Going to Malaga airport on Sunday 29th I left early and took the coast road as opposed to the Autopista. The coast road goes through Fuengirola, Benalmadena and Torremolinos. Fuengirola was all I feared it might be, the other two were OK. At the airport, although we boarded early, the plane got into Stansted ¾ of an hour late…… one of Ryanair’s apparently only 2% not on time.
It was strange sort of being ‘on holiday’ at ‘home’. I stayed with friends and met up with a number of friends including going to choir practice with The Gospel Choir. Thoroughly enjoyed it but I am going to need to practice my breathing before returning in May as I struggled with a couple of songs. I was sorry to have missed the 10th Anniversary meal; everyone commented what a good night it had been. Also of course I spent some time with my daughters and grandson – as always, it is amazing how quickly babies change. I also visited my brother and his family in Birmingham for three days. We watched the Birmingham v Southampton game and England v Scotland rugby on Sky at the local pub – at the same time.
Fortunately the snow did not cause me any problems. At Stansted on Tuesday though, I set the alarm off going through security. The hand held gismo also suggested a problem. It seemed that it was a small stud on my jeans pocket but although there is another on the left side, that did not trigger the alarm. They also thought they saw something untoward in my case so I had to empty it all and have all my clothes and things checked. One of life’s mysteries as with spilt liquid always seeming to be greater than the amount in the cup/glass/bottle is that it is impossible to repack a case as tidily as it was in the first place. The whole episode though used up over half an hour of the waiting time.
Back in Malaga the temperature was 16c at 8:30pm. It of course became colder when I started up the mountain roads but was still 7c when I pulled up outside the house in Ronda. The next three days however were very cold – it got down to -4 at night and there was a biting wind. It has warmed up again since and is currently very pleasant.
For various reasons I came back here on Tuesday having pretty well decided that I would just return to Peterborough in May when my rental agreement finishes. On Thursday and Friday I took a couple of long walks in the hills and valleys around Ronda and I don't know.... Whatever I decide, I will be back in Peterborough May to July but after that… Qué será, será.
The Spanish is not coming along as well as I had hoped although I am making some progress. I know many more words – it’s putting them together in sentences that is the problem. I went to the supermarket for the bulky stuff the other day and whereas the barrier had always been up, this time it was down. Being in a right hand drive car I could not reach the machine so had to get out, run round, press the button, get back in and drive through. What I did not realise – but should have, there is a notice - is that the machine issues a little card. Presenting that at the checkout, they give you a bar coded receipt. When driving out, I expected to just press a button. There were already two cars behind me and I had to manoeuvre out of the way. I managed to explain my predicament to one of the checkout girls and she got a supervisor to give me a barcoded ticket. I was able to reach over to the reader on the machine and escaped.
While sitting reading a book on my front step, a small finch flew out of the small tree in the drive and very briefly settled on my knee. Amazing. Are such things an omen and if so, good or bad? The book was Susan Hill’s “A Woman in Black”. The film based on the book is on at the local cinema. I intend going to see it during the week and hope I will understand at least some of the dialogue.
On Saturday night I met up with a couple of friends for a beer then to watch a game of balonmano (handball). Ronda were playing a team from Almeria (about 3 hours away) who, having won 10 and drawn 2 are top of the league. Ronda are 2nd having won 9, drawn 1 and lost 2. Balonmano is a mix of basketball and netball, played on a court/pitch similar to 5-a-side football and with similar goals. There are six outfield players and a goalkeeper, the object being to throw the ball from player to player and then into the goal. Fast and furious it is with two halves of 30 minutes. Goals are scored regularly as baskets are in basketball and it is rare for there to be more than a 3 goal difference during a game. Ronda had scored 9 before letting in a goal! The other team were clearly rattled and at various times had a player sin-binned and half way through the second half had a player sent off. After five minutes the sent off player can be substituted. The final result was 33-18 to Ronda – they gave them a hell of a beating! We celebrated with a few more beers and some tapas.
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