May 2012 - Venues for our Music Group

One of our favourite Interest Groups in the U3A is the Classical Music Appreciation Group. We have been members since it was started in late 2010 and attend the meetings every Saturday afternoon. We listen to a 2 hour pre-prepared programme of music ranging from the 16th to the 20th century.

The true definition of "Classical Music" is that wich was written between the years of about 1780 to 1825 but the term has come to mean all music of a similar genre and our choices have included composers from Bach through to John Williams.

We normally meet in the apartment of David and Graham Evans, in San Miguel. They live in Spain from October to April then leave for their other home in Hastings for the English summer. They have some beautiful hi fi equipment and a vast collection of music.

Unfortunately David has been unwell of late and his doctor has forbidden him to leave England so we have been holding our meetings at the home of Norma and Tommy Hood in Villamartin. I take the hi fi gear and speakers and they provide the venue and tea and biscuits at half-time. I have been making up most of the programmes with contributions, requests, and suggestions from some of the other members. We altered the frequency to once per fortnight as I do not have such a large collection of music.

Tommy and Norma also leave Spain for the summer so happily Terry and Maureen How stepped in and offered us the use of their home in San Luis.

And what a venue this is (see above picture). The previous owner of their house had built an extra building in the grounds which was designed to be a Spiritualist Church. It is fully equipped with kitchen, toilets, a dais at one end, and enough space to comfortably seat about sixty people. It is ideal. We have had several meetings there up to the end of May and enjoyed the freedom of being able to play the music as loud as we need without disturbing the neighbours.

Many thanks to Norma and Tommy, and Maureen and Terry for enabling us to continue our Group meetings.

April 2012 - A London Wedding

Our nephew Lee, who is just a few months older than our son Michael, decided with his partner Rowen that the time had come to be married. This was decided during 2011 and invitations were duly issued and venues arranged.

Lee, all 6' 7" of him, is in the Metropolitan Police Force and so the ceremony took place there. This was our first experience of staying in the city, having only ever visited for single days in the past. The happy couple, quite by chance, chose the same weekend as the London Marathon to get married so we were quite apprehensive about prices, crowds, hotel availability etc. We chose what we thought was a reasonably priced hotel (for London) and arranged two nights in the Southwark Travel Lodge. Whadda mistaker to maker! Kathie's brothers chose the Docklands Hilton. We paid £60 for the first night, but £120 for the second night (eve of Marathon). Add on breakfasts, early check-in etc. and our total bill was around £240. Meanwhile the luxurious Hilton (which we never even considered) were charging an all-in price of £120 per night per room including breakfast. If we ever go to The Smoke again we will check and double check room prices.

After some investigation on the Net we found that the cheapest way to get around London was with an Oyster Card. You just have to remember to swipe in and out on the Tube and each journey is clocked and charged to your card. The beauty of it is that you don't pay any more in a single day than a Rover Ticket so a full day's travel on the Tube, bus, or local train will cost no more than about 8 quid.

Friday afternoon was rainy and windy but Saturday dawned bright and sunny ready for the big day.

The wedding was delightful. Southwark Registry Office laid on a great and friendly service with no hang-ups about photography or anything. They managed to squeeze everybody into the ceremony room and afterwards opened up the doors on to their excellent garden where numerous photographs were taken and greetings and congratulations were exchanged.

We repaired to the Old Salt Quay pub and restaurant afterwards for the reception which went on until the early hours. The pub is right by the River Thames in what would have been a very busy industrial area in the Docklands heydey. Now the area is clean and landscaped and provides great views of the river and new buildings and hotels.

A few words in favour of London.

Everybody we came across in official capacities were very helpful and most polite. The cynical told us that everybody was under orders from above and once the Jubilee and Olympics were over they would return to their normal manners. If this is so, more's the pity. It was quite refreshing to be helped and informed wherever we asked.

March 2012 - A Rainy Day

 Once again we received a great example of what can happen in an area where it is assumed that drains are not necessary.

In a previous posting I showed how the water built up right next to our apartments to such an extent that the pool and tennis courts were submerged.

In this latest incident, heavy rain had been falling all night. Whilst preparing to leave for my Computer Group meeting I received several telephone calls either advising that it would be safer to stay at home and not try to get to our meeting place, or else asking if the meeting was still on as the person ringing was flooded out.

I decided that it might be better to stay at home and so I contacted as many members as possible and advised them of the cancelled meeting.

The next day the pictures started to appear of the damage and abandoned cars caused by the heavy rains so my little sports car would not have stood a chance.

We have here two pictures of a stranded 4x4 which has tried to cut the corner and has ended up in one of the ditches which were dug specifically to take care of flood water during heavy rains. How ironic is that?

The venue for my Computer Group meeting is just around the corner from this roundabout!!

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February 2012 - Becoming an OAP

Our very first experience of Spain was a holiday in Nerja on the Costa del Sol in about 1997 and we spent several winter holidays there before we bought our place on the Costa Blanca.

With my big birthday approaching (65th) and Kathie's blankety-blank we decided to return to Nerja and stay in one of the two top hotels in the town. We considered the Monica and the Balcon de Europa and decided upon the Balcon after finding a good deal on Booking.com.

The famous Hotel Balcon de Europa

Unlike previous holidays in Nerja, we now live only 4 hours or so from this resort and the drive is a blast. We chose the coastal route. The motorway is never more than a couple of miles from the sea and the route is quite mountainous so some of the views are magnificent.

It almost seemed that every level surface contained a greenhouse

We had booked a room with a sea view in the hotel (surprisingly it does have a few rooms without) and upon arrival we were given a room with a beautiful view but on the east side which only had a sunny balcony until about noon. The hotel management were very nice however and changed our room the next morning for a south facing room.

Our original room, sea view but cool in the afternoon

The new room, bigger balcony and south-facing

I have stayed in several 4/5 star hotels on my travels but only on business. The Balcon is a 4 star hotel and this time we were able to enjoy all the facilities to the full. Private pool, open air jacuzzi, private beach with waiter service, restaurant on the beach etc.

Nice weather for a Birthday Lunch 

 Breakfast with a view

Come on in - the water's lovely

Small video reminder of our beach

Becoming an OAP has never been nicer. We left the car parked up for the entire break.

Nerja is very quiet at this time of the year so when we went for a wander in the evening there was no problem finding a nice restaurant. On Tuesday 28th February there was a celebration in town for Andalucia Day. A charity bike ride was organized and hundreds of people young and old assembled on the town square for a short ride around the town. There were some great sights.

Some of the charity-riders from the youngest entrant to the longest bike

We travelled home on the 29th February but before we left we visited the famous caves just outside Nerja. These were discovered in 1959 by a bunch of kids who accessed them through a sink hole. Since then they have become one of Spain's major tourist attractions. The main "hall" is so large that theatre seats have been installed and concerts and ballets are performed in there. There is a fenced and ballustraded walkway around the rest of the publicly accessible caves so that one can take a tour and view the magnificent stalagmites and stalagtites. Naturally every effort is made to separate you from your money and there is a photographer on hand as you enter the caves who will take your picture and have it ready as you exit the complex.

Below are a few photographs taken from the roadside on the route home.

 If you look closely at the centre of the above picture you can see......

 .....the final resting place of this vehicle!

Based on our experience at the Balcon and the price of good apartments in the area we would choose Nerja again for another holiday.

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January 2012 - A quiet month.

After Mike and Pippa had returned home we had a quiet week until friends came out to their apartment and we went out for a few visits.

First visit was to Guadalest in the hills above Benidorm. Kathie and I have been here before and enjoyed wandering around the ancient village with its medieval castle and newish man made lake. Great views from the castle although unfortunately the solar powered boat was moored for the winter and we had no chance to go for a ride.

Murcia was another visit and again first time for Linda and Pete.

We visited the magnificent cathedral (above) and the Casino :-

A surprise here for most British people as in Spain a Casino is a meeting place and most definitely not a gambling den. I'm sure that there are places to chuck your money away but not in this type of establishment. There are some lovely casinos in the area which have taken on architectural significance due to the quality and variety of the building and decorations.

We had lunch in a tapas bar in the Theatre Square and were treated like royalty (probably due to lack of customers) as course after course of delicious plates were brought for us finishing with Solomillo, in this case a lamb dish, which could be sliced with a fork. Wine, water, bread, all the food, and postres (puddings) - €75 for the four of us.

Our friends bought bikes whilst they were here and this prompted Kathie and I to think about it as we had been considering the possibility ever since we arrived. We later ordered one each from England but more on that in a later post.

The month ended on a high with us and the rest of the U3A Committee moving the entire operation to the best meeting place in Torrevieja, the brand new CMO building, erected by the Local Council for use by the older people of the town.

We have been granted permission to use this fantastic building every Monday. Our first meeting was opened by the Mayor of Torrevieja, who warmly welcomed us to what he described as our "New Home" which bodes well for the future.

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