X Factor 4, ep 18, Rhydian (itv.com/xfactor)

Rhydians Video on youtube

Rhydian wins X factor

brrrrrrrrr.... been raining a bit the last few days, not heavy but on and off enough to make our house look like a laundry inside! clothes hanging everywhere there is a place to hang!

sunday down on the fuengirola road there were a couple of nasty accidents, the first we saw on our way down on the same old dodgy corner it always happens with a damp road, a four x four with trailer both on their sides, another car completley busted up ahead of it! and on the next trip past another car, same place, same mess!

we went to la trocha on sunday too, lots of people in the stores and milling around the market stalls, cafes all full, which was good to see.

franco and i are getting ready for our trip away for christmas, a couple of friends of his are over from wales and staying at ours while we are away which has worked out great for both us, and them! free accomodation and house sitting!

paco, friends dog, is still missing, if i could find him, or anyone find him, i can think of no better present for them... but, he has now been gone for three weeks, its a long time, so hopefully he is just settled in with another family and then, one day, they will take him to vets and his chip with tell them he belongs to another family.... who miss him dreadfully...

oh if you wondered about the title of this page, Rhydian would have won if the phone lines hadnt been blocked... immediately after the lines opened his announced the lines are now closed! arh!

its a shame for leon, but rhydian never sung a song badly, he looks a little strange at times, but there is no question of his great talent as a singer... absolutely fantastic... sorry leon but... and i had to delete bits out of this paragraph, unfair views by the majority who are in favor of the rhydler!

The warrior of light
listens to what his opponent has to say.
He only fights if absolutely necessary.
Manual of the Warrior of Light

TTFN
Marian

The Alan Ross Singers...

friend and i went to see the alan ross singers last night, we knew a few of gals singing, and lots of the people watching too, it turned out!

the even was last night and tonight, saturday 15th, at the mirador hotel in alhaurín el grande, beautiful place to hold the event. wonderful suroundings...

lots of carols and hymn's with christmas themes... i didnt do much singing at school, was saving my voice! but got very good at lip sync! so i knew all the words last night from the concentration i used to use at looking at the song sheets way back then!

there were also some solo's songs... tracy, from inland magazine, and of course alan ross who used to work for the bbc back in the uk.

was a very good evening, we also had pizza on our way there!

God is love, generosity and forgiveness;
if we believe in this,
we will never allow our weaknesses to paralyze us.
The Valkyries

TTFN
Marian

i really should have written this yesterday while it was still clear in my mind... but... its already getting foggy in there, we saw a fantastic program on tv on tuesday evening about the mediterranean and its history etc, and one thing i found out that i never knew is that due to the fact that there is more evaporation exceeds precipitation ... as in not as much water comes back in than leaves it every year and its the water coming in through the straights at gibraltor that keep it going, but still... every two thousand years or so the Med completely dries up!

well give up cant find a photo of it but they also showed these amazing salt mines in sicily formed during the last two thousand dry spell in the med, there is enough salt that it can never run out... they had also built an under ground chapel in these salt mines... all made, of course, in salt!

yesterday in the newspaper shop here they didnt deliver some of the papers.... but it was ok, they sent them in today!?!

No one can avoid defeat.
That is why it is better to lose a few battles
in the fight for your dreams than to be defeated
without even knowing why you were fighting.
By the River Piedra I sat down down and wept.

TTFN
Marian

New Driving regulations...

not sure how many of you have noticed the new driving laws aqui en españa?
from the paper on monday...

the guardia civil arrested 275 drivers in the first five days since the reform of the civil code which penalises traffic infractions came into force at midnight on december 1st. the vast majority, 267 were over the limit when breathalysed and the other eight had been over the speed limit. the first man who was detained in tarragona for speeding just after midnight on december 2nd claimed he was on his way to visit a relative who had been taken to hospital.

five days later, a judge sentenced him to 20 days community work, a fine of 720 euros and an eight-month ban on driving. drink-driving and speeding are responsible for most of the road deaths in spain - so if you drive don't drink, and keep your eye on the speedomoter.

so folks lets be careful out there...

TTFN
Marian

(not our tree above)

anyone buying a house down in the area primed for the new road system around alhaurín should be checking with their lawyer thats theyre not buying now and losing it tomorrow... if you know what i mean... as in an over heard conversation today that means someone will be! please dont let it be YOU!

went down to the miramar parque yesterday now the shops are open on sundays... the mall shopping centres anyway that is. lots of people there us from the uk going like crazy for presents whilst, of course, local people not having to get theirs till january 6th!

the local correo this morning was hell! instead of having stamps and buying them then we stick 'em on out of the way the poor girl has to frank every single item while you wait! aaaaarh!

we really are being lucky with our weather, its still not cold enough that the sweater or light jacket you put on in the early morning is required later on during the day...

The Lord listens
to the prayers of those
who ask to be able
to forget hatred,
but is deaf to those
who want to flee love.
The Fifth Mountian

TTFN
Marian

Pod cast

please please please click on alhaurintoday.com and check out the section down on the left under the heading columns ... then the Podcasts... then... sorry still with me?

then click on and listen to the interview under Polderdot Gals... its all about Fibromyalgia, Bianca actually sounded like me talking about how i am... so now i feel both sad, and glad its getting more air time these days than when i first started suffering back in the late 80's...

TTFN
Marian

quiet in town this morning, but i think most of the local people are having a very long weekend that started yesterday and go on till sunday night!

its the big holiday tomorrow and lots of people are visiting their families in town now the streets were packed by mid day! such a contrast to earlier in the morning! i know... late risers...

my mom has just said that she plans next year when her bus pass in england, which enables her and other pensioners to travel in their own counties free of charge, changes to the whole of the uk for free! and she said her and her mate are going to get on a bus and just go go go...

help! two octogenarians free on the buses... N S E & W! she said she will phone me in the mornings telling me where the next night will be and i can hunt down a bed and breakfast for them... really mom!

here the signs are up at lots of the bins reminding people it is illigal to put anything but house waste in them! no building stuff or furniture etc... its a 600€ fine for dumping here, and to take to the local dump site is only about 5€, maybe 10€ if there is a lot of furniture, much cheaper here than back in blighty, and also, of course you wouldnt dump any thing by the side of the road there so why would you here...

last night i gave in and put up a few christmas decs in the house, just some lights and of course the nativity figures i have had for about 13 years now... no tree...

The light of love drives away the darkness of guilt.
The Valkyries

TTFN
Marian

Día de Constitución

what a beautiful day today... its quiet too with so few people out and about, pippa and i left home about 930am and walked down towards the 12 fountains and along the lower road, turning left and heading to the up hill road that skirts around town, passing over the fuengirola crossroads where the tabacconist is on the corner... on wards and up wards along blas enfante and all the way to the park at the top of the veriante and down to the cruz roundabout above!

into the shop for a quick chat and then pippa and i sat down me coffee and water! we were joined by a couple of friends and sat for ages talking and watching the world start to wake up and come past!



we had gone the long way round to search out paco.... but not one stray dog did we see, only the three that belong to the guy who is always after a euro for coffee, and he was sat at the fuengirola crossroads asking each and everyone who went into the shop for money, his dogs crossed over the road infront of traffic to have a word with pippa! but i sent them on their way...

we were gone for just over 3 hours by the time we got home, pippa was tired out, she only sat briefly when offered a bite of someones bacon other than that she stays standing up the silly thing, so she is still asleep on the bed and not looking like moving...

we have all been comenting how warm it is once the suns up and i came home and went up to sit on the terrace, it was only 15 in the shade, the same as london i see just now, but once the sun came up over the town hall and onto me i could really feel it, so i put the thermometer in a better place and it read 33 by the time it reached stopping place, so it was 60/15 and then up to 90/33 not half bad eh!

warmed me up and now i am glowing, its funny how i get more of a tan in any time of the year thats not summer... its just to hot then to sit out in the heat...

photo at top of page is of the cruz roundabout this morning, christmas decs and sunshine...

then the flowers up on our terrace basking in the sunshine... and below the temperature!!!



when its just on the 30 and still on its way up!




and above.... a neighbors washing on the line just now... the water tank and sink is where she does her washing, every day, out side with the cold water in a sink with a wash board ledge just as they have done for way too long... poor ol' gal!

To love is to commune with another person
and to discover in him or her a divine spark.
By the river piedra i sat down and wept.

TTFN
Marian

cant believe it, friend is home from scotland and found one of their dogs is missing... paco, he went out and about with a few other dogs and hasnt come home, they are frantic, just as i would be if pippa went missing, i wouldnt sleep and would be out walking the streets calling her name!

hopefully someone has taken him in and is feeding and loving him, and one day they might take him to the vets and lo and behold find that he is chipped and belongs to f&a.

will put his photo on here when i get it.

saturday franco and i went down to fuengirola to get his second pair of glasses... sun glasses for driving etc, and we went to the dunnes at miramar parque, it was so busy there couldnt believe it, saw a couple of ladies from alhaurín there.

and yesterday we went down to calahonda to run some errands and on the way home franco drove us around the new urbanisations down behind nora golf down at la cala, we were lost in those there hills for about an hour... at one point coming back down to civilization at the junction under the toll road where the girl in tub fountain is... and thats in riviera! so now we know you can drive all the way to calahonda without touching the careterra 340 if needs must, an accident etc. we drove back up the way we had come and back out by the golf course, and home!

saturday evening we went to dinner with friends, a small dinner party... very posh eh! it was a lovely evening and when we got in the car to come home, franco was the designated driver this time! we found it was ten past one! hadnt noticed the time going at all! and then we didnt get up till so late sunday....

ok got photo.... let me up load on here... paco is on the left above... the longer haired dog, he is only young and about knee high, very friendly little fella...

all the christmas lights are up now in town so i must get some shots of them in the night, in the dark...

i have just got totally addicted to an on line crossword puzzle thing, its great! it was, it is, on facebook under human pets section and there i was doing a crossword with all the other people, great fun, took all my strength to leave it alone... ok that shows how weak i am!

True love allows each person
to follow his or her own path
aware that doing so can never drive them apart.
Brida

TTFN
Marian