It´s been the warmest November for 40 years, they say. And whereas the rest of Spain has had quite a bit of rain and chilly temperatures, the Costa Blanca has been basking in wall-to-wall sunshine for weeks. I actually went into the sea in mid-November, which is a first for me. It´s still pleasantly warm during the day although a cardigan is needed now in the evening.The picture on the left was taken at a great lunch given by Glyn, one of the members of the Torrevieja Writers´Group, and his wife Judy. It was warm and sunny, as you can see from the picture and there was lots of lovely grub and plenty to drink( as you can also see from the picture!) The other picture wasn´t actually taken this month , as I haven´t got round to downloading the latest pics from my camera but it looks just as sunny at the moment.
I´ve been busy going to Spanish classes ( we´re on the dreaded subjunctive at the moment. It really is a pain - thank goodness we don´t use it much in English. You´re trotting along, doing quite well, you think, then you suddenly realise you´ve used a word or phrase which has to be followed by the subjunctve!!! DOOM!!! You feel like the proverbial rabbit hypnotised by a snake.
The snake gets ready to strike, you take a desperate stab at what you hope is the right verb form. All Hell breaks loose!! It was wrong!! The snake strikes!! Back to the drawing board.
Calligraphy classes are less stressful but even there you´re under pressure. The Monks must have had a terrible time of it. Their eyes must have been in a right state. I can manage an hour, then I start seeing double. Not to mention trying to do it in real ink rather than felt-tipped pen. No wonder we have to protect the tables and wear pinnies.
The run-up th Christmas has begun here - mostly in the expat community. Christmas fairs and markets abound. Cards galore on sale. Iceland here is crammed with mince pies and puddings. The Spaniards are beginning to get ready too, and in the supermarkets there are mountains of Turrón, the lovely Spanish nougat, which comes in hundreds of different forms.
This Christmas we´re doing something completely different. We´re off for a four-day hotel stay in Benidorm. Gala dinner, evening at the Benidorm Palace for dinner and a show, indoor heated pool and balcony at the hotel.... Bliss!!! No cooking. That will come at New Year when we´re having friends round to eat the traditional Swedish Christmas food. But that´s not so bad to do. You can prepare most of it in advance whereas the British Traditional meal requires good timing and lots of last minute fiddling about at the cooker.
We watched some of ITV´s series "Benidorm" and Lennart was a bit worried that we might get run down by the lady on her mobile scooter! We aren´t staying at that hotel - shame really. If I´d known when I was going to book, I might have gone for that just to see what it´s like in real life!
I´m struggling to transfer my photos from the hard disk onto CD´s and USB sticks so that I can download and edit the 500 or so photos I took in Sweden in the summer. It´s a hard job for me as I´m learning as I go along and I make quite a few mistakes on the way.
Well, I´m off to see how my latest cullinary, cross culture, Morroccan Osso Buco venture is getting on in the slow cooker.
Here´s to the next time!
