A Little Girl!

Our Shona rang on Sunday morning to tell us that she is now a Grannie. The new arrival weighed in at eight pounds twelve ounces! Her name is Kaila (I'm not at all sure how to spell that).

I reckon that this makes 'im indoors a Great Uncle.............well, I suppose he had to be great at something!! Sorry mate.

Our best wishes to Shona and the proud parents and I'm looking forward to seeing the photos in June.

Poor Puppy

My first objective when I start my blog is to pick a title and the content flows from there. However, I'm ending before I set off tonight! Poor unhappy puppy.

We had a wander around the village this afternoon and met up with loads of our mates. Caron, David, young Charlotte, Maz, Bernard, Vi and Margaret as well as Pam and John. All good fun with lots of laughs which ended with a visit to the park as it was young Elena's birthday. (No pics, but happen Caron will forward a couple at a later date).

Talking of birthdays and as an aside, I reckon Maz is coming up with a cunning plan for my celebration on Wednesday. I keep hearing mutterings about a trip to Adeje, on the bus, with lots of beer stops. Don't expect a blog on May the second!! Hopefully, 'im indoors will come up with my printer/scanner/copier which I've been waiting two years for! Back to the plot!

I would never knock the Spanish as they have welcomed me to their country and are a happy go lucky type of folk...........but, I really don't like the way they treat their dogs. I've been watching this bloke all week as he has acquired a Yorkshire Terrier puppy which he tends to drag behind him everywhere he goes. She is around six weeks old and is such a sweetie. He is normally so drunk that he doesn't know where he is, never mind the pup. I did offer to buy her but he wouldn't have it.

Being my father's daughter I'll worry about it for weeks.

Big, Fat, Happy Fish!

This lot won't go to sleep hungry tonight after the bread Charlotte and I fed them today. It was well funny watching them scrabble and fight amongst each other for every piece.

Thankfully, Bar Antonio donated a bag of stale stuff especially for our day out.
















After all that hard work it was time for a little light relief. Ice-cream for Charlotte and a cold beer for me. Our game of I Spy was well interesting, a cross between English and Spanish. Charlotte won! Ten minutes in the swing park, five minutes in the shop and it was time to meet her Mum for a lift home.

What will we do next time?

A Proper Cake

Sue had a 'baking day' yesterday, using the baking tins which I brought back from England for her. She emailed this pic and gave us a piece to try. It looked very nice and tasted like a real one. Well done, Sue.

I also brought a Tesco Internet Phone back with me. It was half price......seven pounds something......with five pounds credit. I've installed it today and it works! I phoned Sam earlier and it cost eleven pence for around six minutes. Totally free if I call someone with the same device. Cool!!

Maz, Vi, Margaret and I had an away day to Los Christianos yesterday. We were 'ladies who lunch' according to Maz. I was in charge of directions and didn't get us lost once. A wander around the shops, lunch, afternoon tea and home by seven. Not a bad day with loads of laughs.

Tomorrow is Charlotte Day. The first we've had since we went off to La Gomera. Our plan is to catch the bus into Los Gigantes to feed the fish. A full report to follow.

Smiling for Grandad

I was so sad to leave these three happy children yesterday. Not to forget fluffy doggy of course!

I'm sort of between places in my head at the moment. My holiday was really great and I enjoyed every minute but it was good to come back to Tenerife again. The weather in England couldn't have been better and I've returned home even more brown than when I left!

Not too sure about the Man U hat, Martin x

Nessie or Not?

Things livened up a little after my lonely Friday. Sam came home from work on Saturday morning and drove us into Plymouth for a shopping day. We had a real 'girlie' day, buying bits of tat, and trying on different outfits. Saturday night in Liskeard was good too.

Unfortunately, we couldn't find a place to watch the Blackburn Rovers v Chelsea match. We settled on a few drinks at the Inn on the Shore whilst 'im indoors sent texts when goals were scored. Poor Blackburn, but I was told that they played really well.

I met up with some old mates on Monday, John and Barbie, and after a couple of hours in the Smugglers' Inn (pictured) we went off to their house for dinner.




I decided that a bit of a rest was in order today and spent most of it sitting in the garden. You wouldn't believe how the sea changed during the day and I really enjoyed watching it. Nessie hasn't moved south, honest, it's Neil fishing!

Best Laid Plans.........

I should be with Hazel tonight but she had a mishap and had to postpone our night out until next week. I must say that I was really disappointed and have been a bit lost tonight. Sam is at work and the children are staying with their father for the weekend. I do have two mad cats for company though!!

This is Max who seems to like doing his ablutions on my bed (Maisie's really but she has let me use it for a couple of weeks.........thanks Maisie). I think he's more in love with the electric blanket than me! Tiggy won't be far behind!

News from Tenerife isn't too good. Poor Brian has had a bad week. It seems that our Melvyn has gone too far to be mended this time and is off to the scrap yard in the sky. He served us well, bless him x

Today's Fun

We ventured down to the beach today taking Jamie, Martin, Maisie and Jamie's friend Anna, for a poke about the rock pools. Sam was really energetic and joined in whilst I sat reading in the sunshine. They had a bucket full of crabs to show for it but did put them back before we went home.







We drove out to Cargreen this evening for a bar snack at the Crooked Spaniards Inn. Very nice!







I'm looking forward to the weekend as I'm spending the night at Hazel's house tomorrow, sampling the night life of Liskeard on Saturday and watching the Blackburn Rovers v Chelsea match on Sunday. Not much time for blogging!

Poor Juanita

I had a call from 'im indoors earlier to tell me that poor Juanita had died during the night. I feel really sad.

Peep!

I think Cornwall is one of the most beautiful places on earth, especially when the sun is shining. We had a nice day sitting in the garden. Jamie is spending a couple of days with her friend and Martin went down to the beach. Here's Maisie hiding amongst her 'babies'.

Our lazy feeling continued throughout the day so cooking was out. Sam drove us to a little place called Minions at the edge of Bodmin Moor for dinner in the local pub. I did feel slightly guilty choosing lamb cutlets when I'd been saying how cute the newborn lambs were just moments before!

Easter

Martin and Maisie went off with their Dad to watch the banger racing on Sunday afternoon whilst we went over to the Halfway for carvery. Baz, his mum, Sam, Jamie and me. It was such a lovely day and although we ate indoors we sat outside afterwards enjoying a beer and watching the world go by.

Monday was a bit more hectic as Sam and I took all three of the children into Plymouth for the day. We started of with KFC........scrummy, wandered around the shops for a while and then went bowling. Martin won, well done him! Fish and chips for tea.

When I worked in Plymouth I very often walked over to Marks and Spencers after work on a Friday and you could always rely on 'im indoors ringing me the moment I stepped inside the door. Would you believe that the same thing happened today?!!!

Uneventful

I must be getting used to jet setting as I was well calm on the flight on Friday. We would have left early but for two dippy people who didn't hear the boarding call!

The weather is really lovely. We had a lazy day because we didn't get much sleep last night. A little like being at home as I sat in the garden doing my embroidery and listening to the children nattering. They have grown so much since I saw them last year. Jamie is quite the young lady, Martin is more mature and Maisie prattles on all the time.

Lots of pictures to follow soon.

One of Those Days

MaundyThursday is a strange sort of day, here in Spain. Some people take it as a public holiday and others don't so it's a little hit and miss as to which shops or businesses might be open. This is the first year since I moved here that I got it right.

The first cloud on the horizon was that my Internet connection went belly up. Save that problem for later.

Off I went, bright and early, well it was about half ten, early for me! I took Topsie for his morning walk, popped up to Duranza for essential supplies, followed by the Movistar shop to ask if my mobile phone would work in England, it won't! The nice, unhelpful lady said that it was far too expensive and refused to help me. I had a bit of a bee in my bonnet by this time as I can't imagine not having my phone. After searching for my contract and anything else that looked like it related to Movistar, I rang the freephone number. Finding that wasn't easy either. Thankfully, I was connected to a helpful person, who sorted it. Phew!

Next stop was the big supermarket for stuff to make a curry. Home again and it wasn't even one o'clock!

Internet connection...........I rang Telefonica who checked my line. No problem with that they said but it's very strange that it has worked perfectly since!

I made the curry, packed my suitcase, filled a couple of bags of old clothes for Katie Kennedy's charity, swept, mopped and dusted and then had a quiet half hour to myself before collecting Charlotte from nursery.

We had a little bit of a leaving do at five o'clock club as Vic is off to England tomorrow too. A few beers sitting in the sun, home for curry and Coronation Street. I'm well wrecked!

Preparations and Pie

I've been out and about so much lately, what with La Gomera, bowling and meeting up with people that I decided to have a stay at home type day today. A bit of sweeping and mopping, followed by an hour or so sitting on the balcony, a wander round the block with Topsie and then a quick visit to the supermarket for essential supplies.

I bought deodorant, toothpaste, a new toothbrush and half a kilo of minced beef! Such a selection! The minced beef turned into a plate meat pie and was quite a success. The rest of it is for my holiday.

Tomorrow's plan is to book my seat on the airport bus and to buy the suitcase I've had my eye on for a couple of weeks. Packing will start in earnest.

We have a new member of the five o'clock club. He's called Mick, is single and owns his own fabrications firm. He has been sitting with us for a week or two now but finally made his mark today by wandering into the ladies loo. He's as daft as us!

Not Long to Go

I've been bowling today and had some really good scores, the highest of which was a mighty 177! Best I've had in ages. I won't be playing again until the end of the month as Sunday League finishes whilst I'm away and Pip is standing in for me for the next Monday League game. A rest might do me good!

I'm so excited about my visit to England. Hayley did my hair for me last week and it's looking really nice. I'm also on the lookout for a new suitcase.

Lists are being created at the moment. Stuff not to forget, like phone charger, camera charger etc. Stuff to bring back. Sue wants baking tins, Vic wants baking apples and Joan has asked me to get some face cream. The things we miss!

I hadn't realised that April had turned up until I logged onto my tv download site on Sunday. A big red notice declared that we had to provide our uk tv license number before entering. It took a moment...........flippin' April Fool!

The pic, in case you are wondering, is of Brian's latest masterpiece.

Memories to Treasure

Such an early start!! We were at Charlotte's school by seven fifteen, waiting for the coaches and peering at each other in the dark! Thankfully, Caron introduced me to the Maestro, Charlotte's teacher, so I did have someone to 'follow' all day. Not knowing where I was going and not fully understanding the language was a bit scary. I'm sure that poor woman has nightmares of this strange English person being behind her every time she looked around!

The Spanish are renowned for poor organisation but I was so impressed with the way the whole thing was handled. Four coaches full of children, Mums, Dads, Grans, Grandads, Tia June and not a hitch.

First stop, Los Cristianos and the ferry. It took us around an hour to get to San Sebastian de La Gomera. Charlotte found the play area and I found coffee. It would have been better had I found my sea legs first as I lost half of it!

Our first stop was to this park..........look, real grass.......... where we spent half an hour or so eating our breakfast. The children were so impressed with ladybirds.

Off we went through the main streets of the town and I'd understood enough to realise that we were about to visit the Church. Such well behaved youngsters as they all sat quietly and prayed. Charlotte was peeping!

Back on the coaches to tour the island. It was

breathtaking. We stopped for a loo break and to stretch our legs for half an hour and then off again towards the top of the island. It was flippin' freezing. Knees knocking and hankering for a nice hot coffee, I ate my lunch and drank water. Thank goodness I didn't wear shorts! Charlotte and her mates enjoyed the swing park though and I had a bit of a natter with a couple of mums. Glad to be back on the coach!

On the first leg of our journey we had been treated with the sight of the island of La Palma but as we headed back towards San Sebastian, we had our first sighting of Tenerife. It was so beautiful. Sadly, I couldn't take a pic. Mount Teide seemed suspended above the clouds. Wonderful. One of the best sights I've ever seen. Charlotte had fallen asleep and missed it. Silly sausage!

All in all, a really wonderful day which I wouldn't have missed for the world. Caron found two well wrecked travellers when she collected us from school. Happy though!