Ramblings in Retirement

September 2007

Well, September got of to a good start; I got fined for not stopping at a stop sign! Normally I would try to blag my way through but when it is a Guadia Civil Trafico cop, no chance. As penny was in the car I was somewhat heartened when she exclaimed that I had stopped; but who is going to argue with an armed cop? I got a 150€ (£100) fine which he took pains to explain would be reduced to 105€ (£71.50) if I paid within 14 days. I am unclear as to whether points will be deducted given that I am on a UK licence. Bad start to the month but…………at least the coffers of the trafico department are topped up.

Over the years, reading the weekly English newspaper, I noticed adverts for a hotel in a town called Bocairent, which is some 90km up in the mountains. I had conjured up an image of a typical Spanish town with this nice hotel and one Sunday in September we went for a drive to see the place for ourselves. The drive was interesting and very scenic until we arrived in Bocairent, which turned out to be quite a large town with a substantial amount of light industrial units. Indeed, the place was in the main quite modern with multi-storey flats and such. The “Old Town” was picturesque but on the whole disappointing. The hotel (la Estacion) was very nice but I could think of no reason for visiting on an overnight stay (probably caters for the Reps and suppliers to the light industry). Nevertheless, a nice day out.

In the second week, Rudolf (the man who is responsible for the actual lift installation) and two engineers started on fitting the steelwork and hydraulics. Whilst smoking incessantly, they welded, bolted and did a variety of things, which we mortals will remain ignorant of. And finally,

we have “LIFT OFF” (or rather Lift up and down). Sorry no photo this month as it is difficult to see it but Ill try to get some video for next months blog.…………….Now, how many bags of sand and cement can it take?!!

We have decided to replace our ancient (5 year old) TV with a larger flat LCD but rather than have it stand on the current TV trolley, we wanted a nice piece of furniture instead. After searching every furniture store within a 20km radius, we found something suitable and had it delivered. No sooner was it unpacked I got to work with the jigsaw and cut out the back panel (needed to do this to allow an airflow around the Sky box and DVD/Video machine). We then bought a Samsung 32” LCD TV with white surround, which looks much better than black or silver against the white wall. See for yourselves.

We have arranged for a short break at the end of the month, Penny is going back to England to see the family and grandchildren I am off to Italy to see my friend Julio (mentioned him in the July issue). I got a Ryanair flight from Valencia to Milan (Bergamo airport) for €20 and then I will fly from Milan to Prestwick for 1 cent plus €17.49 tax!!! I thought that was good so when I booked our return flights to Spain I was again delighted with the charge of 1p (plus tax) so the total for Penny and I to fly back was £49…………..Rollocks to global warming this is heart-warming.

I have finished my “summertime” video project; this was something I had asked the Video Editing Group of the computer club to do over the summer. I had been so busy helping others every time I went to the club I thought I’d never get my own contribution done. I have been delighted with the response from the members and have already received a dozen entries (it’s not a competition). We intend to show the entries to an audience of the club members on November 1^st. I’ll post my entry in next month’s “Blog”

Penny continues to enjoy her art classes and produces some very nice paintings; I want to hang them in the lift shaft for all to see on arrival! Penny has recently taken up Spanish Language lessons and seems to enjoy them, she is now proficient in alphabet and numbers and moving on to grammar!!. Her September paintings are below:

Well this month the Ramblings are early as we are setting off on our travels so until next month..adios

Hot, Hot, Hot that’s August here in Spain and we’re not in the hottest part. Penny and I went for a day out during the first week of the month and took a drive into the mountains taking in the lovely scenery and small villages. We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant (food was OK but not worth a mention), and upon returning to the car, the temperature had risen to 41 degrees!!!!!!!!! Having said that we unexpectedly got a couple of showers in the second and third weeks, shame for the holidaymakers but great for the garden. The rain must have come from Africa, as there was a substantial layer of sand left on the patios and the swimming pool, which took a day to clean up.

Gripe….I had occasion to call PC World technical support which is at a premium rate, the “expert” kept saying “bear with me” as he logged my details and then disappeared for a couple of minutes only to return and ask me all the same questions again whilst mumbling “bear with me”. Eventually, I challenged him to either give me what I wanted or give me the phone number of someone who will help; he promptly gave me the number of the laptop manufacturers helpline. That experience cost me £5! I then contacted the number given (also Premium rate) and spent another £5.50 logging my details with the “helpful” assistant. As I was calling from my computer (Skype) I ran out of credit and had to log off, on returning later I spent another £10 to find out that I could not get the discs sent to Spain! Premium rate calls are a rip-off!!!!!

As mentioned earlier, the garden has enjoyed the summer rain and we have another flush of flowers. Our “Cica” palm has grown substantially over the years and this year we had our second flowering (seems like every 4 years).

Although Penny’s art classes have stopped for the next month, she continues to produce some little gems such as these:

The originals are much better than these photos suggest.

There is nothing to report on our lift being completed, as previously mentioned, Spain grinds to a halt in August so we will have to wait till September for the installation.

I noticed a news-banner on Sky News the other day which read:

“Teenage abuse of alcohol is leading to the breakdown of the family”

I think it should be read the other way around!

My latest exploits at golf have somewhat inspired me, Always thinking I was a poor player (well actually, I am) I seem to do rather well among my colleagues in the society with which I play fortnightly. I regularly pick up second or third prize in my division. Sadly, this does not mean I am particularly good, rather that the rest are particularly poor! I certainly joined the right bunch.

Our neighbour in the “Pink Palace” invited us to a party at which we were requested to wear “white” (a great equalizer). The catering was provided buy the Marriott Hotel and its chefs and was superb, Champagne, Cocktails and good quality wine flowed continuously throughout the night. The guests were mainly German, Spanish and Belgian but we managed OK to hold our own and met some old friends and some new interesting people. We eventually staggered home (next door) at 2.30am at which time the younger element had taken over the party for some fun.

Short and sweet this month, thanks for reading.