Ramblings in Retirement
July 2008

I had a pair of lightweight slippers,


which I left outside the back door one evening early in July. The following morning, one of them was missing! A black cat,
which prowls around at night, decided to take it and had dragged the slipper to the area on top of the garage.




This was an "omen" which to my peril I did not pay attention to and, in this edition you will learn of the consequences I suffered which I have highlighted.

We decided to have a short break and contacted our friend, Julio, who lives near Brenner in the south Tyrol. We flew from Valencia to Milan, however, on arriving at the Hertz desk, they requested my credit card as surety for damage etc., and it was discovered to be out of date by 3 days! (Note: Spanish Banks do not sent out new cards, or notification in the post, it is up to you to go to the bank and get your new card on or near expiry, which obviously I had not done). The result was that we were unable to hire the car (my debit card was not acceptable) so we had to go by train. We boarded the bus, which took us to Bergamo train station, change trains at Brescia, Verona and Bolzano finally arriving at Fortezza just before midnight. The journey was a little stressful and compounded by yours truly forgetting to recharge the mobile phone, then leaving the contact number for Julio in a public phone box! Penny was stressed out by all my antics and had a fainting spell on the last leg, scaring the daylights out of me (we think it may have been an angina attack). Fortunately Julio came to our rescue and drove us to his house from Fortezza station.

With Penny going straight to bed, Julio and I enjoyed a light meal and a glass of wine as I attempted to relax.



The following morning Penny was feeling better so Julio and I went off to Bolzano to get my hire car from Hertz using Julio's credit card as a guarantee. Fortunately the next couple of days were great, catching up on old times, visiting the local town and a bit of sightseeing. Julio’s girlfriend, Irmgard, also joined with us, and Julio was the perfect host.



On the Sunday, we traveled to Lake Garda where we had booked a hotel; no sooner had we arrived than there was a massive storm with hailstones the size of golf balls! Fortunately it cleared up after an hour or so allowing us to tour the area and enjoy the sights of Bardalino, a town on the eastern shores of Lake Garda. The following day we drove down the lakeside to Peschiera, again taking in the sights of this historical town with its Hapsburg buildings.
Here is a short video of our trip.




We returned to Valencia and then home without further mishap.

Our son Stephen surprised us with a call to say he and the family would be visiting us for a few days. We arranged for child car seats, high chair and booster seat for Millie and the day before they arrived we had a thunderstorm with torrential rain! Nevertheless, despite experiencing a 2-hour delay they arrived to glorious weather (which has been with us ever since).

The grandchildren were a delight and loved swimming in our pool, and in the sea. We bought them an electric car and they were thrilled to drive it around the top of the garage area. I’m sure that Millie’s swimming skills improved over the short break and as for Daisy she showed no fear whatsoever and splashed, swam and giggled for hours in the water.





Paul and Annette (who live up the coast in Tortosa) came to visit and it was great to catch up on all their news. Paul and I communicate often through the computer but to meet face to face is much better.


And finally, my bad luck culminated in me leaving my credit card in a cash machine at the end of the month!

So….beware of black cats, especially those with a slipper in their mouth!!

Anyway, here is a short video of the family visit which I hope you will enjoy.