Alton Towers

Timothy took me to Alton Towers for his birthday. (Thank you very much - I think!)

As he has a special pass, we were able to get there by 9am. We went straight on to the Oblivion and then to the Rita Queen of Speed. Now - I have always loved roller coasters etc, as long as they are not too high, but the power of Rita took me by suprise, as you can tell from the picture! 0 - 100 in 2 seconds! Before the ride had even finished, I told Tim "I feel sick". He found it very funny. He was waving his arms around, while I held on in sheer terror!

Next, he took me on Hex, a creepy ride, so well made that I had to sit down afterwards, otherwise I really would have been sick! I made him do the gentle things after that; Sea World, Log flume (Tim got very wet), Rapid ride, then I felt ready enough for the runaway train! After another break, we went on Nemesis (my favourite) but I still felt too ill to go on Air. Tim was very disappointed with me, but I had no intention of being sick in front of my son, even it was his fault!

I really did enjoy the day, even though I needed a lay down later on!

Paddy in the Pool!

We are slowly working on the pool and poolhouse. We now have power to the pool and pump house, and Ed is currently building the steps in the pool, before we get the new pipework fitted.

The weather has been very wet, so Ed has covered the steps with a tarpaulin to stop the rain causing any problems. On Tuesday morning (very early) Ed heard a terrible noise, but couldn't see what it was. He got up from the chair on the terrace, and saw Max peering into the pool. Oh no. Paddy had stood on the edge of the tarpaulin and slipped, falling into the empty pool.

It was pouring down, but Ed had to go out into the rain, climb down the ladder into the pool and rescue Paddy. The worst thing was, he doesn't like to be picked up, so Poor Ed was struggling with a wriggly dog, in the rain, up a ladder! (I wish I had been awake to see it!)

Sunshine and Showers

As you can see from this photo, the weather just doesn't know what to do at the moment! It is still warm (20+ degrees every day) but a beautiful sunny day can quickly turn into a wash-out.

Flower Power

We still have lots of beautiful flowers in the garden, even though we haven't cultivated very much yet.

Ironically, now that we have had a little rain, it will soon be time to get the lawn mower back out. There are already signs of green underneath the almond trees, as the grass grows back after it's summer scorching.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

We have had a very warm summer - apparently one of the hottest Augusts in many years. As a result of this, everyone has warned us that there will be a terrible Gota Fria this year. (Gota Fria literally means 'cold drop' and refers to the change in the weather.)

In 2007, when we moved here, there was the worst Gota Fria in 50 years. The devastation was terrible. Last year, there was a Gota Fria again, although not quite as bad, the storms were awful and even led to 2 people drowning in our village. Now, we are expecting the same again. Thank goodness we live where we do, at the top of the town, only a few houses higher than us.

Last week, we had the first of the annual rain. Within just a few minutes, the 3 terraces were awash. But a few hours later, all was dry and sunny again!

Hablo Espanol

Well at least sometimes my little Spanish goes a long way.

The thermostat for my cooker had gone faulty, leaving me with no grill (well, unless you wanted to wait 20 minutes for cheese on toast). Ed took the offending part off, and we trecked around for a replacement. First stop, a white goods shop in l'Olleria. Oh no, not available anywhere in l'Olleria, we need to go to Xativa. The nice man named the shop, and said it was on the industrial estate near the car showrooms. Easy!

Off we went to Xativa. Hmm. No shop with that name visible, but we found an electrical shop. This must be it! The most unhelpful chap I have met said no, try a plumber on the way into Xativa. (He thought it was a heating element and didn't give me the chance to explain.)

Off to a third shop, (white goods again) where they have always been very helpful. Sure enough, no, they didn't have them, but the lovely man explained where we needed to go. He asked if we knew Xativa well, and even drew us a little map. We trecked off again, and sure enough, found a wonderful shop with everything you might need, to repair cookers, washing machines etc. Better still, it was almost 1/2 the price of the part I had found on the internet!

"Que bien. Muchas gracias" "A ti"
Wonderful. Thank you very much. And the same to you.

Kidnapped!

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Indeed. My knowledge of Spanish is still little, and my ability to speak it, even less, but somehow we manage to communicate very well - so I thought.

Recently, we had some business dealings with a Spanish man from the village and we had muddled along pretty well, considering I was spending a lot of money on his behalf! One morning, much to my annoyance, he turned up at 9:45. This was when I was still going to the pool every day, and I knew that my friend would be waiting for me. He wanted me to ring the UK again but had forgotten that there was an 1 hour time difference. I explained that I was going to swim my 32 lengths and then I would call, as there would be no answer now.

We had a further conversation, and, after Ed had put on a T-shirt, we would all go to the pool. As there is a bar there, I thought this would be perfect. I could swim, and they could have coffee and a bocadillo (baguette). We jumped into his car, and drove towards town. Then, as we passed his friend's house, his friend said "this is my house" - ah, we knew it was near us, but didn't know which one. Much to my suprise, we turned into his drive. Why? Perhaps he wanted to show us the house? I presumed that we would turn around and drive back out. No. The car stopped, and both Spainish men got out. What is happening? I thought we were going to the pool. I looked at Ed, and got we out too. Then he said "this is my pool, would you like to get changed?" Oh dear. I had misunderstood. Instead of going to the public pool, we went to his (10 meter) pool. Did he really expect me to swim 800 meters, or just 32 lengths? How funny. I tried very hard to swim without touching the sides, but it just wasn't the same!