Now, where was I?

Ah yes, with Dan and Helen in Sevilla. But I forgot to tell you that before that, we had a bizarre experience. We'd booked into a hotel near Carmona, close to Seville Airport so we could pick up Dan and Hel at the crack the next day.

We met our friends Elspeth and Brian in Sevilla that evening, which was lovely. With them were Rosemary and Ivan Good - that was a blast from the past! I have no idea if anybody reading this will remember our Rockware days. For the record, if it hadn't been for Tony Jones putting his faith in fledgling Concept at the time, we wouldn't be here now. Not the easiest client, bless him, but I remember that Rosemary smoothed out the bumps on many occasions.

Let's hear it for the Goods.

Anyway, I digress. We thought we'd go back to our hotel for dinner, so that the driver, me, Judy, could actually get a proper drink. No restaurant in the hotel. Never mind, there were two nearby on the service road off the motorway. Both shut.

So we hi-tailed it back towards home on the motorway looking for a service area and any kind of food (bar Macdonalds, that is) to fill our tummies.

After about 4km, we saw a brightly lit place. There was no sign to it and we thought it might be a 'club'. If you know Spain, you'll know what that means! Well, in fact it was a shed. It housed a family that makes sheds and other things for the garden, out of wood.

We tentatively asked if we could eat. The reply was 'in the infirmary' (as my father would have said). We still weren't sure . . . We were regaled with a wonderful 'solomillo de cerdera'. Not medallions or any of that restaurant stuff - a whole fillet of pork each, plus a wonderful salad and some delicious patatas!

Spain is weird and wonderful.

More later X

Exile

Our bathroom had to be knocked about a bit and so there was nothing for it but to go away. And what pleasanter way to spend a few days than with Dan and Helen.






Here they are in the Alcazar in Sevilla.

If you've never been there, you must go. We believe it knocks the much more famous Alhambra in Granada into a cocked hat. Viz:






















































Nice, eh?

More later

Obras

To whom it may concern:

Major works are happening at number 15 from 15th to 25th May.

From the ridiculous to the sublime and back

As Dan and Helen will tell you, there is some pretty weird domestic architecture in this neck of the woods. Turrets, for example, are rife. Some of them purely for show. This one? Well, maybe it rotates to warn ships in the bay of Mazarron of dangerous rocks!







They are all very pwetentious, but they are built because Spaniards think that's what Brits want - and they do! Gawd help us.





And the trappings are even more bizarre.








You can even have castellations to go with your turrets.








And who would want to live in a house like this?








Yes, your very own mock mosque, complete with mini minaret.







On the whole, we prefer nature's architecture:

























Back to the ridiculous - well, Terry looks fairly sane with his 'palmito' - typical feature of the countryside here - but who's this strange woman with a can of cider in her hand?