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