| Submitted by: Ivan Andrusiak, United Kingdom |
| Submission Date: 23 February 2007 |
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Anne said that she will be timing my runs out in future, I replied by saying she would have to start worrying if I return after 5 minutes!
The town had a marquee outside the town hall where the children were leaving with parents carrying recently opened presents; the children were keenly eyeing each others presents, coveting the others with envy.
We managed to find a place that did grilled food and chips, which so far seems to be the Spanish diet. I randomly hit the ‘plate de jour’, menu with my finger, which amused the waitress and ended up with a mixed starter, and steak and chips. Anne more conventionally ordered Lamb chops. As my main course looked more appetising, we each ate the others.
We were tucked up in bed by 9 p.m. and have the best night sleep yet, due in the main, to not having the central heating on.
Saturday 6th January 2007.
We awake to glorious sunshine. This is a little deceptive as the temperature is not as high as the clear blue sky would suggest. We both get up late and I go for a run, not very far, but I feel I must get some exercise as I have been sitting on my tush for far too long. I run along a road that is surrounded by orange groves, but you cannot see too much for the lay of the land, I return after 20 minutes, to Anne who has a stop watch?
We decide to take it easy today, Anne cleans the van, I wash the car. I intend to wash the van another day. I rebuild the pedal cycles that we have carried down in the car, Anne is keen to cycle round the site. We both find the time to sit out in the afternoon sunshine; it is nice and hot, phew!
We have made friends with Liz and Stuart, who are on the pitch next to ours. They are also the proud owners of a Kia Sorrento. They are booked on this site like us for 30 days, but Liz hates Spain, well she hates being in Spain, because she feels very vulnerable. It is a case of the fear of crime, taking a hold, however with our experience in Madrid, she might well have a point. Stu is ex army and previously worked for Kia in Lancashire, they now live in Grantham, Liz is a bit of a character and very outspoken.
Anne takes a walk around the campsite with Liz. This gave Anne and Liz the opportunity to have a chat and nosey in any ones caravan on the site who was willing to invite them in.
There were some sad tales told of pensions not providing for a standard of living in the UK, so decisions being made to sell up and have a transient existence in Spain. However the cost of living is catching up with the UK and the euro is not stretching as far as it used to do.
There is a couple here who are in their seventies, who thought they were going to buy their dream home here, and are having it built and whilst the work is in progress, are living in a motor-home on this site, neither really wants to be here and the house build has not been straight forward. The costs have spiralled. Talking to this couple, they each believe it is for the benefit of the other and confide separately, that they really don’t want to be here, how sad is that?
On the other hand there are Brits on the site, who are very happy with their lot. Our neighbours on the opposite side of Liz and Stu, are from Liverpool and have lived here for 4 ½ years. They have their pitch set up with a degree of permanence that has upset the site management. There are a few in a similar situation. They have put kitchens and bathrooms inside metal sheds, which are attached to their caravans. They have flagged patios.
In the evening we go to the Café which is on the campsite and we have a few drinks and talk to some of our new friends. The Café closes at 9 p.m. so we have another early night, well Anne does, I have a walk around the site for a bit of fresh air. It is eerily quiet.
Sunday 7th January 2007.
We have a leisurely morning and decide to have a ride into Torrevieja get some diesel and buy some provisions.
We are pleasantly surprised by Torrevieja. We park the car and have a walk on the promenade. Its another beautiful day, the sun is reflecting off the calm Mediterranean Sea, although there’s no one swimming there are a few people sunbathing, or jogging on the sand in trunks. This is in sharp contrast to the Local Spanish who are dressed in their winter woollies, clinging closed coat collars and bracing themselves as if battling against an imaginary blizzard.
We manage to get to the church where a service is about to finish. There is an enormous model in the church square, showing the nativity story. It was very gory and took about a quarter of an hour to walk around. The gory bits involved Herod killing all the new born babies, imitation blood flowed in abundance.
We do a little window shopping and walk around a street market. We then go to a massive supermarket (Carrefore) and are impressed by the variety of goods. What we are not impressed with is the cost of meat and vegetables which are, if anything, more expensive than back home. We do a shop and are determined to attend local markets to do our shopping in future. We wish we had brought our barbeque, I thought we’d pick one up cheap here and find the cheapest is £10, what a waste (me being tight again!).
We get home with our provisions and I over fill the water tank. This has the potential of being a disaster as water ingress in a caravan can be very serious. We are very lucky as the water has not penetrated any of the chipboard. The carpet is sodden but sorted by being placed outside. I will have to be more careful in future.
Liz and Stu come over for a drink and we give them our talk on the Ukraine accompanied by our film show. They suffered in good humour, shall we say.
Monday 8th January 2007.
Today is a dobey day; Anne works hard all day washing and ironing, I give the caravan it’s first wash since Poland. It looks fantastic.
I decide to have a cycle and reconnoitre some of the lanes nearby, so that perhaps Anne might partake on a miniature adventure on her bike on another day. I leave Anne doing the ironing.
Fourth Instalment.
Before I set off on my cycle ride, I turn the tap on that fills a water barrel outside the caravan, intending to turn it off before I leave.
On my return after about an hour, Anne says that the neighbours raised the alarm, when water was found to be flowing from beneath our caravan. Anne was worried that the same problem that we had experienced the night before was being repeated and the van was going to be ruined. She soon saw the problem and turned off the tap. I received a good ‘tutting’ from Anne and the raised eyebrow look from the neighbours, you know ‘the look’ that indicates that they know you’re a pratt. Nothing but my rapidly diminishing reputation was spoilt.
Liz, who has been ‘fed up’, since we met her, has decided to leave the site and move on with Stu up to Benidorm. So we decide to go out for a Chinese with them tonight to say farewell. They originally asked us and we declined as we had food in that we wanted to eat, but as they intended it to be their last night we changed our mind.
We left about 7 p.m. in their KIA Sorrento, it made a nice change not having to drive. The village of San Miguel is about 5 Km away and mostly up hill on a busy road, frequented by prostitutes, so you’re as well driving there.
We had heard some unfavourable reports about this Chinese restaurant, but having experienced a set menu there, we can only heap praise on the establishment and staff. It was a reasonable 10 euros (£7) a head including drinks and they threw in a bottle of wine to take home with us.
We got back home for 9 p.m. bade farewell to our friends and settled down to watch an episode of Morse on the computer. Anne was asleep by 9.20 p.m. so we had another early night.
Tuesday 9th January 2007.
Its another beautiful day the weather report on the radio is that it will be as high as 18 degrees C today. We decide to go to La Manga Del Mar Menor. We go round to Liz and Stuarts caravan to say goodbye, and they decide that they would like to visit La Manga as well, so they call off their departure and join us.
They are good company, mostly because they laugh at all my jokes and tell a few of their own as well. They have had a hard life and like most people who have had to face adversity, have managed to survive by being devoted to each other, their family, keeping a sense of perspective and a sense of humour.
Le Manga must be an 80 mile round trip. It gave us the opportunity to see some of the coast line. This does not change a great deal as the miles roll by. Anne and Liz comment on how this part of Spain is not pretty. But my observation is that as there is very little rain here through the year, it will look baron and rugged.
We travelled south and then west alongside some hills and as we entered La Manga, we saw, what potentially for us was an alternative camp site, which was situated right on the Mar Menor, an inland sea. I must say it’s a case of the other vans pitch is always cleaner. I for one was a little envious. There were cycle paths from the camp site into the town and along the peninsular.
We drove as far as we could along the peninsular and stopped at a café. It was soo quiet. All around us were these, humongous apartment buildings and holiday lets, surrounding private swimming pools. Only a few appeared to be occupied. Every where was very clean and well maintained. The higher up the buildings would provide views of both; Menor Mar to the west and the Mediterranean to the east. After an alfresco lunch, we walked on the promenade and then around Puerto Tomas Maestre, where we used the facilities of an internet café and sat in the afternoon sunshine watching what little bit of the world was passing by.
We headed off back to our campsite just after 4 p.m. and took the fast motorway route (AP7) back, arriving back a little before 5 p.m.
Having got back I had a bit of a panic as I couldn’t find my caravan keys, I felt sure I had left them in the internet café. As always Anne came to my rescue and recovered them from the car. I seem to be doing a good impression of Mr Pastry these days, no one who reads this is going to be old enough to remember that character?
We decide to have a night in, watching ‘One foot in the grave’, but Liz and Stu come over and we end up having a drink with them.
The end of another nice day.
Wednesday 10th January 2007.
There’s a market today up in San Miguel, so we decide to have a look. I am still hoping to buy a cheap BBQ and Anne wants a lightweight folding table.
The weather forecast is for a little cloud today, although the temperatures are to be much the same as the day before 18 C. We put our trousers and fleece tops on and with Liz and Stu got to the market. It is bloody freezing. We walk the length and breadth of the place and it is a vast market. Anne buys a skirt and we all buy vegetables and other provisions. No BBQ or table tough. We also buy a cooked chicken which we later share for lunch outside Liz and Stu’s caravan, with fresh bread and one of Anne’s Greek Salads.
While Anne is preparing the Salad, Anne trips over a water container and falls in the caravan. She is alright, but I get the blame for leaving the 5 litre bottle open and on the floor behind her, water is everywhere! The carpets are removed and again find themselves hanging on the washing line. I receive more ‘tuts’ and this time ‘the look’ from Anne.
As this is the third incident involving water, we hope that this episode has finally concluded and we can cross the Bay of Biscay without fear or trepidation.
After lunch and as it isn’t as warm as it has been, Anne and I go to explore some shops, there is a Lidl, which eerily, has all the same produce, in exactly the same places in the store, as the one at home, spooky!
We have a look around some hardware shops and discover that everything is very expensive. |
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