How I fell down, Mike celebrated a birthday and we visited a sherry bodega

Please note the order.

I fell down first, without the influence of alcohol but with the help of a rather wet patch on the floor of the banos arabes in Jerez. The masseuses wanted to call the ambulance but, knowing that Ann was arriving at the airport in less than three hours, I insisted on staggering off, only to realize that my back was in pain and my arm was swelling...We set off in search of a pharmacy (a hopeless task at 3.30 in the afternoon in a small spanish town) but, as luck would have it we came across a medical centre. Despite being closed they were brilliant. Within an hour I had seen a doctor,been x-rayed, had my arm immobilised, received prescriptions for anti-inflammatory drugs and enormous ibuprofin tablets and had a pain killing injection in my bottom!




The two-or was it three-glasses of wine that I had to celebrate Mike's birthday meal that evening left me looking more than a little glassy eyed.

But the birthday boy looked very cool, verdad?

We did the always enjoyable tour of the Gonzalez Byass Sherry Bodega in Jerez the following morning (you get to sample the products at the end!) .Tomorrow we set off across Spain to Santander and the ferry to the UK, so it's hasta pronto chicos!

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PS You may notice that this blog has been overtaken by events in that we have been to visit you and come back! I didn't publish earlier because I have been having problems with the blog software. It is still not working properly so there are fewer photos that I planned (they included a very good one of Ann and I doing synchronised hot tubbing!). I hope to sort it soon as we are off on an expedition to the countryside tomorrow with Marga, Jens, their children and some other people....three days of speaking spanish. Will we survive? Watch this space.......

Time passing...

No, these are not mug shots!

Despite the furore in the British press about Identity Cards, the Spanish seem to take them for granted. And what is odder is that the phasing out of the equivalent for foreign residents, the Carné de Residencia, which can be used to validate credit cards or as an alternative to a passport in many cases, is causing an uproar among large sections of the British ex-pat community (including many who I suspect are anti-identity cards in the UK!)

Fortunately, since we are for identity cards both here and in the UK, our applications last December must have slipped in under the wire and a couple of weeks ago, after much form filling and a slow journey through the bureaucracy, we went to the Police Station in Cadíz to collect them. Then, last Sunday, we took another step towards integration when we went off to vote in the local council elections. Counting is easy because under the system of proportional representation you vote for a party list rather than the name of a ward councillor as in the UK. However, the result is delayed because although the PSOE, the Spanish Socialist Party, still has the largest number of seats round here, it no longer has a majority, so the parties have till mid-June to agree on a coalition. We are not quite waiting with baited breath but we do feel a certain amount of satisfaction at having taken part in the democratic process.

And here, for no particular reason, is a Tarta de Bernjenas that I made for lunch one day. I have planted aubergines (as well as courgettes, two kinds of melons and tomatoes) and they are flowering, so maybe towards the end of the summer I will get to cook this again with home made ingredients....