Car park mishap above, when I was walking through this morning, it doesn't take much, one car parked completely wrong the silver one on the right, and no one can come or go! 

Seen some weird parking up here over nineteen years but this was a whole new level-up!

When I had freed the end of the sofa bed, I found Pippa's toy here... The squeaker removed, of course, her top priority in all new squeaky chew toys! 

Can I throw it away? Who knows, one day eh..

Last night's procession started much earlier, and I didn't expect to see it at all with the rain that was forecast.

I can't upload the longer video, it's on my Facebook.. This shows a little of the view from my balcon last night ..

Before it got dark they were carrying Jesus Christ with the cross through our street this is normally at 2:00 a.m. and he was followed last night by Mary which is usually a different day altogether! 

My neighbor sent me a small video showing Jesus with the cross walking through town but he never came down our street first.. So definitely a shortened version of our Semana Santa procession.

And not long after it finished, the heavens opened!

So I'm thinking they had inside information!

Today was so busy at work, we had sold all our Easter eggs earlier on in the week and had a small second delivery of eggs yesterday, they had all gone within a couple of hours, I think if we had had another 30 or 40 we could have sold them all today, so many people complaining about us running out, and they were the very same people that complained when we got the eggs nearly two months ago!

Still, a very good day, we smiled and laughed all the way through despite it raining nearly all day, torrential at times and we had our own small river running through the back store room!

I think some of the customers thought we were drunk, we were certainly on a different planet most of the day!

I bought myself an Easter egg this year because..  well why not! I will surprise myself with it in the morning!

It is nearly 10pm now and there is definitely a storm brewing outside..

I love the sound of the wind and rain at night while I'm all tucked up safely in bed.

M.

We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.

Oscar Wilde's 'The Duchess of Padua

Benadalid last June above and so below..

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.

Arthur Conan Doyle 

I think this is very true.. we walk mostly with eyes closed to the world around us..

I love catching sight of things others have missed, the tiny flower, the insect unseen, something strange and unusual in strange and unusual places... 

I've been lucky, I've taken some great photographs of things like that, from the He-Man figure partially exposed walking through a forest in Wales, to tiniest of flowers growing from bare rock on The Kings Walk... Remember that furry bug one morning walking into town? Me, not the bug!? Well, maybe he was!

It's definitely time for more like that..

I've stopped seeing, I've stopped looking.. time again now.

And now to other things..

Two days ago? Three? I had began dismantling the sofa bed in my living room, even from inside I couldn't undo that last bolt! So! Yesterday! I tried again from above wedging the right-hand bit open with my left knee, I had dismantled my allen Key Set and taken out the one I needed, it was turning too easily I think where it had been over turned when built, so I gently tapped it in and using the small screwdriver for leverage I bit by bit turned the key! And voilà! Out it came!

Yesterday it rained most of the day and after that I did mostly nothing at all! Gathered a few bits ans pieces, tidied and tried not to think too much.. at work I had got so upset.. and I can't keep doing that, bringing it in with me.. 

Anyways, so this morning started with rain and I thought would continue, so I decided to try and fix my kitchen drawer, the top one, the cutlery drawer, it's been living precariously above it's mate beneath, literally, stuck to it! Opening the lower drawer to access the top one! 

My ingenious idea about four years ago.. or longer, but not practical!

Today I separated them, I used hard as nails glue to hold the brackets on and went to town...

Met with friends and had coffee in Bar Rosa, just got in when the heavens opened and it poured down for some time, I left and got down to friends store and home and no more rain! 

Been cloudy but beautiful sunshine since..

The glue hasn't worked at all, so I cleaned it off, dried it and used an abrasive to roughen it up a bit, more glue and about six screws.

I hope I have fixed the two brackets which hold the drawers in place! Bit wonky, for some reason, but, job done! 

Why didn't I fix this years ago?

I don't know.. I have no idea, maybe thought I couldn't do it, but after yesterday and getting that bolt out, quite cleverly I thought! Maybe it gave me confidence.

Just about to hit post, and I see a fine line of sunshine on the wall here, it means summer is on its way.. it wasn't there Monday, I had seen the sun reaching my balcon, but here it is in the house..

And tomorrow we spring forward an hour!

M.

This morning from the car park as I walked through it..

These words below, my "insight of the day' that lands in my inbox daily, made me stop and think..

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.

Brene Brown - Professor-Lecturer-Author

Is this why I keep on the move, I'm running away from my own truth.. 

This week is becoming unbearable, as always this week does.. it is truly as though Franco dies every year still, for me.. 

Would people say I'm running away from this by not wanting to be here any more?

Maybe?

I don't know any more.

And this week has Semana Santa.. parking and noise, think I'll raise a tent on the beach and sleep there the rest of the week! 

M.

I have to wrap up everything in the dresser, and I was going to begin today, but I'm not sure I have the umph to get going.. 

I picked up a small pot with coins, I'm going to sort out coins now, instead.. 

I did it though yesterday, in the end...

And today, scratch that, right now this evening .. and I was trying to unscrew this sofa bed.. I did manage to make a dent in the soft cardboard base! 

And on the plus side I know I can fit in this tiny space!! 

But that top lefthand screw was wrecked! I guess when the guys put it together.. so not sure at this moment what to do.. actually if it's just holding the side panel on, it's okay!

I took some more stuff to a charity store today, and just now emptying this I have another small pile already..

We had much rain today! Yesterday it started with a random heavy shower, sounded like hail stones, followed by a few hours of rain over night ...

And today on and off showers all day.. 

I had the doctor's this morning as an update on my raised meds, she sent me for an immediate ECG in the urgencia section, and said it's okay, so thats good enough! 

M.

There are many paths but only one journey.

Naomi Judd - 1946-2022 - Singer-Actress

I can never un know or un remember things.. 

Remembering going into the hospital yesterday for the last ten days of Franco's life

We went in expecting one thing and it became another

Although things in life are, and can be expected always, even those become unexpected when it comes down to it..

I wonder if when we die, we awaken somewhere and get a huge shock or happy surprize.. 

I do believe there is something waiting, I can't believe we go through all this for nada..

And well, lets be honest if nothing is the answer then we won't know it!

The photograph above are my marbles! I found them all! Just joking, they're still lost, this was in the restaurant last Sunday? Was it only last Sunday?  En Restaurante El Comercio!

This photograph, San Pedro, along the boulevard.. also below

The stress we put ourselves in.. This morning a fine example of probably the reason for my Chronic Gastritis.. 

The kitchen tap become undone from its moorings under the sink! 

And me off to work... Flipping heck! I wanted to grab my passport and run for the hills! 

But more to the point couldn't eat my porridge, I just felt sick and what I was eating hurt my stomach.. which is doesn't normally..

I am guessing all the stress of the last seven years has reached it's limit in my body, so Gastritis has occurred, never to go away, a grim reminder, we are killing ourselves with our thoughts, our stresses and worries...

A slow suicide 

The rather obscure photograph above is the remains of my second skin when it was peeled off Tuesday! 

M.

I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance. The cloud clears as you enter it. I have learned this, but like everyone, I learned it late. ~Beryl Markham 

The jar that held the sand from 1989.. for 155pts.. I recycled the jar, it has become heavier over the years... No more sand.. just heavier in memories..

I'm glad he sand and shell held within have gained their freedom after thirty-five years.. 

Just an abstract view of a flower trailing above my head walking back up from the boardwalk at Playa Luna Mar.. that was the name I'm sure Originally? It's not now, everything changes eh!

I took this when we were having lunch last week, I was focusing on the plants on the terrace on the apartment there..

Just from the car park here... My car was beautifully covered in blossom the other day..

Just a short photograph Blog post really right now..

Had a day of stomachache, had other plans but instead, a sofa day, and movies .. even the old Penelope Cruz movie Jamón Jamón.. it's not the best ever movie by any standards, but it's funny and crazy! 

I first watched it back in about '98, it's a '92 movie.. but looks older... 

Vale, mañana amigos...

M.

Monday, on the terrace, catching some rays..

Had the need for wine.. Not probably, a good thing, but unusual that I had such need so I guess in it's rarity it's okay... 

Having a few days longer off this week as I catch up with time owed.. So back from town the terrace, music, y una vaso de vino tinto... o dos! 

Worked Tuesday and now off! Free like a bird on the wire..

Woke way too early this morning, doesn't matter though does it, not really, so the movie that's got me thinking this morning is Hypnotic, with Ben Affleck.. 

Do we see what's real... Do we see what others see?

How much is illusion and what it real? Really?

Catch up! Wednesday, coffee at my bar, tattoo, home!

Thursday, town lots of friends, home..

Today, Friday, quick trip back to tattooist, down to the coast, met with friends, lunch out.. 

Nice, feeling sometimes like a tourist, or a passing visitor...

Ate somewhere I've seen forever and never been to..

Before lunch I walked down to the boardwalk, and on the beach where I scattered Franco I scattered something else..

My collection of stones and pebbles and shells from all over the place! Here, of course, but Italy the US, Crete... 

A collection spanning forty years..

I can't keep carrying them around with me... 

There are, were, too many.. So they'd been in a bag in the car, along with sand from Marbs I collected in a jar of eaten olives, purchased in 1989 for 155 pesetas! 

That too, travelling here, and to Wales, and back again! 

Now, deposited like a fugitive losing earth from my pockets, from a hole in the bag, along the coastline..

No sand at the moment down there...only rocks, and along I walked... 

I don't know if I want them lost there, becoming sand over the centuries or to be picked up by another and taken home for another thirty or forty years..

After lunch next port of call was La Cala for coffee with a friend..

Now back home in Alhaurín, well nearly, finishing my day with a small caña..

Then home!

M.

Happy Mom's day in the UK!

This Is Me Now, Jennifer López, just watched this movie, I have to admit I nearly stopped at the beginning, just an unexpected start..

But soon I got it, and then was completely taken with it .. and it resonated with me and was very emotive.. 

I pretty much cried on and off throughout! 

Maybe touching too many sore points I carry..

A very good movie... Glad I watched it.. 

After a couple of rainy days, although today is cloudy with a chance of sunshine, there a breeze and probably colder in the house than outside, but not having actually exited the house I have no true idea! 

We all have those moments where a word escapes our minds, or will do, believe me!

But yesterday at work I think I reached an all time high, or low??  Corn flour is fairly obvious, it's corn flour! I seemed to completely forget and asked what it was made from!! What the heck!!

M.

Yesterday drove a friend down to Torremolinos, he loves the full English breakfast down at The Tudor Rose... Unfortunately, they are closed on Thursdays! 

So we had some breakfast, local style, and a coffee at this bar on the roundabout with Picasso's dancing ladies... 

Just now uploading it here, I had to check, but the post of the bar and the tree are lined up so well, they look as one! I couldn't work out how the roundabout barrier was in the way!! Lols!!

We had a good walk along the paseo on the beach side then crossed back over and had another coffee before returning home to Alhaurín..

And then later in the day the heavens opened and down came our much needed rain! 

And continued to come down, for most of the rest of the day..

Later in the afternoon I was back in town, having coffee inside! And watched as the rain and the sun vied for position.. 

This morning there was a few drops, but only now has the rain returned, and supposed to be raining all day tomorrow, so a boat might be needed for work in the morning! 

The other day after I'd Blogged, sat, still outside Bar Monikas, a dog that passes by sometimes when I'm there, came up close, I petted him...

He cocked his leg towards my seat... And peed! Hilarious! 

M.

This is great! I'm watching Customer Wars, and at a drive thru the server asks for however much money for the driver to pay the check, it was 16.99 and he came out with information from that year! A war, a declaration and something else! 

Absolutely fantastic! I do this all the time in work! I say a war, or something that happened to me! Leaving school, family birthdays! So me!! Fantastic! 

This series is so alarming and funny! Some unbelievable things customers do to workers! It's incredible! So glad I found it! This is real! Thankfully, although we some stuff nothing as bad as this!! 

Sat at Bar Monikas having colacoa, it's blooming freezing! Outside, not the colacoa, that's hot!

Just took the photograph above, this next season's beautiful figs begin their growth, surrounded by winter still..

First went into the bazaar over the road, I was nearly in tears! I've known her since... Since I guess nineteen years .. telling her my plans.. 

Wishing I'd worn my knitted gloves! Or even brought them with me!!  

M.

Another February 29th come and gone, my aunt's birthday, I was with her four years ago for her birthday, and COVID appearing at the same time! 

I was with her last year too, but seems like forever ago already!

Few funny, or not so funny work incidents today.. a not funny was a noise made me turn around to a customer, he had a chihuahua with him, on the floor, no dogs allowed really, floor or not.. but this tiny little dog had been dragged up against the shelf stripping corner! It's so sharp! Poor fur baby! I pointed out no dogs allowed and he picked him up, but the little dog was so afraid of him he was flinching, he lifted him by his harness not his body, I could have cried...

When tidying I noticed a Fixodent was missing from its box! 

So I guess we know a little about who we're looking for out on the street! 

Second dog incident, a really tall stocky bearded man came to the counter with a really tiny chihuahua tucked in the front of his coat.. I said 'Oh hello there gorgeous, aren't you sweet!' of course the man had a smart remark back to me, as if I'd said it to him! He had a bit of a ZZ Top look about him...

The little dog was 15! And, as I said, so gorgeous!

Third incident, also dog related! Man came to the counter, put a packet of dog treats down and as I scanned them, he said "That'll keep the bitch happy!"

M.

Día de Andalucía

 

Felicidades todo mí amigos!

Fotografía is actually from May 4th 2010..

But today would be very similar, beautiful day.. we had one day of raining, correction, one morning of rain, Monday after I was home.

I had two visits to the clinico and only got soaked on the first visit, coat was still damp through for my second visit!

Bit of an issue with my BP before my trip and had to keep a daily record of it even while I was away..

So my Losartán is doubled! Was worrying about side effects of that, but only thing seems to be my right eye has a twitch!! 

Been a relaxing day today, into town this morning, everything closed, except bars.. and now down on the coast for the evening..

These are the days of which memories are made...

M.

Talking to a good friend yesterday about the future and he said he'll miss me.. I said "You're in my good memories case to take with me where 'er I go..."

Which is very very true .. 

And that's the same for everything here... 

Lots of amazing memories.. some bad, so many sad...

But some of the best of my life.. a huge chunk of my life has been here, before I lived here there were fifteen years of visiting, sometimes up to the four times a year.. thirty eight years..

New page, new chapter lies ahead... 

Because although my 'case' is full of good memories, there is still lots of room inside for more!

M.

Beautiful day in Nottingham, not so much today, but it's been nice .. 

Me and my ducks! 

Did take a photograph of the weir, but although I was focused on the water cascading, the phone focused on the railing!! 

I was writing to a friend this morning, we were talking about places we haven't been or would like to go to, and it made me think.. 

...and I thought I have a huge list of places I want to go... and the older I get the longer the list.

Which I thought maybe was weird, but I wonder if it's because it's just human to think that, to want to do that, because the older we get the more we think about the ticking clock.. or our end of Days.. 

And feelings of wanting to catch up with time, or lost time? 

I don't know... 

M.

Stop shrinking yourself to fit places you've outgrown.

Unknown

 

Landed!

Left Alhaurín yesterday, above waiting for my ride, I could hear a man speaking through a tannoy, and a crowd responding??

Was very strange! Don't know where he was, they were... 

As is the fact that my phone didn't recognize the word Tannoy, so googling found it is the name of a company who first built public address systems back in 1920! So thought I would link! 

Boarded a bit late, hanging around on the down ramp not quite in the building at Malaga Airport, a piece of luggage fell off the transporter.. someone came along and picked it up, looked a bit unsure as to where it was headed..  lost luggage no doubt! 

The bus took us to the aircraft, first time used a bus for years! It was parked right down in the top left-hand corner, by a road, some offices and near the San Miguel factory! I was in A so able to watch the cars and people.. very strange!! 

We were sat on the plane for age's it felt, left about 18:15 instead of 17:45, so really not as long as it felt... But we did land late then, I needed cash, I thought for a cab, couldn't find an ATM in the baggage collection area.. then the machine in arrivals didn't work!! 

But luckily the taxi office there only took card payments.. 

Was raining too when we disembarked, and for the journey to son's..

But, this morning, dry and the sun is around, albeit intermittent, we walked to the local big store and it's not cold at all ...

Laughed at the prices, the bag of groceries we bought cost under 40 pounds, it would have been nearer a hundred euros at home!

Was the other way about twenty years ago!

Randomness done for now amigos!

M.

Remnant of an aircrafts journey across the skies yesterday morning...

Beautiful day today, cool though, had early coffee with friend down at Bar Cruz then back up home and sorted things out, packed! Tidied, ready to go!

Had a Colacao with another friend up the top here, still chilly!

Valentines day my string looked like this in work, and I didn't do it... It just was... 

How high you fly is derived from how big you think.

Robin Sharma - writer

For today that will be averaging about 35,000 feet!

M.

 

Bit confusion on days of the week this week, don't know why, I worked Monday, but it felt like a Friday! Set me off not knowing what day it is! 

Yesterday went to Casa las Flores .. always beautiful there .. met up with friends, had a coffee, then a wander around...

Today a delivery came and I am trying Slippery Elm! For the chronic gastritis... Says it works quickly, but it's only two capsules once a day..

I am going to get the powered version, apparently it coats the stomach protectively, that would be amazing.. just calming that down.. 

So extremely tired, think I'll be watching tv early tonight in bed...

M.

Below written by Peter Forster

Daily missive for Monday the 12th of February.

I worry

I will lose her

In the ‘putting away’

The packing and moving

From one place to another.

The pairing down

As expectations change

As other people move on

Lost lovers cling to bric-a-brac

As if it is a liferaft. 

Holding on

Gets harder

As links break.

Mementoes look forlorn

As surroundings change.

Picture frames

Weather with age

Photographs fade

Those precious clothes

Folded neatly

In a bottom drawer

Too evocative of her

To let go

Too painful to look at.

Worried about mould 

Mildew

The betrayal

Of throwing away. 

The pain of loss

Is unrelenting

The gravitas of a life

Taken for granted.

The gravity 

Of every situation

Demanding its toll

In a remorseless shedding

Of the past

One piece at a time.

A life dismantled

A reminder of mortality

The coming of darkness 

The fear of pain

The loathing of religion

Its senseless, merciless

Boyhood grip.

When even yet

The lost child within

Cries out 

In the hope

That we will meet again.

               ****

I wrote in Peter's comments..

'Peter, you say just the right words at the right time, I am 'trying' to let go of things, that have a far greater hold on me than I care to acknowledge.. my kids said 'take photos, throw it all away' 

But it's like I am throwing away a part of myself...'

M.

Spent the last couple of days getting through memorabilia..

So many things, going back to my childhood, cards from everyone, letters and keepsakes..

Way too much, way way too much! 

Yesterday was my third day of knowing about these things they found..

I'm sure I've gone weeks without eating biscuits, maybe days, without something sweet..

But maybe I have, had, been overdoing it since working in the store, always a cake, always a packet or two of something sweet to hand..

 

So I had a headache yesterday.. did I write this already? I am guessing a low blood sugar thing, extreme tiredness and headache.. so I  thought I'd risk a biscuit, I had three shortbread biscuits, soooo good..

And boy did I suffer because of it later, in the middle of the night! The pain woke me up, trouble is now I have to work out whether it's gastric or diverticular.. 

Gastritis is no fats and sugars and I guess, with all honesty the biscuits were high in both!

The headache did go eventually, but much later..

I bought some savory biscuits yesterday, probably will have same effect..

Don't know really what I should or shouldn't do, they conflict, so much more to avoid with the Gastritis.. time I guess.. in the night I took a pain killer the doctor gave me, but found this morning its not actually a pain med at all!

Was expecting rain again today, but although cloudy and cool.. no sign at yet! 

Waiting till morning? And driving down the mountain road.. no doubt!! 

M.