John, a friend from the UK arrived on
the 21st June and stayed with us until the 28th. This was
a wonderful excuse to put a stop to the painting and decorating, as well as the
gardening to show off our little bit of
Spain, with its
own micro-climate. Needless to say, all of us added a kilo or so and had to
loosen our belts a little.
There have been family problems at Verde Vent so it is
now two separate restaurants. The new one is called The Teresa and is run by the
son-in-law who was the chef at Verde Vent for 18 years before the split.
However, the food and service is still good, only the number of seats has
reduced.
The Pasta House in Moraira is now called Rudolfo. He and
his partner have gone their separate ways and although the food is still very
good, it doesn’t achieve the excellence obtained before the partner/chef moved
on. It is still worth a visit if you like Italian cuisine.
Rob and Cath from Twixter, another Lagoon 44foot
catamaran, anchored in the bay at El Portet, on their travels towards
Gibraltar. We had met Rob and Cath in 2008, when we all
participated in the EMYR (East Mediterranean yacht
rally).
On Saturday, while John was still with us, they joined us
for a BBQ in our garden. The weather of course was just wonderful.
They have not yet decided whether they will cross the
Atlantic or sail to
London. The decision won’t be made
until they reach Gibraltar and is somewhat dependent on
which friends join them to help crew the boat.
Only two days after John had flown back to the
UK, we were
taking advantage of his kind hospitality. Next day we drove to
Margate to meet with Dick’s adopted
brother, Charles. He had moved to a different nursing home about a year earlier,
following a period of severe neglect which resulted in the care home being shut
down. Fortunately he has settled now and is very happy in a caring
environment.
We drove to Ditton Marsh, located approximately on the
Wlitshire, Somerset,
Devon border and met with an old friend, and his wife.
Dick has known John almost 50 years. In fact, John was best man at Dick’s first
wedding, way back in 1969. They were both into
Austin 7 motor cars in those days,
as was Hilary, before she even knew John. They are still both
Austin 7 enthusiasts and we took two
of their five classic cars, to Avoncliff. John and Dick traveled in a Box
convertible and Hilary and I traveled in a Ruby convertible.
It felt as though we were doing 100mph as we speeded
along the country lanes at only 40mph. Even more amazing, as we drove along the
wet roads it seemed as if we were doing at least 40mph as we took the corners.
Looking at the speedometer, I was surprised to see that we were doing just
15mph.
We spent a few nights with Dick’s son Ed and his lovely
wife and two young sons. The morning of the day prior to their flight to
Florida, we attended the prize
giving at the Bishops Kitchen, Chichester cathedral.
Koby, Dick’s grandson, received a silver bowl, rewarding him for his efforts for
“best achievement”.
The first week we were in the
UK, we made a
point of visiting my Mother at the nursing home at Brockenhurst, in the
New Forest, every day. The first day she appeared to have
a lot of energy and was keen to go to a coffee shop in the village. On
subsequent days she was often tired after we had spent just two or three hours
with her. We found she was at her best between around 11.30 and
15.00.
We tried to get European Health cards but it took five
telephone calls before we reached the right department, despite calling the
number suggested on the website. We requested application forms by email on the
16th June but the office dealing with this are currently only working
on requests received up to 14th June. The forms cannot be sent to a
nominated address in the
UK so we won’t
be able to progress our application until we return to
Spain in
September. People complain about the beaurocracy in
Spain but
compared with the
UK, there really
is no issue.
I managed to get a load of washing done the day that Dick
took Ed and family to the airport. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t cooperating
and although it was windy, there were a lot of showers, making drying a real
problem.
We met with Chris and Patsy and stayed overnight at their
house in Dorking. Chris is an artist and currently working on some sculptures
made of wood which he is preparing for an exhibition.
Next day we visited his sister Maggie and Trevor, her
husband in Carshalton. Maggie had thrown a party for us which was very
successful. Blessed with the weather, we were able to spend a lot of time in the
garden during the day. Although the party started at lunchtime, it was well
after 11pm when the last guest
departed and we went next door and spent the night with Mary, Maggie’s
mother.
We drove to Basingstoke to meet
the bank manager and then on to Slough, having obtained
the UK address
of Buffolo Technology from their website. The equipment we had purchased from
them about three years ago no longer functioned and having not been able to get
the problem sorted over the phone, we brought the equipment back from the
Caribbean so that it could be checked out by a
technician. Unfortunately, it transpired that there was no longer a
UK presence in
Slough.
Getting back onto the motorway we made our way to
Midhurst to meet with Dick’s cousin Robert and his wife Carolyn. They are in
Europe for a couple of months and were currently renting
a delightful National Trust cottage. We had met them previously in
Brisbane, last year.
The following day, we plan to visit an old friend in
Finchamstead, Berkshire……