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.

New friends Wayne and Pip

Wayne and Pip are fellow travellers. They are away for a year in their mobile home and have stopped in Javea for a few months.

They are brilliant dancers and introduced us to ceroc at the Tortuga bar.

Well, I suppose it had to happen eventually! Summer came to a sudden end with the storm, but what caught us by surprise was the sudden drop in temperature to 4C the following day, accompanied by a bitter Northerly wind. There was snow on the nearby mountains, and as we had feared the house is virtually impossible to heat. With high ceilings, single glazing, stone floors and absolutely no insulation any heat generated simply dissipates into the ether. We spent the evening huddled round the wood burner trying to prevent our assets from getting frozen, and went to bed at about 9pm having burned about two week’s supply of logs in an evening. We have bought two oil fired radiators which are having no effect at all, and will be buying an electric blanket and two cubic metres of logs tomorrow.
Apart from that, everything is fine. I am now singing with two choirs. One, the Costa Blanca MVC {they have a website) is excellent, and the other mainly social. We are also doing ballroom dancing on a Tuesday, which I would be better at if I only had two left feet, and are due to start a c-rock course (don’t ask) next Tuesday. I’m also doing Spanish lessons once a week. Now that the nights are drawing in we are beginning to think that we ought to do something about getting a tele, but neither of us are really missing it. We have booked Christmas lunch in a local restaurant for the Spanish sitting rather than the ex-pat one, so that should be a test of our Spanish. Hoping to get down to Murcia to visit John Wakefield soon, and looking forward to getting home to see the family for a few days in January. Still very few people booked to come out in the Spring. Do come and see us, this is a really lovely part of the world with lots to see and do. All the best. Andy

It’s the  middle of November and we’re still sitting out in the sun!

We went for a drive up into the mountains today. The scenery is absolutely stunning. We love this place. We’re thinking of staying on a bit longer than we originally planned.

Have booked a trip back to the UK for a week in January. Looking forward to catching up with everyone.

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.

Hi all we started our Spanish lessons last night, and I went to another one today. Don’t think I’ll ever pick it up properly, but one has to make the effort. The teacher, Carmen, seems very pleasant but somewhat disorganised, and will probably be nowhere near as good as Margharita. Temperature back to 29C again today and we are still swimming, though the water temperature is only about 14C and one’s assets get frozen fairly rapidly. Ann is very chilled out and enjoying her painting, but I’m sure the dancing next week will put her back on edge again! Sorry to hear that Helen has hurt herself quite badly. Get well soon, we’re thinking of you. Keep the comments coming, even if it’s only to tell us you’re jealous. We’re painting a rosy picture to try and persuade people to come and stay for a few days. Due to meet up with Rosie Jackson from the Spanish class on Monday. All the best, Andy.

Our first Spanish lesson was interesting. The students are a mixture of English, Dutch and Belgians. Our class was Level 2 and I am going to be fine with that. Andy was persuaded to change to a more advanced class which he his trying out this evening.

Really looking forward to meeting up with Rosie from Margarita’s class on Monday, so that we can catch up with all the news.

Still swimming everyday! We just can’t believe how lucky we are with the weather.

We’ve found a great little bodega in the village where we can fill our own containers with wine at 2.70euros a litre!