Brittany Ferry to Santander, then….

R

The weeks building up to departure, on Sunday 10 th July , have been a mixture of Looking after grandchildren, working on the allotment and back garden. Mixed in with visit from old college friends, two friends’ birthday celebrations  and receiving positive news  of a recent blood test. A purchase of an up to date Map of Spain and Portugal, together with a new camping guide, thereto. At different times, weather forecasts have been sought and a range of itineraries devised, depending on the weather, when we disembark at Santander. Hopefully as pictured.

It has become a tradition that I burn a cd for friends’ birthdays and I was pleased to be able to compile, Case, Lang and Viers , with Jeff Lynne – an unlikely amalgam.

Nothing I enjoy more than rhymes, stories and poems shared with the grandchildren , on the I-pad, or ” real books”,whether it’s Michael Rosen or The Runaway Train!

There have been practical matters to attend to,like taking out the portable bike from the ” bus” and reminding myself how it folds out…..and back.

A pleasant surprise, just the other day, when I received a donation of a£100.00 to the Cancer Relief Fund, from a former colleague; glad I hadn’t closed down the Just Giving account.

Health wise, I was pleased that a recent blood test was all clear, two years on and have never felt more that growing older is both a privilege and a bonus. Impetus given then to possible destinations in Spain; will it be Potes in the Picos de Europa , or the coast near A Coruna and most importantly that wherever we reach on Monday 11 th July, there is a good restaurant to celebrate Hannah’s birthday.

I have been enjoying two diaries of an ex-pat in Spain.” Spanish Journals, The Posthumous Diaries of an ExPat”, by A R Lowe . A genuine curmudgeon , often politically incorrect…but , at times, unknowingly funny and I mean laugh aloud funny! Especially, his attempts to give English lessons to the locals. His star pupil insists on learning the language through translations of his favourite, Country & Western Standards. A Bientot.