Ramblings in Retirement
April 2006

Spring is in the air and time is passing so quickly. I don’t know if it is because I was so late in posting the last month’s Ramblings, or some other reason, but it seems like yesterday when I wrote last.

We did not leave the UK until mid April so I have little to report apart from having a nice excursion to Scotland to see my aunt, cousin, sister, niece and various other relatives. Penny and I were fortunate to visit Scotland on one of the few days in the year when the sun shone and as a result we were able to marvel at the glorious countryside. (Sorry, Scottish relatives, but it is wet up there)! On our journey, we had an overnight stay at a small castle/hotel called Auchen Castle, near Beatock. The accommodation was very good indeed (and we were lucky to be upgraded to their best suite), the castle grounds were very well maintained and the overall ambience was good however, unfortunately, the restaurant was not good at all. The menu, although limited, sounded good but the quality of the food was poor, despite elaborate decoration. The hotel specialised in Weddings and functions and did not seem able (or willing) to cope with passing trade. I did complain about the food remarking that it seemed to be reheated rather than freshly cooked, the response was that all their food is fresh, to which I commented, “ might have been fresh when you got it but certainly wasn’t when we did”. I further suggested they change the supplier or better still, change the chef. It is a shame that such a nice place leaves a bad taste in the mouth. (No pun intended it just came out that way).

We arrived back in Spain on the 16^th and quickly warmed to our change in climate!! (I’ve done it again). The lack of rain had taken its toll on the potted plants but thanks to the irrigation system, everything in the garden was rosy (not again, I feel this is going to be one of these issues).

The new rose-bed,
(Put in place in February) not only has established itself but also provided a wonderful show of roses.











In fact the entire garden is a riot of colour and, whilst these pictures do not do justice, I want to take you on a tour around some of the areas. Firstly, from our kitchen door we are greeted with a nice display of geraniums. (The stand was courtesy of Julio’s casa in Malaga)

Looking up to the top level there is a virtual cascading wall of small densely packed, pink flowers, which this year is an absolute delight. As you approach you can hear and see the buzz of thousands of honeybees.

To the right of this, we have a trailing cactus (I don’t know it’s name but it is quite common) Again, this has an abundance of showy “Aster” like flowers

The front garden specialises in feature plants rather than flowers but there is a mixed bed of perlagoniums and geraniums, which we kept, and they always delight at this time of year

To the rear of the house there is a mixed bed of

geraniums and on the upper level, a border

of white Margaritas.

Unfortunately whilst in the UK, we missed the annual display of Iris, Narcissi, Azalea and the best of the highly perfumed Jasmine but there is plenty to keep us going.

The pool has finally been refilled and new lamp inserted. All the mosaic tiles have been cleaned to remove calcium deposits, touch ups where necessary and the capping repainted for the season. It took almost 3 full days to refill (did I mention our water pressure was rubbish)? I also took the opportunity to replace the sand in the filter unit (supposed to be done every 5 years or so) and lugged 3 hundredweight of the special stuff up the stairs. (I did not lug the 3cwt. of old stuff down again, choosing to disperse it in the garden instead). A couple of day’s filter/backwash/filter and the pool was bright and sparkling. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, rain has dampened (!) my spirits as it means I have to keep hoovering the damn pool.

We were guests of our new neighbour, (A “Luxemburger” and owner of “Pink Palace”) to join him for a night out as a token of his appreciation for us allowing him to tap into our electrical supply for a few days (it’s too long a story for here). We had a grand tour of his “palace” and then out to a very nice Belgian restaurant for dinner. A really delightful evening. It did make me think though, there are not many famous Belgians (apart from Poirot, and he was fictional) but can you name any famous Luxemburgers?

Just o prove that we don’t really miss out on much from the UK Penny and I went to the English cinema the other day. The “cinema” was in a nearby restaurant, the large screen was projected and the movie was a DVD called “The Quiet American” (it’s got Michael Caine in it, not a lot of people know that) (!)

We will be returning by car to the UK on 22^nd of May as Penny has her appointment for Angioplasty on the 26^th. So, until the next issue, “Hasta llego”