Family arrives for Christmas

Friday 14 December

A very special day today as Bill, Kevin’s Dad has arrived for his visit with us. He had a good flight and after a bit of a false start we found each other. It was great to see him. He is all settled into the house and even saw some sunshine this afternoon. However I think it was a bit of a shock to him how cold it can be in the night. Kev stoked the fire as fast as he could until we were sitting in shirt only. Dad was still rapped in 5 layers and his dressing gown.

Saturday 15 December,

We had a walk down to Riogordo, we were amazed at Bill’s stamina as he managed the walk very well indeed. Topped up with a few of Riogordo’s finest Ceverza (beer) he charged up the hill like a rat up a drainpipe. We had the afternoon at the house chatting eating and drinking. 

Sunday 16 December

Brunch, (full English) yum. It turned out that the water to the house had been turned off at the main stop cock at the bottom of the track. Kev had noticed that the water was not on as there is an outside tap what is connected to the mains. We still had water as the outside water tank holds 3000kg of water. It is not unusual for the water to suddenly stop and we have noticed it before but it has never been off for this length of time before. Mick kindly came out and sorted the problem with his ‘Manchester Spanner’ Thanks Mick. It looks like the man from the water board came to read the meter and decided that the place was empty and simply turned it off. You’d have thought he would have come to have a look before he did something so rash. Still all’s well that ends well.

We spent the afternoon sitting in the sunshine on the terrace. Things are starting to warm up!

Monday 17 December

Back to Malaga Airport again today, this time to collect Josie and Paul. Unfortunately, Campy only has 4 seat belts so we had to leave Dad at the house. All went well with the pick up and as agreed they were waiting for us as we drove up to arrivals. We got back late afternoon and enjoyed the rest of the day catching up. Lovely to have a house full for Xmas. Paella for dinner.

Tuesday 18 December

Wow what a great day we had today, The sun was out and warm from the start, we sat outside at the table having a leisurely breakfast. The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the terrace in perfect weather, hot, sunny and calm. We were able to sit till about 4.30pm when it started to cool off. No problem log burner on and a great late afternoon, Kev playing Cribbage with Dad and Petra and Jo making dinner.

Wednesday 19 December

Decided to take everyone to Malaga for the day. It was another nice day and we got up early to catch the 9am bus fro Riogordo. We spent the day sight seeing, shopping, Sherry at the bodega, eating Tapas, more shopping, coffee and getting the 3pm bus back. Everyone fell to sleep on the bus except Kev who is too tall for the seat and was wedged firmly in the seat unable to move.

In the evening we went to the ‘Old Mans Bar’ (Internet Bar) and met up with Sue and Mick for a meal. The food and meal were great and it was nice to catch up with Sue and Mick. The food was excellent and the atmosphere in the bar friendly if not a bit noisy towards the end. Sue and Mick also kindly gave us a bag of clementines fresh from the tree which we will really enjoy. Riogordo looked lovely tonight with all the Christmas lights on.