Ramblings in Retirement
September 2009
At the beginning of the month temperatures were still very high and hanging in the mid 30s. I had to go to our house in Gildersome to check a few things as we intend to let it out in the near future. Now that our son Stuart and his family have vacated it, I wanted to redecorate the small bedroom and to interview letting agents. I left Alicante on the 3rd of September and the midday temperature was 37 degrees however when I reached Leeds/Bradford airport the wind was howling, rain falling and it was a miserable 24 degrees!! Shock!

I managed to get all the bits and pieces I needed to do completed on time and I enjoyed my pork pie and mushy peas, Yorkshire fish and chips, pint of Tetley’s ale and the company of the grandchildren before heading back home. On the weblog is a short video of Millie and Daisy.


As a child we used to chant “rain, rain, go to Spain and never come back again,” little did I know those innocent words would come back to haunt me! On arrival home it was clear that the weather was about to change and thunder was predicted! That set the course for the remainder of September, every few days we had heavy thunderstorms and rain pretty well throughout. More on this later.
Penny’s sister Lynn came to visit (she lives in the French Alps near Evian) and although we experienced some very heavy showers we did have several days of nice sunshine in between.

Penny enjoying a coffee


Lynn at Denia Yacht Club


Penny & Lynn at Javea Arenal


Penny & Lynn choosing a Yacht!


Lynn was so surprised at the range of English food we could get here in our part of Spain she promptly bought a suitcase and filled it with pork pies, baked beans, frozen meat pies, bacon and a host of other goodies. Where she lives these products are not available and French food is not all it is cracked up to be.

I have been rather uncharacteristically quiet about my golfing prowess but I have been playing steady with both the society and my friends. I have scooped several prizes such as “Nearest the Pin”, “Down in Two” (that was worth a pot of €34) and on Captains Day in a “Pairs” competition we came 3rd. All in all I am quite pleased with my golf at the moment and hoping to improve still more. I did manage to have a game when I was in the UK and I was surprised at how much easier the course was by comparison. Here all the courses try to be “Championship” standard and charge accordingly whereas is the UK, even members clubs are less demanding and much cheaper to play.

Rob with other winners


As mentioned in my August Ramblings we had the builder back to do some more work. The Balustrading has been completed as has the tiling of the garage roof area together with repairing some 30 roof tiles and the inserting of ventilation bricks for the garage. All of this was completed within the first couple of weeks with little disruption from rain and how lucky we were! The second two weeks of September has seen unprecedented rainfall and thunderstorms along our part of the Costa Blanca. In Javea a well known restaurant on the Arenal front was hit by a tornado injuring 4 customers when the restaurant side was blown in. I have put a short video on the weblog but if you can’t access it here are a couple of photos.

Tornado hits Javea Arenal


Cafe Wein devastated by tornado




I have also posted on the weblog an amusing short video clip of the weather in our garden to demonstrate the intensity and volume we are experiencing. I have been pumping out the lift sump area several times and swabbing out the garage floor (under 6” of water) however, as we receive not only our own share of the downpour but also that of our neighbours above, it will take some time to clear it all. Such is the cost of living on a mountain and having spectacular views!!!



As part of our building a medical history with the Spanish health Service, Penny has her appointment with the cardiologist at the Denia Hospital on the 2nd October, providing there are no complications, we are hoping to set off for the UK the following week.
Well, that's all for this month I'm off to pump out some more water!

Ramblings in Retirement
August 2009
August has been a relatively quiet month where Penny and I lounged about for the most part. The weather has been hot and sunny throughout (mid 30’s) and with a high-ish humidity which leaves us in a sweat as soon as we do anything (good excuse..eh)!
I did not mention in the July edition that we had some works carried out to replace our septic tank. The original had never been properly installed and sealed so when we had rain deluge it tended to overflow. Normally, you don’t need to empty them for many years but we were having it cleaned out at least twice per year, at €150 a time! It is surprising how difficult it is to find builders who will tackle this job but were lucky and Jamie and his team soon had a gigantic pit dug and the new modern septic tank installed. (Unfortunately I lost my lovely Poinsettia tree). In the UK it is difficult to even contemplate a septic tank and mains sewerage is taken for granted, unfortunately not on our mountain.
We have arranged for the builders to return in September to put balustrading around the newly formed septic tank area and to clad the new walls.




We are also having the entire top of the garage laid with tiles (you may recall this was covered with Astro-turf but over the years this has become a bit worn. Each February and October we get deluged with rain for about a week at a time, which courses down the terraced property and makes its way to the garage roof where it discharges via drain holes into the street below. Naturally the Astro-Turf becomes sodden and covered in debris which I have to clean off. By tiling, I am hoping to reduce the work and keep a nice appearance.

The annual Moors and Christian parade was carried out in Denia and once again it was a huge success for visitors and locals alike. The costumes are truly magnificent and it seems that the leader of each group is now becoming more dramatic in his/her actions in stirring the crowd.





At the end of the month we had our own Fiesta at the urbanisation. Folk dancers from Pedreguer town came along and demonstrated their skill at local traditional dance and music. Food was available in the form of a giant Paella, the bar was well attended and later we danced the night away under the stars.





I have mentioned that the Credit Crunch (or as the Spanish call it the Crisis) has caused massive unenployment due to too much dependancy on construction. It is laughable that Denia and Javea councils have embarked on major roadwork programmes which are having the effect of seriously annoying and disrupting their secondary income stream, the tourists. If they are not careful they could lose this income as well!!!

That’s all for now,