Neither Stirred Or Shaken !

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