ann and andy lawrenson

Not at all sure where the past three weeks have gone. They seem to have absolutely flown by. We had six days back in the UK over Christmas. Many thanks to Roger and Svetlana for putting us up and looking after us so well. It was lovely to see everybody, but a shame we had to make so many flying visits. The rugby at Twickenham was great, but the whole trip was a reminder of how much we have slowed down. Being in a crowd of 80,000 people was quite intimidating, and even in Bookham High Street everyone moves at such high speed and with such purpose. The pace here in Spain is much slower and definitely suits us better.

We had a pleasant stroll around the village of Jalon (completely empty) on New Years Eve, before adjourning to a couple of local bars. You are supposed to swallow a grape for good luck on each stroke of midnight, but it is far more difficult than it sounds and our efforts were fairly desultory. It was a beautiful crisp night with the stars shining as we walked home afterwards. The nights are very cold at present and the house is freezing apart from a small area around the fire which is costing us a small fortune in logs. Can’t help feeling that George Osborne wouldn’t be quite so keen on removing our winter fuel allowance payment if he had to stay with us for a few days! The days are lovely with blue skies and temperatures in the low 20’s, so we can sit outside reading, sun bathing or painting. Painting classes start again next week and we are both keen to get back to them.

Hoping that Ann recovers soon from the nasty bug she seems to have picked up. There is lots we want to do this year and a good start always helps. We are in the process of setting up Elite Promotions to manage and promote musical acts on the Costa Blanca. We are starting with Dolce Divas and hope to expand to working with half a dozen good performers by the end of the year. All good fun and quite exciting. We also need to focus on finding ourselves a more permanent home. There is not as much on the rental market as we had hoped, and we don’t have too much time to get sorted. Add to that the Spanish classes, Ann’s Pilates, choir, and hopefully finding a table tennis club, plus cricket in the summer, and we have an interesting year to look forward to. Happy New Year to everyone.

All the Best, Andy.