Falling behind .....

I can just never quite keep up with this blogging lark! The last four weeks have been a bit manic - I've had two lots of visitors! Think my update will be better in two or three separate posts!

First, the property valuations. I was disappointed (but not surprised) to learn that at the moment I could only realistically expect to get about what we paid for the house back in November 2004. One agent did suggest a higher figure which would also cover what's been spent recently but the general feeling among all the agents is that the market needs a year at least to settle down. A second said that if I had the nerve to stick it out for two or even three years I could do much better. Well, I did say right from the start that I intended to give myself a year to see how I get on so that fits with their general view and my intentions.

Doug and Doreen arrived the same week for a ten day stay. It was so good to see them, they were both feeling a bit down and it was strange for the three of us to be together without Derek. I've made it plain that I don't want anyone to feel they can't talk about him and I hope that message will be passed back to the friends I'll be meeting up with back in the UK when I make my trip at the end of the month.

We did lots of little things while D and D were here, including a visit to Benidorm's Sunday market. They like Benidorm and are far more familiar with it than I am. I'd never have found the market so thank goodnes for Dougie! It's big and very cramped and shoulder to shoulder with punters! It was also hot. Having done it I won't be in a hurry to visit again! Doreen had bought some shoes at the Moraira market but then wished she'd bought a second pair. Her only opportunity was to get some from Benidorm. After what seemed like hours and almost at the end of the market we found a stall selling what she wanted.

They bought a beautiful rose bush for Derek from a local garden centre, we hope it's called Red Devil, it didn't have a label but was with others of that name and was the only one with a bloom, which is a fabulous colour and smells gorgeous. It's now in a large pot outside my back door.

We went to Javea one day - Dougie wanted to find a jeweller's shop he remembered. It was still there! Had a walk along the prom, stopping for coffee halfway, then we went in search of the Yorkshire Linen shop, hoping also to find the Scrapbooking shop as well, which I believed was close by. It was! Unbelievably I am much better set up here in Spain for getting scrapping stash locally than I ever was in the UK where I was forced to do most of my shopping online. Anke, who owns the shop (1worldscrap), is a lovely lady and has worked wonders in getting Spanish ladies to take up scrapbooking. Over the weekend following D and D's departure she was running workshops with classes by Lance Anderson of Rusty Pickle and Jen Starr from Ranger Inks - after telling my scrapping friends on Scrapitude and finding out just how highly thought of these two are I signed up for a couple of classes, one on each of the two days. In a later blog I'll show what I did (haven't taken pictures of my work yet!)

While they were here Dougie used Derek's electric scooter to get around on so I suggested he took it home when they left - what use is it to me? There's no doubt Derek would approve! I was sad to see them go home but it won't be long before I'm back there myself.

On the Monday following my scrapping weekend I finally got to the notary to sign the documents which I hope has now completed the formalities following Derek's death. Once I had them in my sticky mitts I rushed them over to the bank who'd frozen the bank account yet again. The account was frozen at a certain amount, there's money in the account above that figure but I can't use an ATM machine to get it, so until their head office has had the documents and given permission for the account to be unblocked I have to go to the bank each time I want cash. A bit of a nuisance to say the least!

Will leave it there for now, back later with more!