Greetings from a greeter

Random comment:-
The house is shaking again but it really is just the wind this time

I've heard of the Catholic Church giving special Dispensation to allow the devout to have corned beef and cabbage on St Patrick's Day before..... but really

After yesterdays Greeter's meeting I went along today to have a one to one meeting with my manager and Personnel.

You know..it's a great feeling knowing it doesn't really matter

T'old man and myself went down to the supermarket today to stock up on provisions as the cupboards are bare, it tooks us ages to get round the store for at every corner there was a colleague wanting to have a chat (amazing how civil people appear to be when you've not seen them for a while).

So tomorrow morning I will be attending a Greeter's meeting... but what the heck that is about i've no idea 'cos in four years of doing this job it is the first time I have ever known there be one . 
Curiouser and curiouser.

If you were a fly on a fence .....whose would it be?

This pussy has the sootiest face ever!

Andalucia February 2008

An age-old tradition continued!

As the carnival celebrations went on all around him this guy was having a siesta!

Click on pic to enlarge.

I've heard it has been cold

I have posted some pics of the countryside close to Jane's house near Antequera over on my Isasfotos blog

I had a pleasant journey home today, everything turned up on time (i.e..planes and trains) and I spent a pleasant two and a half hours sat on the plane next to and sharing crisps and biscuits with a couple of butch lesbians who run a pub together in South Yorkshire.
T'old man met me at the train station and made me beans on toast for tea...nothing much changes

I think i'm getting a little bit too predictable ...Yes you know what comes next ...the holiday pics!

no 1
Nerja January 08..half cooked but still appetising.

Colour in January

I almost ran out the door this morning, despite the fact that it was raining quite heavily...you know what they say about the rain in Spain!
( the last few days here it has been wet and not sunny at all )

I don't begrudge the spaniards their rain though as I have had more than my fair share of sunshine over the last five weeks and Andalucia has a major problem looming if the levels in the lakes and reservoirs don't rise soon....but why was I so keen to get out...well...the builders are moving in .. two days before we leave for home.. so today the kitchen will ripped out and I will be dining out

Miguel and Miguel are the names of the builders.. and a smashing pair of lads they seem to be..we have great fun communicating as the only two words of english they know is...Hello and tomorrow.....oh and goodbye!!

hasta luego X

"Did you get the dozen red roses I sent?" asked t'old man when I phoned him yesterday. "Ha ha"..I replied knowing he hadn't even acknowledged Valentine's day since the second year of our meeting.
"I was even surprised that he had realised what day it was at all until he told me he had popped down to the supermarket (yes, that supermarket) to buy grapes and chocolate for Bella as she will be visiting him tonight.
Apparently, in the foyer it was crammed full of shoppers buying flowers and chocolates at the last minute...ah yes I remember it well (the supermarket..that is).

I won't be returning home now until the 21st as we have changed our flights so that Jane can organise the builders who are doing the work on her kitchen, bathroom, windows etc.....I won't elaborate but the going can get tough...her spanish is virtually nil and whilst I can usually get the message across she insisted on trying to communicate with them herself...so I have taken a step back and the result is that now she has found a lovely fluent spanish speaking 13 year girl to translate and laise with the spanish builders.

The sun is still shining though and it is salmon for tea
hasta luego Xx

I´ve just got off the bus at Malaga bus station.
I´ve said goodbye to holiday Nerja and am on my back to Jane in down-town Mollina.
The bus took one hour and ten minutes...I sat at the front near to the driver who was listening to the radio and I thought maybe the spanish pop music would be pleasant to listen to whilst gazing at the mediterranean sea along the coastal route.
Then the woman in the opposite seat started talking on her mobile rather loudy...the driver turned the bus radio up, she in turn spoke louder. Tit for tat it went.
By the time I arrived here I had a headache, it didn´t stop me popping in here (internet cafe)for ten minutes though

I haven´t taken these pics myself, they are tourist pics, but I thought i´d post them as tomorrow will be the last day I will be spending here in Nerja.
Interior of the Nerja caves

Aqueduct of Nerja

It was 8.45 this morning and I was sat in a bus shelter in a dusty side street in Mollina. I was waiting for the bus to Malaga in order to travel onwards to Nerja to spend the last weekend here before the month´s rental on the house there expires. there was hardly any traffic and only a handful of people passed while I sat there waiting.
"Buenas Dias" said the spaniard on his way to work,
"Beunos Dias" said the two old ladies who walked by arm in arm,
"Hola" chirped the mother and her little girl who were on their way to school.
I replied to each exchange in kind, and reflected.
Everyone a stranger, everyone had a smile with no hidden agenda...it reminded me of when I was growing up in the yorkshire pit village, back then you would(and possibly still do) greet everyone you passed, only the exchange would be be more like a brusque "Hey Up".
Not like the suburban area where I live now..of course one still greets people who one knows and sees every day...except for the man who walks with his head bowed down as he passes and the ill- tempered looking woman who crosses to the other side of the street when out walking her dog so she she doesn´t have to make eye contact

Tomorrow it will be Paella on the beach again and a last chance to chill before returning to rural Mollina on Monday.
Oh, and I have to add that Jane and myself had a gorgeous walk down a path at the back of her house yesterday, it led us through Vineyards(albeit they are not in leaf yet) and through olive groves with the odd almond tree in blossom dotted here and there, the Antequera mountains were in the back drop. My camera was put to work and I hope the resulting pics can give the views justice.

The Funeral of the Chanquete (baby sardine) was a spectacular affair.
It is a ritual with Spanish roots, the image of a sardine is symbolically buried ... It signifies the "burial" of another carnival and the start of Lent, ...

The mourning procession started at Parque Verano Azul, the mourners (revellers from the night before) had cast off their bright colours and had donned mourning dress although elaborate still.
High jinks and feigned mock grief was played out to everyone´s great amusement.
At a guess I would say there were around six hundred assorted towns people (the elderly, teenagers, babies and their parents) accompaning the official widow and escorting the effigy of the deceased sardine around the streets, most were screaming and wailing and many fainted with the emotion, the funeral of the baby sardine proceeded through the streets of Nerja with hordes of curious spectaters lining the route, cameras flashing and amazement shown.
Bands were playing and every now and again couples would dance around the sardine with great aplomb!
The cortege ending on Calahonda beach where the sardine was ceremoniously led at dusk to a waiting boat and taken out to sea amid the obligatary firework display that the spanish are reknowned for.
Don´t you just love their style...I do

Today, I have had the laziest day ever.
I woke up at about 8.30...had breakfast in front of the tele .. then had a shower and sat on the balcony.
I had lunch about 1.30 then lay on the sunbed on the patio soaking up the glorious 21 degrees of pure sunshine for a couple of hours.
later, I had another shower, rinsed out a few items of "smalls" then came out for a walk to the town. I hadn´t spoken to a soul today until I came into the internet cafe and it felt good.
Tomorrow I will return to Jane´s house to see how she is fareing with the builder´s quotes, then maybe I will come back here to Nerja for the final weekend before the months rental expires on the 11th..

My resolution NOT to shop was broken almost immmediately

I had to enter a shop to purchase more batteries for my camera as the costumes at the Carnival were simply fabulous
I wish I could upload some while i´m here, but I can´t... so just to say I have taken some 'more' interesting pics of peoples bottoms...one or two of you will know what I mean

I think I knew it, when I agreed to go away with Jane

This jaunt was in grave danger of becoming a busman´s holiday

´cos Jane is a bit of a shopaholic

The first few weeks I seemed to find myself following her into the supermarket and clothes shops for a good part of the day

Then when the house purchase came through there has been a mad scrummy buying sheets, towels mirrors, irons fires..........etc.

Then we progressed to kitchen fitting shops and shops selling doors and windows...she´s only owned the house a week

Whoah... I thought

Her eldest daughter and a friend arrived so I have taken myself off back to Nerja to spend three days in complete bliss
.. and i´m NOT going anywhere near a shop unless it is for bread, milk and water.

First task is to hunt King MOMO down... he´s taking part in the Carnival procession in about an hours time...maybe he will have a little dance with me

Tomorrow, I have to attend a very sad event..it is the "Entierro del Chanquete"...OR .."The internment of a baby Sardine"

I will report on the Wake´and the mourning procession when I next get down to the internet cafe

Take care all of you

Isadora XX