Happy New Year... on Three Kings day!

Hi... its me! A bit late... already the 5th of January and I haven't said "hello" yet!

Is it the 12th night tonight? I don't know why I always get confused, I begin counting, and include December 25th... And tonight outside in the streets of Alhaurín el Grande the Three Kings are parading on their floats throwing tonnes of sweets at, sorry, to children, although it tends to be the adults with their upturned umbrellas and huge carrier bags! I can hear the band playing... and the good old rockets are blasting away, much to Pippa's annoyance, and mine!

Tonight I will put away the Nativity... this year without breaking anything, not that I actually remembered doing so until I got it out a month ago... I must replace the chap I lost next Christmas...

I also have a plan, a positive one for Christmas... We went to friends for lunch on Christmas Eve, and their tree was magnificent! Up to the ceiling and filled with wonderful decorations! Tinsel, baubles, lights and small toys! Little cuddly toys... I spoke to my Aunt Rita yesterday and she said she always used to have toys in her tree also... So, what I am going to do is buy a small toy, a tiny doll or bear, every month this year. And on our tree will be 12 small toys! And hopefully this will be a positive thing... Maybe another tree? And we will need more lights, since the last ones only lasted for a day and we only bought them last year! Its strange I am thinking towards next Christmas so soon after this one, feeling so sad, and spiritless towards it... We will see.

There is rain down on the coast, so I hope that stays just where it is!

It was a lovely day here all day, although suddenly a wind came up and was really chilly sat outside the bar, you could see our breath!!! But I came home, did some washing, up on the terrace and it dried!

I also got this morning some more flea drops for Pippa, apparently the first ones I tried only kill adult fleas, not the young or eggs? So I really don't understand why they would sell the first one, as its them who make the eggs and therefore the young! oh well... They got another 30€ from me anyway!

We are almost back up to full speed at our boardroom table[table outside the bar], on Monday I went to get this weeks lottery ticket and we had won last Friday not a lot of money, but enough to pay for our next three weeks... there are five of us, so wouldn't be much to share, but who knows... maybe next week there will be an extra couple of zeros on the end! A good start non the less me thinks!

The coast road is still shut... I know your waiting to hear all about it! April 2009 the works started, then it was shut to traffic to make things quicker, well that didn't work! Our neighbour told us it would be December 22nd, hope he didn't mean 2011! And we're presuming when the coast road opens the Mijas road works will start, supposed to take four months, but if the coast road is anything to go by it could be 2013!

I am going to try not to keep on about how much I am missing my Mom, because it cant be much fun to hear my going on and on... Things like me telling you how I hunted down Mom's card from last Christmas the day before yesterday, to see her handwriting and how it had changed...

Ok off now... I am struggling to talk, unlike me I know...

TTFN
Marian