1917

Another trip to the cinema yesterday to see the film 1917.

Everyone should see this movie, it is so moving and has you on the edge of your seats most of the time.

First World War in all its gory detail.

The duck has a new outfit

Mr/Mrs Duck has a new outfit.

To swim or not to swim that is the question!

Maybe I’ll just relax under this palm tree..

Catch up Tuesday

Sunday after church we ate again at The Dog House, traditional roast pork Sunday dinner... yummy.

We wanted to check out a place that has been advertising Menu of the Day and have decided it’s not for us! Although there were a lot of English cars in the car park. On the way back to Roda we passed the Los Alcázares sign,  so welcoming.

It would be nice if all roundabouts were as pretty as this.

Today we visited The Pretty Shop, I love this warehouse so full of crafty things and everything you could possibly want for the home.

On  arriving back at the Villa this had mysteriously happened to one of the very large patio doors.

Luckily for us it is just the inside pane of the double glazing so we are Ok until it can be fixed.

The sun is out, but there is a nip to the wind.

Lunch at Quesada and the movies

Friday we met friends Pauline and Brian at Quesada Fish and Chip resturant. It was a great visit and catch up as I did not remember to take any photos, plus the fish and chips were really good as usual.

My usual FitBit steps are around the 2000 mark since having both knees replaced but I have been trying to ‘up’ that number since arriving here in Spain where the weather is warm and the scenery so much nicer to enjoy. In the two weeks since leaving home, except for one day, I have managed over 3000 steps a day. During the terrible storm ‘Gloria’ when it was too wet and windy to do anything I visited a local shopping warehouse and walked the aisles !

Plus we visit the bins everyday.

Chris doing the recycling at the underground bins.

Saturday was, movie day and we visited the local cinema which shows movies in English twice a week. We choose to see Bad Boys for Life, both being fans of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. 

It was a great movie with Spanish sub titles, only hiccup there is a gang of Spanish speaking baddies from Mexico 

and because the English was subtitled in Spanish the Spanish was not sub titled in English! We really enjoyed the film.

Quackery

Did you guess what I was knitting?

Mr or is it Mrs Duck?  Guess it depends on the clothes I knit for him/her.

Sitting in the sun, waiting for some new clothes.

Opps anther workman here... the boiler suddenly stopped working, so no hot water or central heating!

A call to Mike who looks after the property and within a couple of hours an engineer was here changing parts and we are back to full power.

Busy mending the boiler.

Nails

My nails have been dreadful for some time, I think the antibiotics and steroids I had to take in December played havoc with my body and my nails suffered. I came out to Spain with nothing on my nails, but after two weeks cannot stand them so made an appointment with Donna to have them Shellacked. I am so pleased with them and feel normal [whatever that is] again.

It has to be RED!

Weather back to normal

Weather back to normal, well almost. There are clean up crews everywhere and some streets still cordoned off.

It was car wash time, as it looked like a sand storm had hit it. 

We tried a new car wash to us, near Dos Mares and it worked a treat 3 euros

Next stop the shopping Mall at Dos Mares that was closed all day yesterday because of the floods. The clean up crew were shovelling mud and pumping out water from the car park.

In need of a quick lunch we went to the KFC for their special offer again... yummy but the ice cream machine broke so we had to have a strange yoghurt drink instead!

After all this excitement a walk was needed in the bright sunshine.

Salt mountains in the distance

Sun glorious sunshine.

3500 steps later back home for a cuppa.

What is it?

As the storm raged on and the building shook with the thunder overhead I continued  knitting!

All the parts of my latest animal are now completed, can you guess what it will be?

We had planned a visit to the local Velos Cinema this afternoon, on Tuesday and Saturday they show films in English but it was not to be. The owners could not get to the cinema to open up as all the roads are under water and many are closed again for the third time in 3 months.

Emergency services are in the area, but we have escaped the flooding, however the paths and road are like shallow rivers on the complex.

Spain just does not have the infrastructure to cope with rain.

Better settle in for the afternoon and sew up my animal... watch this space..

A noisy night

Yesterday the rain that is suppose to ‘stay on the plain’ poured down and this was followed by a hail storm, thunder and lightening.

Many of the roads around here are under water and some are closed.

Sleeping was difficult with the thunder and dramatic lightening.

Just sitting having breakfast and again thunder and lightening with torrential rain, roll on Thursday when the sun is due to appear again.

Sunday lunch

Sunday lunch at The Dog House in Dolores was all and more than we expected.

The Dog House

Sunday lunch, Beef for him, pork for me...yummy

Church of Latter Day Saints, Los Alcázares

Went to church this morning, and although all in Spanish I understood some of it. Sister and Elder Brady from Utah made me most welcome and invited us for lunch one day while we are here. 

While I was here last year I met a man that lives on the Golf Complex and he warned me this evening there will be a bad storm and not to park in an underground car park! A couple of months ago when a storm hit the area [called a Gota Fria, spelling?]  his car was in his garage and it filled with six feet of water and ruined all the cars parked in it.

We are going out for Sunday lunch and then will batten down the hatches for the evening.

Pate de Aceituna Negra

We had one request from Abigail before we left home for a jar/tin of Black Olive Pate, sounds horrible to me who dislikes anything with Olives.

On the way through Spain we stopped at a shopping mall to stretch our legs and saw a jar we thought was what she wanted so took a photo to ask her. Yes came the reply exactly the pate she loves.

Arriving at our home for the next 6 weeks we tried 5 different shops and drew a blank each time. Today is a little overcast so ventured into Cammmpillo [yes there are 3 Ms!] an up market food shop and BINGO having shown an assistant the photo I took she showed me where it was on the shelf. They only had 4 tins so I bought them all... hope this will make one granddaughter very happy.

An interesting start to the day

The past few days have been filled with sunbathing and generally doing nothing! Although I have managed to up my regular step count, mostly with walks around the complex.

This morning we went for an early walk ‘around the block’ as we were expecting the Telecom people to come and instal a new internet system.

I love the topiary everywhere, and although chilly at 9.30am a cardigan is all that is needed.

Wonder how long it takes to make a topiary swirl ?

10 o’clock-ish the Telecom men arrived, all three of them and after a wander around the house to find out about the old system, set to wiring from outside to inside, keeping my Telecom husband entertained with their fibre optics etc...  [like I know what I am talking about!]

Finding an incoming socket was quite a treasure hunt.

Putting things back in place and checking it all works, Chris signed about a dozen papers and we have super fast broadband.

Now to cook lunch and then sun sun sun.

I see the sea

Decided to take a walk along the coast, it is a beautiful day and really warm. 

Hot enough for a hat!

The local ‘red arrows’ are practising over the sea, there are two together that look only inches apart!

The sand and beach is slowly recovering after the Gota Fria [terrible storms a month ago.]

Home - France - Spain 2020

10th January we left home at 4.15am stopping for ten minutes to fill up with fuel at Tesco before boarding the 7.20am Eurotunnel train to cross from England to France.  It is very cold about 6 degrees most of the way to Poitiers, with about 1 hour in stops and a time change of 1 hour we arrived at the Kyriad Sud Hotel at 3.50pm.  554 miles travelled.

11th January set off at 7.15am to Zaragoza along the West coast of France, via San Sebastián, a very pretty drive along the side of the Pyrenees.

We arrived at the very smart Diagonal Hotel at 3pm having paid E24.02 in Spanish tolls..  472 miles travelled.

8am on the road again and the temperature ranged from Minus 7 to Plus 20 degrees ! Arrived in Roda at 2pm. 325 miles travelled.

Total mileage 1351 in my VW Golf.

Unpacked and settled into the villa before a quick shop for essentials.

A evening in the cinema

Last night we attended the 70th birthday celebration of Andre Rieu at the cinema. 

What a treat seeing the performances from around the world and the brilliant music. 

Now to save up and go and see him live in Maastricht.

January IAM craft meeting

Our first IAM craft meeting was rather thin on the ground, with only four of us attending. Pauline, Maureen, Ann and myself.

However it was a really fun meeting with lots of laughs, mostly because my show and tell consisted of four dishcloths I had knitted !

I somehow do not think the other three will take up the challenge and could not believe there is actually a very busy Facebook group with over 5500 members just for dishcloths !

Ann decided she HAD to bring some show and tell, so using a metal ‘tree frame’ she pegged different hand made items to it, we all admired it greatly.

Ann’s tree. The small green tree item on the right was made probably forty years ago when our children were small !

It was Ann’s turn to bring dessert, and we all enjoyed Roulade and lemon flan, thanks Ann.

Looking forward to our 20th Anniversary year crafting together.

Happy New Year

The New Year started with yet another course of antibiotics, hopefully this will cure me. My body does not  know what has hit it after the first course of antibiotics and a steroid course, so hopefully third time lucky.

However I have been preparing, all be it slowly, for our up and coming holiday. Naturally the first thing to prepare is craft projects I want to take.

I have not done a lot of sock knitting lately, and it is one thing I can do while on the Motorways travelling through France.

However I only like to knit the plain rows, not the ribs or heel turning, so with this in mind I have started three new balls of yarn [only two at the beginning in the photo] and prepared them for travelling. With a bit of luck by the time I get home I will have three new pairs of socks.

Chris has been working on the Range Rover and arrangements made with the Eurotunnel crossing and insurance, then BANG.. something went bang [ suspension?] and all the plans have to be changed and we will be going in the VW Golf. What do they say about the ‘best laid plans’?

I hope you all have a healthy crafty 2020 and thank you for reading my blog, I do appreciate the comments if you have any.