Another layout

I scrapped again today - this time a tribute to my friend Kathy who died in January this year, after battling for two years against a dreadful disease, amyloidosis.





When I was looking for pictures for this tribute I was horrified to find I only had two (apart from wedding ones of course) - one taken at Youth Club (the tiny one in the centre) and the one with us on the bike (can't remember whether it was her bike or mine!). I imagine they were taken sometime between 1958 and 1960. A year or two after we left school Kathy went off to London to begin her nursing career, training at the Royal Free Hospital. The last time we saw each other was when she was my chief bridesmaid on 5th September 1964 - although we kept in touch somehow we never managed to meet up again. I chose to use pink with the black and white as it matches (more or less) the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses. I doubt pink was her favourite colour, with her jet black hair and colouring she probably preferred something more exotic.

Rest in Peace, girlfriend.

Let me just say here - honestly, I am not obsessed with death right now, it's just one of those things that the two layouts I most wanted to do, now I feel like scrapping again, happen to be of two people I loved who've died recently.

Tomorrow I have three lots of agents coming to value the house, with a fourth one on Wednesday. Before I start to consider what I might do in the future I'd like to know what this place is worth and also, given the peculiar state of the housing market here, what I might get for it, which are not necessarily the same thing!

So I'll be up with the lark and cleaning furiously in the morning!

I rocked!

Turns out 'Modern Jive' ain't quite so modern after all - it's what I've been doing since I was about 12! I expected it to be like the 'rock and roll' that Sara did when she was dancing competitively (disco and r and r), which was more an 'exhibition' style than good old jiving. So I felt right at home as soon as I saw what Richard and Kate (the teachers) were doing. What threw me was having to go through it literally step by step and realising that the moves all have names and I'd have to learn what they were! None of that back in the 50s, you just got up and did it. But I had a great time and Richard used me to help demonstrate moves while Kate was helping Bobby, a sweet little old guy who obviously comes to class for a good laugh! I worked up a heck of a sweat (it was WAAAAAAAAYYYYY past a ladylike 'glow'!). It was fabulous fun and I can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks.

So feeling really positive again, I decided to do some scrapping. I wanted to do a layout using the photos we took at the crematorium on the day of Derek's ceremony. I'm totally gobsmacked that I managed to do a DOUBLE LO in about four hours! I am normally a very slow scrapper and rarely do doubles - in the whole time I've been scrapping (18 months or so) I've only done three or four. I tried to avoid 'funeral' colours and included two other photos as well, my all time favourite one of Derek which is about 20 years old, and the last one we had taken together on our ruby wedding anniversary. Sorry about the uneven edges - very difficult 'stitching' four scanned images together!





The next one I'm hoping to do (tomorrow all being well) is to commemorate Kathy, my best friend from school, who died in January after a long illness. She was chief bridesmaid at our wedding but sadly we never saw each other again after that day in September 1964. Life got very much in the way ........ We did keep in touch though. She and her husband moved to the Costa del Sol a few years ago and I really hoped once Derek and I moved here we'd be able to meet up. Unfortunately she contracted a very rare illness about two years ago and was nowhere near well enough to withstand a visit from us. So sad - RIP Kathy.

Presently I'm listening to Eurovision on the radio - in spite of a 2.4 meter satellite dish we can't get a signal for BBC and ITV - I don't know which mountain is in the way but one of them is!

Touching and being touched

Of all the things I've missed since Derek died, this is what I feel most keenly. And I'm not talking about 'intimate' touching here either, just the casual hand on hand, tap on the shoulder, pat on the bottom kind of thing. Just helping him get up in a morning and getting dressed, him holding my hand while he went up and down steps. I miss it.

I've got into the habit of buying flowers from the market each week - Derek's ashes stand in the fireplace opening and I put fresh flowers beside them each week - this week it's white dianthus and yellow freesias, very fresh and springlike - I hope he's enjoying them!

Off to put my feet up - have a good weekend everyone!

First step towards 'getting a life'.......

The local 'Lions' organisation had a second hand book stall at the market last week. I offered them a large box of books I'd sorted out if someone could collect them. 'Lion' John fetched them on Monday; once I'd explained my situation he invited me to join them! For the time being I've declined, but asked to be remembered the next time they have a social event so that I can meet them. Yesterday his wife Celia phoned me and asked if I'd like to go to a general meeting of the Calpe U3A (University of the Third Age), being held today in the Casa de Cultura.

Courage in both hands, I went. I had a fantastic time and met some lovely people, so friendly. Celia is a lovely lady and through her I met Quinta (Q) and Sandy. We had lunch together. There are so many groups doing different activities - at the moment the ones that appeal to me are Modern Jive, Spanish and Digital Photography, this last one because I realise I've inherited Derek's much underused Fuji S7000 and haven't a clue what to do with it! My membership application is filled out ready to go and my first activity will be tomorrow night - Modern Jive - at Q's suggestion - just hope she and her husband are there!

Today's meeting marked the opening of the U3A exhibition which runs till the 19th May (displays of work done by the different groups or information about them), there was also a brief talk by the new British Consul in Alicante, Juliet Maric, and finally a short concert by the U3A choir led by the delightful Mary Anderton, whose birthday is today so we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to her!

I'm excited and rather pleased with myself!

Something else I'm rather pleased about too - I fixed the garden irrigation system and got it working again. Unfortunately the control box that fits on the tap sprung a leak - I changed the tap connector AND the hosepipe connector with every spare I could find but wasn't able to stop it; the box is quite old and I expect the plastic has deteriorated over time. I was trying to avoid buying a new one (€70!) but in the end had no choice. I wanted to get it all working properly before I go to the UK - must keep the plants alive! I have never been much of a gardener but Derek was and was keen to have a good show of geraniums particularly, which is what I've tried to do, so watering and deadheading have become an essential part of my day!

I've arranged to have the house valued next week. I still have no idea what my long term plan will be but knowing how much the property is worth is necessary when I consider my options.

Next week our former neighbours Doug and Doreen arrive - their first visit since Derek died, so I daresay we will be a bit emotional to begin with. I'm fetching them from the airport on Tuesday, can't wait to see them!

Market day tomorrow - now the weather is hotting up people are beginning to go earlier. Last week I went down at 8.30 and parked in more or less the same place I usually do when I get there at 9 or 9.15. Tomorrow I'm aiming to be out of the house for about 8 a.m.

Better get off to bed then! Night night......

I haven't blogged .....

... because there hasn't been much to blog about, at least on a daily basis! However, I have had trouble at the bank, a bit more work done on the house and done a mountain of paperwork as a result of the mail that Sara brought from the UK.

The bank! Quite a few people had told me of the possibility of having the bank account frozen following a death. In fact, many of them also said don't tell the bank at all if you can avoid it, unless seeing the name on the statement is upsetting, or there are other reasons why you should. So I didn't tell them for ages, no point in looking for trouble. However, a few weeks ago I realised I couldn't find Derek's credit card wallet, despite searching the house high and low. Sara thought she'd seen it around but it didn't come to light. A regular check of the bank account online showed it hadn't been used so either it's still in this house somewhere or it wasn't returned to me from the hospital - can't think why not, I've got everything else he had in his pockets on admission - but his clothes weren't returned to me either, and I assume they were incinerated - must admit I never gave them a thought at the time. As our credit and debit cards are due for renewal in the next two months I thought I'd better let the bank know they were 'lost'. The manager assured me the bank account was 'safe' and I'd no need to worry. And so it seemed for two or three weeks..... Then a week last Saturday the ATM refused both my cards -aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhh. Saturday - no banks open! Used my UK card instead, had to, had only €5 in my purse!

The same day I bought a new washing machine - the old one was really old and not working as well as I'd like - couldn't pay for it there and then but explained my 'problem' to the shop owner and agreed to pay for it when it was delivered.

Monday I drove to the bank at Benissa - closed due to local fiestas! Went to the Moraira branch to see whether they could sort it out! No chance, has to be dealt with by my own branch manager. Went again on Tuesday - closed again but not for fiestas - hand written notices on the door telling customers to go to the next nearest branches at Moraira or La Fustera. Back to Moraira - still no joy, and no explanation as to why my branch was shut or when it would be open again. Back again on Wednesday - this time there were lights on and obviously someone was inside. As it wasn't quite time for the bank to open I determined to stay there until I spoke to someone. Eventually the manager and his staff appeared from having coffee nearby. I told him there was a problem and only he could sort it out. Turns out they'd been burgled over the fiesta weekend! He even took me into the bank to show me the state of the safe and the ATM machine. Whoever had done it had come through the roof - plaster everywhere. It was a real mess. Anyway, one of the staff was just about to go to the La Fustera branch and if I gave it half an hour or so I could go there and get it sorted out, which I duly did. I still don't know what caused the problem, probably reporting the credit/debit cards mislaid - in fact the staff member did kind of suggest that I shouldn't have bothered letting them know about Derek at all! They really only need to know if property - mortgage etc. - is involved and you buy or sell. Crossing my fingers it will all be OK from now on.

On Tuesday my washing machine was supposed to be delivered but I still couldn't pay for it! Postponed it till Thursday until the bank account was 'unfrozen'.

On Thursday the plumbers came to start modifying the downstairs cloakroom to house the washing machine. We'd installed the old machine and the drier in there when the kitchen was altered but it wasn't a very pleasing arrangement. It was supported over the (tiled) shower base but made the already small room postively claustrophobic. I decided to have the shower base and fittings removed, the floor retiled and proper inlet/outlet installed. Thursday the toilet and wash basin came out, the floor tiles and shower tray removed, Friday new floor tiles were laid. Monday the toilet and basin were put back, the new washing machine was put in, (the drier has gone into the garage, it's old as well but I hardly ever use it; however I'm keeping it because it comes in useful when the family are here!). Monday night I used the new machine - YAY! I'm very pleased with it. :) The cloakroom looks better too. On the strength of that I decided to paint the window and door, both looking very tired. Going to do the upstairs bathroom window and door too, might even get some kind of curtains on the windows!

I don't intend to have any more work done on the house and next week I'm going to have it valued. The housing market is very strange - lots of properties for sale that have been around for quite a while and not moving, but there are still people looking to buy. I think we're in quite a good spot here - a fairly easy shortish walk into town, a small community, two good supermarkets within walking distance. We'll see.

In between times when the weather has allowed it I've spent some time sunbathing and just chilling a bit. Once the painting is finished I really want to do some scrapbooking, getting really itchy about it now. There's another CyberCrop coming up on Scrapitude which I hope to take part in but I need to get my hand back in first! Going to trawl through the latest pictures I have on the computer and if there are enough think I'll place an order with Photobox instead of trying to print them myself, can't seem to ever get true colour or they're too dark.

Think that's it for now, see you soon!