CASA OLIMPIA.

Tuesday 2nd March 2010.

We have just come off the Skype video as Jack and Lyn called from Australia, they were with some friends and were having a glass or two of Champagne and so they tried out their new PC with built in webcam! Over the weekend we had prepared for the worst as a large Atlantic storm was due to hit the coast but luckily it came in across southern Portugal and then hit north west Spain before going up through France and on towards Belgium and Germany; sadly over 100 people have been killed with falling trees, walls and so on, it reminded us of the time when we where caught in a similar Atlantic hurricane above San Sebastian at the start of our travels in the Winnebago over four years ago.
Still no news on Chris’s plans about Joan and the villa, at the end of last week we received the cash transfer and paid the water bill on Friday morning as we went down to Tarifa for the weekend shopping; fresh Salmon fillets for supper on Friday and Loin of Pork for our Sunday lunch. The two dogs are sat at my feet at the moment as the weather yet again is changing and the forecast for the rest of the week is rain! Last night we watched the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics from Vancouver which was spectacular; my only worry is how we will follow it in 2012 in London! On Sunday evening the final of the Ice Hockey between Canada and the USA was very exciting and went to extra time when the Americans equalized right at the end of normal time; it’s the first to score when they restart and Canada scored a wonder goal, the Canadians went mad! Back on Saturday it was the Six Nations Rugby Union in which England and Wales both lost, England played terrible near the end and gave it away to the Irish. Manchester City beat Chelsea which made Carlos and Mano very happy and Manchester Utd beat Aston Villa at Wembley in the Carling Cup final, I hope that Rooney carries on playing like he is at the moment in the World Cup in South Africa later in the year!
Once again I’m afraid that I am going to go on about another railway programme on BBCFour; The Kalka – Shimla mountain railway is in the foothills of the Himalayas and over its 96kms.it winds its way across 864 bridges and goes through 102 tunnels on its way to the old summer capital of the Raj in Shimla;it is now a Unesco World Heritage site, it was built over a hundred years ago and the people that work and use it now are fascinating, its all very British. The picture below which is not very clear shows one of the trains crossing a viaduct on its way up.

PS; Happy St.Davids Day for yesterday,the first day of Spring !

CASA OLIMPIA.

Monday/Friday 16th/20th November 2009.

As the weather is still holding up we have gone into our taking it easy and reading mode; Brenda catches up with the chore in the morning and goes out on the balcony in the afternoon whilst I catch up with the e-mails and blog during the day and cook after lunch. This week we have had a Chicken curry, Sausages and mash, Pork fillet in a lemon butter sauce ( The Lemons came from the orchard ! ) and cold Ham and eggs. We have had very little contact with Chris over in London as he is in the middle of some very heavy business deals and seems to spend his whole life in meetings from early in the morning till late at night! We have also been in touch with all the usual casualties! Tim brought us up to date with all his news over in Colwyn Bay, as did the two sisters in England and Jack and Lyn in Australia whilst at the same time Brenda spoke also to Gissy as Vidal has gone over to Peru on business and then onto Trinidad to see his mother and might not be back until the new year! On Friday morning I went across to Manilva but could not get near to the house as the council had blocked all the roads into the village to do some major repairs to the roads, as I came around the village and down towards the coast Mano called me and I met him and Juan for a morning drink at his regular bar which is just at the start of the village; we caught up with all the village gossip and news, which we miss! I then carried on to do all my messages at the supermarket, paper shop, telephone shop, cash point and the butchers; just as I was getting back to the car Anna, who was also out shopping spotted me so we went for a mug of tea and a Bacon butty in the square in the centre of Sabinillas,we sat out in the morning sun and put the world to rights after catching up with all her news after their holiday over in Lanzarote to see their daughter Sally and her grandchildren. Brenda has arranged to go over to Gissy next week to get her hair cut, it still grows like mad and at the end of the week we are going out for Sunday lunch as it is our 38th wedding anniversary on the 29th ! It only seems like yesterday when we walked down the aisle in Port Sunlight with my child bride !!