Mijas pueblo

this morning after doing dropping off the car we had been borrowing we came up to Mijas....



i wanted to go to the little Ermita Virgin de la Peña to light a candle for my step mom, Carol, who died yesterday after a long battle with cancer, i had hoped against hope of seeing her next year for sure, of being in LA for my birthday and as usual, we can never ever depend on anything being as we wish when we wish it... and now.... i just feel i didn't call enough, write enough, or try harder to go and see her... i sent a letter, which came back due to an address error at the start of this promotion, couldn't see one and just tore it up planning on calling her, i sent a post card about a month ago, but not sure if it arrived, i have been taken up with this job and its hours, and the weekends with trying to get up enough resources to just keep going for me that i let slip my calls and thought when this job is over, everything will get back to normal, doesn't work like that does it. and i suppose we think lazy thoughts that people will always be there no matter what.

my brother called just after midnight this morning, i knew it was a 'bad' call, just knew, and once again those 6000 miles are too great.

in the 12 weeks of this job two girls in the two shops have lost family, my supervisor her uncle, my son his friend and a friend here in alhuarín her brother, (she was traveling to uk to see him and he died that morning), now carol... 6 too many in such a short time.

The Good Fight is the one that we fight
in the name of our dreams.
The Pilgrimage

TTFN
Marian

here is the view from my hamaca during my break at Bajondillo.... and there do you see the pirate? he does look real from here dosent he!


this is the big screen down on the beach at Torremolinos where they have been having the two movies a week throughout july and august... bad viewpoint i guess as of course the hamaca's and parasols are not infront of the screen as this looks!!!!


and i am sorry this is blurrrrred! pippa likes to get up onto the window sill in the evenings if the window is open to allow in a hopefully cooler breeze, but the persiana (the blind) is down! trouble was trying to get the shot in before she was down again!

ok... this week, my 12the week, nine to go.... i can see a pin prick of light now at the end of the tunnel.... yeah! and i was so worried about getting a migraine today i had a head ache last night, it started in the shop during the afternoon, i took a tablet and was gone by morning, thank goodness.

this week i had to share the store with two other promotors, never a great thing, as the poor customers coming in are faced with two women standing either side of the store like security guards, monday we were both in our black uniforms... still i managed to practice some spanish with her, tuesday i was just annoyed there was another, we are not supposed to have two on the same day, monday was puros, cigars, so different, but tuesday was marlboro! although i am getting quite a collection of promotional gifts, small back packs, large back packs, t-shirts and scalves, cool bag, fans and plastic ice cubes with a bright blue light!?! no alcohol, but then it would just sit with the other bottles gathering dust!

at least 'the others' dont seem to have clocked onto the things i look for before a possible approach, as in the newspaper, is it english? wedding ring placement? and just facial things, its sometimes very easy just to know someone is from the UK just by facial shape etc.

i still sometimes just seem to be promoting España and not just the tobacco, people come in complaining of nothing to do or anything to see and i suggest Mijas pueblo and Ronda, all those wonderful cities in Andalucia... although i think Cabopino beach is a definate no no... the beach with the hamaca's and bar area is fine, even the nudist beach is ok for those who like the freedom (!) but behind right at the back of the dunes is now getting right out of hand... (?!) i know i have mentioned it before but people are doing all sorts there, and taking photos of small children on the beach etc etc... friends were down there during the week went into the sea for a dip and came out finding their bag gone, car keys house keys everything else, they have had to change the house locks as well as renewing cards and things, car key re coded, the police have moved into the area down there big time over the last few months but these perverts are still there, doing stuff they shouldnt, someone needs to tell the people on the beach theyre children are more than likely on the internet now!

and the signs over the carreterra telling everyone about the four points on the license and high fine seem to be just a joke too, those we saw last sunday throwing out lit cigerettes and this week i cant count the number of people i have seen doing the same thing... as its dark now during most of my journey around the mountain roads from de la Torre to Alhaurín el Grande, the little bright light of those butts really show up! and so will the fires they start if they blow onto the dry grass by the side of the road! am i repeating my self? sorry.... age or tiredness rather eh!!!

the police that are up and down the paseo maritimo in their white uniforms and getting about on those two wheel things do the job for free, they are volantary, but i suppose they get perks, a couple of girls were having their photos taken with four of them the other day, and i am sure they get lots asking...

its funny how my body is coping with these longs days of standing my legs went through a phase of feeling all squidgy and tingling when i got home, that lasted for a few weeks, but mainly has passed now, i seem to have trouble actually sitting now for too long, i have always had to move about a lot, but now its either standing of being completly flat out!!!! LOL

the ants we seem to have had invading the house have either moved next door or just got the hint period! those little guys that come out on their own looking for food then going back to say yeah or neah.. i manage to block their return journey with candle wax in every nook and cranny they come through! the morning i came down to find a whole army on the small table in the living room freaked me out, it was a bit dark and i could see something there and put my hand down onto it... immedately my hand was covered in these little critters, nipping me... they did! and then i got the big light on... ugh, there was theyre trail one line coming in and another back bit of biscuit on the shoulder along the table down the leg along the floor, behind a another object and behind the dining furniture! little devils!

the Gallaghers promoter has been working in the Estanco this month so we actually got to meet after the last two months of only knowing each week i swapped places with her! we got on really well and managed to have a good old chin wag on thursday during our afternoon break, so no sleep but lots of giggles... and now back to ships in the night thing, both going down to the coast every morning and home each evening but never the twain shall meet.... well until november anyway!

The path to wisdom
is not being afraid to make mistakes
Brida

TTFN
Marian

Sumer time....

and after last weeks bombing this awful avoidable plane crash in Madrid on Wednesday, avoidable as they tried to take off, but couldn't then 'the man' told them to try again... will he be done for manslaughter? or what... Spain got a telling off for showing live and still shots of the poor soul's who lost their lives in situe... in England we are always saved the true awfullness of things we really do not need to see.

there was to be three days of grieving, but not sure in what respect it took place, loud music being played down the street was cut short by another neighbor telling them off... but everything else went on just the same...

there has been a bit of a cool breeze down on the beach during my siesta, i think it may have dropped to mid 30's whilst the breeze blew... i started and finished the book that had been borrowed and then loaned to me... a paragraph on the back reads "shocking and controversial, The Lone Brit on 13 is an adrenalin-powered read that will offend, amuse and ultimately entertain with its unflinching honesty and brutal realism", so i will leave it to you to judge written byChristopher Chance, ISBN 978-1-84018-957-5, a true crime publication... i could'nt put it down.

still lots of children here dying from the heat being left in cars by their parents, did i tell you about the baby put in the boot of a car and they went shopping, and a couple in Tenerife left a boy in a high security car all night and couldn't get out... and he did try!!!

i arrived back to the Estanco and a man from a well known car hire company in Malaga, one you pass on your way into the area on the right HH... he pulled into the space which anyone could see was too small for his big car, once in he couldn't get out, surprise surprise, so he reversed out, got out, and pushed it into the space... yeah funny funny... the people either side could now not gain access to their vehicles! one would be a passenger but the other a driver and if like me with any joint problems would be unable to climb over the gear shift and hang brake... couldn't believe this bloke, i really really wanted to push it back out into the middle of the street!!!!

oh and yesterday i had ANother migraine... went to be fine Friday night, woke up in pain big time... and didn't get up until this morning, coming thick and fast now, every two weeks or so...
terrific! must be doing something wrong... like an hour and half driving every day and 8 hours on my feet maybe? what do you think?

ten weeks to go... back to Bajondillo tomorrow...

Certain things are so important
that they need to be discovered alone.
Unpublished

TTFN
Marian

More Bombs....

More Bombs on our costa del sol.... see sky news attachment...

one of the girls in this weeks Estanco went to the beach with her boyfriend, they parked, easily... walked to a good spot, no one about?? what is happening?? they didn't know about the bomb or evacuation that had recently taken place on that very beach....

TTFN
Marian

cant believe how fast the weeks are going now... tenth gone now and siesta time Wednesday i will be celebrating half way through this ordeal.... because at times, different times every day this is still how it is... Monday this week was very bad, had a migraine coming on and was just in extreme pain all over, so many pain killers i was in a trance most of the time... not sure if i was even really there or not! lunch time i had my rest, but wasn't rested, got home went to bed, Tuesday i awoke still with a head ache, the migraine tablet i had taken hadn't done a thing... so off to work Tuesday feeling as bad as the day before, and that night i had to take another of the migraine tablets, this one worked as on Wednesday although i felt a bit weird the head ache was at least gone!


this above is the street on the right where i am this week, a poor women who came into the shop in Bajondillo last week is staying just here on the right, and had walked in completely the wrong direction in 40º of heat, just for a cigarette....!!!

now i also have my temporally lost blog notes... that was a bit worrying last week ;-) well, they could have been mis read...

ok, parking meters in Alhaurín el Grande, i wont tell you just then how many times i had to type meters before i got the right one... anyway, its 30c for half hour, 60c for an hour, 90c for hr half and finally 1€20 for two hours, maximum stay. so not too bad i don't think! better than the 60€ parking fines the town has.

people still parking on the new yellow zig zag areas, and as for throwing cigarettes... seen a few from car windows both morning and evening, and from the town hall directly behind our house from the car park onto the houses below....!

talking of parking it really is a nightmare now, Friday was a holiday here in Spain Feast of the Assumption, and so i knew anyone who was still at work, mostly wouldn't be, so i wasn't really surprised to see not one single parking between the two Estanco's on Friday as i drove along, wondering wearily what i was going to do, i passed the Estanco and there on the left was a space... i was in it in seconds and would very likely had a fist fight with anyone who tried to get in it before me.... (well OK probably not), just cried!

i parked, got out with my book and coffee and sat on the wall nearby and relaxed, was great! when i came back to my car though, there was a scooter about half inch from my rear bumper and no space to pull out from the car in front so i got a passing strong looking guy to move it for me and to help me with not smacking into the car in front, i was hardly out as a couple pulled up to jump into my space! in all it took about 20 minutes to get off the beach road with all the people trying to get in! crazy people!!! oh and also the car was quite cool as i had left the passenger window completely open all morning....

there have been some things to talk about in the shop from this week... from the girl who was wearing a very loosely crocheted bikini top... to a big problem we had on Thursday a couple of women didn't want to take any notice of being told not to come into the shop with they're wet and sandy feet because the girl who was asking them politely and in Spanish.... was English!

i think it was Wednesday night the temperature dropped enough to be noticeable.. and with it has come back the screeching of tires round the corners again, this seems to happen twice a year, with this sublte change... this is only at night though! the days are still just as hot and its been terrible in the shop with air con only over the counter, this week i will have the full force of it on me again... back to the prune finger tips and blue nails... i know never happy, but then never a happy medium!

ok amigos... will leave you with Paulo Coelho as usual...

Sometimes the Warrior feels as if he
were living two lives at once.
'There is a bridge that links what I do
with what I would like to do,' he thinks.
Slowly, his dreams take over his everyday life,
and then he realises that he is
ready for the thing he always wanted.
Then all that is needed is a little daring,
and his two lives become one.
Manual of The Warrior of Light

TTFN
Marian

above and below our peach tree and fig tree, look how many peaches, last year they were huge and soft and juicy, these seem to have now reached as big as they are going to get, but i think its because there as so many all so close together there...

and the figs are no where near ready yet... my very favorite fruit.....

and above and below a couple of the garden ornaments Franco has made.....


well i am lost today, i left my notes with my work stuff in the Estanco.... oh heck all that scribble and nonsensical stuff, hope no one reads it....

there was a concert right at the end of the beach road at the Malaga end on Friday evening when i was leaving work, a huge stage set up and orange railings for people to walk between instead of on the road... you know where i am going with this eh? police everywhere cars all over the place and complete disorder!

i was letting go of some road rage at a friends house yesterday afternoon and they lent me book to read.... not sure of the connection yet will let you know when i have finished reading 'The Lone Brit on 13' A prisoner's hell in Spain's toughest jail, (alhaurín de la torre)...

i cant help it... i am a Subaru Impreza driver in another motor... surrounded by people who were not taught how to use indicators, road positioning or clutch control, among other important road and safety issues.... ok ok i am sorry, i will give it a break for a few more weeks again, i am getting on my own nerves with all this road talk! instead i should mention now on my way home the sun has already passed down over the mountain range beyond alhuarín el grande and its an eerie light with the fragrant smells of the eucalyptus and thyme breezing in through the open car windows, beautiful....

and the parking in town, the blue parking bays are on both sides of the road leading up to the cross round about, lots of meters Franco says its cheap parking, but next week i will check it out and post the prices....

back to Bajondillo Estanco tomorrow, wonder how the parking is down there now, up at Playmar this week i had to do lots of extra driving some morning to find a space, especially the first three mornings when the nintendo wii stand was on the beach, they had to same shows on here in spain as everywhere in england, huge tents with lots of wii machines and people trying out the moves... but the trucks took up lots of spaces....

i have been using my ds lite this week at work... well while i am just standing there and no one is about i might as well do my spanish word coach, i am up to seventh grade now!?!

Franco took Pippa down to the vets during the week for a nail clipping, free of charge, and outside he gave her a wash in the pet wash there... just like a car wash, euro in the machine and then water soap and a hair dryer! she loved it!

one of the customers is off to china on Sunday, she is dutch and going to be wearing one of our Lambert and Butler orange sun hats to the games! there will be a huge group of dutch all wearing orange hats so keep a look out!!!!

few more people down on the coast this week at last! although of course mainly Spanish as this is their holiday month, on the news one morning this week a guy was saying benidorm is quiet this summer, well lots of people here this year instead of there... so its not that they're not in Spain, just trying out a new location!

nine weeks of the promo done, eleven to go, i think now i will be able to make it, not sure how though when i am standing there its a different matter, moving from one painful leg to another and back again, struggling with this mushy feeling i have in my legs from the knees down, and taking lots of pain killers... Franco found another new 'thing' to help people with Fibromyalgia, but i will have to wait till this job is done with to try it out, and only then will i let you know if it works! you know i will have to try it, as i have every other 'thing' in what will be 20 years next may that i have had this in my life, or it has had me in its!

What is the real 'I'?
It is what you are,
not what others make of you.
Veronika decides to die

TTFN
Marian

Torremolinos....

phew hot hot hot... seems we always forget how hot it gets every summer here, our short memories...

well the road that has been ready and waiting that takes you from Ikea to the old N340 and the coast road is at last open as off mid week.... three lanes one way and two the other, the three makes your driving decision so easy with the three choices to take you to one of the three exists... and yet still people go in the right hand lane to go left.... i am sorry, i have been good to my word and kept quiet from my road rage experiences for a couple of weeks and i cant tell you how hard that has been!! every morning this week i have followed two leaner cars going towards Malaga, picking them up along side de La Torre and leaving them at the Churriana round about, they both have break lights out and although their indicating at appropriate places... shock horror, at the round abouts they are in those right hand lanes to turn left!?! why the other people look confused and beep at them gets me, when so many of them do it too! and those speed bumps, wearing down nicely now by those of us who actually go over them... people tend to follow my driving line now as i shake my head at those in front swerving all over the place so that their empty side of the car gets no bump and the driver still does???

the beaches are still quiet... a few more people but not as many as should be by now, all the guys comes in from the hamaca rentals and are complaining about their low earnings this summer so far... was funny the other week when i laying comfortable on my hamaca i could hear a conversation taking place between two girls and the beach guy, they had taken residence of two beds and the parasols above and he came along and asked for the 4€ each and they said "who says we have to pay? where does it say it costs 8€ for these two beds?" i mean what did they think that some poor bloke gets up early and has about 100 beds out and mattress's on... sits there all day, not allowed to even start packing up while clients are still there, not allowed to leave till the last has gone... seven days a week! they said no were not going to pay and would leave, but continued to sit there bug eyed looking like they were the only people who had to pay in all the world... when he came back and said well pay or go! one paid and one laid on the floor...? in a right little strop she was, when he returned again they said could they have the money back they were going? so the poor guy said oh just use the two beds for today, but never again.... they were gone ten minutes later....

...and at last people seem to be leaving their dogs at home in the hottest part of the day, it was sad having to see people drag their pool animals back out onto hot pavements they wouldn't be able to walk on bare foot! one ladys beagle dog died last week, of a mosquito bite...

this week was great for familiar faces at last, a couple from 'the other' estanco i am at came in and said hola... a guy from the bar there too came in, he lives near this estanco, then a couple of Alhaurínos who come down to the paseo to walk were surprised to see me standing there, having wondered what had happened to me at Cristina'a... then one of the card suppliers who also knew me from above came in and we had a chat....

parking in Alhaurín... all change with parking in blue areas, i think all the way from the taxi rank to the ferriteria, i am not sure not having walked there this week only driving past, will up date when i can... did i mention the new bus stop in town? well not new now i guess been there maybe four weeks but its good to have one up by the round about so you don't have to walk all the way down to the feria ground to catch the bus to Malaga...

yesterday, Saturday i had a migraine, why does this happen? its like during the week the stress or adrenaline keeps me going then when i can relax, no hurrying bam head ache, it started Friday evening and i didn't have any of my imigrane type tablets, franco went to town and got me some in the morning and i was up later, but still felt weird! today bit better no head ache at least.. we went down to Miramar at Las Lagunas, Fuengirola and Iceland..... and home...


heres a link to click please for Fibromyalgia...

Choosing one path means abandoning others -
if you try to follow every possible path
you will end up following none...
Brida

TTFN
Marian

early but just wanted to get this on my blog.... this is near where i am at work folks....

ETA bomb blast....

TTFN
Marian

well the heat is really settling in now, reports in Seville during the week that temperatures not lower than 39º at night! and now, 7pm it is 44º in the shade on our roof terrace!!

i forget to tell you something funny the other week... a couple came in remarking on the price of tobacco quote "here on this island"... has something happened i don't know about? have we separated from the rest of the continent?

one morning driving along the beach road the police in front of the car in front of me, the driver started waving him past although we were already doing over the 30k, then he started waggling his hand for me to over take him! i indicated and started to move out, but saw on coming traffic and pulled back in, then he suddenly put up his hand to stop me!? i can just imagine police in the UK actually making people go over the speed limit, never mind them not obeying the limit them selves in this situation. but then the traffic police here see people doing things on the road all the time they shouldn't and take no notice at all...

well school is out for sure now, but things are still quiet down on the coast for all the stores, even the sales starting at 70% off isn't drawing the crowds it should, we went to Ikea today getting a couple of things for Maria, the restaurant was packed but the rest of the store was fairly quiet, lots of room for manoeuvre for our little cart... then in the Estanco i cant believe how much tobacco some people buy, some buy the norm of 16 cartons and 3kilo of rolling tobacco, others for instance Tuesday a couple of girls left with 80, yes eighty packets of golden Virginia rolling tobacco! that's not 80 single packs, but 80 x 10 - 50gram packets! coming in with two giant suitcases and wheeling them off after, and then Thursday another couple of gals did the same with 78 packets of the same! although the most i have seen spent since i have been doing this promo this time is nearly 3000€ in one purchase.... yes more than our car cost!

this morning i went first into town and had coffee with Val who used to run Papeleria Cristina's, not seen her for months and was great to catch up on all the news we both had, maybe see her again this side of Christmas if we lucky, bit like the rest of my mates... this job does not lead to much of a life out side it, social or otherwise!

i wish my little Nintendo DS Lite were in black now, not silly girly pink which i wanted, well still like actually, but i could be using it during work and doing my Spanish word coach with it during moments of quiet, it would look more work related... but in pink? probable not!

Good and Evil have the same face;
it all depends on when they cross the path
of each individual human being.
The Devil and Miss Prym

TTFN
Marian

We're a 100 years old!!!

above the lake at the top of the mountain near Bobastro and the bar mesa... this is at a huge distance above the dam at El Chorro, and from the bar you look down at the restaurant Garganta and the railway station where we often stop for a coffee and watch the trains and the nesting birds inside the bar area! i was poised with my camera down at what looks like something from a model village its such a long way down, and the mountain side we climbed when tony and Steph were visiting and we went to bridge (Von Ryan), is way way down from this mountain top! but didn't take a photo? not sure why... el otro día i guess.

in case your wondering at the strange header up there? well now i have had my birthday when Franco and i put our ages together we are now a 100! WOW!

today we went to Ikea, meatballs frys and sauce of course.... and a little look round, then we picked up some groceries at Mercadona... and home which was nearly 3.30pm! another day gone...

another week gone, a third of the way through my contract now already, another week of getting to know a few of the visitors on their way through their holiday here... the part that includes purchasing large quantities of cigarettes and tobacco! but some always come in just to say good bye to me which is nice, strangers who become friends eh...

Sometimes it is impossible to stop the river of life.
The Alchemist

TTFN
Marian




oooops! forgot this photo was here.... doh! this was near to the old church at Bobastro and is a wall... was going to say 'just' a wall, but i think anything that has been around as long as this has cant be a 'just' anything!

Bobastro

well here was our first sight of Bobastro above, surrounded by the wire fencing and the sign explaining it!


this above church is over 1100 years old... read attached link....


and above, i think i found a fossil don't you? i wonder what it is....


this place did not have what i would call a good feel about it, very creepy...

i am here again by the by because my boss who came a visiting from Valencia again to us promoters let me come home early, at six, because its my birthday.... bless her, now after yesterday leaving early i really do feel i am skipping school... well ok work!

as i read my book and drank my coffee before going into the Estanco i had lots of text messages and then later, in work, lots of calls which was really nice, and i kept going from feeling really happy to then feeling really sad as nearly everyone is so far away.... had lots of wishes of felizidades, happiness, from everyone at work, and i took in chocolate cake and special biscuits to celebrate!

Every human being has inside them
something more important than him or herself
- his or her gift
Brida

TTFN
Marian

photo above taken near bar la mesa, the large reservoir is behind me, and this photo does not show really what i wanted it too, it looked like we were above the clouds and could see the sea, but i don't think it was, just blue blue oceans of sky...

now i know... steady now, here i am mid week, whats going on!!! well its sort of my saints day today, Carmela, my middle name is Carmen in Spanish... which answers a lot of questions! and also why i am not at work, although by now i would be driving home, its 21.16 at the moment, but i left work at 2pm when the Estanco closed for the day as its a big saints day down in Torremolinos...


here we were at the bar la mesa... looks like something from an old western movie eh!!


the bar-b-que area, and on either sides there were little chicken coops?!? bit worrying eh, right next to the cooker there! and hot too!


and Pippa, of course, looking anxiously for Franco to come back out of the bar with the cafe con leche!

news so far this week.... another customer complaining of being mugged, him and his wife both in their late 60's i think arrived off the coach Sunday evening and awaiting their luggage a woman looking to be waiting for her bags stole his wallet, opened two buttons on his shorts and removed the wallet! he caught her as she turned to go and got her to the ground! good 'ol boy eh! although he said he felt awful knocking a woman to the floor and it really shook him and his wife up, he came in early in the day, then brought his wife in later to meet me! hope they are being safe now, expect them back in later this week for their smokes! not for them but for family and neighbors!

top gear on Sunday evening, an English TV program about cars.... Jeremy test drove a car the week before and during the course of the test drive he went over a solid white line in the middle of the road and a viewer called the show to complain and notified the police!

on another TV program Little Britain there is this awful 'women' (well bloke really), who walks about making an awful noise and then a mess, cant, well wont go into further details.... well in this Estanco, a woman comes in every day similar big baggy dress and makes this "huh huh haaaah" noise.... just don't want the follow through business!

and another lady asked me if i would teach English to her daughter yesterday?!? well tonight typing if i just left it and didn't correct as i go would read like some as yet translated or even unknown language!

this afternoon was lovely.... got home had a coffee, and a nap... well i am in the habit now! who am i to break it! then Franco and i headed down town for a little walk and bought some nice biscuits to go with cake i am taking into work tomorrow....

Those who never take risks can
only see other peoples failures.
Eleven Minutes

TTFN
Marian

this morning we didn't make the market... again! was so nice getting up a bit later, well 8am, cant sleep in or i will get that neck ache as usual, but then we three were up and outta here, went to say hello to the people at the market in Pizarra, so they didn't think we had gone anywhere else.... above and below pics taken from the town centre, first time for me walking around there, Franco usually pops into the village to get our ices or cakes or Chorros!



this one above is the palace!


here is on our way up to the lakes at El Chorro, Ardales, and some more wind turbines going up, must check later if we can see these also from our terrace, we can see the other two groups above Carratraca.


we took first the turn for El Chorro, then took the next right turn for Bobastro and drove all the way up to the top of the mountain, past the huge reservoir there and upwards to the restaurante Bar Mesa, and it is like a table top up there!

on the way back down we made it at last to the ruins of Bobastro.... photos maybe tomorrow, see how i am doing....

Wagers and pacts are made with angels - or with devils.
The Valkyries

TTFN
Marian

Happy Birthday Franco.....


the photo above i took the week before... from Bajondillo paseo maritimo... this bar on the beach has lots of plants and a pirate climbing up the wall on the other side!?!


here just another beautiful shot taken from our terraza one evening this week....


and here the beach Thursday at 2pm!!! one of the girls in the Estanco said it would be bad all afternoon, but I said no it will be fine... and crossed my fingers... and within half hour it was all blue sky and sun shine! where the mist is thickest there is the street this Estanco is on, on c/playamar, and all morning the white cloudy mist stuff was blowing up the street as if a fire were burning down on the beach, really spooky!

one morning there was a little light rain, could have been Thursday, actually I think it was, lasted a few seconds then it was gone....

also on Thursday a group of guys were in the store, bought some tobacco and left, arranged to come back in later to collect what they had already paid for and get more... when they came back they said one of them had been sort of mugged... it was those 'rose' girls, again, they give out roses with one hand and steal from you with the other, only someone noticed her take his wallet, as he didn't, too much drink! so they caught her, and called the police, she had got a 600€ haul from him! and yesterday, Friday they were in court, but not sure what happened to her, she pleaded guilty and is probably back out with her roses/carnations, again as i write!

i am sorry to say i have taken on board another superstition this week, a woman put her handbag down on the floor and caused a commotion in the store.... apparently it is very bad to do this, it means all your money will leave you!

today i got to go into town! not just drive through it at dawn and dusk! was good to walk in, sit and have coffee and chats to my friends... been over a month since i have seen some of them! on the way home i nearly didn't make it! the narrow street has no proper kerbs so if someone is parked or pausing... and you need to get round by car you can... so the man who was fiddling with someone inside his car got to within a foot of me before he noticed he was on the path!! would have been great me squished between his car and a shop front! not!!!

this afternoon the birthday boy and i went down to see maria and her friends who are here at the moment, all those women in one place... watch out calahonda this evening is all i can say!

.... then we did our usual trip to Día and the 'other' store...nescafe nearly 9€... oh come on please we had just bought the same size for 4.91, and thought that expensive... stop ripping people off!

ok... tired now...

The warrior of light perseveres in this desire,
but knows he must wait for the best moment.
Manual of the Warrior of Light

TTFN
Marian

Saturday... no Sunday i mean, so tired cant get my days straight! and i am only on here now because the signal has gone after a split second power cut!

but first, Friday before Sunday! after i left the Estanco i walked along to the car... i crossed over the road and saw a hefty scratch and lots of paint missing!!! couldn't believe it! then as i straighted up from rubbing the surface with my hand i noticed two things at the same time as a man asked if i was leaving the space free.... first thing, not our car, second thing, not even the same model/make, anything! LOL... so i replied i wasn't leaving the space free just yet!

so Sunday.... friends and us went down to maria's apartment, we left our things there and went for a long walk along to Cabopino, had a cool drink in a bar and walked back! saw a friend on the beach, our office administrator from the apartment down at El Zoco, Maria!

we paused for moment then walked the other way to the Thau bar just round the corner, and sat inside, bit cooler and had a lovely lunch, Geoff and i shared a paella, sue and Franco had two chicken dishes, lots to eat and and several cool drinks... non alcoholic! and it was only just 50€ so not bad!

do you remember the walkway at calypso coming down when i was away more than three years ago? a big dumpster drove under it without lowering its skip, well a similar thing happened again yesterday.... see link here to sur in english.... to the exact same bridge!

although i have been a promoter before, i have been negligent in my responses to others that do the same job, usually just a thank you, but no thank you, not the greatest of answers i know, i could do better! but so many people just blank you when you speak to them... yesterday a 'husband' said to his wife the girl said do we need any help, and she said 'no'! maybe i am just talking Spanish now without realising it?! ok, no maybe not that, but please where have all our manners gone, the please's and thank you's, the smiles etc? still at the airport eh!

they are having a great thing down in Torremolinos this year, the six time i think, its de Cine en la playa! from 8 July to the 28 August, films on the beach on a huge screen! most of the movies start about 22.30 as they have to finish by midnight, you know, the NO noise after 12 policy here.... tonight is 'the six signs of the light'....

ok tv back, rest now.... good to pop in and say hello amigos....

By changing the way you do routine things
you allow a new person to grow inside you.
The Pilgrimage

TTFN
Marian

its July!

wow July already now... no blueberry muffins at work i am afraid i was totally unprepared! i remember the years i used to take them into Pentagon (Mercedes) not the Pentagon... of course, and year after year, Chris our DP thought i had made them, until i had to come clean and tell him i had always used a packet mix... well they tasted yummy, wish i had had some this week too...

this week now, blog notes where are you, buried away in my little note book i use at work, thought i had lost it one day this week, i was gone for five minutes and couldn't find it when i came back, almost had a black out!?!

this was different, usual Monday morning go slow but this one flew by.. it was only the afternoon when time stood still, probably because i was standing still! rest of the week went quite quickly, must have because its Saturday evening now...

today we had a bit of a mission, my boss, of the tobacco company came down from Valencia came down to visit us promotors and said she would like us to wear black shorts! not short shorts, but knee length, well you try at this time of the year, sales in full swing, locals and holiday makers abound and find an exact item, also i needed shoes, i have worn out the ones i was wearing, and a part for Maria's washing machine! we tried to source all three as we went round Fuengirola, also first stop picking up my second pair of glasses from spec savers... the sun glasses pair... the washing machine parts shop had disappeared, i remembered the only other time i had been to it and had spent hours walking round the town, only to turn the card over in my hand and see a map on it! doh!

this time went straight to it, but it, had gone... we asked at a couple of other shops, but no one knew where to get parts (?) but then we found a lovely helpful girl in another place who gave us a card, with a map on the map, of where we could find one, by now, we decided it would wait for Franco to go check it out on Monday!

then got the shoes, and the shorts...was exhausted and had woken with a head ache and neck ache and back ache, which by now you can guess had turned into a migrane, so stopped and took an imigran tablet, with a bottle of coke and some tarta de manzana, apple pie!

then off to meet Simon and Clare back to wales now as we speak who had been staying in maria's beatiful reformed apartment on the beach... i had to lay down for a while for the tablet to work, typical, still losing parts of my life to the dreaded migraine, i know i am getting less now, touch wood, but... even so eh, enough is enough already.

ok, market last weekend in Pizarra, very very good, lots of people and friends there, was a good day, and would you believe all these afternoons on the beach and i get burnt shoulders at the market!

i am suffering the worse road rage on my way into work, not so bad coming home for some reason, although for the life of me i cant understand the speed bump thing near churriana, you know there is 9 times out of 10 just the one person in the car in front and he drives so far over to the right so that the near side wheel dose'nt go over the bump, well he is the only person in the vehicle so he still gets to go over it!?! and some people do try to avoid the bumps by going over so far to the left they go over the solid white line (high way code = do not cross a single solid white line) and risk running into on coming traffic who have to swerve over to not hit them! every body slows down and we are all going over them in 2nd gear speed so just go over the bumps amigos....

and as per usual round abouts so many near misses every day, because no one uses correct road positioning and no one indicates, or so it seems, i guess some people do, its just the ones that don't stick out so much more clearly... but people cant pull out if they don't know which exit people are taking, and then nine times out of ten, again, people on your right are taking the left hand turn just like you! i know i go on about this, i know i took my drivers exam just like everyone else in england, but i also took an advanced police course in a local college, i did'nt expect it to make me even more aware of others people driving 'skills' .... ok, sorry folks, got that off my chest! and i would like to promise that i wont go on about it again, but if i have to bear this 80 minutes of driving for the next four months, you mi amigos will have to bear it with me! so i will only mention extremes ok, for instance yesterday when on my way to work i approached a truck, leaving plenty of distance between us, so if i was able i would be able to see beyond it for any on coming traffic or not, and over take, but this 'lady' came up behind me, over took me right up to his bumper and when he slowed down, she bobbed out quick, saw nothing and over took.... she had a bit of trouble getting back in front of him - because if she had been in my position she would have seen the car he was immediately behind! truck had to brake hard to let her in before the on coming car hit her!

ok, enough already...

Claire Simon and Franco came down to meet me one lunch time this week, i think it was Wednesday? so we had lunch next door to the Estanco and then an hour later i had to excuse myself so i could go take my nap, on the beach! could'nt have made it through the afternoon without that! but nice to see them, getting home just before ten pm dose'nt lead to much of a social life, although Franco and i do tend to down hatches and up draw bridge anyway... Pippa included of course!

and i suppose this is the reality of living the life in Spain, these hours i am doing are the hours here, people don't realise it, also why our neighbors are up so late too i guess, and why people live near where they work, if they can!

no market for us tomorrow, tomorrow we are going to relax with friends and i will blog later with photos, i promise, every day i have my camera with me, but you know, girl (ah hem) on beach alone taking photos?? cant seem to pick up my camera and feel ok about that...

Just before a dream is fulfilled,
the Soul of the World decides to test everything
that was learned on the journey.
The Alchemist

TTFN
Marian

cant believe another week gone already, time seems to go so slow while i am standing there, the afternoons more than the mornings, but then i am driving home and now, again, its Saturday, today we had our car broken into in la cañada.... not badly, but they got in through the drivers door and had a look in the boot, but, oh so sorry we had nothing in there to pinch!

OK blog notes... have a little note book with me from now on to.. well make notes!

so bit distorted but here goes... it was San Juan on the 24th and the evening before is when it all starts at midnight with fires on the beaches and lots to drink and eat on bar-b-ques there on the sand, and as i drove off from c/playa along the beach road there were already lots of people about, playing games on the sand and having fun, the roads were packed with people driving down to the coast and the police were out in full force (!) directing the heavy traffic, and then at midnight, when i was fast asleep its when you run into the sea and have your dreams come true....

the following morning driving back the coastal road they were still parting, well the hardened the young people mainly i think! still playing ball, tents up and looking a bit worse for wear, and the rubbish! everywhere the beach was covered with plastic bags and bottles, what a mess!

couple of more new cigarettes for sale this week, promotions only maybe i am not sure, because in these days of trying not to promote smoking as fashionable thing we now have here D&G and CK cigarettes! nice packaging and all that, but who needs Calvin Klein smokes or Dolce & Gabbana!?!

i keep getting pruny fingers... do you know what i mean, like when you have been too long in the bath... i wonder if its the air con in this estanco? in the mornings its not too hot yet outside and the air con is very cool, people coming in saying how nice it is and my fingers are turning blue and wrinkly!! nice eh!

when Russia were playing Spain this week the other two girls in the shop came in in the afternoon both wearing their Spanish tops! and me, still with my black Lambert & Butler shirt on! so one of them made a nice little sign to stick on the front saying 'España' or course! and we won! three goals right at the end, well almost, and as my mom said just as her phone credit ran out calling me the day after, the goals went in boom boom boom! and i was left laughing to my self on my beach bed and the line went dead! mom uses a card to phone my mobile here during the afternoons while i am having my siesta, as its too late when i get home....

i am still having great fun on the roads to and from work... still marvelling at the lack of indicating general couldn't care less approach to driving here... you don't see much road rage from Spanish people, who know others are doing as they do, so what can they say! you have to be waiting along time behind someone having a chat with someone on the path before someone beeps here! and double parking out side the estanco's... only the Brits shout and scream, because the locals don't! so really all in all i guess its us with our road rage who lose out don't we, get all hung up about nothing... although coming round the mountain road between de la torre and el grande the other morning i met with an extra wide load, carrying a small house on board, only a third of the house was almost over my car, i actually ducked! doh! that would have helped, i don't think!

a well known and long standing company down on the coast is not having the best of times, making a lot of people redundant, closing receptions and restaurants, even making porters only work weekends! lots of people have been told to go....

although i must admit not that many people are complaining who come into the shop, they are still getting a huge bargain on their ciggies after all, and after all its not only Spain where the prices have risen we see on the English news every day how expensive every thing is getting well it is here too! its not just a British problem its world wide...

off to Pizarra market tomorrow, will be back soon, Dr Who is just starting... oh and by the way Tony is having his birthday weekend in Prague as i write, havent heard a word from him, hope he is having a good time.... are there any web cams there do you think?

A responsible warrior is not someone
who takes the weight of the world on his shoulders,
but someone who has learned to deal with
the challenges of the moment.
Manual of the Warrior of Light

TTFM
Marian

its late now on sunday, but just remembered something that was on the local news here on friday morning and i wanted to tell you, here at alhaurín golf there have been some bad break ins, not the
usual type, which are bad enough, and we should know after ours three years ago last weekend.... but there were five in just four days there where 'they' used the old gas trick through the air con units over night and people are waking up in the morning feeling sick, and then finding someone has come in and taken anything they want... they and they're pets gased and robbed... i remeber thinking after our break in that the man had seen us laying there and all the other much worse posibilites, and what an awful thought of someone coming in when your unconscious!

ok thats me done for the weekend now, today we went to pizarra market, was a good day, even though the police came round and we all had give our names address's and of course NIE numbers and list what we were selling!

they shifted off a couple of people who had new things for sale and they are not allowed to!

the la trocha market starts again sunday july 6th, but its only boot sale things and no food at all is allowed to be sold. so we may go there instead of pizarra! not sure, also not sure weather to do the S.E.P.E. next sunday.... so many decisions!

my juice and lunch are made ready for tomorrow, and my bags packed!

so have a good week folks and hasta el fin de la samana!

TTFN
Marian

hola amigos...

ok... been making notes, seems the best idea as the more tired i am the more i forget, or the worse my memory gets!?

although this first lot of notes is hard to read, when i was driving into work the other morning i realised the notes were in the back pocket of my jeans, which were then drying on the line... with the faded paper having also taken a wash, but here we go with what i can read....

first thing i noticed immediately this week was the trucks are back in town.... and country and roads every where.... the journey takes about another 10 minutes now with them on the roads taking up space and time! strangely i hadn't noticed their absence the previous week...

a customer who came in the store commented on a girls rudeness to her and said she wouldn't be back in here to me! then later the girl told me how rude the customer had been to her and what had she said to me about it! the tobacconist was also saying how he thinks the people from the UK are unfriendly! no hello's or good mornings... not many thank you's and bye bye's on the way out! and i must admit a lot of the people coming in were none too forthcoming with their usual friendliness... but i think a lot of it is to do with the language barrier... and i said may be its just, rather than start a conversation you cant finish, its best not to start one at all! although i think most of people i know all say hello to all the people here, i know i do as i walk down the street, i don't know them nor them me, but i say hola! and get one in return, this morning i had an 'hola princesa' which i thought was lovely from a neighbor i hadn't seen all week! but then this is inland, and i don't say hello to everyone i meet down on the coast! they'd lock me up!

and a 'foreigner' not naming and shaming here.... told me something about the cigarettes, he told me and pointed at them, i said i didn't understand, and so to make me do so.... he shouted exactly the same thing again at me really loudly! yes that helped!

still not seen anyone i know yet, from either blighty or alhaurín el grande - but people came in Thursday to say bye bye and thanks which is nice. people are so happy to hear an 'English' voice to help, although i don't know the area really, for banks or ATM's etc. and yesterday a couple who i first met last week in the other estanco who knew i was in this one from earlier in the week, came in to see me and say bye bye.... then there are the people to whom i am invisible.... i was telling the guy in the shop about the time when i was working on the golf course - about a man who 'didn't see me' and didn't buy a ticket for diabetes research.... and when he got a hole in one with his shot, he didn't get to go to Las Vegas and didn't get a chance to win a million dollars!!!

well the week went quick - well mostly, could sleep for longer on the beach but for the road works when i am at this estanco on bajondillo, and if the guys who came to collect the money would only not wait till i had just dropped off to sleep!!

also yesterday at this estanco lots of really drunk blokes coming in later on in the day, obviously i don't start back till 5pm but they're well gone by six when some come in, standing there at the counter legs moving all wobbly and trying to hold themselves together and concentrate! yes great eh!

think my Spanish is improving a lot now, i can understand and join in with lots of the conversations this week, although there was one i just listened into and laughed at the end... more because i think i had misheard most of it, the three were apparently talking about a pirate who was in bed, sick, with cheese flavoured chewing gum.... well who wouldn't be sick....

The search for happiness
is more important than the need for pain.
Eleven Minutes

TTFN
Marian

Today, two blogs for the price of one....

franco the hero... when he and maria, his sister, got down to the apartment saturday morning, early about 2am, they were settling her in and could hear this mewing noise from the bathroom ceiling or terraza area, hard to work out exactly where...

the noise the mother was making sounded like a baby in distress, she was moving around everywhere on the roof crying and worried... they thought maybe there was a cat in the ceiling of the bathroom, somehow!

and by 5am there were 3 cats mewing... mommy and two babies! franco had to move a part of the boiler away from the wall and some bits and pieces, and there was the drain with no grill on it to catch leaves or rubbish or small kittens it turns out... because firstly franco saved one that was head down into a drain up on the terraza, he was holding on with his paws out to save him self from falling further, franco lifted him up and put his somewhere safe... then he dropped a long long length of string down the pipe that goes 20 feet through the apartment and the one beneath and then onwards out into the sea i guess, taking rain/washing water from the terraza away with it...

and after a while of coaxing and pulling out came the small fragile body of the other kitten! looking like a drowned rat! the string was around his head and both front paws... as if he had looped it over to help the rescue mission!

then... the first kitten had gone missing again, he had gone into a flower pot head first and got jammed in, so franco had to pull him out by the scruff of his neck!

the mommy cat carried each one away holding on by her teeth to their necks, then a final thank you and good night to maria and franco!

we saw the mother cat later, when i was there, but no sight of the babies, hope they're safe now? and not up to any more mischief eh!

we were out all day yesterday it seemed.... i got the bus down to fuengirola first thing, collected my new glasses! only got one pair for now to see how i get on with them... bit blurry to start with have to be careful how quickly i move my head about!

then a shorter bus ride to calahonda and ice cream in hand, i headed off to maria's place.... once there after our 'hello's' we went out for groceries, after a breakfast, i had had mine of course, would'nt leave the house without it! then to lidl for food, well in theory, as most of the shelves were bare, no food, no milk, no fresh vegetables... this transport strike is killing spain at the moment, no fuel, no vehicles to transport any thing, its crazy...

back to the apartment, and then off to ikea.... maria had a small list of things to buy, now her place is all done up beautifully, there are things to be changed and re newed... coffee table, small cupboard, rug and cushions etc, we were all tired and debated weather to go today, but it was the only day to go really and i would never turn down a chance to go to ikea, especially as i now pass the place morning and night, before its open and after it has closed!!!

we had ice cream and drinks when we got there.... shopped.... and then had a light snack on our way out!! then it was back to maria's and then home, must have been about 8pm i think, cant remember!

so today we decided to give the market a miss, i had to have one day where i did'nt have to get up early! and franco has certainly had a lot of missed sleep the last couple of days too!

i could'nt believe the time when i came down stairs this morning... 950am! unbelievable pippa even let us sleep in that long!

we went out to buy some fresh fruit and bread from the little store near alhaurín golf, they dont have to rely on trucks and gasoline, everything there is grown or made on the premises!

then before coming home we went to see a friend and enjoyed some relaxing time on her terraza, with a cool drink and good conversation...

now home, in the cool of our house, its over a hundred up on our terrace now, at 4pm...

just checked out the web came down at torre where i will be tomorrow, of the three torre web cams its the first one, bit of building work going on down there, and a kiosk in the centre of the view.... there used to be benches there on the path but now only earth under the palm trees? i will have to sit on that wall on the left for tony to see me tomorrow afternoon! it says 'live' but i think its about every minute it changes!

The glory of the world is transitory,
and we should not measure our lives by it,
but by the choice we make
to follow our personal legend,
believe in our utopias and fight for our dreams...

TTFN
Marian