30 May 2009 00:37

Quick question

Dear EDP Answer me one question: What have you done to your website???  Sorry to say but the new layout is AWFUL.  Was about to post a new blog entry but only able to see a tiny window and ... hmmmm ... not impressed to say the least.  ???
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16 February 2009 18:00

Language matters

My father, who is a regular reader of my blog (thanks, Papa), even though it is not written in his native language, sent me an email some time ago, urging me to write an entry about language and the need to be able to communicate in Spanish here in Andalucía. 
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28 December 2008 22:09

Writer´s blo(g)ck

I do apologise for the recent lack of blog entries but – as you can imagine – we´ve been pretty busy trying to turn our house into a home (isn´t that the latest Homebase slogan?).   Because the previous owners had seen fit to take more or less
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21 November 2008 22:31

Home, sweet home

Thank you for keeping your fingers crossed for us. We finally completed the house deal just over two weeks ago at the notary in Álora (of all places).  This is of course where we had suffered a severe bout of food poisoning almost a year ago - see
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31 October 2008 19:05

Pressing matters

On Saturday morning we had a phone call from a friend, inviting us to join their olive-picking syndicate.  You might recall that, for the mill to operate their machinery, a minimum quantity of 550 kilos is required.  As it´s better to get the
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21 October 2008 17:41

Almost there

So, where were we?  Ah yes!  We had made an offer on the house and then waited a few days for the estate agent to relay the details to the owner and  discuss the matter with her.  She, obviously, then had to have a good, long think
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10 October 2008 18:48

Love at second sight

Remember my blog a few months ago entitled ´We still haven´t found what we´re looking for`?  Well, it turns out I lied.  Not knowingly, you understand.  It´s just that we have now realised that we had actually already unwittingly found
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29 September 2008 21:49

Home is where the heart is

We took a trip to the north-east to Portugal last week to visit one of my university chums whom we hadn´t seen for about five years.  I´ve been keeping in touch with her on a regular basis though, especially ever since we´ve both discovered the wonders
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19 September 2008 20:12

Olive Ha! Ha! Harvest

Last Friday we had a drink with some friends after we´d all been to the weekly market in the village and everybody seemed to be talking about the fact that they were getting ready for a weekend´s olive picking.  It sounded interesting: all you had
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10 September 2008 21:57

The rain in Spain

This morning I was woken up at ten to six by a flickering light.  Initially I thought that Ian had left a lamp switched on somewhere which had subsequently developed a faulty bulb.  Or was it the paparazzi – again?  It turned out it was
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30 August 2008 18:24

Figged out

It seems that in my recent blogs I have focussed entirely on negative aspects of life here in Spain: rude bar owners, lack of suitable and affordable houses, threats of quarries opening, rubbish dumping, underage drinking and cruelty to animals. 
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17 August 2008 17:03

The house of horrors

One has to admit that house-hunting (or shall we call it area-hunting, as we´re still none the wiser as to where exactly we want / can afford to live) in the heat of August is not the most pleasant thing to do. However, as the clock on our present tenancy
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08 August 2008 09:37

Happy New Year

I have been humming and singing the song Feliz Navidad for the past few days, much to the annoyance of my husband.  You must know it: Feliz Navidad (x 3), Prospero Año y felicidad.  I wanna wish you a Merry Xmas …  Yes, it´s a Christmas
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01 August 2008 22:01

A load of rubbish

Last Sunday Ian and I borrowed Chica, our neighbours´ dog, for the day and went off to some lakes about half an hour´s drive away.  It was a gloriously sunny day, the water was clear and refreshing and we had no end of fun splashing about with our
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23 July 2008 14:06

The heat is on

A couple of days ago, for the first time in ages, we weren´t able to eat al fresco.  No, it wasn´t raining or cold or anything like that – it was simply too hot.  If you´ve ever used a fan-assisted oven and opened it when it was going full blast,
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