Couldn't Find It

Someone has placed a geocache on the far side of our valley, on the north side of Benicadell - the highest point of the valley.

Off we went today, to try and find it.

It wasn't too far away, but I set the sat-nav to get us as close as possible, up the right lane. Then 'Jane' told us to take a right turn, up an unpaved track. No, I said to Ed, this isn't the right way. Yes it was! We finally managed to turn around and go up the track.



Up, and up. And up. The track was quite good, although it was unpaved, and wound it's way around the back of the hill, before comming out into our valley again. The views from both sides were amazing. Finally, we encountered the lodge near the cache, and parked up. A short stroll and we were at GZ (ground zero).



And that was that. Zero. We searched for ages, but we couldn't find the cache. Although it was a small one, we knew what we were looking for, but it eluded us. I'm going to keep an eye on this one now. Either the person that placed it will update his information, or someone will find it. Then, I'll go again and have another look for it.

All was not lost though. We went the back way over the mountain, on to the motorcycle museum at Guadalest, and had a wonderful menu-del-dia in the restaurant next door.

Time to bug you two

It must be the time of year, but recently, we have had several rhino bettles again. We didn't get many last year, but we have in the past.



These things are so big, you can't be frightened of them. It's not as if they are creepy, or slimy or fluttery. They simply fly into the side of the house (evidently not very agile) and simply crash to the floor.



They are pretty dopey having just crashed, so it is easy to pick them up and put them somewhere safe, ready to recover and fly on.

It's a Small World After All

It is always sad when a plan doesn't come together.

My friend Tina got married at the end of May, but I wasn't able to go to her wedding. Alison had been invited to another family wedding on the same date, so instead, Tracey went in our place. And? Well, it's just that Tracey lives in Hong Kong!

As she was in europe, I arranged to meet her in Spain!

This isn't as mad as it sounds, as she used to have a property just south of Torrevieja and her parents still do.

I remembered how to get to the house, so drove down the new motorway, past Cuidad Quesada where John used to live, and through a couple of toll booths. Then I hit little England! Every second car seemed to have English plates on it, and of the remainder, many were other nationalities. My Spanish car seemed to be the odd one out!

As I arrived, Tracey's dad was just going out - apparently, to buy me a cake! When he got back, we all had coffe and cake on the terrace. Tracey was wearing a lovely neckless, which I was rather upset to see. She had turned 50 just shortly before, and Alison and I had chosen some jewellery for her. We found a lovely Swarovski necklace and matching earing. Guess what she was wearing? Oh dear. I've had to arrange for the receipt to go back to the UK and Tracey would take the gift back to her sister, so Alison can exchange them at some point. At least it shows that we chose something she liked!

After coffe and cake, Tracey and her daughter Christina and I went to the local beach. It was bliss. Not too hot, and a little overcast, making it fine for sitting in all day. There was a little beach bar, and some well kept toilets, so there was no need to leave the beach at all.





The sea had some really good waves rolling in, so we all played in the sea too. Christina was a delight, making us help with building sandcastles, but happy enough on her own, that we got to chat a lot too.

Later, after a lovely shower, we went to a restaurant in the countryside. As it happened, both Tracey and I ordered steak, which was the size of a fist! I'm guessing it was Argentinian, because it just melted in the mouth.

We did have one interruption at the table. There were some cats around, very interested in any titbits. One even walked along the wall next to my elbow, in the hope of something. Not impressed, I gave it a quick tap on the nose. The cat wasn't expecting this, and jumped into the air. However, as it came back down, it missed the wall, and promptly disappeared! Christina was horrified (so was I, but I wasn't going to tell her) and demanded to know what had happened to the cat. Thankfully, at that moment I saw it again, walking off in a huff! "It's fine, look." Evidently, that must have happened before, because a few minutes later it was back again, but not so close!

I was sad to leave her, but I had a long drive home.

Flash (ah-a)

We had a night of fantastic thunderstorms.

There actually wasn't very much rain (here anyway - loads further south), but the sky was alight for hours, and rolling with thunder.

It was great to simply sit outside and watch it, as there was lightening every few minutes or so.




Max hates thunder, so he just followed us around, looking for reassurance all of the time.

Red Tape

Having gutted the kitchen, we now had a lorry full of tiles, bricks and building rubble. Not a problem, take it to the eco-park (tip).

Off we went. We stopped by the little hut, to check which was the skip for building rubble. 'You can't dump that without a licence'. What? We've just gutted our kitchen - it's not a commercial job. 'You need a licence to do any work'. What? Even inside the house? 'Yes - the council is so broke, that all works now have to be authorised, so that the council can find out who is doing what, which contractors are being used, and whether or not they are declaring the income from the job.'



Oh dear. We had no idea. Thankfully, my face must have made that perfectly clear, so he let us dump it all 'just this time'. As it happened, there was very little left to do, so this was more or less everything.

Ed reversed the truck up to the right skip, and tipped the tipper up, dropping it all off in one easy go.

We thanked the little man very much and drove home. As we were almost back, Ed asked, 'did you take the shovel off?' Oh dear - buried under 3 tons of hardcore. Bye bye shovel.

Gutted

Where to begin? If I begin the begin, I'll be writing pages and pages!


So, the time came to order the new kitchen and finally get rid of the breezeblocks and marble. Yes, they were functional, but they were also designed for people of a somewhat smaller stature.

We trotted of to a well known DIY store and ordered everything. I spoke to the kitchen designer, 'do you have an appointment?', but before I could say 'no, do you want my money?', he motioned me to sit down, and we went through my plans carefully. A little later, he gave me the price for everything, but one look at my face showed he had overdone it. There were certain parts that I hadn't thought about, but he seemed to be selling me every accessory possible. Um, no. A few deletions later, and I was happy.

"Do you want to take it now?" Oh, goodness, I didn't expect everything to be in stock. He checked carefully, and yes - everything was there. Great - we'll come back at 4:30 with a truck. He checked again - yes, that would be fine. He printed off a slip with a barcode, and I paid at the till. Job done.

After lunch, we returned, and spotted the pallet of white bits and bobs by the delivery door. I handed over my bit of paper, and the girl ran off! She returned a little later with a man that spoke excellent English. 'Sorry, but about 10 items aren't in stock. It is our fault, we will deliver them in about 10 days, when they are here'. Hmm, ok.

So, 3 weeks later, I get a friend to call, and there are still 2 bits outstanding. 2 weeks later, there is 1 outstanding. Finally, the last one has arrived, so we pick them all up.



Time to get demolishing. Ed removed all of the tiles from the walls, as well as the marble worktops and pillars. He also gutted the pantry and the loose floor tiles, leaving a shell - and a house full of brick dust!

Paddling Time

As the weather warmed up, we felt sorry for the dogs in their fur coats.

When we moved in, the previous occupants had left a sand pit, which we had often put to good use, mixing sand / cement etc. This time, we put it to use as a paddling pool for Max and Paddy.





As usual, Max thought it was a great idea, but Paddy wasn't so sure. Max was very happy splashing about in it, then running around, but Paddy thought that just walking through it was good enough for him!