Spain 2023 - March 1st to 3rd

Wednesday 1st March

The weather is definitely improving, even a boat thought the same.  We don’t see many sailing boats out, in fact we don’t see many boats out.  There may be a couple of small boats fishing at the weekend but that’s about it. 

The car was filthy, so it was a trip up to the service station for Richard to avail himself of their car wash.  Then down to Mercadona to do a small shop.

Today was my doctor’s appointment.  The surgery is the other side of the Parque Comercial, not an area we frequent very much.  I found the surgery easily and went in.  I had to wait for ages to see Dr. Slavica as, I think, she was organising an ambulance for the people who went in before me.  I say that as something was going on and as I left an ambulance pulled up.  Anyway Dr. Slavica is lovely and speaks perfect English.  She asked me what sort of blood test I wanted, how did I know?!  She asked if I had had liver and kidney function tests recently – er I don’t think so!  We decided that she would do the lot and include Vitamin D.  It will be a fasting blood test and, oh yes, I have to do a urine sample too.  It sounds like a good MOT.  She checked my ears and said the right one was clear, but the left one was blocked.  It took ages to unblock it – she was using the old fashioned syringe with warm soapy water!  She said she will check the ears again when I go in for my test results.


Thursday 2nd March

Another lovely day but not a good day for news.  Firstly, we were due to have tapas with Sue and Andy, but neither of them are feeling good today so a rain check was made!  Secondly, I had message from Ingrid (who is supposed to be coming out with husband, Bob, on Saturday).  She hasn’t been well since Christmas with a cough that she just can’t shake off.  She has had two rounds of antibiotics and some steroids.  Yesterday the doctor decided to do some blood tests.  This morning Ingrid got a call saying she has an embolism in her lung and should go straight to A & E.

On the strength of having visitors I had ordered sausages from Farmer Sarah, so had to go and pick them up from Dia car park.  If Ingrid and Bob don’t come, we will be eating sausages for ever!

An interesting formation of clouds. 

I felt really sad during the afternoon as I came to terms that Ingrid and Bob won’t be coming.  At first I still hoped they would but as the day went on I realised that it really isn’t going to happen. 

Poor Ingrid spent most of the day in A & E waiting to be seen.  She kept asking what was happening and the nurses would say that they would look into it but they never went back.  After 6 hours of waiting she went to see some doctors who were standing round the nurses station and everyone then realised that Ingrid has slipped through the system.  She had a few tests and was then sent home until tomorrow when they would do a CT scan.

My ears aren’t as they should be after the syringing yesterday.  I’m sure the right one is blocked and the left one doesn’t feel right.  I will have to wait till I go back to the Doctor to get my tests results.


Friday 3rd March

Market day and I was determined to get another hoodie.  As we drove along the Paseo there were Police at the Red Cross roundabout.  In previous years we haven’t seen them there but this time it isn’t unusual.  However today one of them had a nasty looking sub machine gun over his arm.  I felt it rather inappropriate to take a photo and anyway he scared me!!

The market in Turre was a big one and I found the lady I had seen last week.  I couldn’t get a grey hoodie but got a black one instead. 

Richard and Muffin had stopped at Solare for coffee so I joined them there.  We were enjoying our coffee when the singer that we had seen on Sunday in Villaricos came in and started singing.  I was so pleased.  He sang two operatic numbers but the second one was not a popular one which was a shame.  He really is an excellent singer. 

We walked back to the car and decided to walk on over the bridge which crosses the dry riverbed.  The river is in fact a man-made channel that is fed by many tributaries that allow flood and storm water to roll down from the nearby higher ground and mountains out to the sea. Following large amounts of rain, the riverbed fills with water and actually turns into a river, occurring only once or twice a year. Normally after a few days the water dries out. 

These houses look nice and have a lovely view of the mountains. 

Back to the villa for lunch.  As we were eating, we could see that there were two distinct shades of blue in the sea.  Richard wondered if it was the sea breeze causing it.  Lo and behold a few minutes later and the breeze hit us.  That’s what we have been having most afternoons.  It is quite a strong breeze and pretty chilly.  Maybe the answer is to sit outside in the mornings and go out in the afternoons!

We decided that we would go out for dinner to celebrate the halfway point of our stay.  I can’t believe that we have been here for 4 weeks already.  We chose to go to El Gaucho.  We hadn’t been there since 2020.  We both had a ribeye steak which was amazing.  So tender and beautifully cooked.