Ramblings in Retirement
June 2009
Well we are now fully into summer and the weather is getting hotter and hotter.
Many of our friends have arrived at their Spanish homes for a break and we have enjoyed their company either eating out or in.
Penny and I made an appointment with the health centre to see the doctor as we were running low on our prescription medication. I thought we should just brazen it and fly by the seat of our pants and see what happened but Penny, being more practical, spotted an interpreter and found out that
a) The doctor did not speak English and,
b) He would not give us a prescription without some medical history (despite having a copy of our English prescription).
We were asked to return in a few days with a documented history of ailments and the treatments with prescribed medications. This we did, and with the help of the interpreter, we now have some form of medical history logged on the Spanish NHS system. However, the net outcome is that I have to have a full blood test analysis in July (to cover the cholesterol, diabetes and prostate) and Penny is to await an appointment with a cardiologist to assess her angina problem. He did give us prescriptions although these turned out to be a problem insofar as, the pills I take for lowering blood pressure are 2mg and these do not exist in Spain below 4mg. Penny’s tablets for angina were prescribed in the UK as 3 x day whereas the doctor has prescribed 1x day. Anyway we will get it sorted soon. We could have used our private insurance but we wanted to get on the local doctors books and whereas we could have had specialist examinations more quickly, we felt that we should build up some local rapport.




Penny and I have taken to walking along the beach in the mornings to get a bit of exercise (no, this has nothing to do with our visits to the health centre); we try to get there by 10am and spend an hour walking along different parts of the beach (there are many kilometres of beach here). As the summer season has not officially started, the beaches are not crowded although they are certainly busier when we come away.



We had our annual summer barbeque with the Golf Society where we raised over €700 for the captains charity which is a school for children with special needs in Denia. Raffle prizes were donated by the society members and Penny and I were extremely lucky to win 3 prizes in all.
My euphoria at winning my Presidents cup match-play against the society captain last month was short lived as in the quarter finals I drew last year’s “Player of the Year” who soundly beat me 3 and 2. I had the consolation of winning nearest the pin and a two on the 15th. Oh well, there is always next year.

On Midsummer’s Eve we had a picnic on the beach at Javea with several of our friends. This is also the fiesta San Juan where the Spanish celebrate the beginning of summer and light bonfires on the beach. It is said that if you jump three times over the same bonfire you will have good health and good luck for the rest of the year. As we did not have a bonfire………………….

The pool is now open for swimming, for me that is, as it has now reached 26 degrees and still climbing. The garden is far too hot for any work apart from ensuring the watering system is functioning properly and occasional bug sprays to keep the blighters down. A couple of years ago I dug out the large hedge at the rear of the villa and replaced it with some of that climbing plant called Morning Glory (don’t know the Latin name) and I’m delighted with the results this year.




Very colourful and needs little maintenance, ideal.

Here is a short video clip I made for fun,

That’s all for June, have a nice summer