony but we now had the master bedroom (the en-suite already having been done as part of the renovation work), the inner hallway and the Living/Dining room to do and Shazza was insistent that she wanted to do two coats of paint in each of those rooms 😳 Although she said that she had no start date in mind, she did want to go to the Pinturas (Paint Shop) as soon as possible to get the paint, masking tape and new rollers in readiness for when she decided to fire the starting gun, so on the day we went to post our Christmas Cards at the main Correos (Post Office) in town, we also made a diversionary port of call to the Pinturas and acquired everything that was necessary.

Needless to say, Shazza fired the starting gun on the decorating task the following day, which in truth I had already suspected that she would, I know her too well for it to have come as any sort of a surprise 🙄 “Well, your sister and brother-in-law arrive in three weeks time, just before Christmas, and I want it to be all completed by then” she said. Now normally I would do all the ceilings and coving’s, and she would do the walls and skirting boards, but this time she said that she was going to do it all herself, what the cheeky bugger actually said was, and I quote her word for word, “At your age I don’t want you climbing up and down ladders or over stretching and falling off 😲” Well, you can probably already imagine just how hard I remonstrated with her, it must have been at least a full two minutes 😂 So we did come to a compromise, whereupon I agreed to become her labourer, which involved me being the furniture shifter, washer of accessories (Removable Light and Electrical Socket covers and surrounds, glass book shelves, ceiling light glass lampshades, ornaments and all that sort of stuff etc), also I would be responsible for keeping the kitchen clean and tidy throughout the day, washing and tidying up after our meals, do the bit of outstanding ironing that was on the side waiting to be done, and of course the very important task of being the tea boy. I actually think that, upon hindsight, I probably pulled the short straw on this occasion, I mean how hard can it actually be to spread paint across a wall using a roller 🤔 However, I kept that thought to myself, more for reasons to do with my own personal survival 😂 At the end of the day, well a total of six full days actually, when all is said and done, it was still a sort of joint effort, and I do have to say that Shazza had made an excellent job of the re-decorating, so good in fact that I almost suggested that I could rent out ‘her’ decorating services to our neighbours so that ‘we’ could earn some additional income to top up our Pensions, however, that was another thought that quite sensibly I believed, was probably best kept to myself too 🤭

We did take a day off at the mid-way point, partly because after a period of four nice warm and sunny days the ‘Works of Fiction’ had forecasted that we had a mixed bag of drizzle, rain and falling temperatures coming, so we wanted to enjoy what may have been our last chance of enjoying a walk in some pleasant sunshine, and an opportunity to sit having a morning coffee, looking out upon the Beach, Sea and Mountain View’s and of course engaging in a spot of ‘People Watching’, it would have been rude not to of course. The other reason being that Shazza was getting withdrawal symptoms from not visiting the ‘Fruiterias’ for several days 😂

As we strolled along the promenade, the bit between the Marina and the town, there was not a single breath of wind, the flags high up on the flag poles by the beach, lay limp and motionless, the sea was virtually a still calm, although there was a sea haze that partially obscured the view of the mountains that were located across the other side of the bay. We saw one of the local fishing boats just a short distance from the beach, actually it was unusually close, normally the local beach fishermen use much smaller boats, which they either row out, or which are powered by small outboard motors, but which run no risk of running aground in the shallower waters in order to fish this close to the beach, usually in search of the vast shoals of Boquerones (Anchovies), a particular delicacy of the Spanish. So we were intrigued as to what this larger boat was up to, we stopped and watched, had they run aground we wondered 🤔 As we looked out at the boat we could see a line at the stern of the vessel, stretching out in a seaward direction, from the Starboard side (Right), I realised that this was an anchor line, preventing the boat from actually drifting too close to the shoreline, and so not risking their vessel from running aground, and then we saw one of the two occupants on-board throw out a small net on the Port (Left) Bow side, obviously trying to get their share of the Boquerones. Our curiosity satisfied we continued with our walk, we never know what we are going to see on our walks, sometimes nothing out of the ordinary but then, on another day, well who knows what will catch our attention, a pod of dolphins close to shore, working as a team to create a tight ball of fish, which they then force to the surface before plunging into them to feed, or perhaps a flock of cormorants following a shoal of fish then diving and splashing into the water, like a squadron of fighter aircraft picking them off one by one, paddle-boarders, wind surfers, sailing yachts, dog walkers, even those brave enough to take a dip into the much cooler Winter water and then, sometimes, we see absolutely nothing at all out on the water and we just listen to the waves as they wash up onto the shoreline, sometimes just gentle ripples and sometimes crashing white horses, it is all just a feast for the senses and food for the soul 🤷‍♂️ Whether we choose to live the remainder of our lives out here, or we elect to move elsewhere, as we never know what the future has in store for us, but if we do move again, by choice or otherwise, then Shazza and I are in full agreement that that location must be, by or very close to the sea, for their is something just so magical and tranquil about it.

As I made reference to a little earlier in this ramble, my younger Sister and my Brother-in-Law are coming to stay with us for a few days just before Christmas, although they will be departing just before the big day itself. They have lived in Brisbane, Australia for somewhere near 25 year’s, perhaps even longer 🤔although we have seen them several times during that period, once when we went on our own month long mini-tour of Australias Eastern Coast, Sydney up to Cairns, and again on several of their own visits back to the UK, although the last time we actually saw them was last Summer, at my daughter’s wedding reception in Austria. They now have two, of their three son’s, living here in Europe, with their wives and two Grandchildren, so they are on their own pre-Christmas family tour and using the opportunity to come and stay with us for three full days. They have never visited us, or this part of Spain before, so let’s just hope that the weather does not live up to the advance dismal forecast that the ‘Works of Fiction’ are currently predicting ☔️

Now although I do have a very strong urge to now burst out into a rendition of a ‘Wham’ Christmas song, which I am sure you will be pleased to hear that I am not going to do, although the damn tune is already tumbling around in my head as I tap away on the keyboard, 🎶This Christmas🎶 we are spending, once again, by ourselves here in Spain. We have done this several times and, more often than not, we have pre-booked a table at a local Restaurant, usually in the Marina complex, to go and have a traditional Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day. However, we didn’t have a very good experience last year and it certainly wasn’t worth the money we paid. However, one of the best Christmas Dinner’s that we did have one year, was when we stayed here at home and had a Spanish themed ‘Tapas’ style affair, Shazza preparing a huge selection of both cold and hot tasty treats, which were actually served at intervals throughout the day. In the morning we had played both traditional Christmas songs, and more Pop Music type Christmas tunes, from the 50’s right up to the 90’s, which we each remembered from our separate childhoods and teenage year’s and then beyond. We had also enjoyed what had become in the UK for us, a Christmas Morning glass (or three 🤭) of Ruby Port, with perhaps the odd savoury pre-dinner snack just to put us on, and then later in the afternoon and evening we would enjoy a bottle (or two 🙄) of Anti-Covid Vaccine, whilst gorging our way through our extended Christmas Tapas Dinner, and whilst watching Christmas themed TV programmes, and movies. At various points during the morning, afternoon and evening, we enjoyed making, and receiving, video calls with family and friends. I have to say that, well at least from what we could remember of that alcohol infused festive day, that we actually both thoroughly enjoyed it. So this year we have decided to do much the same sort of thing again and so, over the last couple of weeks, we have both been coming up with some ideas on what we can either conjure up ourselves, or what we can purchase from the local shops and supermarkets, ranging from Shazza’s ‘go to’ fresh Prawns, in a sizzling infused garlic and chile oil, with chunks of her home-made sour dough bread 😋 Hot ‘salt n pepper’ chicken wings, that she does herself in the Air-Fryer, home-made quiche, sausage rolls, fresh Salmon slices with soft cheese on crackers, Vegetable spring rolls, Duck spring rolls with Hoi Sin sauce, Assorted Sushi perhaps even Empanadas, or whatever else we may happen to come across, things that as yet, we don’t even know that we actually fancy 😂. Of course, this will, at some point during the later part of the evening, be completed with some traditional Christmas Pudding and perhaps even some mince pies. Just thinking about it all is making me salivate and yes, just in case some of you were wondering, our more usual ‘Plant Based’ dietary regime will go ‘temporarily’ on hold, well it is Christmas after all 🎉🥳 Of course, the bathroom scales will also, very conveniently, get lost somewhere in the apartment for several weeks afterwards 😂

For us, here in Spain, the festive celebrations do not end on the 31st December with the New Year’s Eve celebrations, for the biggest festive event here in Spain is not actually held until the 6th January, ‘Día de los Reyes Magos’ (Three Kings Day) with almost every village, town and city holding vibrant street parades, so let’s just hope that we can manage, after our own Christmas stuffing, to ‘waddle’ our way into our local town to participate 😂

So, until the first ramble of the coming year, all that is left for me to say, to each and everyone of you is, a massive thank you for continuing to read my ramblings, not just during this last year, but over the last 12 year’s, and of course, from both Shazza and myself, to wish you all

Feliz Año Nuevo 2026

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

Well, we may well have sauntered into the month of November but my goodness we haven’t half galloped through it, and now we find ourselves stepping through the door into the month of December 😲 So let me commence, with what I hope you will find is an enjoyable read and further insight into our lives down here on the Costa del Sol, by first asking whether you all enjoyed your recent holiday ? ‘What holiday 🤷‍♂️’ I hear you ask, with perhaps a slightly bemused look upon your face. ‘The one where you have just enjoyed an extended break from having to endure reading another of my rambles’ I reply 😂

Yes I know, it has taken me a lot longer than usual to publish this my latest piece of verbal incontinence, however, the plain truth of the matter is that there really hasn’t been very much going on in our lives over the last two or three weeks to write about, well nothing truly scintillating and to be honest, it was bound to happen at some point as normal life is, well just that, normal daily life, for it doesn’t really matter where we were to be living, we wouldn’t be heading off here there and everywhere every single day or week 🤷‍♂️ So, other than our normal everyday routines, there has only really been the usual Global media’s ‘Doom and Gloom’ reporting, and of course, for us, the very recent UK Government’s Autumn Financial Budget of course, which generally just tends to slot into that same ‘Doom and Gloom’ category, all of which appears without fail to fill the pages of all the news headlines each and every day. I guess that there may be some who will wonder why, when we now live in Spain, we should still be interested in what is going on financially back in the UK 🤷‍♂️ Probably the main reason is because we get all of our Income payed via UK Pensions and so, with the exception of the Government State Pension (Which is now taxed here in Spain) we do still pay Income Tax on the remainder of those Pensions, in the UK. Additionally, we do also maintain personal savings over there, so things like the Annual Personal Income Allowance, Interest Rates and of course the Exchange Rates (£ to €), all of which are impacted by that Government Budget, so we do still need to keep up to speed with the important stuff going on back there, as well as similar sort of stuff here in Spain too, their is no escaping the clutches of the Tax Authorities, in either the UK or Spain. Apart from that, I am not going to comment on the consequences of this current UK Budget announcement generally, as everyone will have their own personal views on how it will, or will not, effect them, although I am making an educated guess that their will not be very many in the ‘Will Not Be Affected’ category 🙄

So whilst I do not want this ramble to be a downbeat read for you, just sticking with the ‘Doom and Gloom’ topic for just a moment longer, I have to say that personally speaking I am genuinely surprised that with all of this constant doom and gloom reporting around the world, 365 days a year, that the 24hr telephone helpline service, for those with depressive and suicidal thoughts, the ‘Samaritans Organisation’, are not one of the largest global employer’s 😲 For all I know they may be, although I believe most are ‘Volunteers’. I know that I certainly couldn’t be one of those sat on the end of a telephone every day having to provide some kind of Solice and Hope to some of these poor desperate people, realistically, even as a volunteer, I would probably get the sack after only one day, due to me telling all of my particularly unlucky callers to, “Stop worrying about the things that you have no control or influence over” and then listen to the fading screams of Aaaaagh!! as they leap out of the window, or off the cliff face 😂 However, I am also guessing that you, my reader’s, are probably very well aware of much of that doom and gloom stuff in the media for yourselves, for no matter which part of the world you may live in, I feel sure that you too encounter much of the same issues as anybody else, irrespective of the country or time zone that you may be in, and so the last thing that you need is for me to keep reminding you of what terribly unhappy lives you must all be leading 😂

Anyway, and in case my lack of on-line presence did have you perhaps wondering (or hoping 🤔) whether I may have succumbed to deep depression, and thrown in the towel myself, deciding to shift my mortal coil from this world on to the next which, if I had, would then undoubtedly have been swiftly followed by me commencing to publish a completely new set of more spiritual ramblings from the after-life, perhaps even entitling them ‘The Difference Between Heaven and Earth’, or perhaps, if I did end up going in the other direction 😈 my blog may have been entitled ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Down Here’ 😂 But I am sure that you will be pleased to hear that I haven’t gone in either direction, well not just yet at least, and just to confirm that fact, I have cobbled together a few ramblings to fill you in on what has been happening down here on our little piece of the Iberian Peninsula since my last ramble.

Now of course, it would be rude of me to fail to mention the ‘biggest’ news event for down here in our particular part of the world, although the ‘Costa del Sol’ description has not lived up to its title very recently, well more at the midpoint period of November, for yes, we did have rather a lot of the wet stuff, which believe it or not, for this part of Spain at least, it was actually ‘A Cause For Celebration’, rather than a reason to be miserable like it may be elsewhere. Although I do appreciate that for some reading this, even in other parts of Spain, who live in areas where regular rainfall is a common event and nothing out of the ordinary, this may not actually come as any sort of earth shattering news for you but, in this, our little bubble of existence tucked away in a small corner of Spain, unsalted water still remains a very valuable and precious commodity, but we also know that such wet weather events never last too long so they become moments to appreciate and treasure, okay that is perhaps overstating it just a little 🤭

You may recall that over the very long two year drought period that we endured down here very recently, during 2023 & 2024, and in almost every subsequent ramble that I published over that long period, I continually reported on the very low levels of water in our particular Embalse (Reservoir), however, since the end of that drought period, which was several months into this current year, I have barely mentioned them again, primarily because we have had plenty of water in it since then, but also because the ‘Drought Committee’, and yes, it isn’t just ‘other’ Countries Government’s that like to have Official Committee’s for almost everything, they also like to have them here in Spain too, but I digress, the ‘Drought Committe’ had notified us that we were no longer on personal water restrictions but more importantly, that we had sufficient reserves in ‘our’ particular Embalse to keep us off their ‘critical’ list for risks of another potential drought in 2026, although to be completely honest, we were not given the absolute ‘All Clear’ as they stated that this would depend on whether we got the usual ‘anticipated’ rainfall during these Winter months. So, with that in mind, I have had no reason to keep a particular eye on our particular Embalse water levels, or to report on them to you my reader’s, so that is perhaps one thing that we can now take off our own personal ‘Doom and Gloom’ list, well for now at least 🤞

Now, when all of the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts, and I do mean ‘All of them’, report in their fourteen day advanced forecasts, that we are going to get a non-stop consecutive six day deluge of rainfall, followed by several days thereafter with sporadic rainfall, as a consequence of ‘Storm Claudia’, then we do tend to pay just a little bit more attention to them, but it also prompted me, just out of interest, to go and have another look at the current levels in our Embalse.

I took a look at the level of our Embalse on the day the rain started, and I would take another look once the six day deluge had finished, although there would be continued ‘Run-Off’ from the mountains for several days after that, so the level would increase just a little bit more, although perhaps not significantly so.

Now of course, as the majority of my regular reader’s will no doubt already know, what the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts predict, to what actually materialises, can, and generally is, two completely very different things. So yes, we did have ‘wet stuff‘ over the stated initial six day period, but even that was not consistent rainfall from dawn to dusk, it also varied from being very light drizzle, to what I would call ‘normal’ rainfall and, on some occasions, yes there was some ‘Torrential’ stuff, whereby the rain didn’t just tap on the windows, it hammered on them 😲 In between these periods we did however also experience some very unexpected blue sky, warm sunshine and even very brightly coloured rainbows, you can tell how rare they are in these parts when everyone is taking photo’s of them on their cameras 🤭 But yes, generally speaking, during those initial six days it was mainly very dark and cloudy overcast skies, and their was no way of knowing when, or if, those brief sunny periods were going to appear. There were the odd flashes of lightning, and occasional rumbles of thunder too, but certainly nothing very dramatic which, personally speaking, I found a bit disappointing, as I do like to watch and listen to a good thunderstorm from the safety and comfort of my balcony. Shazza and I had anticipated being confined to barracks for that whole six day period, so of course we had re-provisioned accordingly a couple of days earlier, akin to as if we were going to experience a nuclear attack and food would be in very short supply 🙄 Unfortunately, as that did not turn out to be the case, I not only have to eat copious amounts of ‘Plant Based’ produce on a daily basis but, as we purchased far too much to keep in the normal storage cupboards, we have to sleep with a lot of the extra stuff under the bed 😳 Although, on the positive side, their has been an unexpected advantage to this, as the lingering heavy scent of Garlic and Onions has stopped Shazza’s snoring 😂

As it turned out, we did also, somewhat unexpectedly, manage to get out on a couple of those wet days for our routine walks, and of course the associated refreshment stops 😉 and even an impromptu lunch on one of the days, which meant that I was not completely deprived of my regular doses of ‘Anti-Covid Vaccines’, which as you know are taken purely for medicinal purposes. I do have to say though that we were extremely lucky on that particular lunch occasion, as we had just returned home and pulled up into the car park when the heavens opened again, a good job I hadn’t decided to order a second dose of Anti-Covid Vaccine, I thought to myself. Now as for the remainder of the ‘forecasted’ days of continued drizzle, after that initial six day period, well I am sure that you will not be surprised in the least to read that the more usual standard of ‘inaccuracy’, by those ‘Works of Fiction’ numpties, returned and so the normal sunshine service was resumed, the ‘Wellies’ and ‘Raincoats’ came back off and were replaced with the more comfortable and lightweight flip-flops, shorts and tee-shirts. Oh yes, and we could return to calling this place the ‘Costa del Sol’ 😎

In my last ramble I may have mentioned, and not for the first time I know 🙄 about the normal slow pace of daily life here, and so it probably does, now I stop and think about it, go some way towards understanding the ‘Mañana, Mañana’ attitude that you often hear about, not just here in Spain but also in several other European countries too. And, although I am somewhat reluctant to usually mention anything positive about any of the ‘Bureaucratic’ Authorities or processes here in Spain, to be fair it perhaps does also go some way in understanding the reason for some of those slow services as well 🤷‍♂️ However, let me tell you, by way of an example, at just how this Mañana Mañana attitude is often not the case, especially when it comes to the normal smaller businesses promptness at getting things done. Our dining chairs, six of them, which we have had now for around ten years or so, covered in a beige coloured ‘Faux’ leather as it is better known, which sounds a little French to me, but in English we spell it ‘Fake’, which is a much less posher but more accurate way of describing it 😂 Anyway, this ‘faux’ leather had started to peel very badly, on all six chairs, and we had been saying for months that we needed to get around to having them re-upholstered, so finally we decided to get our arses into gear and do something about them. We were fortunate to find an upholsterer in our local town, so thank you ‘Senor Google’ for your assistance once again. Martin originates from Argentina, although he has lived here in Spain for the last 25 year’s, so, and as you would expect with him originating from a Latin American country, his Spanish was excellent, although his English was probably about as good as our ‘current’ level of Espanol which, in our defence, I have to say is very much better than what it was only a short few months ago, so with a mixed combination of ‘Spanglish’, where appropriate, we managed to communicate with each other very easily. We visited his small workshop, which was in more of a converted small Spanish terraced town house, as opposed to being in a proper retail shop, we showed him a photograph of one of the chairs, picked our new material, this time a cloth fabric rather than leather (‘Faux’ or otherwise), we negotiated a price, which included collection and delivery and that was that, then we just had to wait until the ordered fabric arrived at his workshop premises so that he could commence the job. It took just seven days, and that included a weekend, from the day he called to collect our six chairs, to the day he returned them completed, so no ‘Mañana, Mañana’ attitude here, and now, we no longer need to feel embarrassed when we have visitor’s. But whilst I am speaking of Mañana Mañana, I did have to smile to myself recently, there has been a massive ‘Tsunami’ exercise in the Cadiz Province, involving not only all the Emergency Services but also vast numbers of the ordinary public, but even that, as reported in our local newspaper, had an element of Mañana Mañana about it.

For the last couple of weeks or so, bearing in mind that that did consist of very nearly a week of, well let’s call it ‘inclement weather’, for the sake of a better description, we didn’t really get up to very much, just the usual routines which you will be very familiar with by now. Although, we did vary it a bit, by paying a rare visit to Estepona, strange how it is literally only a short twenty-minute drive away but we seldom go there 🤷‍♂️ However, just by way of a change of scenery and to have a slightly longer walk, we parked up at the Estepona Marina and then walked along almost the whole length of their relatively new and capacious seafront promenade, we stopped for a coffee, it would have been rude of us not to, then had a wander around the shopping streets and Plaza’s, and then we both unanimously agreed that we may as well stop and enjoy a Tapas lunch. We selected what was advertised as a Wine and Gastronomy Bar, one that we have often walked past but never stopped at, and one that serves more ‘refined’ Tapas, and very enjoyable they were too. For any English reader’s, or those familiar with a certain well know British High Street retailer with food halls, probably more specifically, their particular television advertising slogan, let’s just say that these were not ‘Just Tapas’, these were ‘Refined Tapas’, and of course, they also came at a ‘Refined’ sort of price. We could certainly have got a similar sort of lunch at one of the many other local Spanish Taperias, but without all of the pomp and ceremony, and of course without the additional Euro’s that their refinement required, but hey, it’s good to treat ourselves once in a while, the sun was shining, the ambience was good and their were plenty of people watching opportunities. As for the Anti-Covid Vaccine, which I also anticipated would come at a ‘refined’ price, well that did surprise me, for it was no more expensive, and of the same usual good quality that I can, and very often do, partake of in any number of my more usual local hostelries. Well I guess we are in Spain after all, where drinking Vino is as normal as drinking Agua (Water), that is not intended as a derogatory comment in respect of the quality of the wine, but more by way of confirmation that, whilst you can often find a large variation in the quality and standard of the food, from one establishment to another, the Rioja always remains the same excellent quality, irrespective of the producer’s label, and it will come as no surprise to you I am sure, to hear that I can personally confirm that fact 😂

The days that followed consisted of just conducting our normal routines, shopping, cleaning, walking and of course drinking coffee (or other refreshment) at our usual haunts, even a visit to my local Moroccan Barbers. But then a moment that we had both been looking forward to, a kind of mini-adventure, away from our more usual stomping ground. You may recall me mentioning many times in these rambles over the year’s, a couple of our good friends, Paul and Debs, who we still get to see occasionally and who we remain in contact with via social media. They are still Motorhome Fulltimers but they also have a ‘Spanish Bolt Hole’, that they regularly visit during parts of their 90 day ‘Schengen Shuffle’ trips. Their bolt hole lay approximately a 5-6 hour drive North of us and so, during one of their recent ‘bolt hole’ visits, we had pre-arranged to have a meet up with them, at the half way point, in the coastal city of ‘Almeria’. Now Shazza and I had briefly made a stop there, back in our own more nomadic motor-homing days, but it was as I say only a brief visit comprising of two nights and one full day, although it had rained on that full day so we didn’t actually do very much exploring. It was where I purchased my first, and only, Spanish Guitar and so, by now, a few year’s later, you would think that I should be quite an accomplished self-taught master of the strings. The truth is, that it had ended up being one of those, ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time’ purchases, and only very rarely does it see the light of day. Maybe I could purchase a second one on this upcoming visit, at least then the original one wouldn’t be sat all by itself, alone in the wardrobe 😂 I know, I do have a habit of thinking about doing certain things, whether it be playing my guitar, or perhaps finally getting around to doing some of those jobs on the list of DIY tasks, but I just tend to not quite get around to physically doing anything about most of them, some may consider me as ‘Lazy’, however, I prefer to just consider it as retaining my own ‘Freedom of Choice’ 🤭

We were in no rush to leave to head for Almeria, we couldn’t officially book into our selected hotel until 3pm, so we departed at 09:45am and enjoyed a leisurely drive along the coastal A7 route. Although it was sunny whilst sat in the car, the outside temperature showed a cool 14 degrees and we found ourselves having to turn on the heating, we had elected to travel in shorts which turned out to be not the wisest decision, it is so easy to fall into a false sense of security here as, whilst the afternoon temperatures during the Winter’s here may still be pleasantly warm, the morning and evening temperatures decline rapidly, but we had come prepared with long trouser’s and our thicker hoodies, we wouldn’t make the same mistake once there. We stopped briefly on route, at the small town of ‘Alda’, quite an anonymous little place nestled on the coastline amongst the ‘Sea of Plastic’. This part of Spain is the largest growers of Fruit and Vegetables and it supplies the majority of Europe, however, that involves having to contend with far from scenic views, as the hectares of ground covered with Poly tunnels extends for miles, literally as far as the eye can see and again, quite literally from the Beaches up into the Mountains high above us, no wonder this particular Province suffers during periods of drought, although it may also be one of the major contributors towards it 🤔 However, the sea still sparkled a very bright blue, and turquoise green, and the light shimmered gently on top of the near still water. The long exceptionally quiet motorway stretched for miles in front of us, the only stimulation for our eyes being the seemingly never ending row on row of orange and white traffic cones, I guess the quieter Winter season is the ideal time for the road re-surfacing or tunnels maintenance, the continual changes to the speed limit serving to make the journey appear even longer, going from 120Kph, to 100Kph, to 80Kph and even down as far as 60Kph, along almost the full length of our route, it was pointless even considering setting the cruise control option as the speed variations were that frequent.

There were no car parking facilities at our city centre hotel, which is not unusual, but they had an arrangement with a company who operated one of the numerous underground public parking facilities nearby, so we would get a discounted rate, fortunately it was only a couple of minutes walk from the hotel, or let’s say that it would have been, if we had checked the directions from the parking location 🤭 Not long after we had arrived, Debs text us to say that they had also arrived and checked into their room and so, without further ado, we agreed to just get straight out and commence exploring the city.

Like a lot of large Spanish Towns and Cities, there is an ‘Old Town’ and then the more modern areas, within an easy walking distance of each other, even so there was still a lot of re-modernisation going on, one area, just outside our hotel, on what had been a tree-lined road, was now being re-vamped into a large tree-lined pedestrianised area, there were already pre-existing modern retail stores on either sides. Just behind the hotel were the outskirts of the ‘Old Town’ with its narrow streets and alleyways, a Cathedral overlooking a Plaza, which had been temporarily roped off whilst they completed erecting the huge Christmas Lights and, behind that, up a hill was the ‘Alcazaba’ which I have to say, from the outside and stood right at the bottom of it, didn’t look overly impressive, compared to other’s we have visited previously that is. But we would withhold our opinion until we had taken a closer look the following day. That first afternoon we just generally sauntered in between both the old and new areas. After a short break back at the hotel we then went out again, we walked just the few minutes to the harbour, where the larger freight vessels and Balearic Passenger Ferries depart from, then we took a leisurely stroll along the very nice promenade before making our way back into the old town where we stopped for a pre-dinner aperitif (Vermut) before eating Dinner at an Italian Restaurant we just happened to stumble across. Shazza informed us that during that afternoon and evening, we had actually walked a distance of a little over 5 miles, so although we hadn’t given it much thought beforehand, we were still getting our daily exercise 😉

The following day we spent doing much the same, just sauntering around various parts of the city, although we did agree to go and take a more in depth look inside the Alcazaba and boy, what a great decision that turned out to be 🤗 Now it may take a lot to impress me these days when it comes to Castles, or Alcazaar’s, or even Alcazaba’s, however they choose to refer to them 🤷‍♂️ but if you start with the word ‘Free’ then it tends to grab my attention, especially when the Cathedral would have cost us €7 each, just for going inside and having the privilege of looking at all the gold they had amassed over the centuries, yes I still have my cynical view when it comes to certain aspects of religion, needless to say we kept our Euro’s in our pockets on that particular occasion.

It wasn’t a very long walk to get to the foot of the Alcazaba but it was very scenic, through the atmospheric narrow streets and alleys with small Cafe’s, Retail outlets and Restaurants, through impressive Plazas, some with fountains other with monuments, like the one above, the location of the Town Hall. It was a friendly local man who stopped to tell us where the entrance was to the Alcazaba, and who had also advised us that it would cost us nothing to go inside and look around, “Unless we wanted an Official Guide, then we would have to pay for one” he said, in perfect English. We agreed that it must have been Paul who made us stand out as tourists, him the only one choosing to wear shorts, it certainly couldn’t have had anything to do with myself or Debs taking zillions of photo’s of the external ramparts on our cameras 😂

It had not been obvious, from our lower observation point, just how many steps there were to climb to just get up to the entrance, but the whole area was well manicured, lovely colourful plants and flowers set amongst green lush tree’s and bushes.

With the sun now beating down upon us and with little protection afforded to us from any shade, we ventured up to the next level, then the next and the next 😲 This place was vast and their were areas that were still being excavated, this has to be one of the best that I have visited, not withstanding that it will take something extraordinarily special to top the Alhambra, although this one is by far the best, as far as value for money is concerned 😉

It was nice to eventually start the descent 🥵

Now as you can probably already imagine, for those with any sort of walking, or respiratory, impairment then this is probably not one that you should add to your visit itinerary however, for those with no such restrictions I would say that this is a ‘Must Do’ as it is well worth every Euro 😂 Upon reflection, we should probably have worn shorts and taken a bottle of water 🙄 But there was a lovely Cafe/Bar right at the foot of the Alcazaba. We wandered slowly back to the hotel, exploring other little nooks and crannies on the way. After a short ‘Siesta’ period we re-grouped and made our way to the ‘English Pier’, a historical bridge that used to take trains, filled with iron ore, to boats in the harbour, we watched the sun set, which was not as good as the sunset the previous evening but it was still nice to see it and to look back over the city landscape as day turned to dusk.

Paul had seen an Art Gallery shop that he wanted to visit so we strolled from the seafront back into the modern centre. With the ‘Siesta’ period over the shops were open once again, as were the vast array of Cafe’s and the evening Bars, the streets were busy with traffic and pedestrians, there was a busy but not rushed ambience about the place and with all the neon lights from the shop signage and display windows, the lights that lit up the Plazas and the street lamps we could have been in any city in the world. Unfortunately the Art Gallery was not open so we went to a nice music bar, not one that blasted out loud pop music but more modern soothing style ballads and we enjoyed another pre-dinner Vermut, well it would have been rude not to. We had pre-booked a table in an authentic Moroccan Restaurant in the back streets of the Old Town, so after finishing our drinks we sauntered towards it, passing through busy Plaza’s with their pavement Cafe/Bars and the older style buildings. As we passed one of the buildings I could see a light from one of the open arched basement windows and stood for a moment or two just observing a pottery class in progress.

We arrived a little early at the restaurant but the front door was open so we walked in, the family owner’s were sat around a table eating their own meal and the young male, who we had pre-booked the table with earlier that day, stood up and showed us to a table by the window. I apologised for arriving early and told him to go and finish his meal with his family as we were not in any hurry. The kitchen in the establishment was small and was located right next to the main internal dining room, from our table we could see right into it and so I watched as they hand-made and baked the flat breads which they served to us with a large plate of Humus. No alcoholic drinks were available but we were happy to sample a jug of their freshly made mint lemonade and then a jug of Orange/Lemon Lemonade, we were able to watch as one of the women peeled the fresh fruit. Initially we were the only customer’s and it was good to watch the two cooks, the elderly mother and her daughter work in total synchronisation with each other, and in such a small space, preparing each dish from scratch. As we finished each dish that had been served to us the two women looked across at the table, I signalled that it was delicious and they said ‘Thank You’ and put their hands to their heart, a sure sign that they wanted their customer’s to enjoy everything that they had prepared with their own hands, from the Flat Breads, Humus, Fresh bowl of Salad, Veal Kefta’s, Lamb Tajine, Jugs of Lemonade, and the Traditional ‘Arab Biscuits’ served with Mint Tea at the end.

It had been a long day and by the time we returned to the hotel at the end of the night, Shazza informed us that we had walked a little over 8 miles. We did not need to check-out of the hotel until 12pm but we did, although they did let us leave our bags in their luggage room whilst we had a final walk around the town. We visited the Central Market, where we also had breakfast, and then returned to the Art Gallery shop, which was open this time around and then, after a casual saunter in and out of a few shops we returned to the hotel to collect our bags. It had been a really good few days, first because we were able to once again meet up with Paul and Debs, we always meet up in different places dependent on where each of us are at the time, UK or Europe, who knows where the next venue will be 🤔 But it was also good to get to explore the wonderful city of Almeria for it truly has so much to see and do, no matter what time of year it is, and we felt completely safe wandering the streets, day and night, and without exception, everyone we met, or talked to, were so friendly so, if you ignore the ‘Sea of Plastic’ in getting there I certainly highly recommend a visit.

On our journey home we stopped at the ‘Mirimar’ shopping mall in Fuengirola, which was still about another hour’s drive from home, however, inside they have a ‘Holland & Barrat’ store that sells Shazza’s preferred flavour of herbal tea, the only shop in our area that sells it, so she got a stock to last her several months as it is not somewhere we go to very often. As it was getting quite late into the afternoon we decided to eat whilst we were there, a late lunch and early dinner sort of affair, so that once we were home, and after sorting ourselves out, we could then put our feet up and do absolutely nothing, apart from watch TV. I also suggested that we didn’t need an exercise walk the following day either, as we had plenty of credit on that score, thankfully Shazza agreed and so I was able to look forward to starting to draft, edit and then publish this ramble, which even by my own standards is, I confess, one heck of a read 😳 However, I hope that it was worth it and that you enjoyed it 😉

PS: Just in case any of you were wondering, no, I didn’t purchase another Spanish Guitar 😂

Until the next time……………………….

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

We sauntered silently into the month of November and, although it was just another Saturday for Shazza and myself, in the religious calendar it was ‘All Saints Day’ which, here in Spain, meant that there would be religious gatherings at many of the Churches, both large and small, in every village and town. Although neither Shazza or myself are what you may consider ‘actively’ religious worshippers, meaning we rarely attend church on Sunday’s, but we had taken part in a service in the town church on one occasion a few year’s ago, more because we were just being nosey and joined the large crowd that had gathered outside and, due to the large numbers attending, the service was held outside. We stayed to watch the full service, along with the locals, expats and other tourist’s alike, although naturally, the service was all conducted in Spanish, but at the end the head priest, for their were three priests delivering the service on that particular day, and in perfect English, also thanked all of us non-Spanish members of the congregation for attending the service, a nice touch we thought. We have not attended one of these services since though, as from that first experience we knew how difficult it would then be afterwards to get a table at any one of our favourite Cafe/Bars 😂

What is notable here in Spain is that ‘All Saints Day’ is another opportunity for much social interaction and merriment although, this event is very much generally a family and close friends occasion, and not one that falls into the category of a ‘Fiesta’, so none of the usual ‘Pop-Up’ Bars and fairground attractions. It is primarily an occasion for all generations of a family to come together to break bread and drink wine, not just the sip of wine from the chalice and thin circular wafer taken during the ‘Mass Service’, but the more substantial offerings taken during lunch in the local restaurants. The church service, the one in the main town, is held late morning and finishes just before noon, allowing people to go for a stroll along the promenade, or to take their ‘Little Darlings’ to play in the parks and burn off some steam whilst the other’s sit, or stand, just generally chitter chattering between themselves before the start of the official Spanish lunch period at 2pm. The dress code for this event, well as usual there is none, although the older generation tend to dust off their best bib and tucker, because that is the way they were brought up to be dressed when they were children when attending a religious service, as for the more modern younger generation these days, well that is always a case of whatever they feel comfortable in really, more casual attire, for this is more about getting together as a family, rather than a fashion contest. Many of the ‘Spanish’ restaurants are pre-booked months in advance, so getting an available ad-hoc table is, generally speaking, very unlikely, although, this only applies to the local Spanish restaurants in the town itself, the Marina, being a mainly tourist enclave always have tables available in their wide choice of establishments.

We went for our usual morning walk and refreshment stop, as we got into the town and walked past the row on row of restaurants, the tables were being readied for the forthcoming on-rush of diners, their were numerous place settings with tables pushed together to accommodate the six, eight and even ten pre-booked groups with almost every table having ‘Reserved’ signs placed upon them. Now of course this just had to be a day when Shazza and I had elected to eat lunch out and, as always with us, this had been a spur of the moment decision and we had forgotten that it was ‘All Saints Day’ 🙄 However, we are always confident that we would find somewhere to eat and, if the worst did come to the worst, and we could not eat at a restaurant in town, then we would just saunter back to the Marina and find something there, it would be no big deal and it was actually en-route back to where we had parked the car anyway, so we were pretty confident that we would not end up having to return home starving 😉

As we walked through the back streets, where it was shaded from the direct heat of the sun we kind of got sidetracked, as we passed by another Plaza, which just so happened to be yet another location of another one of our favourite Cafe/Bars, well it would have been rude not to now, wouldn’t it 🙄 This one however was not on the seafront and so is always generally dominated by Spanish customer’s, rather than foreign tourists. We found a table located in the centre of the throng of people which was represented by all age groups, groups of women chitter chattering whilst their children played football in the centre of the Plaza, some of the older generation, yes even older than myself 😂 who nodded their silent greetings in our direction, we smiled and nodded back, as you do, and then their was a young couple, obviously a blossoming romance as they couldn’t take their eyes off each other and were continually leaning in towards each other and exchanging gentle kisses 😍 We were not the only people watcher’s out that day, as the people sat around on the other tables were nudging each other, looking in the direction of the young lovers and smiling, of course the young lovers were totally oblivious of the dozens of eyes focused in their direction. You could see the difference in the opinions of the onlookers, the women all smiling and planning this young couples wedding day celebrations, the men folks eyes told a different story as they whispered to their male counterparts, out of the hearing of their female companions, ‘Just wait until she snares you into putting a ring on her finger lad, then believe me, things will change in that department’, then the men chuckled and their female companions asked ‘What was so amusing’, stupidly, one must have revealed their thoughts and got a slap on the arm for doing so 😂

This is what we both enjoy about this lifestyle, which I guess we could enjoy anywhere when I think about it, weather permitting that is of course. But to feel the warmth of the sunshine, to have beautiful views that extend for miles, the sounds and the sights going on around us, the opportunity to enjoy very nearly twelve months of the year being able to get out for our walks if we so choose and not dominated by the weather or climate, but generally, we just enjoy the leisurely pace of life, being in no hurry to be anywhere in particular and coming to terms that actually, nobody else is either 🤷‍♂️ Except that is if your stomach is beginning to feel as if your throat has been cut, yes we were more than ready for lunch now and so we headed back towards the seafront. Like the Cafe/Bars, their are numerous restaurants but, funny old thing, Shazza and I have our favourites which we tend to stick to. We agreed that it would be nice to try and get a table at our favourite seafront Fish restaurant. At first it wasn’t looking very good as we saw the tables and their ‘Reserved’ signs, but the waiter came out to greet us, we know several of them just through our regular use of them, they know now that we are ‘locals’ and not ‘visitor’s, he cast his eyes around the outer terraced area and then smiled, he pointed towards a table for two, positioned nearer the back of the terrace but which still afforded nice views of the beach and sea, and of course the promenade, with all the essential ‘People Watching’ opportunities. We sat with our drinks, Shazza a glass of Cervesa sin Alcohol, (Alcohol free) and myself a small beer (with alcohol) and then later, during our meal, Shazza enjoyed a second beer and I opted for my more usual glass of Anti-Covid Vaccine, it would have been rude not to of course 😉 We selected dishes that we could both share, rather than individual plates, Fresh slices of Tomato coated with with finely chopped Garlic and Olive Oil, then bubbling hot, and slightly spicy, Prawn Piri-Piri with bread, Fried Pollock fillets in Tempura Batter and Half a portion of small squid in Tempura batter, each dish served separately making the whole dining experience much like the lifestyle, something to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace. The walk back to the car did enough to aid the digestion of our filling meal, followed by, once we returned home, the mandatory afternoon Spanish ‘Siesta’ 😴

The tranquil days that followed just blended into each other, although we have certainly started to feel the shift in the temperatures now, and whilst the sun may still be shining, the early morning temperatures are beginning to feel just that bit cooler, and again in the evenings, once the sun slips behind the mountains and darkness falls, which is now around 7pm. During the day’s we can still just about get away with going out on our walks, or doing the shopping, wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts but there have already been a couple of occasions when I have had to resort to wearing lightweight full length ‘Chinos’, and a lightweight hoodie top, mainly due to the chill factor that comes with the breeze, felt more so when sat having our cafe con leche’s but not so bad when we are moving and, as yet, we have not had to resort to digging out our heavier denim jeans which, hopefully, will not be required until we get towards the end of December and into January 🤞

Shazza and myself don’t tend to do very much forward planning anymore, well not unless we really have to that is, in fact these days when we are asked by friends or family what we are doing, we are more likely to respond with “We have no plans”, when asked about Holidays, Christmas or even what we are doing at the weekend or the following week, for these days we tend to just make each day up as we go along. Sure, we have got some regular routines like shopping and cleaning the apartment, but the actual days that we do them are not exactly enshrined in stone, and yes of course there are certain times in the year when we have to do ‘some’ important stuff within a certain set time period, annual tax returns, residency permit renewals, even car service and ITV testing, all that sort of stuff, but generally speaking my OCD Buddy has all of that in his calendar and gently pokes me in the ribs just prior to needing to focus when such events are due, but apart from that, basically these days, each day belongs to us to do with as we like 🤷‍♂️

Many year’s ago, when I used to look forward to being able to retire, I did wonder what retirement would look and feel like. I had spoken to former colleagues who had retired before me, some said that after the first six months of enjoying not having to be ruled by the alarm clock, and the daily routines of going to work, and after they had caught up with the long list of any outstanding DIY or Gardening jobs that had been on the back burner, that after that initial period of relaxation, they felt lost, they missed the social aspects of a working environment, and the comfort of having a specific daily routine. I already knew that no matter how many outstanding DIY jobs that there were on ‘my’ particular long list, that that list would just continue to get even bigger as I found myself with much more time available to avoid them 😂 Other’s though had loved it, finding more time to engage in personal hobbies, or finding new one’s, or spending time with family and grandchildren, going on more frequent travel trips to places both near and far, and being able to stay for longer if they so wished.

So, we actually retired ‘properly’ in October 2022 and so the question I guess is, how are we both finding our retirement ? It is a ‘real’ question and one that we actually have both discussed between ourselves and, to be completely honest with you, we can honestly say that it looks, and feels, pretty much a lot like we thought that it would, although at that earlier point in both our lives, when at least I was first thinking about it, we obviously did not know that we would be spending our retirement year’s in a totally different country to the one that we then called home. But, would our lives have been very much different if we had remained in the UK to live out our ‘Golden Year’s’ 🤔 Apart from the obvious Climate and Language differences, we pondered and deliberated over the question and we both came to a similar conclusion in the end, that everything would pretty much be the same. the only real unknown for us was in respect of the ‘Costs of Living’ in the UK, or put another way, how well could we manage back in the UK living a similar sort of lifestyle on our personal pension incomes, maybe one day, who knows, we will discover ourselves the answer to that particular question 🤷‍♂️ One factor that you cannot put a price on though is ‘Quality of Life’ and yes, we consider that we have a damn good quality of life here, but, and it is a big but, had we not have experienced life here in Spain, who is to say that we would not have had a similar quality of life in the UK, for surely it is what you do with your life that determines how enjoyable it is 🤔 Shazza and I quite often have these contemplative discussions between ourselves, and agree that it is easy to let media articles distort your views and images of things, and so we try to look beyond many of those, which are often biased in one direction or another, and they seem to just want to provoke a feeling of disgruntlement, unhappiness, insecurity or scaremongering to do with all facets of normal daily life and that I have to say, applies Globally, and not just to the UK. Just in case you are now wondering whether this is leading to us announcing a major upcoming change to our current lifestyle status, no we are not contemplating returning to the UK anytime in the near future, but it is always good to keep you options open, for you just never know what may be just around the corner, we have had a peek and cannot see anything just yet 🤭

Now where am I going with this I hear you ask ? Because usually when I start to ramble on about certain subjects in these blogs, there is generally a catalyst for doing so, although it can sometimes take me a while to get to the actual point 😁 Since publishing my last ramble and over a period of just a few days, I had read a number of media articles that gained my interest, enough to actually go past the headline and read the articles themselves.

The first was an article in the UK media, about a young British working couple, with two school aged children, who had recently returned from Spain, after choosing to live there permanently, but very quickly decided that they wanted to return to the UK. Of course I was interested to learn what they had discovered about ‘Living the Dream’ that hadn’t turned out that way 🤷‍♂️ They stated in the article that ‘It wasn’t the same actually living in Spain on a ‘permanent’ basis, to what it was like when they had been coming here, on numerous occasions, on their holidays’ 🙄 They had initially encountered issues associated with their residency application, or at least the husband had, and of course they encountered the slow, often illogical, Spanish Bureaucratic processes. Then they had an issue with their long term rental property and so purchased a Villa, with a pool, but then, after the purchase, discovered that they had major problems with that property, subsidence which required urgent, and very costly, remedial work. So I could sympathise with their plight, one thing on top of another, the worries of not being granted residency, problems with two properties, it was certainly not the perfect start to the dream and yes, we had been there as well at one point, and I had been ready to throw the towel in, but patience, a little bit of hard work on our apartment and also a lot more patience with Spanish Bureaucracy and it all payed off. But after reading the article I remember thinking, that one of the problems was in their own pre-conceived thoughts on what permanent life in Spain would look and feel like, based on their previous ‘holiday’ experiences. You certainly have a different sort of mindset when you are going somewhere for just a holiday, than you have when you are actually living permanently in a totally different country, or at least, in my personal opinion, you should have 🤷‍♂️ Even with the problems with their Villa, although they did not mention whether they had got it surveyed prior to purchase, which would have highlighted the issues, something that you would normally do in the UK before committing to such a large outlay of capital, but I think their problems may well have started before that point with the vision in their heads as opposed to reality 🤔 Shazza and I have lost count of how many places that we have been to over the year’s, either on a holiday, or during our motor-homing travels, and said at the time, “Wouldn’t it be nice to live here”, but then when we thought realistically about both the Pro’s and the Con’s then generally we had a different perspective on those places. Some of you who have been following my rambles for a very long time 🙏🙏🙏 may also remember that even coming to live here permanently in Spain, in the very property we actually live in now, was absolutely never on my own long-term radar, France would have been my first choice to be completely honest, but now just look where we are, and thoroughly enjoying it. So for me, being probably a bit judgemental, and of course probably not in possession of the full facts, only what the reporter had edited and included in the article, but it seems to me, on just reading the article, that perhaps this particular couple let their hearts rule their heads and that there was a lack of any real Prior Preparation and Planning. But all’s well that ends well, as the saying goes, they are now all settled back into UK life 👍

Then, quite coincidentally, within only a day or so of reading that first media article, I just happened to be scrolling through a selection of my Canal Narrowboat Vlogs on ‘You Tube’, and yes some of you will recall that back in 2013, before electing to go down the route of the Motorhome full-timing lifestyle, we had considered purchasing a Narrowboat and becoming full-time liveaboards on the British River and Canal systems. However, even now, some twelve year’s on, that is an ‘itch’ that Shazza and I still continue to have, but we agree that it is one that we will probably never end up ‘scratching’ as we continue to list both the ‘Advantages’ and ‘Disadvantages’ of such a lifestyle, especially now having to consider our growing seniority in years 😉 Anyway, the list of ‘Disadvantages’ now far outweighs the ‘Advantages’. So back to the point, our attention was attracted to not one of our favourite Narrowboat Vlogs but to one that had the title, “Why we gave up living full time on our Narrowboat”. I looked across at Shazza and said, ‘Let’s see if any of their reasons for giving up, are the same downsides that we had thought about”. Now this was not a retired couple but again, a youngish 30’s something we guessed, but on this occasion, they were a childless couple, who had selected the lifestyle, for many of the same reasons other youngster’s have taken this route e.g. unavailability of affordable housing, cost of living, mental health issues and because they could both work remotely etc. etc. But like many of the other’s they had also elected to publish weekly ‘Vlogs’ on ‘You Tube’ about their new adventures and, because Shazza and I are both becoming very judgemental, we also assumed that like many of those other’s, they had assumed that they could earn a reasonable income from their ‘Vlogging’. Don’t get me wrong, many have and still do earn a decent income, like the many that also publish a ‘Vlog’ about full-timing in their Motor-homes and also the Self- Sufficiency one’s, you know the one’s to which I refer, ‘I bought a cheap property and land in France and grow my own produce in, Portugal, Bulgaria etc. etc. etc.’ Don’t get me wrong, some of them are actually really interesting to watch, hearing both about their back stories and then watching their progress, we have many of them on our own list of ‘favourites’ that we have been following for several years, some even started out as Motor-homing nomads and have since diversified. Being of the old-school generation, we do also often wonder whether the ‘You Tube Channel’ is their only source of income, where do they go from there, if or when, that income starts to dry up 🤷‍♂️ My daughter of course tells me off, “Dad, they are young, they are living life and enjoying it, the future is the future and they will cross that bridge when they come to it” she says. Of course, she is absolutely correct, after all, although we were hardly youngster’s, there were quite a few people who thought we were insane to sell up our home and all our worldly possessions to go off and live full-time in a Motorhome and, although we were then debt free, there was very little left in the coffer’s if it had all gone wrong, but look at us now, Immigrant Pensioners stranded in a foreign country 😂 But there is much more to ‘Vlogging’ and Publishing than just speaking into a camera or showing nice scenery, it is time consuming, editing takes hour’s even days and their is no guarantee that you will get the subscriber’s to your particular channel when there are so many other’s out there doing exactly the same thing 🤷‍♂️ But at least this couple both had ‘proper’ jobs and so any additional income would just be a bonus 👍

However, from their viewing figures we could see that, if gaining any sort of reasonable income from it had been their motivation for starting ‘the channel’, then they were failing miserably. This of course was not one of the numerous reasons they said was responsible for them deciding to go in a different direction, without the Narrowboat I hasten to add. So some of the reasons they listed were, having no regular social life with ‘permanent’ neighbour’s or friends………. hang on a minute 🙄 It was they that had opted to become ‘full-time’ live aboard ‘Continuous Cruisers’, meaning that they had to move on from their ‘temporary’ moorings every fourteen days, rather than them electing to rent a permanent mooring in a Marina 🤷‍♂️ Then they complained that the constant movement was too transient 😲 but isn’t that the point of being ‘Continuous Cruisers’, the clue is surely in the wording on the type of licence they themselves had chosen 🤷‍♂️. Now the Narrowboat they had purchased for their particular adventures was 60ft long x 6’ 10” wide, pretty much the maximum length and width if you wish to cruise and explore the ‘full extent’ of the interlinked British Canal and River waterways system, however, they found that the space in their ‘Narrowboat’ was too restrictive, did they not go and look at it and thought about the space they would have, or needed, before purchasing it 🤷‍♂️ Then of course the quite important and extremely relevant matter of living in a steel tube on water in the extremely unpredictable British climate, generally with regular rainfall for at least 9 months of the year, meaning wet and muddy towpaths, and at least 3-4 months of Frost, Ice, Snow, Strong winds and freezing temperatures 😲 The list of complaints went on, not always being conveniently close enough to life’s essentials (Supermarkets, Club’s and Bars, Retail Outlets and other transport links) and so, with all of these things combined, they have said that, …………… yes wait for it, for you already know what is coming………….. it was now having a major impact on their ‘mental health’, which I believe is now one of the most common medical disorders of the younger generation 🙄 To be honest the list of their complaints just went on and on and on, even worse than some of my rambles, if that is indeed possible 😂 Of course we agreed with many of the issues that they had identified, especially the weather and seasonal stuff, but we had already said, that had we have chosen that lifestyle, over the Motor-homing one, then we would have prepared ourselves mentally for it, as for the lack of social interactions, well you know how anti-social Shazza and I are, so that aspect actually went into our ‘Advantages’ list 😂 Anyway, we only got half way through the half hour episode, then turned it off as listening to all the moans and groans was beginning to have an impact on our own ‘mental health’ 🤭

Shazza and I then got into a conversation, about both of these couples, the one’s returning to the UK from Spain and the Narrowboat one’s. How much real thought and actual research had either of them gone into, ‘before’ they decided to jump in at the deep end 🤷‍♂️ Now of course, we knew from our own Motor-homing adventures, that you cannot foresee every single pitfall, obstacle or disadvantage that you may encounter along a particular adventure, it wouldn’t be much of an adventure if there were no moments of ‘stress’ or if their were absolutely no ‘Unknowns’, but surely you should at least be aware of the more likely one’s that you would expect to encounter, before you did actually decide to take the plunge 🤷‍♂️ But yes I know, to be fair to them, perhaps it is possible that neither of them had an OCD Buddy that they can rely on to poke them in the ribs about stuff they need to at least think about 🤔 But of course, even in our earlier adventures, although I had planned everything to within an inch of our lives, we still encountered some of those unforeseen ‘Brown Trouser Moments’ 😂

So, fortunately, my equilibrium and mental health were to be restored, when I came across a much more positive article, not in a local Spanish media publication or on a ‘You Tube’ social media channel but in a European News Media Publication. A British woman, with a young family, had recently moved from London to Spain, and what had actually attracted my interest was not that it was a story from another Expat living somewhere else in Spain, but here, in our own local town of Sabinillas and, as I read the article further there were certain similarities with what I am continually rambling on about to you my reader’s 🤭

Now reading her account of the ‘Queues’, to be honest I hadn’t heard of this invisible system before, and yes, I had been frustrated several times when queuing, like the good patient Brit that I am, when someone would walk in and appear to push in front of everyone else. However, I had also personally experienced this invisible queuing system when I had gone into our Post Office, although I didn’t know about it at the time. Now it did have one of those ticket machines where you take a number and then wait for the board to tell you it was your turn, but on this occasion the number board was out of Sync with the ticket issuing machine, indicating that I had actually missed my turn even though I had just taken the next available ticket and so it just appeared to be a free for all 🤔 There was no formal queue, which is quite normal, unless you are at a checkout in a supermarket, and I looked around with a confused expression on my face trying to work out how many were in front of me and how many had come in after me 😲. Several people went up to the desk before me but then there was a pause, although there were still three or four people stood around waiting 🤷‍♂️ A woman pointed at me and then pointed towards the free space at the desk, it was my turn and, until just recently, on reading this article, I hadn’t understood what the hell had gone on during that visit to the Post Office. There are some things that language speaking tutorials just don’t teach you and you have to just learn either by experience of living here, or reading a useful and informative media article 😉

Needless to say, Shazza and I have not been up to anything much to tell you about, just enjoying ‘The Luxury Of Making Space For Life To Happen’ 😂

And In Other News……………

Sometimes, when I am perusing the media headlines there is a photo with a headline that just makes me chuckle……….

Until my next ramble……………….

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida es Buena

It was just another normal Saturday morning, I was sat on the balcony in the half light of the awakening day, just enjoying my usual first coffee of the morning. Shazza was still in her silent dream world and the outside world was still in its own semi-awakening state, it was quiet and so peaceful at this time of the day, apart from the very faint hum of the traffic noise passing along the coastal road at the bottom of the hill. The lower adjacent residential communities street lights were still lit offering a gentle glow and there was not even a whisper of a breeze, the outside world was a haven of stillness and calm, the heavy palm leaves lay limp and silent and strangely, even the birds were not yet awake, although I knew it would not be too long before their morning chitter chattering would commence. I cupped my hot mug of coffee in the palms of my hands and just stared out of the windows, mesmerised by the lights from the line of freighters gliding silently by on the horizon. The earth’s night curtains slowly began to open and the sun began to rise from the sea, announcing it’s arrival by very gradually turning the sky a burnt amber colour, fading to a more subtle shade of orange, contrasting with the light blue of the sky and the thin, almost translucent wispy white streaks of clouds, the vapour trails from the unseen aircraft thousand of miles above my head gradually evaporated into nothingness. The lights from the freighters disappeared leaving just the silhouette’s of the varying sized ships as they trundled slowly North and South along the skyline. Sat there in the silence it dawned on me (no pun intended) that this would probably be ‘The Last Sunrise’ that I would witness, well at least until the end of March next year, when we would once again adjust our clock’s to officially welcome back the Summertime, I cannot see me wanting to get up one hour earlier just to watch the dawning of yet another day, although I smiled to myself, at least I was lucky enough to still awaken each morning and welcome in yet another day.

It was only a few days later when I read about the passing of ‘Prunella Scales’, an actress probably best known for playing ‘Cybil’ in Fawlty Towers, although I remember her best for watching her, and her actor husband, Timothy West, on their Narrowboat Adventures. She was 93 years old and had been suffering with Vascular Dementia for the last 12 years, but that had not stopped her from continuing to live a full and active life. I read that she had passed away at her home, peacefully in her sleep and I remember thinking that, when my time eventually comes, that’s the way I would like to go 😴

Anyway, as I commence writing this current ramble, it is now very nearly the end of October, yet here we are still with our Summer duvet on the bed, I still awake, on most mornings, to find myself sleeping on top of it, and to an external temperature at 07:30am of 22 degrees(c), it certainly does not feel as though we have now officially just entered the meteorological period of ‘Winter’, especially when, just a day or so earlier we had encountered yet another sweltering 35 degrees(c) 🥵

Whilst this part of the Costa del Sol is of course known for its all year round sunshine, and mild winter’s, the current temperatures we are experiencing are way beyond what are considered normal, which, environmentally speaking, we should be very concerned about, but somehow I don’t think that the issues of Global Warming and Climate Change will be high on the list of priorities in the minds of those that still find themselves sat around the swimming pools, or on the beaches, or sat under the shades of the umbrellas at the numerous Cafe/Bars and Restaurants, enjoying a cold cervesa, or any other refreshingly cool Anti-Covid Vaccine of choice 🤭

Their were however, cooler temperatures forecast to arrive within the next fourteen days, although I often wonder how they can justify giving advance predictions that far in advance, when they cannot get it right over a twenty-four hour period 🤷‍♂️ However, once again they are also predicting some rain during that period, there are times when I really do wish they would actually get it right, we do need some rain, just to freshen things up a bit and, it does seem to be a little unfair that the North West and North Eastern parts of Spain have been getting more than their fair share recently, why can nature not distribute the wet stuff a little more equally 🤔 So, come on ‘Works of Fiction’, put some new batteries in Madam Zelda’s Crystal Ball that you purchased at the last ‘Medieval Fayre’ and try to make yet another rain ‘prediction’ one of the few correct forecasts 🙏

For the next couple of days the much more reliable ‘Forrest Gump’ weather prediction methodology had confirmed that shorts and tee-shirts were still the attire of the day, the ‘Terrel Wind’ had finally abated and the sea state was mill pond like, barely a ripple could be heard as we wandered along the promenade and into town, however, the sun in the cloudless azure blue sky still burnt the skin on our exposed arms and, as we walked at a more sedentary pace, we could feel the trickle of the beads of sweat running down our backs well before we managed to find sanctuary, in the shade of one of the sun umbrellas at Vanessa’s Cafe/Bar on the seafront. It had felt like more of a chore on that morning’s walk, but I felt a lot better as I sat enjoying my ‘Zumo de Naranja con hielo’ (Freshly squeezed orange juice with ice), it was still far too early for my dose of Anti-Covid Vaccine 🤭 Interestingly, in a country full of Oranges, it is the only Cafe/Bar that I have found along this stretch of promenade Cafe/Bars that actually serves ‘freshly squeezed’ orange juice, the rest just have the bottled variety, and with them, you can literally taste the spoonfuls of additional sugar that they contain. Shazza, when she is not partaking of her usual ‘Cafe con Leche’ opts for ‘Agua con Gas’ (Sparkling Water) as she did on this particular occasion. We sat admiring the usual views of the sea and mountains, that never gets boring, but their was a strange quietness about the place, even though it is now the ‘Half Term’ school holiday period, it only seems two minutes since they had gone back from their extended Summer Holidays, oh how time just flies 🤷‍♂️ However, we were left asking the question, ‘Donde esta todos el nino’s’ (Roughly translated as, ‘where were all the ‘Little Darlings’ 🤭) as they were conspicuous by their absence, perhaps the introduction of the new Entry Exit System (EES) had put people off from coming 🤷‍♂️ Personally speaking we were not complaining, for we still had the sunshine, we were able to take our walks and enjoy the same views, just with less noise, although their was a downside to this, as now there were less opportunities to fulfil our more usual pastime of ‘People Watching’, ‘Fashion Police’ or ‘Body Beautiful’ observations which meant that we had to engage in more conversations between ourselves 🙄

Recently one evening we entertained some of our neighbours, the English couple that own the property below us, they are not permanent residents here, they just come out from the UK several times a year to tend to ‘our’ lovely garden area just below our balcony, well okay it is legally their garden really, but the actual reality is that we tend to get to enjoy it more than they do, but without having to do any of the essential laborious garden maintenance 🤭 We sat on the balcony chatting, putting the world to rights, as you do, until gone 1:30am, way past Shazza’s usual bedtime but just about my own more normal bedtime. The balcony doors were wide open, as were the windows, it was warm and their was no breeze so we had lit two large round mosquito repellant candles, lit a citronella aroma scent stick and placed two battery operated UV lights on the floor near the open French windows. The bites on Shazza’s legs the following day confirmed the fact that the only one’s actually benefitting from all of these things, were the companies that produce these totally ineffective products, and of course the mosquito’s who must enjoy the pleasant aromas, and soft lighting, whilst they relax enjoying their scented Blood Spa sessions hosted by Shazza 😂 I am fortunate enough to not attract the interests of these small irritating insects so I remain bite free, but as Shazza was quick to point out, as she scratched away at several large red and painful looking blotches on both her legs and upper arms, that it came as no surprise to her that ‘I am obviously not to everyone’s taste’ 😲

We began to see, and feel, a change in the weather over the next few days, the temperatures dipped to the more normal anticipated at this time of year, varying anything from between 20-25 degrees(c), dependent on the cloud density, it was certainly beginning to feel much cooler now, especially with the sudden 10 degree(c) drop, although not yet cool enough to have to put the Winter duvet on the bed, or have to have the warm air heating on and of course, rather importantly, these grey cloudier days would only be temporary. We experienced some of the wet stuff, but to put it into some sort of perspective, one evening we had no more than a ‘sprinkling’ of light drizzle which was here one minute and gone the next 🤷‍♂️ The following day, the rain didn’t arrive until lunchtime, although the morning was grey and overcast, this time it was a much heavier downpour than the previous day, but nothing out of the ordinary and it lasted for the remainder of that day, and into the early evening but with outbreaks of hazy sunshine breaking through the brief respites throughout the day, natures weather patterns can be very strange at times but it makes for interesting viewing from my elevated observation post 🤷‍♂️ However, the sea remained an eerily flat calm and once again there was hardly a breath of wind, it was a slightly different story just across from us on the opposite coastline, the Western Atlantic side of Andalusia, in the Cadiz Province, and also through the Strait of Gibraltar, who, according to several ‘Works of Fiction’ weather maps, were currently being battered by storms. Although, whilst getting rain in this particular corner of Spain is somewhat of a rare occurrence, we should put it into some sort of perspective and be grateful that we are not further South in the world, near Jamaica, Cuba or the Bahamas, where ‘Hurricane Melissa’ is currently wreaking Havoc and claiming lives 😲

And In Other News……………………

Since my last ramble there has been some interesting stuff appearing in the local Spanish, and the wider European, mainstream media, some of which may impact on us personally and some which may not 🤔

One of the advantages of changing from a UK Driver’s Licence to a Spanish one was, in the UK my licence would have had to have be renewed when I reached the Age of 70 year’s and, if it was renewed, then it would only be valid for a further 3 year’s. When I exchanged my licence here in Spain it was automatically valid for 5 years, taking me two year’s over that 70 year old UK age limit, then, when it was time to renew it, after some basic health checks, it would be extended for a further 5 years. That however, may all be about to change 😲

Now although the next media headline refers to ‘Tourists’, it actually applies equally to all vehicle driver’s in Spain and not just Tourists. There has already been some push back to these, currently only ‘proposed’ new measures and you can I suppose understand why. 😲 You have to consider the type of climate and lifestyle here in Spain, the Spanish socialise a lot and tend to eat out, or go for a drink, with family and friends. Who doesn’t like a beer or glass of wine with dinner, or whilst sat chatting with friends in a Cafe/Bar, but, if these proposed new regulations do come into force, just one beer or glass of wine would put you over the legal limit to drive home, or even cycle 😲

Now a lot of businesses these days are beginning to NOT accept good old-fashioned cash to purchase things, from a simple cup of coffee, entry to Tourist Attractions, Payments of Bills etc. etc. but Governments are still insisting that we are not becoming a cashless society !! Enter the ‘Digital Euro’ 😲

Now let’s be honest, whether we like it or not, lots of things in our everyday lives are becoming digital, ‘Apple Pay’ on people’s iPhones is being used by millions all over the world, although Shazza and I still have not succumbed, but yes, on a good day we can see the advantages, because now the youngster’s don’t get mugged for their purse or wallet but for their mobile devices and even their digital all singing, all dancing, watch, yes a watch that these days doesn’t just tell you the time, but checks your vital health statistics, can be used as a mobile communications device, a calendar to remind you to buy that Birthday or Anniversary Card, It tracks its own whereabouts, it can be used as a ‘wallet’ to digitally store your bus, train or flight travel tickets and can be used to swipe across a machine to pay for fuel, groceries, and buy you a coffee and sandwich at Cafe’s or meals at Restaurants 😲 (In my day such things were called a VISA, MASTERCARD or AMEX 🤭) and now these devices also act as your wallet or purse and give access to your bank account for transfers. Just so that some of you do not think that we, the older dinosaur generation, get completely left behind in today’s society, we do still occasionally get mugged for our wallet’s and purses, but the perpetrator knows that they run the risk of getting hit very very hard with a hefty walking stick 😂 But seriously, what I do find hard to believe, is that there are lots of people actually complaining about the introduction of a digital ID Card 🤭 It’s time to break the bad news to some of them, ‘Big Brother Is Actually Already Watching You’ and you willingly invite them to do so by putting all of your private details and data into your convenient technological devices 🤷‍♂️

And, finally……………… (Thank god for that I hear you gasp 🤭)

Whilst this new digital travel stuff called EES is currently being rolled out right across Europe, not so fast on its heels as it happens, is the next phase, yes, as from 2027, you will also see the Introduction of ETIAS…………….

Isn’t life getting more and more interesting ? I was going to say exciting but thought that that would be stretching things just a little too far 🤭 I do feel a little sorry for the younger generation, but I guess they cannot miss what they never had, the freedom to travel without too many restraints, just flash the passport and smile at the stern faced official, the ability to just turn a dial to turn off the TV or Radio so you didn’t have to listen to all the doom and gloom, and it didn’t have the ability to listen in or track your shopping habits, to be able to pick up a telephone and speak directly with another human being instead of having to go through a list of ‘Options’, or to not have to speak with a piece of AI that cannot always decipher your accent so asks you to keep repeating yourself, a time when newspapers were purchased not for their content, but to be utilised as good fire starters in the grate, or as an alternative when you ran out of ‘Andrex’ in the toilet, when you could walk into your GP Surgery and not have to do battle with Rachel on Reception to get an appointment, or you could walk into your local bank and deposit or withdraw your own money. But now just look at how easy life is made for everybody, we haven’t half had it hard during our lifetime, these days everything is made so easy for folk, so looking back on it all I find myself asking, isn’t progress a wonderful thing 🤔 As my Grandfather used to say, “Eeh by gum lad, it’s a grand life if you don’t weaken”

Until my next ramble……………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida es Buena

I should have known better than to open my mouth 🤷‍♂️ In my last ramble I rather stupidly mentioned that we could just relax, as there was nothing official to be done, and additionally, no outstanding personal admin to complete, however, those ‘Dark Forces’ were listening weren’t they, perhaps I should just keep what I may be thinking to myself 🙄

Although I rarely read the UK ‘doom and gloom’ mainstream media these days, just perhaps some of the headlines but not the actual content, I do however tend to read more of the local stuff, mainly what’s happening here in Spain, but also ‘some’ headlines from what is happening in other mainland European countries. It is a good job really, for there was an article reminding foreign Immigrants (Expats) in Spain to re-register on ‘El Padron’, which is similar to the UK Council Nominal Roll, or a population census as it is known here in Spain. Now to be completely honest, we didn’t know that we had to re-register at certain periods, nobody had told us this when we first registered on ‘El Padron’ in June 2023. However, I did some on-line research after reading the article to see if it did actually apply to us, and of course, it did 😲 For those who are ‘Non-Eu residents’ and who, like ourselves, currently only hold ‘Temporary Residence Status’, then it seems that you have to re-register ‘every two years’, otherwise your residency status on the register may be cancelled 😳

Being registered on the ‘Padron’ is important because without being on it there are several ‘official’ services that you cannot gain access to e.g. Health Services, Driving Licences, or other associated renewal processes and, even simple thing’s like purchasing a car, not that we are thinking of changing it but these are some things that you wouldn’t normally think about. The first document they ever ask you for is, proof that you are registered on the “Empadriamento’ and this proof is via a ‘Certificate’ that has to be valid within three months of the product or service that you are attempting to gain access to. The most important aspect for us, at the moment, is that being on ‘El Padron’ is the official record of how long we have been officially resident here in Spain, as next year we need to renew our ‘Temporary Residency Permit’ for a further two year’s and then, at what will then be our 5 year point, in June 2028, we can finally start the application process to obtain our ‘Permanent Resident Permit’. However, if we do not re-register at the appropriate periods, and are subsequently taken off El Padron, then, when we come to apply for our ‘Permanent Residency Permit’, we would be unable to provide ‘Official’ proof that we have lived here for the required 5 ‘consecutive’ years 😲 Not being aware of this mandatory renewal process, until now, meant that we were already four months past that renewal date and so, as far as we knew, our proof of residency status may already have been removed from the register 😲

Our first hurdle in checking that status, and renewing it, was that it just happened to be the weekend of Spain’s ‘National Day’ celebrations, with a Public Holiday on the Monday, so of course all Government Offices were closed 🤷‍♂️ The next issue was discovering whether we had to drive up to ‘Manilva’, to the location of the official Town Hall, where we initially had to register on the Padron or, could we go to the ‘Foreign Residents Department’ at a smaller Town Hall Office building in our own local Town 🤔 In the end, we discovered that we didn’t re-register at either, a friendly official in the ‘Foreign Residents Department’ directed us to another Government Building in the town, only a five minute walk away. Once there, I explained to an extremely friendly non-English speaking lady, in my bestest ‘Espanyol’ of course, why we were there and asked for the appropriate form, thinking she would provide the form and tell us we needed to go away and complete it and then make an appointment to return to start the renewal process, or worst case scenario, our residency status had lapsed and we needed to start from scratch 😳 She asked for our current Spanish Residency Cards and then entered our details into her desktop computer, she asked us to wait for a moment and she disappeared into a back office. To be honest, at that point my heart sunk as I wondered whether she was going to consult with a Supervisor about our 4 month overdue re-registration 😳 However, when she returned from the ‘back office’ she had actually produced, and completed, the re-registration Forms on our behalf, which she just asked us to sign. She tapped away some more on her computer, then turned and smiled at us and announced, ‘Todos Completo’ (All Complete). She had not asked us to produce any of the supporting documentation that we had taken with us 🤷‍♂️

Once back outside of the Office I commented to Shazza at just how friendly and helpful the lady had been, and also how surprised I had been that she had not asked to see any of the supporting documentation. Shazza said, “Did you not recognise either of the two ladies in the Admin Office ?”, “Not really, why ?” I responded. She told me that they were both regular mid-morning customer’s at one of our favourite Cafe/Bars, usually sat on a table comprising of about six other ladies that we always passed pleasantries with. To be honest I still didn’t recognise her, I tend to just see a group of six to eight ladies sat around a table together and don’t really pay that much attention to them as individuals 🤷‍♂️ However, our experience that morning may perhaps justify that saying of, ‘It’s Not What You Know, But Who You Know’ 😉 Then again of course, it could just have been a total coincidence and that in truth, she was probably in fact just a very nice friendly and helpful lady 🤷‍♂️ Perhaps now though I will pay a little more attention to who I am speaking to and, perhaps, one morning buy them all a coffee, well you just never know where else some of them may work, perhaps in the local Police Station, or Immigration Office, or Driving Licence Office or local Health Centre 😂 All of which may be places with services that we will both need to access at some point in the future. However, one thing is for certain, I won’t miss the next ‘El Padron’ re-registration date, due in June 2027, as my OCD Buddy made sure that that is now already firmly marked in my diary and ‘Oh Yes’, just one other thing 🤔 “Up Your’s Dark Forces” 😂

Shazza’s mum had spent eleven full days with us and we took her back to Malaga Airport for her flight back home on the twelfth day. Prior to her arrival, we had agreed that as she had already seen most places in our area, right up the coastline into Malaga City, Up into the nearby mountains and she had also visited Gibraltar several times, so on this visit, apart from taking her back to any places that she particularly wanted to re-visit, we would just let her have days relaxing on the balcony in the sunshine, especially after her recent ‘Little Incident’, it is a nice part of the apartment where she could look out upon the views, read her book, or magazines or do her crosswords and sudoku, and of course take her frequent ‘Siestas’, something I think people of a certain age do naturally, whatever country they may be in 🤭

But that is not the way it actually turned out, for we were out every single day, mostly from late morning until the early afternoon, whilst the temperatures were a little cooler, if you could call 25 degrees(c) at 10:30am cool 😳 We had numerous morning coffees in a wide variety of Cafe/Bars, lunches out, the occasional dinners out on some evenings and lots of visits to places in the local area that she had already been to on her previous trips. She also provided us with ‘practical’ reminders of her liking for the taste of Spanish Cervesa, Vino Tinto, Tinto Verano, Sangria and the odd tipple of ‘Baileys’, she may need to enrol with ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ once she gets back home 😂 She also enjoyed the introduction and temporary membership to our ‘People Watching’, ‘Fashion Police’ and ‘Body Beautiful’ club, although we had to keep reminding her that this was supposed to be a discreet and silent activity, and not one intended to be vocalised to any ‘others’ in our immediate vicinity, especially those who were the subjects of our observations 😲 However, after apologising profusely on her behalf, numerous times, and stating that we were just returning her to the ‘Care Home’, we managed to escape without any abusive exchanges taking place 🤭 Perhaps we should have introduced her, and then left her, with the groups of older matriarches who regularly sit gossiping, and who certainly do not disguise who the victims of their observations are, often by pointing with their fingers, or a nod of their head in their direction, like a well aimed missile and when six or seven heads turn and stare in one particular direction it leaves little doubt as to who, or even what, is the focal point of their interest 😂 This, generally morning activity, is not just a privilege reserved for the older ‘female’ generation, for I have quite often observed the older men folk also doing this, sat at a Cafe, or more usually on a park bench, or low wall, smoking their cigarettes, or with the palms of their hands crossed, resting atop their walking sticks, their eyes flickering from one passing target to another, although I do have to say that they do tend to be a little more discreet than their female counterparts. I often observe them and think to myself that I would actually fit quite well into those male groups, only when my time arrives you understand, right now I would probably only be considered more of a young apprentice, learning how to hone those finely tuned skills 😂 But I have to say that I do actually enjoy watching these characters, male and female alike, a case of watching people, watching people, it has become a sort of natural progression and addition to my more usual ‘People Watching’ activities 😉

As well as visiting our more usual haunts, we also managed to find a couple of new sightseeing opportunities to visit, just to mix things up a little bit and by way of a change for Shazza and myself too. Around a one hour drive up the coast is the ‘Castello Monumento Colomares’ (Colomares Castle). Now this isn’t a typical castle fortress of any real military historic significance, those that I more generally like to explore, but it was constructed as a tribute to ‘Christopher Columbus’ and is a major tourist attraction in the neighbourhood, although to look at it, well let’s just say that it is probably more in keeping with something you would find at one of those Disney type Theme Parks.

It was not a sprawling area, perhaps summed up by the entrance fee which, for a tourist attraction was quite cheap really, €2 each for those of a more senior status (yes that did include myself 🙄), and €3 for younger adults, which came as some sort of amusement for Shazza for some reason 🤷‍♂️ Inside the grounds there was a small Cafe/Snack Bar and surprisingly, even that was quite cheap, nowhere near the usual touristy prices where you need a bank loan just to purchase a coffee.

We had selected the right morning to visit as there were very few other visitor’s, I have edited the photo’s above, so it actually looks empty, however it wasn’t. There is very little public parking nearby, which we were pre-warned about after reading ‘Reviews’ prior to our visit, so we ended up having to park up a very steep hill, Shazza’s mum did manage the walk down, albeit very slowly, as even the footpaths, which is hardly an accurate description of what we encountered, were more an accident waiting to happen, broken and raised paving slabs and Ill-fitting manhole covers, they don’t do public Health & Safety here, more a case of you being responsible yourself for avoiding the hazards. The alternative would have been to walk on the road, but with blind bends and speeding motorists the safer option were the poor footpaths. When we were finished at the castle, after about an hour, if that, we left her stood outside the castle entrance whilst Shazza and I walked back up the hill and retrieved the car, it would take the two of us to safely manoeuvre out of the tight parking space into the flow of fast moving traffic. We hoped that her mother had learnt the art of silent ‘People Watching’ in our absence 🙄 Fortunately there were no blue flashing lights when we got down to the castle (Police or Ambulance) so it seems that she had managed to behave herself and not cause a disturbance, I am not sure that I would have been prepared to have paid her bail to have got her released from custody 😂

Our next new location, not a million miles away from the Castle as it happened, was the ‘Mariposario’ (Butterfly Farm) which was housed in a very ornate Asian-style building, this however was a much more expensive visitor attraction 😳 Although we were able once again to park for ‘Free’, this time on the side of the road just a short and fairly level walk away.

In truth, personally I hadn’t expected to enjoy this place very much, with loads of different coloured, and sized, butterflies flapping around or landing on my head. However, I was quite pleasantly surprised, it was more like walking into an enchanted very humid tropical woodland, with water features and walkways and even an upper viewing platform. In the main the vast assortment of species just flew around keeping their distance, although one did decide to settle on my arm for a few seconds. Although some of the photographs (below), and I have kept them to a minimum, do not show it, their were dozens on dozens of butterflies just constantly flitting around, far too fast moving for my camera to catch them in flight, so I had to settle for those that were stationery on leaves, or on the feeding stations.

The exit led into, and through, the more usual mandatory gift shop and, to be honest, I was very nearly tempted to purchase one or two large butterfly themed ceramic wall ornaments, I thought that they would have made a colourful edition to the already resident multicoloured decorative wall vases, and the large colourful ‘Salamander’, that are already in situ on our balcony walls. However, a rather forceful tug on my arm from Shazza indicated that she thought otherwise ☹️ There was a sympathetic smile from the lady at the till counter as I passed, I did the Spanish thing, held my arms out to the side, moved the palms of my hands in an upward direction and shrugged my soldiers. It could of course have been a lot more embarrassing if Shazza had reverted to her former teacher’s method of displeasure and discipline, by grabbing the lobe of my ear and frog marching me outside 😂

We actually thought that Shazza’s mum had done quite well over the duration of her visit, coping with the constantly high temperatures, as there was just no let up whatsoever, with afternoon temperatures regularly reaching between 30-35 degrees(c). The ‘Works of Fiction’ being their usual inaccurate selves, forecasting ‘Maximums’ of ‘up’ to 30 degrees(c) and occasionally promising rain, that of course never actually materialised, unless you happened to be in more Northerly parts of the Country where they have again recently experienced severe flooding as a consequence of ‘Storm Alice’, which once again automatically started the ‘jukebox’ in my brain to start playing that 1976 pop hit by ‘Smokey’ entitled ‘Living Next Door To Alice’ 😆 Just by the way of one of those useless bits of pop trivia, the song was actually originally recorded in 1972, by an Australian band called ‘New World’, so you see, these rambles can also occasionally be quite informative and educational at times 😂

Although Shazza and I do enjoy our own company for most of the year, we do also enjoy having the occasional visits by family and friends, we are not completely anti-social 🤭 However, after nearly a fortnight, we were once again ready for our own space and to get back into our more normal routines, after being out every single day we agreed that for the next couple of days we would be happy to become complete ‘couch potatoes’, it wasn’t as if we hadn’t done any exercise walks, just not at our usual pace although their was a distinct advantage too, the partaking of ‘daily’ Anti-Covid Vaccines, and often more than just once a day😂

In Other News…………………….

Of course, one of the biggest news stories over the last week or so has been about the introduction, in the Schengen Areas of Europe, of the new Entry Exit System (EES) and how that process has effected Non-EU traveller’s. Now it depends on which News Media Publication you read as to their version of events on whether its implementation has been successful or otherwise 😉

So there you go, no chaos in Spain according to the Interior Minister, that is of course as long as you do not mention the Spanish Island of ‘Tenerife’ 🤭 But it has not been such plain sailing elsewhere it would appear and, the reason there have been no problems in other Spanish airports, well perhaps that is because they only implemented it, initially, on a very early morning flight into Madrid but have not yet started implementing them at some of the much larger airports, it will be interesting to see how Malaga for example, with its 20 million annual tourists passing through its gates each year, gets on 🤔

So I guess only those ‘Third Country Nationals’ actually travelling through Airports, within Europe, will know the actual truth of the matter but, as with any new system I guess, to be fair, their are always going to be some teething problems. Considering that the actual introduction of the EES/ETIAS system has been delayed in it’s inception for the last two year’s, it is probably considered a success, well by some, now that it is actually operational 🤔 But do not get too comfortable just yet, as it would seem that their is even more ‘Bureaucracy’ for travellers still to come, not only for you, but also for those of us that live here in Europe 😲

Now to be completely honest, this next stage of bureaucracy is actually not new at all, it has in fact been an official requirement in most areas of the ‘Schengen Zone’ for very many years, but it is not something that has been ‘routinely’ enforced, but with the introduction of the new EES/ETIAS systems, and the issues with Immigration, you can be assured that it will be the next thing to be more strictly enforced.

Now the formality below ‘Only’ applies to those visitor’s who are staying with ‘Private’ hosts and does not effect those staying in Hotels, so by way of an example, any guests coming to stay with us will mean that ‘we’, Shazza and I, will have to obtain, prior to their visit, a ‘Carta de Invitación’, which will cost us around €70 ‘per visitor’, we then send that ‘Certificate’ to our visitor(s), who must produce it at the point of Immigration, along with their Passport and proof of some other formalities e.g. Health Insurance, Return Travel Ticket and Funds available during the period of the visit 😲 So let me just stress again that this is NOT a new requirement, just one, that until recently, has not been ‘routinely’ enforced but, it would appear from recent media articles, that some European countries are now becoming more pro-active with enforcing these procedural requirements.

Now, just because I made a brief mention above to ‘Immigation’, and also, in one of my more recent rambles, I also mentioned how both Portugal and Spain were introducing tighter Immigration protocols which, I am certain is happening elsewhere too, but I also just recently saw this article……………..

Also coming soon, for us here in Spain, is the new legal requirement to carry ‘Emergency Warning Beacons’ in our cars from 1st January 2026. ‘Ditch the Triangle’, well actually don’t ditch the triangle, for this new Law is only currently a requirement here in Spain, so if you travel across European Borders you will, for now at least, still need to put out your warning triangles if you break down along a road.

Yes, like the good law abiding citizens that we are, we have already purchased our’s and are ready to go 😁 However, it would have been helpful if they could have also provided a list of what other ‘European’ countries are part of these new ‘Traffic Agreements’ because, for those that are not included, then we will obviously still need to carry our warning triangles to remain road legal in those countries 🤷‍♂️ I can actually see the good road safety reasons for this new device, if the system works that is and, the monitoring stations do not get overwhelmed, but could this also be a surreptitious way of the Spanish Authorities creating more employment opportunities 🤔 You can see now for yourselves just how my cynical nature still remains pretty active 😂 Not that increasing employment is actually to be considered as a bad thing here in Spain.

So, what else is changing here in Spain 🤔 Actually it is not just here in Spain and again, this is actually not anything new, as we have been doing it every year for god knows how long 🤷‍♂️ For yes, from the early hours of Sunday morning, 26th October, many of us will be putting our time-pieces back by one hour, it means that it will be lighter in the mornings, but darker earlier in the evenings.

But it would seem that here in Spain the agreement to continue to comply with both the ‘Spring’ and ‘Autumn’ time changes expires in 2026, after that, who knows 🤷‍♂️ From a purely personal, and extremely selfish perspective, let’s change the clocks back to Summertime in Spring of 2026 and then, stop any further clock changes, that way it will be light in the morning just as I am having my first cup of coffee on the balcony, but it will remain lighter for longer in the evenings, when I am still admiring the sea views, all the boats and yes okay, I admit it, when I am still able to conduct some ‘People Watching’ 😂

Sometimes I just wish that certain things in our every day lives would just stay the same, I mean why can those in a position of authority not just apply the common sense reasoning of, ‘If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Try To Fix It’ 🤷‍♂️ In my personal experience, things tend to get worse when you do try to fix them, just ask Shazza about my home DIY projects 😂

Until my next ramble…………….

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

‘Live life one day at a time’ is one of those sayings that is quite common in many different countries and in many different languages, ‘Vive la vida un día a la vez’ is how the Spanish say it, usually with a slight tilt of the head and a shrug of the shoulders. Well that is exactly what Shazza and I have been doing since we came to live here permanently, although the ‘Living’ part is open to quite a wide interpretation, our’s has been at a generally much more ‘sedentary’ pace, well it has since we got back from our road trip, although some of that is mainly due to the extreme heat of recent day’s, for we have spent several days doing nothing, going nowhere in particular and not even doing our normal walks, on a regular daily basis, and neither of us feel one little bit guilty about it 😲 On some days though, we had to literally force ourselves to go out beyond our front door, and only then because we were running short of fresh fruit and vegetables and Shazza needed to go to the ‘Fruiteria’ in town, but even then, instead of parking in our usual place in the village and walking in to the town, we felt that lethargic that we drove into the town and parked close to all the amenities, and so it was a very much shorter walk. Of course, being in town and so close to our four favourite Cafe/Bars, we had to stop for a coffee at one of them, to do some people watching, well it would have been rude not to after coming all this way, ten minutes in the car 😂 We tend to vary the Cafe/Bars that we stop at, which are all small family owned one’s, as it means that we can keep in touch with the individual owner’s and engage in conversations with them, just casual chit chat really, but many of them, although speaking good English, always commence in Spanish, and they help us to improve our ‘street’ Spanish conversational abilities, which is much more useful and practical for everyday conversations, as opposed to the more formal Spanish that is taught on-line, or in books. Whereas, if we go into the Marina we are always, without exception, spoken to in English, with some of the ‘foreign’ employed waiting staff struggling themselves with even basic Spanish terminology 🤷‍♂️ Whilst we prefer to use the Spanish establishments in the town, we do still use certain restaurants in the Marina, but only because there is a much wider variety of cuisine.

We were both currently in a nice period of relaxation, no official business needed to be dealt with, no personal administrative business to deal with, it was just complete calm and tranquility, and we intended to make the most of each and every minute of it. Of course normal daily life was still going on around us, shops were open with the steady flow of shoppers continuously in and out of them, the traffic on the streets was just as busy as it usually was. Back at home, I sat in the sauna like conditions on the balcony for as long as I could bare it, watching the cars as they passed underneath our windows, the dog walkers and the now familiar sounds coming from the building site close by, where they were still constructing a new block of apartments, although thankfully, we will not be able to see it even when it is finally completed. Shazza did not join me on the balcony, she preferred to be in the cool air conditioned and subdued light of the cave like conditions of the sitting room, but overall, whether in town or on the balcony we just generally enjoyed sitting and watching the daily life of other’s, as if they were performers in a play in which we were the audience and not a part of the action, just observing the varying scenes being played out before our eye’s.

As I have mentioned more than once in these rambles, one of Shazza’s regular statements is that “Age is just a number” and for me, well that number is just about to increase by one again. I guess that I should be thankful that at least their are some events in this life that I actually can rely on, come rain or shine, and of course, whilst I do still manage to continue to draw breath 😂 For at least I can be confident that this annual event will happen, on the same date, in the same month, each and every year, a bit like Christmas and New Year’s Day, events which don’t need to be marked on a Calendar for me to remember when they will happen 😉 Other annual events, like Easter, can of course both change dates and month in which they occur.

I had sat and thought about ‘Shazza’s’ statement, age may just be a number, but as that number increases, no matter how fit and well you may feel internally, their can be some very noticeable external changes to one’s physical appearance, the increase in the number of ‘laughter lines’ carved into one’s facial features, I do so prefer that particular terminology rather than the word ‘Wrinkles’, although other’s refer to them as an individuals life’s road map 🤭 The other obvious change of feature is the colour of one’s hair, although in that particular area I do have a distinct advantage, for I have had grey coloured hair for more years than I care to remember, in fact I have had it so long that I may even have been born with it, although childhood photographs would tend to disprove that theory, even so, the fact of the matter is, if their are an extra one or two ‘silver threads’ on each of my annual personal number changes, then in my case they are already discreetly camouflaged amongst the hoards of existing one’s, so for me, those additional ones are unnoticeable and so, perhaps that is why I am able to retain my youthful appearance, provided that I stand in front of the mirror that has the more youthful facial picture of ‘Tom Cruise’ stuck on it, at head height of course 😂

Now, if I am correct, it was the 21st September when the local news media reminded us that, on that particular day in question, it was the ‘official’ meteorological last day of Summer, and that we were now entering into the Autumn season. Now that started me thinking about all of the four seasons in a year and how we don’t actually really experience those same quite obvious seasonal changes, well not here in this part of Spain, as some other places do, because unlike a lot of those other places, we actually tend to spend all of the four ‘Seasons In The Sun’, it is only the gradually reducing heat of the sunshine, combined with increasing density of any cloud and the decreasing number of daylight hours, that tend to make any noticeable difference down in our particular neck of the woods.

Well that was it, the word association with ‘Seasons In The Sun’ started instantaneously, I have no control over it whatsoever and so, within seconds of those words entering my thoughts, the musical juke-box in my brain had selected the appropriate song and started to play it, of course, those of you of a similar age group to myself, will already know the song to which I refer, the 1974 hit song by Terry Jacks……….

🎶 Goodbye to you my trusted friend, We’ve known each other since we were nine or ten, Together we’ve climbed hills and trees, Learned of love and ABC’s, Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees……….🎶

Although, when it came to the chorus, I did plagiarise it a little bit, as I am quite often prone to do with some songs, but again it is something that I have no control over, it is like an instant automatic response, often to Shazza’s annoyance, especially when it is one of her favourite tunes, and so the original chorus of that song has now been subtly amended to…………………..

🎶 We have joy, We have fun, We spend four seasons in the sun 🎶

Now for those of you reading this, who perhaps also remember that particular song and tune, I wouldn’t be surprised one little bit if your own personal juke-box in your brain hasn’t already started playing it in your heads, but don’t bother trying to fight the urge to sing it, as unlike the more modern physical music players, in your brain there is no off switch 🤭

The funny thing was, several minutes later Shazza was in the kitchen doing something and I could hear her singing the chorus, I popped my head around the door and said “Catchy little number isn’t it ?”, she laughed, “I can’t get the damned tune out of my head now but, am I singing the original words or your revised version ?” I thought about my answer, well for perhaps a nano-second, “No you are singing the original one’s” I replied 😳🤭 She will never know the truth unless someone tells her, I thought to myself 🤔 “If you are reading this Dougie, about that video call we were going to have……….😲” and “Debs, Shazza has had her Facebook account compromised, best you send any messages through me and I will pass them on to her” 🤭

Anyway, back to the subject of the change of season. The usual seasonal changes are ‘generally’, in most places, observed by a change in weather patterns and temperatures, but also visibly, by the change in the landscape scenery. The changing of the colour of the leaves on the trees, or a few early mornings where the first signs of a frost appear and the much cooler air starts to nip at exposed skin, until the Autumnal sunshine brings some welcome warmth on your face.

And totally by coincidence, during the weekend that I began to cobble together this ‘draft’ ramble, these two headlines below, appeared in one of our local media news publications.

Knowing the usual dismal accuracy record of our ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts and reports, we just scoffed at it, but this time we really shouldn’t have done, as the ‘30c or more’ statement proved to be correct 😲 On the Saturday the mercury hit a little under the 36 degrees(c) mark 🥵🥵 although it was a little cooler the following day, at only 33 degrees(c), but those extremely high temperatures, even for this part of the Costa del Sol, in October, are unusual, and were not helped by the accompanying hot ‘Terel’ wind.

As has been a common practice for us during the Summer months, we were finding that we were still even now having to sit, both day and night, with all the doors, windows and outer security shutters closed and the Air Con running. However, we had elected to go out for a morning exercise walk, and along our more usual route, the mercury at that time showing just 23 degrees(c), so it was a more normal sort of temperature for Autumn in these parts, but what a mistake that decision proved to be 😲🥵 By the time we reached the town, the clear blue sky and hot sun, with the accompanying ‘Terel’ wind had rapidly increased the temperature to 30 degrees(c). We made two stops in town, at our usual Cafe/Bars, whereas more usually we would just make the one stop for refreshments, then we just sauntered back towards the Marina, where we quite spontaneously decided to eat lunch out at our favourite Moroccan Cafe/Bar, but this also served as a much appreciated bit of respite from the increasing heat of the day. By the time we had returned home the mercury was showing 33 degrees(c), and it still wasn’t the hottest part of the day 🥵 At least inside, the Air-Con kept us cool, although with the outer shutters closed it still felt as if we were living in a cave, but it was far too hot to go into the much brighter balcony. We both commented on how this, the first week into October, was supposed to be Autumn, when the more usual afternoon temperatures should have been a lot cooler at around the 26-27 degree mark and starting to cool, little by little, each and every week. But are these unusual temperatures for this time of the year due to climate change, or is it just a seasonal quirk, which can occasionally happen 🤷‍♂️

Now as far as Shazza’s mum is concerned, she cannot tolerate such hot temperatures, which is why she chooses to visit us at this time of year, so, had she arrived on the day she should have done, she would have been in for a not so pleasant first weekend. However, on the day she was due to depart the UK she met with an unfortunate accident, and literally just minutes before leaving her home to be driven to the Airport by one of her son’s, but instead, he had to take her to the A&E Department at her local hospital, where she had to have two staples inserted to a head wound she suffered when she fell over. Fortunately though it was nothing too serious and she was given the clearance to fly. She did however, due to her fall and hospital visit, miss her flight and she asked Shazza to re-organise another as soon as possible, even suggesting the next day 😲 However, unbeknown to her mum, we agreed that because it was a head wound, and we were concerned about her age and the ‘potential’ for delayed after effects, we agreed that it would be best to delay her arrival for 72 hours. Shazza kept in touch with her each day and she appeared, from the telephone conversations, and updates from other members of her family who went to visit her at home, to be perfectly fit and well, and she was still eager to commence her travels.

We collected her from Malaga Airport three days later where, fortunately, it was a more overcast day and only 25 degrees(c). She of course gave us the full chapter and verse about her ‘little incident’, as she referred to it, on the journey home from the airport, also informing us that the doctor had given her the ‘tool’ for one of us to remove the staples after ten days 😳

On that first evening, after dinner, Shazza and her mum were watching TV and I was sat on the balcony, when we saw the reflection on our walls of blue flashing lights, we looked out and saw two fire engines go past and then, at the top of the road, they turned right, in the direction of the entrance to our residential complex. Was it a wildfire on an area of scrubland across the road from us ? Was it a house or car fire ? Shazza went through to the kitchen and from those windows she could see the flashing lights and they looked as if they were in our communal car parking area, so of course, she sent me to investigate. As I approached the parking area I could see the firemen at the rear of a car, it had white smoke emanating from the boot. A small group of other residents had already arrived, some with their phones, video recording the incident, for their Facebook or Instagram accounts no doubt 🙄 I stood next to ‘Daniel’, who is one of our Spanish neighbours who lives below, and just to the right of us, only then did I realise that it was actually his car that had the smoke coming out from it. Neither Daniel, or Stephanie his partner, can speak one word of English but, in my limited Spanish, I established that he suspected the issue was with a battery in the boot of the vehicle. We watched as the fireman forcibly, but cautiously, opened the boot and then sprayed foam into it before rushing backwards as thicker plumes of white smoke filled the night air, the stench coming from it indicated that it was almost certainly an electrical issue, much like a burning clutch has its own unique smell. The firefighter’s gave warnings for onlookers to stand well back, for whilst there were no flames there was still a potential risk of a battery explosion. At first, I had not seen Stephanie, as she had been stood a little further away, but she looked across and saw me talking to Daniel, she waved and then walked towards me, tears were streaming down her face and she put her head on my shoulder and sobbed. I was a little taken aback, as I didn’t know her that well, but I guess she was still in a bit of shock, so I gave her a gentle hug and in my bestest Spanish whispered in her ear, ‘Al menos estás a salvo’ (At least you are safe). I asked her where her young daughter was and she told me that she was safe, with her mum. I didn’t ask any question’s about what had happened, there would be time enough for that in a few days time, or more likely when one of the other neighbours posted it on our community social media platform 🤷‍♂️ There was nothing else that I could do, and to be honest all I had really wanted to establish at the time was whether their was any immediate danger to ourselves, or our car. So I didn’t want to just stand there ‘rubber necking’, the fire brigade had it under control so, I said to them both, that if they needed any help, to be driven anywhere in the morning, to do shopping, collect their daughter from school, or whatever, then they should just knock on my door and I would be more than happy to help. They said thank you and I left, and of course reported back to the eagerly awaiting Shazza and her mum and imparted the information.

We have known Stephanie, and her previous partner, since they arrived here, which was a few months after we ourselves took up permanent residency here, although ‘Daniel’ is a more recent man on the scene 😉 but both of them are very nice and, although they do not speak English, we have always spoken whenever we see each other, brief casual conversations over the balcony, when they are out on their lower patio garden, but also on the occasional times we pass each other in the car park. These social interactions, with our close neighbours, as well as those that we have with the Spanish Cafe/Bar owners and staff, and even with some of the regular customers we have come to recognise, all serve to make us feel a part of our local community. Of course we also have other Spanish, English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Russian and Romanian neighbours within our small residential community, who we may not see on a daily basis, but when we do, we always pass the usual neighbourly pleasantries between each other. It is a good multi-National mixed community and although there is the usual influx of tourists, of all nationalities, who rent some properties, mainly during the Summer months for short periods at a time, you soon get to know your fellow ‘permanent’ residents who, for now at least, do still make up the much larger majority of the community. So although I cannot say that living in Spain is perfect, as I may have already mentioned once or twice in previous rambles, as there are some ‘Irritations’ and ‘Frustrations’ of living here in Spain, which to be totally honest is primarily all related to the official ‘Bureurocracy’, but this ‘Officialdom’ applies to everyone, even the Spanish themselves, so if they have to accept and live with it, then of course, so must we, well as long as we are able to do so, for their are political undercurrents that may soon change our ability to do so 😲

Reading this news, in a European News Media publication, rather than a dedicated Spanish one, of course has started to ring some alarm bells for us for our long term plans for, under our current Retirement Visa (Non-Lucrative Visa), we are not permitted to work anyway, even if we wanted to, although we could do voluntary work. As for the language, well we are already making reasonable headway with that particular element, although I do wonder how they will be able to confirm the ‘speaking with your neighbours’ aspect 🤷‍♂️ However, it appears that ‘Spain’ is not the only country tightening up on the ability for ‘Legal Immigrants’ to move to another country permanently.

The same of course could potentially happen in the UK if the ‘Reform Party’ were to win the next General Election, it appears that as a consequence of the ‘Illegal Migration’ problem that has arisen around the world, let alone just in Europe, some more ‘Right Wing’ and anti-immigration Political Parties, believe that the only way to resolve the issue is to swing the axe at ‘all’ Immigrants, Legal or otherwise 🤷‍♂️ As I have said very many times in these rambles, and personally speaking, ‘I am not going to worry about something that I have no control or influence over’, so when, or even if, Spain does introduce such a policy then that is when we will deal with it, for now it is just a debate between the existing Government coalition of parties 🤷‍♂️ Both Shazza and I agree that, if the Spanish Authorities decide that we do not merit enough points and they no longer permit us to continue to live in this country, then so be it, we will, albeit reluctantly, return to the UK, or maybe consider elsewhere, although, at our ages, I doubt that we would go through all of that Expense and Bureaucracy again elsewhere. That is why, since selling up our UK home and all our worldly possessions when, at that time we decided to live a more nomadic lifestyle in our motor home, I always used to keep a few options open, ‘in my back pocket’ as I often used to refer to them, well I do still have one or two in my back pocket even now, for you can never be certain what the future may have in store for you 😉 At the end of the day, Life is really just one big adventure, with perhaps some obstacles thrown in your path along your particular journey, obstacles that ordinarily you would prefer not to have to encounter, but even so, you still have choices 🤔 Turn back, overcome the obstacles or change direction. As many of my reader’s will already know, Shazza and I have changed directions several times in our adventures. However, quite often, if you prepare in advance for an obstacle that you perceive may arise, very often it doesn’t 😉 We are fairly confident that nothing will change by the time we come to renew our residency permits in June next year, they will then be valid for another two year’s until 2028. That is the point when our next renewal would have extended our residency for a further five year’s, so if the new points policy system is incorporated, it is at that point where it then ‘may’ impact on us. This gives us another two and a half years to improve our Spanish further, stay involved in our local community, and perhaps we could even volunteer a couple of days a month to join in with the local beach litter picking club, at least then we could still keep wearing our flip-flops 😂

Until the next ramble………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

Of course, I cannot lie, yes it was nice to be home once again, there is actually something quite comforting about having familiar things around you, and I do not not just mean the usual personal things inside our home, but also the familiar scenery and the familiar noises from the outside world too, the things that we take for granted, and yes, I guess even the usual daily routines that bring the normality to our lives and combine to just make us feel comfortable. It is a bit funny when I think about it now, for it wasn’t really all that long ago when we used to enjoy the adventure of just living in our motor-home, and enjoying being somewhere new every few days, but then I guess that even then, we were actually living in what was our permanent home, with our familiar things around us, the only things that changed were the scenery and the noises and that was one of the great advantages. Covid I think changed our, and a lot of other people’s perspective, because life certainly became more difficult then, living on the road on a full-time basis. Everyday essential facilities became harder to access as Motorhome Aires and Campsites closed down, limiting where you could obtain drinking water and empty Grey & Black water tanks, or get access to Hook-Ups on cloudy days, when the Solar Panels where not getting enough energy and movement was restricted, so charging the batteries was a challenge. Although conversely, it certainly had its advantages too, like being able to find somewhere isolated to park up and wild camp was easier, as the authorities were otherwise engaged on policing the Covid rules for people in villages, towns and cities and not Motor-homers in wild-camping locations. It was easier and safer parking away from potentially infected people, yet still being able to drive to Supermarkets to stock up on provisions, or to drive to fuel stations to top up on both diesel and LPG, as long as you took sensible precautions. It was certainly a life that, at that time in our lives suited us, especially myself, and my OCD Buddy of course, as forward planning and researching for re-provisioning, re-fuelling and park-ups became an almost daily ‘essential’ requirement, funny old thing but I do still miss those nomadic days at times, but obviously not the one’s through the Covid period.

Once we had returned home from this recent road trip, it had actually taken us a good couple of days to get ourselves sorted again, catching up with the mail that had arrived, you know the old fashioned sort that gets delivered through one’s mailbox, as well as all the other stuff that mounts up electronically, I hadn’t paid too much heed to it whilst we were away, in fact, other than researching stuff that we needed for the actual trip, I managed to stay off my electronic gadgets, iPad and iPhone, for the most part and it was actually quite nice, I actually believe that I could live off grid without all of today’s communication technology, although the world is such these days that you cannot do without some of it, the Governments ensure they still can keep tabs on you if and when they need to, using paper money is becoming less and less, everything moving towards electronic payments, paperless bills, official and social communications, I cannot remember the last time I actually wrote a handwritten letter, these days it is either Email’s or Texts on various Social Media Apps, so the question is, can anyone ever really live ‘under the radar’ these days 🤷‍♂️ You need a passport to travel to other countries, you need a photo ID Card to obtain a Driver’s Licence, Banks are closing physical branches, so you need a Digital card to withdraw cash, and you need a Bank Account to receive payments, and so it goes on. Not that we want, or have a need to live under the radar you understand, but the fact of the matter is that we no longer have that choice 🤷‍♂️ Oops, I feel myself digressing again 🤭

It is another part of the year when a couple of annual payments now require renewals, things like the additional medical cover we took out last year, more as a convenience than a necessity, as we are both fully covered by the Spanish State Healthcare system, but this additional cover provides for Home Doctor visits, if we are too ill to physically go to our healthcare centre in town, where it appears that even here in Spain, getting appointments to see a doctor can now take up to a couple of weeks these days 😲 Not that we have needed to, personally speaking, but we hear about it from some of our neighbours who have. The additional medical cover we have taken out also provides for the cost of an Ambulance to hospital, if ever we should need one, for here in Spain, apart from life threatening emergencies, and unlike the UK, if you call for an ambulance here, you have to pay for it. Perhaps the UK should consider implementing a similar policy, it would free up the availability of ambulances for those that actually really need one 🤔 However, back to the renewal and, surprisingly, there was absolutely no increase in the premium from the previous year, now there’s a rarity I thought to myself. It was also nearly time to renew the Car Insurance and again, I was surprised to receive the quote that showed just a relatively small increase in the premium from last year, only €25 (£21) 👍 So I set to, and got both those things sorted, in the knowledge that another round of annual renewals was finished, and will not re-commence again, on its next annual cycle for various things, for another seven months. So the next post-trip task was to check that the bank account balances corresponded with my own personally maintained manual record of accounts as, when we have been away, we generally use a combination of Bank Debit Cards and cash, although, in truth I am usually pretty meticulous with keeping records of our finances, but I still feel the need to check the ‘official’ bank accounts just in case I have inadvertently forgotten something that I put on my card, rather than payed for in cash, some places now it is ‘Card Only Payments’, like paying entrance fees to tourist attractions. Now I could suggest that this constant need for me to double-check is an age related thing, but actually it isn’t, for me and my OCD Buddy have always done this. As for Shazza, well she had her own post-holiday list of things to do, primarily all the laundry, we actually hadn’t done any during our trip away, even though we had said that we would do it whilst we were on the road, if required, but it wasn’t, she had taken enough knickers to see her through, and of course that is what hotel bathrooms come in handy for and, as they had all provided drying lines on the balconies, it would have been rude of us not to make use of these services 😂 Then of course she stood and did all of the subsequent ironing. Then of course there was the normal ‘weekly’ shopping to do, yes including the visit to the local ‘fruiteria’, who actually stock items that the Supermarket generally doesn’t, and from that bit of information you will gather that yes, it was back to the more healthier dietary regime, having both discovered that we had put on a few extra pounds whilst we were away, which to be honest didn’t really come as any surprise to either of us 🙄 So we were really just doing all of the normal pretty mundane sort of stuff that I guess all of us have to do, when we get back from any sort of extended absence from home, but it can be time consuming and in truth, we would much rather have been doing ‘other’ things, or just doing nothing at all, I mean come on, it’s tiring being on holiday isn’t it and we needed a rest 🤭

One evening, a couple of days after we had got ourselves sorted and back into the swing of our normal routines, we went for a walk along the seafront, just to get some fresh air really and not for exercise purposes on this occasion, as we had done plenty of walking on our trip. It was fairly quiet now in the evenings, as far as the number of people are concerned, just the odd handful who, like ourselves, appeared to be sauntering, or ‘promenading’ as they refer to it in a lot of Mediterranean Countries. We were enjoying the stillness of the warm evening air, for their was barely a breeze, the relative calmness of the mill pond like sea helped, as the water gently rippled up onto the shoreline and overall, we were just savouring the sheer peacefulness of it all. Well it had been peaceful, until we reached the Marina, with its bright multi-coloured neon light’s where some of the bars were competing with each for who could play the loudest music, albeit most had little clientele now the bulk of the Summer tourists had disappeared, unlike further North where tourist season was still in full swing. So we were pleased to get around to the other side of the promenade, where normal service to our eardrums was restored.

Spanish people we find are generally polite and friendly, and like any Country, there are always the few exceptions and although you don’t know these people personally, there is still a polite acknowledgement of each other as you pass, sometimes it is just a nod of the head, a smile, or the more usual ‘Tardes’, which is generally used after 2pm in the afternoon, so it can be used to say both ‘Afternoon’ and Evening’ 🤷‍♂️ the more formal form of address at that time of the day is, ‘Buena’s Tardes’ (Good Evening) but the word ‘Buenas’ is generally dropped in casual conversation. We paused and had a coffee at one of our usual seafront Cafe/Bars in the town, where we got the question as to where had we been because they hadn’t seen us recently, and yes, it was Coffee and not Anti-Covid Vaccine on this occasion, as I confess that I ‘may’ have over indulged during our trip, as if there was any ‘may’ about it 😂 We sat silently, just listening to the chitter chatter around us, the Spanish like to come out of an evening, to sit and have coffee, or a beer or glass of wine and tapas, so it gave us the opportunity to do some people watching, as you do, it would be rude not to, and we also sat watching the freighters on the horizon, as they were rapidly becoming just silhouettes in the fading light. The wide expanse of beach in front of us was completely empty, no last minute sun worshippers, fishermen, dog walkers or joggers and their were no leisure craft on the water, it was just a picture of complete serenity and we could physically feel our bodies beginning to relax, enjoying the moment. It was a bit strange really when I thought about it afterwards, for although we were relaxed when we were away, somehow we just feel that little bit more relaxed now, probably because we knew that we no longer had any long distances to drive, or to look for the next place to visit or search for accommodations, we were back at home now, in our more familiar surroundings and we would decide what, if anything, we were going to do tomorrow, when tomorrow arrived.

We sauntered back towards the Marina, and then on to where we had parked the car, recounting some of the highlights of our recent trip away whilst doing so. When we arrived at the area that we often refer to as ‘Our Beach’ we stopped and looked back, over the sea and the mountains. The evening sky was just about to bring its night blanket of clouds over the land, but we still had the blue sky above them and could see the tint of orange of the fading sun as it reflected off the top of those clouds, there would be a colourful sunset that evening. We spoke no words for those few moments but just stood, absorbing the calm and silent scene before our eyes, then we both broke our silence and agreed on just how lucky we felt to be able to live in a place like this, and for probably the umpteenth time, said how good it felt to be home.

Shazza was first to break the silence, “Do you think we are just getting old and now just like the security of routines and familiar things around us ?” she said, although it was probably intended to be more of a comment than an actual question, I shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t think it has anything to do with getting old, in fact, I don’t actually feel old, do you ?”, she took a few seconds before answering, then said, “Sometimes”, in a thoughtful sort of way. Her answer came as a bit of a surprise to me, for after all, she is the one who is generally always saying that “Age is just a number”, and ‘How fit and healthy we both are with no medical conditions’ so we ended up in conversation as to why she felt that way, “I am noticing a few more wrinkles, I now cannot watch the TV without my glasses and, I cannot read labels when I am shopping, without putting my glasses on”, I smiled before answering, “Well I guess that must mean that you are about getting ready for me to send you off to the knacker’s yard then”, I dodged her elbow aimed towards my ribs. “But in all seriousness, Do you feel unwell ? Are you worried about any aspects of your health that you are not telling me about ? Do you feel physically unfit ?” I fired the whole barrage of question’s at her in one go, knowing that her answer would reflect that, in fact, and in all reality, she is in perfectly good health. We have always been very open with each other on such things, so I knew that she would have told me if she had any major health concerns, or had felt unwell, ‘she’ is the one that certainly sticks to a much more healthy diet, as opposed to myself who strays off it more regularly, and we both exercise on an almost daily basis. She gave the anticipated one word answer that I had anticipated, ‘No’ she said, almost defensively. The thought did enter my mind though, perhaps she has developed an allergy to ‘road trips’, for I recalled that she had taken ill during our last extended road trip. I did wonder whether she is becoming more of a ‘home bird’ now, or are these two things just a coincidence 🤔

I put my arm around her shoulder, “Well there you go then and, I haven’t noticed any extra wrinkles, well at least not since last week, can you point the new one’s out to me” then I laughed before saying to her, “Neither of us are immortal, yes we are getting older, that’s just a fact of life, but I for one certainly don’t intend going anywhere soon and I hope your not either, we still have a lot of sunrises and sunsets to see yet my love”. She squeezed my hand gently, I knew that she had just been having ‘a moment’, we all have them from time to time, and I am sure the time will come when I may have one myself at some point 🤭 although, at this particular moment, I do have to say that I feel perfectly content with my life. “Come on, I will race you to the car” I said, and before you my reader’s ask the question, of course I won 😂

Now as you know, or at least the majority of my regular readers will know, I have often referred to the word ‘Fate’ in my rambles, and had done so in one of my recent rambles in relation to our road trip, believing, at the time, that it had once again been responsible for re-directing us from our ‘intended’ direction North, and instead took us in a Southerly direction, and then West into the mountains, where we enjoyed a wonderful few days. But, as a consequence of that change of direction we continued our journey South. However, once back at home, I read the local Spanish papers and it made me wonder, ‘Had Fate Come To Our Rescue Yet Again’ ? Although not in the manner, or for the reason, that I had initially believed that it had 🤔

The main area that we had been touring in had primarily been in the ‘Valencia’ region and, at one point, before ‘Fate’ had intervened, we were intending to head a little further North West, into the city of ‘Teruel’, where we intended to spend at least three full days sightseeing and, on one of those days, we had intended to catch a train for a one day sightseeing trip to the nearby city of ‘Zaragoza’, which was about another one hour North of Teruel. However, had we have done so, during that time period, it would have put us into the ‘forecasted’ weekend of the severe weather alerts, which, at the time, we knew nothing about, but fortunately, the intervention of our invisible and silent friend, had meant that we continued to head South, then ultimately elected to return home a little earlier than originally planned and had therefore already left the areas, ‘Just Before The Weather Bomb Struck’. The town of ‘Manzanares’, the last location we had stopped in, was actually in the ‘Castilla-La Mancha’ area, and our route back, once again took us close to the Murcia Region, and of course back into our own Region of Andalucia, all of which were areas ‘forecasted’ to be hit by this severe weather system. What is it they say, about the difference between when good and bad things can sometimes happen 🤔 “It’s all about the timing” is the phrase I believe 😉

However, without getting too over dramatic about this, and I am sure you all know by now how indecisive Shazza and I both are at times, we can change our minds and directions at a moments notice, well it is extremely likely that, had we have elected to have remained on the road, for that extra ten or twelve days that were available to us, we may also have ended up being ‘nowhere’ near any of those areas, even possibly further South West, on the border between Spain and Portugal, or even over the border itself and into Southern Portugal, as I say, you just never know with the two of us 🤷‍♂️ But as it was, it had been a lucky escape by all reports, we were already at home when the storm’s hit those areas, some quite badly, fortunately it did not reach as far South as our location and, for the rest of that first week back at home, in our neck of the woods at least, there was not one storm cloud or spot of rain in sight, although there was some ‘forecasted’ to arrive over the following week, but we will continue to rely on our own ‘Forrest Gump’ method of weather forecasting for the foreseeable future 😉

Now, one thing that me and my OCD Buddy were interested in, once we had got settled back at home, was just gaining a few facts and figures about or recent trip, just out of general interest really, so for those who may also be interested I list them below, for those who are not, then just scroll past 😉

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The duration of the road trip was 12 days

We travelled a total distance of 1,850 Km (1,150 miles), that was from leaving home to returning home. In that time we did 5 separate journeys, the longest journey in one day being 278 miles, the shortest being 82 miles.

We spent €180 (£156) on Diesel

We spent €1,170 (£1,017) on 4* and 3* Accommodations (one of which included ‘Full Board’)

We travelled in, and through, 4 ‘Regions’ and 8 ‘Provinces’

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From the conversations between Shazza and myself, both during our recent trip and again on the journey home, where Shazza suddenly started to wax lyrical about exploring more of our own Region on future road trips, me, and my OCD Buddy of course, were curious to discover some information more specific to our own region and we wasted no time in doing a little more in depth research on what Andalusia has to offer. So please forgive me if I have already told you some of this before, although I don’t believe that I have gone into as much depth before, even for my own benefit. Of course, I did know that Andalusia comprises of 8 different Provinces and that it basically covers the whole of the Southern part of the Spanish mainland, right down to the ‘Straight of Gibraltar’, across to the Atlantic Coast on the West where it borders Southern Portugal, and across on the Mediterranean Coast right up to where it reaches the Regional Border of Murcia on the Eastern side, and then, up to the North where it borders two Regions, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha. I know that I have mentioned this before but, Andalusia is actually the second largest Region in Spain.

So maps are all well and good, but what about what is actually in these eight Provinces, things to do, or places to visit that would be of particular interest to both Shazza and myself and which would satisfy both our individual, and joint interests. We acknowledge that some locations may be close enough to do in just a day trip, as many parts of the Atlantic coast, on the opposite side to where we live, are within easy reach, just over a one hour’s drive but, others in the Northern part of the Region could take a bit longer, a 3-4 hour drive, where we can then do extended mini-breaks of maybe two or three days, or even beyond that, if we were to include several places and areas in a round robin sort of trip, but these would be locations and places that we have not already visited, which would rule out most of the major Cities and Towns in Andalusia, as we have done most of them already. We could perhaps even base ourselves somewhere for several days, where we could then mix some village/town sightseeing with a bit of hiking. As I started to research the opportunities I began to realise just how much there was for us to do and, yes I have to confess that the two of us, me and my OCD Buddy, did start to get a little excited at all the opportunities available, but it was probably just a little too soon to share this excitement with Shazza 😉

In our previous explorations in and around our immediate area, it had nearly always been Shazza that had planned surprise day’s out, and as you may recall, always with the starting gambit of “What do you want to do today ?”, but in reality it was never a real question in which I had a choice, for she knew exactly what we would be doing on that particular day. She appears to have lost a lot of that enthusiasm these days, so I have now taken over the mantle of advance planning such adventures and boy, do I have a lot of research ahead of me, as the Region of Andalusia has :

Over 270 Castles, 39 Lighthouses, 30 Embalces (Reservoirs), 3 National Parks, 24 Natural Parks, 28 Nature Reserves and 5 Mountain Ranges. There is no exact official count of how many Waterfalls exist in Andalusia, but travel resources mention at least 20 ‘beautiful’ one’s in the region, so I am guessing there will be more, which these ‘travel resources’ do not consider as beautiful 🤭 The same applies to Natural Hot Springs, where again the travel resources mention at least 10. I didn’t bother researching how many Hiking Trails, as we already have several hiking trail books, and a couple of dedicated walking trail ‘Apps’, so we know that there are literally hundreds, some of which are graded as Easy, some Moderate and other’s that we certainly wouldn’t even consider doing ourselves, we are not stupid and know our limitations, so we will let the much younger, so called ‘Influencers’, risk life and limb to grab those scenic photo’s 😂

So now, having taken the blinkers off, I am discovering that there really is so much to see and do here in our own Region, that I had not actually realised and, a lot of it is virtually right on our very own doorstep 🤗 Of course, this does not mean that we will not fancy a change of scenery from time to time, either within other Regions and Provinces of Spain, but Portugal in all reality is only a hop, skip and jump away, around four hours to the Southern part of the ‘Algarve’, probably even quicker if ‘Luis Hamilton’ is in the driving seat 🤭 and although we did some of Portugals Western and Southern Atlantic coastline, in our former Motor-Home travel days, there is still so many areas we have yet to explore. Then of course there is the rest of Europe, so perhaps there is still time to convince Shazza to ditch the car and invest in yet another ‘home on wheels’ 🤔 Now what’s that saying about trying to move mountains ? To be completely realistic though, for Shazza these days, a 4* or 3* Hotel with all the luxuries, against a Chemical Cassette Toilet and Limited Water usage, yeah, you are probably right, you don’t have a hope in hell of convincing her Eric my boy 😂

So whilst I continue to surreptitiously get ready for our next adventure, Shazza is putting her time to much better practical use, preparing menu’s for our next family visitor, her mum, who will be arriving within the next few days and staying with us for two weeks, and she most definitely will not eat our more usual ‘Plant Based’ meal options 🤭 So Shazza has set about planning meals to suit her catering requirements. Then, just before Christmas, my Sister and Brother-in-Law arrive from Australia, to stay with us for 3-4 days, this will be their first visit to us here in Spain, they are on their own wider travels around different parts of Europe, primarily visiting their own children and grandchildren, who have now also elected to live in Europe. So I guess I still have a bit of time to continue with my research into our own ‘future adventures’ and then put my own question to Shazza of, “What do you want to do today” 😉

We had been out for our usual morning walk, on this occasion opting to have a late breakfast, it was much cooler with a temperature of only 21 degrees(c), which was actually very nice in the Westerly breeze. Later, I was sat on our balcony, looking out over an unusually grey coloured and unsettled sea, and grey, rain threatening clouds above, which the ‘Works of Fiction’ had forecasted would deposit their wet cargo later that evening, and continue throughout the night and all day the following day, and I have to say that ‘Forrest Gump’ was tending to show signs of agreement, but then the occasional patch of blue sky and glimpse of sunshine appeared, reflecting that it hadn’t quite made up its mind what it wanted to do 🤔 However, after a very prolonged period of searingly hot weather over the last few months, any rain would actually be more than welcome. The wind had started to pick up and whistled at me through the French windows and, as the afternoon wore on, the clouds thickened, the arrival of the wet stuff was looking more likely. I found myself having a moment of reflection, which is quite different to a moment of personal contemplation 🤭 I found myself thinking about the last nine months, and what is still to come over the last three of this year. We would have had four sets of different family visitors come and stay with us, we ourselves have had a month’s trip away, at the beginning of the year, the majority of it spent back in the UK visiting family, and meeting up with friends, and we have just completed our recent two week road trip here in Spain. We have had a new water boiler fitted, and had a complete re-build and renovation of our en-suite bathroom and finally, we have now got our UK Tax situation sorted, he says with fingers crossed, and importantly, received our refund of taxes which they, the UK Tax Authorities (HMRC) had taken, which they shouldn’t have done. So, all in all, it has actually been quite a busy and quite a productive period. I think that we will both be quite happy now to have a much quieter last three months of the year although, we can never be completely off our guard, as we never know when those ‘Dark Forces’ will rear their ugly heads once more 🙄

So, I am not sure what I will find to ramble about in the next few weeks, although you can rest assured that I will almost certainly find something 😂

So, until that next ramble…………….

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

We were both a little sad to be leaving the very small mountain town of ‘Montenajos’, yes I suppose we could have squeezed in an extra day here, where we could have payed to visit the Thermal Baths, and perhaps booked another one of the evening tourist train trips, as they did three different routes, dependent on which day you selected to go, but we had already seen everything else that there was to see, so remaining for another full day, and paying for a dip in a hot bath when both the swimming pool and the river were warm enough, and another three and a half hour evening tourist train tour, albeit to a different set of villages in the lush green mountains, just didn’t really seem to make any sense and, as we had already started heading in a Southerly direction, neither did it seem logical to head North again, so we agreed that we would just continue to keep going in a general South-Westerly direction and search for another inland location.

Shazza had, somewhat surprisingly, volunteered to choose the next location on this occasion, which would also involve locating, and booking, the respective accommodation, well I suppose it did take a little bit of the pressure, and frustration of finding somewhere to stay, off me and my OCD Buddy for a change. However, we all know by now, don’t we ? That when Shazza ‘volunteers’ to do these things, and seemingly out of the blue, it very rarely is. So I already knew with some certainty that at some point over these last few days, probably whilst I had been otherwise distracted with other urgent matters, like having a period of personal contemplation 😴 she had already been looking and, I was guessing, with some confidence, that she would have already selected both our next location and the accommodation 😉

Shazza had identified the town of ‘Manzanares’, and surprise surprise it had another nice ‘Parador Hotel’ with pool, she had enjoyed the first one that we had stayed at in ‘Lorca’, although at that one we hadn’t used their pool facilities. The other reason, and in truth, probably the main one, was that it had a ‘Manchego Cheese’ museum, with of course the mandatory attached and associated cheese and wine shop. Shazza’s Achilles heel is her love of cheese, although these days she tends to stick to Goat’s cheese, Feta or Mozzarella, but if they had anything else that took her fancy I think the temptation would have been too strong for her to resist, I already knew which area of the shop I would be paying more interest in of course, and believe me it would have nothing to do with ‘Curds and Whey’ 🤭

However, the drive to ‘Manzanares’ would be back to doing yet another longish journey and at 9:15am, when we departed the hotel, the temperature was already 26 degrees(c), and it would continue to rise as we returned back to sea level, with temperatures forecast to once again reach 36 degrees(c), before we even reached our destination, so we were once again very pleased that we at least could rely on our good air-con system in the car, and once again, allowing for stops, it would end up being another relatively long travel day of around 5 hour’s.

We left Montanejos via a different route to the one we had arrived in on so, on the outward journey we still had similar terrific Mountain View’s, but this time through a slightly different scenic area. It didn’t seem to take us as long to get off the very good mountain roads and onto our first Motorway, only around half an hour, and that one took us back towards the coast and towards the city of Valencia, although we would skirt around that on the A7, as we had visited Valencia on a previous road trip we decided not to stop there again this time, so we continued on and then started heading inland again on the A3.

This particular motorway was absolutely chaotic, this being the main fastest route from Valencia towards Madrid, there were Big Trucks with additional trailers on the back, known as ‘Wagon & Drag’, normal single trailer trucks and then the smaller HGV’s, these trucks were carrying everything from Livestock, Fuel, Fruit & Veg, Building Materials, Beer and Wines, well just all the usual sort of cargo really that you see being hauled around the roads in most other countries too, nothing out of the ordinary but just a lot of it. Then there were the Tourist Coaches, fleets of them, confirming that in these parts the holidays season was far from being over, and they didn’t hang about either ducking and diving in and out of lanes to get past the slower moving HGV’s. Then of course there were the usual array of both Caravans and Motorhomes, we were interested in looking at the differing number plates, which identify their country of origin, but the largest majority were actually from within Spain, although there was also a large number from France, Germany and the Netherlands, with no more than the odd one or two that we saw from the UK, Belgium and Italy. Of course there were the usual vast array of Transit type Delivery Vans, rushing to collect, or deliver, their cargo’s of whatever 🤷‍♂️ But far the greatest number of vehicles were the Cars, with of course the usual ‘Get out of my way I’m in a hurry’ brigade, then the ‘I don’t care if I am going too slow, I’m doing the speed limit so I am not moving out of the outside lane to let anyone else pass’ and, of course the ever increasing number of ‘I don’t have time to turn on my indicator, you should know that I am going to pull out in front of you’ 🤷‍♂️ However, then, as if we needed anything else adding into this mix, the Sat Nav gave us a verbal warning that there was standing traffic ahead of us, the screen reflected a roadworks symbol and a solid ‘red’ line, rather than the usual ‘Blue’ or sometimes ‘Yellow’ for slow moving traffic. Not that any of the vehicles in front of us could have had any such modern road traffic information systems built in to their vehicles, otherwise they would not have had to violently slam on their brakes at the last possible minute, when three lanes suddenly became one, although their had also been a fair number of roadside visual warnings of this beforehand but they were probably answering, or making, phone calls on their mobile phones to notice them 😲

This was the first time that we have encountered these kind of lengthy roadworks on a Spanish Motorway, one’s that involved us being virtually at a stand-still, this one lasted for close on 15 minutes, oh well, that was a less than desirable first, on this, or indeed any other, road trip that we have done here in Spain 🤷‍♂️ However, we were in no hurry so we just sat patiently in the queue until we saw the three lanes open up again, it wasn’t as if we could have done anything else, there was nowhere else to go, but when we saw the ‘All Clear’ sign we moved over into the middle lane, we couldn’t get into the inside for all the trucks, we waited for all the formula one racing drivers to sling shot past us, in a hurry to die it seemed at the speed they were going, even though my own little Luis Hamilton was herself already doing close to the maximum permissible speed limit of 120Km (74mph), but they all soon became just a speck in the distance and then the traffic started to thin out a little bit.

At the risk of upsetting any other of my Spanish reader’s, I do have to say that the landscape along a lot of this part of the route that we were on, was very flat, and very boring, the earth a parched rusty red colour for miles and miles, although some of it was dispersed with neatly planted straight rows of Olive Groves along with several miles of grapevines, which did add a little more colour to the proceedings, confirming that the farmer’s irrigation systems were doing their job.

We were grateful when we left this A3 route, leaving the hoards of vehicles to continue their journey towards Madrid, whereas we now started heading South West, on the very much quieter, and much more scenic AP36, where we took the first opportunity we could to stop for a coffee, and comfort break, and also to take the opportunity to change driving positions. Shazza had done the first, and what had turned out to be the more chaotic leg of this journey, well I guess some you win, and other’s you don’t, but in reality we had both lost out on this second part of the journey, for on this second stage, where I was now doing the driving, it turned out to be the much more scenic part, with hills and greenery in abundance, but you know what that meant of course, with Shazza in the passenger seat, exactamundo, no photo’s 🤷‍♂️ Although in all honesty, I guess one virtually traffic free motorway, and mountains with perhaps the odd church, castle or white finca on it, must tend to look just like the last one, well to you my reader’s at least.

I was a little surprised when we arrived at the hotel, for these ‘Parador Hotels’ are ‘generally’ perched on hilltops, in the grounds of grand historical estates or castles, looking down on the towns spread-eagled below them, or over vast swathes of mountains and countryside, but not this one, no this one was at ground level and sat virtually alongside the A4 Motorway. Although there was an advantage to that, the estimated half hour walk into the town would be on the flat and so quite an easy one. It looked, once we had driven through the arched entrance, as though this particular property had once been part of a large estate of stables, from all of the now brightly painted stable type doors in the very large inner cobbled courtyard, and there was some horse and cart related paraphernalia dotted around. However, once inside, in the nice air-conditioned reception, it was modern, albeit that the main large interior of the building still retained a lot of its former character and charm, with large wooden doors and large wooden framed windows with the older style heavy iron window latches, with some antique looking furnishings dotted around the reception entrance hall. Shazza had pre-booked for just the two night’s, we had agreed on just the one full day of sightseeing the following day would suffice, as by now we had both seen quite enough of historical architectures, castles, churches, convents etc, and the statues of Kings or Knights on horseback, or other famous former residents emblazoned for eternity in grey concrete, marble or brass, stood in Plaza’s, or at road junctions, towering over everything else, the usual kind of stuff you find in most large towns and cities all around the world.

Shazza just really wanted to visit the cheese museum, wander through some of the narrow cobbled shaded streets and enjoy a leisurely breakfast, at a nice little street cafe/bar, people watching, as is our want, that was if we managed to get up early enough to beat the worst of the day’s heat, another scorcher was forecast. I had looked on Google to see if there was very much to interest me but, other than the usual museums and churches there was very little that sparked any real excitement. So once we had done our walkabout, perhaps, before returning to the hotel, we could partake of a light lunch, which may, or may not, have required partaking of a dose, or two, of Anti-Covid Vaccine medication 🤭 Once we had returned to the hotel, we would then probably just relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon taking cooling dips in the outside pool, so it sounded a pretty decent plan to me although I knew that at some point during that afternoon we would have to commence looking for our next destination and accommodation.

Once we had checked-in and settled into our very nice room, we made our way to the more ‘informal’ Cafeteria for a light lunch, They had quite an extensive menu, from starters to main courses and sandwiches, we knew from our previous ‘Parador’ experience that they were never going to be just a ‘sandwich’, so we ordered a Salmon and Creamed Cheese Bagel each, there were no egg and bacon butties or baked beans on toast here I will have you know 🤭 Okay, so all of these ‘Paradors’ looked a bit posh on the outside, and during the height of Summer they are in high demand and the more popular one’s, in the more touristy locations, can command up to €400 per night 😳 and that is on a room only basis, we were fortunate to catch them in ‘their’ low season period and so had only paid €80 per night. We were initially a bit surprised, as whilst they look a bit on the more ‘Upper Class’ style shall we say, they are actually much more casual than they first appear, most of the guests wore shorts and short-sleeved shirts, which is a good job really as I had left my ‘Jodhpurs’, ‘Hacking Jacket’ and ‘Cravat’ back at home, although I was still rather hoping that Shazza had remembered to pack the ‘Whip’ 😂

Once again though, no tea or coffee making facilities in the rooms, but at least they did provide a stocked ‘Mini Bar’ comprising of Bottled Beer, Soft Drinks and Snacks (All of which would have incurred an additional cost of course), however, as stated previously, we always come prepared to cater for our own needs. The rest of that late afternoon and evening we stayed at the hotel, I sat on the nice shaded balcony and commenced drafting my blog, the previous one to this, the ‘War and Peace’ volume, which some of you will be forgiven for, if you are still ploughing your way through it 😂 Shazza sat on her double bed, yes we had one each again, she checked her social media stuff and then read something or other on her ‘Kindle’ device, it was nice with the room air-con doing its job very efficiently. Later that evening we went back down to the Cafeteria area and ordered a meal off their quite extensive menu, we couldn’t be bothered going to one of the two on-site restaurants, for although it wasn’t ball gown and tuxedo attire, it would have meant wearing long trousers and a smarter style shirt, or a dress for Shazza, we couldn’t be bothered with any of that and I am not sure whether Shazza had even packed a dress anyway 🤔 We sat outside on the terrace, although their were no dramatic views like their had been at the one in Lorca, but it was pleasant enough as their was enough opportunities to do a spot of people watching.

We did manage to get up relatively early the following morning and head out in the direction of town, the early signs were promising, as we passed by lots of expensive looking houses, set in their own grounds and protected by high walls and electronic gates, okay yes I confess, I glimpsed through gaps in some of the gates or fences, well it would have been rude not to, but I refrained from poking the lens of my camera through to take some photo’s in case one of the neighbour’s was watching, and reported me to the Police, who may have arrested me, thinking I was casing the joints 😂 We passed the town’s ’Plaza de Toro’s’ (Bullring), on the outskirts of the town, but their was no external indication of whether it was still being used for that sometimes controversial traditional event, although the building itself looked in a good state of repair. In many towns now, where the bullfighting no longer takes part, the buildings are used for different events, mainly musical but occasionally, as wedding reception venues or, as the one near us in Estepona, the weekly ‘flea markets’, although that one in Estepona has not been maintained and looks rather scruffy, some are just left to fall into a state of total disrepair, a shame really as they are rather iconic traditional Spanish looking buildings.

One thing that was very noticeable to us though, was just how quiet everywhere was, we had seen just one or two people in the half hour it took us to walk to the main periphery of the town, and their was hardly any traffic, literally just the odd car, and it was a weekday 🤷‍♂️ We were beginning to wonder whether we had arrived on a local ‘Public Holiday’ perhaps 🤷‍♂️ However, I saw what looked like market stalls in the distance ahead of us, so we walked in that direction and sure enough there was a market, it was a big market with lots of stalls, but just the usual array of clothes, shoes, kitchenware and plants and shrubs, no food produce of any description, not even the usual fruit and veg stalls, however a lot of these stalls were selling exactly the same sort of stuff and they stretched along the street for quite some way. At least there were actually people here, although not crowds and we could just saunter without being shoulder barged every couple of minutes, but there were enough people to at least prove that we hadn’t arrived in a ghost town.

Once we had walked the full length of the market stalls there was no obvious indication of which way led into the main town area, it was just narrow empty streets of two or three storey residential buildings, often there is a ‘Plaza Espana’ sign, pointing to its location, nothing here that we could see and strangely enough, none of the other more usual ‘Brown Coloured’ tourist signs pointing to a central Church, or other places of interest, not even one indicating the location of the Cheese Museum. To be completely honest, it just all seemed a little drab compared to a lot of the places we had visited recently, it made us wonder why there were so many large luxury houses that we had seen on the walk in, it didn’t look a particularly affluent area but perhaps the owner’s made their money in the nearby cities but invested in properties here that were not only cheaper but had lots more open space 🤷‍♂️ I checked Google Street Maps and then followed a route leading towards a central area that showed shops and bars, somewhere to at least sit and have a coffee and tostado.

We kept walking, aimlessly really, just following the Google Map directions and eventually, well within probably five or ten minutes, we did come across a much larger, and quite impressive looking church. Outside it there were umbrellas, tables and chairs stacked up, indicating that it would have been a nice area to sit and have a drink and watch the world go by, but not today it would appear. There was the odd shop here and there, all with their external metal shutters down and no signs of life so we looked at the sign on one of the shop doors with the opening hours, to see if we had arrived on the day everything was closed, but no, it indicated that it should have been open from 10:00am, but it was now 10:30am 🤷‍♂️ We continued wandering, in search of that elusive Cafe/Bar, most other cities, towns or even villages have Cafe/Bars on almost every corner, but not in this one. We came across some other nice looking historical buildings but our question was, ‘where were all the other tourist’s 🤷‍♂️’

More by luck than judgement we found our way into ‘Constitution Square’, this would have been the ‘Plaza Espana’ in most other town’s and this was where the ‘Ayuntamiento’ (Town Hall) was located, and other Government Offices, an arched pedestrianised walkway ran across the lower level and their were a couple of nice looking Cafe/Bars with their plush looking ‘wicker’ style chairs and tables outside, but there was absolutely nobody about, no waiters or customer’s, surely the whole town couldn’t all have been at the market 🤔 There were no obvious signs or banners that would indicate that a ‘Fiesta’ had just taken place or that one was about to happen, nothing, the place was almost completely devoid of people, except the market of course.

After a little more aimless wandering we finally discovered the main shopping street, pedestrianised and with shops on either side of the narrow precinct. We discovered one Cafe/Bar, which was open 🥳 however, it had only three tables outside and all three were occupied ☹️ There wasn’t enough room to swing even half a cat inside, so we walked on. The hostelries highlighted on Google Maps were either still closed, or looked as if they were no longer in business and, to top off a rather disappointing morning, the Cheese Museum didn’t open until midday, still an hour away. Shazza didn’t want to hang about and wait, it was getting hotter and hotter and we had nowhere to sit and wait anyway, so we decided to head back towards the hotel, a few minutes away from it there was a ‘Repsol’ fuel station with an attached Cafeteria, we would stop their for a coffee and maybe a Tostado, if we were lucky.

Whilst we were finally getting to enjoy a very good, and hot, Cafe con Leche, and Tostado, Shazza asked me how long it would take to get back home from here. She said that she was about done with sightseeing now, and she was getting fed up of living out of a suitcase, she really just wanted to get back and enjoy her home comforts again. It came as a bit of a surprise, as although I knew she was getting ready to head home, and I knew before we even left on this trip that we wouldn’t in all reality, remain on the road for a full three weeks, I had thought that we would have got at least one more location in, potentially for another couple of nights. The scenic town of ‘Jaen’ which, by coincidence, also had a ‘Parador Hotel’, located on a hill within Castle Grounds and which had a nice swimming pool, was actually on the route home anyway 🤷‍♂️ Yes I had done a Shazza, and already looked in advance knowing that it was a place that she had said, in a previous conversation, was a place that she would like to visit at some point. But not even the temptation of another ‘Parador Hotel’ could tempt her, so I looked at Google Maps and it indicated that we could be home in just a little over four hour’s, although we would have to get back to the hotel, re-pack our bags, check-out and re-fuel, and allowing for a comfort break, I estimated that we could be sat on our own balcony by 6pm that evening. So the decision was made.

It was telling that when we went to check-out and I explained why we were leaving early, the female receptionist gave a knowing smile, but why would they have a ‘Parador Hotel’ here on the outskirts of this anonymous town was the question in my head 🤷‍♂️ Shazza wanted to drive the first part of the journey, not just because she knew it would be relatively quiet but she wanted to stop off when we got nearer home to do some shopping for some groceries to see us over the next few days as we had emptied the fridge before we departed, so she wanted a bit of a break before trudging through the shopping aisles. It gave me an opportunity as the passenger to take the last photo’s of this trip, especially as we would be approaching the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges from the North, and then driving through a part of them before heading South. She also knew that we would have to do battle with the heavy traffic around Malaga and Marbella, she didn’t fancy that as it would be in the middle of the Spanish rush hour, the end of the Siesta period when everybody rushes back to work.

We had only been on the road for just a little over an hour when we decided to stop for a cold drink and then we also realised that apart from the tostado, we hadn’t eaten lunch, so we pulled in to a roadside Cafeteria, it was very busy although the road up to here had been very quite. Shazza managed to find an empty table and we looked at their menu, we both opted for a hot Calamari Sandwich and I went up to order. A very nice lady, who spoke absolutely no English, took my order and then checked back with me to confirm that she had understood what I had ordered, before telling me to go and sit at the table, which I had pointed to so that she knew where we were. She brought across our cold drinks and a huge bowl of crisps covered with plump anchovies, she must have seen my expression as I hadn’t ordered these, but she said ‘Gratis Tapas’ and then smiled. They were just crisps and anchovies, but boy were they delicious, the saltiness and vinegar of the anchovies, with the plain slightly salted crunch of the crisps, were an explosion of loveliness in our mouths. Shortly afterwards came the hot Calamari ‘Baguettes’, there were oodles of Lightly battered Calamari rings in a half fresh crisp baguette, with the usual small side portion of French Fries, and the total bill, including the drinks, a mere €13 (£11). This is what I enjoy about these road trips, no not just the value for money at places like this and not just getting to a particular destination, but the experiences along the way, the unscheduled stops, time to pause and enjoy the surroundings and the people that we meet, but the next stop would be the ‘Mercadona’ supermarket, just twenty-minutes from home.

As we left the rest stop, Shazza had said that she didn’t really want to drive anymore, which I didn’t mind one bit as I really enjoy driving and, to be truthful, I would do all of it if I could, but the eye issue that I now have since my detached retina operation in March 2022, means that I am less confident in places which have very narrow and busy streets, but as it was now Motorways all the way home, bring it on 😁 We had been back in our own ‘Region’ of Andalusia for some time, but it wasn’t until we reached the outskirts of Malaga City that we felt as if we were in home territory, although we were still a little over an hour from home. Unusually, it was Shazza, and not me for a change, that started spouting lyrically about the scenery, we could see the sparkling blue of the ‘Mediterranean’ on one side and the lush green forested mountains on the other, “Look at what we have on our own doorstep ?” She announced. I had been telling her this all the time we have owned a property here, and although we have explored quite a lot of it, there is still so much that we have not ventured into, but she had always been dis-interested when I had mentioned having weekends away in a ‘Casa Rural’, or even a hotel, in our own nearby mountain ranges or even in some of the plentiful coastal areas that lay to the East, South and West of us 🤷‍♂️ Finally, and I think a lot of it has to do with the short period we spent in the mountain town of Montanejos, which she thoroughly enjoyed, but I believe that she may be coming around to my way of thinking and, if it took this trip to make her realise it, then it was ‘Worth Each And Every Mile, And Day’ that we had just spent away 🙏

The ice-ing on the cake, when we got home, was to discover some exceptionally joyous financial news. You will recall from my recent previous rambles of the process I was going through with the UK Tax Authorities (HMRC), to claim a refund for the ‘UK tax’ that I had paid, which I should not have been paying over the last two year’s. But I was not expecting to hear from them quite so soon, but they have already come back and officially confirmed that I had overpaid, which I guess must have stuck in their throats a bit 🤭 and advised me of the amount of refund they would be giving back to me, which I should receive ‘within’ the next 14 days, so Christmas will have arrived a little earlier than anticipated this year. They also notified me that my tax code has now been changed accordingly, but I will still be keeping a close eye on any future income tax deductions they take from me 😉 but what a lovely way to end a two-week vacation, and at least this time, unlike our previous month long holiday in the UK at the beginning of the year, we were not coming back for urgent work to a water boiler, or any other domestic crisis 😂

It does feel good to be back at home in our own surroundings though, it is certainly true that whilst it is sometimes good to get away from the same four walls, and routines, it also feels very nice to be back home again.

Until the next ramble………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigo’s, La Vida Es Buena