Diá de Andalucia

well look we're nearly done here! these were taken a couple of days ago and tomorrow i up load the latest view! there wont be any changes between now and then as the guys are not working today on Diá de Andalucia...

its very quiet out for a Saturday, lovely....

less for Pippa to bark at, and so for now she is reclining asleep after her busy day so far, breakfast and a little run on the terrace!!

she goes crazy now when i get my camera out suspecting me of opening the front door or going up to the terrace, but this morning it was to take photos of some clothes!?! when i am over in England Mom and i have a couple of special things we're up to now, one of which necessitates a nice outfit! i do have lots of going-out clothes, that sit there in the wardrobe waiting to get out!

but suddenly cant work out what to wear, so i have emailed Tony
for help!

mom keeps phoning me in excitement.... you will see and hear all about everything when i can tell you! probably when i can get to Tony's computer!




keep hearing of more and more people returning 'home', the papers full of loved animals that need a new home, one ad really made me sad, a small pony who needs a home and hopefully a another horse in the field, and then another ad, same number of an older horse too, they're family have already returned to England...




TTFN
Marian

everything seems to be in slow motion on here today again, had trouble with Google yesterday, and not much better today...

the street is noisy the weather is grey and cooler than the last few days of what felt like the prelude to summer... we had that smell of sage and rosemary in the air, looking out over the purple green mountains, still topped with a little snow... i was reading on the terrace again surrounded by washing drying quickly in the heat... then bang today its gone!

friends and i sat outside Bar Rosa, a solitary group with everyone else inside in the warm, but we had a smoker amongst us so out side it was, good deal in there still for only 3€ a coffee, a juice and a small bacon baguette! not bad eh! we partook of only coffee and hot chocolate today though!

i want to tell anyone who is interested in something some friends of ours are doing, its an online site for crafts for kids... its called Crafty Creatures, i will link to it here, and add to my links site there on the right shortly, the site is still going through a few hiccups but its easy to negotiate. and if you need any crafts for kids get them now... and mention my name!!!

I am so clever that sometimes i don't understand a single word of what i'm saying!
Oscar Wilde

TTFN
Marian

just some photos... surprise surprise of our street taken the other day...

although now all is looking quite good! as you can see from the third pic here they have cemented down the other half of our road already, and now here in our half it looks nearly prepared for the same for us... they worked till 9m on Friday evening and as normal till 1pm yesterday, Saturday.

yesterday Franco and i went to the poligino near the airport, again, although i say again, it was before Christmas wasn't it! where is the time going already this year!?!

we had a wander around the Bauhaus store first, had a coffee in there, then went to have a look around the big discount mall they have, shoes, boots, 5€ amazing! and the clothes in the El Corte Inglés... the lines of people in there buying! one couple had four or

five of the pull along baskets, like in Mercadona, full of jeans! jeans shorts, trousers, skirts, but all jeans material, and all 3€! so watch out for him on the market putting them up for sale at 5€ and making a little money eh! erm... good idea!!!

there was again, no lack of money in there for sure! it's a bit confusing in there also, the clothes still have they're original prices, and original sale prices on them, so you can pick up a coat and it says for instance 100€ and the sale price is 60€!
but what you have to look for is the price on the rail not the price on the item!

so the coat might be 20€! i got a pair of jeans for 3€ that was originally 39€! and these are all El Corte Inglés items!

the sales here en España end the first week of March, after beginning the 7th of January... still all good things have to come to an end! not sure about this discount place though, will have to
check it out later!

Saturday is Diá de Andalucia! Andalucia Day! the day to give thanks to this regions founding father Blas Infante, and means a public holiday here... it comes in the Semana Blanco week, half term holidays here.

Not sure how the above man would have felt about an article in The News.. a local paper we have here, it told of police in Madrid being ordered to pick up 35 illegal immigrants a week, and if they could not meet this quota in their own district they were to seek immigrants in other parts of the city. that this practice is common throughout the country and policemen who met the quotas were rewarded with time off....

moms fifth chemo went well on Thursday, one more to go... and all being well i shall be with her for that one. then its another CAT scan and hopefully she can come out for a holiday here soon, she says she doesn't care how hot it is when the news comes through she can travel she is!!!

Reality is merely an illusion, although a very persistent one!
Albert Einstein

TTFN
Marian

no photos of the street today, unable to to download onto Picasa, had trouble with it the other day too and lost all my favorites i had kept on my camera! always delete the new ones, but this time Picasa deleted everything! i had a little video of Pippa barking (surprise surprise) up on the terrace, and other important pics, i know i have them on file, but it was nice to have them 'with me' so to speak, but then that's me, daft! and they have gone and i am still fine!

i had to have help again this morning leaving the house! a hand across a deep ravine.. well ok, a couple of feet across a 5foot drop! and its all filled in again now, not sure how they do what they do here, this is the 3rd time of digging up the street, 3rd lot of pipework, you know i think i would have laid it all on the first dig!?!

but the other half of the street is already cemented in! so looking positive for April and Samana Santa i think.

came across this site just now in a local paper for the San Fermin bull run... on a demo here you run with virtual bulls! haven't checked it out yet but will do!

this morning just popped in to see a friend in the dog shop at Plaza Alta, saw a couple of the way down, the girl was wearing a little strappy top! Brrrrrrrrrr! when they came in the shop later, we tried to get her to buy a coat! but they're here on holidays and to them, this is warm of course!

forgot to say, i think? on Sunday night at 10pm lots of people here turned off their electric just for five minutes, surprising how many people i have heard of that did, word gets around obviously, although too late to those who only read of it in a paper later in the week! and not sure if this small demonstration against the ridiculous electricity bills we're all getting, still waiting on ours, and now fear going to the mail box to see if its there....

Franco is at the car boot market at the garden centre this morning with a mate, on the Cartama / Coín road, hope they're doing well!

When i have been out and about, in the bus, or car over the last few weeks, i have been amazed at how many of those little white fluffy looking nests there are in the pine trees this year, i am sure more than usual, so this means more of those awful processionary caterpillars this year.... be warned! don't touch, or let your pets or small children touch!

this could come as a shock to some people... i had my hair cut at a hairdressers! shock horror! the last time i went to a hairdressers was in 1998, for a coloring, loads of colors and something i couldn't do at home! and the last time i actually had my hair cut not by myself with good ol kitchen scissors... was in 1982! 27 years ago! un believable isn't it! i was so nervous, been telling my self to go in since the shop opened 3 years ago, i think i feel about The Hairdressers as some might feel about a dentists!

and as i was coming home Franco was waiting on the corner, he had only been there a few minuets, the road workmen told him i had been out for about 10 minutes....!!! Glad they're keeping an eye on me!

Be the change you want to see in the world.
Mahatma Ghandi

TTFN
Marian

ok i know you were wondering how the street was coming on... so first pic is how the step to our house was last Friday! this was what the men warned me about, and then when i got home it was much much deeper and a bit of a leap into our house!

at least the neighbor had a gantry to walk over!

the rest of the photos are self explanatory except the one of the street market... this was Saturday morning when i went into town
and there was this market down calle Real! i was going to take some photos from the bottom end of the street on calle de san Sebastián, but there was lots of other people taking photos and a film crew! our little village must be on TV lots, we must see these film crews once every ten days or so!

now to the electric! did i mention how now we are being sent monthly bills instead of every other month? January was guesstamate and then this month is a reading. well we are hearing
so many horror stories, i keep checking our account to see if its come into there, or rather come out. we never get the bill first. likewise the phone bill, although i had to go into the bank again yesterday to say it hadn't been paid after they changed our account to here from Fuengirola and promised to sort out the direct debits... they hadn't! so we got a bill saying it hadn't been paid and to do so.

anyway, as i was saying electric! so many people are getting bills now for say 600€ when normally only 125€, or 500€ when
normally 200€, everyone is talking about it, and how to find the money to pay them! the government has put in the papers this is illegal and should be repaid... but we know people who have gone into the offices and only get a shrug and nothing doing! what are we supposed to do?

we do not have our own power supply in Spain, it all comes from France, although the wind farms are multiplying its not enough to fuel this country yet! so its very expensive.

the electricity is also, apparently charged by the size of the property and power made available to you on a sliding scale, for instance an apartment or small house would be about 3.5 kilowatts, and a big house or villa would be 7.5 kilowatts, so even if your not there it will still be quite expensive in a big property. and if you have a business address to your home you will have an extra 80€ on your bill before you even start!

what to do? well Franco has an idea!?! in the papers recently they talked of some tramps living in Malaga airport, its not illegal, so how about we all move into Malaga airport for a few days, kids, pets, cases etc, just as long as we're quiet and not having a party... what can they do, a silent demonstration eh? just name the date.... and we will see you all there!

Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, till they come to its end.
J.R.R. Tolkien

TTFN
Marian

More photos of Nerja

this 'pile' of rocks has no perspective has it! i waited until a man who was standing down there moved so he wouldn't be in my shot, now i think i should have left him there so you can see how far down it is! the man was walking through the gap on the right there between the top rock and the one in the middle!

here is a bird... perched on top of the rock, i zoomed in a bit! maybe not nearly enough!

this is King Alfonso the 12th! someone left a cigarette beneath his foot!


and here is me, with him! didn't realise at the time how i had placed my legs and feet, how strange i did what he had... weird!

TTFN
Marian

another surprise trip yesterday! i must steady myself, all this excitement in one week! guess that will be my lot for a while then... it was great, i had a call asking me if i wanted to join friends for a trip up to Nerja, a trip around the famous caves! oh yes please!

these first few shots are taken in the plaza near the also famous Balcon de Europa...

this is a link to the Turismo de Nerja, and then here to a virtual

journey of the caves... with some very eerie music going in the background!

it took just over an hour to get there, not sure exactly where to come off the N340 we came off at the Nerja exit(?) at which point it pointed us back onto the N340 to get off at the next exit!

then a short journey on and there we were! it was a truly beautiful day, one of those 'food for the soul' days... sun was shining, and

warm with it!

i took some, well lots of photos inside, no flashes allowed though, but well you know me, most came out a bit shaky, and the lights caused what looks like shooting stars all over the pics, will put on the best of them over the next few days, this last photo we took at the entrance to the caves.

they have the usual restaurant of course, where we sat on the
balcony and enjoyed the lovely views...

there are lots of steps, and some of them a bit wet! there is the worlds largest stalactite, and all the information is in the first link up there! it was'nt as damp as the caves i have been in before, although it did feel humid the further down we went.

i had only been to Nerja once before when mom and i went there, parked in the then new car, found a restaurant, had lunch, and came home!

we parked in the same car park... but this time walked down towards the plaza and the church, and the balcon... constructed in 1487. mom and i obviously just turned in completely the wrong direction and thats why we saw nothing!

this morning... in our street, under construction(!) i had a knock on the door to warn me we had no street if i were to take a step outside! and so i had a small leap to leave the house, and on return a bigger leap! over a deeper trench!

just taken some photos while the men are gone for lunch! Pippa jumps up now every time i get my camera out she knows i am going to open the front door, and people say she is un trainable!?!

Music is what feelings sound like.
Anon.

TTFN
Marian

well another group of 'strange' photos for you, but i suppose your just pleased not to be seeing any more road works on here... more tomorrow though i promise ;-)

yesterday i went out! and not just down town or down to the coast! Franco and i went with a friend to a farmers market in Velez Malaga, a town up towards Nerja, on the other side of Malaga...

took about an hour to get there so not a bad run out, it was a bit of
reccy(?) to see what was what with the market, the couple that run it also do the market at ... hang on, got to get my memory into gear... ok at Aquamania on the Cartama/Coín road.

good size lots outside and lots more in a beautiful room that looks like its a wedding venue, lots of people and sunshine too!

although as you can see on these mountains here to the left of the town lots of snow on them, just like ours here!

we had lunch at a branch of the Mariachi restaurants, like the one at Plaza Mayor which has its own web site now, not that great but it has one!

big shopping centre with lots of shops and some restaurants near the shops and then up stairs a whole restaurant plaza!

it was a bit cloudy up this side of Malaga, and we took it home with us later!

today weather is lovely, and tomorrow looks like a little mini heatwave! yeah!

i am no longer a prisoner in my own home, although a misunderstanding means they will be back... to finish the job! we have wonderful news windows up stairs, secure and much warmer already!

and the street outside, pipework done, but now they're breaking up the rest of the street, including the little bit we still had on our side of the road!

last night a neighbor from round the corner came in just as we were sitting down to dinner, plates on laps, you know the thing! and by the time she left after a long and somewhat confusing conversation where it looks like she is buying our old two door window for less than half the price the thought it was worth!?! Franco's dinner was stone cold... and mine had fallen into Pippa's mouth and tummy!

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness, and just be happy.
Guillaume Apollinaire

TTFN
Marian

the view to the mountains yesterday morning... look we have snow too! you may have to zoom in on this! but there is lots of snow apart from the clouds up there too!

and the horses... Saturday i got the bus down to Fuengirola to meet Franco, i walked from the bus station along to the junction by the ayuntamiento and then all the way up that road to the N340 near the Día supermarket, walked from there to Dunnes.... then on to Miramar centre... phew... been using my stepper thing for last few
days not being able to leave the house... and although not used it for so long i didn't get any aches afterwards... during yes, normal for me walking fast, but i did expect to ache a little after the exercise... well my legs ache now after Saturdays walk... continuing... i had a little walk around some shops then a coffee, then i walked to Miramar Parque and had a look around a couple of shops there... then back to Dunnes and another coffee with some apple pie, that may have been there a little too long! i then went and sat on the wall to Lidl to wait for Franco! 6pm he arrived! my
my poor feet! even my toe nails hurt?

so these horses! they were in the little park area between Dunnes and Miramar centre, and this was the only area they could move around, a concrete edge to a small reservoir! no field or real grass, just those weeds and dry shrubbery on the edge, although they looked happy enough and i couldn't see any ribs on them, but sad none the less.

i was beginning to think the window people were keeping me prisoner in my own home, with the constant hope of them arriving, in fact when i got home this morning there was a message on the phone from them, i called them back and they said was i at home now? and they would be here within the hour! well that was at 11am, and i thought it was a conspiracy to keep me here! but lo and behold they're here!! yeah!! ahora mismo!!!

TTFN
Marian

i bet your fed up with seeing the same, or similar photos of our street! well we are too! once again is pretty difficult to get out of the front door again today... remembering we don't have a back door and only a shear face to climb out the back... on good days only!

they're now digging the movable hole to the right of our house for the new pipe work, and the earth piled up under our window and the house next door, the work men passing are above the top of
our window which Pippa really loves.... NOT!

we should have had someone here yesterday to do some work, they phoned the night before... tomorrow, 11am... great! we are having new windows and persianas combined... so up early and down with the old roll up blinds, wet and muddy from the front of the house, couldn't believe how much colder the house is without even them! moved lots of other things out of the way to make things easier...
anyway, you can guess they didn't come, so about 5pm i put the front two back up, almost losing the huge bedroom persiana over the balcony onto the street below! heavy and wet from being up on the roof in the rain all day, slippery has heck and trying to get the hooks lined up was a nightmare!

i began to think i had misunderstood the phone call, you know with mañana being both 'tomorrow' and 'morning', i thought maybe she said Friday and not Thursday although i had repeated Thursday a couple of times and she agreed! so then i decided must be me, got it wrong!

then in the evening she called again and said, ok tomorrow now, Friday at 9am, i said ok 9am and she said NO, 11am! so i said, ok 11am and then a guy shouted at her and she said no no 9am! so i said 9am ok!

you want to hear the latest? well took the old blinds down again this morning, front one string broke so that made it a lot harder for me to get down... its now nearly 11am and of course they didn't arrive at 9am and i am not holding out much hope for the 11 o'clock option! i know the street is not at its best, but i am sure they can get through like a few hardy neighbors and the work men of course! in fact just seen a double length buggy with two babies inside being carried by a couple of the men with mom and toddler following, over our little hillock by the window... memo to self, must plant some daffodil's in there later will look soooooo lovely blooming by our window! humph!

and i suppose its a good thing i am on a break from work! or yesterday would have been a complete waste and today not better so far... i suppose a bonus is its not raining!

found a great quote for today... don't actually think this is the reality of our problem here though!

Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.
Evelyn Waugh

TTFN
Marian

p.s. its 11.07am!

oh wow... how deep? about 10 foot i think, mas o menos! the earth was piled up by our front door and no way out... i called Franco and told him he would have to abseil down the back wall to get home!

all was going well until it started to rain... again... i know i know! not snow like the UK but rain rain rain here, and outside there... mud bath big time!!!


fairly sure now the lady over the road is not in for the duration of these changes... as you can see she definitely had no way to leave her house...

once the rain started to get too heavy they began filling the hole as quickly as they could maybe to stop it becoming a lake! i could see all the earth up to our house and wondered how far up our wall it was... so Pippa in one hand and my trusty camera in the other i opened the door.....

and a man fell into the house! not sure who was more surprised us ... or him seeing us! so we had a little chat about the rain and the road and Franco appeared climbing over the mountain of earth drenched from head to foot!

we had another thunder storm in the night, lots of lightening and noise! lots of rain.... more so far this morning too, so much so the tv signal has gone, oh why oh why do i have this underline thing going

oh now its gone! but my page is real small and i have clicked the thing i tried to get rid of the line and it just keeps shrinking soon i wont be able to see it at all... tried saving and editing... didn't get any bigger! oh well fingers crossed for next time amigos! wonder what size my blog will be when published?

ok fixed it and now nothing makes sense... well i know, do i ever!?!

lost a couple of photos while everything was going wrong so here they are now...

hole nearly filled up, and this is what it still looks like this morning only wetter!

only a couple of scooters trapped in here from last evening i think!
maybe the post man is here too? we haven't had any post for a couple of weeks now?

and here the earth all the way up to our front door!

they gave it a little wipe over before they left, but not much!









TTFN
Marian

No way Out!

well here we are just now at breakfast time! earth piled up by our front door and means of escape! i have told Pippa they're planting flowers and trees out there... well that would be pretty and better than the cars and scooters that coming flying down our little street at break neck speed!

well not an idea that will be followed up i know... they didn't do much on Monday after the huge amount of rain we had all day on Sunday, they came and looked about 1pm and then went away

again... yesterday they started again in ernest, cant believe how quick they are getting on with it considering how slow some of the other roads are going, one street has been dug up for what must be nearly a year i think, the road from Plaza Alta that goes down to the lower road... a road which if usable we could use instead of having to go all the way down to the high street to just come back to where we are? confused? i am!



rained again a bit last night, but so far today ok'ish. just so cold when its like this, and again the draft comes down the stairs from goodness knows where! and then in the summer all the doors and windows open up stairs and no draft at all? there must be a logical answer... tony?

Monday woke up with a migraine took a couple of tablets and went back to bed, i got up again just after 10.30 with the headache gone, the miracle of medicine! i went into town did a few bits and came

home to relax for rest of day. last time i had a bad migraine and this time, the day before i had eaten oranges... could this be a trigger for me? i have gone for ages without eating oranges but still had a migraine... but coincidence? i think i will give them and lemons a miss for the time being and then binge on them and see if anything happens!!!

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

Albert Einstein

TTFN
Marian