There's a light at the end of the tunnel

Nigel has been working so hard in our new apartment, that we have now officially called the 'Casita' which translates to 'Little House' in Spanish. Unfortunately Emlyn, his work mate, had to stop working with him, due to other work commitments, so Mark came over to do some work this month, and we bullied his gf into working too. Not really, bless her, she was always ready with a paintbrush, sweeping brush or some other work item in her hand, and they both worked really hard for us. Poor things, they had about a day and a half of sunshine, the rest of the time was grey, rainy, and rather like Brighton on a winters day! Frankie and Chris are also coming over to work for us in February half term, to push on with our final decorating tasks. It is just so exciting to see it finally coming together, yes we can see the light! Below are photographs from the middle of January.

The front of the Casita

Kitchen areaDining area

Feature Bath

Bathroom

Shower

Three Kings Day

As I wrote in my December blog, the main day of celebration over the Christmas period, for the Spanish is Three Kings Day, on January 6th. Frankie and Vicky arrived on January 5th so they were able to enjoy the parade through the streets of Montoro during that evening. The 'Three Kings' parade through the towns on horse back, camels or small lorries, unfortunately Montoro had small lorries. The Kings throw sweets to the children, or anyone else fast enough to grab them, and when I say throw, you actually get hit by flying sweets ….. great! We were extremely pleased with our catch!

That night the children leave one pair of shoes in the sitting room by their Nativity scene, together with some liquor for the Kings and some cookies for the camels. When the children wake up in the morning their presents are waiting for by their shoes.

Photos of the Parade

JANUARY - Frankie's lil trip

Crikey January has almost flown by. The month has been almost continuous rain. The olive farmers are very happy, I’m sure, but everything is soaking and dirty, the land, the animals, and usually Alan and I too.

The month started with a visit from Frankie and her friend Vicky, a very sweet quiet girl. We had a lovely time together, exchanging Christmas prezzies and basically just enjoyed quality time together. We did have one trip into Cordoba, and we were gone so long, Alan nearly sent out a search party. It was nice to have a girly trip round the shops.... no offence Alan. Frankie went back to Brighton eager to start her new career as a dance teacher. She had been working in Marks and and Spencers but finally realised she didn't want to do that any more. I am so very proud of her as she has done it all on her own, without me there. She is teaching at a primary school in Eastbourne, so she will not stepping on anyone else’s toes in the Brighton area. Frankie is also helping with the competitors that used to dance with me, plus working with JP Omari and the Streetfunk Team also. She had over 40 in her first class, and I just knew she would do well as she practically 'carried' my classes for over a year, when I was not well! Ok I know I shouldn’t go on, but I am obviously proud of her.

Frankie and Blue

Ouch!  Aprox 50 kilo Arthur on Frankies lap!