Biking & Baking in Las Alpujarras

We have had some fun (not) since the middle of the week!  This has involved the van, 2 motorbikes and a prawn - yes, a prawn! 

First of all, the van needed an MOT and needed 2 new tyres and an emissions 'blast'.  This meant me flying down the nearest dual carriageway at great speed to clean out the system and spending a few £ss on the tyres!  Then far more £ss were spent on tyres for the VFR (Dunlop Sportsmarts) but the wrong ones were delivered so that got put on hold for a few days.  When the right ones did get fitted, the chap managed to provide the wrong (too big) valve which kept catching on the caliper, so we had a flat back tyre on a lonely Norfolk road at 9 o'clock at night...Good job Steve has full insurance including roadside 'get you home'.

We put together a hasty stir-fry including a handful of king prawns and guess what - by 10pm I was on my knees in the bathroom wondering how long I had to live!  It was not a good night!  Steve rushed off to the pharmacy in the morning and got me some Dr Collis-Browne's Mixture (saviour of all upset stomachs, can it be bought in Spain?) and I spent the day in bed feeling very feeble.  It took 36 hours to even consider a scrap of toast but I am rapidly recovering now.  As you can imagine, getting a recipe for this blog or even thinking about food has been beyond me.

All this pales into insignificance compared to today's disaster: we put the Guzzi on a low jack so Steve could do some work on it, went off for somethng else and heard a crash, and came back to find the beloved motor on its side in the garage with a horrible dent and damaged paintwork to the fuel tank.  Heart-breaking!  The damage is right on a shaped part of the tank and will be difficult to repair.  I suppose we should be glad it happened at home and not on the road...

The TV is rammed with Election discussions and of course we are all watching the debates.  The markets will want certainty, not a hung Parliament and for those of us in the saver/pension/euro exchange world that will really matter.  But who wants more of Labour?  Who thinks the Tories have strength in depth?  We all 'agree with Nick' but are the Lib Dems ready for government?  I am very happy to leave all this behind and get vaguely interested in Spanish politics instead.  The, like Voltaire's hero, we will simply tend our own garden.  That's the plan.

I had just written a long post and then somehow lost it before it uploaded - damn it!  Can we have a 'save as you go' button please?

I was commenting on the clear blue skies here all weekend, such beautiful weather with no sign of a cloud and great for bikers, picnic-ers, local marathon runners, children with kites.  We have seen all these today, but feel sorry for people struggling to get back to the UK or elsewhere in the world.

Our little barn at the back of the casa is collapsing thanks to the Spanish rains so now we have a dilemma. As soon as we get our residencia we can either apply for a grant (which might take 2 years)or just get permission and rebuild it out of our own hard-earned funds.  Does anyone know what the current situation is in the Alpujarras for grants?  Has the economy suffered too much for bids to be successful?  I would be grateful for any replies!

Steve's eye is mending and he can see a bit already, so we hope all is heading in the right direction.  A shame really as I enjoy calling him 'Blind Pugh'!  However, I will get him to contribute a bread recipe next time, while he is 'resting'.

Life never follows a predictable pattern does it?  Just when we were ready to start loading the van to drive out on Sunday, Steve's dodgy left eye began to get worse.  The optician said last week that it was 'floaters' and nothing to worry about, but by 6pm last night our GP was concerned that it might be more than that, referred us to the hospital emergency eye clinic, and by 5pm this evening Steve had had surgery for a detached retina!  Two weeks rest, no heavy lifting or driving (especially his motorbikes) for a little while...longer term prognosis a bit iffy.  Thank goodness we are still here and in the NHS system!

The big message is - if you have an eye problem, don't hang about waiting for it to 'just clear up'.  Get a professional diagnosis as quickly as you can!

On another matter - we bought a piece of sculpture last week for the casa - from a great chap Simon Manby of Forge Farm, Wootton, Derbyshire.  He does lovely drawings of his southern French village too, so if you're in GB and near Alton Towers, go to his studio.  I recommend highly, though his bigger bronze pieces are not cheap.

Thanks to everyone who has advised on car tax/MOT/registration.  Really helpful.  This is a great website.

If anyone has a lifelong medical condition and wants to get good advice, go to www.livinglife.gyw.nhs.uk.  It's a local east of England site but you can sign up and e-talk with other people with the same condition.  And get linked up to NHS Choices etc and lotsof other good health sites.  Actually it works for temporary ill health too.  My partner Steve has started to get strange 'floaters' in one eye, so I checked it out online and though he still went for an eye test, we knew in advance that it wasn't too serious.

Does 'eyeonspain' need a health section or does lifestyle cover it???

It's nearly midnight and the man is asleep but I have only just managed to get connectivity, hence tapping away at this late hour.  We went to Bury St Edmunds in glorious sunshine this morning, then flew across to Great Yarmouth tonight to share a pint with about 200 other bikers at The Swan.  Some great bikes on show: Aprillia, Ducati, Buell, MV Augusta, lots of R1's, Triumphs, Harleys (a bit agricultural...!) and all the Japanese models.  I sound so knowledgeable but really only go by the aesthetics and the engine sound.  Steve understands the mechanical side of things!  We lost  the gear changing facility on the Guzzi about 10 miles from home but he managed to cruise us back in 3rd all the way - I barely noticed!

The euro fell against the pound a little yesterday (87.5p) but has rallied a tiny bit today.  We are watching closely and hoping it will fall to 85 before we do major money moves...difficult times for many people.   Ah well, back to the kitchen.  Better start practising my tapas!

Goodnight.

Today we rode the Guzzi to Aldburgh on the Suffolk coast, to meet my brother (a sculptor exhibiting in one of the galleries there) and his wife.  They drove down from deepest Derbyshire and fell about laughing at me in my 'spacewoman' textiles and backpack.  But we had a tasty bite at a little cafe and walked down the shingle to look at Maggi Hambling's welded steel 'seashell' sculpture - all in delightful warm & hazy sunshine.  Very nice.  They will come and see us in Spain, especially as they have a little house near Sete in France, so it's not too far to drop on down the Mediteranean coast.

From Aldborough we raced up to Great Yarmouth so Steve could have a check-up at an optician's.  Free on the NHS now that he's over 60 and much needed as he has started to get 'floaters' in one eye and his specs are OLD too!  Floaters are specks and flashes that happen as you get older, usually just in one eye, but they are not dangerous.  Just little bits in the eye that have come adrift!  Before we depart we will also have hearing tests, visit the dentist and assemble necessary first aid;  we want our Spanish to be a bit better before we have to use it for medical services.

Now to the Streusal cake:

1. Line and/or grease a deepish square or round cake tin

2. Heat oven to 170 degrees

3. Make the streusal in a small pan over a low heat: Mix and melt 1oz butter, 1oz dark brown sugar, 1oz plain flour, 4 or 5oz walnut pieces, 2 tbs strong black coffee

4. Make a plain and soft cake mix with 4oz butter, 4oz caster sugar, 3 eggs, 5oz SR flour, 2 tbs milk

5. Layer the cake mix and the streusal alternately in the cake tin, finishing with 2 tbs streusal and bake for about 1 hour (test with a sharp knife which will come out clean if it’s cooked)

6. Cool thoroughly and then drizzle with soft liquid icing sugar, a la Jackson Pollock

7. Share with your best friend, some coffee and maybe a bit of cream

8.  Perfect to your own preference, adding sultanas or dates or other nuts

Here are some good websites that I use:

Moto Guzzi Club GB

http://www.practicespanishonline.com/

The Weather In Granada - Now And The Next 10 Days

and I'll do that Streusal cake soooon!! 

Bit tired tonight as we have had a busy day sorting out the shed and gardening.  I had 2 wormeries that I have now dismantled - don't go 'ugh!!!' as they are really good for producing liquid fertiliser - but the worms like a damp climate and will not survive in Andalucia.  Each wormery only cost me about £12 to make so don't go buying expensive ones.  A couple of plastic containers, a spigot, some mesh and a handful of worms...if anyone wants more precise details leave a message and I'll give more info.  You get litres of 'liquid gold' right through from March to November.  Then the worms hibernate.

Which reminds me, I love the book by Roald Dahl when the old wife gives her husband a bowl of spaghetti mixed with wormsand he eats it all up!  Excellent.

Tomorrow we thought we might go to Walton on the Naze to meet up with other bikers and have a chat.  What a friendly bunch they are; you can rock up anywhere and get into a conversation.  Quite a few girls have their own bikes too, so it's not just 'men-only' and many folk are grey-haired like us.  We might start a weekly bike meet in Trevelez once we get sorted, which is a good spot for coffee and tapas, and fantastic roads in all directions to get there.  Any ideas?

I've retired!  A splendid lunch with colleagues, a bouquet of beautiful lilies and roses, a purple glass lamp for the casa...and that's my working life done with.  And it feels great!  A sense of freedom and release that I haven't experienced since about 1975. 

We celebrated with a trip on the VFR this morning and another one on the Guzzi this evening.  And I've had the c90 out too, all togged up in my cherry-red leather jacket, retro Diesel helmet, Halvarrson kevlar jeans and Harley boots.  All essential wear to do 45 mph on country roads in Suffolk!  Even better when it's a Spanish hill road and 20C!

Steve has sorted out the trailer - all lights working - but got a shock when he found a Stanley razorblade wedged into his new rear VFR tyre.  Emphasis on new!  We won't manage a 3000 mile road trip with that damage, so another set of treads coming up.  Not good for poor old pensioners!

As today was a typical bank holiday Friday (dull, cool, showers) I made a Streusal cake- delicious- recipe to follow next time. Bye for now...