Monday already, and I got through the weekend, sounds bad, I'm sorry, it wasn't it was a truly memorable weekend thanks to Franco...

With my birthday on Saturday and knowing how I was feeling we were busy almost from dawn to dusk on both days!

I did shed tears while walking Pippa as aforementioned i think on the early blog I did that day...

I packed our picnic and we were off about 10am mas ó menos....

We got up to the Ardales lakes and pulled up right out side the Kiosk restaurant/bar...

Not too busy yet! We couldn't see anywhere to sit for the day, the water was up beyond the trees, in places the trees were well under the water! amazing considering the heat we have, but then considering the amount of water that fell, four years worth, I expect these reservoirs will be full for some considerable time!


After a coffee at the bar, we drove to the other side of the lake, where the photo below was taken, lots of fish!

The barrier there would be high to climb over, but the water was up to it anyway, so a big NO to parking ourselves there!

We then drove on... over the other reservoir and well on our way to the flamingo lakes! We tried a couple of places near the water, but with no trees we would have baked along with the ground there!

So we turned about, back past everything and took the El Chorro road, then the Bobastro road and climbed that, in the car, that is! We went up past the huge reservoir near the top of that mountain! And we pulled off the road in a place we have done so before, I had an idea...

Around the corner from where we parked was the perfect place to spend our day... its right on the edge of the mountain, with the most fantastic vista before us...

The mountain had a hang over to give us shade, and as long as we didn't get too close to the edge.... we would be fine... and we were!

I hung a rubbish bag from a rock, we opened up our chairs, we had the food in the shade, the radio on another ledge... we found a great local station but it was playing hits from the 80's and 90's, perfecto!

I was like some hippy, dancing and singing along, on the edge! we rolled up our shorts, and I had my nicbini [that's bikini to everyone else, nearly!] top on...

A couple of cars pulled up and people were taking photos of the vista, then saw us! Don't know what they thought! Probably that we were living there!

We didn't leave until 530pm, I nearly finished reading a Earnest Hemingway book, very appropriate don't you think! The Sun Also Rises....

Our food.... all home made, even the mayonnaise... I made some meatballs I had seen made of TV the other day, normal to the point of adding a rue sauce, and rolled in bread crumbs before deep frying... potato salad, cole slaw, tomato salad with mozzarella, gazpacho! And a whole load of crisps and nibbles bits! A few different cold drinks as well... No wonder I was so exhausted making this lot of Friday afternoon!

oh I forgot some fruit pies as well, I made four little mini pies! fruit with crumble on top!

Needless to say, we didn't eat half of it, and had picnic at home for dinner last night too! With the home made mayo I have thrown away every with that in it today, just in case!

So we left about 530... On our way home we drove in Casarabonela, a village I had always wanted to visit, it's on a sign post to and fro the lakes and, well being Bonelli, and it being bonela... you can see my fascination!???

We managed, at last to park! And we had a wander about, came to the town hall and we could see the view of Alhaurín el Grande, and at last, I was where I look over to every day from our terrace!

We sat just off the square and had a drink, I ventured a glass of vino tinto, and was drunk after half a glass, as usual, cheap date that I am! I then got a bit melancholy, so we were off outta there... before I could take a turn for the worse!

The day wasn't over yet! We stopped off in Cartama for ice cream at the ice cream parlour on the way out of town!

Can't remember what time we got home, nearly 9pm i think! I picked up Pippa's bowl, emptied the dried food out onto the counter to fill bowl with her dog food, and then, and only then did I notice the ants! Considering they were half way up both my arms, all over the counter and then in the new dog food... I guess I was a little slow to say the least! I threw the new food straight into the bin, the bowl into the sink and ran water, grabbed a load of paper towel wet it and cleaned up the ever spreading army of ants that were running like crazy across the counter and up two walls to escape the strange new place!!!!

I cleared it all up screaming as I went, it only took a few minutes for all of this, Franco walked in, What's going on? What ants? Arh... look in the bin!

Then... Sunday.... Franco had more plans, we were off early back to Cartama and we climbed the mountain to the chapel there... Virgen de los Remedios Chapel, then continued up higher to the ruins of the castle, phew, what a climb!

We came down, and stopped off in a garden centre on the Coín road, we had coffee's and little bacon and cheese baguettes... We bought ice creams and wandered around the garden centre...

Then..... On our way to check on friends house we popped into the El Dorado [El Cine], and we had another coffee! and wandered around by the newly refurbish lake, for fishing, and the wonderfully refurbished two swimming pools! Well worth visiting there, if you live here, or to take visitors! Then it was a few shots of the old film studio houses etc, and off....

Then we went home!

phew... so we were very busy all weekend which was good...

Today, Monday, friend and I got the bus, as arranged to Alhaurín de la Torre, we just fancied a different view... er yes I know I had already had plenty of those over the weekend, but we planned this a couple of weeks ago!

We had a cold drink, a wander around and waited an hour for the bus back!

And now I am tired out from all this writing, its late and I need to eat!

Was wondering how I could show you all the photos I took over the weekend, I have put them on Flickr.com, my name on there is Manisavane, so if you can look there, you should be able to, try it and see, good luck!!! And I will paste more on here, if I see no one has been to visit there!

Ok so above makes no sense because I have added it to my blog up there on the top on the right!!

TTFN
Marian

Today is my first birthday without my Mom in this world...

I will be ending this with another poem from the *Daughter* book she gave me.

Mom was my first thought when I awoke this morning from a night of awful dreams... when I got to sleep at all, not just my Fibro, but most people are not sleeping in this heat...

Walking Pippa this morning with tears running down my face... we are going out for the day, I know a change of scene cannot change how my mind will be working, but am hoping for distractions, and I know Franco and I will spend the day talking and just being together, there will be laughter.... along with my tears....

Pippa will be house sitting, sorry baby...

the poem below by Margaret Mead 1901-1978

You can go without regret
Away from this
familiar land,
Leaving your kiss
upon my hair
And all the future in your hands....

TTFN
Marian

Sorry, with regards to my fragile state of mind I am drawing inspiration from a book my Mom gave me September 2007...

Monday I had not just a normal [bad] day but a real awful day, being Franco's birthday and mine approaching, and no cards from Mom i was a real mess, didn't get out of the house till the doctors appointment, after just being upset it went from bad to worse when I remembered a book Mom had given a few years back, entitled *Daughter* A Giftbook. I remembered it, went up stairs to the bookcase that I move about every so often which mean taking all the books out in the process and refilling it, so any book could be anywhere... but lo and behold the book was on top! how? who knows? then in the bathroom a light bulb went out, but later, it was working fine.... signs signs signs...

Anyway I started reading the book and was a complete sobbing wreck....

And below is one of the poems...

Walk gently my daughter
Through life's joys, songs and triumphs.
For my love will be there in your heart.

Walk gently my daughter
Through all life's great mysteries.
For my love will be there in your heart.

Linda Macfarlane

TTFN
Marian

Tuesday, i think!

went to doctors last afternoon, 5:30pm and as hot outside as walking into a furnace... my legs felt like they were actually being burnt!

but anyway, the doctors... i think i decided last time i saw this doctor i wouldn't go to him again, so i had almost half hour visit, and he was in the room for about 15 of them, at the most, took two phone calls, and left the room twice and stayed out for quite a few minutes each time.....!!!!

i said my blood pressure was high, he checked it and said yes it was very high.

he put a strange strappy contraption on me that linked my ankles wrists and chest together, then a piece of paper printed out for a while with him moving the chest bit about.

then, he took my BP again, this time not holding the gauge.

he asked me what meds i am on, i said just the anti inflammatory and he said it was probably that causing the high BP and to take only one a day.

he asked if there was any high BP in the family and i said yes my Mom.

any heart disease and i said yes on my Fathers side.

i stupidly [maybe] mentioned the palpitations and said that they and another few things i had thought were something else i am... er going through shall we say. and he said, oh no, you cant be. well i am of that there is no doubt!

he wrote a prescription, then asked my age!

i offered him information i thought he should have asked... as in my not smoking, not much of a drinker, i don't add salt to anything, and with my MSG problem not even any sodium, eat well enough, am not over weight.

for some reason i thought he should have asked about those? but then, i also thought he might want to check my cholesterol levels? but then he didn't even listen to my heart... SO?

so last night i took a tablet for anxiety! looked on the internet at its information and it can be given to people who are giving themselves palpitations!!! and or misleading signs of heart problems when there are none.

so what's with the high blood pressure then? does that mean nothing till i keel over or what?

oh and i am leaving the anti inflammatories altogether, they do say they can lead to heart failure, i'll take pain killers instead as i wasn't offered another choice!

nearly forgot to mention this tablet knocked me out within 2 hours of taking it, bit slurred speech and clumsy, was still high in my blood stream on getting up and only really in the last hour or so do i feel normal tired[!] just about out by the time i get to take another one.

i will persevere until i see him again in two weeks.

TTFN
Marian

Moon over the Med

Vamos El Rojos!

yeah won on the Euro☺Millones! €9.61.... ok ok it isn't much is it, but i did say i was going to win, and i did!

and that's about it for today... Formula 1 on tv now whilst i am writing and watching at the same time, then footy later... and its vamos el rojos! come on the reds!!! later, i re tweeted a tweet from Kate reference Paul the Octopus who is deciding all the games of late! and now lil Paul is following me... oh how life is, i never expected to be followed by an octopus! how much better can life get!?!

we popped out earlier just to check on friends house, buy a carton of milk and hurry home for the TV action! its past hot out there, being in the mid 40's still at 8 and 9pm... in the 30's by the time for sleep, which means no one is....

and with the heat we are having an outbreak of ants, or would that be an in break? they are coming out of all the door frames, the door frames just hang there, not sealed or anything so anything in the brick work, works its way out to freedom! one sniff of food, or anything Pippa may deem to leave about the house makes it open house for them... i saw Pip (please look away now anyone with a gentle stomach!) had been sick, grass and bits, erm, anyway, i went to clean it up and saw the main bulk of it was just ants! and the two lines soldiering there way to remove it! well thanks very much but i would rather do that myself, ants are like carrion aren't they, instead of crows and magpies removing road kill, ants remove household edibles!!!

the other afternoon i picked up Pippa's bowl to put her dinner in it and found it to be alive with ants trying to carry off her dried food that's normally left in the bowl all day, so i am checking that out every time i go into the kitchen and cleaning it meticulously in the evening leaving it clean and empty!

and the little devils hurt too they nip you, its erm... the formic acid, no wonder it stings! and once you pick something up they're on they're up your hand and your arm so quickly its hard to decide what to do first, drop whatever all over the floor or get the ants off!

sorry Pip no midnight snacks for you, the ants could carry you off starting with that little black shiny nose of yours if you stick it in there in the dark! ah my poor baby...

yesterday.... woke up with headache, again, just walked Pip, and back to bed after some breakfast, got up about 2pm... cant keep doing this, maybe the doctor will have some answers tomorrow...

TTFN
Marian

couple of shots of the new road we used on Sunday along with half of the rest of the town! no wonder its so flat... its wide enough for three lanes in some places, so a lane each way with a crawler lane for the up hill truck struggle... but in the papers two years ago it said two lanes each way with crawler lanes on both sides? cant see it somehow.... hope there will still be room for the central reservation also planned, but???

and below just one photo of the airport!

i should have taken more maybe!

well the week has passed already, Wednesday i back in town *networking*... great name for sharing coffee and chit chat round town isn't it!

still feeling head achey and so yesterday morning awoke with a head ache, walked Pippa and more or less spent the day in bed! it never reached migraine status which i know is good, but it was just so bad i couldn't sleep? so was just laying there really, and every time i moved just a little too much Pip was jumping up and expecting me to get up, and each time i tried just that, coming down stairs, having a cup of tea, or coke (caffeine!) she would stay up there on the bed!

i think it was about 4pm when i came down, about then, took aNother pain killer... she came down that time, dinner time!

this morning i had to get into town for Euromillion lottery, i am winning it this evening, sorry everyone else, it just has to be done! and we needed a few bits of food. 5 items = €13.05, seems a lots! bananas, a little chicken (breast), four yoghurts, coffee and a bag of green salad!

wasn't out long, talk in town was mostly about the news (English), the warning of a 30° high for a couple of hours this afternoon! and the NHS (medical) hot line to phone in case of any problems associated with the heat! it was already over 30° here by the time most of us got to talking about the news report, and are expecting a minimum of 40°, but that is only the street heat... not the furnace that will be everyone's terraces by 4 or 5 or even 6pm! it just keeps on getting hotter during the day.... till we all melt through the cracks in our marble flooring!

i have also made an appointment now to see the doc, Monday evening, even sneezing is now starting a chain reaction of palpitations or head aches?

TTFN amigos
Marian

i don't think i posted this photo of Pippa on my blog did i! i'm sorry she does look a little cheeky there.... but she was actually relaxing [on the sofa] watching the football, and proudly supporting my team!

not much in the food for chatting today feeling a bit head-achy and cant seem to spell (no difference there!) but actually its not spelling which is the problem its the typing and typos that go with it when my head hurts... all the way down to my toes! and every joint in between!

may have done too much yesterday, friend and i thought we would go to Malaga airport for a recky... you know see how it is these days, we arranged this last week and i didn't know i would be going on Sunday! i also took 3, even spaced out before you yell! travel sickness meds, but i wonder if they are making me feel bad now, i felt bit weird when i got home...

anyways....
Sunday Franco and i took Maria and their Mom to the airport for their flight back to England... car parking has changed... not actually where it is, just how you get into it! now you drive past it and come back down the road and in from the opposite direction! so not rocket science, we parked at the very top, the 4th level, under the car port type covers they have there...

before i go... this is added later, we stopped for coffee at the bar in Terminal 2, begins with R... cant remember its name, but its the only one there... anyway, after check in, we wanted 3 café con leche y un té... easy order? the tea was green tea, alright if that's what you ask for, but when milk has been added its pretty yuck! Maria changed it for another coffee just in case, all the coffees were different, Franco's was good, mine was tasteless, Maria's horrid, and their Mom's... heavy on the sugar! but that's because Franco had put it and not stirred it! Ummmmm honey!!!

exit 2 is still departures and 0 for arrivals.... well i say that! but although departures terminal 2 is still the same there are no arrivals underneath it! as when we landed in March you only come out of the new terminal 3 building, you can come outside and walk along outside if you want! but if you use the elevators or lifts you go up and either walk or use the moving walk thingy to get yourself along to the car parks!

so i guess its exit 2 for departures and then you make your way following the many many signs along to terminal 3 and ground floor for meeting and greeting!

have i made that sound confusing? it isn't.... departures is just extended really is the best way of looking at it, the check-in desks have more than doubled in number, and the security/passport control is all down at the new end... passing Starbucks etc, its in the bottom left hand corner, big and open and much much better now...

from that end there are stairs etc downstairs which take you directly to arrivals, you can wait for people inside, or out side... you can even peer in to the carousel area and see who you might be waiting for from there! there is also a restaurant there, the old restaurant in the old arrivals area was cheap and cheerful, a coffee and cake was within easy reach to all and sundry! i usually paid under 2€ for them! this place is 1€50 for a coffee, 10€ for a wrap and many other delights at delightful prices!!! it might be cheerful but not cheap, and where have those old guys gone... on the heap no doubt with their old bar and accessories!

the airport buses are all outside the new terminal 3, we, well i, got us on the wrong bus! we asked for Malaga bus station, but it went to the port... handy, for the port! so we had a 15 minute walk to the bus station on the way back, the charge was 2€ to get there, but only 1€.50 to get back, i wonder if that's because it was the port, even if it is further to go? who knows!

still lots of construction going on, the new rail station for nearer access to the airport isn't finished, the new run way of course, still not done, but its looking good! photos tomorrow, i really am struggling here, so i am going...

TTFN
Marian

a few photos today of the results of the 8 hector fire on the Sierra de Mijas, didn't know exactly how much a hector was, so just Googled it! 8 hectors = 0.03 square miles... so not much really at all is it!

the photo above shows the fire damage on the mountain right there in the middle of the photo, well sort of, slightly blackened...


these shots above and below are much better views.... the smell is still quite strong too, not nice at all....

its not still smouldering which is how the one above looks, that's the window! we had a few spits and spots of rain yesterday, and again today, then drying almost instantly and of course is filthy rain! always is in the summer.... like its been hanging around in the clouds gathering dust!

and the longer the time between rainfall the dirtier the water! so every ones car are bad...


the fire was on both sides of the road as you can see, amazing how it jumps, most reports are that it was caused by an electrical station, and they were certainly doing lots to the electric station afterwards, although some say it was a cigarette, i think that's incorrect.

now a couple of things i keep forgetting to tell you! or maybe i have? five years of walking Pippa through the car park near here, but the first year that the 12 or more trees have been humming! well the bees are! its never happened before but its so noisy sounds like these vuvuzelas on the tv just now... what shall we do when the footballs over? my last team is out(?) Brazil was a rather tenuous link, my Grand Fathers brothers who moved there over 100 years ago!!! who i have to find... oh Mom! how??? although i have found a site now where, for a penny or more, you can have freedom to the ships records... so i will do it, when i can!

er... anyway, my usual digression... back to the bees! they are so fervent in their collection of the pollen the petals are all over the ground! and now even the little yellow stems from inside! there are a little fewer now than a month ago, but they're still trying their luck! Pip and i walk beneath the trees fearlessly....!

then there is a poor dog, i forget about him most days, or even weeks, but he lives in a garage, frosted glazed window, that is all, poor dog, sounds like an Alsation... what a life, or lack of one.

Tuesday i had a date with Val! my friend who i used to work for from Cristinas the newsagents in town, was great to see her, she has been over here for a couple of weeks, and is now back in England and i guess back to work on Monday!

Val was over here with her two sons, we had coffee and a bite to eat at Bar Rosa, and then the boys wanted a game of golf, so we went to Alhaurín Golf club, and they did! and we sat and continues chatting on the veranda of the bar... was lovely up there, so peaceful. i had never been in there before, but then i suppose as we don't play golf why would we!

... ok yes i did do the Million Dollar hold in one job, so i have been on a few courses, i forgot that!

Thursday i caught up with someone else not seen for a long time, a friend of Cyrils, we used to all have coffee together outside Bar Cruz, can't believe its nearly been a year since Cyril passed away... we're going to meet up again at the end of this month down at Cyrils bar and have a drink to him...

heck Germany winning 4-0 to Argentina, don't think Argentina are going to catch up in the 2 minutes, however much extra time they give it! erm...

yesterday i stopped for a chat with friends and joined them... been a week of that hasn't it!

one minute of extra time... its not going to happen Argentina now, be serious!

this morning Franco and i went down to the coast and got a few things we needed on our way to see his Mom Maria and Dawn, they will all be back in the UK by tomorrow evening, they're all tanned and relaxed which is what a holiday is all about, didn't see enough of them, so close but so far really... things we needed before hand were some meds, the anti inflammatories you can just get without the hullabaloo up here! oh good word and it must be right, no red wiggly line underneath! i also got some more travel sickness meds, these have caffeine, whereas the others i got, hadn't and i really don't need anything to make me (more) tired!

and on our way back a quick trip to Iceland! (Overseas supermarket), can't believe how much traffic there was down on the coast today, but the sales have started here now, so minus the extra IVA (VAT) that went on everything here in Spain as of July 1st, and the prices of sales stuff here are always so cheap! it was crazy down there, people driving in the wrong lanes, no signalling, bad parking and absolutely no consideration for other drivers... oh hang on, that's all normal...!

It is the sign of a well educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it - Socrates

TTFN
Marian

we really must go to some new places as here above, below, and below are more of the same photos i have published before of a trip we made to Setenil de Las Bodegas....

so no not been here today, but just a walk into town and Mercadona, followed by bar Cruz and tea, more refreshing, not with milk, or lemon (headaches!) but with lime(?) and as they didn't have actual lime they gave me a shot of lime cordial!!!!

well tasted ok anyway!
i joined one friend at a table there, five minutes before she had to run for work, but then another friend joined me for a few minutes and was also talking, surprise surprise, to guys at the table next to me i knew!

got home in time before milk turned to cheese or the yogurt turned into something i wouldn't want to eat!

this morning Franco called me to say he had found a passport and would i phone the emergency number to let someone know, it was a Canadian passport and credit card, i left a message on an answer phone worried that it was the middle of the night in Canada!

i also tried to contact the Canadian Embassy in Madrid, nightmare! press one for this and up to 10 for something else! 1 was for emergencies but every time it connected it rang once then hung up! i also tried the option of waiting to the end pressing 0 and talking to anyone! this also hung up after one ring!

i am just glad i didn't need to contact them in a real emergency!!!

in the end i just emailed them, and then later, after trying the phone number in the passport again and speaking to the Mom of the person who had lost the passport, received an email back saying i would hear from the embassy tomorrow(!), but too late....

so Franco is giving that back to them later! perfecto!

TTFN
Marian

just had a bit of shock, Pippa had been barking, i had been telling her to be quiet! men working next door on their roof terrace fixing some leaking pipe work...

then we heard a noise seemingly on our steps by the back door, so up we flew, Pippa then came flying back in the house! thank goodness really, although she can get out the back through a doggy gap in the locked rejas, no one can get in, and yes indeed there was a man on our steps....

he had climbed over and had already cleared our terrace, moved furniture and swept!!!! and was about to start fixing up and i guess re painting the neighbours house from our side!

but you know a knock on the door would have been nice, something to say he was going to be there, can you imagine if Pip had bitten him, as it was i picked up Pippa and walked up to him, he backed off up the stairs, and i am saying no no, you pet her... well i said touch her, so she would know he was a friend, and i am saying amigo amigo to Pippa...

this will be fun, i am going out later and leaving her in the house with him up there! good luck both!

yesterday afternoon, lots of helicopters were going over head with those huge water carriers, everyone was twittering about it, at that point i couldn't determine which direction they were heading, apart from skirting round Alhaurín from Malaga, and disappearing round the corner towards the water tower near the BP garage...

turns out there was a fire near Voltacado, where Pippa was born! and when Franco was coming home, already still with everyone else, via Mijas pueblo, the road was closed! they were turning everyone around telling them to go via Malaga or Marbella! so Franco used one of the many tracks, a bit worrying, and he came to within 100 yards of the fire, so maybe a little more than that, but was close one way or another using that route.

and this morning the road to the coast via Mijas pueblo is still closed! because of fire damage, and may remain so for a couple of days, don't know... or know if anyone else knows! so Franco used the track again, its the one with the bulls held back back a thin electric wire... it comes out at Mijas Golf, then its just turn left and down to Fuengirola! what a nightmare!!!

they said recently in the local papers we are to expect more fires this year due to the extra vegetation after all the rain we had earlier in the year, we have plants, (weeds) where before there were none, everything is lusher and greener, and already drying up nicely!

cant remember all the things, but no parking in forest areas, in case starting a vehicle sets off a fire, the usual no smoking while walking in fire hazard areas, which is almost everywhere now! obviously no BBQ's now out in the countryside, a few other things i cant think of just now...

meeting my friend today in Alhaurín, told her she would have to come up from Malaga direction, she said well what about the Fuengirola road? i laughed... well she has been away a while, and the road has been closed for a while longer than that!

i spoke last evening to the woman, who was a toddler last time we saw each other... it was strange, i said i had been concerned when i had told her Mom, my Mom's friend from way back then, and she said yes her Mom has Alzheimer's, i am so sorry... its so sad, she is losing her Mom before she has gone, my Mom had trouble with reading a book, concentrating on a puzzle and didn't want to watch TV in the last months, due now, we know to the renal failure, but until then was sharp as a tack!

was chatting last evening to Baz on Skype and then Tim, my cousin in Florida joined us! i am still amazed by technology! three people three countries... Wow....

earlier on i had continued after that first call above, on my phone around to family and friends, everyone sounds so close, next door almost...!

i remember the first time i spoke with my brother in California we couldn't both talk at the same time, each would have to finish, then the other reply because if you spoke at the same time it cut off the other person, not the line, but the sound and you would miss what the other had said! and you can imagine how hard that was for me!

the photo above... the painting that was ours and is no more... someone else has it now, and they better take good care of it too!

TTFN
Marian

I say nothing out of the ordinary happened... well later i do, but i am writing this afterwards although you are reading this first..

oh heck anyway before i lose my self and end up disappearing into the universe! or imploding!

i had someone else to phone from Mom's telephone book which i had tried before, though using the wrong area code, no wonder i hadn't got through and not sure why, but hadn't tried again for over a month...

so Friday evening i did, and spoke to a lady i hadn't spoken, or rather gurgled to since was a toddler! and when my hair was blond and i truly was just a Californian baby... before my Mom changed the way i would speak forever... by bringing an American child to England! like my Gran had done to her actually!

gone off again haven't i!!! A-hm, so....

... so i dialled this phone number in County Down, Ireland, a guy answered the phone and i explained who i was, he called his Gran to the phone and there i was speaking to Rosemary... my Mom's great friend back when we lived in Los Angeles, when she was bringing up her baby Joanne and Mom was bringing up me... Joanne was my first best friend...

it was certainly a strange moment in time, i think i shocked the poor lady telling her about my Mom passing... Joanne was out and i had spoken to her son, so i am going to call back again, tomorrow, Monday, i couldn't really string a sentence together last time we were together, bit like a good night out with some of my mates back home!!!!

now i really have gone off track!!!

so, actually a big thing had happened that i forgot to mention....

just need to find those relatives in Brazil and i will have fulfilled a promise to Mom!

i wonder what strange things i shall ask my boys to do for me? if i haven't been able to find the two half brothers i have maybe that?

maybe they should start trying to help me now?

adieu....

Sunday already! nothing out of the ordinary yesterday for us... Pippa and i went out for our usual early morning walk... a house near the park had loads of blue stripy Police tape around the gate front door and front window... i thought, break in? murder?? but this morning on passing a what appeared to be bridegroom was opening the front door! so i think it might have been a party trick for the couple on their arrival at their new home on their wedding day! how sweet.... ummmm! well anyway....

this morning we popped round to friends house, then Franco dropped me off and i came home, he went down to pick up the family staying down at the coast, called me from the car park and Pippa and i went up to meet and greet them! we went up to the church first for a quick site seeing visit, feeling like tourists but at least we had Pip with us!

a quick cuppa here and tour of the house, 2 seconds, and we five were off to La Trocha market, we got the last car park space luckily! a good walk around and then up stairs for a little lunch...

i stayed in the car this time to take everyone back to the coast, we figured mostly down hill it would be better, but the poor old exhaust was hammering away on the floor beneath us three on the back seat!

poor Dawn in the front seat was having a white knuckle ride! not used to old bumpy roads with those yawning great gaps where the barriers used to be in places!

and us not helping with regard to Franco's poor sight in his right eye and not having his glasses on throughout the journey!!!!

hoping to meet another friend tomorrow who now lives in England...

but now its..

TTFN
Marian

Where have i been all week? where haven't i been more like! er... not the Camino de Santiago as seen above by the way, that's next week!

not usually someone who takes any notice of horoscopes but it did say earlier in the month June would be good... well i hadn't considered the house clearing up and painting and terrace maintenance *good*, but this week surely made up for it!

Tuesday and i was off, back down to the bus stop at the Feria ground, and no crowds thank goodness! it was onto the Malaga bus by 11:30am, and by 11:45 i had travel sickness! very weird, i think i sort of remember feeling a bit queasy the day i went to get Barry in December, but had forgotten all about it, well this i couldn't ignore, i was reading, so maybe that was the mistake, i sat back and tried to relax... arrived ok and again forgot all about it!

walked to the port, found where i was meeting my friends off their cruise and went to have a coffee and read my book again....

they had had a trip down to Puerta Banus and were back and texting me before 3pm, i by then was reading in the park nearby and with them in a couple of minutes! oh it was so good to see them, the last time was before i moved to Spain, so probably about 8 years ago...

we went to the bar i had been in earlier and talked, and talked...and talked! we didn't have long, so it was quality time, rather than quantity, but non the less i am so glad we had the chance to meet up like this.... i forgot my camera but they are sending me photos i will up load another time... and when i am back in England next we will definitely meet up, they're not so far from Tony's really, a bus ride.... so good to see them x

... then i was back to the bus station and aboard the 5pm bus... and almost immediately back came the travel sickness??? whats this all about? don't understand haven't suffered with travel sickness since i was a kid i don't think?

i had to concentrate with every bit of strength i had to do so to get back to Alhaurín without being sick on the bus!!!!

got off in town, nearest place to the house(!!!), walked up the hill in the heat, went into a chemist and got something for next bus trip... home and was, well, not well!!!

i didn't know these meds so looked them up on the computer, used for sea sickness and for getting people into a hypnotic state! causes severe drowsiness! so all that cost, nearly 5€ and i'm not going to risk taking them!

Wednesday... Franco's Mom and Sister are out! we got down to the apartment opened it up, electric water gas all on and ready for GO!

we had popped into Paco's bar for a coffee near where we used to live first, lots of old friends in there so chatted to, then to the supermarket to stock on a few things for Maria, seemed like a good idea!

everything put away in cupboards and refrigerator and we went out again, for a coffee, and to arrive back and *surprise* them! we also popped into a health shop and got something else for high blood pressure, i will try them for two weeks, the time the lady said it would take to see the improvement if it was going to work for me, we knew Maria and Mom had landed, so we judged what time to go back... but they weren't there yet? we sat round the corner and eventually i got Franco to call, pretend to be at work etc, but he just said "where are you", kind of giving away he wasn't actually at work, but no matter!!! i wondered if they had gone to the supermarket on the way home, but we couldn't imagine the taxi driver being so obliging!

we hadn't realised they had a friend collecting them and that they had, indeed, been in a supermarket! so they had lots of doubles! i bought everything that i though Maria would buy, and she did/had! never mind, better to have more than less, i guess.....!

we left them to settle in later on their own, they had been up since 2am more or less, and not really any real sleep the night before...

phew....

ok, Thursday, yesterday, i was down to the bus stop again here in town... this time for the Fuengirola bus, i was a little concerned by a few school kids that were coming to the stop, i thought i can't get Franco to come and get me today! but i think only a few had broken up from school on Wednesday afternoon, anyway, the bus came a little late, and we stopped at i think, every single stop from here to Fuengirola! so i only had time to buy a ticket for my onward journey to La Cala, board the bus and off again!

and then i was in La Cala quarter hour later... meeting up with a good friend and her friend! who read my blog! this is for them... they are not stalkers ok! its just a vicious rumour(?)

i knew them as soon as the bus was coming into the stop, the two of them sat on a bench near the round about looking at the bus... as i was looking at them! it felt like a blind date!

it was so good meeting up like this, like old friends meeting who hadn't seen each other for a long time...

we had some lunch in one bar, then a walk, then some wonderful ice cream at a beach bar, i felt like a proper tourist! almost tempted by the looky looky men (not!!)

thank you both for a wonderful day... see you again x

and to today, Friday, i took a walk into town early, before the sun got too hot! got a paper and sat at a bar near the round-about, bar cruz i think its called? cup of tree, no lemon, just in case! then a friend of mine came along and joined me, we caught up with what we'd both been doing and then went our separate ways...

Franco came home last night with a big food shop, but i popped in to the local shop near to our house, i got a half of a watermelon, which is now in the refrigerator and tasted very nice thank you! i also got a few peaches which i put in the oven for ten minutes, cooled down, and whizzed up with a yoghurt and some very nice peachy ice creams are freezing as i write in the... well the freezer!

i also got one of a... well i thought it was a cake, she had a dozen or so in a bread basket on her counter, she said they were fantastic, this was after i had said i wanted one, not a sales speech, well after preparing above and settling down with a coffee i tucked into the aforementioned *thing* and it was just a pocket, sort of *thing*, a rectangular crispy empty shell of a cake! not sure if your supposed to pipe something into it? i don't have a piping gun thing, but i could have whipped up some egg whites and hot sugar (Italian meringue), and got it in there somehow, but i just ate it as it was.... the empty shell of a cake thing....

and i could eat another one now actually.... empty or not!

but i think i need to rest... thank goodness i didn't have a headache, yet, this week, i really have not had time for one!

i am now taking so many herbal tablets i should be running the Camino de Santiago... i would like to walk this walk... one day... one day.... anyone want to come with me??

adío amigos...

TTFN
Marian

this wonderful photo i have just purloined from Positive Thoughts, what a scene... it looks lonely, the end of the world, or maybe the beginning?

beyond tired today and need to gain reserves for this week, not sure where from to be honest...

firstly though Barry had to be evacuated yesterday evening! an explosion in the house next which threw two people from a window in its ferociousness and the Mom in the house was left under a load of rubble, having had two operations she is still critical!

*they*, don't know what caused it yet and when Barry and Lorraine left the house they had to leave everything on, so as not to cause another explosion! still not allowed back in the houses yet either...

so its been a few days again, where does the time go, have asked this question numerous times and no one seems to want to answer me!

i have been communicating with Endesa on the phone, the electric company... although i think communicating is a somewhat loose word to use here, the first time i called them on Friday evening, spoke with a wonderful person, she helped me sort out one bill to pay for my friend, i probably have a limit on the bank card making it impossible to pay everything in one go, terr-if-ic!

i have been trying to get through to them again today, i ask politely in Spanish for someone who speaks English, i have even tried in Spanish, asking, again politely for the woman to speak slowly for me! i have been hung up on four, not make that five times! i know i should be speaking Spanish, don't get me wrong, but there are thousands and thousands of foreigners speaking several languages here now, especially along coastal regions of Spain... when i was calling places for Mom a few months ago, all offered different languages, and you cant get much further from the coast from where i used to live!

i will try again, later, and i mean much later, too tired to keep calling just now.

whats been happening since we last spoke? ah ha... thought i was loosing the plot, i'm not! for a change, i just up loaded two photos and it said Wednesday 16th, like the bit before, that's why i thought i hadn't written since Wednesday! i really don't need any help to feeling confused! i can do it all by myself, and do regularly!

so its only been since Friday, that's a whole lot better, its only been the weekend then! we were down at Maria's Saturday, i had a rather long arduous journey to get there! i left the house early to get the bus down to Fuengirola where i would meet up with Franco, as i turned the corner to the bus stop at the Feria ground i thought i must be late! there were about 20 or 30 there already! when i got there i saw mostly they were teenagers going to the beach for the day, it was 9:15am, quarter hour before the bus was due, the time came and went, and by the time the bus came it was 9:50! i just knew it was late because of the high amount of people who would already be on it from Coín! there was a traumatic rush for a non existent bus a few minutes before it actually arrived, i used the opportunity like the other about 6 or 7 adults there to actually get into the place we should have been if the next 20 or 30 kids hadn't cue jumped!

so you can imagine, we have about 50 or 60 kids us few adults, one bus, a driver who didn't want to open the doors to start with, pointing a worried looking finger towards the *49* passenger sign by his head...

he opened the door and the children turned into a pack of hounds hungry to get on board!

needless to say that after standing there for now nearly an hour, i turned away and walked back up the hill to the high street... called Franco and he said he was on his way....

i sat at Bar Rosa, was nice actually, quiet still at just gone 10am, watched the world go by... oh and the other adults, all of them, and a whole bunch of kids who were not going to the beach now! you see the bus company really has it sussed here, thats Portillo buses by the way, even in summer the bus time table reads 9:30am, 2:30pm and 6:15pm, oh well sorry there is the early early 6:40am... but that's it! even on Saturdays when you have two towns loads of people who want to get to the beach!

i will not be even attempting to use the bus again on a Saturday any time soon... it wasn't great standing there anyway, with me thinking the last time i got on the bus there was back in December in the few weeks i was here then... getting the bus to meet Barry at the airport for his holiday, it was pouring with rain... and late.... and i called and spoke with Mom... and no doubt this will be the same thought next time i am there... as i didn't actually get on the bus did i! and that's going to be tomorrow, so good luck for me with that then! hopefully the bus to Malaga will come on time... and i wont dwell on things...

TTFN
Marian

before i forget... again, above the photo i asked *what is it?* well no right answers, not many answers in my comments section at all actually.... come on!!!


and beneath the photo i took of neighbours wall... and there the drip i caught so precisely! if only i could do that on purpose! can you see it? its level

with here.... if it up loads as it is here?

had to make notes... cant remember anything these days... now where was i? or rather when was i?

Wednesday last blog, bad day, sorry for myself day...

Tuesday i had gone into town, had coffee with two friends outside one bar, then walking past neighbouring bar, another friend another drink, instead of coffee it was coca-cola, a good friend commented on the amount of caffine intake and my head aches, big mouth here said, no probs with coffee or cola... then i went and got a migraine yesterday, co in cidence! i think it was probably the painting of the downstairs loo that caused that, not so much the smell of the paint, (but maybe), more the awful angle required to do it, and its just not something i should have done, but i'm not going to change that now at this late stage am i amigos!!!

have also been meaning to tell you about the awful wax on our street from last week, so many candles and so much wax on the ground, in this heat once the wax has melted its so slippy, like a waxy ice rink!

the main road going to the BP garage still says *road closed* for anyone coming out of Alhaurín, its not! they are just finishing off the pathways... and great to see sooooo many cyclists using the new road, instead of the purpose built expensive cycle lane running along side!!


after seeing something similar on tv the other day i made some nice home made lolly's! tinned peaches, and a coconut yoghurt, juiced up and frozen... did i tell you this already? we bought a set of six ice lolly things from Ikea... they're smaller than they look in the flyer we got! but really just the right size! these ices taste lovely, and although i used tinned peaches, not good, i still think they probably contain less additives than *normal* ices you can buy and take about 3 hours to freeze! i tried using squash first, ugh! too strong, and then tried again with less juice, ugh, too, too well nothing really, just ugh!

and something that made me laugh...tasty looking hamburger on a web page against pretty much everything in the burger except the lettuce!

today, now went into town on an errand for a friend, down to the Endesa store, that's the local electric place, for anything regarding bills and changes or this and that electric wise, so anyway, up the road i go, and down it, peering into empty shops.... nope definitely not there, i guess it moved while i was away, over that 5 months lots of shops closed, or moved about to different locations???

i asked some ladies and they confirmed my worse fears... its moved! and where's it moved to? well of course the poligino Rosa! well that's darn convenient isn't it! NOT! so for anyone who needs to get a reprint of a bill, go to the bank, back to Endesa to show them it's paid to get they're electric back on... well good luck with that is all i can say!

and i am afraid how i can now help my friend i really don't know! oh the poligino Rosa, is our local industrial estate, out of town, not within easy walking distance, and of course a bus doesn't go past it, on any day of the week!

TTFN
Marian

why do i keep doing things that hurt... the other week i was using Google maps to look at Moms place, just now i am zooming in on the inhabitants of Berkhamsted! well whomever was there on that day that is... and what day was it? i wish it was dated... like Mom's, i can see her curtains closed in the lounge, was it the sun? when was it... is she sitting there behind the curtains out of sight from me.... like now....

on Berko high street i thought i saw her standing waiting to cross upper Kings Road, now i am so up set... i am sure it probably wasn't her... but....

so now i am not so good, every day i am stilling having *these times.....* and still many times a day....

yesterday i came across something i wanted to keep, and found a folder in my docs, headed *things for when i die*, strange isn't it that i had thought about me dieing and not my Mom!

below is a poem i put in this folder, i don't know when, years ago... and this is a wonderful painting i have just come across by Mark Shasha. in Mom's last days one of the positive affirmations i gave her was of a house, beautiful gardens around, close by a lake, with a veranda running round, a couple of rocking chairs and a cat, i told her to wait there for me!

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room,
I am I and you are you;
Whatever we were to each other, That we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used,
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we shared together.
Let my name ever be the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant,
It is the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well.

henry scott holland

TTFN amigos...
Marian

a strange bizarre eclectic collection of photos today! i wasn't going to blog today, i was going to *have a day off* do nada and nothing! can't have a day off life can you and always things to do here especially at the moment!

so above photo of one of the many bands departing our street as they moved from the lower road to the main street.... some only walking, some playing still, later on the 100 men came through carrying Jesus aloft, we could hear the bell from the bottom of the street and knew he was coming our way, that was about 1am! still today the rockets have been going off, the first as Pippa and i were on our way this morning, but the chance of seeing a cat won Pip over, although chance being the right word, until yesterday, and we have been back for nearly two weeks i hadn't seen a single cat! still haven't up near the park where we go every day, not a sighting, a few bits of rubbish from ripped bags gave the only clue that they must be about at least by night, normally see loads, not as many as down on the coast, but enough every day to know cats live in this town, very odd....

and below the mess on our street, all our window sills and the streets hereabouts covered in water bottles, and a few of those little drinks for your stomach too i noticed!

actually i think above i can see a beer bottle on the window sill there on the right!


what do you make of above photo mis amigos?

i should hold a competition on this, shall i? yes i will tell you what it is next time.... maybe i shouldn't call it a competition though as it leads one to think there will be a prize! so its just a quiz!

answers below please in the comments! lets have some really good ideas... probably now i am going on a bit the first will be the correct one! sé la ví...

TTFN
Marian

Football time! although i support Manchester Utd, all the time, i don't really watch it much on TV, i used to go to Old Trafford, a lot, but years ago of course! and i watch the odd game here or there, but when its the World Cup! its like i have put on another head! keeping the wall chart all up to date, (not actually on the wall, i hasten to add! well not this year!!)

and i get really, no very agitated when i am watching it, screaming at the players, the goal keeper, the ref, well any one really!

if not actually watching all of a match then i flick back to see what's happening! and the amount of teams i support! so many countries, but then, well where i was born, my Grandparents, then where i have lived! just keeping changing my shirts and when another falls by the wayside, there is another holding ground!????

had an interesting email from a Dr Gregory David, apparently he has been checking through my files and i have $850,000.00 waiting for me! OMG, he just wants all my bank details and he will give it to me! ok yeah right! what wonderful news....

today we went down to Fuengirola, well Las Lagunas actually, to buy the paint for the interior of our house, antimoho! sounds good, just hope it does what it says on the side for over 60€! plus a primer and the others bits needed, nearly 80€, fan-daba-dosey! a little added bonus after we paid the guy he got another bloke to put the heavy can on a trolley and take it to our car... which was parked quite a way away! so he followed us using the street with us on the path, i tried to give him a euro to thank him for his trouble but he wouldn't take it...

we needed a few groceries and as we drove off the Euromarket car park was right opposite and even though i knew we weren't going in there is till directed Franco into the car park?? so we used it to get to the other side and off to Aldi! Franco thinks its because i wanted another of their most brilliant hamburgers they do from a van there... i must admit for someone who normally wont eat a hamburger i have a real craving for another one... (too early for the van today, it was there but not the burgers just yet!)

and so to Aldi's, the car park full to bursting, it wasn't the people in the store but the people going to the market next door! we parked in the market car park first to check out Bigmat for paint, but they had nothing, or nothing much, a guy was wandering around the car park with a reflective jacket on pointing and gesticulating to help with parking... trying his luck for a euro more like! its free, so don't know how many innocents got caught on that little trick of his today!

i brought Mom's watch back with me, the one she had been wearing when she went into hospital, i hadn't noticed that it had stopped, so last evening Franco and i were coming out of town and popped into a watch/clock shop, they were intrigued by the size of it, its small! he popped out the battery and put in a new one, but it didn't want to restart so he took it into his little office and peered at it with glasses the thickness of a fish tank! and he used little black magnifier too stuck to one eye!

so after a while he got it going, i paid the man his 3€ for the battery and off we went! it had stopped again this morning, and all day i have been bringing it up to time! i think i may take it back to the guy and leave it with him, to see if he can fix it, it would be nice if he could... i gave Mom this watch a while ago, maybe ten years, more or less, and i had had the watch since the late 80's, so i know its over 20 years old, but its a good watch, well apart from the fact its broken that is!!??

we have had a lot of rocket fire this week, Dia de Jesus, i thought, but checking out the internet it says June 3rd for Corpus Christi, which i thought was all this week, but then in a local magazine it says its next week! so i just don't know really do i?

i do know we had lots of children running up our street as they do each year for this celebration, a long purple swathe of cloth between them, the length of a, of a, well its long, 50 or more foot i think, young children first, then an older bunch all singing the same song and shaking the cloth, being rallied on by people with them, they were followed by a group of marching soldiers and lots of drums... the latter we have heard all week, as we can now, the same tune, until very late the other evening when we thought it was the last night, but still tonight they are playing and i think right now coming up our street...


here look they did! not playing any more just relaxing they're way to the top of our road!

the boys/young men who were bullying the young bulls the other week at the end of the feria were in court this week, dont know the out come yet, Franco read that the same type of thing used to be in Coín also, they had a ban though, a kid was using a hammer to hit a young bull on the head, it sprang back and broke the boys teeth.... cant find the information in the paper just now... will try then i can give the full details, although the details above are bad enough... unbelievable someone would take a hammer to an animal...

just to lighten the subject before i watch the England V USA match, come on boys you can do it please, America for the Cup! erm sorry that wasn't the lighten the mood item...

after seeing an advert on TV the other day i thought we must up date our TV... we need an LCD 3D HD TV, wonder if that comes with a Video and 8 track for the car?

TTFN
Marian

another band passing, oh heck, calm down Pippa they're just drums and feet pounding the ground! oh no another coming now.... adio amigos....

a photo Tony took in Seville, a street, just a little wider than ours, but not by much!

well today i decided to take things easy, especially after waking up with a head ache, again...

well best of intentions eh, i just cant sit still, have to keep *doing*...

it began with just moving a few things back into our bedroom and making up our bed, wont be asking any guests to sleep on the sofa bed ever again... your welcome to our bed instead, and we will swap to back room!

not just for easier access to outside while guests are staying but that bed in so hard!

i moved to tv back to its place on top of the wardrobe, that was tricky with all the wires falling about all over the place! glad only Pippa was watching (anxiously!)

moved the boxes out into the back room, put away clothes, threw unused clothes out! i even horde clothes, but now i see how many clothes Mom had hidden away i know where i get that from! MOM??

made the sofa bed, back to a sofa! back into its place... hifi back in its position!

cup of tea...

back onwards and upwards... to the wisteria plant that has never flowered in the five years we put it there! and its half perished by the excess of rain, so i clipped it back to its main stem, and left it at about 5 foot, cut all the rest away from the stair rail and roof above that it had made it too, it did certainly climb... it made it hard to hold the railing too, so now its safer and hopefully we can transplant it to the tub where another plant died from flooding! and it can grow up the mountain rock behind the house... i tried to dig it up and pulled on the plant near the root but the whole of the earth came up! that's about 4 foot by 18 inches in the trough! so i am guessing its all roots... will see what Franco wants to do with it....

we had a huge amount of excess matting Franco used to line the plastic that surrounds part of the terrace, so i used the secateurs again, these secateurs i couldn't find, which i did eventually at the bottom of my wardrobe? don't ask, because i really don't know!

so i cut the matting up and made smaller rolls, and managed to get them into a huge black bin bag! along with all the mess i had made, so that's two huge bags to go out this evening, under cover of darkness!

also, while i was doing all of above i washed a few bits of *normal* washing, down stairs, carrying it up and hanging on the line, its a windy day out there again today, as was yesterday, but unlike yesterday its dry! we had a bit of rain yesterday! nothing much, more like a heavy cloud settled on the town!

after that i thought i am going to have to wash the things that got damp and mildewy, so i ran the tub full of washing powder and that pink stuff! and in went a whole bunch things, and so heavy when wet! i have been running up and down to check they haven't blown off the terrace, or maybe just checking the street outside might be quicker??

just ran up then to check on them.. mostly dry... just a little longer, if i run off suddenly its because its raining!!

its hard work without a washing machine, how easily we forget how things used to be done, i remember when Mom and i had moved in with my Gran in Northchurch, in our back yard was a small house! well it seemed like a house to me, a one up one down! in the down was a mangle! i remember my Gran putting the wet washing through that to get out the most of the water, could have done with one of those today! instead i twisted and twisted the water out of what i could twist! that works quite well! i wonder what was up stairs in that little mangle house? can't remember....

ok was only coming on to have a word with Tony and see what Barry has been up to (FB)... i need to rest or i guess i will stop, when i drop!

TTFN
Marian

three attractive photos of our house for y'all today! all of which are our bedroom, and how it looks after cleaning and the mildew has been removed... but before a repaint, which make it all lovely and clean and white again!

above the ceiling and corner...

above is the outside wall also, to the right of the window so front on to all the rain we had, and with 5 months of being closed up.... the paint had cracked open and bubbled up as the damp came through... and this whole area i pulled off all the loose paint layers until no more could come off....!


this is our worse wall... and by the electrics and phone line, next door had had a bad leak, which seems to be fixed now, but i guess a year of water from their pipes, plus the rain.... this is after the cleaning has taken place here too!

i don't think there is much smell of damp left now, although i am sure if someone came in they might smell it!

yesterday i had another migraine... far too many of these again now... i didn't take the Imigran, but a strong pain killer, must have been about 8am and went back to bed, much to Pippas surprise! at least she had had her walk! and i should have just taken the former and been up in 3 hours, but i got up about 2pm, i had so much to do, i drank a couple of cans of coke, not good normally i know i know! but the caffeine helps with the headache, and i have no *normal* coffee in the house, goodness knows how many cups of tea i would have had to drink to get up to a good enough level of the stuff!

i had been thinking of getting rid of several things in the house, to give us more space, the night before Franco and i had brought the big travel box down from the spare room for the tv, so i had something to eat and manoeuvred the tv over with all the wires etc, had a rest then moved some things about up stairs, squishing my arm in a cupboard! now have a lovely bruise there that mirrors the one on the other side!i had put this big cupboard on top of a chest in the bedroom, cant remember how, i can be quite ingenious when it comes to moving furniture heavier than myself! for instance to move it yesterday i couldn't just lift it down, too heavy, so i put some bags of clothes that are at present homeless! on top of out bed, covered them with a bed cover thingy, moved the chest plus its top heavy friend nearer the bed, stood on the bed and carefully lowered the heavy unit onto the bed on its side! got off the bed and lowered the unit again, this time onto the floor, and hey presto!!!! gave it a good clean and slip it into the back bedroom, thank goodness for marble floors! carpet would have been impossible, well maybe not i could have *walked* it, if you know what i mean? then... no i wasn't finished yet, i then emptied the bookcase in the back bedroom and moved it into our bedroom, cleaned and re loaded with the books! these two items i was going to get rid of, but in they're new places they take up so much less room, how strange! the bookcase in the kitchen i was going to take up stairs for the books, but i am leaving where it is, and now some of the things are back where they belong on it, and it really doesn't need moving at all!

i even managed to throw away a few things, old cook books never used any more, one especially i had had for over 30 years, it was a folder type i had collected all the recipes over time, but you can imagine what state it was in by now! and as for recipes... they're all on here, arnt they! on the internet, who needs books really! but that doesn't mean i am chucking out the rest ;o)

and so, now there is only a beautiful table i have nowhere for and the unneeded bureau!

i put out the hoover last night, it was soaked through, as was a stand alone fan, not going to plug that in to see if it works now!

by the time i had finished all of the above the headache had gone! it was getting better and sitting down wouldn't of helped at all!

i took some photos of the interior of the box which now supports the tv, why one would ask would you do that? but it is an old box, a travel box, its lined with The Observer Newspaper! most of which from Saturday 17th of November 1877! wow, what history, just wish the person who had done it had signed it somewhere, or just scribbles they're name... who was it!

ok, still early... but not sure if i am going to do anything today, have clothes to sort out, i can see a heavy bag or three for the poor man who comes round in the middle of the night here to take it all....

TTFN
Marian

Paris.... above

what has been occurring since Thursday? lots i think... man shot down in Riviera del Sol yesterday, a drive by, poor bloke only 26yrs... Franco says he was a good guy...

Franco is home now! yipeeee, the road is open, unofficially in a way, it still has road closed signs up coming out of Alhaurín, but not from the other side, i meant to say when the road was closed, really closed that is, (apart from weekends!), the sign *Alhaurín El Grande 3K* was turned round and pointing towards Coín... not mention that the 3K was now, not mentioning the extra 20 kilometres in distance!

this morning we went to La Trocha market, good look around there, loads of stalls, loads of people, had a coffee and my favourite apple strudel, very very nice, and sat next to us some friends i hadn't seen for a while, so had a quick catch up, one in particular thought we had actually left Spain and returned to the UK!

well so many people leaving i suppose when we don't see someone for while its the best assumption isn't it?

from there we went up to the garden centre, although we had gone that way out of town, we wanted to see how the new road down to the coast is coming on, the guys had said lots of tarmac can be seen from the Garden centre, so down it we went, we could have gone all the way i guess, a few people coming and going, as we have in the past, but i don't think our poor car could manage it now a days! but we got a way, and turned round when the tarmac ran out, apparently rumor has it that the road will open as far as the La Cala turn off in August, and all the way into Fuengirola in December... 20 months after closing.... can you imagine 20 months of having a main artery road closed? we don't have to imagine, its bare naked reality for us inlanders!!!

so we went into the garden centre also, well couldn't go by and not stop, had a wander round the place, had a té límon para me, and café con leche for Franco... Pippa was both relaxing and standing guard at home by the way! we bought a nice little Basil plant which will no doubt die before we have a chance of partaking of its wonderful leaves...

this house now actually looks worse than it did yesterday, been clearing more ruined things out, the hoover, kept in the nice normally dry cave was soaked through, pity we can't just throw up the broken washing machine so easily as we will leave out the broken hoover this evening in the street! but i think a little too heavy for the poor bin man to carry out!

haven't checked out the rest of the things in the cave, keep looking at the box of family photos, afraid to look, afraid not to! and the books? who knows their buried underneath all the other things... our new christmas tree is on top, but could be sprouting new branches for all i know, my Dads guitar case is made of material, its mouldy and filthy after all the rain has got in, i daren't open that either!

and why is it you can throw out a load of stuff and not see any improvement of what's left behind, brought down a load more rotted through things from the roof terrace, still cant find the secateurs! if the garden faery has taken them away, i want, no need, them back!

yesterday, Saturday, i woke up with a headache! my plans of getting the bus down to meet Franco in Fuengirola went out of the window, and i went back to bed! i took a normal pain killer first, then realised it was a migraine and took an Imigran, later on, when Franco was home, and my headache was clearing up, i took my BP it was so high the gauge couldn't go any higher, later i came on line and by a weird chance had an email from a health company i get up dates from, and it mentioned certain migraine relief meds can cause your BP to raise, so if it's a problem don't take them!!! er toooooo late, but given the choice of pain relief or a day or two of migraine and all that involves, i am sorry for me its the meds... but I wont take my BP afterwards...!!!

a few weeks ago, did i tell you this? a few weeks ago i was checking out an address Mom and i moved in with my Gran in Los Angeles, before she left to go back to England, Mom never said why but working it out from the death certificates i have, two of her sisters back in England both died within months of each other and i think my Gran went back in between the death of one and the death of the next! so... when in LA my Gran lived in S. Manhattan Place, and checking it out with Google street view, the house has gone! just like the house Mom and i moved into after that up Alexandria Ave, LA! Its a conspiracy! I remember going with Mom and the boys to the house she and my Dad lived in out of Long Island NY, we stood opposite the plot, shall we say, where their house used to be, but it was the only house is the whole of the long long street that looked like it had been completely knocked down and rebuilt!

even our old home with my Step Dad has been changed out of all resemblance of when we used to live it! what's going on???? no really?

TTFN
Marian

I meant to include this awful news story from this weekend past, an horrific act that took place in our town of Alhaurin el Grande...

it was the Feria last week, and ended as usual with the young bulls being let loose in the temporary bull ring erected for the week.

the bulls are released young men run around in side the ride, winding them up, hitting them, pulling their tails, bullying the poor young bulls... we went once, and once was enough, it was awful to watch creatures being bullied so openly without it being stopped, we, most of us are brought up knowing right from wrong with regard to animals as well as humans.

i have told you many times of the many acts of animal cruelty we see up here, from puppies being drowned, unwanted dogs hung from trees, lots of people while walking their dogs, Pippa included having kids kicking and threatening them, because they only know dogs to be guard dogs maybe, but you can tell the difference between a guard dog and a family pet!

anyway i have gone off track as normal... a poor bull as you can read was so severly beaten it could no longer live... discusting

strange photo of Mom and i on train up to Nottingham after our trip to Paris, long long day....

oh... i think the problem with this was my fault, just noticed an option up there which i have changed, and now it looks like how i want it to! typical... oh well fixed now! (just adding this after up loading and seeing this doesn't make sense! i am talking about how my blog wouldn't do as it should yesterday and the day before!)

cant say the same for the wifi though, or could i? i have tried to connect the wifi rounter thingy we brought back with us, the old sky one from England. telephone wall plug is just the same, everything switched on and it was green for go! showed a great wifi connection but wouldn't let me use the internet? and to be quite honest i am not in mood to fiddle with it... tried the *fix it* option, it said great connection, but if your having trouble click here, did, said all ok now! wasn't... and cant be bothered!

think house smells better, until i get some fresh air from outside, or come in from there and then its just this awful damp smell in every room, i cant do anything in the bedroom yet, its so bad, needs all the pictures taking down, furniture moved and cleaned from the ceiling down!

cant find the secateurs for trimming some of the over growth up on the terrace, and for cutting up and bagging the dead plants, the peach and bottle brush trees, the wisteria is coming down too, it doesn't flower and gets in the way where it is!

this morning walked into town early, got a few bits i needed and had to go into the bank, i had put it off yesterday so many people on the way in and still there on the way out, probably the same people if going by todays visit is anything to go by... how many blogs have i done complaining and moaning about the way the banks are run here?? no tell me please!!!

today, walked in at 10am, 27 people in front of me, and i say in front in the loosest sense of the word... because people come in, ask who is last and just hang around by the door, so you have this big enormous space near the counter (singular), and everyone looked scared stiff around the edges! two seats ocupado! one man at the one counter, woman in an office to one side, and that's it!

at 10:35 the woman came to a desk and served one person, then the one in front of me... and ten minutes later i got to be served! the guy serving at the counter had taken so long with his customer because he was coo cooing the child with her, giving it paper and pen to draw with, (all over the Moms top and arm! but she didn't notice!), then he made a paper aeroplane!!!! OMG!!!

can you imagine going into a bank in England, and waiting 45 minutes to be served? ten minutes feels like a long time in your one hour lunch break, having one cashier who likes to do Origami wouldn't last long, there would be a riot! mind you the woman in front of me today was huffing and puffing! but then as i have mentioned just a few times before, why would you go into a bank in your lunch time? not to pay a bill they have to be paid between 8:30am - 10:30 tues, weds and thursdays only!

phew, got that off my chest! but back to now, i could hardly walk the rest of the way home after standing for so long.... but i have been scrubbing and cleaning again already... i think i be done for today, if i can keep still long enough!

next doors leak is bad today, almost pouring out onto the street outside our houses, you can see the damp coming up the tiling! they are there, so hopefully will get the problem sorted out soon, its been well over a year now...

also this morning, i have added my Great Grand Parents to my on line family tree, in Genes reunited, feel like it's a bit of a mission now! finding where they are buried maybe in London if i can, i have found the nearest cemetary to where they used to live, but then, did they stay there after my Grand Dad and his brothers left for other countries... did any of them ever return to see them again? the USA was far enough where my Grand Dad went, but it would have been a long long way from Brazil for the two other brothers...

Pippa is having a great time, making sure everyone knows she is back in town!

that's everyone who passes on the road, or is just plain too close for her comfort! so when she is having a bit of a howling session up on the terrace its 3 flights of stairs for me to get to her to shush her up!

i had a mammoth phone around yesterday, being back home now with the land line, using the mobile to phone for the last months was uncomfortable, hot mobile phone, hot-head-ache for me!

more calls to make later, so going to have a bite to eat now....

hasta pronto amigos!

TTFN
Marian

Just a short blog today, something wrong with this page... coming up all html (hypertext), had a bit of a problem with last nights too, no photo up there for me to see, just a load of words!!

today, more cleaning, more vinegar, more washing (by hand), washing machine is now broken... Bring It On, right just tried to *italic* that and it changed whole thing to the html again, so deleted it!

this morning i went down town bit later than normal for a chance to bump into mate i saw down by bus stop on tuesday, and i did! i was talking to friends i had seen in Mercadona yesterday, so i went to chemist with friend then we four joined up for coffee, well tea, i had té con limon! it was hot but very refreshing...

i bought some mosquito net for back window and a few bits and bobs and home to continue with work!

going to leave this here in cases.... oh the photo, if it does come out, is Mom and i in Paris!

TTFN
Marian

apologies for errors below, some things gone wrong and i cant fix it! did that come out petulant? didn't mean it to, sorry!