Monday, 15 October 2012

Spain, pain and rain


Back from two weeks in the hot Spanish sunshine to reacquaint myself with the cold, wind and rain of England.  What joy.  The fortnight was great fun and kicked off when I woke up minus a rather large filling in my wisdom tooth (think half the tooth and you will get the idea) on the first morning away.  I don’t normally take painkillers on holiday but this time I had packed a couple of packs so eked them out over the two weeks...............some people might think that taking Panadol away for the first time was down to witchcraft, however I prefer to consider it forward planning.  Now I am back home I can’t get an appointment to have the gap plugged until November.  Ouch, ouch and thrice ouch.  I never did find the one that dropped out..............I guess it morphed into a midnight snack.

We saw plenty sights around Andalucia including some rather unpleasant female ones on the beach.  Good grief, in future please consider the feelings and sanity of the other beach visitors and  (a) do not wave your various body parts around for all to see; (b) wear clothing that is suitable for your age and body size; and (c) remove the brillo pads from under your arms and around the bikini line – the supermarket near the beach sells razors for this purpose.  Thank you.

The town we were staying near had a local fiesta towards the end of our stay which we went for a look at.  There was a fairground, all the children were dressed in traditional costumes, food and prize winning stalls were sited around the area and all in all the whole event was brilliant.  I have an aversion to fairground rides and will only go on the ghost train, so imagine my excitement when we found one!  We paid our three Euros each and hopped aboard ready to brush against fake cobwebs and hear ghostly whooooooo sounds...............hmmmm, the train in fact went around a circular track passing behind a board then back outside again several times, then did the same thing backwards before another couple of laps forwards!  No ghostly stuff at all, however it was so silly it was funny and well worth the financial outlay.

The locals had a celebratory church service then headed outside to carry on the theme.  This took the form of various flamenco teams dancing and singing in some sort of contest.  Contrary to the holiday brochures depicting such dancers, these ladies were generally over sixty years of age and some sadly were more pantomime dame than flamenco dancer, however it was fun to watch and certainly got all the watching tourists into the mood.

Local wildlife was in abundance around the villa and started with ants about an inch in length.  They scuttled about here and there before finally launching themselves into the pool and drowning.  Later in the week we met a large cricket, a lizard, some teeny tiny ants and some beetles.  Fortunately these were of the insect variety and not the musical Beatle species as had Sir Macca turned up then it would have been time to beat a hasty retreat back to Blighty.

I am currently sitting watching the great British weather at both ends of my house.  Out the front it is bright and sunny with blue skies, out the back the sky is black and about to rain.  Bizarre, and I have had enough of the cold weather already.  However, compared to the sight that greeted us on the run in to Malaga airport, we have it pretty good I suppose.  The area had been subjected to heavy flooding in the few days prior to our arrival and the land looked like a third world country with the amount of water and mud everywhere, crops ruined, villages under water and general chaos for those involved.  Once again I was reminded of how glad I am to live at the top of a hill (although the top of a hill in a hot and sunny country would be far preferable)........if I get flooded then the whole town will have already been submerged!

Adios amigos.

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