(Twigit's not the only one who's into alliteration!)
I woke up this morning feeling very sorry for myself. I had not slept well, partly because I have a bad back at the moment, which is really painful when I move the wrong way, and partly because it was very windy, so the door and the blinds had been rattling loudly all night. Last night, I had been trying to run a hot bath to ease the stiffness in my back, but after a while the pressure became low so there was no more hot water. Luckily I had just enough water for my bath but it wasn't as hot as I had hoped.
I was already feeling a bit low, as John has gone off to London for a few days to try and sort out finances for our (hoped for) new flat, so I am home alone. Like many people, we have money invested in SADM and no bank guarantee, with no idea whether we will get a penny back or when that may happen. We can't afford to lose that money. We are living on UK pensions, so with the current exchange rate our money isn't going as far as we had hoped. I had started filing my tax return online, which I have to do as I worked on a self-employed basis in London as well as being employed on a part-time basis. According to the calculations, in spite of making a "loss" as my outgoings were more than my earnings, and in spite of having a negative tax code for my paid employment, and in spite of not earning much money anyway, it appears that I owe over £500 in tax!
I had been looking at the cost of flights in July and August yesterday evening, as my daughter has announced she plans to get married either the end of July or end of August, and the cost is going to be very high. That of course is not entirely bad news, as I like Vicky's intended husband and I am very happy for her, but it is still going to cost me a lot of money! I then looked at the forum, and everybody seemed to be insulting each other again (I remember the days when we were all trying to help each other.....!) so that did nothing to cheer me up. I took my blood pressure, which I haven't done for a while as it has been OK, and it was far too high - hardly surprising though! I think that is all the doom and gloom that I can remember, and it's probably more than enough.
Things hadn't improved overnight, as when I tried to run water to make a cup of tea, I discovered that there was now NO water! I was lucky in so far as I had bought a two litre bottle of water in Dia yesterday, so I had just enough water left to boil for my cuppa. The neighbour who acts as caretaker wasn't at home when I rang her bell, hoping to ask her if there was a problem in the whole block or just our flat, and I was meeting a friend for coffee so I had to leave it.
Juana Maria was on good form, so we enjoyed the hour or so we spent chatting. She told me that if the whole building was without water (at that stage of course I didn't know), it would probably have been fixed by the time I got back. She also mentioned how lucky we are to have running water, gas, electricity etc, which of course we are. She was going to the shops so walked back with me, and on the way she stopped to buy rollos de San Anton, and gave me one as a present. It's good to have friends.
When I got back to the flat and checked, I had water again, including hot water. The sun is shining, even though it is a bit chilly, and apart from this back problem I am fortunate with my health. John will be back on Saturday so I only have a couple more days on my own. I have a wedding to look forward to in the summer. If my prayers are answered, we will also have our own flat here in Jumilla. Things could be a lot worse, and for many people they are.
I am hoping that when I look at the other threads again, people will be saying nice things to each other and making helpful comments. Even sharing news with each other.
I think it is better to be an optimist than......
Sue