roses and buttercups

it was an allergy, after i had picked Graeme up from the airport we all had a swim and that really cooled my skin down and by the morning the bumps had gone except for a slight swelling around my left eye, not to big, big enough for the lady in the shop to notice and ask if i was all right. and today it has pretty much gone away, ive got the box of tablets in my work bag for the next time.

yesterday apart from lying buy the pool we went to the restaurant with the escalabada and goats cheese the second time this year and again the food was fine. we then went to the tortuga bar for a couple then back down to the bar by the campsite to listen to some dance music, there was very few people ther, there is a real sense of the end of the season in the air, i think we got home about 2.30 but we had had to make an effort for Graeme as he is used to partying all night.

this morning, got up, went to the shop, bought bread oranges a paper and some chocolate, made  fresh orange juice, had breakfast on the balcony and about 12 went to the beach, a nudist beach past Llanca, Moira and Graeme agree that men look better from the back with no clothes on.

now we are waiting for Lorna and the other Scottish Graham to arrive.

i have an allergy beastial or that is what the lady in the chemist said when i showed her my blotchy arms i think it was the little bugger that bit me behind the ear in a garden in Villajuiga i thought it was a wasp but i have got by a few wasps already this year and this didnt happen and also there was only one, could be a bee, dont know ,what it was walked across my neck and when i swipped at it it bit me. ive got some tablets to take but i cant take them until i have picked Graeme up at the airport as they will make me fall asleep so i have cream aswell, which seems to be working a bit as my face isnt so swollen, beer seems to help aswell but again i cant drink any more until ive got Graeme.

Moira slow roasted a load of tomatoes last night River Cafe style they are  now sitting in jars waiting for the winter i suppose if i havent eaten them by then.

the night before we went to the turtuga bar for a quite one but met Tracy and Mick up there which to be honest was quite a nice surprise, she has offered us loads of the fire wood from their land for the winter which i can pick up when i pop up there to give her edges a strim.

im reading the hound of the baskervilles at the moment and i think well it seems im not translating back to english instead im creating images in my head like i do when im reading in english. i seem to be understanding a lot more as well at the moment.

we actually havent done very much at all the last couple of days and its been lovely, we did go to carrefour to buy stuff and had to fill the van up with diesel and we bought another door bell as the other one doesnt work to well but i need to get batteries for it, so whenever that happens we will have a new door bell, i even chatted to our neighbour who apologised for the eucalyptus leaves from the tree in there garden, sadly they dont get to see the flowers i must take a photo for them for next year.

its just us tonight and for the next couple as well, baked beans on toast in front of the tele

after Dan and Paolo left we had a couple of hours then we went up to Mick and Tracys for curry with a few other britishes and Pepe. people keep asking me if i will do a bit of work on the side, i say no and tell them how much Jesus charges, im not going down that road, working saturdays and evenings, telling lies to Jesus. i left all that back in england except offcourse telling lies to Jesus who i obviously didnt know then so i couldnt have told him lies even if i was going to which i am not.

Fife is eating now she is even eating jamon like a spaniard. although she refuses to eat the bat that died today poor thing. Moira has left it on a log to see what happens to it, dont ask

Dan and Paolo are sunbathing, there last chance as they go home tomorrow.

it bucketed it down last night which was great for the seed bed that i had dug last week and threw a mixture of all the old seeds that i had left over from last year and the beginning of this year on it, god knows what will grow. the rain was great for the seeds but it was supposed to be the villages disco night with 2 big mobile discos on the football pitch and gogo dancers, its been put of until the 5th of september. we went to the bar across the road instead which was full of people that where here for the party. never mind its sunny today and it also meant i wasnt to hung over and was able to drag every one to have some hot chocolate and watch kids play in a school playing ground full of foam. Jesus was there so we had a bit of a chat and i introduced him to the boys. i dont think i will get them to go and see the chess competition but they definitely what to go and see the locals dancing this afternoon and then the orchestra after dinner.

weve got a bat in residence, it fell in the pool yesterday and Paolo rescued it, it was then discovered hanging upside down from the wire that i had put up for the clematis but it is to windy for the clematis to reach. it was climbing down the wall this morning so i hid it under a rock so  Fife wouldnt make a bite size snack out of it. along with the bat which is murcielago, or something like that , in spanish its a word that contains all the vowels, we have got some little chillis growing, the butternut squash is gowing yellow but hasnt grown much and  tomatoes that arrived from the compost heap and i have left to grow with out giving them water or any atention what so eve, one of them has produced 3 little green tomatoes, im going to keep the seeds of one and try and grow them next year, because if the can produce fruit without water imagine what it will be like with water.

i went to pay my road tax yesterday having been in the Auyntamiento on Monday to find that the man that deals with road tax was on Holiday, i had spent at least 10 minutes down stairs first waiting for someone to appear before i realised i had to go up to the first floor. i called the Mayor by his name while i was in there, i don’t know if that was correct in front of his staff.  yesterday the man that deals with road tax was there and it seems i have already paid and i have a receipt from the bank, which i found when i got home, i dont have to take the car for its MOT until the end of september but after last year im getting ready for it early.

Yasmina and Jon turned up this morning with the shredder and there new baby, i wasnt here.

they know i’m a vegetarian in another restaurant now, this one is in Port de Selva where sometimes we go for lunch. We went to another restaurant called Nou Fusion last night to celebrate Dans 6 months of not smoking, quite a good goats cheese salad, but that is pretty much all i can eat there chips are ok if not a bit salty for me, but the afters are delicious, i had 5 different flavoured sorbets on a marzipan pancake like thing.

I didnt work Monday afternoon as Jesus had eaten something funny over the weekend, i had an idea there was something wrong during the morning when he disappeared for about 10 minutes, so i took down the old wardrobe in the spare room that was, and probably still is even though i have treated it,  riddled with wood worm. its now in the garage waiting for catherine not to come and pick it up and if she doesnt get come and collect it, its going to get burnt on the fire place this winter. i also finished a bit of the painting Moira had started when she wasn’t working.

we went to Besalu today the first time since we moved here, we went there once before when we were deciding to live in the area but that was about 3 years ago. its still a pretty town perfect for tourists,  there has been a village on that site before the romans arrived. basically we went there because it was a bit overcast.

last night after Thuy and Graham left we eat on the balcony and then stayed in and watched big brother, it was quite nice to sit on a sofa again.

i have been trying to grow butternut squash in the lawn and at last we have a baby butternut squash growing after loads of flowers that just fell off, should really look up how they ork, maybe tomorrow. also a baby cactus has sowed itself at the foot of one of the failed sweetcorns.

i have just finnished reading alice in wonderland or as it is in spanish Alicia en el pias marivillosa. and now im reading the 3 musquaters. spell check doesnt know how to spell musquaters.

we’ve had rain, half a bucket full, the lady in the restaurant Can Batlle got her son to take some of us home in his car it was raining so hard, Dan and I walked and to be honest got home only about 2 minutes after everyone else and we werent really that wet,  it was warm rain. the people in the restaurant seem to be the only people that know off the last owner of this house.  It rained pretty much all night culminating in quite an impressive thunder storm early this morning, now its just windy but windy as it is here sometimes.

Thuy and Graham go home today

Wednesday night was Micks birthday up at the tortoise bar, more cava and chocolate cake, Tracy was in good form, she loved Graham. i told Irena that i would cut her lawn today but as its so windy and its Thuy and Grahams last day i might leave it till tomorrow.  another night we went to the windmill for dinner, it was tuesday night, its pretty much the cheapest restaurant in the village, its wierd being the one that does  the translation.

the reason i am able to cut Irenas lawn today if i want to is because its a fiesta day, something to do with Mary ascending to heaven

we’ve got water again the story has expanded a bit, it seems the well that supplies the village had run dry so they had to plug us in to another well but while this was happening some rubbish got into the pipes which is why the water was dirty so we have water but the pressure is a bit low, i was looking down someones well yesterday and its much deeper then ours and completly dry, i could see the pump at the bottom, hopefully last night will have helped. i was also told that Villajuigas water had run out 2 weeks ago but it also seems they are attached to the same well as us so that cant be true, thats if the other story is true. i dont know. i think we are going to the tortoise sanctuary today.

things to do on a windy day.

thats it the village has run out of water. thank god for the well, and it wont be long before that runs out as well as there is no water left to refill it. its not all that bad though the village is  getting water brought in from some where, It seems the village down the road hasnt had water for 2 weeks.

as we were coming back from Marsá we saw a load of smoke i think over behind Rabos, forest fire, 2 planes flew over as Jesus was telling me about the time he was behind an idiot that chucked a cigarette end out of his car, Jesus and the man in the car in front jumped out there cars and tried to put out the fire with extinguishers but it was to late.

paolo has tested the parmasan

its been a little bit cooler today im its still a bit humid though.

the weekend went well we had loads of people over on sunday for a bar.b.que. Irena bought some home made Gado gado which is veg with a spicy peanuts suace drizzled over it i kind of over did the drizzle, but it was delicious and now i have to mow her lawn for her as i said i would if she made it for us, Indonesia used to belong to Holland which is why she knew about it. loads of people turned up except Ian and Dolors and Yasmina and Jon and Jesus and Mercee, they couldnt come along because it was Mercees mums birthday so poor Pepe, when he wasnt talking to me or Cerrie was a bit lost. i know how he feels you just switch off, but its worse for him because he doesnt really need to learn English he is only doing it for Cerrrie.

Saturday we did very little graham and i moved the hammock under the palm tree as uit was in a stupid place to, start with in the sun all day. Graham was project manager, he held the post while i dug the hole, mixed the concrete and cut the supports, its much better now and for now can hold 2 people. its perfect for my lunch time siesta. we didnt do much else Saturday, cleaned the pool a bit i dont even think we went out for an evening meal, i couldnt turn the compost heap as it was to windy, i did trim the lawn a bit. I remember now we went to Figures market for the moprning to buy veg we bumped into the salsa teacher. tip, dont go to the Dali museum in August if you are in a hurry to get in.

Friday night when Moira and Dan and Paolo arrived we went up to the toutoise bar for tapas and this time we managed to eat all we ordered.

its the time of year when one mixes the small black coffee that is always drunk after breakfast in a glass of ice so it is really cold, quite a good drink for Jonathan, as i have seen one guy doing the same with a milky coffee.

Dan and Paulo have arrived and they have brought Moira back from London, Thuy has just broke my train of thought buy doing, it must be something you do when you come from Birmingham ( mum) where you shout “Adam what are you doing?”

Thuy and Graham took me to the Cafe Colon last night, its open again after Jazzs accident on his surf board, thanks to the drunk tourist in his motor boat that he doesnt know how to drive,  cut him up, well that is what he told us. Graham has just shown me his mexican wave trick by hitting one side of his belly, it takes 3 seconds to stop moving.

the wind has arrived, and those that know say it will be a warm wind, great for the lawn. if thats what you call it still like i said to Jesus yesterday as we where taking an afternoon beer in our garden while picking up the edging shears that its brown because i have a conscience.

everybody seemed to want to watch the olympic ceremony today, im not to fussed, ive not watched any of the others, i was thinking today while mowing a lawn , what would happen if all the athletes gave there medals to a charity for Tibetan children, just a thought.