Off to sunny Spain

Off to a flying start getting ready to go away. As Claire likes the small hoover around the studio flat and hates the one in the kebab flat because it smells we brought the little one home. The toilet seat we ordered from B&Q turned up broken so my job while Claire had her beauty treatment was to sort them all out and get a haircut on my way back. The B&Q thing took almost an hour no trouble dropping the new hoover off but when I got back in the car it wouldn’t start as the battery was flat. HOW? I had only just stopped there without any trouble. Phoned up the recovery people and waited another hour, Claire wasn’t answering her phone so left a message. The man said it wasn’t the battery but my starter motor connection. I was pleased because I had just spent £100 on a new battery as the previous recovery man told me it had had it. This one said he would be surprised if the last time was the battery as it is a very common fault with Rover engines. Off to get my hair cut at my newly discovered barbers in Wolverton as its only £3.50 a go. Had to wait another hour as he is very slow and two Indians were having their hair cut for what must have been the first time since they arrived in the country.

The day arrived and we are off to sunny Spain to relax for a week. I pick the girls up straight to the airport no trouble so we treated ourselves to a box of donuts. No trouble with the flight and first through passport control but last off with the luggage. This didn’t matter as it gave me time to fill in the paperwork for the car which was sensibly positioned in baggage claim at Gerona airport. Picked up the car, well van, but they did rip us off by filling the thing with petrol and telling us to bring it back empty so they could charge us the highest gas price in Spain 98 Euros for a tank full.

Having read the hotel reviews we were pleasantly surprised at the hotel, it really is 4 star. Lovely reception and rooms with balconies overlooking the sea having spectacular views. Very spacious and clean rooms, first class. Down we shoot for our free bar before dinner, great start and even the food was well presented and edible. The only thing spoiling it was the other guests waiting for the dinning room doors to open and acting like they hadn’t eaten for a week. This created a bit of a “bun fight” but the food was reasonable with fresh salad and two types of soup, fish and meat dishes and the normal pasta and chips.

Off for the entertainment which was a magic tricker and his assistant. When they first came on we thought it was Zorro and Robin from Batman but it then turned into a sort of strip show where they stripped down to the normal magic garb. His assistant looked very fit. Quite a good show for that sort of thing, he kept producing sedated pigeons from everywhere.

Claire and I didn’t have a very good first nights sleep as the walls really are as thin as the reports on trip advisor. The train line runs between the sea and our hotel but they don’t run until about 5.30am but the Italians in the two rooms next to ours were shouting until 1am. Luckily they left with their luggage in the morning, but not before we returned the compliment between 6 and 8am having showers and the tv on, accidentally falling into their adjoining wall a couple of times. What made it worse was we had to have our balcony door open as the aircon is switched off on 1st October for the start of winter. Unfortunately the pool bar closes the same day so if you want a drink when your at the pool on the to floor, you have to go to the ground floor and back with a drink. Likewise if you want a snack but they don’t allow you to take food out so you have to eat it in the bar area.

Claire and I shot off for our walk after breakfast where we walked to the next town to the south of us and back. We were surprised just how many fitness fanatics were out but why not, the views were great. Georgina and Jenny eventually got up and by this time we were sunning ourselves at the pool settling in for a lazy day. After lunch it was more of the same by the pool but Claire and I set off for another walk northwards to the next town and back before we returned for a shower before dinner. The girls tried their first cocktail and Claire employed herself getting as many people on the dance floor as possible.