Derek - R.I.P.

Derek passed away this afternoon. He had a massive stroke on Wednesday, causing severe brain damage, and never regained consciousness. We were prepared.

The funeral is on Tuesday, he will be cremated, the family will all be here, even our closest friends are trying to get out to be with us. It will be a very simple non-religious ceremony with a two or three pieces of music, which we're choosing this weekend, and this will be read:

All Is Well
Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household world that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well.

See you all in a few days.

Three cheers for a walking stick!

Yesterday was the day for our visit to the Oficina de Extranjeros in Alicante for the next stage in our application for Residencia. It looked easy enough on the map .... The reality (as usual) was somewhat different - well, a bit anyway. We found the street, after a wrong turn and having to go back on ourselves, and the TomTom told us when we had reached our destination. Come again? That UNMARKED building with a big crowd and queue of people milling around? Ok, yeah, that's it... So where do you park? After driving round the block looking for a 'proper' car park it was obvious that you just abandon your car wherever you can. Luckily, second time round the block someone pulled away from the kerb right outside the entrance.

We'd decided if possible Derek would use his walking stick, just as well - no way would we have got the scooter anywhere near the office. I went to see if I could find out what the score was and heard some British voices. They had just been turned away from the door for not having all the correct papers but they were able to tell me where we needed to go. First down some steep steps with no hand rail for Derek to hang on to, scarey for both of us. Then a man standing outside the doors of the building yelled: 'Out, out' to all of us descending the steps, followed by something about security man and tickets. So we turned round and went back up the steps and out onto the street where we discovered a line of barriers we were supposed to queue behind. No sign of any security person (should have known by the time, he was on his break!). Derek sat back in the car waiting for the next move while I stood in line. After about 15 minutes said man appeared and continued his role of checking papers and handing out tickets which then entitled us to join the queue at the bottom of the steps.

Derek made his way down the steps again with me hanging on to him for dear life and a lovely British man walking one step in front of him in case he stumbled (always a possibility). When we got to the bottom, the man who'd told us to get out held everyone else back (including those who'd got tickets before we did) and took us straight in the building. We jumped the queue again ahead of those sitting waiting for a desk and clerk to come free and were taken to the first available desk. Papers checked, documents printed, photos attached where required and then handed back to the man, who turned out to be the one doing the fingerprints. Right index finger inked and printed and that was it! I bet we weren't in there ten minutes. I lost sight of the people around us who'd helped us up and down the steps and allowed us to go ahead of them, but I hope they weren't held up for too long because of it.

The only reason I could see for our 'special' treatment was Derek's disability and his walking stick. Sometimes you have to be thankful for these things.

So now we just have to take a paper to the bank to pay the fee, then in about a month's time we go to the Police Station at Benidorm to collect our ID cards.

On the home front, the painters arrived on Tuesday and started painting the bedroom walls, the doors, and they also painted the handrails on the new steps (I thought they were done - they looked OK to me!). Antonio started fixing the drive which is on a higher level and when it rains heavily the water seeps through and into what will be our wardrobe in the new room. We asked him to quote for removing the chimney breast in the living area and also crazy pave all of the back garden, including the barbecue area and under the drive. The first picture shows the back garden, the second where the new steps are, though this is an early picture and the steps are now tiled and have hand rails. There's some paving in the first picture on the right hand side - that's how the rest will be done.

Don't know when the work will start but it's going to be fun if they do it next week while the family are here!

Today I'm going to collect a wheelchair which is being loaned to us for our trip to Valencia next Monday. We're driving to Xeraco and taking the train from there. I contacted Help of Denia and they said this was the easiest way. I get the feeling that NO-ONE will drive in Valencia if they can help it. So how naive were we (me and Simon) when we did it TWICE when Derek was in hospital there!

Right, the shower beckons (I almost always blog first thing in the morning) so see you tomorrow or whenever! Have a good day!

Gardening!

The weather was so lovely yesterday (20 degrees C) we decided to tackle the back garden area. This has suffered greatly from the building work going on, both with debris left by the builders and not being able to do any worthwhile garden work for the same reason. We have a long narrow bed at the top of a wall which is about 5 feet high. It's right by the perimeter wall onto the street and when we bought the house it was full of cacti, my least favourite type of plant! Last year I dug the cacti out, put down weed suppressing fibre, planted honeysuckle, hebe, osteospermums and geraniums and then put gravel down. I should have tackled this when we first came back here in September but there were so many other, seemingly more important, jobs to tackle that it didn't get done. It was covered with a clover type weed, swamping the plants and looking a total mess. The plants haven't done well either, everything except one hebe and the honeysuckle was either dead or dying. We'd put in an irrigation system but it was dismantled when the building work started as the first job done was the flight of steps up to the drive, right by the wall the bed is on top of (bad grammar!). In the end I pulled everything up except the hebe and honeysuckle and sprayed it all with weedkiller. Later in the week I'm going to try and remove the gravel, replace the fibre, put new plants in then replace the gravel. It did occur to me that salt from the gravel may have burned the plants, to be on the safe side I'll wash the gravel before it goes back. The back yard area is all gravel which can get messy so we've decided to have the whole are 'crazy' paved, including the covered naya area near the barbecue.

It was so warm we ate all our meals on the front naya yesterday!

Some wonderful news - Sara rang last night to ask if we wanted visitors next week! YAY! She and the girls are coming out next Monday and staying until the following Sunday. We're so excited, so lots to do this week to prepare. Long list of things to do and calls to make today, and I desperately want to do some scrapping, for once I have a definite layout in mind and want to get it done as soon as possible.

Time to start the day - see you later!

Believe it or not - I've scrapped!

'Tis true! I finally got into my scrap room (aka the cellar!) and finished a layout I started at least three months ago. Actually I had to remake it as the photo had water splashes on it (probably from rain through the little window that was inadvertently left open). This is the first time I've ever left an LO unfinished for such a long time. This is it:


Felt so good when it was done! After that, I went through the 12 (yes TWELVE!) kits that have arrived in the last few months. I did take them from the pizza boxes when they first arrived and had a good look at what was in them, but put them to one side for later - didn't realise how much later it would turn out to be! For organisation's sake I've now put the accompanying embellishments in the respective colour themed embellie storage boxes. Followed that by organising my card stock into colours too. For now it's stored in spare pizza boxes, until I find something more suitable. I haven't re-organised my papers yet, and am still wondering whether to keep my newest (the 12 kits) separate or go the whole hog and put them away, again according to colour (if it will work - LOL!). Maybe I'll be able to get down there again this afternoon and start a new LO!


Went to the market this morning but it's really windy and not many stalls had set up. Thankfully the fruit and veg stall I usually buy from was there but very little else. Lots of stallholders standing around debating whether to set up or not and watching those that had trying to hold their stalls together! Wanted to buy some belts to send to our friend D but that was one of the missing stalls, try again next week. The wind and very bright sun gave me a headache, I was pleased to get back to the sanctuary of the car! (Those who know me well know I CANNOT tolerate high winds, makes me bad tempered, tired and tense!).

The wind has blown the christmas tree over, I dragged it from the naya on 6th January and left in its pot outside on the drive. It did so well over christmas with very little needle drop that we thought it might have a root, even though the pot is not that big. Due to the subsequent events we haven't had chance to look at it properly and until today it seemed to be thriving. The tree and pot are extremely heavy which is why I haven't moved it anywhere else. Derek would like to plant it in the garden (if it DOES have a root) though where it will go I really have no idea. So far it seems to have survived it's fall today, if it falls again I'll leave it until this gale dies down.

The wind is terrifying, don't think I've experienced such strong winds here. Not as bad as those we've had in the UK but worrying nonetheless. Our neighbours have a very ancient-looking jacaranda in their garden. It is leaning towards their bungalow in a very alarming fashion, hope it stays upright!





The painter came this week to see if the bedroom was ready to be done - sadly not, the recent damp weather has taken its toll and the area furthest from the french door is still not dry enough. The electrician also came and I'm hopeful he will be back again next week to put the lights up etc. Ideally, would rather have the room painted first but desperate to see some progress so if it has to be the other way round so be it.

Time for lunch methinks, see you later!

Yay, I'm back!

Feels like I've been away for ages....

It's two weeks today since our friends D and D arrived for their visit and 5 days since they went home (*sob*). We loved having them here and it did Derek no end of good. They are just the perfect guests - fit in, no hassle about having to keep them occupied and out and about all the time. They understand that Derek sometimes isn't the perfect host and that I have to do anything and everything that needs doing myself. Do and I set to one afternoon and threaded strong elastic through the waistbands of several pairs of Derek's trousers - his constant losing and gaining weight has meant we often have to try a number of different pairs before we find one that is likely to stay up! I live in constant fear of being out somewhere and his trousers ending up round his ankles. Joy of joy, on the Friday market we found a stall selling adjustable stretch belts - have yet to try them but I'm hoping they will be the answer!

I've deliberately stayed away from blogs and message boards since D and D went home, while I sorted through the huge pile of mail from the UK that's been building up since the children arrived on boxing day. I just haven't had time to concentrate and work through it all. All done now and either filed or thrown out. One of my new year resolutions must be to keep on top of it all!

We've received our 'Resolution Letter' - we now have to present ourselves at the Police Offices in Alicante on 14th February - presumably after that we will be officially residents of Spain.

The proper doors have been fitted to the new bedroom, except there's no glass in the french door yet. Fortunately we still have the old lockable grill door on (a new heavier one is being made) so the house is secure. Thanks to the recent wet weather we are STILL waiting for the plaster to dry out, so painting can't start, therefore lights and electrical bits can't be fitted (yes, we have chosen and bought the fittings at last), and neither can the radiator or aircon unit. So the waiting continues, beginning to think it will be summer before it's finished. Hope to hear next week that the new kitchen will be here soon though.

It's six weeks today since Boxing Day, when Derek was taken ill and the kids arrived for a much-looked-forward-to post-christmas holiday. Glad to say he is doing really well now, this morning we were in the village ambling about and we spent a bit of time in the garden this afternoon, it was so warm and pleasant. Nearly 18 degrees folks! (that's about 66 deg. F).

We bought a stephanotis plant about a year ago but it has suffered badly from neglect and possibly too small a pot, so decided to cut it back, see if it will recover; if not we'll get another because it's a plant I love, the smell of the flowers is gorgeous. Derek is very anxious to start buying plants but I'm trying to hold him back - the garden is still messy and needs a bit of work, so better let someone else (i.e. the garden centres!) look after the plants he wants for now!

OK, well I'm back, will try and keep up to date from now on (but no, that isn't a promise!)....