Dear All,

 

Still in Seville! I have to admit my enthusiasm for Seville has somewhat waned, don't get me wrong, it’s still very much a beautiful city with a very Spanish serene atmosphere and well worth an Easyjet experience.

It’s the heat, 40 degs most days inside our cabin without aircon! On deck temperatures of 49 degs, you need to take all your clothes off to sit on the toilet! Sleeping at night without bed covers. I  read my kindle in a waterproof case frightened that my dripping sweat will kill it!

I guess if your having rain and wind with mid teen temperatures and thinking about heating the house we are going to receive little sympathy?

 

We were due to leave Seville last Sunday. Gary had returned from Cornwall on Saturday and the lifting bridge and lock were booked for the following day. However, whilst laying in bed Saturday night I heard a crack followed promptly by my partner firing off some rather abusive expletives!

Basically Lynn has a wobbly front tooth which is cemented to an adjacent good one, knowing this would you try and bite your thumbnail?  So we are awaiting a visit to a Spanish Dentist, kindly arranged by our Spanish neighbour who owns the boat next door and seams to be related to all of Seville, whose Cousin happens to be a dentist.

 

Well I have to be careful here as he might get to read this blog so I will not post this until we have left Seville.

We will call him Manuel, he is not a waiter in a Torquay hotel, does not come from Barcelona! He was from Marbella and was a policemen who has been shot twice, then retired, however he was not happy with his pension and after divorcing his wife he now lives with his Mother and the life of a play boy.

He has a very fast boat and deals in the import and export trade, trading mainly with clients in Morocco. For those of you interested he is looking for new outlets in the UK as his current distributer is awaiting Her Majesty's pleasure. He buys cigarettes from Rumania at 80 cents a packet and sells them to his distributers for 1eu 20c. What is the price in Tescos?  Having been on the side of the law, lets say he is now able to look at life from all angles!

 

We first met Manuel after first arriving in Seville at 10 pm. We were mooring stern too against a wall. Whilst trying to pass the two mooring ropes forward, the one Lynn was carrying was snatched from her hand, it had become caught in the propeller and quickly became spaghetti.

“Oh no problem my friend we will look to fix for you in the morning.” As we were securely fixed we went to bed. The next morning I awoke and there was Manuel and his son with two boat hooks “This a my son  we come for you too fixa the rope, blowdy good ehh?

They began by  blindly poking around in the position where he thought the propeller was, I say blindly as the river is yellow and green and floating bits with little flow due to the lock gates. It was slowly beginning to dawn on me that there was only one outcome.

I had initially dreamt that my first dive would be in clear, sparkling, turquoise water on a vibrant coral reef in the Caribbean, not the prospect of Weils disease, Typhus or Cholera! in the River Alfonso, Seville.

As I put on my diving kit and about to enter the water a dead fish appeared on the surface prospects didn't look good!

I entered the water, the visibility was at the most six inches I groped my way down until I could feel the rope around the propeller, I tugged hard but nothing would give. There was no alternative but to cut the rope without cutting off a finger or two as I could not see and the thought of what bacteria could enter an open wound was enough to make that the most careful cut since removing the crackling from the last Sunday roast.

 

 

 

So the rope was retrieved I carefully spliced it back together and you wouldn't know it had been cut!

 

 

I don't know if any of you have wondered what creates and holds together a successful relationship, what is it that cements the partnership through thick and thin, when the chips are down, what forms the holdfast and makes your anchor bite!

What holds you together and still gives you that get up and go when you think the go got up and left after the light went out?

Well Lynn and I can now reveal our secret to that successful bond.

 

 

BONKA COFFEE

 

Of Course both parties need to drink equal amounts to avoid a lop sided effect.

 

THE DENTIST!

 

As I mentioned earlier Lynn needed to see a dentist before we could leave Seville, an initial consultation was arranged with Manuel's cousin this was carried out at the Marina on Manuel’s boat which is moored next to ours, the time was 8.30 pm.

Can you imagine a dentist doing house calls at 8.30 pm in the UK? It turned out that he was also a Doctor we were asked if whilst he was here was there anything else he could do? I said to Manuel that it is unusual to be both a Doctor and a Dentist to which he replied

“ It is a normal in Spain for to be both for he can then earn much more money “ It was at this stage Lynn began to get a little worried however she decided that he could at least take a look, he then disappeared for about 15 minutes and we thought he had done a runner as he was feeling a little sick on the boat even though we were on a river tied up to the quay. Did I mention that the Dentist could not speak a word of English? He finally returned with a torch “ for to see inside of the mouth”.

Through Manuel's dodgy translation he began at least to make the right noises about cementing the tooth back next to the adjacent which what Lynn wanted he then started to talk about extra support metal and drilling and gave Lynn a choice! Her face was a picture.

It was at this stage that Manuel commenced doing what he does best, negotiating a special price with his cousin the Dentist.

“ I for say to you a special price because a you are my friends and he needs the money, eighty euros maybe a hundred no more maximum price whatever you want”

What would you do?

Lynn was torn, the next stop was Maderia and what was there? Maybe a horse doctor!

We returned back to our boat and had a crew discussion: for the price he was also going to do an x-ray of her teeth he also told us that he has many clients travel over from the UK for treatment, so we agreed to the x-ray at least, also we would take along Cristina who Lynn had met in the marina and whose English was quite good, the appointment was agreed for the next day at 8.30 pm

Did I tell you about Manuel's driving? We had understood that the surgery was about 3 miles away maximum 10 minutes. Manuel began by talking to to the sat nav on his phone in Spanish and off we went. I would have to say from my first impression he was colour blind as traffic lights had no meaning to him all colours mean go, he would only stop to gaze at some Senorita’s  bottom on a motorbike. Smoking is banned in cars in Spain. No problem he held his outside whilst driving along, his lane changing was bordering on the suicidal, at this stage I looked down at the sat nav route on his iphone that he was following and it stated 55 kms 1 hour 22mins to our destination!

I questioned this, to which Manuel's response was “I no use this, anyway I know short cut”

We eventually arrived and could see the street however all the access roads were “No Entry” As an ex policemen I guess he must retain some special powers unfortunately the motorists coming in the opposite direction were not aware of this!

 

We arrived at his Cousins and very much to our surprise it was a normal Dentists, complete with patients in the waiting room although I think Lynn had thoughts that they had been brought in off the street and were relatives paid by Manuel to make it appear to be a real Dentists.

it was at this stage while waiting that Manuel started to tell us dodgy Spanish Jokes, complete with all hand and hip movements, we were in stitches and it took Lynn's mind off of her treatment.

Her turn eventually arrived, so Lynn, Cristina and Manuel went into the surgery, I stayed outside.

After ten minutes it started, all I could hear was laughing, it turned out that Manuel had continued his joke telling and antics in the surgery whilst Lynn was having treatment, the nurse was laughing so much that Lynn was gagging on the sucky thing that she was holding in her mouth.

 

Conclusion.

The treatment was as good as, if not better than she had received in Cornwall, she was offered and accepted additional treatment that due to budget restraint had not been offered by her local NHS dentist and all for 70 euros!

 

When we talk to people back home they always refer to our trips as holidays! They are so much more, we do not feel that this is a holiday, more like an experience, most times are good, some times on the rare occasion not so good but always an experience.

We have been lucky enough to have met people here who have made our visit to Seville a really good and interesting experience. All I have written about has really happened, OK I always look for the funny side but I have had many long and interesting conversations with Manuel

and this is the way of Spain, corrupt is too strong a word but anything can be had for the right price or the blind eye can always be turned.

 

 

 

On a more serious note we now look forward to our next trip which will be Madeira, clear water and sensible heat.

The trip involves a 530 mile trip into the Atlantic.

We all say BRING IT ON!

 

Some pics, not many though on separate post.