'Nothing Lasts Forever'

Says a Cadbury's spokesman. I'm not sure when that really annoying advert, at the start of Coronation Street, disappeared. Having done a bit of research, I found that it has been irritating folk for ten years!

I just happened to notice that Hilda's ducks took flight just before tonight's programme. Will furniture adverts be more infuriating than chocolate? It remains to be seen.

Bits and Bats

I'm really pleased that my sunset pic won the prize as the best photograph from the last six competitions. Well cool!! I'm not sure what it might be yet, not that it matters as it will be living at my brother's house. It's just good to win.

Our friend, John, Pam's husband is recovering in hospital. He has been taken out of intensive care and moved to a ward. They are monitoring him for the next few days before deciding on treatment. Pam has her family with her now, thank goodness.

As for Clio..........she now has the strongest collar in her size. No more escapes for her!!

Clio's Close Call

We almost lost her.

Her collar snapped open as we were waiting to cross the road this evening and as she had spotted Mick sitting outside Bar Antonio, off she went at a gallop.

Thankfully, the driver of the car heading towards her, spotted the problem and managed to brake in time. No traffic coming up on the other side either. Mick was like a man possessed trying to catch her as she ran around under the tables.

I'm still having flashbacks and she is one lucky puppy!!

How Awful

My friend, Pam, is more of a worrier than I am, and that is saying something. She has mentioned, more than once, that she is really scared of something happening to her husband whilst they are living here. In fact, we were only discussing it on Saturday afternoon.

It is a problem for all of us ex-pats. It takes half a day for family to get here..........should they have the spare cash, that is. Health insurance and all the rest of the legal stuff is hard to understand and cope with.

We met up with Mick, earlier, who told us that Pam's husband, John, had a heart attack this afternoon and has been admitted to the main hospital in Santa Cruz. I can't get in touch with her no matter how hard I try and can only presume that she is at the hospital with him.

Not a nice thing for either of them to go through. Lets hope all is well.

Auntie Maz Came Home!

Clio was well happy to see her today and we went off to bowling leaving her in capable hands. Not that their Rottweiler, Deefer, was too impressed, especially after two weeks in kennels. I think he hates her!

Many thanks though. They posted my cute parcel and brought me enough Xmas Cards to see me through. Bernard fetched me a new lighter...........in the shape of a bowling pin. Cool!

As for the bowling, Doreen and I won but Brian and Jeff's result will be released at a later date.

It has reached the six month thing on the photo comp and as I have had a win during this time I'm up for a prize. I'm winning with fifty percent of the votes, so far. As Charlotte would say, I'm so excited!!

Poor Clio!

The village church is about to be pulled down. It has been the centre of the village for more years than anyone can remember. It seems that the last rain we had, March, I think, sort of ruined the roof.

Services are now performed in the square and there we were earlier, enjoying a quiet beer at a nearby bar. Little Clio was fast asleep by my feet when the speakers started up..........I've never seen her move so fast. Straight into her Daddy's lap! Scary stuff!

She didn't have such a good time when we got home either. Our neighbour, Annie, has been on holiday in France for the past few weeks and returned today. Her dog, Sammy, decided to bark, happily celebrating his return home. Poor Clio, scared her to death again!!

Thanks to Charlotte for the photo of the church which she took, with my old brick of a camera, on New Year's Eve. xx

A Bowling Update

We all knew that over forty weeks for the Sunday bowling season would have teams falling by the wayside, but we never imagined that we would be down to six. It's becoming really boring and, as Doreen's back is playing up again, I reckon it will drop again soon.

Monday League is a totally different story. We all have a good laugh, no-one takes it too seriously and no handicaps. Unfortunately, it was the last game of the season today. Ros and I managed a six - two win which placed us in the top half. Not bad!! It's presentation day in two weeks with a fun bowl and a free buffet.

We have new sponsors for next season as Chrissys Bar closed a few weeks ago. Dave and Karen at Bar San Juan stepped into the breach and even provided us with new shirts. Many thanks to them x

A Long Weekend

I was up and about early on Saturday morning as Charlotte was turning up for a few hours, because the nursery was closed. Mum and Dad still had to go off to work.

We watched a little television, played with Clio and computer Barbie, spoke to Nanna on MSN and surprisingly enough, four hours passed quite quickly. She was really good but it is so nice giving them back!!

No sleep-in again this morning either as I'd promised Maz that I would clean one of the apartments which she is in charge of. She has been really kind, taking care of our wicked dog and posting my cute parcel! I roped 'im indoors in and so we left Clio with Auntie Pam and went off to get the mops out. It didn't take too long with both of us at it and then we went off to bowling. I do hope that the holiday makers don't have problems as I'm in charge for the whole week! 'I know nothing' comes to mind!

Bowling again on Monday...........a full report to follow.

My Brother's Claim to Fame!

This is a photo of the Great Ossy Walk, which a member of the local forum kindly sent to me. Unfortunately, it isn't very clear but I do assure you that my brother, Ray, his wife, Alison, and their two sons are on it. It's a charity walk and well done to all who competed x.

A Teenager!

My eldest grandchild, Jamie, will be thirteen over the weekend. I last saw her during my Easter break and I really can't believe how much she has changed since then.

Have a really lovely day xxxx

Almost a Dilemma!

Our Digibox only allows you to record the channel that you are watching which isn't normally a problem, but tonight, Brian wanted to watch the football and I'm hooked on Hell's Kitchen. To be honest, he didn't stand a cat in hell's chance as I always tape it for Caron. Two against one!

He was sent off to watch it at the bar, whilst Clio and I settled down for a girlie evening. After Corrie, I watched a programme called 'Supernanny' which I'd never seen before. Four really unruly children with parents who didn't have a clue. It sort of got me thinking about training dogs. I know, I'm dotty, but if a 'naughty spot' could change a child's behaviour, could it affect a puppy which has run riot for three weeks?

I gave it a go, and would you believe that it worked miracles? Every time she bit me, she got put into her place and told to sit. At the end of two hours, all I had to say was 'naughty spot' and she behaved. She now knows her name, knows to sit and stay and is fast asleep in her own bed!

Please, please, don't let it be a one day wonder!

Cameras.......Again!

I can't remember the last time I used my Canon SLR and being eager to enter the latest photo competition, I dredged it out. I remember paying around 500 euros for it, four years ago, and now it's a steal at a hundred quid!

No batteries! Now, where on earth would I have put them when I packed the camera away? Oh well, after a search, I gave up on it and went down to the photo shop. Thirteen euros!! Brian was mortified and declared 'I hope you bloody use it!'!!

It's well strange thinking about film again. I remember when I was at college doing GCSE, 'A' level and City and Guilds in photography, and thinking that these digital thingies would never catch on! Now I'm back to studying the shot more as I can't press delete! The other problem is that it's so heavy with the zoom lens attached.

Oh well, back to the dark ages and some coloured glass to find for the competition.........happen a few brown beer bottles!

Painful

I promised Mark, a couple of weeks ago, that I would send my poorly sick camera back to him. It was a little traumatic as I really loved it and can remember how happy and excited I was when I received it.

Anyway, there I was, surrounded by parcel tape, paper and bubble wrap, when the penny dropped! My mate, Maz, is off to England tomorrow............I wonder if?

A quick phone call and it's sorted. She's going to post it in Barnsley for me on Wednesday morning and, hopefully, it will be with Mark during the next week or so.

It was such a cute parcel.............I wish I could have taken a pic!!

Photo Comp 21

The subject was 'Anything Local to You'. I had this photo of our local harbour amongst my stock pile and thought it had half a chance of winning.

It didn't even get a vote. I'm gutted!

The Big Divide!

The football season has been back with us for a few weeks now and you really don't know where you are with it. It was much easier when it was at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon but nowadays, it can be all week long. Ok, I did exaggerate slightly, but I'm partly right. Last Saturday we had to be out for one, I forget who was playing but it was very important, and this week it was five o'clock. I quite like football but I've sort of lost interest with this topsy turvy arrangement.

The lads propped up the bar whilst us ladies, Caron, Pam, Charlotte and I sat outside having a meaningful conversation. Charlotte asked where puppies came from and her mum patiently explained that it was all to do with eggs and seeds and mummies and daddies. As you may imagine, this wasn't good enough. She really wanted to know where the first mummy and daddy came from! Bless her!

I've just found out............England plays again on Wednesday...........grrrrrrr.

It's Friday!!

Now that I'm a retired person, Friday doesn't mean very much these days, but I do like to celebrate it on occasion. Thinking back, I can remember flying around the Police Station, trying to make sure that everything was in place for the weekend. After that, a visit to the Unity, for a quick half of lager before going home. I'm not too sure that I still have the stamina for all that stuff and forget the Unity........long since demolished to make way for a new shopping complex. That was a sad day and I'm glad I didn't see it go, especially as the replacement is so scary!!

Back to reality:

Young Clio, doesn't seem to be getting the message about toilet training, no matter how I try. A smacked bum for every accident followed by a trip to the newspaper. Happen we may have a breakthrough today though, as I shouted it her for piddling and she ran off and sat on the paper. I'm sure that she was grinning!!

Maisie had her first day at proper school today. Her brother, Martin, assured me that she was ok and had fun. Jamie, enters her second year at senior school on Monday. Good luck to her.

Charlotte also went back to school after her three-month break. She was 'so excited' yesterday but it was shortlived as it was just a sort of induction day. Never mind, full time from next week.

Maz and Bernard are off to England next week and it's reported that another friend is travelling back tomorrow for hospital treatment. All our love and good wishes to her xxx.

Village news over and time for bed!

Repsol

There I was feeling guilty about ten euros and now I find that they are leading the Formula One motorcycle championships.

Sorry, I need to start again.

We called into the local Repsol garage on our way to bowling today as Vera was gasping a little. Having clocked up ten euros worth of petrol, Brian went off to pay. The office was locked! What can one do in such a situation? We hung around, with a couple more people, for five minutes or so, but no-one turned up. Finally, Brian tried to give the ten euros to the chap in the tapas bar next door. He wasn't interested and told us to wait. We waited until we were in danger of being late for bowling and then cleared off.

I still feel a bit bad but Brian just wished that he'd filled the tank!

A Brilliant Book!

I started this one, mainly because it felt nice, and now I'm really hooked. Who would have thought that Vlad the Impaler would keep me interested? I won't give the game away but would recommend it to anyone as, from the first page onwards, it's well riveting. Well written and well presented.

I've just had another two days without the internet. Telefonica put their hands up to this one and repaired the line. Well done them but it still didn't work. Brian decided to sort it out this afternoon and checked out all the internal connections............still no joy. I was prepared for another long weekend without my computer fix but having gone to bed in a sulk earlier, I realised that the box thingy wasn't closed properly. Fixed!!

I wouldn't like to be in Brian's shoes in the morning!