From the sublime to the ridiculous

At the weekend-two days ago-we were sitting in our garden, admiring our Bird of Paradise plant and basking in the late autumn sunshine.........As you do.

Today, the garden resembles a corner of downtown Beirut and, I suspect, Beirut may be quieter. How can this have happened I hear you ask (well, I might hear it were it not for my perforated eardrums!)

Part of it is part of a long term and carefully thought out plan to continue to improve the garden. I want a fig tree and I don't want a tree that is there and which now provides too much shade without being of interest in any other way. So we asked Sebastian to dig up the offending tree to make space for a new one.

So far, so good. But in the fierce rain of the last 10 days (the weather doesn't do light drizzle here) the imperfections in our rather elderly roof (frequently repaired during the last 5 years) have begun to be a problem. So, we decided to have a completely new roof. "Great" said Fernandez y Alba, our friendly builders, "We can do that for you. We'll be along on Monday" and so they were and so was probably the worst storm I have ever experienced here. The streets and the Paseo Maritimo turned into rivers, the garden was a mud bath and, since we didn't have much of a roof left by this stage, we had an interesting water feature in most rooms-I have never seen indoor waterfalls before! Fortunately, we were able to get the house covered in plastic sheeting (held down by some branches of pine trees which are also being lopped) before too much damage was done and today the sun has been out and we are beginning to feel that one day this noise might stop and we will return to admiring our Bird of Paradise plant!

We came, we saw...

And then we went away again!

After nearly two weeks in the UK we are now back in La Barrosa, just in time for the national holiday on October 12th which celebrates Christopher Columbus's "discovery" of America. It was a beautifully sunny day so when we walked down the Paseo Maritimo in the evening, it was rather like being back in June-lots of families enjoying the evening stroll or watching the sunset at one of the cafes. Then we went home to have dinner and watch some more of series 7, the final series, of the West Wing, which we had brought back with us and which now completes our set of the programmes entire run. How sad is that? (Rhetorical question-don't answer!)

Eleven days is too much to describe in detail but here is a summary of our trip.

Number of cities/towns: 7, starting with Malaga where we all (Ann included) stayed in the lovely Parador, ending in Brighton, which is rapidly becoming our favourite UK city, and taking in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Formby en route.
Number of days of rain:9.Enough said.
Number of forms of transport: 6 if you include lots of walking.
Number of Indian meals: 3. We miss them, but brought back with us lots os spices bought on the Stratford Road in Birmingham.
Number of times Mike went up in the loft at Naomi and Martin's to get things from the boxes we have stored there to bring back to Spain: 3
Number of expletives used by Mike when in said loft: too numerous to count and too rude to mention.
Number of movies seen: 5 of which our favourite was The Queen, although Volver was also brilliant and the Devil Wears Prada a thoroughly entertaining afternoon
Number of Art Galleries visited: 2 including the National Gallery and Tate Britain, to see the superb (despite the reviews) Turner Prize Show and Chris Ofilii's stunning The Upper Room Number of trips on the Gatwick Express: 3 and we definitely prefer the flight to Malaga to that to Jerez.

But there was only one wedding!





Robin and Clare got married in the Arboretum at Westonbirt with Lewis (aged 3) very much in attendance. Then after the lovely service, champagne and canapes we all went to the beautiful Close Hotel in nearby Tetbury for dinner and music. It couldn't have been better!

And so, for now, thanks to everyone who gave us a bed, fed us or entertained us. It was lovely to see you all. We do appreciate your kindness and hope to pay you back in Spain sometime soon!