Brindleboy123's Blog

Good Afternoon and welcome from an extremely hot Torrevieja (38 degrees at the moment)!

The holiday season is in full swing here…I’m sitting in relative quiet in our little flat at the moment as the one saving grace of living in Spain is that many still adhere to the afternoon siesta which gives a reprieve from the noise from everyone in the pool and general chatter.  I know it sounds like I’m a real miserable old goat but I’m not…honest!  Everything just seems so much worse when you are trying to cope with the heat!  Last year we put a gate up which meant that the children didn’t come over to the door to put their hands through to the dogs.  Our neighbours (unfortunately the only people in the block that we just can’t see eye to eye with who have made it perfectly obvious they don’t like British!) complained about the gate!  We came to an agreement to take it down in August as this is the only (thankfully) time they are here (yippee!).  The good thing is though that the children this year are that much older and boys appear to have taken the place over my dogs!

There are still a few little ones that adore our little Lola and every time I leave the flat with her we are surrounded with little ones who want to pat her!  She is very good and well behaved even though the little ones can be a bit frightening when they have hands going in all directions.  When its too bad I take her for a walk by collecting her from the other window from Tony!! Poor little Bobs, no-one bothers to touch him – guess he isn’t that pretty but he’s gorgeous in my eyes!

Do you have one of those memory foam mattresses? We bought ours a couple of years ago and all has been well with it until this year.  Not sure if it is because now the ceilings have been lowered and the flat is even more warm that usual, but we have a problem with moisture underneath in the storage part.  It has been an absolute nightmare.  We have about 10 boxes underneath full of clothes for the winter (Tony has one or two as well!) I know I shouldn’t have so many clothes but there are a couple of “one day’s” in there…you know the ones I mean, “one day I will go somewhere to wear that” or more often “one day I will fit into that again”!!! Anyway, to cut a log and tiring story short, it has meant that we have had to empty everything out and either wash it or air it outside.  People have looked at me as if I was completely crackers over the last few weeks.  They have bikini’s on their lines and mine were full of woolly jumpers and coats!

We discovered household vinegar which worked a treat.  Now our clothes are aired and have a delightful smell of fish and chips (nah, not really)!  It has taken away the mould that was under the bed though so fingers crossed it will be better now.  Leaving the bed up during the day so it gets a good airing too.  OK so that may be boring to read but it has been traumatic!  I guess the mattresses are great because they do mould into your body shape (ugh…that’s possibly not so good and means when I get up I have to try to hold my tummy in so if Tony looks the imprint I leave behind looks better than the real thing!), but I’m not convinced they are the best thing for a hot country like this……we’ll watch this space with vinegar in hand and fingers crossed.

Bob is quited excited though and has taken to crawling in the boxes when we are not looking……!

Tony has finally had the last part of his tatto finished.  It has taken four sessions and was apparently very painful although I didn’t feel a thing.  It started off with just having our little grand-child Jacob’s name on the arm but he then decided to go over a tattoo which he had done when he was just 17. Someone asked if he had been deprived of a colouring book when he was a child and I think they may have a point.  I used to think it looked awful to have tattoos and I’m not keen on them on women but if you take a step back and think out the box a bit, it really is very good art.  The artist that did it is, I admit, very talented.

When I first met Tony he had just a couple of small tattoos, mostly from his army days.  I’m not sure how I would have felt if I had met him and he had an arm like this!  Hopefully I wouldn’t have been as narrow-minded as many people are when they see someone with tattoos.

Little Jacob is now getting really big and even more gorgeous if that is possible.  I’m off to see him at the end of September and we are both going over in November.  I never would have believed that Tony would be so keen to go back to the UK and it is amazing what impact this little man has had on him.  Thank heavens for skype because it gives us the chance to see Samantha and Jacob each week.  To see him smiling at his mum is also a wonderful thing.  It doesn’t seem 5 minutes ago that Samantha was phoning me so disappointed that she wasn’t pregnant and now here we are with him at nearly 3 months old.  He has already outgrown so many clothes and even the moses basket.   I’ve put a photo of him below with his cousins.  Little Callum is about 3 or 4 months older than Jacob and until recently clothes have been coming to Samantha as Callum outgrew them.  I think, as Ben’s Mum said,  it may well be the case that the clothes will be going in the other direction in the future!

I’ve known several people since I have lived here that have gone on about how much they missed their grandchildren and how they couldn’t wait to see them.  Some have even gone back to live in the UK because they simply couldn’t be apart.  I used to think they were crazy!  Now, I am beginning to understand what they mean – although I know I would not return to the UK to live.  Knowing that I can pop back for a little “fix” whenever I want certainly helps.

Have you been watching this year’s Big Brother?  I know it is probably something that you shouldn’t admit to, but I have been enjoying it!  One thing though, what are those Abs on the pap guy all about??? Perhaps if he had a flat stomach he could have got away with it but when you have a belly like his (nothing wrong with it but certainly not flat), seeing Abs rippling on the top looks just a little odd! As for Jedward…well!  I can’t make up my mind if it is all just an act or if they really do behave like that day to day.  They sppear to be so very young for their age….but at the same time I guess, they have probably made more money that most at their age so they can’t be that daft can they!

Someone mentioned on another forum recently about the price of gold at the moment.  I had a rummage through and found a few odd bits and pieces that I no longer wore.  I thought it might get me a few euros but was REALLY impressed when I took it into town and was offered 608 euros!  Then I became a bit suspicious about the man in the shop and decided to tell him I would “think about it” and we went to a different shop.  Would you believe that we actually managed to get 980 euros for exactly the same bits!  Did the deal and this will give us our holiday with Jacob later in the year! I wasn’t going to sell some of the pieces I had but then, as Tony said, what is the point of keeping it and just leaving it in a box forever!  He is right and this way we get to have some enjoyment out of it too.  Don’t think I have anything left to sell now though that isn’t of sentimental value so in the box it will stay.  I would recommend anyone to go through their box though and clear out any broken or unwanted pieces that you have.  Don’t leave it in there – get some enjoyment from it too!

We are in the middle of a “debate” with the company that we bought our sofa from at the moment.  I’m really annoyed because when we had the flat renovated we bought what we thought would be a hard-waring sofa and last years.  Now, just a year later it seems to be falling to pieces.  Initially, they are saying that I havent maintained it properly. Damn cheek!  I know that everything in the EU is guaranteed for 2 years (did you know that?) so I’m going to hold out to get it replaced or repaired.  I’ll keep you posted on this one. Although my Spanish isn’t too bad and certainly good enough to get me by day to day, it can be quite difficult to understand some people on the telephone so I’m hoping that I can meet with someone face to face to sort it out.

Right, well it is time for me to get going now.  I just wanted to catch up with you all and to let you know that we are still alive and kicking, albeit very slowly in this heat!  We are intending to go to Karaoke tonight (ok, ok, not everyone likes it but I enjoy a good old sing song).  Reminds me, last time I went someone asked me if I would sing at their charity night!  I knew if I held on I would be spotted!  I had been hoping for Simon Cowell but the local fundraiser is better than nothing!

Take care everyone and I’ll catch up with you again soon when there is more going on – when I actually venture outside the front door that is!

Bell x

In spite of the cost of living, it’s still popular.  ~Kathy Norris