The days are flying by and now that Phase 1 indoors has ended, work has commenced on the garden. The weather here has been a mixed bag recently and although you would normally expect most days in May to be very warm and sunny, we've had a lot of days that have been far from it! On Sunday it absolutely chucked it down all day, in direct contrast to the Sunday before which was absolutely scorchio. Ah well, the last 15 months or so have been a pretty mixed bag too so.......
This week we got around to staining and treating the new entrance doors and I must say they've come up a real treat:
So that's one job off the endless 'things to do' list ✅ But one of the things still on the list is starting to clear the overgrown garden. Quite apart from weeds - of which there are surprisingly few - there are quite a few invasive plants (the biggest of which is a rhododendron that's more like a triffid) that have taken over other ones and which need to be removed. The rhododendron had completely wound itself around a nice tree and the area looked like the first photo (taken when the Water Board were here assessing the drains), the second photo is now and although still work in progress, the difference is marked as shown by the table which hasn't been moved at all:
Mind you, I had 50 fits when Ian climbed up into the tree to tackle the high stuff 😱 and was more than relieved when he finally came down! The garden will be lovely once we've got it under control but it's ****** hard work getting there. But to encourage us, we had a lovely browse in the local garden centre today. I love a good wander round garden centres, it's really therapeutic and informative. They're really helpful at ours and we've gone away to think about their suggestions and advice. Watch this space!
The subject of outdoors brings me to the pool. As mentioned last week, I am obsessed with skimming it on a regular basis with the net to lift out debris and I fished out a dead baby gecko and baby bird. But since then I've fished out two more baby birds 😥 nobody told me that having a pool would involve undertaker duties for wildlife 😳
Yesterday we walked into town to have a cheeky menu del dia and on the edge of town we heard what sounded like a choir singing very LOUDLY. As we got closer to the sound, a vehicle with loudspeakers appeared as the source with the back of the vehicle entirely made up of an enormous glass box and inside was this:
I think it's the statue of Our Blessed Lady of the Forsaken, whose feast day was during the recent fiesta here as I recognised her from all the banners of her that were on display on a very great many of the local town house balconies. Quite what she was doing out and about on a random Monday many days later I have no idea, but she certainly travels in style!
In Covid news, restrictions have eased still further as of yesterday and curfew is now from 01h00 until 06h00, with bars/restaurants able to remain open until 00h30 with 100% capacity on terraces and 50% indoors. Groups of up to 10 people are now allowed. And of course Spain has now said it will allow non-residents from the UK into Spain which is lovely in many ways, but given that they won't have to have a negative test or show a vaccination passport, also rather worrying as the vaccination rollout here is much slower that the UK. Two of my four children in the UK (early 30s) have now been vaccinated and yet here in Valencia they are only just tackling those in their late 50s. This is my age group and yet I have still heard absolutely nothing, and Ian who is 5.5 years older has also had absolutely nothing. It is very frustrating and also very unsettling as everyone around us of the same ages here have had at least one jab but now apparently they have run out of supplies 😟 and so...... we continue to wait.......
On Saturday evening we watched Eurovision for the first time in many a year because, let's face it, the music is not exactly great and boy does it go on....and on.....and on..... But hey, after such a tumultuous last year or so, watching a world of over-the-top glitz, glamour and ridiculousness felt like the right thing to do somehow. So we did! And what a surprise - Eurovision has most definitely upped its game and a significant number of the songs were, shock horror 😝, very enjoyable. But the never-ending tedium of the voting still holds no appeal and so we switched off after the songs had finished. So not a dyed-in-the-wool Eurovision fan just yet but on the basis of us all needing more silliness and fun in our lives moving forward, I think I could be persuaded to watch it again next year 🥳
Finally, we are so lucky to live in the countryside. We walk around the corner and boom! we're in amongst the orange groves, with quite a few almond and olive trees to add to the beauty. When you walk dogs in scenery like this literally within five minutes of your house, well....life ain't so bad:
Stay safe and hasta la próxima semana!
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