August 2013

Back to reality now, we had to renew are NIE as they expired on 3rd August, so organise a meet with our lovely translator lady Ana Ruiz, and decided to sort the transfer of the car registration to Spanish. Cars are double the price here, and makes such as Audi, Mercedes are triple! Hence we are sticking with the little Picasso for a wee while. Better the devil you know. Paul had several trips to Malaga on business booked. But most importantly are 11th wedding anniversary. So we decided to take a picnic to Cordoba, have icecreams in a cafe watching people float by. At the most inopportune moment Aston decided he needed the toilet, and NOW! But the nearest toilet was an automatic toilet in the park. So if I’m paying for a wee everyone is going! Thing is when I was busy making sure Corrine used the automatic handwash properly, I didn’t watch Aston who was currently opening the sliding door whilst my clothing was still round my ankles!!!!! Sc reached and trying to pull the door too, as it is automatic, whilst trying to maintain my dignity if nothing else. Aston was completely oblivious to what could be wrong, he was just leaving the toilet. Luckily enough nobody walked past. Phew! Kids Hey, don’t you just love em. Well you know that tooth that had broken, it was now decaying, because I was too chicken to get it sorted – well now it was starting to hurt so I have no choice. Get it sorted now or more pain and it would have to come out! So I dragged Corrine with me for moral support, and visited the dentists recommended by Charo. However, they were all closed for the holidays! But we visited the one Corrine had mentioned before next door to the Meson Carlos III where we normally have tapas, so off we went. Well it was great, a really pleasant experience. The dentist made a temporary filling, I came back two days later for consultation, x-rays and then the filling all for a sweet 40.00 Euros! Very impressed – and the kids, all three of them – played nicely in the Reception area for the full 25minutes – A World Record! A relief I can tell you. They even give you a chart showing which teeth need immediate attention, and which teeth may need attention in a years time – and how much it will cost per tooth! Excellent! One Monday I had some time out with a morning coffee in the town with my friend Beatriz, which was nice, talking about girl stuff – without interruptions from children. We had a short discussion about the Spanish economy – and she confirmed that it is difficult to get jobs, however, it doesn’t help when a lot of the younger generation won’t even travel 20km to look for work. It is far easier to stay at home in the only town they have every known with their mama and grandma looking after them and cooking their meals! Spanish families are very close but doing everything possible to keep your siblings close, instead of making an income – really? And yes the media do put their own spin on it, but it isn’t as bad as they say. A change of thinking is surely required, otherwise if it improves it can only be slowly. The economic decline has seen a lot of English people selling their holiday homes/main homes and returning to the UK – but the properties either don’t sell or are reduced significantly reduced and the Property Agents won’t even drop their commission rates. Which means they don’t sell much either – and properties are on the market for a long time. Properties being cheaper, Spain has seen an increase in Nordic population and now Russian – scooping up the investments – especially at the luxury end of the market around Marbella and Puerto Banus. Had some great news from Paul’s sister, his mum was in the UK! Last time we saw her was Corrine’s birth. She even missed our wedding in 2002 as they wouldn’t let her travel due to bureaucracy and corruption in Lagos. She was also going to try and get a visa to stay a month with us in Spain – that will be very exciting, great as the kids haven’t seen their Grandma Lagos since they were babies. And internet in Nigeria isn’t that good so skype hasn’t been possible. Paul had another meeting in Fuengirola, and as it was in the middle of the day we decided he could leave us at the beach, and see him after. I’m not keen on any beaches near Malaga, due to the vast number tourists and of course the cleanliness (well my standards anyway) are affected. However, we found an almost secluded spot outside Fuengirola (very close to Paul’s appointment) near the rocks, similar to Berling Gap, clean water, a handful of people and rock pools to investigate. We had a fantastic time and found some unusual gorgeous stones and some shells. Paul’s meeting ended quicker than expected and great news, as he had got some work from it. Time to celebrate, cracked open the picnic and then had fun jumping some of the bigger waves, just like they do on Vigilante de la Playa (Baywatch) the kids favourite programme over here! Also practiced diving under the roll of the wave and swimming out of our depth (the sea current and waves are very different than swimming pools. Celebration continued by eating at a cafe and then a spot of room hunting for Paul. As for a short while he would have to be away during the week and come home at weekends. 2 ½ hrs drive each way isn’t fun and also not cheap! Well success must be with us, as checked online in an internet cafe on milanuncios.com (similar to Friday-ad) Made 8 telephone calls and by the end of the evening we had seen 3 places, one which Paul was going to moving in temporarily for 2 ½ weeks and then move to another which was only available early September. A Spanish landlady, no English spoken whatsoever, who rents the rooms in her house to professionals. A really nice lady, very friendly and helpful. Just like most of the people we seem to attract. The first week dropping Paul at the train station was tough. But it helped that it was Ethan’s birthday during the week so we celebrated early, and a package was arriving from Grandma. The week went quite quickly and before you know it we were collecting Paul from the station on Friday night. And the end of August is going to be busy as Corrine’s friend Emily, and my friend Shona (Emily’s mum) are staying on the coast and have arranged to meet up and the girls a sleepover. Thursday 29th August was off to a bumpy start at 4.30am a terrible storm that lasted until almost midday. I have never experienced anything like it – constantly lightning and thunder. The thunder sometimes made the windows shake. And the grass was enjoying the rain. However it was so torrential that it started flooding and rising above the doorstep so I have to put towels infront of the door. Then as expected the electricity was affected and we had that going on and off like a yo yo. It felt like it was never going to end. The kids were overly excited/upset with it all too, which didn’t help. But we were going to brave the bad weather and go to Mercadona to get food that doesn’t need cooking (as no electric). My friend Charo said Mercadona has generators so will be open so off we popped. The storm had eased a little and by the time we had finished the shopping it was glorious blue sky again – like nothing had happened! It is forecast for Malaga area tomorrow, I hope not, as we are off to their to visit Emily. An early start, and the forecast had changed, we had a lovely day by the pool with Emily, Shona and Grandma Joan, and Corrine stayed for a sleepover. Shona will drop them back to us on Saturday and then go to Cordoba on Sunday. Aston was being extremely naughty as he was missing Corrine, but also the fact that she was dining at a restaurant and he wasn’t. Anyway as we were already on the coast we picked up Paul instead of him getting a train. We had a nice day showing some of the sites of beautiful cordoba to our friends, who enjoyed it immensely, however, Aston was extremely naughty and being horribly rude to everyone and a downright pain in the butt. I now realise that all the emotion of having friends from the UK over and Paul away working was releasing itself into naughtiness. But neverthe less, he wasn’t going to get away with it. We said goodbye to our dear friends and made for home. All hot I think a dip in the pool to cool off, well not for Aston though. Funnily enough as soon as we got home, he was his normal self. Sleepy but polite and helpful. WHY OH WHY did he ruin it for himself today – he missed out on icecreams too????

July 2013

The end of June beginning of July were spent doing some gardening and chores around the house and of course making some more friends. Charo and her daughters Paola (9yrs) and Ana (7yrs) have become good friends and several times a week we go to the park at 9pm. Also it is a great practise session for our Spanish as they don’t speak any English so we help each other. Charo’s husband is away for most of the Summer weeks with the odd day at home – he is a bullfighter! One day when we went over for tea she showed us his outfits, they were extremely heavy and adorned in the most beautiful intricate embroidered sequins. The outfits take numerous months to make and are very expensive. One Saturday morning whilst the kids were on their weekly run with Paul, I was quite happily eating my breakfast in the quietness when CRUNCH – a large quarter of one of my molars broke off! Now I was going to have to sort the dentist out, this will be interesting. We had all the excitement of grandparents arriving which was great, because I had lots of helpers to keep the house clean and tidy “as grandma would like it!”. Paul had decided to take the week off so we could all spend holiday time together. All work and no play just isn’t the lifestyle we relish, so all looking forward to some fun, and the kids looking forward to not studying! A whole suitcase was full entirely of gifts and kitchen ingredients/toiletries that you just cannot get in Spain or the prices are ridiculous. We had time to spend by the pool as well as outings. There was a three day night market in La Carlota, which started at 8.30pm but only really started buzzing at 10pm. It was great lots of stalls of food and crafts as well as a circus act. We also spent a day in Cordoba, visited the Botanical Gardens in the morning – we were the only people there – all day! Then the afternoon ambling through the cobbled streets of historical Cordoba. Somehow got our bearings wrong and ended up going too far in the wrong direction for 2 hours in 39deg c heat. But saw a lot of unusual and beautiful courtyard gardens along the way and there are always lots of drinking fountains dotted about. During the week we had a lazy picnic on the beachside of Lake Iznajar the biggest lake in Europe. It was backed by gorgeous olive groves on rolling hills and mountains, the water being a crisp torqoise greeny blue. A wonderful time was had however the week goes by quickly and Corrine just didn’t want grandma to leave (neither did we) but she is very sensitive and cries her little heart out, bless her. But grandma had left some clothes, etc. in the wardrobes, for when she returns in October – and that helped Corrine quite a lot, just knowing that personal items of grandma were here.