A bit more about Spain

Thursday saw Susan feeling a little better and the boys ready for their 3rd game of golf in 3 days. We were up fairly early as the plan was to get to Villaricos for Menu del Dia at El Mar La Mar, after they had finished their round of golf. As there was a Society booked in from 10am, they needed to get out onto the course before then or they would be in for a 5 hour game which would mean we would be too late to eat. El Mar La Mar is, without doubt, a place worth visiting to have lunch. www.elmarlamar.com

Breakfast over the guys got their golf stuff together and opened the door - which is when we all realised, it was actually raining - quite heavily. It stopped us all in our tracks, we needed a conference about what would now happen with our day.

Ever hopeful, the guys decided they wanted to go upto the course and have a coffee and see how they felt about playing in the rain.

As we drank our coffee, we discovered that the Society had cancelled due to the weather and it now looked as if Alex & Neil would be the only people playing that morning. Neil had already got a great deal on the cost of their golf but with the weather being so bad he managed to get a further reduction, so that it was just too cheap to say no to - whatever the weather, apparently.

With a hopeful glance to the south where the sky 'looked a bit brighter' the guys made the decision - they were on a golfing holiday, they would play golf. 

And off they went.

Susan and I decided we would stay dry and went into Aguilas to the shopping centre for a wander. Later, we decided we would spend a couple of hours with our books, or in my case, my kindle and I finally finished my John Grisham.

I was looking forward to lunch and had even foregone a bun with morning coffee to make sure I had a good appetite. However, lunch was not to be - on collecting the guys Alex told us he was not feeling too well and by the time we had returned to the apartment he was really not well enough to go anywhere. As we were due to fly home the following day we had to make sure he recovered enough to travel. So, he started on the same tablets that I got from the pharmacy, and which seemed to have worked so well for Susan and we left him to relax.

Neil & I decided we would have lunch up at Annie's Bistro, and catch up with a few more friends. We had a lovely afternoon visiting and I couldn't believe how quickly we ran out of time and there were still people we hadn't seen - sorry Steph, hopefully next time.

And all too soon, we were back at the apartment packing for the flight home the following morning.

Spain had been cold, very cold and wet but we had enjoyed our brief visit. All we needed to do now was see how the dogs had coped with their stay in kennels and if that had gone well, we could look to have longer holidays without worrying about them.

And so, there is no doubt, we will be back.

Catching up with old friends.

Up at the Golf Club I met Betty, my 'Brazilian married to a Spaniard' friend, who was so excited to see me again. We chatted over coffee as there was no-one else in the cafe and I was really pleased how much Spanish I remembered. We got told off by the manager for having returned to the UK and he's told Neil he has to go back and play more often.

Susan and I left the boys to their round of golf and we went off for a bit of sight seeing and shopping. Before going to pick the guys up we decided we would stop for a coffee in the village - but finding somewhere open wasn't easy. Even a walk out along the promenande only found chiringhita after chiringhita closed for winter. In the end, we decided to have coffee at the golf club.

We'd arranged to meet some friends in the evening and when we got to the bar, we met some others there too so we all had a few drinks and a really good night.

Wednesday was to be a much different day as one of our party was very unwell and was unable to leave the apartment as she needed to stay in close proximity to the loo. I needed to go to the local farmacia to practice more of my spanish to get something to help and whatever they gave us worked, but it meant Wednesday was a right off for her. They guys had another game of golf and I drove up to Heurcal Overa to meet one of our neighbours from where we lived in the mountains. It was good to catch up although some of the news wasn't so good.

We'd been down the new road from Pulpí to Terreros which is a great new road, although I used to like the slower, windy road through the mountain, so I thought I would come back from Heurcal Overa on the Pulpí road to see whether they had completed that stretch of the road, but they hadn't. So it was a slow journey back, along make shift roads full of drainage dips that were so abrupt you needed to slow to 20kph to avoid losing your front bumper.

Maybe next time we visit it will be open!

Thursday would see another of the group go down with the dreaded bug.

What a week!

I finally finished my 3 week assignment 5 months after I started, and I will miss the people there, as I have really got on well with them. There's only one question I ever used to ask when taking up a reference for anyone I was thinking of employing and the very same words were said to me by the FD - he would employ me again. He'll give me a good reference for my new employer and I'm happy I did a good job for them.

And so, I had a week off before starting my new job on Monday.

So, what have I been doing with my free time?

Well, I've been in Spain catching up with some of my old friends. We flew in the early hours of Monday morning with another couple, the idea being a week of winter sun to give us a break from the grey, cold english weather and an opportunity for Neil to play a few rounds of golf at his old course and for me to catch up with some of my friends back in Terreros.

We had been watching the weather forecasts since New Year and they had been having a good few weeks of warm sunny days - but that all changed as we flew into Alicante and the further we drove south, the heavier the clouds got.

By the time we reached Terreros we were certainly glad we'd got our winter jackets on. It was highly probable that it was warmer back in the UK.

As we drove through Terreros it looked as if more bars were closed than normal but La Venta was open and serving Menu del Día, so we parked up and grabbed a table. An hour or so later, we were ready to meet Ava for the keys to the apartment we had booked.

We had a couple of friends with us, Alex would be on the golf course with Neil, while Susan and I would shop, sight see and generally chill out. Monday saw us with great plans that, by Wednesay morning, would be completely changed.

But for now, we'll focus on Monday. The apartment was a bit chilly after being closed up for a while and so our first priorities were to get it warm, get some shopping, call and book a tee-time for the guys for Tuesday and have an early night after being up since 2am.

All went according to plan. I knew Neil was excited about playing his old golf course and this was re-affirmed when he was up and dressed by 6.30am when he wasn't due on the tee until 10am. He was like a little boy on Christmas morning who couldn't wait to open his presents. It was so sweet to see.

And so, golf clubs in the back of the car, we started our first day's holiday.