ann and andy lawrenson

Well, a day has dawned that we had serious doubts would ever arrive. The caravan is finally repaired! True, it’s not quite the right window, we haven’t got the scratches knocked out, and the water heater outlet is from a different model, but at least I don’t have to walk past it and be reminded of the worst day of our entire trip every time.

Life here is getting very busy. As usual I seem to have got myself somewhat overstretched. Currently singing in two choirs, with nine concerts between now and Christmas, and some of the music has to be learned by heart. Also doing two Spanish lessons a week, plus we are still persevering with ballroom dancing (quite why I’m not sure, as we are both terrible), and ceroc, which is modern Jive. We’re not good at that either, but at least it gets us out into the warm. We wake up most mornings to beautiful blue skies, and it is quite warm outside but freezing in the house for most of the day. Then as soon as the sun disappears behind the mountains it gets really cold, and we spend most of the evening trying to keep up with the speed at which the woodburner consumes logs. I’m thinking of taking up smoking again to try and protect my lungs from the woodsmoke! We usually manage to heat about ten square feet of the lounge adequately. but visits to other parts of the house are undertaken with extreme reluctance. That said, we are both enjoying life. Ann is painting again, and I’m creating monsters out of old vine roots. I sometimes think it’s time to get a life! We have also started making a few friends, and Ann has adjusted extremely quickly to the idea of three hour lunches. I still prefer a quick sandwich, but no doubt that will change.  All the best, Andy.