Oldies On Tour

Wednesday 28th February 2024

At yesterdays coffee morning and amongst various topics chatted about, Rodney mentioned he’d bought himself a small framed e bike, something I am now considering for mobility when away with Rosie as scooters with seats are out of the question.  The upshot is I’ve been invited round to their house and “have-a-go” this morning.

As agreed we turned up and Rita wheeled out the e bike, very smart and looked just perfect, small frame but normal’ish size wheels, and it also folded in half to fit into a car boot.   Now I must say at this point Christine had been adamant from the start it wouldn’t work for me so I was determined to “have-a-go”.  After a demonstration with Rita riding “Rodney’s” bike, it was my turn.   Getting on was fine, the electric motor kicked in but unfortunately I still need to pedal, albeit lightly, but pedal nevertheless.  I think Christine’s concerns were more about me falling off but my problem was with the restriction I have with my bad knee, I couldn’t get the crank round 360 degrees, my knee wouldn’t bend enough to complete this manoeuvre.   All I can say; thank goodness I didn’t rush out and buy one!!!!!   

With my practice session being abruptly curtailed, there was enough time for a coffee “re-match” before we had to go our separate ways,   Again the time flew and you’d never had thought we had been together yesterday morning!!!

Next we are meeting up with Frank and Sue for lunch, but after much discussion on where to go, and too many reasons not to go here, or there etc., we’re heading to Juanita’s in the village.  Non of us had Juanita’s as our first choice, nor our second either, but at last we had a consensus!!!!    Our plan was for a “menu del dia” but after settling down with some wine, a unanimous decision was made, “off menu” today!!!    Bottom line, we had a great time, lots of ribbing and laughs and to be fair, our food was excellent, no doubt helped by a couple of bottles of wine and Soberanos to follow.  

By mid afternoon we went our own ways, our way was to visit Shirley and Peter. I had seen them at quiz on Tuesday but with the noise and excitement (or otherwise!!!!) it was difficult to talk, hence this visit, but first a quick detour to drop off Tom-Tom and Rosie off.    It was marvellous to see how far Shirley has progressed since her stroke, we all enjoyed a successful conversation whilst participating in a few more “drinky-poos”.   What we hadn’t known about was that Peter had very recently had a hip replacement, and was getting over that, still he was very adept with his walking stick!!!  Though it was only a brief visit, it was a really good to see them again.

Back home, and with tonight being our last night in Calle Acebo, we had a thorough tidy-up before packing the car with most things before we collapsed in front of the TV after a really nice day and thoroughly over indulging!!!!!   Oh yes, in between each activity we had to take the dogs to the Campoverde doggy park, can’t expect them to sit quietly all day without exercise, after all they are a couple of delinquent Cocker Spaniels!!!

Tuesday 27th February 2024

Not too busy today, two catch-ups and most importantly getting haircuts.    Firstly we had a coffee morning with Rita and Rodney, but before that I headed off to get some cakes; again!!!

Rodney and Rita arrived and we had a good old chinwag catching up etc., and with time running away, we nearly forgot our appointments with Paula to get our hairs sorted.   As they left we agreed to pop round to them in the morning before they had to shoot off.

Paula did her usual excellent job of cutting our hair, after which we headed down to Torre de La Horadada to meet up with Daphne and Steve.  Again the chatter was incessant and the vino and gins flowed accompanied by some very tasty canapés.  After a few very enjoyable hours we departed, stopping off at the Campoverde dog park before getting home.  Tonight is quiz-night at Lucia’s and we have been invited to join a team called “we know nothing”, Jim, Hazel and Vince, though there is usually another couple who were away today allowing us to slot in.

Didn’t need any dinner tonight, had too much through the day!!!  

At the appropriate time I headed down to the quiz, Christine isn’t a big fan of quiz’s and with things to do, I headed off on my own.   Paul has been running this quiz for many years and always gets a very good turnout, presumably because it is lighthearted, a variety of question topics to keep things interesting, humour and of course, he’s a jolly nice fellow.  As usual there was the complete mix of questions, many of which most people can answer but also some very testing ones, tonight was no different.   Apart from the “business-in-hand” it is a very sociable gathering and it was nice to see some familiar faces, especially Shirley after the trauma she has been through.

The evening ended with the results, we were equal first 😂😂, a result, but on count-back we finished second🥵🥵, still a very enjoyable evening

Monday 26th February 2024

This morning we woke up to very grey skies that looked full of rain; we’ve experienced enough of these clouds in the last 12-months to recognise that!!!

Today we have Pat Hardy and Gale coming round for coffee so I “shot” off to the Panaderia on solo to get some cakes, unfortunately it started to rain so waited there ‘till it stopped.   Obviously when I returned they were all waiting for their cakes!!!   A very pleasant “catch-up” morning was had by all.

Having said our goodbyes, we headed down to Lucia’s, we are meeting Paul Butterworth for a lunch; it’s all go this week!!!, and hopefully there will be minimal interruptions and we can have a really good catch-up.   Paul being such a popular fellow in Campoverde, known by many, he is always being stopped for a chat.

After a very pleasant menu del dia, all for €8, including a glass of wine, we went our own ways.   We were heading down to Pilar de La Horadada to a motorbike shop that “used” to sell electric scooters with a seat.   Our issue is when we are out and about in Rosie 2 (motorhome) and parked a little way from town, they would be an ideal mode of transport,   not too much of an issue in U.K. as we generally take our car with us, but on the continent we’re on our own!!!   Our good idea was doomed, we knew they are illegal on the public highways in the U.K. but shock, horror, they are now illegal in Spain so the shop stopped selling them!!!!!   Unconvinced we went to a second “sellers of bikes” only to hear the same, they are illegal in Spain😡😡😡😡.  Back to the drawing board🤔🤔🤔🤔.

Naturally our time management had allowed for road test scooters etc., but now we were ahead so down to the beach in the Lo Pagan salinas to give the dogs a good time and for us to get over our disappointment.

Back home for a light dinner, tv and bed. 

Sunday 25th February 2024

This morning we have arranged to meet up with Frank and Sue for coffee at the El Cafe Africa place, but upon arrival and as we had the dogs had to sit outside but unfortunately it is not a large area and there were many smokers so decided to move on, and headed up to the new Panaderia instead.   Having learned our lesson from earlier in the week, we only ordered a double bacon bap, couldn’t face another “huge” baguette!!!

After a very sociable morning; not so warm today but dry😃😃 we headed home and prepared for Jim and Hazel who were coming round for dinner: Also this afternoon France are at home to Italy in the last of this weekend’s 6-nations but unfortunately the KO is 1600hrs, the same time as Jim and Hazel are arriving still, most probably France will wipe the floor with Italy so no great loss to miss it.

At the appointed hour our guests arrived loaded with oranges from their “prolific” orange trees; wonderful, and many thanks, they will be thoroughly enjoyed. Now we sat down and enjoyed pre-dinner drinks on the patio in the sun, though there was some wind so coats were the order of the day.

During one of my trips to the “bar” for re-fills, and nearing FT, out of interest I quickly looked up the score and shock, horror, Italy were drawing 13 – 13, can they will win????maybe………., yes………, as the French gave away a penalty just as the clock went into the red.  With the French crowd stunned and the Italians chewing their finger nails, the kicker placed the ball on the tee and walked back but as he turned around, the ball fell off the tee.   He now had to replace it as the clock relentlessly ticked on; his time for this kick was running down, he had to get a move on and therefore rushed the process and took the kick; the ball hit the post, no extra 3-points so it was a draw, 13 each.   Chatting to some like minded people, I had missed a really good game, French failed and Italy raised their game; I must find time to watch it on catch-up.

We had a good evening together, just like old times eating, drinking and playing crib before they headed off quite late.

Friday 23rd February 2024

It is Market day in Pilar de La Horadada, so after breakfast and sorting ourselves out, we headed there; nothing much had changed and though we didn’t need anything, one can’t be in Spain on market day and not have “churros con chocolate”. normally we would have a dozen but as we were heading out to lunch, “reluctantly” we  had to make do with just 6-between us😡😡😡.   Oh yes, we did buy an orange squeezer as we were back enjoying our daily glass of freshly squeezed oranges.

Lunch today is with Mary at “Meson El Prado”, a popular Spanish restaurant in San Miguel frequented by many English people!!!  Still we had a good lunch and it was good to catch up with Mary.

Heading back to the villa, we stopped off for a few cans of Guinness in preparation for tomorrow, and having had long lingering lunch, we did nothing else, just flopped in front of the TV for the evening.

Saturday 24th February 2024

Nothing much happening today other than an afternoon of six nations rugby matches this afternoon; Ireland V Wales and Scotland V England, but first we had the morning to get through.

The sun was shining so headed to the village for a coffee and whatever we fancied on arrival!!!   There have been a number of changes to the “hostelries” in the village, one being the “panaderia”; it’s moved and that’s where we chose to go.

We overcooked our order.  We ordered a baguette with double bacon between us but what turned up would have been plenty for four people, still we managed to finish it!!!!!!

Back at home Christine went to sit in the sun whilst I poured my Guinness and sat in front of the tele.   

The first game was disappointing by Wales, but Ireland put on a master class performance and won 31 – 7.  Now for the Calcutta Cup, and England need a good performance not to mention the fact that Scotland have won the last three fixtures; England Expects and all that, but no, a dismissal performance by England who lost 30 – 21; is the coaching team at fault????

Having enjoyed a few cans of Guinness we settled in for another quiet evening; must be getting old!!!

Thursday 22nd February 2024

The dreaded alarm woke us at some un-Godly hour; self inflicted of course!!, but we are on a mission.  We are heading back to Campoverde and being Thursday, it is Cribbage day, yes the Crib school is still flourishing and we want to join in, hence the early start.

Under normal circumstances it is just under two hours to get there but being a Monday morning, who knows so we left earlier, allowing extra time for hold ups.   A final clear-up and a check around the gardens for dogs “poos”, and we were off.  

Up to Alicanté the AP7 was fine, we were on schedule but the road around Alicanté was stop go, stop go and our extra time was being whittled away, but eventually the traffic disappeared and we could “put the pedal to the metal” and hopefully we can get some time back .

We pulled into the car park in Campoverde with five minutes to spare and met up with Malcolm and Mary in the car park, phew, not late!!

It was very nice to catch-up with the “originals”, and good to meet a few new players, but more importantly to know the “Campoverde cribbage school” is still thriving thanks to Hazel and Jim, though it was strange to be returning the Lucia’s after several years; but all good.

This visit we have arranged to stay in our old house in Calle Acebo, but wouldn’t be collecting the keys until the afternoon so stayed on at Lucia’s for a “menu del dia”; 3-courses and a drink all for €8 (circa £6.80); slight change though, only one glass of wine not half a bottle!!!

Keys collected and in we went.   It felt strange going back into the “old” place, especially as Lee and Sarah only use it as a holiday home at present and not a lot has changed, yet.  The garden however has matured nicely over the last few years and Christine was really chuffed after all her hard work in the early days of our ownership planting up etc.   The dogs were happy with all the outside steps and pool area to run around and we settled in for a quiet night before we start our rounds of socialising and catching up with everyone tomorrow.