ann and andy lawrenson

Hi All, we are beginning to come to terms with the Spanish concept of manana. The gardener turned up last Wednesday, switched on the watering system, the tap to which is in a locked shed which only he has a key for, and hasn’t been seen since. Meanwhile, 600 litres of water a day that we are paying for is leaking uselessly into bits of the garden that don’t need it. We think we may have found someone to repair some bits of the caravan, but will need to find someone else to do the rest, and have just discovered that we need new car insurance which we probably can’t get without some extra documentation. It’s enough to drive one to drink, speaking of which I wouldn’t want people to have got the wrong idea from Ann’s e-mail and to think we were on the expensive stuff at 2.70 for a litre. It’s actually 2.70 for two litres, with a forty cents discount if you take your own bottle.
Went to choir practice this morning before a pleasant lunch with Rosie Jackson
and her husband Paul. Their house is lovely, and Paul is making a full contribution to the financial health of the local wine-makers. We had a very good meal out on Saturday night, (Roast Wild Boar), but sadly we were the only people in the restaurant. The town is really struggling and the population has fallen from 3000plus to 2200 in the past eighteen months. It’s sad to see, but when you look at the political corruption and the complete lack of economic judgement you can’t see it improving. As an example, the local Valencian TV station (of which there are seventeen in Spain) has just gone bust to the tune of one thousand million (1,000,000,000,) euros, but there are still protests that they should be baled out. Must go, got to get ready for my Spanish lesson. All the best, Andy.