Monday, March 31, 2008

summer is here... well maybe we should keep quiet last time we thought that we had a load of rain and high winds! and our water supplys are already low for this time of the year, april can be our wettest month, so we shall see!

meanwhile we are all making the most of the sun while we can still bear to be out in it! well us who live in town, where our terraces get up to 50 and just stay that way from end of june to beginning of september!

this afternoon when i got home franco and i went to see a man about a car! our car's iva (mot) is due in april, and we also need a new head light and part of our exhaust is sounding a bit noisy, actually it sounds like we driving around in a sports car not a corsa, so will let you know how it gets on and if it passes its test!

yesterday franco and i went to a car boot sale at S.E.P.E. the horse and donkey place between here and de la torre, was a good morning, afternoon! surrounded by horses and stuff! people came in fairly consistantly the whole time, and we sat and relaxed and chatted, missed the paella though it came out when we left! we just about made even after the price of the pitch and coffee and bacon butty! note... must buy new flask and take food!

when we got home yesterday i had a right paddy about something going on in the town hall behind the house... we had had to park elsewhere due to the signs up threatening the grua, which was fine... but all those people who were throwing food and fruit over onto our properties... we know who you are... your on the cctv, and when i see you..... what is it with people who throw food like that? why would you? grown up people as far as we can see? and if theyre kids, what are the parents telling them about how to behave...

mind you, its only a bit of food isnt it... seeing the news about the parking/driving fines in the uk, caught on cctv and then comes the fine! what am i moaning about? i think i'v just had too much sun and now i am getting all heated up, and i am trying to do some thing on here and its all g o i n g f a r t o o s l o w.... and franco is threatening to put MSG into my dinner... help!!!

The closer you get to your dream,
the more your personal legend
becomes your real reason for living.
The Alchemist

TTFN
Marian

Friday, March 28, 2008

how many times do i have tales to tell of the local correos (post office)? too many i hear you saying, but thats how it it! today so so many people waiting and until the last minute of me being served only one person serving! i know this isnt england, thank goodness most of the time.... but whats going on here... i got my box of POB mail and then everyone behind seemed to give up and just go to the counter, i thought a war was going to break out, i even threatened one man with the shop stamp i had in my hand! that made everyone stop... and laugh!

also today in the post office a lady needed to sign an aviso (delivery note), she couldnt write i guess because she asked for ink and put her finger print to the aviso instead... i have seen this here before...

but first things first, i have been trying to pay our water bill for nearly two months i guess, not received another yet, so cant be more than that, i went into my bank but the lady said it wasnt yet set up to make a payment, this was the day after it came, so i waited till the next week, still not possible to pay the 14€ bill... i tried again then, things being as they are at the moment just left it!

then wednesday franco signed for something at the door, it was the water bill, plus a 5€ fine for slow payment! well i have been trying to pay it! the guy was knocking on nearly all the doors down our street! they must make thousands on fines every other month! so yesterday i went to another bank to make the payment, but was refused from one and tried another (heck!) and twas told no has to be paid now it includes a fine at the office up c/Real! so this morning earlier than usual, just in cases! i went to the office and he took both old and new facturas (bills), typed in the number and threw them in the bin! i said... ah muy bien señor! they all laughed at my pretending he was getting rid of the debt like that! but no he was printing out a whole new bill for me to pay... in a bank... next door, which i did! humph!


today i lady came in the store who seems to attract lost dogs... she just finds them, or i think they find her, she is santa francesca here in alhaurín el grande, and today she had a small brown pup in a carry case to make a visit to the vets, he was found yesterday hanging by his back legs tied to a tree.... hungry and thirsty and well we know what would have followed... how can anyone live with themselves doing this to another life? what sort of person? the fines for this abuse here and now massive but its catching the people thats so hard to do.

should have put this bit earlier as after the pup bit, dont feel good mentioning franco did a car boot sale today and did real good! but he did, thank goodness! down at aqua mania.

Feelings should always be allowed to be free.
You should not judge a future love
by past suffering.
By the River Piedra
I Sat Down and Wept

TTFN
Marian


Wednesday, March 26, 2008

not sure weather to be hot or cold! was out on the terrace earlier catching the sun and reading.... now indoors and freeeezing! my hands are like ice! there is such a wind blowing the awning upstairs in making a racket and i thought something big had fallen over up there when mom and i were on the phone, pippa came running down, brave heart that she is, and franco ran up.... but everything looked ok!

the book i finished reading today was called A Foreign Affair, two innocents abroad in spain, by Shaun Briley... it was really very good, lots of funny stuff about us lot who move here, and a few of the trials and tribulations this couple went through. even though i live here now, i still enjoy any and all of these sort of books, the driving over lemons, etc etc, i guess it was the bottlebrush tree by hugh seymour-davies that motivated me so much when i first that, 20 years ago would you believe! gosh!

a neighbors cat spent the night up there tucked away in comfort and yesterday morning pippa did her usual run up the stairs growling to show she owns the place... usually just to scare away the odd reptile, but there was lola the cat! and lola went flying feet hardly touching the tiles and off through the railings at the front of the house.... i saw this bit, with frantic worry as there is about two foot of tiles on the other side then the drop down two floors to the road beneath! i rushed over... where was lola, ran down opened the front door, cant see the street directly infront of our house, and no cat, so i guess she did a rightangled turn as she fled... i was dreading see her laying there on the street poor ol gal that she is, she can move it when she needs to!

franco is going to the market on friday hopefully, at aquamania, and i see there is another market on sunday morning at the horse and donkey rescue centre at lauro golf, thats down the road oposite restaurant albatross on the de la torre road, and then a left at the bottom!

today i am quoting the words from my spanish lessons there on the right, as they change everyday and this is so lovely...

Cuando una brisa fresca bese tus mejillas, sentirás que estoy contigo.
When a fresh breeze kisses your cheeks you will feel that I am with you.

TTFN
Marian

Links and Comments

Sunday, March 23, 2008

oh tired tired tired.... at midnight last night Sábado Santo, Holy saturday, proceeded in our vera cruz church behind the house, by taking the body of christ and moving him to the purple church on the lower road and the Plaza del Convento for the live staging of the resurrection of Christ. we could hear lots going on, and today on and off all day...lots of rocket fire, poor pippa...

we had gone to bed by then as we had to be up early at 630am to go to the tivoli world market down in torremolinos.... well we were there but it wasnt! so at 815am we were on our way back home, its about a half hour journey down to the coast and tivoli, we had gone by way of mijas pueblo and the back way down to the 340 road... which is under heavy construction and not a way to drive for now ok! so coming home we just came directly along the 340 and just turned left up the alhaurín road, quicker and so much smoother!

we put 15ltrs of gas in the tank but at 1.08€.... well it got us there and back, but now it looks empty again! and what annoyed franco more than anything was the grand prix on early again this weekend, which means we missed the beginning, so all day we have avoided the news and are watching it now... well me with one eye!

we went out again later, we seemed to have built up a supply of surplus 'junk' by the back door, so this seemed an ideal opportunity after having to come past it to get our brick a brack in and out of the cave to get rid of the rubbish! and buy coffee!

i am still doing well with my new food habits, apart from the chocolate.... well? i am still sooooo craving sugar though, i thought by now i could kick the habit, chocolate isnt really sweet, well not after the sweet sugary caramel i was making all the time, and real sweet sweets i was eating!


last night i went round the neighbors for a drink, before they were off for dinner... yes a drink! i had a glass of red wine... not on my list of to haves.. but to avoid for a few months! and only a little... why do i sound so guilty? this is wrong i am a grown woman after all, allowed to drink by now surely!;-)

now see i have completely gone off track as usual, we were talking about stuff when a new treatment i had never heard of came up in conversation, one that has been helpful in fibromyalgia its called... oh i wish you could hear me say this and i could hear you back, because i know what some of you might think when reading this, at least on first seeing it if you havent heard of it either, because i had to clean up my mind! ok cant put it off its ROLFING!

hahahahahaha....
i have put a link up there, and its ok, its clean, dont be a worrying!!! and i think it could be something worth looking into, trouble is when you have had something for so long and tried so so many things over the years... but who knows... and let me know if any of you have tried it please.

this next quote sounds like me! although not sure its a good one?

It is important never to relax,
however far you have come.
The Alchemist

TTFN
Marian

Links and Comments






Saturday, March 22, 2008

easter saturday

this is my article in alhauríntoday.com!

it felt very strange writing this instead of just blogging... it should have felt the same but as i wrote i turned into a journalist under pressure....!

franco kept on chatting to me about this and that and i was yes yes whatever! getting all stressed out, goodness knows what for, i am me and i just write what i write, i feel as i am talking to friends... and thats what life is about...

TTFN
Marian

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Sticky Toffee Pudding!

well i am working 'off line' to do this this morning... electric is coming and going like the flick of a switch, we always laugh about our electric supply, we dont think we are actually linked to any other street, when ours goes off its only our street, or so it seems, so possible we are plugged in to a lamp post down near the 12 fountains or near abouts!

what weather yesterday.... thunder storms and lightening all morning, great to see, and then the rain that had started the evening before carried on more or less all day and evening, and this morning also, although right now its a strange looking sky, lots of grey and white fluffy clouds allowing just a sprinkling of the blue to show through.... yesterday while it was throwing it down i checked to see the weather down on the web came there in my links... it was 26.6 wow, and there were people walking about in tshirts and shorts... unbelievable eh! only half hour away, but thats how it is here, this side of the sierra de mijas one weather front, and coast side another! but as i watched the temperature there started to go down and it had reached 22 and cloudy before i got bored and clicked the off button!

have the radio on just now, but cant find ace.fm with this little chap! and have to have it near the window or we cant get anything, bit like our mobile phones!

have heard now of a couple of people who have gone to have an intolerance test done at life line... after reading my remarks here, which is great news, anyone who goes let me know how you get on please!

we have, did i tell you? the big light up on our house now.... yes yes i did... well one of the bands only came up our street last night during the proceedings, but i think we have to put it on this evening for the big procession, i coiled up the cable yesterday morning as i realised it had been laying in rain water all night.... great! plug that in and blow up all of alhaurin during the festivities eh!
************

ok electric back.... for a minute maybe, at least long enough to copy and past this i hope, if only fingers would hit the right keys...

oh and if your wondering.... why the sticky toffee pudding up there in the title? i am still having trouble with this windows vista and although i can open up a new folder, opening up a new page inside it is eluding me... so i blogged away in my recipe section under sticky toffee pudding!

Sometimes we have only ten minutes
to be with the love of our life
and thousands of hours
to spend thinking about them.
Eleven Minutes

TTFN
Marian

Links and Comments

Happy Easter Friends... old and new, far and wide...


brrrrrrrrrh! just went up stairs to read on the terraza and its cold up there! skys are grey and storming looking and a bbbbreeze blowing in.... so i am back down, a quick blog and then to my book i think!

was warmer this morning although most people were saying the weather had changed again... remember last april here in spain? the wettest ever, and over in england, the hottest ever, till three days after i arrived beginning of may when the rain came, or maybe i brought it over with me!

i have just checked out the weather report.... rain for today it says and thursday and friday... hope friday evening is dry for everyone up here, not another year of semana santa ruined... our first easter here it rained on the friday evening... i know i have said this before, but we were all down at the purple church, all the people in the parade had made theyre way down, even the one hundred men carrying jesus with the cross... and the man who through the week had been jesus through the proceedings of herod and walking wretched through the streets... he was just being raised up on the cross he had literally walked through these streets with... well dragged it ... and it started to rain, big wet drops glistening like stars as peoples flashes went off on theyre cameras...

pippa is better now thank you! back to normal food and has been barking all day at all the action in the street... looks like we will have the light up on our house again this year, it was my vecina's but its moved now!

alhaurín is being freshly painted white and bright... a typical andalucian white village again.... from coín it looks all shiny and clean.... the chairs are out in the streets around here in the old town, all tied up to doors and windows, ready for their owners to sit and watch all the action later...

my youngest son has just announced he is having his birthday party this year in prague! great if your traveling from the uk, but its twice the distance and price from here!

little chap came in the shop this morning, his little yorkie terrier ran off this morning, from somewhere near the white church i think, little chico is wearing a blue collar and is only small...

Love does not ask many questions,
because with thinking comes fear.
This might be the fear of being scorned,
being rejected or breaking the spell.
However ridiculous this may seem, that is how it is.
This is why one does not ask, one acts.
By The River piedra
I Sad Down and Wept

TTFN
Marian

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Monday, March 17, 2008

pippa is poorly.... she has gastroenteritis and was bad all of saturday and night, so after a one am call to vets, took her along on sunday where she had four jabs, and was told nil by mouth for 24hrs, franco took her today where she had the same jabs again and given some special food to cover the next 24hrs and then she has to go again... my poor baby, the vet said she may have got in from the bones we give her... we buy her the pig skins type, she said theyre not good, but they do sell them there at the vets... its the second time she has had this now, the other was over two years ago.

the easter celebrations are going better this year so far... no rain! out neighbors had a bit of a smoky fire saturday evening and were smoking out the show going on up at the church! oooops!

my head is still achy and my neck and shoulders... been a week now, i think that last migrane really upset my bones again... even my eye balls ache!

friday we went up to the aqua mania boot sale to see how it is and about up pitching up there this week... must find out if its on as its easter friday... we are gong to the laura golf on sunday forsure.

Everyone has their own way of learning. The Alchemist

TTFN
Marian

Thursday, March 13, 2008


well they were really 'taking the biscuit' today in the local correos! (post office)

this morning joined the line which was up to the door and waited my turn, quietly and peacefully enough, only an inner anger slowly building as we all stood there with only one person serving, and no real action happening even there! one by one we moved up closer to the counter.... and so half hour later i asked for our mail, the lady went out and called for it.... then 5 minutes later told me the sorters had gone for breakfast.... and to come back! yeah right!

un-believable....

No man is an island.
To fight the Good Fight we need help.
The Pilgrimage

TTFN
Marian

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

well we got straight into summer here today forsure.... 25 in the shade and 38C/100F in the sun on the roof terrace this afternoon... wonderful! i think tomorrow i may even wear sandles and a skirt! shock horror! just leaves the turmoil of getting my pasty legs out!

yesterday we went down to franco's sister place by the beach for some finishing touches... the reform is stunning, i know they will be pleased when they see it.

i forgot to say... when i went into the bank on monday mi amigo had gone... he was missed in his absence, the bank have moved him on to another branch, he says he reads my blog... but never had a comment so?

lots of practicing of spanish in the shop today which is good, a local man who always pops in can now say 'hello' and 'bye bye'!!

we went to la trocha market today but it wasnt going on! so must find out why and if its on next week for franco...

all the details of whats happening here in alhuarín el grande over samana santa are in alhauríntoday.com looks like a busy week, and fingers crossed for the weather, you probably dont remember but it was rain all the way last year, even the crucifiction couldnt take place!!!

To teach is to show what is possible;
to learn is to make yourself possible.
The Pilgrimage

TTFN
Marian



i suppose the above must sound strange to those of you with gas coming in through pipes etc, where you never even think of having to go out and buy a can of gas... where the bill coming in through the mail box is the only reminder... and never a thought to how much we have till the next delivery or which gas station/shop will be open so we can buy another.... arh! technology eh...

Monday, March 10, 2008

March winds doth blow....

here in spain too! as in not just in the UK! we had 20 mph gusts sunday...

but getting back.... or rather going back, i have had a migrane.... i used to get two a month sometimes didnt i, and i cant even remember when the last one was, how quickly we forget, as 'they' say! i have been having them regularly for nearly... well forever, and there has been the odd five or six months without, and this is one of those times, i have had headaches but this was a full blown knock me over and out job! went home thursday went to bed about 3 or 4pm and didnt get up till saturday at 8am! lots of all the normal horrid migrane stuff if you know what i mean with out going into the finer details! so saturday i was still headachy and disoriented, just in my PJ's all day till the late afternoon and we walked carefully down into town and back, not in my PJ'S! then yesterday we had our pitch down at tivoli world in torremolinos! had to get up at 630am! nice, after so much sleep its hard for the next few nights to get back into a routine...

i have skimmed of a bit of excess weight, not i know before anyone who knows me starts to scream at me do i need to lose any ok! but just not eating potatoes, cerials (well much)! or any sweet vegitables, pasta or rice, and a quite few other things too! the first week i lost 6lbs and then i lost another 4lbs the next week, and stabilized there which i thought i would, but as usual with a migrane i have lost another 4lbs with not eating for over 24hrs etc!! now these 4lbs will go straight back on as usual i hope, because now i really dont feel well, and i can only eat such small amounts despite feeling hungry prior to eating.

i digress as usual... so...

we had to be ready to get into the market about 815, which we were and lined up to be advised where to pitch up, after removing the car the bloke told us to move to a better spot as we only had one table, so we were placed between the path for the toilets and the entry road for the marketeers! great selling spot... NOT!

and then we had the strong wind! blowing everyones stock all over the place and the fountain water like a shower over those near enough! not us at least!

it was beautiful and sunny and after a while i managed to take off the sleeves of my jacket and did get quite a nice tan... i think this was all most of the people got yesterday, not very busy for anybody, but we will keep on returning, and now with three tables and not get squashed out!

We learn to fight and we grow strong by fighting.
The Valkyries

TTFN
Marian

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

hola amigos,

tuesday already! weather been good, 25 yesterday in the shade..... lover...ly!

yesterday franco and i went to Día in coín for our groceries but it was shut! a supermarket that shuts during the day... even in spain this is strange, so día shuts at 14.30 monday to thursday and is open all day fridays and saturdays...

we went instead to lidl and bumped into friends there and had a good chat in the way of the poor girl who was cleaning the floors!

its hard now finding foods without MSG, it looks like it effects fibromyalgia alot too, we found something else about its effects on FMS that was written years ago... wish i had seen that before now...

tony and steph are coming out on holidays here in a months time, cant wait!

It is necessary to be humble in order to learn...
Brida

TTFN
Marian

Links and comments...


for above tlf: 952595604 evenings or 617945319 days.... email: neverrunout@gmail.com
must get a better photo on here soon!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Happy Mothers Day

beautiful beautiful days after all that rain of last week.... spring is the air...

yesterday i went with friends down to los boliches area of fuengirola to check on a villa they are looking after, very nice huge place with heated out door pool... but, still prefer our little place here... we had coffee down on the paseo marítimo, in the torreblanca bit i think! it was nice though, apart from some bloke complaining about his coffee... why are people so rude, we actually thought it was a good cuppa!

we also went along to the miramar parque and popped into the electrical store and shoe shop and .... iceland! actually some of their prices have come down a bit recently... some of them!


i was hunting down the forms for the NIE number you can download and print out on the net yesterday when i came across a site for ordering them on line from england.... i am sorry but i have to include another site a link to which is here.... i have been so ripped off here by so many people i cant let anyone else, click on the link above and you can have the NIE form in translation sent to you and you can fill it out etc, all the instructions are above there, including noting that it costs nothing.... that is nada, nout, niente! not the 200 or 300€ on the site i came across, it is free apart from the cost of two passport sized photos and a photocopy of your passport! and ok its a pain, but all part of living here... everything is a pain when it concerns authorities, and paper work in general, you have to get to the police station early, line up with the rest of US foreigners, and come back to collect it!

but believe you me it is only just the begining, if you fall at this small hurdle you wont make here...

Making mistakes is a way of taking action.
Eleven Minutes

TTFN
Marian


We use this gadget below... its great!


numbers hard to read sorry.... its 952595604 evenings, and 617945319, and email... neverrunout@gmail.com