Brindleboy123's Blog

Evening everyone….”it ain’t half hot mum”!  We registered 42 degrees at one point this week.  To be honest, for the past 2 days I have hardly left the flat, chosen instead to stay inside with the air conditioning on. I know it sounds  daft but am finding the heat draining this year even more than usual….must be my age I guess!

There are people everywhere around here…nearly all the flats in the neighbourhood seem to be occupied now.  Its funny because in some cases where you see garage doors closed up in the winter, they are now opened up and behind the doors are actually garages turned into little flats or even shops!  The bins are full to overflowing every night (thankfully they are emptied every night around midnight) and there is the smell of summer in the air!

We had a bit of police action a couple of blocks away this week.  Someone had pushed to huge wheelie bin full of melons into the garages under the block.  Next I knew, there was a gathering of Spanish and police everywhere!  It was like a scene from Hawaii 5 0! There is never a lack of police in this place for sure….I can honestly say that not a day goes by that you don’t see police patrolling.  We have police on bikes, motorbikes, cars and foot! Admittedly quite often it is that they are in the local cafe’s or bars but we really are spoilt here.  I think it could also be the case that where we are is mostly Spanish and I do think personally that they tend to patrol in these areas rather in the ones where there is a high proportion of ex-pats.

On friday this week we had the celebration for Saint Carmen….I believe she is the patron of the fishermen. There are celebrations in the town with a boat “bringing her in” to the town and up to the church. The evening ends with a massive firework display (one of many that we get here all through the year).  We have several neighbours called Carmen so there were plenty of parties going on.  Many people in Spain are named after various saints and they have a “saints day” which they celebrate along with their birthday.  They are given gifts on their saints day and party on! Don’t think there is a Saint Bell or even a Michele (real name).  Tony gets to celebrate on San Antonio day…..bit of a cheat really as his name is Tony and not even Antony!

Took the dogs to have their hair cut on Friday (not the wee wee kid, she needs all the help she can get on the looks side so think she is best left with her golden locks). The two grumpy old men were even more grumpier when they realised where they were going. Bob was particularly unhappy as I think he realised that he would also get his anal gland “done”…poor chap! You should see them now!  Bob looks like Dobby from Harry Potter and Chunky, well! His personality really does change when he has his hair cut. He seems to think he is some sort of thug now and is ready to take on the world! He’s strutting around again like a pup! Dopey thing can’t understand who Bobby is when he has his hair cut and is forever licking him all over…we have to keep shouting at him “its Bobby”! He just gives us “the look” and walks away!

Our neighbours arrived yesterday.  They are the only family here that wont speak to us. At the moment it is only the daughter and her friends.  They tend to only come for a couple of weekends and the month of August each year…thankfully! We put a new gat up on the bit of space we share with them outside the front door.  This way, I am able to put the dogs out there in the winter so they can have a look around.  The main reason for doing it though is because in the summer the children here run around the place day and night playing hide and seek (or whatever that is in Spanish!) and they hide by our door and just love to annoy the dogs!  Anyway, the neighbours don’t seem to like the gate and it was opened right up when I got up with the bit that goes into the floor pulled up!  I guess when we have the annual meeting in August there will be ructions about the gate!  You know, sometimes I just feel like saying to them, “there are some people who are coping with such difficult things and situations in life and if all you have is a gate to worry about, you are very lucky”!  Arghhhhh  I think that since I have had to say goodbye to my family over the past couple of years it has certainly enabled me to put things into perspective. One of my pet hates nowadays is certainly pettiness.

Well my friends, time to go now…..fighting off yet another migraine today and I think I have caught it before it has got too bad…so not going to push my luck by staying on the computer too long.!

Night night, sleep tight and catch you all again real soon!

Love, Bell x

http://kurioso.es/english/ghost-spain/

Just been sent this link and thought it would give you an idea of what it was like here last week…..ghost town, but as I’ve already said and you would have seen, it was definately the lull before the storm!!

Well what a couple of days its been here!  It has been a sea of red and yellow absolutely everywhere.  Tony and I watched the match with the oldies, Brenda and Andrew.  They are avid football hooligans and have supported Crystal Palace for the past 60 years! I don’t think there is anything they don’t know about football!  I never watch it myself…prefer Rugby with “real” men! We settled down with all the doors and windows firmly closed in an attempt to stop the dogs from going doo dally with all the horns and fireworks.  What a dirty lot Holland were?! You just can’t imagine what it was like here when Spain finally scored.  I think the floor vibrated as everyone stood up and cheered…I ran into the bathroom with my fingers in my ears just in case the other side scored!

As the whistle finally was blown we went outside and well, I’ve never seen so many flags! I don’t think the car horns stopped blowing until around 3 am! There were flags on buses, taxis, rubbish collection lorries, you name it and there was a flag! The next day Spanish tv showed the team on the plane coming home where the party had already started. They went from the airport to visit the King and Queen of Spain who kissed and cuddled the players…….sorry, but could you imagine that happening in the UK? I don’t think Mam would be amused!! After the King they went on for a visit with Mr Bean, oops sorry, the Prime Minister, Zapatero (Google him and I tell you, you won’t be able to tell the difference between the two!).  Finally, 1 million people waited for them in Madrid for the tour of the City.  It was heartwarming to see the son of the manager, Vicente Del Bosque who has Downs being given the World Cup and holding it high.  Celebrations are going on everywhere and there is certainly a lot of very, very proud people in the country right now.

Got the results from our doc fest. Tony is now wearing a very fetching stocking to help with a pulled tendon and I am apparently in the first stage of osteoarthritis in my hips. I’ve known I  have a problem with my knee so it wasn’t too much of a surprise to hear that it was also in my hip.  What a pair of old crocks!  Just have to have my annual mammogram now…not looking forward to that and I’m always on tender hooks until that is over with.

Heard the news about the government’s plans to place budgets back with GP’s….ummm seem to remember this year’s ago when it was under the name of GP Fundholding! Didn’t work then so not sure why it should be any different now.  I was very concerned when I heard that the emphasis is going to be taken away from waiting times and concentrating on quality.  Surely both are equally important? I pray this will now mean a return to long waiting times as it was in the past.

Tony went and had new tattoo’s today. When I first met him I would have had no idea he had any tattoo’s as they are all well hidden when he is dressed and I was not that keen to be honest but they have grown on me (certainly not enough for me to have any though!).  He had a quill pen on his back which has the following words underneath “Viviendo el sueno con la persona amada” which translates to something along the lines of “Living the dream with the person I love” (apologies that I couldnt put the accents where they are due….no idea where they are on this keyboard!).  He also had “Miss Daisey” tattooed on his arm which I thought was a lovely thing to do.  She would have loved it so much….Tony really did think the world of Miss Daisey and she loved him to bits too.  Its been quite difficult the last couple of days as I have had to explain to a few people that have arrived on holiday that Miss Daisey had passed away.  So many people had taken the time to get to know her even though she was only living here a short time and she had obviously touched many hearts.  Yesterday we also visited one of her favourite little bars behind our apartment block. It was the first time since she passed away and it broke my heart to sit there and not to see her smiling face as the bar man brought her out a shot to try!  She used to tell everyone about the shots she had tried and how her mouth had been on fire.  Several people have said what a good age she was when she died and yes I know she was 86 but it really doesn’t make it any easier does it.  I still miss every bone in her body and wish I had been able to do more for her and wonder if I had done enough, what ever enough is.

Tony is still dieting and its like living with Naomi Campbell! I really don’t want a skinny man! I know he has a long way to go before he would be skinny but I just love it when he tucks in to his food!  We did go off the wagon a bit today though and I enjoyed every second..neighbours came over from Belgium bringing our annual box of chocolates! Must have had about 6 each and you know what, I enjoyed every single calorie! My guess is that ol Naomi will beast himself tomorrow for eating them and go in his little gym for a bit longer!

(I wish you could see it here right now…Tony is trying to say the words that he has on his back…..so far nowhere near it!!!). I will try to post some photos when we take them tomorrow.

Wee wee kid was in trouble this morning (how unusual!)  Tony took her out and she found a dead mouse which she decided was hers and no-one not even her precious Tony was going to have. He said all he could see was the tail hanging out of her mouth!! Yuck! He thankfully did manage to get it out but little monster sulked for ages!

Oh, must tell you this.  Brenda phoned her son to see how things were going while she was away as they had been on holiday too leaving their 18 year old son, Adam, home alone. Apparently all had gone well and the house was spotless but Adam was caught out because it turns out he did have the usual “party while the folks are away” and tidied everything well, putting all the bottles in a bin bag outside by the bin ready for collection which fortunately was before the folks returned home.  He wouldn’t have been caught if it wasn’t for the fact that the bin man refused to take the bottles because they weren’t in the appropriate recycling bin and the bin men put them back by the side of the house!!!!

Right my friends, off now to have a look around the internet to see what has been happening in the big bad world over the last few days.

Love to you all as always.  Keep safe and smile….remember only another 4 years and then England can try again to be “Campeones del Mundo”!!!! xxxx

What can I say!!!!

Can’t wait for sunday…..a real Spanish day here, F1 (Alonso to win) followed by the match!!!….and I get to eat chocolate on the sofa when we watch….heaven!

Inside out of the sun at the moment…..its madness out there! Cars, cars and more cars. All full of people determined to soak up the rays of this burning thing in the sky! You can always tell when summer is really here because the bin men bring us more bins!  We now have two bins at the end of the road which will be emptied (what’s left after the “bin dippers” have been in that is!) every night at around midnight.  There is the usual aroma of sun tan cream mixed with garlic and the sea.  Fashion is now completely out of the window as the flower beach dresses, floppy hats and ever so appealing y fronts (you know sir, I really do know they are not your trunks!).  Not to worry, only 2 months to go before we can wave goodbye to everyone once again lock the gates to Torrevieja until next year!

This morning Tony and I had a “Doc Fest”!  Haven’t been for a little while so saved up all our ailments for one shot this morning!  I think he had writers cramp by the time we finished.  Upshot is that I have the mammogram some time this week or next, annual blood tests for both of us to cover everything he could think of and we both have to have x rays on Friday on our crocky old bodies!

Brenda and Andrew arrived last night and it was really good to see them again.  Sadly, Andrew’s Parkinson’s has taken hold a little bit more but he is still managing to get around for the time being.  They were telling me about a neighbour of their son, Trevor.  Each year the fruit trees are full so rather than see them go to waste he puts them outside with a note for people to help themself.  This year, he put all the apples in a wheelbarrow with the usual note.  Day after he came down and all the apples were on his front lawn and someone had taken the wheelbarrow!!!  I creased up laughing at that one….try to do a good turn and all that!

Right, well press on….going to Tony’s “gym” later for a walk on the running machine….well, you know what I mean!

Catch you soon.  Bell x

Just popped in as at the moment I’m hiding inside out of the sun! I know, I should be grateful but it burns your feet just walking outside if you don’t have your shoes on (not in the habit of walking the streets with no shoes on but the pool area feels like my back garden, even if I do have to share it with 53 flats!).Dogs do a hop, skip and jump just to do a wee outside and run like the clappers to get back in! There are quite a few little kiddywinkles here now, all Spanish and all thinking that the Ugly one is a cuddly bear….to us he is, to them….I don’t think so! Funny thing is, if they were in the house he would be absolutely fine with them, he is just not nice when he is on a lead. They all want to hold the Wee Wee kid, but as no-one has put their hands up to take her home, why should I share her!! No, to be honest, I think she is fine with them but because she has had little contact with little ones because no-one really lives here in the winter when she has been growing, I have to be careful.

If you read my reply to Susie, you would see that it is 32 degrees here and I think that is us for the summer now, year before last it didn’t rain from April to October.  Sounds great but to be honest the heat can really drain you (no pleasing some of us I know).  Some people we know who live just in Murcia say it has been 40 degrees there this weekend!  Yuck!  It never ceases to amaze me though the number of English that stay out in the sun all day.  I have literally seen youngsters with burn blisters and it looks horrendous.

The mossies are still after me too…..so today we decided to buy a net for the front gate to keep the little blighters out. We have blinds at the windows but tend to keep the door gate opened most of the time so we can have some air blowing through.  The mossies obviously think we do this so they can have a short cut through to the road behind, eating whichever one of us they can on the way!  So today, off we went to the DIY shop and had a bargain of 10 euros for the netting.  Tony set about cutting it to size and got out his gun (glue one of course) and stuck the netting neatly to the front of the gate. Picture this, he was outside, I’m on the inside and as he finished he told me to come outside to have a look.  Would have done if it wasn’t for the fact that there isn’t a handle to the gate on the inside!  We normally have to put our hand through the bar to open the gate….can’t do that with the net on it!  Neither of us had even thought of that!   We managed to work around it in the end, just have to use a key to open the gate….we spent a fortune on the flat this year but we still end up with the old Blue Peter method in the end!

Heard from Judy the other day (she was the lady who I told you about that cares for Chris, John and Louise).  Apparently all went well on the journey home, despite Mr O’Leary’s best efforts to make the flight as difficult as possible for the disabled. John got a little bit confused when he got home and couldn’t remember where his bedroom was and kept going into a small room next to his own.  When Judy went in and managed to hold on to his hand to guide him out, he insisted he didn’t want to dance and just wanted to sit down!  Eventually she got him to his bedroom where he apparently let out a sigh of relief and said “ah there it is at last”!  Bless him.  Chris is now looking forward to Christmas!

Had coffee on the beach earlier on and have to admit that I bought some more counterfeit cd’s.  A lovely Chinese girl looks out for me now!  I’m listening to them as I type…Vera Lynn, Kenny G and Glee!!  Tony looks at me as if I have lost the plot…Vera Lynn?????!!  I just love all sorts of music and really don’t care whether it is popular or not!

Looks like we will be in for some fireworks again tonight….Spain playing Paraguay in the World Cup.  You won’t see a soul outside other than those in the bars and if they win….batten down the hatches! We have our flag flying, its attached to the mop broom and hanging off the gate…if you can’t beat um, join um!

Right then folks, time to say Adios for today…..busy week coming up for us as we have Brenda and Andrew over for a couple of weeks.  Lovely couple in their 70’s …we are their adopted children for the time that they are here!

Catch you all soon.  Take care….keep smiling  (and as they say “you don’t need to feel the rays of the sun to know that someone is thinking of you”)…. Bell x