ann and andy lawrenson

Well, we seem to be settling in to our new home quite comfortably. Initial problems with arcing electrics and a lethal hot water tank have been sorted out, and the car eventually got fixed. The new exhaust had been fitted completely missing the main gasket, so it’s not surprising it wasn’t going well!

The weather has been amazing, with daytime temperatures up to 30C, but took a change for the worse yesterday and it is now much cooler and quite windy, which is making the shutters rattle. The house was absolutely freezing last night, and with stone floors, high ceilings and no insulation it is not going to be easy to keep warm. We have bought a load of logs and an oil radiator, and moved all the blankets in from the caravan. We tend to get out and about in the day, and have been up into the mountains a couple of times. The scenery is absolutely stunning. Ann is painting and has produced a couple of very good acrylics of Castle Tamarit in Tarragona where we stayed on the way down. I am trying to write, but it’s not really flowing at present. I am struggling to find an adequate description of the Walrus’s ability to demolish vast quantities of food and alcohol simultaneously, whilst sustaining an uninterrupted barrage of vituperative abuse about the local administration!

We are both reading a lot in the evenings as the twenty year old tv we have only receives local Spanish stations, most of which are in Valenciano. It is very difficult to improve our Spanish as no one speaks it as a first language, so you can’t plug in to conversations in bars etc. We are starting lessons on Wednesday, and will also be having another go at ballroom dancing starting next Tuesday. Looking forward to practicing my left-footed sweeping move which leaves Ann sitting ten feet away in the middle of the dance floor without a mark on her! It nearly lead to divorce last time, so hopefully it will be better this time round.  I have joined a local choir, The Valley Voices, and we are rehearsing for a couple of concerts at Christmas. Couldn’t find a Spanish choir to join as they all seem to be associated with the Catholic church. Bonfire night tonight, but I don’t expect it’s very popular here! We still only have a couple of people coming out to stay, so if anyone fancies popping out for a few days we are happy to collect them from Alicante airport. Sorry there’s nothing more exciting to report.

All the best, Andy.

The internet was fitted into the villa today! Wow it feels great to be connected again. You don’t realise how much you need or use it until it is not there.

The weather has changed to 20 – 22 degrees. It feels really cold! We have got a load of logs in for the winter.

We have had our first house guests. A couple of fellow travellers, Wayne and Pip who are exploring Europe for a year, came for a BBQ, swim and overnight stay.

Andy has found a choir to sing with and we start Spanish lessons again next week.

Hi All, We’ve settled  Looking forward to seeing lots of people well into our new house, which is lucky as “the Beast” has started causing problems again. Hoping to get it sorted this afternoon, but the mechanic doesn’t speak any English, so it will be interesting to see how many wheels it has on it when we get it back. Still swimming every day as the temperature is still getting up to thirty, though the evenings are getting cooler. Ann is painting and I am trying to get writing again, but feeling a bit indolent! We have signed up for Spanish classes starting in November, and I am due for my first session with a local choir next Monday. Looking forward to seeing lots of people out here in the next few months. Roger, Sveta and Elena are coming in December which will be good. We may even have a car by then! We should have our own internet connection fitted by the end of next week, but at the moment are relying on cafes, so the blog could be a bit terse until then. Keep posting comments. Andy.  

We move into a 2 bedroom bungalow type villa on Sunday.

There is a pool and outside kitchen. We can park the caravan on site so it can be offered as extra accommodation for visitors.

It is 400 yards from the town of Xalo/Jalon in a valley with sun all day. Hopefully the weather will stay warm and we can use the pool for a few weeks. It is really hot at the moment but the campsite has closed the pool so we have to go down to the sea for swim. Apparently the coldest month is February. A lot of people BBQ on Christmas Day, so that sounds as though it will be fine.

Xalo is about 15 miles from the sea, has a huge Saturday market and has a lot of ex-pats. We have found some Spanish classes to join already and we are both looking forward to this next phase of our travels.

Unfortunately, there is no wifi connection at the villa so we are going to find internet cafes and tourist offices to keep in contact with everyone. There is still text messaging on my mobile phone number though.

Flights into Alicante are about £50/70 return so we are hoping for lots of friends and family to come over for a visit.

Keep telling us your news

Love Ann

 Well, it looks as if our time on the open road is drawing to close until Spring. We found a two bedroom villa today with room for the caravan, and made an offer for a six month rental which has been accepted, so we are hoping to move in next Monday. The furniture is a bit tatty, but it ticks nearly all of the boxes except that it doesn’t have internet, which is almost impossible to find on short-let properties. It is on the outskirts of the town of Jalon (or Xalo), depending on which version of Spanish you speak, has a garden about the size of the one we had in Ferring, orange lemon and persimmon trees in the garden and sunshine from every side. There is a swimming pool and an outside kitchen, and it even has a bath! It is about an hour from Alicante airport, so we can easily pick visitors up from there. Jalon is a pleasant little town with oranges and almonds growing all around it, and apparently the blossom in February is spectacular. Hope we will see some of you soon.

The only current flies in our ointment are that I still seem to be completely deaf in one ear and Ann’s knee is giving her a lot of gyp. Andy