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.