A Long Weekend

May 1st is May Day in Spain. None of this nearest Monday malarkey. Maggie's school though chose to extend her weekend by giving her Friday off.

We went to Alicante on Friday, it was sunny and warm. I was still after juice but the idea was to make a bit of a day out of it. Go and stare at the sand and waves and maybe find a museum. It didn't go well; in Spain, in most city centres it's a toss up as to whether there are more bars, chemist shops or banks and we were looking for a bank, the Banesto, to activate a bank card. We didn't find one before closing time. There was no juice either. The worst thing though was that we went, first to a sandwich bar and then to a tapas bar to get some sort of snack at lunchtime and we bailed out of both. "Too busy - nowhere to sit" and "Good Lord, could the service be any slower?" but really it was because it wasn't straightforward and it would have been difficult and embarrasing Spanish so we fled. Actually we went in a Chinese restaurant in the end which was much better value and tasty stuff but the easy surrender upset me all day.

Saturday was fine, both weatherwise, at least till early evening, and in the "How are you?" sense. We saw a pal newly returned from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam etc. with tales of tuk tuk bandits and the price of beer in Vientiane. Otherwise we did very little. We talked about going to the Moors and Christians in Abanilla or maybe dancing (as if!) at La Perdiz but it began to rain and somehow the opportunity just drifted away. The windows rattled with the thunder though as I watched TV and drank brandy.

Sunday, Mother's day here, Sunny start but my most exciting plan was to exchange a gas bottle and maybe buy a Sunday paper offering a deal on a slow cooker. Books, phone calls and computer tinkering swallowed the bulk of the day. We set off for Cartagena much earlier than usual leaving the cat to the care of Gail our near neighbour and finally we made it to Abanilla for the Ofrenda de Flores, the flower offering, as part of the local celebrations. Some distinctly odd costumes. Back in time to see Doctor Mateo on the telly.

You see, and you thought living in Spain was like one long sunny week in Benidorm or Torremolinos!