Bad blogger.....

I really should get to grips with regular updates - but where does the time go?........

This week I've had another good excuse - a surprise visit from Mark and a friend of his! They arrived last Saturday (13th), having only let me know the previous day they were coming - PANIC!!! Well, only because I'd already done my grocery shopping which of course never includes the kind of food visitors expect. As the house always has to be ready for possible viewers the beds were made up and clean towels out so I only had to do a spruce up upstairs.

This week has been the Moors and Christians festival here in Moraira so there's been quite a bit going on and plenty happening in the evenings. By the end of the week Mark and James were getting home so late (or should it be early - in the morning!) that another week here would have seen them manage to turn night into day...... They visited Aqualandia and Benidorm, and spent a day on the beach at Javea. The three of us went out two or three times for meals but mainly I just left them to get on with it, use of my car when needed.

And I got a few 'blue' jobs done which was great.

Just a few more things that have happened since I got back from the UK.....

First, the death in April of Julia, the organiser of Blue Skies, the singles group I joined in September 2007. I have a lot to thank Julia and Blue Skies for, primarily my 'new' life here in Spain. Through them I found some lovely girlfriends and indirectly the group of friends which include John, June and Nick. Julia's closest lifelong friend Michael is organising a celebration of her life for the beginning of July. I hope once the date is settled I'll be able to attend.

John, June, Jenny and her John and I helped Nick move into his new home on the 1st June. It had been planned that he'd move in over the previous two days and we planned to have a barbecue on the 1st to celebrate. Unfortunately due to a slight hitch everything happened on the same day. When it came to the evening and the barbecue we were pretty shattered but we had lots of laughs along the way. Nick had invited neighbours, whom he already knew anyway, to join in. He's moved into a bungalow (rented I should add) which more friends of his (Margaret and Geoff) had just left to go back to the UK (health reasons). We'd all been to a surprise farewell lunch for them at La Piscina in Parcent the previous week, along with about 50 other friends.

Last Sunday was the Moraira Music Festival. We'd booked a table at the Golden Bay chinese restaurant which is right opposite the area near the castle and sea wall where the stage is erected for live events. June's son and his fiancee were staying with them, so they went to the beach while June and Nick came here to listen to John's programme with me in the afternoon, everyone met here later for showers and sprucing up before going into the village.

The Music Festival was fantastic - for a list of artists and acts appearing click here - the opening act, the Bourbon Street Stompers, got us all off to a good start. The children from the Stage Door Performing Arts Centre in Benitachell demonstrated the latest craze of 'street dancing' and very good they were too! However, the highlight of the evening for our party was the appearance of Lyn Paul, formerly of the New Seekers, and now working on the Costa Blanca with a New Seekers Tribute show. John has interviewed Lyn twice on his Sunday programme, and, as this would be the first time we've seen her perform, we were all keen to see this small part of the Tribute show. Needless to say she was excellent and extremely professional, and the group she's brought together seem to work well with each other. Two of the four who are working with her are Jill and Ian Henry, who are well known here as the duo Double Impact. Jill has the most amazing voice and I'm a big fan of theirs but rarely get to see them these days.

The only downside to the evening was the appalling service at the Golden Bay - as usual too many customers and not enough staff. We chose a mixed meal menu but had to wait nearly an hour for the starters, an hour for the mains, of which we only got 5 of the 7 or 8 dishes. Didn't get dessert or coffee, it was far too late and we were past it. The food was good, but the service spoiled it and I don't think we'll trouble them with our custom next year.....

My shoulder is getting much better - I started having a weekly massage about 5 weeks ago and the improvement has been quite dramatic in the last fortnight. I usually have some discomfort just after the session and the following day, occasionally when I've been overdoing the housework or driven long distances (was pleased that the hour and a bit drive from the airport yesterday didn't affect me too badly). Becky, the girl who does it, will be leaving mid July but I've arranged to carry on till she goes, and if progress continues like this I should be fit by then. Thank goodness - before I started with these sessions it was like having constant toothache in my arm!

Ok, will leave it here for now, hopefully it won't be so long before the next update ....... but I've a feeling you've heard that before!

Time to catch up - again!

There's been a good reason for my lack of blog updates, albeit a painful one.... While I was in the UK for Dougie's funeral I fell over in Mark's garden, on the drive which was wet and slippery after some rain. Landed on my right side, hurt my shoulder, and it's been giving me trouble ever since, making typing and lots of other things pretty uncomfortable.

Dougie's funeral was to be on 1st April, so I went back to the UK on 29th March. Sara had hoped to meet me at the airport but that day happened to be Scott's 40th birthday so Mark fetched me instead.

I visited Doreen and the family the day before, took her some flowers as it was family flowers only for the funeral. The day of the funeral was beautiful, probably the best of my whole stay. So much happened that day that it's impossible for me to go into detail here, so I won't! Doreen asked Sara and me to go to the house prior to going to church. There must have been 55 of us there (family and closest friends). All of us except the immediate family travelled to church in a vintage double decker bus - Dougie's dad had been a founder member of the local vintage vehicle society and years ago had given the society a couple of old vehicles. It was actually quite fun travelling around in that old bus (I could swear it was one I used to go to school on!). The church service was very moving, with two old friends, Mike Spencer and David Howe, both saying a few words - and both finding it extremely difficult. The church was packed, it's not a big church, and there must have been over 200 people present. Dougie's son Ray had produced an order of service but it was so much more than just that - it included photographs and a short biography as well. A lovely memento of the day.

From the church many of us went to the crematorium in Lincoln for a short ceremony - a convoy of vehicles led by the bus we were on, causing people in town to stop and stare as we passed by. There must have been another 50 or so people at the crematorium who hadn't been able to get to the church.

From there we returned to the village for refreshments at the pub where Dougie and his mates met on a Friday night. The food was excellent and we all stood or sat around in the garden, it was such a beautiful day - very fitting.

It was good to catch up with people I hadn't seen since we left the UK in September 2006, many of whom didn't recognise me at all. It was especially good to see our closest friends again, and we met up again a few days later for dinner at a local restaurant.

Everyone very impressed by my weight loss - I wore one of Sara's suits to the funeral as I don't have anything suitable in my wardrobe, the best thing ever about losing weight is that I can wear my daughter's clothes!

During my stay I split my time between Sara and Mark, a bit of a bag lady really, and managed a couple of visits to Simon and family, one of which was the Saturday of the easter weekend, the day of the aforementioned fall. Luckily Mark had a spare vehicle available, one he shares with friends when they go shooting, an Isuzu Trooper. Scarey to drive - bit like a tank, manual gearbox AND having to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road made for a few heart stopping moments to begin with.

That same easter Saturday also saw a crisis in Sara's family! Scott had been suffering one of his interminable ear infections for a few days and had been to the outpatients clinic at the hospital on the Thursday for treatment. He was due to return on that Saturday for a check up on the ward. However an emergency meant the doctor couldn't see him until much later in the day but by then his pain was so unbearable Sara took him to A & E instead. He was immediately admitted which threw all their easter plans into disarray. I'd already planned to go to Sara's for the night after visiting Simon and family. I ended up cooking easter sunday dinner for 8 for when Scott's parents and brother and Sara returned from afternoon visiting. Long time since I've catered for so many people! I amused the girls by getting them to listen to John's programme on Bay Radio, including emailing the studio and asking him to mention their names and play something for them. Elli was beside herself when she heard her name. (Scott left hospital the following Tuesday and has since been given the all clear. The conclusion is that a kind of dermatitis on the skin of the ear drum and canal was the cause of the problem. Let's hope it won't happen again.)

I stayed one night with Doreen and family which was lovely but other than that I just spent time with the family doing the usual family things.

Finally returned home on 15th April. The weather in the UK was disappointing apart from the day of Dougie's funeral and I looked forward to getting home to something warmer! Because of my shoulder injury I booked additional weight for my check in case to take care of things I'd bought and reduce the weight of my cabin bag. As usual I was on an early flight, so home by lunchtime, unpacked and laundry done by late afternoon. Just as well as that night (Wednesday) was the first of four consecutive nights out!

More later .........