It rained heavily from Saturday midday to some time Monday morning. It had stopped when I walked in to classes on Tuesday, was cold and the first sign of snow was present on the mountain tops. After class at 11:30, it was sunny and out of the breeze the temperature was back up around 14c.... the snow of course was still there. I had intended to take a long walk into the hills on Sunday but the rain prevented that.
I viewed a property in Cortes De La Frontera on Tuesday afternoon. Structurally sound, some improvement required but with a terrace with views that were incredible. On Wednesday I was going to see a place in Benaojan, then hopefully 2 in El Gastor. These are villages about 20 miles out of Ronda. The agent was unable to meet me though and as he has gone off to Germany for a week, I hope to view them in a couple of weeks. I shall then take a look at a few in Ronda itself. I have told the agent that I am going back home for a week next week and subsequently may have to return to Peterborough when my current rental ends at the end of April. Nevertheless if one of the properties I see really look like they have a future I will have to do the old dispassionate pros/cons and make a decision.
I had to buy a new printer on Monday. Although my Spanish is improving very, very slowly (muy, muy, despacio) that was a fairly straightforward transaction. The printer, an Epson SX130 cost 55 Euros (c£45.65).
I bought a couple of postcards on the way back and the young lady assistant (c35yrs) joked that she thought the printer was a (regalo) gift for her. Young ladies between mid 30’s and late 40’s are by far the most talkative and friendly. Maybe they see me as a harmless, eccentric millionaire – 2 out of 3 ain’t bad – and if they bring back the peseta I might manage all 3. As with all Southern European countries, ladies seem to suddenly age around 50. Mid to late 40’s (still young compared to this old geezer) they appear younger than their Northern European counterparts and then from about 50 seem to be around 5 years older than for instance British ladies of the same age.
A couple of weeks ago I commented about how quiet New Year’s Eve was. It seems that if I had gone into town round 1am on New Year’s Day, instead of before 11pm on New Year’s Eve there would have been any amount of jollity with most bars and restaurants open…. Maybe next year.
The walk into the hills that I had intended on Sunday, I took on Friday. Marvellous. I managed to get to a point where I could look down on the whole city and see the mountain ranges beyond. I will try to get further and higher this week.
Today (Sunday) I actually managed, after three previous abortive attempts, to get to a football match. The previous times I had difficulty establishing kick off times. This time I had seen a poster that indicated a midday kick off. I walked over – nowhere in Ronda is too far - and it took me about 50 minutes. On previous occasions I had taken the car and without it I took side streets. I ended up walking through a large patch of waste ground and had to find a way out large enough to squeeze through and with a drop into a proper road that was safe to jump down. Not unlike getting to St. Andrews (Birmingham City) or The Baseball Ground (Derby County) in the 60’s……. having said that there is a lot of pleasant new development going on quite close to the ground.
I was there 15 minutes before kick off – entrance fee 10 Euros. At that time there were more players warming up on the pitch than spectators in the stand. By kick off I reckon there were about 150 and in true Spanish style, by 15 minutes after, this had swelled to around 300. Facilities were reasonable as long as you were able bodied. I saw people in wheelchairs being carried up to the spectator area.
As neither team wore anything similar to that displayed on the posters I had seen, I was not sure which was Deportivo Ronda and which Loja CD. I wasn’t going to ask and it was not that easy to tell from the crowd response, until Ronda took the lead after 20 minutes. It finished 1-1. I think the standard is about that of the Conference North – such as Solihull Moors.
I shall be taking a few trips out to the nearby villages this week.
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