A Very Happy Day

The view from our balcony this morning

We awoke this morning a little later than planned. This may have had something to do with imbibing a scotch you could swim in, a bottle of the cheapest rosé money can buy, a cortado, a large glass of brandy and a nightcap in a bar on the way home that turned into two! However, no ill effects were felt and we enjoyed a leisurely rise to view the sunshine from the balcony of our room. The temperature was a little on the chilly side, but otherwise the day looked distinctly promising. We had discovered one minor problem in our room – the door onto the balcony did not lock. We are on the second floor, so this didn’t appear to be a major problem, but for security reasons we felt we would be more comfortable if it did lock. We visited reception and Captain Clarke took control of the situation – “My man”, he said (which was handy because it was a man and not the lady who checked us in last night), “our patio door doesn’t lock.” The gentleman behind the counter looked a little confused, so I chipped in with the word ‘balcony’ which seemed to help in his understanding.

Returning from Breakfast

“I shall send someone immediately”, the gentleman said, so we promptly returned to our room to await the arrival of a maintenance engineer. After what seemed like a very long time Captain Clarke began to wonder if they would ever come. He returned to reception to enquire. Whilst he was gone a lady turned up at the door accompanied by an Englishman. She explained that she had come to show me how to lock the balcony door (in Spanish with a rather withering look I feel) and he explained that he was just observing (in English). He was definitely English and spoke not one word of Spanish, she was definitely Spanish and spoke not one word of English. How they can communicate is anyone’s guess! She walked over to the door and with a – now definitely withering look – explained that to lock the door you slide the slider to lock and then press a button which I had hitherto not noticed. It turns out that you can lock the door quite easily! Captain Clarke re-appeared and explained that she had been sent to the wrong room (108 and ours is 210) which was why it had taken so long!

The RHS Allotment Journal

A little later than planned, we took a stroll into town for a light breakfast. (Actually, it was more like an early lunch as it was nearly 12:00 by the time we got there!) We decided to stroll through the town and went to a favourite bar of ours, Café Roy. We both ordered a ‘Desayuno Classico’ (classic breakfast) which consisted of a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, toasted ‘barra’ (Spanish style baguette) and a ‘Café con Leche’ (Spanish strong coffee with an equal measure of milk). We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast and then, having picked up a 3 gang to power all of our electrical items, strolled back towards our hotel for the opening of some birthday cards and a present, since today is my birthday. (For anyone wondering just how old I am, I am 0x35 in hex!)

A soil testing gauge (doing a Samantha for those that remember!)

On our way to the hotel I had cause to mention to Captain Clarke that my stomach didn’t feel quite right. It then dawned on me – I don’t drink milky drinks for a reason! I spent much of the rest of the day feeling slightly uncomfortable and a little queasy which was a little annoying. I know I don’t drink milk – why do I always forget when I get to Spain?! I did exactly the same thing last year! It must be an age thing. Anyway, enough of this, back to the important matter of my rather special day. I opened some wonderful birthday cards (thank you to all those who gave them) and we laughed at the humour in many of them! Then Captain Clarke gave me a present to open (I must say that I have left presents that were kindly given to me at home to open when we return rather than carry them all the way to Spain and back) which is a really useful ‘journal’ from the RHS with an entry for every week of the year including either a gardening tip or a recipe for food that you have grown. There is space for you to record what you have planted and for your successes and/or failures (if you could see my pathetic Brussels sprouts this year, they definitely count as a failure!).

The coffee table book!

Having delighted in my ‘journal’ from the RHS, I was then presented with another present – this time a soil tester which tests temperature, PH value, moisture and the light levels all at once. Another really useful tool for the garden! Next, a very heavy parcel was presented (I now understand why Captain Clarke was grumbling that his suitcase was heavy – it was!) which turned out to be a limited edition coffee table book from Sports Allies. (For those that don’t know, Sports Allies is a charity that promotes freedom, equality and tolerance in the world of sport by producing a calendar each year of naked rowers from Warwick University – we have supported it for some time and the book is number 731 of 1000. The calendar is not aimed at the gay community, but at the straight community to promote equality. A very interesting fact about the calendar is that, apparently, the reaction is usually that once they overcome their initial discomfort many straight men find they have an unprecedented opportunity to look at other men’s bodies without fear, guilt or embarrassment – it enables them to realise they are ‘normal’!) So, if you’d like an opportunity to compare yourself to other men, you know where to come!

A thing of sheer beauty!

I really did think that my presents were wonderful and was completely shocked and surprised to be handed one final present. This too was also relatively heavy and, frankly, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened it – a brand new MacBook Pro with the intelligent display bar! It is on this that I am now writing today’s missive. Frankly, any other activity has gone straight out of the window – setting up a new MacBook Pro definitely takes priority! And boy, is this a thing of beauty! Not only does it have the intelligent display bar, it also uses fingerprint recognition and has a whole host of new features! I love it … and I really do mean I love it! It is truly wonderful! Of course, not feeling 100% meant that I didn’t want to be too far away from the room (if you know what I mean) and that gave me an opportunity to download and install all of my software – the whole thing is up and running already!

The photo that everyone takes!

So, to return to our holiday. Today has been a fabulous day so far – great cards, fantastic presents and I am almost fully recovered. We were thinking of going to the Chicken Shack (La Oca) tonight – yes, for chicken! – but we have decided against it. We will go there sometime this week, but we have decided that they do rush you in and out in that particular restaurant and as it is my birthday we want a bit more of a leisurely meal. We are thinking of possibly going to the Indian restaurant that we discovered last time we were here or, if not, back to Pescadito which was great last night. I shall, of course, update this blog before sending in the morning, but I just had to take the opportunity to type on this beautiful machine now!

A small libation before dinner – whiskey served in a brandy glass!

We ended up going to the Indian restaurant that we discovered last time we were here. Restaurant Chai is run by a family from the Punjab and is absolutely fabulous. They moved to Spain (via Switzerland where they went to catering college … in German!) and discovered that they had to go to Barcelona for a decent Indian meal and that then it was restaurant owned and run by Pakistanis which they did not like. Although they were not planning to open a restaurant, they felt that they had to! It is very busy every night and it is quite important to book. We did notice that there was only one table of Spanish people (a couple) and the rest were all English. Although the owner explained that the majority of their trade is local rather than tourist, it is almost all English as opposed to Spanish. They prefer to speak English anyway which may go some way towards why their clientele is English. Anyway, the food is superb (tastes like Indian curry instead of the stuff served up in Indian restaurants in England!) and it has a great atmosphere.

One day we’ll get the hang of this selfie lark!

We met a couple from Derbyshire in the restaurant. They are both teachers, although she has pretty much retired and he is now a head teacher of a residential school for children with special needs. He works away from home for 5 nights a week but they seemed perfectly happy. They have discovered it is carnival week (it starts in earnest tomorrow) and clearly had a very liberal view on life as they are very excited and keep pointing out the drag artists that were passing the restaurant very excitedly! So, after another great evening, we wandered back to our hotel. Captain Clarke didn’t even wobble that much – a great birthday and thanks to all who made it! All one needs to have a great birthday is a good environment, a great location, fabulous company and a small libation to celebrate – it is RudyMenTerry!