Bedrock

Archive for the ‘Scargill’ Category

I was just thinking how crappy the weather was in the UK when what do you know, the day before I set off, a nice day in Wark!  Maureen and I spend the day gardening and got LOADS of stuff done.

6am this morning we were up to drop me off for my flight to Murcia – probably my last as apparently the military want it back! I  don’t know the politics of this but WHY did they have to grab the most friendly airport of the lot… Malaga is AWFUL.

Sunday lunchtime – after an effortless flight (no really, non of yer EasyJet squabbling like animals, seat booked (exit seat) and I just walked into the airport and onto the plane after a few minutes being checked to see if I’m an Islamic terrorist. I’d filled the iPad with movies but only had time for one – "G.I Joe – The Rise of Cobra" – if you’ve not seen this – it is worth the effort of getting the DVD – ok, it’s silly but the effects FAR exceed what you’d expect in a less than blockbuster movie – indeed they rank along with the very best.

By the time that was over it was time to land – I was a little worried as just approaching land there were some horrendous clouds – but I should not have worried – 26 degrees in St Javier. Now remember – this is a Sunday… everything was OPEN! So a brief trip to the Chinese supermarket then off to Eroski for groceries.  About the only notable part of the journey was the fact that they gave me a completely trashed car. I grabbed the car guy and pointed out that the rental form said nothing about scrapes etc. at which point he noted down the major gash on one side of the car and laughed at the little bumps and scratches I pointed out elsewhere. Regardless I took a video of the whole car while I was there -  just to be sure.

Got here late afternoon after having a good look around Caravaca De La Cruz – which I intend to repeat at some point as they have a nice little town square with cafes etc., looked really neat. 22C when I got to Galera and all looks well, everything works apart from one cheap Chinese power extension which is easily replaces. All my solar stuff is working, one camera needed a reset so tomorrow I’m off for a 24-hour timer to give it a 5-minute reboot first thing in the mornings – better safe than sorry.Other than that, nothing new… no-body us here, Maureen joins me next Sunday and we have friend coming over… I expect I’ll pop down to the village to see what’s new there but for tonight – a quiet drink, a little blogging and a nice fire.

Tomorrow – shopping, a little R&D and no doubt the usual cacophony of phone calls and emails. But at least it’s warm.

Sunday August 28th 2011: Apart from a few seconds in the morning, for just about the time since we arrived in Southern Spain this summer, not only did it rain…  and suddenly at that, but as we sat having our dinner in Huescar (thankfully inside a restaurant) we saw hailstones the size of peas (click on the photo to enlarge and see the hailstones on the road), for just a short while and then it was all over. In the process I captured one of the best sunsets yet (see next blog item).

Monday: On our last morning, the love affair with the puppy ended as he ripped one of our plants to pieces. We started our long journey back to the UK at 8am, went off into Galera for coffee followed by a trip to the bank and then we started our long journey to our next stop, Zaragoza.

The weather cooled off a tad first thing this morning (I think it got as low as 25c) and for a moment it even rained… and so Maureen was sitting inside reading a book when she complained of a crackling sound. Bearing in mind we had broadband issues yesterday I thought I’d better check. Sure enough, one of the cameras which had refused to start up has a power supply which was making cracking noises.  To cut a long story short, the Chinese camera is now a pile of scrap metal (due to it’s power supply, not the camera) and in the bin. The sparks must’ve been affecting the broadband as well so my only spare has now been called into operation. All done and ready to guard the place while we’re off on our long trip up North tomorrow. No doubt once again this will be part rubbish power, part rubbish Chinese power supplies.

Our neighbours Karen and Dave turned up this afternoon so we spent half of the afternoon sitting outside chatting – great use for a Sunday afternoon.. everything is working and first thing tomorrow morning we have to take an early trip to the bank to set up Internet banking before heading up to Northern Spain – but not before one last trip out tonight to see everyone. It’s now 8pm, we’ve had a massive storm – how all gone and it’s drying up already – the puppy has been doing his best to emulate a maniac in the garden with his new toys (plastic milk bottle and a plant-pot). We’ll miss him.

Sky is clearing – could be yet another nice night…

Thanks to a converted neighbourly effort… a sparkly clean roundabout! a couple of tons of stone, large amounts of black plastic and a lot of hard work.

Of course, it didn’t take a Spanish delivery truck more than 5 minutes to drive over the edge and give it a nice new black bootprint – but once again there we were with the paint-pots – and it’s still as good as new.  Richard is also having some work done – and in standard fashion the builders have been in – carved a load of material out and simply thrown it over the wall… it’s a different world here!