The lost Meerkats...
Thank you for your comments on previous posts. They are all read and we take them all into account when we are planning our future. It's good to have people reading them and offering tips. All advice etc greatly received, thanks :-)
Four weeks have passed and we are still waiting the shipment of our personal items from the UK. We have been told they are on their way but have no date of arrival. It’s not earth shattering to be without our stuff but the personal items that will stop us feeling like we are on holiday are what are missing here. Our photographs, pictures, clothing and our full set of Meerkats, carefully adopted in recent years due to our need to change insurance and utility providers. When you agree to adopt a Meerkat they undertake quite perilous journey across Europe from Meerkovo. They send postcards from all over Europe and often appear to get lost on route, but always arrive. Of course those of you reading this who have adopted a meerkat themselves will know exactly what I mean. I do wonder if we would have been better arranging the shipping of our belongings via the meerkats as they seem to do a better job, and also keep you in the loop regarding the progress of their journey. Still, it’s what it is now, we can’t go back on our decision I just hope the meerkats are not too traumatised to enjoy Spain once they arrive.
One of the problems you have as you get older is that your body doesn’t do what your mind wants it to do, or if it does, it only does it once! Of course I’m talking about exercise. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed running. These last five or six years however have caused me to stop due to lower back pain. It’s very frustrating as people a lot older than me are seen everywhere running without apparent problems. After stopping running I immediately put a stone in weight on, which I have never been able to shift. Of a morning here, there are a lot of runners and walkers. They run and walk along the front and along the walkway and am itching to give it one last go before I retire into aqua aerobics hell.
I buy new running shoes and start to run and walk. It seems to work especially aided by my music player which has the most diverse mix of popular music you can imagine. My first run along the coast of the Mediterranean is fabulous. It’s warm, sunny and incredibly relaxing aided by a shuffle mix of Jimi Hendrix, the Sex Pistols, Tavares and Stan Ridgeway, bizarrely, (one of the best songs of the 1980’s). I probably only run for less than ten minutes, probably more of a shuffle really, but I did it. I’m given an instant lift by my exertion and vow to keep up the running to the best of my ability.
The warm climate here is conducive to exercise and I'm desperate to do more and keep it up as the years advance. I want to buy a bike but because we are on the 5th floor, the lift is tiny and we have little room to store one, we will wait until it's more appropriate. We walk all we can, the coastal route both north and south are lovely and as we live yards from the beach we don't have to go far before the feel good factor arrives.
It’s been very hot and sunny since we got here but we hear that a storm is on the way. We swim daily and don’t want to miss out. We can see the clouds gathering quite quickly and decide we must get our swim in before the heavens open. As we are about to leave the apartment, the rain starts. By the time we arrive on the road outside its heavy. What do we do? We pass everyone coming out of the sea and go in ourselves. The rain is heavy and we appear to have the sea to ourselves. The only slight problem is that when we get out we encounter a bit of a flood and have to cross the road about eight inches or so of water, but we are in our sandals so it’s no problem. Sadly the main electrical storm misses us but the next day the beach looks like a bomb site. There are deep trenches all along and some of the sun beds have been washed away. Even the stands with taps in at the entrance to the beach have been washed over. It’s obviously happened before as the clean up starts straight away and within a couple of days the beach is back to normal.
We still don’t have Wi-Fi and we catch up daily on one of the local bars. As a side issue, we are beginning to learn a lot about which bars are more accommodating than others. We have a regular bar and we are ensured of a friendly welcome, even if full the owner tries to accommodate us. On one of the days we try a different bar, after about ten minutes we have one of the bar staff practically standing over us waiting for us to pay and leave. We don’t and are presented with our bill and asked to pay. We vow never to go in El Pescador again. Most of the other bars are friendly and we take a particular shine to Erne who must be at least 80 years old. There’s not an ounce of fat on him and we never see him smile but his drinks are cheap and he has wifi. He always seem to stare, maybe it’s our paranoia following our El Pescador experience. We also rate the bars on the amount of nuts and crisps, the amount, type and whether we even get some. Sometimes we feel put out if we don't get any. It's a nice touch, sometimes we get get olives (Sue hates olives) and once we got some sort of croquet. We shouldn't be picky though, its probably because we have to pay for them in the UK. Small things amuse…
An example of free nuts at 'Jeremis' bar!
The end of another week. We feel we are settling in. People recognise us now even if it is mainly bar owners, they must realise we are here for the long haul.
PS. Our shipment of personal possessions still hasn't arrived…