Half A Century

Well the time finally came and I confessed that I am no longer 25. 'Tis true. The dreaded half century finally caught up with me.

I had a really nice day. We chilled out at home and went out for a meal in the evening.

Birthday pressies included an ipod from John, a brilliant photo album from Mum and Dad and some stunning earrings from Ed, amongst other things. I had a really lovely day.

Vincente, when he discovered how old I was, even made me a special cake, which he presnted to us at the end of the evening.

Thank you everyone, for all your kind wishes and messages. xx

My Darling Happy Anniversary

This year, for our Anniversary, we were invited to a 50th Birthday Party! Andy's birthday is not actually until November, but as the weather is still nice in September, he decided to celebrate it early.

We went to their house, a beautiful house on a ridge, giving 360 degree views around the valley. There was a table groaning with food, and lots of people to eat it! Children of all ages were running around, going in and out of the pool and trying to clear the table at the same time!

We stayed for a while, then went off to The Olive Branch for a meal. Ed had a mixed grill and I had prawns. Both of us made mistakes! There was nothing wrong with the food at all, but, Ed's plate was piled so high, he had no chance of finishing it. As for my prawns, well, they were delicious, but the first one's were too hot to open without burning my fingertips, and then the last one's were cold!

The platefuls of vegetables were barely touched. I think I had 3 chips, and the mushrooms, but that was all. Poor Ed didn't have any dessert, but I managed a small lemon mouse!

Since it changed hands a few years ago, we have always eaten well there, but (I hope they don't read this), they really do need to cut down the portion sizes a bit! A couple of euros off the price, and only 1/2 on the plate, and they would turn a much better profit!

One clever thing they do there... in the basket of sauces, there is a little pair of scissors, so you can actually open the sachets! Good move.

Fireworks

At the end of the fiestas, there is a big firework display.

Although we would be able to see it from the house, we decided to go into town, and watch it from where they are all set off, across from a dry river bed.

Having been told it started at midnight, we decided to go into town at 10:30ish, and have a couple of drinks, before wanderign down. We drove in, parked up and wandered to the bar. Just as we sat down (outside) with our drinks, the first rockets went up.

It started at 11, not 12!!!

Thankfully, the street we were in was wide enough for us to see quite well, although we missed the ground level ones (seeing only the change in the colour of the sky!


Ah well. One year, we will get it right.

The Show Must Go On

Each year, there is an extravaganza of some sort, on the big stage in the park.

There have been some fantastic shows in the past, but this year I was a little worried, as the Town Hall have been adamant about cutting costs for the fiestas. In the end, it was actually quite good.

To start with, there were some dancers. They were more of a gymnastic style, but they put on a very good show, to some up-to-date music. Much of it was the men twirling the girls around, but they also moved into the audience, so that everyone was able to see them properly.

After that, there was a magician. He got some children up from the stage, but one of them had to be told (and then shown) exactly what to do. I think the poor lad had stage fright. It was quite clever, but we were a little too far away to see exactly what was happening.

The magician also did several tricks with an assistant. For a couple of these, I could see how he did them. Still, it was quite impressive to see. The girl was incredibly bendy to move to the very bottom of the cardboard box that he was thrusting swords through! When he chopped her in half, the audience was very intruiged, especially as there were two men from the village helping out.

The last act (I presume) was a comedian. We only stayed for a little while, as, being foreign (!) we couldn't understand everything he said. Some of it was perfectly obvious, but the innuendos were lost on us! Also, we were quite tired after all of our late nights, and just wanted to go to bed!

Let Battle Commence

I was quite convinced that the battle of the moors taking the castle from the Christians was at 12 o'clock, and had been telling everyone that. On the day of the battle, we got up ratherlate, so this was another event that we were to miss.

As time went on, we couldn't hear anything and I didn't understand why. We may live some way off, but the battle is loud enough to hear from here!

Then at about 2pm, we heard it all. Then the penny dropped... there is a Mass at 12 o'clock and the battle takes place afterwards. First, all of the filas have to parade into the square (the Christians and then the Moors) and then the speeches are all done, before the battle itself commences.

As usual, we went to the later one, when the Christians re-capture the castle. This year, both of the lead roles were held by people a little uncomfortable in the spotlight. The Christian king had someone next to him, with a sheet of paper, prompting him whenever necessary and the Moor King was actually the Queen, as the King didn't want to do it! She didn't live on l'Olleria and her natural language was castelliano, so she had to learn the whole thing in another language! Well done her!

Come the actual battle, we weren't in our normal spot and I found myself hiding in a doorway to take some photos. HUGE mistake! The sound of the guns echoing inside the porch turned out to be enough to keep my ears ringing for nearly a week! I went quite deaf for about 2 days. Next year, I really must take some ear defenders (we have enough of them around the house).

Variable Weather

In spite of the localised showers, it has been a dry summer.

The showers have literally been for a few hours at a time and although very heavy, being so short lived, any dampness has soon cleared.

I don't think there has been much rain since May really. I remember using a brolly in July, dashing to my spanish classes, but that too was a sort shower, just bad timing!

Max made the most of his sunbed (until it got too hot)!

The Grand Parade

Once again, there were showers on the day of the Grand Parade. This is such a big event though, that a shower doesn't count. Only a full blown storm would result in it being cancelled.

We scurried into town and managed to park, then raced through the streets to find a good viewing spot. The town seemed rather empty, although there were certainly some people around. Then, we spotted our neighbour. She told us, that the start had been delayed by 1/2 hour, because of the weather. We live too far away to hear the town tannoy, so didn't know about the delay! She suggested that we sit with her, as there were lots of vacant places, but we politely declined. We didn't want to spend the whole parade in one place, and also, we would have had to pay for the seat!

We strolled down, and tucked ourselves in a nice spot, with a view up the high street. We were just opposite all of the princesses and near to a decent bar! As the crowds got thicker and the chairs filled, I was highly amused by a couple trying to show 2 folding chairs into the space where we were standing. They did their best to shove us aside, but we stood (quite) firm. Did they thing we'd been saving the place for them?

Thankfully, a light shower just before the start didn't last long, and everyone was able to put away their umbrellas. The storm clouds held off and it ended up being a nice evening.

The parade itself was the usual affair. We spotted the people we knew, despite their outlandish costumes and were even able to view from a couple of different places. At the end, the two floats with the pricesses came by, and we saw Marta throwing confetti.

Once it finished, we caught up with several spanish people we knew, and were introduced to a few more. We only saw a couple of english people during the whole event, so we have no idea where they were all viewing from. The parade itself it actually quite long, so there are lots of good spots. Maybe one year, we will actually go and have a look at the end part, to see everyone enjoying them selves as they complete the march. It must be quite a relief for some of them, to remove their headdresses!