Ryanair Baggage Allowance & Cabin Allowances.

Everyday I get several visitors looking for information on Ryanair Baggage allowances. The information is not easy to find on their website as it's in the T&C section - not that easy to find, even if you know that's where you want to be.

So, for all those searching for allowances and charges - this is where you need to look:

http://ryanair.com/site/EN/conditions.php

You need to scroll down to Cabin baggage and Checked baggage.

Be aware that Ryanair are very keen on charging for excess weight and for checking in and charging for hand luggage that is over weight/size. Also, everything has to be in that one piece of hand luggage, your handbag, camera, any purchases made in duty free - only 1 bag is allowed - and they are very keen on enforcing it - I've even seen them make someone force a sandwich they had bought for the flight into the hand luggage case and I dread to think what condition it was in when they came to eat it.

The staff at Spanish airports seem to be just as keen on charging for excess weight/size as UK airports.

Not far from the Madding Crowd!

It's Friday and so we have decided to throw ourselves into the frantic madness that is Terreros in summer. We are eating out in the village tonight and then, while the guys find a bar to prop up, Lucy & I are going to avail ourselves of the summer medieval market that is on the paseo at the moment. We're looking forward to having a wander amongst the stalls and maybe finding something that catches our eye.

Talking of eye catching, this weekend there is the mens Volleyball on the beach (playa Mar Rabiosa) - that might be worth a look.

We've also sprung a Circus on the market place - it wasn't advertised in the little booklet but signs have suddenly appeared on lampposts around the village (does lamppost have 1 or 2 'p's). A thought is that it should be at Mojacar, but due to the fires around Mojacar and Turre, we have given it a home for a few days. I don't know what type of circus it is but it's performed in the open air so I may see some of it tonight as we pass.

Whatever you're doing tonight - hope it's good fun for you!

We've lost ITV, no Corrie, Emmerdale or the Bill!

Watching UK TV in Spain is not essential, but it is nice to be able to. Research before we moved here showed that it would be possible by using our Sky card, providing we kept a UK address as our contact address as 'officially' we are not supposed to have UK TV in Spain.

So, we have been able to keep up to date with our usual programs. We live right on the edge of a broadcasting arial so reception can be 'iffy' and we don't get all the Sky channels but we do get Premiere movies, and a few other film channels, Sky Sports and the regular BBC & ITV channels along with Dave, Watch, GOLD etc. If there is a storm we generally lose all signal and the weather has a massive impact on which channels we can see and which we can't.

There are several BBC 1 areas and if reception isn't good on 101 we can watch it on 980, there are also several BBC 2's to choose from, again in the 980/990 range. But there are only 2 ITV1 channels, 103 & 993. We always found 103 was the best reception and it always amused us that our card have us ITV Yorkshire so we were still getting our local news and weather.

With the imminent issuing of replacement Sky cards it was crucial that I had an address that I could be confident my card would be delivered to.

So I changed our contact address to my brother's house in Surrey. Within a couple of hours we were linked to ITV 1 Mer SE (Meridian SE) and WE CANNOT PICK UP THAT SIGNAL! Neither can we get 993.

Now we have no ITV 1, most of the time we have no ITV 2 or 3 or 4 either and so, I can no longer watch Emmerdale, Corrie, The Bill and the drama we had started watching, Monday, Monday - well, we will never know how it concludes.

It is possible that when we move to our own place we can get a larger dish (2.0m) made of aluminium as opposed to the one we have here which is smaller and made of steel and get better reception.

But I have a feeling that, by then, I will have learned to live without these programs - and found other ways to fill my evenings. A couple of weeks 'Cold Turkey' and I will be free of the addiction that has been with me for so many years.

So, maybe not such a bad thing after all!

44c or in old money 111F - now that's hot!

Yesterday was hot, but it just keeps on getting hotter. This was the temperature this afternoon in the sun at 1.00pm - 44.5c - I burnt the soles of me feet on the tiles by forgetting to put my sandals on before going out to take this photo - no wonder the dogs don't want to go out.

It's 33c in the shade so everyone is desperately trying to find some and the forecast is for this to continue all next week -

with a 10% chance of showers next Thursday -

oh, that would be so nice - we'll all be out in the street dancing in the rain.

I feel for my friends back home who have seen so much rain once again this year. but trust me - we would love some rain here at the moment.

Now, of course this heat makes you drink more - and my favourite soft drink is Fanta Orange. Little did I realise that it is 37% sugar and that that is 2000 calories per 2l bottle - oh, dear me - find me Fanta Zero, like NOW!!!

More fires around Turre & Mojacar

There have been more fires around Turre and Mojacar, and people doing searches are hitting this blog - so for anyone wanting information I find the best sites to visit are: http://www.davidjackson.info/ or this one: http://thereader.es/

Birthday BBQ

Today it was Chris's birthday and Lucy had planned a BBQ party. Here, in Spain, in July you can plan a BBQ and be pretty confident that it won't be rained off.

As you can see from the photos - there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was red hot and perfect for a BBQ. Neil & Kev were volunteered by Lucy to sort the burgers, sausages and steak so that her Dad didn't have to be stuck behind the BBQ on his birthday,

Lucy tended bar,

And this is the birthday boy with the chefs enjoying a cold can of beer - but drink it quick boys, it goes warm very quickly in this heat!



Fortunately there was a cool breeze that was blowing around the corner of the buildings to help keep us cool but this gave us the biggest laugh of the afternoon. Lucy brought out a birthday cake with candles on and tried really hard to stop them blowing out. By the time the cake reached the table there was only about half of them still lit - nothing to laugh at there, that is to be expected.

Chris duly blew out the remaining candles and got ready to cut the cake - WHEN the breeze blew across the cake and actually got 2 of the candles to re-light, in dis-belief Chris blew them out again, only for them to re-light again. Chris turned to Lucy and asked if they were the joke candles that do re-light, but she assured him that they weren't it was just the breeze that was effectively 'fanning the embers' back to life. It went on for some time and there was a final cheer when Chris eventually got them all out.


Well, we are back home now, in the villa with the air conditioning on. I said it has been hot today but it's now almost 11pm and it is still 30c outside, and apparently it's due to get hotter next week.

Roll on September.

What's on this Summer in Terreros.

Terreros may be a quiet place outside the holiday season but there is certainly lots to do during July & August. The first thing to do when you are visiting is to go to our information kiosk near to La Venta (it's a wooden hut near the roundabout).

Here they have lots of information booklets on the area but the key booklet to get is this one.

It lists all the events that are taking place in Terreros during July & August. If we look at the page for today, there is a dancing exhibition on the Paseo Marítimo at 22.00 (yes, a lot takes place late at night because of the heat during the day), there's Yoga at 18.00 in the Cultural Centre and children's basketball in the court on the Paseo.

There's a few concerts up at the Castle during the summer, including one this Sunday and this Saturday there is the Romería Virgen del Carmen, who is the patron saint of fishermen (romería = picnic & procession) starting at 21.00.

Last year during August there was also a large notice board on the Paseo listing all the events for the month - and there was a lot to do.

Keep an eye open for noticed by the Supermarkets and in the bars as these will give you additional information on events that are taking place.

And enjoy summer in Terreros.

Tenpin Bowling in high heels - whatever next?

A group of us decided to have a trip into Aguilas today for a game of Ten-pin Bowling. We have a lovely Bowling Alley in the Commercial Centre which has 12 lanes and is generally quiet. There were 8 of us playing on one lane and the most lanes in use while we were there was 4. There are also Pool tables, air hockey and other games as well as a bar for drinks.

The whole place is much more relaxed than the Bowling Alleys in the UK, or at least when I last played there a couple of years ago.

The first thing here is, you play in your own shoes, no hiring of proper 'Bowling' shoes. Now those of us who are sensible wear trainers or something similar but I've seen people bowling tonight in flip-flops, bare feet and funniest of all, 3 inch high heels!! Now that was an accident waiting to happen - and sure enough within a couple of throws she was on her bum and she played the rest of the game in bare feet.

What I was impressed by (and forgive me if this happens in the UK bowling alleys, I've never seen it before)were the lane bumpers. The family at the side of us had a couple of children who were only about 4 or 5 and so when they has entered their names, they had obviously tagged it to a command in the computer to say they needed to have the buffers up to stop their bowling ball going into the gutter. Every time their name came up on screen, the buffers came up automatically and when they had finished and it listed the name of an adult to play, the buffers went down automatically - I suppose it's not difficult to do with modern technology but I was fascinated by it.

Also here, the pins are held up by wires, so that when they are knocked over, they are not swept away to the back as in UK alleys, but they are pulled back up like string puppets, they remind me of Pinnochio coming to life.

We had a great couple of hours, €6.50 for 2 games each plus the cost of a couple of drinks - it was airconditioned as well, so on a really hot day like today - it was a welcome break from the heat.

But really, high-heels and flip-flops - it's a bit much.

Headline: Lightening sets fire to forest.

Last night we were aware of a lot of 'muck' appearing on the lounge floor - and I blamed the dogs for bringing it in. However, it appears they were not the cause, it was actually ash from a forest fire some 30 minutes away over Cabrera, thought to have been caused by a lightening strike. People have been evacuated and homes have been burnt, although I don't know how badly. This is near to the popular towns of Mojacar and Turre, and hopefully there have been no injuries. A massive fire-fighting force was in use and this morning the fire is mostly out.



The following is taken from: http://www.davidjackson.info/



Infoca, the forest fire people, say that the probable cause of the fire was a lightening strike from the storms we had yesterday.

While Almeria city and Albox suffered intermittent showers throughout the day, the Levante just had a dry thunderstorm, steady winds and temperatures of up to 40ºC.

Canal Sur says that 300 houses in the mountains have been evacuated so far.
The fire started in Cerro de la Mezquita and has spread rapidly. 53 fire units have been assigned so far, as well as two amphibian aircraft, three normal planes, an overall command plane, four helicopters and two large capacity helicopters.

The main bulk of the fire is out, although it is still burning away up in the mountains.
The Guardia are still not letting anyone up into Cortijo Grande, although the Turre – Los Gallardos road has reopened.

Over 2,000 heactacres (20 square km) was burnt, according to media reports. It has been confirmed by an eyewitness that Finca Listonero was burnt, along with a number of cortijos close by. El Almeria newspaper says that around 20 cortijos were destroyed.


The flames did come down very close to Turre, and several fire breaks were made by the army just outside the town.


The fire reached a level 2, and a battalion of troops (around 120) were deployed to the area overnight to protect Turre and Mojacar, along with heavy earth moving equipment.
While the troops have been stood down, local media report that aerial units are still trying to extinguish the fires blazing up in the mountains

Replacing English products with Spanish ones.

When we first moved to Spain we made sure we had planty of our normal pills and solutions that we use regularly. Over the year we have been here we have managed to find an equivalent for things such as Nurofens and Glucosamine from the chemist by taking our UK packet down and they check the ingredients on their computer and find what we need.

So that works well when you have the package, but what about when you don't?

Back in the UK we always had Corsodyl in the house so that if we felt any problems with our gums we could stop it before it got too bad. When I flew back last summer I brought some more back with me but of course, we are now at a stage where the bottle is empty and got thrown out - and we haven't got a clue what to buy or where.

So, last night I googled (never sure whether that deserves a capital G or not) Corsodyl and found their website. After a little searching around I found what the active ingredient was and how it was described (officially, as opposed to the way we describe it - that really strong mouthwash that taste's like.......). So armed with my bit of paper that had 2 words written on it - Chlorhexidine Digluconate.

I tootled off to the dentist as I needed to book an appointment to get my broken tooth fixed. Of course, the only receptionist in today was the girl who doesn't speak English, no problema I can speak Spanish, I learn it from a book (a la Manuel!). She told me I needed to go to a chemist so, as I was in Aguilas and there is a good chemist there, I thought I may as well do it straight away. Again, no English is spoken there but I managed to explain what I was after and passed over my bit of paper with the key ingredient - and a few minutes later I had a bottle of Perio.Aid in my hands, which has the exact ingredients in. It's a good bit more expansive than Corsodyl, which has surprised me as other similar medicine stuff is generally cheaper here than in the UK, but I've paid €7 for 500ml and on Asda website Corsodyl is £2.76 for 300ml, suppose we're outside Asda's delivery zone! I'll have to look in the supermarkets to see whether they sell it - now that I know what I'm looking for.

Still, it's great for my practicing my Spanish, having to do this a year ago would have been such a challenge, now I don't even ask if they speak English I just get stuck in with my Spanish and go for it.

So how do you keep cool in this heat?

After the recent heatwave in England I have had a few friends asking me how I keep cool in the heat of summer. Here we have week after week of high temperatures so we are more prepared for it than having the odd week in the middle of a cool wet summer.

The main thing is to wear as few clothes as possible and to move slowly, easier said than done if you have a job of work to do or a family of young children to look after.

If you can plan your day to suit, an early start is best - whether it's walking the dogs, housework or tidying the garden - getting an early start has two benefits, one is that you are doing them at the coolest part of the day (a must for dog walking) and secondly, it gets the chores out of the way so you can relax and enjoy the day, and if you need to - a little sleep at siesta time to recharge the batteries.

I lose track of the number of times I shower and change clothes in a day, at least the clothes dry very quickly so although there is more washing to do - it doesn't seem like it because it's washed, dried and away in a matter of hours. Ironing is an almost impossible task in this heat so the trick is buy clothes that don't need ironing where possible, and to put them away after washing in a way that will keep creasing to a minimum.

I know a lot of the Brits that come to Spain, either on holiday or to live, complain about the restaurants not serving the food piping hot and not warming the plates, but I must admit to doing things the Spanish way now - as I get so hot if I eat piping hot food or drink red hot coffee - instead, I allow my meals and drinks to cool a little now. I also find if I drink too many chilled drinks I seem to constantly want more - I find drinking coffee better, but then I have always been a huge coffee drinker.

Sleeping at night is a big issue in the heat of summer. There are cooling pads you can get to put under your pillows, which some of our friends have said help. We just use a floor standing fan and have it blowing across the bed. So far we have been able to sleep quite well. We have a cool shower before bed, and find this helps us get to sleep. Last summer we had the aircon on all night but this year haven't found we need - to so maybe we are acclimatising to the heat a little.

Finally, we have lots of fans in the rooms to keep the air circulating. We do have air conditioning but prefer to use the fans, have the doors and windows open and when we can - we enjoy the outdoor living this weather allows. There is often a breeze in the garden, a quiet corner in the shade, a good book, a G&T and a comfy chair - and we let other people run around in the heat of the day.

And where are the dogs in all this heat? Laid under the table, in the shade, infront of a fan - not daft are they?

Feeling sorry for myself today.

We've had Sophie overnight and after a peaceful night all the dogs were up early this morning, so I got up to take them all onto the Campo for a long walk before it got too hot.

Getting 3 dogs ready for a walk, getting them out of the door and through the gate is quite entertaining, especially when they all have extending leads - but I managed it and we headed up for the Campo, the entrance of which is literally a 2 minute walk. Once on the Campo I can let them all off their leads and they wander around together quite happily. It should be a stress free half an hour stroll around the Campo. Note those words - should be.....

I was happily strolling behind them all, enjoying the breeze that is coming in from the sea this morning when all of a sudden my foot slipped from under me and I fell heavily on my hands and knees, dog leads thrown in all directions and the next thing I know I have my two boys all over me trying to see if I am ok.

Now, I always struggle to get up from the floor because I cannot put any weight on my wrists. Normally I can manage it by getting on to my knees first - but both knees were incredibly sore from the fall and one had blood running from it and I was covered in brown dirt - front and back - so I sat there for some time wondering how an earth I was going to get back on my feet. It was too early in the morning for other dog walkers to be around and I was on the verge of ringing Neil to come and find me when I noticed a step in the path that I could shuffle down to and maybe get up from there.

It was a struggle, but I managed it and limped home with blood dripping from my knee and feeling very bruised and battered, but at least I had avoided the embarassment of other people watching me fall.

I have no idea what happened, I didn't trip, I definitely slipped somehow but I cannot blame the dogs as they were all off their leads and no where near me.

So, I am feeling very sorry for myself, but it was sweet how my boys came back to see if I was OK.

Not such a gentle stroll in the Campo after all.

Mi cabeza es más grande que antes.

This morning I was given this little ornament by Amelia, my Spanish teacher. It's a lovely little piece, about 3ins tall and has a very cute puppy on top that she thought was similar to Brandy & Brinkley.

It's a little trinket box that opens up and could store a ring, or a pair of earrings

I love it but didn't understand why I had been given it........

until I opened the card that was with it.

For those of you that haven't been studying Spanish all year Amelia has said it is for the student who has learned the most Spanish, best pronunciation and does lots of homework, and should continue to study with as much desire to learn in the coming year.

I got a prize for being top of the class this year. How good is that?

Shopping trip - a success.

I've been for breakfast with a number of friends who were all sales shopping yesterday, some in Lorca, some in Murcia and Lucy & I went to Aguilas. It would seem Lucy & I chose well. Murcia was manic, huge queues for the changing rooms and Amelia, who went with her sister, hardly got anything because it was so busy.

The ladies that went to Lorca did better but it was still reasonably busy whereas in Aguilas, it was really quiet. No queues for the changing rooms and we could happily shop, try things on and it was quite relaxing.

Lucy didn't have a successful day but I had a field day in C&A - yes, we have C&A here - and they had good bargains yesterday. So I topped up my summer wardrobe quite nicely with a number of tops and trousers.

I'm going back today with Neil so we can try and get some bargains for him.

The Sales start today.

The shops in Spain cannot hold sales as and when they would like, as they appear to do in the UK. Here there are specified sales periods twice a year - the 7th January after King's Day celebrations and the summer sales start today - July 1st.

The sales can last for a few weeks but cannot start earlier than July 1st, and many stores will have extra discounts on the first day - so Lucy & I are off shopping this afternoon - to see what's on offer. Hopefully, we'll grab a bargain!