Sat here on the tram now, sat in a group of people all on their phones!! Oh my god what a society we live in now!! Is it better? Like this? Surely not?? Especially as I have ear pods in, toe tapping and lip syncing, silently! 

Although I probably look like someone you wouldn't want to sit next to!! Especially now as I am giggling to myself as well as I write this!

It is another absolutely beautiful day ... Wall to wall sunshine... Blue skies... spring springing all around... Stunning... 

Now, yesterday! Matlock Bath, just south of Matlock.. also known, thanks to Lord Byron as Little Switzerland.. the River Derwent passing through... It was like being at the seaside yesterday! Loads of bikes, how we arrived; loads of fish and chip restaurants, coffee shops and people!! It was Mother's Day here in England.. and everyone was out on the roads or treating moms to a special day..

I'd never been before, done so much around the south of England, but hadn't very often made the journey up to Derbyshire... 

It is full of natural outstanding beauty.. and seen on a bike that much the better, for me, including all the 'fresh' smells!! 

Was a wonderful ride out, bar the slipping off the seat part!! Not completely, just sliding forwards and backwards!!

And ending up in a local bar for a.. coffee! Of course!

And today those muscles I didn't think about while trying to hold on, are telling me they were well used!! It feels like I spent a few hours at the gym! 

Now, in town finishing my Blog, drinking coffee and eating mint tiffin in Waterstones..

Came into Waterstones for the love of the smell of books! It is beautiful!

Okay, so bibliosmia is the word for the smell of books, but says more for old books because of the breakdown of ink, paper and chemicals ... And vellichor.. also means the smell of books! For the same reason! 

I do love the smell of old books but new ones... Well, open up a new book and just breathe... Beautiful.. 

M.

Don't worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try

Jack Canfield - Author

Really beautiful, long walk along the canal and nearby river ways running alongside.. 

All the flora and trees coming green, really feels like spring is in the air...

Glorious day, over five miles of walking.. lots of dogs and people tagging along behind them!

The swan beneath, the partner was sitting on their nest, way too close to the towpath, worrying close... I didn't pause to take a photograph as the swan was so close and looked a bit stressed!! 

A weir to take excess water from the canal.. 

Was just so good to be out in the wonderful fresh air.. taking big beautiful breathes in.. 

I missed the smell of England.. sounds strange I'm sure... But the forests, the land, smell of nature.. Spain was, is, amazing for sure, but I guess the smells we grew up with are more ingrained than we realize.. 

I miss so much from Spain, but we have to work out what we miss most, in the end, it's those things we have to know if we can live with, or without.

M.

We are all broken... That's how the light gets in. Ernest Hemingway 

Blossom out all over the place this past few weeks, everywhere you look... Walking under these trees I had to give the branch a bit of a gentle shake, just for the fun of it.. very gentle by the way! But was beautiful seeing the blossom shimmering..

It's been warmth enough, and dry enough to be out six days a week too.. still only been a few rainy days since back from Spain March 5th... I like my beloved españa.. still raining! A lot! Yesterday the streets of Alhaurín El Grande ran white with hailstones and rivers throughout! 

All on Facebook and general viewing on the many Spanish newspapers online.

Last week I got the letter from the pensions people!

Time passes.. tick tock, tick tock! 

What have I been doing, I've been here and there and about, gathering no moss as always! 

Out with friends, and family.. went to the babes school assembly yesterday for Eid, saw a video presentation made by the class, very good.. then a second video made by another class featuring a poem they had written... Was so lovely to be included in this assembly.. 

The next part is hard to write, but I have to, I need to.

We met a beautiful couple back when Tony was two weeks old, so, nearly forty three years ago, they became very good friends, the best. 

I have always remained in contact with them, and visited them, and them me, they moved to Spain not too long after me, maybe six years only.  

They're family to me, and he passed away last week, last Wednesday, and I still can't believe it.. and because I have been in his wife's shoes, I feel the more devastated because I know how she feels and this breaks me even more.

He was the life and soul of the party, of life.. a good, kind, caring.. funny wonderful man who will be missed by many many people and my heart goes out to his wife.. 

M.

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

Auguste Rodin - 1840-1917 - Sculptor

Been lovely since I've been back from españa, wall to wall sunshine.. except for yesterday when it clouded over a bit, skies got very dark and it rained heavily when Baz and I were out, although not when we were actually outside! So that was lucky!

A walk around the Forest Park on Thursday last week, bumble bees buzzing, crows cawing and squirrels, well, just being squirrelly!

I've had my heart meds changed, and now changed again as staying awake had become an option not open to me, not sure what they'll do next now.. but it's no good if I can't stay awake.. she thinks after sixteen years of high blood pressure my body can't cope with it being so low?

Had a lovely weekend last weekend, just being.. and just being is so good..

And now today sunshine again, as I sit in the station café with a coffee in front of me, before my journey down to Tony's.. 

On the train now, Grantham here I come, three trains!

Just had my ticket checked, he said my Railcard was wrong! Followed by should be for a 25/35!! I said is he after a tip! He said the only tip is 'get off at the next station!'

Which is of course the one I am getting off at! 

So funny!

M.

Where my books go.

All the words that I gather, And all the words that I write, Must spread out their wings untiring, And never rest in their flight. Till they come where your sad, sad heart is, And sing to you in the night, Beyond where the waters are moving, Storm darkened or starry bright.

W. B. Yeats

London, January 1892.

Viveros Guzmán, in Alhaurín De La Torre... 

Wonderful coffee, wonderful pastries! Mmm wish I could carry them all back to England with me! 

Had coffee here yesterday, Monday.. apart from coffee and cake, they have a massive selection to buy of loose tea and coffee beans, fresh vegetables and fruits, jars full of the most beautiful tasty items! And flavored spirits! 

A selection of scrumptious, yummy, lush amazing stuffs!

Lols, you'd think I would want it all! You would be correct in your assumption!

Enjoyed a coffee with the best pecan pastry that exists, anywhere! Yes! 

And yes, nuts are on my avoid list according to the diverticular disease! 

But you know, if I don't try some things on my avoid list, I'll be missing out on good foods too! So... Mheh! It is what it is eh! 

M.

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.

Henry Ward Beecher - 1813-1887 - American Minister

There is a whole rainbow up in this photograph, if you look very closely you can see the beginning and the end.. 

Yesterday was a duvet day, or blanket day, we left the apartment for a five minutes walk, but rain came again quickly.. and most of the day; it also came into the kitchen at one point and a bucket was needed to catch the drips from the ceiling light fitting!! 

K. got the landlord out and they cleared a drain on the roof terrace, a small lake had formed and although there were no ducks or seagulls there was a small garden growing around the drain! 

All cleared and water drained away, eventually the water has stopped dripping, but under an orange alert last night, the expected storm hasn't arrived, yet! 

Today is very high winds and we walked down to Bar Cruz for coffee's, it felt freezing and only just now my fingers are coming back to life with pins and needles and burning... 

A few random items of clothing in the street, underwear and other stuff from washing lines around!! It's the time to watch out for falling tiles and such!

My old neighbor stopped by for a coffee too, was like the old days... Funny, I have old days now, already! 

I am back off soon for another coffee with another friend.. keeping under cover this time I hope, rain looks imminent!

These photographs taken yesterday!

Except the rainbow from this morning.

M.

Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even.

Horace - 65 BC-8 BC - Poet

 

La playa near the old apartment.. taken from the boardwalk... I have thousands of photographs of the ever changing beaches here... After each storm the coastline changes..

I am back in Alhaurín now, my friend brought me back up here from Calahonda this morning...

Leaving gray skies for blue, K. and I walked straight out and took our usual places at the Bar Cruz, two cafes and a croissant later, for me, and we walked down to a store then to my old neighbor G., down at his store for a quick catch-up.

Came home and napped! Sun still shining and rain forecast for this evening.. 

It is Peter's evening at the Artisenal gallery at the other end of town this evening, hoping for many of his friends to come and celebrate an evening in his name...

M.

It is costly wisdom that is bought by experience.

Roger Ascham - 1515-1568 - English Scholar-Writer

Ain't this the truth!

And so reflections of times passing are so evident.. walking along to Calypso just now.. over the decades .. thirty-seven years of Calahonda.. 

Bars stores roads.. So many changes over nearly four decades... 

This morning a walk down to familiar places...  

Half of me wants to keep going to them, then when I get there the other half hurts and hurts more, never less, each time.

I have had two days up in Alhaurín, 'hellos' to many friends and even my old neighbors in Mercadona, an unexpected meeting.

Saturday a friend brought me down to Calahonda, in the rain! 

It stopped by mid-afternoon, staying with J. she's taken the week off work so it's been lovely.. We came to the bar where I presently sit, next to work, ladies lunch on a Saturday so met up with lots of customers I know... 

Here today, empty tables all around and I am at a table for four, which a few are, could have sat at a table for two I guess, of course... And a man and woman have sat at my table and started smoking!! So funny! NOT!! 

Seems like I am with them, regardless! 

Monday J. and I walked down to Cabopino, had a lovely lunch ..

Monday afternoon I had coffee with C. nearby, two coffees, and a catch up...

Tuesday we went to Fuengirola with J.'s grandson, was a wonderful day out, taxi and buses, and lunch out, funfair ... Really lovely day.. 

Had lunch at Fuengirola Port ...

Wednesday! Yesterday, and can't remember! Oh yes!! Lols, off to La Cala for an appointment for J. and J. I left them to have a coffee with a friend who'd driven down from town... I met up with them after... I unfortunately was left to my own device's in the market, and succumbed to temptation before they came to save me! 

We then walked into the town and had some tapas, for me the egg plant with honey... Was lovely, but not as nice as the pensioners place along the paseo...

Then we were back to Calypso for coffees and home after a drink along by work.

In the evening I was out for dinner at the Indian at Cabopino, very nice.. lovely evening, back home by nine, shattered!

Today! Coffee again with C, then my walk to the boardwalk.. passing the missing phone booth, and old apartment along by the beach..

Better post this! Or y'all think I've disappeared! 

M.

You can't change and be somebody else in the future unless you start becoming a little better at being that future person today.

Richie Norton - Author-Entrepreneur

 

As I sit here in the departures lounge I feel a sense of strangeness ... My last journey to Spain in September, back from the states... A direct flight from New York... My last to Spain from England was back in August after our trip to Sheringham...

So flying to Málaga like this, is like returning to pre-life in Spain.

Back to 2001... Twenty four years ago.

It's just a visit, a holibobs visit... With a huge amount of wonderful lifelong friends there to see.. That is the difference, and a massive one.

Very mixed emotions, I miss everyone so much, but also worried how I'll feel when I see what I called my country, my home.

Thankful for being picked up by a good friend in the arrivals hall, a familiar face, and staying with the best friends a girl could ask for.

Yet, for some reason sat here feeling like tears are close.

East Midlands airport has changed a little, a reform, we came through the area that is designated normally for crew, and the new scanners etc will be ready by the summer.

Most of the stores are closed, probably a lot less flights coming through while they are doing this update, I came through at nearly one and were about ten people ahead of me only.

My bag went the other way too! Ha! So funny, all these years of travelling, especially for work, hardly ever did, in fact I can only recall once ever before.. no! Twice! Once leaving Bristol once Cardiff.. the later was a deodorant issue!! I think the other was an empty bottle in my bag! And now here, nothing needs taking out...and I was stopped for a bottle issue!  It seems the frizzease product was the issue and I said I can't not have that! He checked it! It was fine! Of course!

So, I need to preserve my battery, have my charger with me, good because the new seat charger isn't working!

See you from Spain next!

M.

Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.

Roy T. Bennett - 1939-2014 - Author

Funny the paths we take in life, although maybe funny isn't exactly the correct word.. We choose different paths, for different reasons; sometimes appearing to be the right path, only to find further down, actually it isn't the direction we thought, or even wanted to go, or just not what we thought...

Then, although we can't exactly go back, we have to open a gate along that path, and choose to leave it. Am laughing now, in my head (as I am on a very packed train, just loaded up in Birmingham New Street!), as I am imagining the path and gate and a blooming huge great field with many gates and pathways! But, actually that is it, isn't it!

I have just left, four hours ago already, a great two weeks with my sister-in-law, been absolutely wonderful, family visited, visited family, met up with old friends.. been out and about and every day has been a beautiful gift.

We visited, Swansea, had lunch in the market, where we used to visit every week, and likewise for Neath and Morfa, and The Range, was a two week walk through familiar home locations, even our old street in Briton Ferry.. So much more fitted in! Including the cinema! And Sunday lunches... Where we left stuffed, not unlike the turkey! 

We ate, a lot, so need to get my act together again now! Doctor has just now, this week, added a forth tablet to my list of medications! Nothing to do with food, exactly, but I should be careful of fats and sugars because of the gastritis, just forget now and then.. 

I've slept well, and warm in fleecy fluffy bed linens and wonderful pillows... Been absolutely wonderful...

Now! On my way back to Nottingham as I write, with a new found excitement lighting up my life. 

M.

The choices You Make Today Will Determine Where You'll Be Tomorrow

Dr. Adam C. Bandelli

Monday I had an appointment at the optician, I wanted to check out that weird ocular migraine I had before I left Spain...

Had enquired a few days ago, and just wanted advice, but they suggested an eye health check, so there I went yesterday morning! 

All good, thankfully, but told if I get more and more frequent to go to the doctor..

After the opticians I was back on the tram and off to a Highfields Park, just for a nice walk around in nature, as we're so many other people.

I had a doctor's appointment later so didn't want to be out too late, or too far away.

So, doctors! I have a few issues with my spine, and one of them is causing nerve pain, I have been coping with it, but especially after that awful sciatica last year, probability associated with same issue, I can't sleep because of the severe pain, okay, well okay maybe not, but during the day it's not so bad as at night some reason.

Found this just now, so makes sense..

'Pinched nerves-

Lying down can pinch nerves that are already compromised by health conditions'

He prescribed something for the nerve pain, I took it at bedtime and fell asleep normally, and although I woke up as usual all through the night, I wasn't woken up by the pain until about 4:30am, so that's a bonus! I guess? 

I felt awake and bouncy when I got up at 7:15! Now not so much, really, really tired.. I am thinking it will level out...

Last the pain didn't wake me until 2:45 this morning, feel so blah on these meds, mouth and head... Blah.

In the strange, perhaps strange way that I think, I think that not feeling the pain that the signals are telling my brain, means instead of waking up and turning to release the trapped nerves is worse.. because today I am in much worse pain doing everything else! Because laying down is keeping things trapped!

Do you see what I mean? Pain has a reason, it is telling us to do something.. So, for wrong or right, I'll take it one more time tonight, but if I'm still in pain during the night, and worse during the day, there is no point feeling drugged out all day added into the bargain for no benefits!

Also, a couple of other issues I left españa with... he will also get investigated now, so I was back to doctors this morning, bloods at the blood clinic in town tomorrow, and some scans later in the month! Whoop whoop! 

Yesterday I got a hot water bottle!! Bright pink furry cover with a place for hands!! Who knew?? 

M.

"Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.”

Dalai Lama

And my good intentions of Blogger better again has fallen by the way side!

These photographs I took in Ludlow last weekend..

Very pretty town, can't see it much here but the sun was shining.. 

Feeling like a tourists snapping away on my phone, now of Christmas it's so easy to delete people from the photographs I mean, of course!

It's the first time I've been here... But I'm sure my mom had visited..

Sounded so familiar... wonderful stores, luckily being a Sunday many were closed.. you're regular popular names on the high street, but also many independents, including antique and restoration stores, I wish the latter had been open, I would have walked in, and just breathed..

Especially if it smelt anything like my stepdad workshops...

These photographs above and below, same street taken from two sides..

There were many plaques on walls, explaining the history of previous occupations..

One made me stop sharp! It was an ancestor of a client of mine, when I was in healthcare! 

Felt very strange seeing his name there, like a circle completing.

Wished I'd been able to tell her..

I'm catching up now! 

I don't know what made me check back yesterday, I had walked into town via the arboretum here in Nottingham and couldn't see the sweet little dove I'd seen there previously.. So my journey into town was sad... I'd written about him here, and felt sad that he was alone there, lost his loving owner and probably a mate .. 

And now gone!! But, on the return walk past there he was!! I was so happy again!! Thankful he was there .. 

M.

The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence.

Roy T. Bennett - 1939-2014 - Author

From Southport towards Blackpool.. The snow topped hills in the background...

Found the Airbnb easily enough, free parking.. was clean and tidy, and small, but enough for one night only.. 

Blackpool Tower, tried to get better photographs, but it was windy and freezing!

Spent a while just in the shopping centre, then a drink in one Wetherspoon, and dinner in the next Wetherspoon long the prom!

These two photographs are Fleetwood..

I nearly got another tattoo here! Luckily, she was busy! 

Above Lytham St Annes.

Stopped here for a little look around the stores and to find a pier that was open! None at Blackpool were, and this one you couldn't get out the back bit on...

Maybe they're all closed out of season... 

Now I have two Blogs ready to post, thumbs getting tired, and battery going down... On the phone too!

Wish I could share the news of finding the family homes... I guess I can write something, somewhere on the Ancestry site... 

I suppose it's not having my mom to share the news with that leaves the empty space I have.. Don't think my son's are bothered, much, or even at all..

M.

Don't let yesterday take up too much of today

Will Rogers