Friday

Cleaning again, sorry this is not very interesting, it’ll get better once we get on our way again – promise. We sometimes wonder if renting the house is actually worth it, especially when we spend so much time cleaning, making beds etc. The real problem is dog hairs, they are everywhere and no matter how often we clean they still seem to be there, the dogs molt so much here.

Anyway, I set the alarm and got up to give the dogs a good walk before sun rise, the Scout / Christian place near to Jimera is coming to life now, there was a young lad sleeping on an old sofa at the side of the track the other day, he got a bit of a fright when Dan stuck his cold wet nose in his face.

After breakfast we got stuck in to the cleaning, today it was the bedroom and living room, I also cleaned and hoovered the car  it is a slow process in the heat with many stops for drinks. We also packed most of the stuff in the car, we’ve accumulated a fair bit of stuff so we needed to plan the packing well, it all seems to be ok with the bulky stuff now packed. We’ve just got the ods and ends to do now.

The phone was eventually cut off on Thursday, I was surprised as it seems normal that this can take months to achieve, perhaps stopping the direct debit was the trigger. They Internet connection was still live and I was wondering if perhaps they had forgotten it and we’d have a web connection free, no such luck, it has gone now too.

After lunch we set off for Gaucin, we have rugs to collect from the laundry, we’d also decided to try the new restaurant / hotel Molino Quatro Porado near to Benajoan on the way back.

We collected the rugs then headed up to Ronda, we parked in the new car park at the top of the town, it is very swanky and professional, not too expensive either. We had ice cream at the usual place then went to the Vodafone shop to get some credit on the Mobile Internet card but I needed another number which I didn’t have so no such luck. We walked to the square for Pick n Mix, it was closed, we’re not having any luck spending money here. Susan wanted to go and buy some cakes from the Nuns, it’s an odd place there is a sort of revolving hatch where you shout what you want then put money in the shelf it spins round, the money disappears and your goods are there in place of it.

We had time to kill so we wandered round the shops a bit and had a drink on the main drag then bought a (yet another) new shower head before heading back to the car. We drove to the hotel, it is very nice, obviously had a bit of cash spent on it, it advertises locally as having an Italian Chef and we fancied a change from Meatballs, pork chops, lamb chops etc. We were first there, the place was deserted then eventually this English man arrived wearing shorts, he was obviously the owner. He took us out to the terrace by the river, all very civilised. He went off and left us for ages with no drinks or menu, it was a bit odd. After about 20 mins he reappeared having changed into long trousers for the night time service, however these trousers were in worse state than my painting trousers, the type you get in Spanish markets, dirty, old and torn, it was all very bizarre, he really did look like a tramp. We tried to engage him in conversation but it was difficult, he said he’d been open a year and business was not good due to the strength of the Euro and the economic situation in the UK.

On the plus side, the Menu was good, a nice choice of different food with an Italian flavour. The food was excellent, well cooked, nicely presented and tasty. Quite reasonable too!

The place got a little busier after 9 but I don’t think the hotel was very busy. When we left Susan got chatting to the Chef, nice chap, seemed to be enthusiastic about his job.

We drove home, walked the dogs, watched some rubbish on Telly then went to bed.

The blog will be a little sporadic from now on, it is my intention to write it every day (ish) but we can only upload it when we have an internet connection.