At last, the weather is improving and we can get out again. Denia is a great town. On this occasion we wandered around the castle. We will have to go back to see the old town, the port and sea front soon.

Well done to the Costa Blanca Male Voice Choir who won the audience award at the competition of the choirs on Sunday.

It was a great evening! Well done to Nikki Luxford for organising the event and raising 1900euros for One Step Malawi.

Good job!

I am still going through my portrait painting phase. I am quite pleased with these two. Can you remind me Simon? I have forgotten the name of the old lady who worked on the farm in Nicwichi.

Andy has painted the two boats. Getting good isn’t he?

Hi All, It’s amazing what a couple of days of sunshine can do. The blossom on the almond trees which had been very reluctant to appear has burst into life, and it makes so much difference to be able to sit on the patio for breakfast. 23 degrees earlier today, but unfortunately it is now down to about 14 with three days rain forecast. A pity, because Ann is still not well and is in dire need of some persistent sunshine. She finished a really good portrait of a Mozambiquan lady we met at Nkwichi  this week, and is going to Pilates tonight. As usual she is making light of things but still has a horrible cough and it is about time she started to get better. We are both counting the days until we move, Ann because she wants a decent kitchen and me because I want to get some veggies planted before the weather gets too hot.

Very much enjoyed the choir competition at Teulada last night. We put thirty-six people on stage and made a really good sound. We won the audience award but finished second to a Barber shop choir in the judged competition, which we were a bit disappointed with. However, the concert raised nearly 2000 euros for One Step Malawi, which was really encouraging. Seeing so many of our friends there really brought it home that we had hardly been out  since New Year, and we are really hoping to get back into things soon. Next choir event is on the 27th Feb, and we have to learn Beethoven’s Ode to Joy in Spanish by then, which could be a challenge! Dolce Divas have a big concert on 18th April which I am in the process of sorting out. They have teamed up with the former principal cellist from the London School of Music and a really good blues guitarist called Markus Koehorst (www.youtube.com/koehorst), so it should be a really good evening. (Book your flights,Jan)

Sending all positive thoughts and best wishes to my niece Katie, who is very ill in Auckland, New Zealand, and her family. Life does seem to have a habit of treating the nicest people horribly badly. Really hope she makes a full and rapid recovery. BFN Andy

Hi All, Not much to report except that we are both somewhat better than we were. We both made it to art class this week, and it looks as if I will be OK for the choir competition this weekend. Weather is cool and damp but nothing like as cold as it was last week, so we can get the ambient temperature in the lounge up to 18 or 19, instead of 13 or 14. This makes a big difference!Friends have rallied round and invited us for the evening to warm up, and we had a lovely evening with Jackie and Mike Evans last night. Many thanks.

I had an exhausting hour this morning with the head of cultural services for the Denia region. He speaks absolutely no English (or at least pretends not to) so I was having to pitch a proposition to him in Spanish. I think it went well and it’s very good for improving one’s language quickly, but I came out feeling like wet lettuce! I’m now looking after four musical acts, so it is taking up more time and I can feel the wheels in the brain slowly beginning to turn again. Hope it hasn’t deteriorated beyond the point of no return, but after eighteen months doing not much you definitely notice a diminution of the little grey cells! All the Best, Andy

Hi All. It is amazing how quickly life can change for the better. The sun is out today and the forecast is good, so hopefully the worst of winter is over and Ann will at last begin to get better. I also have this lovely warm glow that will last for several weeks, engendered by the fact that an injury ravaged England were far to good for Wales in the Millennium stadium on Friday night.  However, the thing that has made so much difference and that we have so much appreciated is the way that friends and family have rallied round with expressions of concern and practical offers of help and accommodation. Although we have going through a bit of a temporary rough patch this has been a great reminder of how lucky we are to have such good friends, and how much better our lives are than those of so many others. We have lots to look forward to this year and in the future, so thanks once again for everyone’s concern but we are still hanging on in there.  Andy.

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, full English breakfast on the patio and a good walk this afternoon.

The psychological wounds of the theft are healing.

I am reading I am Malala, ( the girl who was shot by the Taliban for wanting to go to school) and it sort of puts my small problems into perspective.

Keep smiling!

We have had so many kind messages and offers of help from friends and family. Thankyou to everyone who have wished us well. There are more lovely people out there than horrible ones. I am more angry with myself for being caught out by crooks than with the thieves themselves. I thought I was streetwise!

Onwards and upwards! I’ll put it behind me and never shop in Lidl, Bennissa again!

Hi All. Trying very hard to look for the positives at the moment, but it is not easy. Poor Ann is really going through it. I’m just hoping bad luck comes in threes. She is nearly finished with her second lot of antibiotics and they don’t seem to be making any difference at all to the really horrible cough she has had for six weeks. On top of that the car hire company (Europa, Intarent note the name) ripped her off to the tune of 97 euros when her hire car got a puncture that it may well have had when she picked it up. Thirdly and by far the worst, she got mugged by two crooks in Lidl car park this morning while doing the shopping. One distracted her while the other nicked her purse, with all her credit cards and 300 euros cash in it. She is not hurt, but understandably really shaken up and angry. I would love these bastards to die very slowly and painfully. It is not so much the loss of the money, nor the inconvenience of having to cancel all the cards. It is more the sense of vulnerability and loss of confidence that it engenders. I hate them.

The house continues to be cold. We have gone back to a log fire because we can’t get the lounge temperature above about fifteen degrees any other way, but are getting increasingly desperate for the weather to change. Can’t wait to get into the new house!

Looking forward to Roger and Sveta coming out at the end of March, and really pleased to hear about the new job. Sounds interesting. All the best, hanging on in there.

Andy and Ann.