Ramblings in Retirement

January 2007

Yet another year is upon us, I hope you all had a great festive season and you are still abiding by your New Year Resolutions! Gosh doesn’t time fly, were already in February!

Penny and I did our usual at New Year, having a lovely meal then drinking champagne whilst watching the celebrations up and down the coast as the firework displays took place.

For the first 3 weeks we enjoyed unusually warm weather, low 20 degrees during the day, bright
and sunny with little cloud. However on the 26^th the heavens opened and we have had either rain
or showers since, with a corresponding drop in temperatures. Oh well, it’s good for the garden as they say.

On the second week, Penny went to visit her sister in France. She got a cheap flight with Easyjet, direct from Alicante to Geneva, where he sister picked her up and drove to her home in France, somewhere near Evian. Unfortunately, due to adverse weather conditions, there was no snow, so Penny could not try out skiing as she had hoped, but she did get to see the countryside and catch up on old times. Meanwhile, I was left with the chore of painting the living room walls and ceiling. It would be fair to say that Penny had a nicer time than I did!

At last! The new car has arrived and we collected it on the 17^th January. The dealership made a fuss of handing the car over to us; (They said it was one of the first of that model in Spain and they were proud to be the ones to sell it). They covered it with a drape, which they slowly raised, to reveal the car. (No extra cost). It is difficult to say much more as we are still learning all the gizmos
such as, keyless opening, starting and locking, automatic headlamps that come on when the car decides it’s dark, same with automatic windscreen washers (no, not when dark, when raining). Reversing alarm, climate control, a device called ESP which stops skidding, cruise control, something called a “speed limiter” (but I don’t know what that is for)! I was disappointed that there was no button or switch to enable automatic self-washing and polishing! Anyway it’s great, if not a little disconcerting, having the machine do the thinking.

I am still seeing some humorous stuff, like the “magic signs” where they delineate between smoking areas and non-smoking areas. Here is Spain, restaurants must have a proper separation and ventilation system by law, but it seems that these magic signs do job just as well. I noticed also that in the UK some of the adverts on the telly are really pushing the boundaries, for example, there is a pregnancy tester which is apparently the best thing you will ever “pee” on! Also there is an advert for some cold remedy, which refers to “snot”. Oh God, I am getting old.

Our annual Burns Supper (25^th January) was a great success by all accounts. We had 8 guests,
which made it somewhat a challenge, for kitchen logistics and table seating but, on the other hand, added to the overall fun. Whilst the meal follows the content and format each year, I try to ensure we all have fun by changing the theme. This year, believe or not, I decided to have a more traditional night with proper toasts to…….

The Immortal Memory, Toast to the Lassies and the Reply.

Yours truly did the Immortal Memory and I badgered Tony Conway into doing the Toast to the Lassies, despite never having done this before, he did a great job with wit and imagination. Pat Bramah, was also hounded into doing the reply and despite being a “Sassenach”, she did a marvellous job and had us all laughing as she pointed out some of the foibles of men.

The remaining guests did not get off scot-free (is that a pun)? Each guest, had to recite a given Scottish Joke, in his or her best Scottish accent. I can tell you there were some weird and wonderful dialects. The evening culminated in some raucous dancing vaguely resembling Scottish Reels, ending with a bawdy rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

Unfortunately I did not video the event (could have made some money selling the movie if I had) but I did get some footage of the dancing (well staggering around actually).

This footage together with some stills I have put together and made a short movie, which has been given to the guests as a memento. After all this, I wonder if they will be so keen to accept our invitation, next year. I have sent you a link to see some of the action on google video but if you don't have Broadband, don't try it. Let me know what you think of the rabble.