PS Seville

The devotees of Game of Thrones amongst you will have recognised that some of the scenes were filmed in the gardens of the Royal Palace Alcazar in Seville.

The 1866 Brandy we enjoyed at the Murillo Bar is one of Spain’s finest and retails at over 50 Euros a bottle. We couldn’t find any in Cadiz but have bought some 1877 instead which is 11 years old, cost 11 Euros a bottle and is very drinkable.

PS Mazagon

We have read and been advised to keep our marina receipts from these APPA marinas as they sometimes use a very novel way of trying to raise revenue. Two or three years after their visits cruising sailors are being asked to pay for their previous visit as they left the marina without paying. They didn’t of course, it’s just a try on.

Seagulls’ Mystery Prize

Rob noticed them first. A seagull on the adjacent pontoon was tapping a strange object, about the size and shape of a small, lightly curved banana and dark brown in colour. It looked soft but his beak made a tap tap sound on it. He became quite agitated when he couldn’t get into it and in frustration flung it back into the water.

I said to Rob, “I’ll be a little concerned if it floats Rob!”

“Not guilty,” said Rob. It bobbed about a bit until another gull thought he’d have a go at breaking into the prize and retrieved it from the water. He tried time and again, without success.

Meanwhile, his chum was sneakily side-stepping down the pontoon towards him so as not to be noticed. Suddenly, when he saw  his friend was losing interest, so he chose his moment, grabbed the aforementioned object, flew to a reasonable height and dropped it just as he would a mussel or clam. It landed with a clack and bounced straight back, intact, into the water.

The gulls lost interest and went for a thorough bath instead. Dear reader, what could it have been?

Shopping Trolley Numpties

In preparation for our few days at sea soon, we trundled our black and white polka dot trolley the twenty minutes or so walk up the hill to the supermarket at the top. Left said trolley at the door and set of selecting and gathering. When we got to the checkout I went to get the trolley. No trolley. There was a green trolley, a pretty pink and white model, a pale green one, chained and empty, but no polka dot trolley.

I looked at Rob and his lower jaw dropped. Shocked, we searched while the queue watched with mild interest and amusement. I think they’d seen this before. Rob, using mostly sign language, explained our plight. The checkout chap called his line manager who very kindly asked in perfect English,

“Have you tried the other entrance?” We should have noticed that a cosmetic counter had replaced the fruit and vegetable stalls in just the time it took our fish merchant to gut our dorada and trout, but we didn’t. Faith in Spanish honesty back in place we loaded up and left.

Trying to regain some intellectual confidence I noticed as, laden with two heavy bags, I struggled along behind Rob who was wheeling the polka dot trolley and carrying one bag, that I had an unsatisfactory situation going on.

One Chinese Bazaar later we sat outside a quiet cool bar in the shade, supping an ice cold beer and admiring the new addition to the family, a second trolley in a stylish black with white trim.

Enlightening Lighthouse

On our last day in Cadiz we had expected rain during the day, but thought there would be plenty of places to shelter in. The skies stayed blue and sunny all day.

That evening we were imbibing in some tasty white wine back on board, when the rain started quite heavily, lovely cool wet rain, I was glad for the parched ground and foliage getting a rare drenching. Then Rob said, “Did you see that, must be the loom of a lighthouse.”

“Well the flashes are a bit frequent, you can hardly distinguish between them!” I retorted indignantly.

Last evening we had Bruce and Caroline aboard from their 40’ Trident Voyager, Flirtie.

“Did you see that lightening last night?” Caroline said, we looked at each-other and shared the joke.