Life Lately!
Where do I start?! Life’s been interesting, I’ll say that.
For our holiday to Alcossebre, I wanted some new Mary Jane-style trainers, the sort that are on trend, as I didn’t want to take my proper trainers but needed to be comfy for my fallen arches and my toe osteoarthritis (despite getting cold feet when the sun goes down, my tootsies can still get hot). I found a pair that I liked from Puma in a light lime green, a different colour for me. When they arrived, alas, they didn’t fit properly, so they had to be returned. But I was determined to find something that was light in colour. In hindsight, I should have just bought a pair of the Mary Jane Birkenstocks in beige, like my black ones that I have had for a few years and that are comfy but I didn’t want to spend over a hundred quid at the time!
However, I found a pair of Salomon shoes via the Office website: chunky Mary Janes in cream suede. When they arrived, I noticed that the right shoe was dirty straight out of the box. Literally! But slipping my feet into them was awesome - they were so comfy. I rang Office Shoes to complain and sent them the offending photos. They offered me a 5% refund or a replacement if I sent them back but I couldn't be bothered - naughty me - so I rang my local Office store in the hope that I could return them there and pick up another pair but they don’t allow exchanges on online purchases and they didn’t stock Salomon. Grrrrrrr. I Googled how to clean them and tried that but to no avail. Hmm. Not happy.
So I thought, sod it, they will become dirty anyway, probably no-one will notice and they are comfy. I will keep them - and keep them I did!
Obi, our Westie, bless him, is now on medication to keep his allergies at bay.
A couple of weeks before our holiday, he would not leave his paws alone and they were red raw from all his licking, so off to the vets we went. Apparently, a skin allergy was behind it and the vet recommended long-term medication. This had happened before and he went on some steroids but we don’t really want to go down that route long-term. We got him started on them as soon as we could, to make him more comfortable before his stay with his holiday host. We wanted to send him off with his food and favourite things, rather than a set of veterinary instructions. He already comes with enough requirements - he is a Westie, after all.
Finally the day of the holiday had arrived and we had to leave the house at 4am to get to the airport - gah! Talk about a Manic Monday, the airport was chaotic. Queues of people galore. Once we had finally got through security, my heart sank as my bag was diverted off the conveyor belt to be inspected by the security officers. I didn’t have anything that shouldn’t be in there, I told Dan as he stared at me with raised eyebrows.
The security screening officer went through my bag and pulled out my keyring with my house keys on it. My hands flew to my chest, dramatically. “No,” I begged. “Not my keyring.”
Admittedly, it is a large keyring but it’s also in the shape of a lightning bolt, so the young security officer was prodding his palm with it to see if it hurt and could be used as a lethal weapon. Luckily, the pointy bits are slightly curved so he didn’t hurt himself. He then prodded his colleague with they keyring and said, “But it’s a Vivienne Westwood, innit?”
Thankfully, his colleague nodded to him and I got it back. Talk about stressful - thought I would never see it again. Phew!
Next into the shopping area and restaurants and then being sardined near the boarding gates was awful. It took us aaaaages to plough through all the people. East Midlands is such a narrow airport, it’s a wonder they don’t try and widen it instead of making it longer, which they regularly do.
We eventually got on the plane quickly enough but then the airport tug vehicle broke down and had to be fixed before it could push us away from the gate. We were stuck on the tarmac for 90 minutes before take-off. Let’s just say I really enjoyed my gin and tonic after all that and above the clouds.
Arriving in Valencia, we quickly got our ride to Alcossebre, which was an hour and twenty-two minutes away. Our driver said he had never been there before so it was nice to hear that he was impressed with what he saw when we got to the town too. It was really pretty. It didn’t disappoint us either. I was worrying before we went that there wouldn’t be much to do there but relax and Dan would be bored stiff. Admittedly, there wasn’t much to do at all but it just worked for us. I didn’t even visit the nearly castle and that is a first for me as I love them! However, it was the first time we’d gone anywhere that the Spanish actually visit when they go on holiday - it was bloody marvellous.
We relaxed sunbathing, we chilled in the pool, visited the spa, I went into the sea a few times and we ate some lovely food out and about. The staff in the restaurants were so good with my intolerances (the food at the hotel not so good but hey-ho, we didn’t eat there). I also had some massage treatments over the week, which helped to manage my frustrating fibro.
We love to sit on the balcony having a few drinks at the end of the night as well and it was fabulous to see my husband relax, really relax, as he usually spends holidays thinking about work or watching and listening to stuff on his phone but he didn’t do that until day 5! The icing on the cake was accepting an offer on our house while we were sunbathing and then making appointments to view bungalows the following week!
So the week we arrived home, we got our pooch back, spent three days viewing bungalows in a different city and put an offer in on the first one we viewed. Moving house and city will certainly test my Year of Gentle Living!
