Well, as Ian was about to construct a stinging letter to Telefonica complaining about the fact we were without the internet again, we noticed that the phone line was also not working and then realise with horror that we have been cut off.
For non payment of bills – I write this shame faced. Me, the daughter of a bank manager…
We were breifly back on line on Saturday after we gave them the bank details, however we actually need to go to the bank to pay cash to pay off our outstanding amount. All very annoying, and I don´t know if we have to pay to get reconnected.
Apart from that last week was working out quite well. After our triumph of a bike ride last weekend we went out again this last Thursday, and we also got up early to go for our daily walk (by early – I mean for our new éarly´standards). it was 7, and there were a few people around, but they mostly looked at us as though we were mad.
There have been a few posters around the village, for an event which we could not translate. We were also flummoxed because it started at 9.30 in the morning, about 14 hours earlier than most activities. Our dictionaries did not help. We thought first of all that it was the grand reopening of the convent – however the one bit of hte poster we could guess was the disclaimer at the end which said the organisers took no responsibility for any damage to person or property. An odd kind of convent reopening. There were also prizes which I suppose also indicated that we were on the wrong track. prizes could have suggested fancy dress, and we worked out a cost ´´per go´. So we were torn between fancy dress and bunjy jumping. Anyway it transpired that it was clay pidgeon shooting , which was going on at the weekend to raise money for something to do with a saint. I think.
last Tuesday which was market day, Joe the policeman asked me to join him and his friends for a coffee. I didn´t and then felt wracked with guilt, but I hope I smiled and gestured my refusal nicely.
Ian has an enemy in the village. A small black dog which sees him and chases Ian up and down the road. We were very pleased when we found out that the dog was called Gobby, as it is very appropriate. Anyway, in a vane attempt to get Gobby and Ian friendly, Gobbys owner (who´se name sounds like Heemma), came out on a walk with us yesterday, and took us for quite a long walk, out on yet another footpath and eventually to a place where the village saint lives (san isidro). I am not fully sure of what it was all about, but there is a chapel and a stage (ians eyes lit up) and a bar, plus a lot of shelters covered in branches. This was all permanent buildings and there is a road of sorts that goes there, plus lots of water points and wc´s. I think that the saints day is May 3rd which is when Jim and Viv arrive – so more might become apparent then. Anyway it was a longish walk and we would not have known the direction if we hadn´t been taken and it was an enjoyable afternoon. Of course our lack of Spanish meant that it was quite a quiet walk, but we were very appreciative that someone was prepared to take us and the dogs out for an afternoons ramble. The one big thing that Ian and I say when we have our ´what has suprised us most´conversations is how friendly people are towards us.
One last thing – massive moths. We have seen a couple of huge moths, dead in the road. With a wing span of maybe three inches a wing they are the size of a small bird. one of the ones we saw was on the road outside the house – where did it come from and what sort of catapillar did it emerge from….