Hotel Meridional Alicante

Well would you believe it? I've been working for the last 2 days. A friend of Dave's who I met a couple of weeks ago needed a Brickie to build a couple of pillars. So, I dusted off the old trowel. It's been a long time but you never lose it.

Amanda is back tonight. I'm picking her up at Alicante Airport at about 11.30pm. Lucy and me have really missed her and we are both looking forward to seeing her...Ahhh.

... a receipt.

I gave it half an hour before ringing the electric company at first they couldn't find it but then it appeared on the screen...How long? I ask...Within 24 hours, and its going to cost another 20 euros re-connection fee.

I've had to postpone the fitting of the Telephone and Internet due to the electricity situation until Monday...Manana, Manana, Manana.

Good news...reconnected at 10 to 6....Yippee!

... the day! Here we go again..Manana, Manana, Manana!

No electric=no cooking so I went down to the Lo Dolses Centro Comercial to find a pub that cooks as I don't want to be in a Restaurant on my own. Found a Scottish bar that does food and thought I might be able to watch the Celtic and Hamburg game. Had a good night ended up watching the game with 2 Scottish Lads, Tony the owner and Matty from Glasgow as well as a couple from Hamburg. Good craic and a friendly bar.

... hot for the time of year we've enjoyed the cycling and always reward ourselves for our efforts with a nice cold beer before setting off back.

Amanda is going back to the UK today but she is back soon.

So it's Paddy no mates for the next 13 days!

Ano ther day. Still no sign of the electric being switched back on. Waited for the promised 24 hours and then called Iberadola again...OH NO!..They say they can't find any record of the payment...After a while it turns out that we have been given the wrong reference number to quote on the fax...AGHHH!.. Now that's been established we ask "How long before we're back on?"... "Within 24 hours" came the now ...

... Wellenhopsen, Durch-Tauchen, Rueckenkraulen und Meerwasser-Schlucken hánge ich einen eindrucksvollen Strandspaziergang an. Das beruhigende Meeresrauschen begleitet mich, eine salzige Brise in der Nase, Sonnenstrahlen lassen mich blinzeln, im Mund
noch den bittersalzigen Geschmack der letzten Welle, die sich ueber mir erbrach. Nach langen Kilometern drehe ich um, bis ganz ans Ende schaffe ich es doch nicht, und jeder der mich kennt ...

... Enfin, nous finîmes (l'emploi du passé simple en espagnol est aussi généralisé que celui du preterit en anglais ce qui exerce donc une influence sur mon français) la soirée dans un restaurant kebab/bar à chichas où certaines personnes découvraient cela pour la première fois (cette fois je ne faisais pas partie de cette catégorie-là. Pas de quoi être fier non plus!). Nous rentrâmes à 4h. Encore une fois, j'ai pris ma douche après avoir dormi. - Samedi: 8h: Après ...

... sera plus demain si entre-temps notre entourage est d'avis contraire. On se satisfait d'une parole aimable mais on s'aigrit facilement lorsqu'on perd à un jeu. On fait une promesse qu'on tient que le temps de finir de la prononcer. " You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it" (Agée 1:6) La vie ne peut pas être qu'une succession de témoignages de l'ampleur de notre faiblesse. Il doit exister un sens à notre vie... " Te amo Te amo es todo lo que puedo decir "

... up inside the mountain, a la James Bond, so we walked along the seafront to the entrance. It was shut....I was gutted. Instead we caught a bus to San Juan beach, which was much nicer than the beach in main Alicante. We had a buffet libre then sat on the beach to let our lunch go down. Had a bit of a paddle then went to get the bus to the laundrette. Did all of the packing as it is an early start in the morning.

... of it with buckets so you could fill up your ammo, and big fire hoses being sprayed around everywhere. It was a good laugh, but got a bit cold at the end when the fire hoses got turned on! The next day we headed to the beach for some recovery time and to prepare ourselves to see the Alhambra. We left very early as we had heard the tickets to the Alhambra sell out very early, there was already a queue when we arrived at 7.30, although ...