And so Christmas has arrived.

The Ladies of Terreros Group was initially formed by 3 of the current ladies who started it off as a slimming club. As others joined the emphasis moved away from the slimming and more to being a social and supportive group. The initial ladies Ann, Carol & Sandra found it a good way to share information about living here and dealing with the problems that occured. As more ladies joined them, this became a huge source of support and knowledge and there are now regularly more than 20 ladies at the weekly meetings.

One of Ann's ideas was to introduce Christmas Carol's to the area in a way of keeping a little of her own english traditions to help her through a Christmas away from her family. Again, over the years this has grown into the fantastic evening that we had on Wednesday night.

It was held at a local bar, The Montesol, who were totally caught on the hop by the numbers that turned up. So our first job was to bring more tables and chairs outside. All the ladies had brought food to hand round in the interval, (yes, there would be enough songs to need an interval) there was everything from sausage rolls and sandwiches to mince pies and cakes. There were also lots of raffle prizes, some donated by the ladies and others by local businesses who were very generous in supporting us.




To get the evening under way Amelia, one of our Spanish ladies introduced a lady who had come down from Pulpi council. Pulpi is where our local town hall is and all the official bits are done for Terreros.


As the crowd were settling it was time for the ladies to assemble at the front, Santa hats in place. As is the tradition is Spain, many of us were wearing red. I have to say for poor Sandra trying to get us all settled, it would have been easier to sort a group of 5 year olds! But eventually we were all gathered, song sheets in hand.

We had rehearsed a few times but suddenly looking out at a sea of expectant faces it really felt like a couple more practice sessions would have been useful, there must have been over a hundred people looking back at us.


But, song sheets at the ready Sandra counted us in for the first carol, Once in Royal David's City.

And it sounded pretty good! In an effort to improve the atmosphere the bar owner dimmed the lights so we were singing against a back cloth of fairy lights, very pretty, just one problem

WE COULDN'T READ THE WORDS!

So, lights back on we continued through the carol's. A few of us that go to Amelia for Spanish lessons had learnt a traditional Spanish carol - Villancico. I never quite understood the relevance of the carol as it's about fishes drinking in the river but it has a really catchy tune. Click here for a link to Youtube and a really catchy version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84wS1mS0N60 It would be nice to think ours sounded like this but all the spanish in the crowd joined in and seemed to really enjoy it.

During the interval the ladies passed around all the food and sold raffle tickets and shook collection buckets amongst the crowd, all the monies raised would be donated to local charities in Pulpi.

It wasn't long before we were back at the front singing the second list of songs, I think we must have done over 20 carols in total, some of which I haven't sung since I left primary school.

We had a surprise visitor at the end when Santa dropped in for a quick visit, although I think Santa was really too busy making all the toys and sent his friend Superman as a stand in!

It was an absolutely brilliant evening and really brought Christmas to Terreros and on the night, we raised over €300 for local charities which is a great result.

And the last word goes to Santa (who we managed to snap having a quick beer)

Ho Ho Ho MERRY CHRISTMAS

And so we have Kumquat Jam!

Now, by any stretch of the imagination I am no cook. I can scramble eggs for the pups, I can put together a sandwich and I can make a dinner by opening cans, packets or defrosting - but baking? jam making?.............it's all a mystery to me.

So, what ever possessed me to decide to make Kumquat Jam?

Well, it seemed a shame to waste this home grown crop of fruit after I have nurtured it through the summer months and the recipe I downloaded from Google only required Kumquats, Sugar and a microwave, so even I should be capable of putting those 3 elements together and getting something from it.

OK, so for those of you new to a Kumquat, allow me to introduce the little fruit.

It's about an inch in size and in Spanish it's called a 'naranjita' which is quite literally 'little orange'.

So first of all we have to peel them, de-seed them and take out the centre - fiddly, time consuming but not impossible.

So, sleeves rolled up on off we go...

After about an hour (well maybe a little less) I had reduced the 2 dozen Kumquats to a small amount of fruit needed for the jam.

It looked enough for me to try it so, back to the kitchen.

Now the recipe needs about 1/3 sugar to the weight of Kumquats - needless to say I had such a small amount of fruit my scales didn't even move so it was a bit of guess work but I added sugar, stirred it in and put it in the microwave for about 4 minutes to bring it to the boil. Then it was a case of remove, stir and re-microwave a minute at a time until it was the right consistency.

And once it was jam like I put it into a ramikin to cool in the fridge.

I have to say, it looked okay, but it was too hot to try it so I had to be patient.

Now, what I didn't know is that it would continue to thicken as it cooled down so half an hour later when I went back to try it - it was a solid lump. Never one to give up, I boiled the kettle and added some boiling water to the dish, allowed it to soak a few minutes and stirred - and success. I had proper Kumquat Jam. It tastes orangey but with a sourness to it, but by adding more sugar initially it could be sweetened. You can also slice the Kumquat so that you include the rind if you prefer.

So, was this a way to pass a couple of hours or a means to using up fruit for a purpose? Well, this mornings breakfast was 2 slices of toast with Kumquat Jam made from home grown fruit. Not bad for a beginner.

Now, I have been given 2 dozen lemons so I'm off to get the ingredients to have a go at Lemon Curd!

Our Cambank is gone.

Terreros is a small place and as such only has one bank with one cash point.

Correction: had one bank with one cash point. As from this weekend we no longer have a bank in Terreros. Now, I can live without the bank as I do most of my banking online and I think in the 7 months we have been here I have only gone into the bank once BUT no cash point, now that is going to cause some problems.

Apparently, the lack of customers and the 2nd break-in have led to the closure of the bank and I assume they didn't see any profit in keeping the cash point here. So we now need to be a little more organised with our cash and remember to top up when we are out in Aguilas or Puerta Rey .....

or anywhere really.

What a crop of Kumquats!

Back on the 27th August I wrote about a little Kumquat tree that the Terreros ladies had bought me for my birthday and was so proud that I had managed to keep it alive long enough for it to grow fruit and to start to ripen.



It was watered lovingly every day through the intense summer heat and then when the temperatures fell I realised that it was necessary to reduce the amount of water I was giving it as all the fruits were growing so rapidly they were splitting their skins and the fruit inside was turning mouldy.



We then had the rains of October and the strong winds meant the tree was moved to a sheltered spot to protect it - oh, how this tree has been nurtured.



However, moving it to a sheltered spot meant out of site out of mind and it hasn't had the tender loving care over the last few weeks that it deserves



UNTIL YESTERDAY .....



when I remembered it. In the past couple of weeks when it has been ignored save for a couple of hours of sunshine warmth each day and the odd downpour of rain.



Such treatment obviously suits it, the fruits have been able to grow at a pace which didn't split the skins, the sunshine has turned them a proper orange and the little tree has delivered a sizeable crop of perfect orange fruits.



Not bad for a beginner, eh? And no, we haven't tried eating one yet - maybe we should!

Change of plans!

We get the keys to our new place on January 3rd and can move in straight away, but it's not to the house on Calas del Pinar, it's to another villa where we live now.

Over the last few years my Dad had always joked with me and Neil about making sure any house we bought had a 'granny flat' so that he could come and live with us in his old age and we could look after him. Although this was always said in jest, we always made serious consideration to this possibility and both the last house in Sheffield and the one on Calas were suitable to be adapted for my Dad to move in and maintain his own space, should that be necessary.

After coming back from Dad's funeral in August, suddenly the house we were buying here didn't fit what we needed and after a few weeks of this little niggle at the back of my mind I mentioned it to Neil to discover he had been thinking the same. So we had a good discussion about where we would look to buy if we were just coming over now and suddenly the house on the Calas del Pinar development didn't meet our needs.

Having checked our contractual position and having a chat with our solicitior we made the decision a few weeks ago that we would not continue with our purchase, that we would rent for a further year and look to buy somewhere towards the end of next year.

Having made this decision, we then slept on it and had another talk the following morning, had a drive down to look at the house we would have been buying and both felt we had made the right decision not to continue. The houses themselves are still very good houses, they are finished off really well and have good sized rooms for Spanish houses, and are within walking distance of all the bars, the sea front and the shops - but it wasn't what we were looking for now anymore.

What I did want though was the extra room a property with 3 bedrooms would give us. The villa we have been in since we got here has been lovely but the kitchen is too small for 2 people to work in together and we have found that frustrating and, when people come out to stay I lose my work space so, we have found a 3 bed villa on the same development (actually on the next street) and we get the keys to that on January 3rd. We will then spend a few days moving our stuff round there and getting the rest of our belongings back from storage. We're really looking forward to seeing what we have in storage as we can't remember what we have in there other than our new bed.

We won't have a pool at the new villa, again we were never intending to have a pool of our own. You only get to use them for about 12-14 weeks a year from mid-June to mid-September. Unless you have a heated pool, the rest of the year the water is too cool. However, we have got our Hot Tub being delivered the 2nd week in January and I am really excited about that. We can use that all year round and in the summer use it as a plunge pool to stay cool. This way we will know by next autumn whether a pool is a 'must have' or not when we are looking at places to live.

Several weeks after making the decision not to buy just yet, having found a new place to rent for a year and looking forward to getting all our possessions from storage we are both happy that we have made the right decision for us - and at the end of the day, that's all that matters!

Secret Santa

Today was the 'Ladies of Terreros' Christmas Dinner. There were about 30 of us and we all met at our local Bistro who had kindly arranged to do an english christmas dinner. We had Champagne on arrival and started with Prawn Cocktail, and believe me - the local prawns are fabulous. Annika, who is Belgian, had asked a number of the ladies what a traditional dinner would be and duly served up turkey and sprouts - the only thing missing were the stuffing balls! Not to worry, I have sorted that for Christmas Day - Neil, we need 40 stuffing balls please!

Dessert was a selection of chocolate treats and a few glasses of wine gifts made sure everyone had a good afternoon.

Secret Santa gifts had been bought and wrapped to the value of €10 and were all labelled up with raffle tickets and after dinner we all drew out a number to see what gift we were taking home. Only a couple of people drew their own numbers and needed to exchange and most people opened theirs at the dinner although I and a few others are being good girls and keeping them to open on Christmas Day.

At the moment our Christmas decorations are still in storage and we are not due to get them until early January so this Christmas our pressies will be under the Pointsettia, as traditional a plant in Spain as it is in the UK and providing I can keep the pups away from eating it, it will look nice with the pressies around it on Christmas morning.

Christmas has certainly started here in Terreros! And as I was all poshed up for my first Christmas dinner I thought I would take the opportunity to grab the pups and have a Christmas photo done - I think it looks really good - pity Neil was behind the camera, it would be good to have one of the 4 of us!

The run up to Christmas is getting busy.

I have my first Christmas dinner this week, the ladies group Christmas lunch is on Thursday. We've all bought our 'secret Santa' gifts and we are having a traditional christmas meal, well as traditional as you can get prepared by a Belgian in Spain - I'm really looking forward to it.

Sometime soon we will see the christmas lights turned on in the local villages and in the nearest town, Aguilas - no, the lights are not on yet - it's still too early here. We are going into Aguilas on Friday evening so we will see whether they are on then.

There will be local christmas markets over the next couple of weekends. The ladies group will be having a stall at the market in Pulpi on the 20th December when we have lots of different foods from the countries where the various lady members are from including England, Wales and Scotland along with Belgium and Holland.This is to give the locals a taste of our foods that they don't normaly have such as short bread, english sausages etc. It will be my first trip to the christmas market so I am really looking forward to seeing what it's like.

Next Wednesday there is a carol concert in the Montesol Bar and any funds raised will be donated to a local charity.

And then, on the 21st December - my brother arrives!

Christmas will be here soon.

So now we have freakish weather in Spain

Whatever the weather here in Spain, it is always in the extreme. When it is sunny, it's really bright, if it rains we have a deluge and over the last few days we have had tremendously strong winds. It was difficult to stand upright at time on the golf course on Friday and the wind would sometimes just blow the ball across the green. Unfortunately it never blew it into the hole so needless to say the scores for the day were somewhat unpredictable.

The wind has continued for the last couple of days along with the ocassional downpour. Most of the properties around us that are lived in throughout the year have now started to have the heating on at night, and over the weekend we have had ours on through the day as well. Not bad to say we haven't needed to turn the heating on permanently until the last week in November.

What is most noticable walking around the area in the evening is the way it smells of bonfire night. Now, obviously the Spanish don't celebrate Guy Fawkes and it's too late in November - so why that odd smokey bonfirey smell? Well, the majority of people here have log fires in their homes. The area is not piped for natural gas - so gas central heating isn't possible so the options are electric heating - and electricity isn't cheap to use here just as it isn't in the UK. You could have heaters run off bottled gas or have a real log fire. A ton of logs which comes ready chopped and is enough to do a whole winter costs around €200 and some of the locals are complaining that there has been a price hike in the cost of logs this winter.

So, that odd smokey smell is just the homes burning logs to keep warm but having lived in a smoke free area for the last 20 or more years - it really is unusual to smell the smokiness as you walk around in the darkness, odd, but some how comforting not unpleasant to see whispy columns of smoke reaching up into the night skies - now, anyone for a round of chim chimeny, chim chimery, chim chim cheroo? Anyone seen Bert?

1 month to Christmas? But the sun's shining!

In previous years by the 25th November pre-christmas hysteria has usually set in. The shops are getting manic, the efforts to arrange all the dinners, parties, events are well in hand and the pressie shopping is well under way to try and have it done before the total chaos that is December. I don't enjoy the run up to Christmas in the UK and it was always going to be interesting having our first Christmas in Spain.

The internet has played a big part in my Christmas arrangements over the last few years but this year it has really come into it's own. But it just doesn't seem like it's only a month to Christmas. Here, the shops are only just starting to get decorations, gift packs etc in the shops. Upto last week you didn't see anything related to Christmas anywhere. We do get UK TV here so we are constantly seeing the Marks & Spencer Christmas advert or Asda's but when you look outside and the sun is shining, the sky is perfectly blue and you are still walking around in T-shirts, Christmas seems a million miles away.

Terreros will be incredibly quiet over Christmas, there are several people we know who will be going back to the UK for Christmas and New Year, another large group are going up to Benidorm for several days over Christmas and then there's the ones who are left. A few of the local restaurants do a Christmas dinner and we are going to our local Bistro on Christmas day.

The main celebration in Spain is on the 6th January, the Three Kings Day, when gifts are normally exchanged in Spain - so, we'll be having 2 christmas's - one to acknowledge our British heritage and another to celebrate the traditions of our new home - well, why stop at one pressie when you can have 2?

New Year is well celebrated in Spain and it is traditional to wear red underwear - but I'm not sure who checks whether you are ..... or not!

On January 5th at night we will leave one pair of shoes in the sitting room by the Nativity scene (Nacimiento) together with some liquor for the Kings and some cookies for the camels. This is actually a really nice event to look forward to as the 5th January would have been Dad's birthday and this will always give us something special to use to celebrate his birthday.

Apparently, I need to find a recipe for a cake called the Roscón de Reyes, which is traditionally eaten on the 6th January, although I'm sure our local shops will sell them. There should also be festivals and processions locally so whilst the 6th Jan in the UK signifies the end of Christmas, here it is still very much being celebrated.

This link gives a good overview of the festive season over here, I'm really looking forward to it and, for once, I won't be fed up of the idea of Christmas by the time it actually arrives.

http://www.idealspain.com/pages/Information/ChristmasInSpain.htm

When the Guardia say close ......you close!

Since we have been here we have not been bothered about using the few 'English' shops that are dotted about. Our closest is probably in Mojacar, half an hour away or in Turre, about the same distance. There are a few of the supermarkets who stock some UK brands but they are really expensive compared to spanish products and so far we have been able to find just about everything we want without buying the UK brands.

However, last week at the ladies group one of the ladies told us of a new shop that was being opened at Palomares, which is only about 15 minutes away and on our way to one of the supermarkets we use. So, we decided we would take a look today to see if there was anything on the shelves that would have us realising what we had been missing and could no longer do without.

We found the shop on a corner in Palomares and parked up, just after a Guardia Civil (Police) car. As we went to the shop entrance the Guardia was just leaving. Now, we know all businesses have routine visits from the Guardia to check they have the correct paperwork etc, can't somehow see it ever happening in the UK, but here it does, so seeing the Guardia leaving a shop, a bar or where ever is no big deal.

Until we walked into the shop.

Dave, the owner had been told by the Guardia he had to shut the shop as his paperwork wasn't in order. And this is where the difficulty is. When you are told to close - it means immediately.

Talking to Dave he told us he has been to the local offices on several ocassions to sort the paperwork out, and finally it was all accepted. The architect had said all was OK to open, his solicitor had said it was all ok to open and the local council office who approves all the paperwork had said it was all ok to open!

But not according to the Guardia that called on him today - in his opinion the paperwork was not all in order - so, close the shop.

Dave gathered his paperwork for yet another trip to the council offices to see if he could sort this out, he'd only been open a week, the shop signs had literally just been put up outside. He said the sign man was putting the last screw in as the Guardia arrived. The advert that is running in th local press this week will be wasted and while the Guardia said he would probably have the correct paperwork through in a week, in Spain that can mean anything up to a month.

We decided to have a quick look round to see if he had anything that we felt an urgency to buy before it was too late - and although we did buy a couple of bits there wasn't anything that we felt we just couldn't live without.

In do feel immensely sorry for people trying to set up a business like this, especially when you are not fluent in the language, but Dave is adamant he will no be beaten, and that he will be re-open as soon as possible.

I really hope he gets it sorted soon and it does make me very grateful that we have been able to move out here to retire and that we are not having to go through the same frustrations. It does however remind me of the problems we had with paperwork when we were trying to buy the car - we only needed 2 bits of paper and that was bad enough.

It is the spanish system, and if you want to run a shop or a bar - you have to abide by their system. That's just the way it is.

It was going to happen sooner or later, time to visit the dentist!

For anyone who knows me well, they will be well aware that going to the dentist is not high on my list of favourites. Thanks to the butchers that used to pose as school dentists in my childhood I have a total fear of going to the dentist. Whilst I was back in Sheffield, I had over the last 10 years or so managed to build up confidence in one dentist and would go twice a year without being totally traumatised - but in the last few years I did tend to make my appointments to coincide with my trips to Ragdale Hall for a de-stress day and a hypnotherapy session to control my stress levels.

So, while we have been in Spain I have been ignoring the fact that it was getting close to the time when I should be booking a routine check-up and clean. But unfortunately, I developed a problem last week that became too painful to ignore.

After having a couple of painful days it was obvious by Thursday night that I could take as many painkillers as we'd got in the house - but it wasn't going to get better - I had to find a dentist.

I asked around a few people for recommendations for an english speaking spanish dentist and one in Aguilas was recommended by a few. So, Friday afternoon saw a couple of our friends driving us into Aguilas to show us where the dentists surgery was so I could make an appointment.

On arrival we were met by 2 very nice young ladies, one of which spoke reasonable english. I had written down a few phrases in spanish in case I needed them, but as it happens I didn't. Always good to be prepared though.

Anyway, I asked if I could have an appointment and they asked if I was in pain. When I said 'Si, tengo mucho dolor' they said if I could wait a few minutes the dentist would have a look so they could see what needed doing. Now, I should have known better than to believe them as the friends who had taken us through had told us that she too had gone through when she had a crown break and they had asked her to wait and they ended up sorting it out there and then.

Anyway, I said I could wait and within 5 minutes they called me through. The dentist spoke good english and soon identified which tooth was causing the problem. We'll have an x-ray, he said, and then we can work out the problem and decide what to do.

10 minutes later, the x-ray was ready and showed no problem with the tooth and so he said it would be an infection. Not a problem, says he,

and if you are squeemish, better not read any further (Janice!)

We'll open the nerves and stopped the pain!

Now, I tried to believe it was his attempt at english that was causing him to use the wrong words - but before I had chance to ask what this involved - I'd had the first injection of anaesthetic done!

Now, normally they send you back to the waiting room while it takes effect BUT I think in my case they realised there was a strong possibility I may flee the surgery - so they left me in the chair.

When the dentisit returned he brought with him the english speaking lady from reception who, it turns out, was a dental nurse and between the 2 of them they managed to keep me relatively calm whilst they started to sort out the problem.

Now, bear in mind this started out as a trip to make an appointment, that turned into 5 minutes for a look - 1 hour and 20 minutes later, 2 more anaesthetic injections and a lot of discomfort, pain and tears - I was told I could leave. Apparently, I had a really bad infection and he'd cleaned it out. What??? At home, I'd have been given a prescription for antibiotics, told to take painkillers while the antibiotics took effect and off I would have trotted.

Here, he had cleaned the area around all 3 of the nerves with what felt like a bottle brush and told it would be painful for a couple of hours but would then settle down. He'd had to use 2 additional anaesthetics because, apparently I have thin nerves so the anaesthetic wasn;t as effective as normal - well, if I have thin nerves, it;s the only thing thin about me! Typical, thin-ness somewhere that couldn't be seen.

He had filled the area with 'medicine' and put a temporary filling in and I have a follow up appointment in January to have the nerves repaired - what? And then a 2nd appointment to put a proper filling in.

Needless to say when I finally left the surgery, €60 poorer I was somewhat traumatised. However, being the wimp I am, I took a painkiller and once my stress levels had returned to normal and the anaesthetic had worn off, I had to admit that it did feel a load better than it had for the last few days.

I decided not to eat on it for the night and, as we were due to go out with friends, I was going to have to be careful what I ordered. Fortunately we were going somewhere local that knows us quite well so they didn't look too surprised when I ordered chicken soup for starter and asparagus soup for main course, although I did tell them (in spanish) of my traumatic day. I drank my coffee through a straw until the anaesthetic had totally worn off and I managed an excellent nights sleep.

So, looking back how would I rate the experience compared to back home? Well, the surgery was incredibly modern, they did a few different tests to identify the right tooth and they did as they said they would, they took away the pain. I haven't had any problem or pain from it and although I took painkillers for the first 24 hours, I think rather than the tooth being painful, it was the jaw that was sensitive from all the pressure that had been applied during the time in the chair.

I know a number of people here who go back to the UK 3 or 4 times a year and book any dental appointments to happen during these visits so they can continue with their regular dentists but when you live here permanently that isn't an option. However, looking back on my experience, I have to say whilst it will never be my favourite outing, I do feel able to make the normal routine appointments without any more trepidation than when I was in the UK.

A brief history of Great Aunty Gladys....

Born in Darlington in 1925 she had 2 brothers who served in the marines and airforce during the 2nd World War. Gladys served in the airforce, trained in communications to send and receive morse code messages. I thought she would have heard lots of interesting information but she tells me she never knew what she was sending or receiving as it was all in code and therefore made no sense to her or her colleagues at all. During the war she served some time in Paris and I'm sure she could write a whole book on her experiences from her forces days.

She married Harry, who was a pilot, in 1946. Harry was also from Darlington and, having completed some of his training in Hawaii, served some time in Burma. After the war ended they lived in Darlington. Unfortunately, Harry was to die in 1951 in a flying accident. Ironically, having survived the war he died while rehearsing for a Battle of Britain display.

Gladys was to remarry in 1959 and here is one of those stories that could almost only come from the war years. Gladys' 2nd husband was also from Darlington but hadn't known Gladys from their shared home town. He actually knew Harry from their training in Hawaii. Having returned to Darlington and hearing of Harry's death he called on Gladys to express his sympathies.

It was some years later that they became a couple and moved to Vancouver and married in 1959. She was to remain married to Ian until he passed away in 1999.

She has continued to live in Vancouver and now has a lovely apartment with beautiful views. She puts her good health down to swimming 40 lengths at the local baths 3 times a week. She has an incredibly active mind and a funny story for every topic. During her visit I lost count of the number of times she asked me 'had I heard the one about........?'

She spent a couple of weeks here in Terreros, boogied down with the best of them at the Halloween party at the local Bistro and was an incredibly lovely lady to have met.

She was travelling to spend some time with her sister-in-law further up the Spanish coast after leaving Terreros and this week has returned to Vancouver. Hopefully she has some lovely memories of her visit, certainly she made an impression on us. She told us some lovely stories of her life, some very personal. She has seen so many changes during her lifetime and it's lady's like Gladys that should be invited into schools to talk to the children, they bring history to life in a way books and films could never do.

It was a pleasure meeting you - Cheers!

And Great Aunty Gladys came to stay - but not with us

And she's not our Great Aunty Gladys but by the time she had been here a few days I think the whole of Terreros had adopted her.

Great Aunty Gladys belongs to our friend Lucy. She lives in Vancouver (Great Aunty Gladys - not Lucy) and even before she had arrived, the stories we had heard about her had us looking forward to meeting her.

So, our last trip to the airport was to collect, among others, Great Aunty Gladys - born in Darlington in 1925 - the lady we met at the airport looked many years younger than her 80+ years. I immediately warmed to this gentile lady who, I would soon discover, had a little impish streak with some of her little stories she told.

We met her a couple of times in the first few days and I decided I wanted to know more about her and so, I asked if she would like to meet up for a coffee and tell me a little of her story - and over the next couple of days I'll share it with you.

For now, let me introduce you to Great Aunty Gladys.

Battle of the Sexes - who wins?

In the early days of moving to Terreros, we were sat in one of the local bars when we met a couple who had lived here for a couple of years. Ann had started a slimming group up that weren't very successful at slimming but did enjoy the weekly meeting, coffee and a chat and from that grew the Terreros Ladies Group. This is a group of ladies, predominantly from the UK, but there are also Belgian and Spanish members, that meet every week and help each other with issues, information and at this time of year arranging christmas gatherings, carols etc.

One of the ladies from the group works very hard at organising events and Sandra, who organised the recent Treasure Hunt, had sorted a quiz with a difference - a Battle of the Sexes.

Basically, when we arrived all the men were sent to one side of the bar and all the ladies on the other and we would play the first round in 2 teams, ladies v men.

The questions were in a number of categories and there were individual rounds where an elected person could choose a category to earn extra points for the team.

Now, why it would surprise is that the men would cheat is anyone's guess - but they did! There was so much conferring on the individual questions it was unbelievable.

So, it was disapponting but not unexpected that the men were slightly ahead at the halfway point.

So, after a chance to replenish our glasses (no, I know you don't believe we only had one drink through the whole of the first half!) we started on the Mr & Mrs section. In this, couples were drawn at random to play the Mr & Mrs game of holding paddles up to show in the couple, who was most likely to................... for example..........make the tea in the morning. If they both agreed they won a point for them as a couple, BUT.....they would also add a point to which ever team the couple agreed on. So, if they both agreed the man would be most likely to make the tea, the men would get a point.

So, this is where more cheating, sorry, tactics came in. The men decided to forfeit the points for the couples in order to stop the ladies winning any points by always saying the men were the most likely to ........well, everthing. That way if their partner disagreed - no points won, if their partner agreed the point was won for the men, but the women could not add to their total points score.

So, there were no surprises at the final score!

Still, no doubt there will be a re-match soon!

Our visitors have gone back to Sheffield

Everyone who visits gets the obligatory TTT (Ten Minute Tour of Terreros) and these are our recent guests Jaqui, Jess & Ruby up by the castle. We had a couple of really nice days where the sun came out, the clouds went and they could get a chance to really feel as if they were on holiday in Spain.

The views from the castle (notice we even managed to get the Analucian flag to fly for us)make it a must part of the trip, along with the trip down to the beaches at La Carolina on the Murcia/Almeria border.

The coves at La Carolina are really lovely, (see Brinkley's blog today for some photos from there) and when we got there last week there seemed to be some film shoot for an advert going on. There was a desk on the beach with a man sat at it with a laptop and a vase of flowers for artistic presentation. A large sound boom was overhead and a few camera men. We made the assumption that they were shooting an advert for wireless internet!?

Anway, also included in the TTT is a walk along the promenade to Mar Serena for a spot of lunch and a walk through the older part of the town down to all the small bays along the coast.

Another of our sight-seeing trips is down the coastal road to Villaricos,

lunch at El Mar La Mar and the on through Garrucha and onto Mojacar Playa. Whilst the scenery is spectacular and the meal excellent, I think the lasting memory from this trip was

the artistic sink in the ladies.

I bet not many of you have sinks like this at home - thank goodness I can hear you all shouting!

Anyway, the pups have loved having Ruby here, she has played with them so much that now she has gone home, they have slept for 2 days.

Lovely to see you and I'm glad the sun came out for a few days.

It's official, my brain can no longer multi-task!

Last Saturday we took a break from our normal routine and decided we would play in the clubs monthly Stableford competition (to non-golfers, Stableford is just a type of scoring system, nothing to concern yourself about). It gives us a chance to meet and play golf with different people and is generally a fun day out, providing you don't take your golf too seriously.

On arrival at the club we went in to find out who we were playing with only to find that they had split Neil and I up, he was playing a 4 ball with 3 Spaniards, non of which spoke any english and I was teamed up with a Spanish lady and a very nice young man, again neither of whom spoke english. And when I say they spoke no english, I mean they spoke NO english. If they were taught english at school, they certainly hadn't thought about it since they left.

I did feel for Neil, this would be a long 4 hours for him, and I was really going to have to work hard to be able to speak to my partner, Marisa, as I shared a golf buggy with her. The first hole went off in relative silence for me although Marisa and Jesús chatted along in spanish at a rate way beyond anything I could follow. I began to think it would be a long 4 hours for me as well.

But, on the 2nd tee we had a delay so we got chance to start trying to speak to each other, prompted by my husband, bless.

From our tee position we could see Neil wandering back and forth along the edge of the ravine halfway up the fairway obviously looking for a ball and we could see the rest of the men on the green some 100 yeards further on. Well Marisa couldn't work out why this strange man was holding play up and wandering along the ravine, and at this point I couldn't work it out either, but I know Neil well enough to know he wouldn't be holding play up. So, in my best spanish I explained he was my husband and that the people on the green must be the people ahead of Neil's group. My attempts to explain we're accompanied by a lot of arm gestures but SUCCESS, she understood totally what I was saying and a couple of seconds later Neil's playing partners climbed up out of the ravine to join him.

What this had done was to show Marisa that I could speak a little spanish more than just what's your name and where do you live, and so she then started to speak to me, a little slower and with a lot of pointing but we actually managed to have a good chat as we went round the course, she was very patient with me and even taught me a few phrases, like how to say you have picked your ball up because you cannot score, I learnt that one really well as I had a lot of practice becuase while my brain was on overtime trying to put sentences together in spanish I wasn't able to concentrate on my golf and played the worst since I came out here. Yes, multi-tasking is no longer something I do!

So, was matching us with non-english speaking spaniards a cunning plan, I ask myself! If it was, it certainly worked - I don't think I got into double figures. But I have made a new friend.

Not such a bad day then.

Shopping for a telly - Part 2

http://www.mediamarkt.es/

OK, both Neil and I like technology, we like gadgets, we like electronic gimics - we have found our Mecca as we walk through the door of Media Markt, it is like Christmas to us.

As we approach the TV's we can tell there are more tellys here than in the previous places combined. Not only do we have choice of make and size, but even same make, size - different styles.

So, we start off with the Sony's. So far we haven't seen any LCD above 40" in Sony so we decided which Sony we liked to compare it to the 42" LG's - after all, once we have the set at home are we really going to notice a 2" difference? We've had a few LG products before including previous flat screen TV's and the American Fridge/Freezer and we've always found them good. (And the American Fridge/Freezer is 2-3 times the price over here than the UK)

We noticed some tellys were much better pictures than others so we started reading all the small print on the product cards, and realised the difference was the resolution. OK, something else to think about. The prices we had previously been quoted were not for the higher resolution - and of course you pay more for higher resolution - but wow, they were obviously better.

So, as we get older and the eye sight gets worse - a big telly that's really clear should suit us best. OK, another re-think on the price. We decide we like the LG 42". The 50" are really too big - ah, what's this? LG do a 47" - unfortunately it wasn't switched on or connected up to check the picture. But it didn't really matter, the 42" was big enough, wasn't it?

Well, after wandering back and forth around the department, we agreed on the LG 42" high resolution set. We couldn't buy it today as we were on our way to the airport - but decision made, we could come back in a few days and that would be another job done.

So, 2 days later we were back on the road for Cartagena to buy agreed telly from Media
Markt - or so you would think.

When we arrived at the Centro Comercial straight ahead of us was CarreFour. Now, I've read a lot of mixed reviews about the place but know they sell TV's - so, 'maybe we should check it out before we buy, just to make sure we have the best deal' I said to Neil as he's about to park up. OK, we're not in a rush so we'll have a walk round and see what they have.

http://www.carrefour.es/index.html

And that's when a decision made became all fuzzy. They had a good selection of large screen TV's and they had the LG's we had seen before and they had another LG 42" high resolution which was a further €100 less than the one we had decided to buy already. Close inspection of the TV and the product card left us none the wiser as to why this one should be cheaper than the one in Media Markt. Oh, confusion reigns!

Nothing else for it, take loads of notes and go back to Media Markt and compare.

Why is life never easy. Rather than going back to the car and driving across the carpark, we decided to walk through the shopping centre, the nearest place I have found to Meadowhall - and I thought it would be good to know what was there in case any visitors needed a real shopping fix.

It's a really good shopping centre inside which is, yes you've guessed an electrical store which sells amongst other electrical stuff - large screen telly's.

We looked at each other - and yes, we decided we really needed to check it out.

So there we are, standing infront of a working 47" LG LCD cheaper than we've seen it anywhere before and cupid's arrow has hit both of us together. Suddenly, the 42" look small! As we both stood there gazing at the clarity of the screen a young assistant came over to us and said 'Is it Hola or Hello?'

Now, to cut a long story short, we never got back to Media Markt, we got the 47" from this shop cheaper then the 42" in CarreFour, which was cheaper than the one in Media Markt.

Bigger telly for less money - seems too good to be true. No, the one we were wanting, we could take away with us - the additional saving was because it was last years model, the new model has a red back and a posh lit up hole on the front which is the touch sensitive on/off switch (we agreed we could live with out a red back and gimmicky on/off switch) and we were getting an additional reduction as it was the display model on sale.

So, we told the assistant to box it up and we'd take it with us. He did ask if we had a big car, but we were happy it would go in the back - and it did.

So, we now have a beautiful telly all connected up and working and it's brilliant after spending the last 6 months watching a 22" screen. And the savings we had made - well, we spent that on a home cinema kit - big screen, big noise! And because we were buying both together we got 10% off the home cinema kit.

So, how did it compare to Comet's online price? Well, with the Euro as it is we paid about £100 more than if we'd bought it from Comet, but then there would be the delivery, the worry about it getting here OK and problems if it went wrong AND Neil is currently watching Arsenal & WestHam rather than still waiting for it to be delivered - we're both happy with our purchase.

And the moral to this story - do your research on the big stores where there are lots to compare and you can see all the pictures next to one another, after all without we wouldn't have realised about the different resolutions. Be prepared to travel to the bigger Centros Commercial and don't forget about the smaller independent shops who are giving good service and good prices in the current economic times, they have some good deals on and if it's on what you are looking to buy - and don't stick to english speaking shops, we found all the product cards were in english because it's how the manufacturers print them, so we had no problems checking what we wanted. We bought from Miró in The Centro Comercial Mediterráneo in Cartagena.

What you may also need to ask friends about is whether there is a local guy that installs TV's and satellite as that's where the problems may be if you aren't familiar with the technology. It took us a while of pressing buttons on all the remotes before the sound came out of the seperate speakers, by which time the volume was up around twice comfort level and all the street shared our new system and the pups went in to hiding.

A shopping trip for a new telly.

When we were in Sheffield we had a wall mounted 28" tv, but Neil always wanted a really really big telly, at least 42". So, in one of my good moods I promised him, when we were settled in Spain we would get one.

So, 5 months later, it's official - we're telly hunting so we must be settled!

OK, time to interrogate some of our new friends, who already have big tellys, about where to go. We have a reasonable idea what we are after but want to get a good deal and then check to see whether it's better to buy in-store, on-line in Spain, from the UK and ship out - oh, the options are endless.

It doesn't matter whether we buy from a spanish speaking place or english and we are happy to drive up to an hour to check our options.

First place recommended was in Mojacar Playa from an english owned shop so off we went with the parting phrase being - they are a little more expensive but the service was superb. Ok, we don't mind paying a little for good service so armed with a notebook we took a drive to Mojacar Playa.

First impressions were not good, I have to say. It was a really small room with only about a dozen tv's on display - I wanted choice, I wanted a bank of tv's to look at, I wanted something to shout at me 'take me home' - but they did have both Sony & LG, the 2 makes we were interested in so we didn't give up straight away. Well, after 15 minutes and a few prices scribbled on a bit of paper we were sent on our way having been told to ring them back in a couple of weeks, well maybe a bit longer and they may have more information for us. Er, shouldn't the shop be ringing us? I have to say that I was significantly unimpressed by the whole experience and left the shop hoping we didn't end up buying from them as I had been made to feel that we were completely insignificant to them. I'm wanting to spend money now - not maybe in 2 weeks and I want to feel they are prepared to make me feel a little important to them, not as if I was an interruption to their coffee break. Maybe they have so much work on they don't need to try (isn't their a pending recession which is making the purchase of luxury goods plummet - obviously not here)

So, another conversation with another friend and we were off to Albox, if we get to the Indian Restaurant - we've gone too far. This time we walked into a large shop which sold everything for the home and had a reasonable range of tv's. We compared the prices to those from the previous day and we could see we would be saving €150 on the Sony and €250 on the LG. Result.

BUT, we had also heard about a shopping centre at Cartagena where Media Markt was. We'd never heard of Media Markt and had no idea what it would be like but..... it seemed logical to take a drive up there bearing in mind we would be spending roughly €1,000.

So, on Tuesday we were driving up to Murcia airport to pick up some friends and Lucy's Great Aunty Gladys - and we pass Cartagena on the drive up, so we decided we would set off an hour or so early and call off at Media Markt to see what they had.

Boy, were we in for a surprise!

Part 2 later.

I've joined the 'can you feed the cat?' brigade

Before moving out to Spain, we made sure we had the pups passports sorted so that we could take them back to the UK with us if we went for any length of time visiting. They are our little babies and the thought of putting them in kennels in a foreign country - well, it just didn't bear thinking about.


Then we arrived in Spain and discovered that no-one near us puts their dogs into kenels and the cats are all well looked after when people are away because there is a network of pet-lovers who all take it in turns to look after someones animal(s).


I've already covered how well Brandy & Brinkley were looked after when both Neil and I were back in Sheffield in August, but now..........I too have joined the brigade of being responsible for someone elses pet.


Now, if you have been keeping up with Brinlkey's blog you will have seen a sneak preview of next doors cat. For those who haven't - here she is!















She doesn't come into our gardens, but she does peak through the fence occasionally so the pups do go a bit crazy at her. Well, now they have something to thank her for. She is solely responsible for extra biscuits this week. Why? Well, last week our neighbour came round to ask if I would mind feeding their cat for a few days while they were a away.





My first thought was 'I've made it, I'm now officially recognised as one of the gang'!



My second thought was 'oh heck, it's a cat - I don't do cats!



And my final thought - what the heck, how hard can it be?

So, I was duly given the bag of food, food bowl and a key to the gate.

Thanks very much, see you Tuesday they said as they left for the airport - oh, what's your cats name I asked - wait for it.....

Biscuit, they said.

So, picture the scene. Mum takes a dish of food round next door and walks up the drive. The pups are already barking because this is not right, I should not be on that side of the fence and where's this food going?
Then, to add to their misery I start calling out 'Biscuit, Biscuit'. Well, of course the pups want a biscuit - it's exactly what we say to them when we give them a treat.

By now the pups are jumping up at the wall, running up and down our drive and then, a eureka moment pops into their heads and......

....... up to the roof terrace - where they can get a full view of me, the plate of food and the dreaded cat.

What torture, what a betrayal, what choice do I have?

On my return, I head straight to their cupboard to give them an unwarranted biscuit!

Have you ever seen dogs look smug? Trust me, mine do it very well!

It's Sunday, time for a drive.

We are gradually starting to explore further afield, and so today we loaded the dogs into the back of the car and headed south. The furthest south we have been before is Mojacar, so today we were into new territory. We decided to stick to the coast road and head for Carboneras.
As we passed the bay in Terreros, we had gentle waves lapping onto the beach and, despite the day being grey, the winds and rains of the previous days have gone and so we were looking forward to an enjoyable drive.

Whenever we go to Garrucha or Mojacar we are always surprised to see that there are bigger waves and the sea has a lot more movement than in Terreros and yet it's only half an hour's drive away. Well today, the Mojacar coast was getting well battered, the waves were breaking over the rocks and spray was reaching above 6 ft. Very spectacular looking.

Anyway, straight through Mojacar and onto new roads for us. We passed the new golf course at the south of Mojacar and it looks quite good, if a little flatter than we are used to so we may come down and have a game one day - just to see what it's like.

The coastal road started to get quite rugged and we started to rise into the hills. We soon passed through the oddly named El Agua del Medio, Sopalmo and reach the edge of the Capo de Gata National Park. At this point we are high above the sea on a good road with lots of bends, looking over some very volcanic looking inland terrain, quite fabulous We eventually start the rapid descent into the town of Carboneras. The first thing that we notice is the narrow streets and the very spanish feel to the place, shop signs are all in Spanish, unlike Mojacar where so many are in English. We get the feel we are in a really traditional Spanish town. We follow the traffic through the town centre and head for the Marina. This, like Garrucha port is a working port. We park outside a restaurant where we will stop for a drink before setting back, and get the dogs out of the car for a walk along front and around the Marina.

As we head towards the beach we can see that along the front there are play areas for children and a long clean beach. The marina area is open for us to walk around and we can see that some of the boats are large fishing vessels, definitely working boats. There is also a fish market area and I can imagine the hustle and bustle on market day - it may be something for us to check out sometime. There are also lots of smaller boats obviously for locals and holiday makers to spend the day out at sea dangling a rod over the side - some of them look a little smaller than I would like to be out in.

On the way back to the car we stopped off at Restaurant Almarisco. Unfortunately, they were not serving a menu del día so we had a mixed fish platter and salad. Not the cheapest of meals but excellent food - and we were sat with on the front with a sea view - so it was never going to be the cheapest. Just to re-enforce the spanish feel we had when we drove through, the waiter didn't speak a word of english - it's always great fun trying to have a conversation with our limited spanish and a waiter with no english, meals are always a surprise. One thing we did discover - our pups like sardines!

The trip back was uneventful so the dogs slept and we enjoyed the views. Carboneras was really quiet, again an out of season Spanish resort - but in the height of summer, I can imagine it would be incredibly busy and a lot of fun

It's Friday and I should be on the golf course.

One of the main reasons for choosing to live in the warmest, driest place in Spain was so that we could play golf all year round. Well, this week has been a challenge. We play at a new course just outside Terreros called Aguilon. It's a fabulous course set in the foothills of the mountains, with views over the sea. They have retained all the natural ravines and it's a really challenging course for a high handicapper like myself, I play off 28. My husband manages better but then he is a better golfer. (I'm sorry, I don't like to admit it - but he is! Yes, I know - I've had a hole in one and he hasn't - but I can't live on one shot for the rest of my golfing life, can I? Well, maybe I can, oh, ok - he's not better at golf he just hits the ball further, chips onto the green better and putts more consistently!)

Anyway, Monday was a good day for golf, we had a group of 14 guys over from Rother Valley, our last club when we were in the UK (they weren't all staying with us I hasten to add) and we were really looking forward to showing them how wonderful our course was. The sun was out and the sky was blue - perfect!

Only, the mosquitos had other ideas! There are a few lakes on the course, but through the summer they have been quite low, they haven't put any fish in them and the mossies seem to have had the perfect breeding ground for the 'super mossie'. Needless to say, we were all bitten alive. It spoiled the game a little but we still had a good day with the guys from Sheffield who all came back to our villa for a BBQ afterwards.

I don't play on Wednesdays, but my hubby does and so before he went out we covered him in mossie sprays, patches and creams - all to no avail, he came back with bites all over his arms, face & back - super mossie had even managed to get him through his shirt. The only saving grace was that I had suggested he wear long trousers and his legs had not got any more bites on them, there were just the ones from Monday.


The cluster on Neil's left shoulder is made up of about 30 bites and by the time I had finished putting calomine lotion on them we had just about done a join the dots picture of.........? Yep, you've guessed - a super mossie!







Then, Wednesday evening it started to rain, and rain, and thunder and rain - until about 9pm last night. That'll keep the mossies down for golf.

Well, today has dawned and there is no rain, there is no sun and there are no mossies! Why? Because we have a howling gale! So, I decided to stay in bed and give golf a miss. Instead I have taken the pups for a really long walk to make up for the fact that they got only the smallest of outings yesterday due to the weather.

Hopefully we can end the week on a high note - we're off to try a new Italian restaurant in Aguilas tonight - but we'll sit indoors, just incase! (Yes, OK, so my life really does consist of golf, our dogs and eating out - is that really such a bad thing?)

To bring or not to bring, that is the question?

Following on my from my last post - I must learn to trust my instincts.

While speaking to the mechanic, I had in my mind that the verb to bring was traer, an irregular verb, first person singular - traigo. But it seemed too much like the verb to work, trabajar - so I wasn't convinced. I so wanted to tell the mechanic 'traigo el coche un otra día' but I thought I'd be telling him I would be working on the car another day - and there's no way in this world anyone would see me with my head under the bonnet - so I chickened out and said 'yo vengo un otro día con el coche'

Well, a quick check and yippee!!!!! I was right, I could have said it all as I wanted, so in future, I will trust my instincts, and hey, if I get it wrong sometimes, at least I will have tried!

Un vaso de vino tinto para mi, yo pienso!

Spanish lessons...........progress?

The old adage of old dogs and new tricks seem appropriate to my ability to learning spanish. I have spent my entire adult life as an accountant, I do figures, I use the left side of my brain, I cannot draw and I have no ability to visualise how a room would look when changed - until it's actually been done - so, the right hand side of my brain has become somewhat unused and so I thought languages would probably be a right side function. That would explain why it felt like I was struggling to learn.

So, imagine my disappointment on checking and finding that language skills use the same side of the brain as figures, I was using the functioning side of my brain - and still I was struggling to remember so much.


I've been taking spanish lessons for a couple of months now and whilst I seem ok when I am doing my homework and I can understand quite a lot when it's written as soon as I am out and about without my translater chip in my DS, my mind goes blank...................

......and so today we had to take our car to the garage. We have a small problem with the engine when it's cold, it stutters a little. Now, we bought the car new from the Kia dealer from Stuart, who is english, and part of the decision to buy it was so that if and when something went wrong, we wouldn't have problems explaining what was wrong.

We spoke to Stuart yesterday and he asked us to take the car in today for the mechanic to have a look at it. So, on our way to Vera today, I rang Stuart to let him know what time we would be there and that's when we got the bad news...........he had been sent to Mojacar, he wouldn't be at the garage when we got there!!!

Now no-one else at the garage speaks any english. Stuart told me he had told the mechanic about the problem and if we couldn't make ourselves understood when we got there, we were to ask the mechanic to ring him.

OK, I had 20 minutes until we got to the garage, time to rehearse some basic sentences so I can try and explain why we were there. Oh, did I miss my DS!

So, how did I do?

Well, actually, I have to admit, I impressed myself. I managed to explain who we were, why we were there, what was wrong, the fact that we only had the problem when the engine was cold and after the drive there the engine was too warm to show the problem - all in Spanish. The mechanic had us bring the car in, he had a look under the bonnet while the engine was running, had his colleague raise the revs a few times, continued to look, smoked his cigarette and scratched his head and then tell me he couldn't hear any problem, he would need the car when it was cold. Yep, we'd already figured that one out for ourselves. I told him we would need to bring it in another day and leave it over night so that he could start it up cold and that we would ring Stuart to organise it. He seemed to understand all this and we said our goodbyes and thank you's.

I got back in the car and realised I had just had my first proper impromptu conversation in spanish, and although it had all been in the present tense, I had been totally understood - hey, maybe I am getting it after all.

OK, so I couldn't remember what the verb 'to bring' was, I found another way of saying we would bring the car in another day - exactly what my tutor has been telling me to do, don't think what you want to say in english and translate, think what you know in spanish and use it.

There have definitely been days recently when I have wondered whether all the effort I have been putting into my spanish were worth it, well today proved it has been. If ever I needed a boost to carry on, I got it today.

So, thank you Stuart, for going to Mojacar - now, what is the verb for 'bring'?

Fish and chips in Águilas

We live very close to the provincial border with Murcia, in fact we live so close to the border that we leave Almeria to get petrol, do our supermarket shopping and go to the market - it's our nearest town, it has a castle on the hill as we do and it has some lovely squares to sit in and have a drink both during the day and in the evening.

Now, there is very little we miss from Sheffield but there is no question that good authentic Fish & Chips are, occasionally, just what the doctor orders. Now I know some of you think we spend our entire time eating out, drinking, walking the dogs and playing golf - and , well actually, that's probably pretty accurate. BUT, we do it out of a sense of duty to all of you who come out here and ask me where is a good place to go.......

.........so for anyone coming out here and wanting proper fish and chips, mushy peas, bread & butter with vinegar and ketchup......

we know the perfect place - Randy & Michelle's in Águilas.

Michelle is a Leeds lass and knows how to make a traditional fish & chip supper. Randy isn't from Leeds ( he is spanish, and as far as I am aware they met on a cruise ship) but is an avid Leeds United supported - but please don't let that stop you visiting.

When we were last in Sheffield one thing Neil wanted was some good fish and chips but we never got round to going to the chippy but we did have fish & chips in a local restaurant one night - and they weren't good. So when we got back and were telling some friends here that we had missed the opportunity to have traditional fish & chips, they introduced us to this place. It's up a little side alley a short walk from the main square, is covered if you want to eat outside but they do have tables inside and they do sell more than fish & chips.

Now, we came to Spain to embrace the spanish lifestyle, we don't shop in english shops, we don't buy english branded groceries and we eat in spanish bars and restaurants - but on the odd occasion, we will weaken and then a visit here is necessary.

Rather than last night being just about fish & chips I thought I would turn it into a small cultural visit and share some of the evening sights with you so here's the educational bit:

The castle dates back to the 18th century and although a ruin at present, I understand that there are restoration plans - for more brief history ( and a few photos) have a look at http://www.todoaguilas.com/english.htm

So, for an atmospheric view of the main Aguilas square on a friday evening,

The fountain with a 'Turkey' that looks like a swan! No wonder we failed on the treasure hunt - eagles masquerading as phoenix's, turkey's masquerading as swans - whatever next, security guards acting as historians? - Oh yes, we had that as well!

And finally, the castle on the hill all floodnight and looking gorgeous. (and yes, this IS the closest I have been to it - I understand you cannot take the car up and without a golf club in my hand, there is no way I am going to climb a hill like this)