Spain - Part One

We've been back from our holiday in Spain for over 10 days now, but we just haven't had a decent enough signal to put up the holiday pics (sorry Mum), that is despite 'upgrading' the dongle.  Hey ho, never mind, we're up and running now.
I did say that I would bore you with loads of photos from Spain, so here goes.....

So, on a rainy Friday morning we boarded our plane, me wearing my badge of honour.

From dull and dreary, to this........

 

That's more like it!

Hello Javea (or Xabia), and hello to Andy and Richard.

 

fantastic views of Montgo and Javea

Looking down on the town and the bay.

It wasn't long however, before we started eying up boats..

 

this one is quite a beauty

 

the boat - that is!

Although I feel this is more to my budget

 

 

 

At last - a boat I can afford!

 

Richard and myself looking rather merry!

Mellowing now!

Javea Port

and round to Javea Arenal

Javea Port with Montgo in the background

We certainly had some feasts over there - this is a little snack Andy rustled up...

 

Oh, us in a bar, surely not

Hear no evil etc etc!

Javea church, which was as spectacular inside as it is outside.  The ceiling inside is all made of wood, shaped to look like the inside of a hull of a boat.  I didn't like to take a photo inside.

Another view from the top of the hill, looking down on the port,

with the round church in the middle of the pic

Arenal

Beautiful skies and sandy beaches, and yes - people were swimming in the sea it was that warm.

Montgo, picture taken from the balcony

old windmills on the brow of the hill, now converted to dwellings

Montgo

Oh, we do like a glass of fizz

Another wonderful Andy & Richard meal.

I certainly had a fabulous and memorable 50th birthday.

 

That's it for today, will bore you with some more pictures of sunshine and cocktails tomorrow - or when I can get a signal again!

 

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Apologies for the absence of any blogs - but we're in Spain - celebrating my 50th birthday.  We thought we'd run away in case anyone sprang a "surprise" birthday party.  Antisocial I know, so very sorry to friends and family who wanted a get together - hey - Christmas is coming.  The big FIVE-O!!  I'm not even middle aged any more.  On the plus side, I can now use Saga for travel insurance. 

I'll bore you stupid with photo's from our holiday, when we come back! 

Recycling

Ah, recycling.  People half heartedly recycling is my second biggest hate (first hate of course is dog poo - don't get me started on that one!).  Recycling is not easy on a boat, due to the confined space.   There's no room to store all the recycling, as recycling points on the canal are few and far between. We usually end up walking miles with a trolly dolly full of empty bottles  glass jars, rattling away as we try and find a supermarket with recycling bins.  So after lugging the recycling round the country, you arrive at a CRT office which has a recycling facility (Fazeley), feeling righteous that you've saved a little bit of rubbish going into landfill, and relived that you're going to gain a bit more space on the front deck -  but you are met with overflowing bins, and of course, people who just lift a lid and shove anything in there.    I would have liked CRT to be a bit more proactive here, and get the bins emptied in anticipation of a busy half term, good weather period.

Now at Fazeley, there are six, yes six large wheely bin thingies purely for rubbish - so why do people - sorry boaters - as it can only be boater's using these bins - try and ram another full bag of rubbish into an already full bin, when there are three completely EMPTY bins four paces away.

So Dave does his usual rubbish swapping. 

Taking out bags of rubbish which have been stuffed into the already full recycling bins.

Now, when a recycling bin says "glass only", it means that only glass goes in there - not a black bin bag full of glass.  Why is that concept so difficult for people to grasp?  Once plastic goes into a glass recycling bin, then whole bin is contaminated and is usually scrapped and the whole lot put into landfill - unless someone goes through each bin and sorts it out before the "bin men" come and take it away.  Now I can't see the CRT office staff doing that - nor do I want them to - I'd much rather they do the job they're supposed to do - like sort out the canal system!

This black bin bag was in the paper recycling bin.  Now why would someone put a plastic bag in there?  It may contain paper recycling, but that's irrelevant as the whole skip will probably be put into landfill, as again, it is 'contaminated'.

There's even a sign on the side of the wheely bin,

for those who haven't grasped the concept of recycling.

Do not leave bags on the floor......

 

As for the state of the elsan point - disgusting!  There are some dirty boaters out there.

Again, Dave cleaned it, as he tends to do.  However, you do expect the elsan point at the CRT offices to be a bit cleaner than the norm.

 

So, for those of you who were thinking I've mellowed (significant birthday looming) with fluffy posts of boat rallies and birthdays - I haven't!  Rant over.

Rhiannon's 18th Birthday

After the Stourbridge boat rally, we decided to go the long way round to Rugby/Braunston, rather than go through the centre of Birmingham, so as to give Nemo cat a bit of countryside after hurdy gurdys and steam traction engines belting out noise from the festival weekend.  It also meant that I could get a train from Penkridge to my sister Rachel's for a couple of days, and to celebrate her eldest daughter Rhiannon's 18th birthday family dinner.  No apologies for all the pics posted here, it's so family and friends who are not on facebook can see them (hello Mum!).

The birthday girl, with my other sister Bethan's eldest, Robert

Nephew and nieces together.  L-R Nia, Rob, Rhiannon, Nel, and Iona

Bruno's parents and his sister made the epic drive from Glasgow, which due to the traffic on the start of half term holidays took 7 hours.

Good old Rachel - always comes up with a good cake!

Assunta (Bruno's Mum) and my sister Bethan

Not a great photo I admit - Nell, you're looking a bit startled there!

That's a bit better... L-R  Nell, Rob, Bruno, Mum and Tony

Rachel, decorating the room for the party dinner in the Almanack in Kenilworth

Youngest niece Iona

Tony, Iona (Rachel's no.3) Mum, Nia (Rachel's no.2) and my younger sister Rachel

Nia and Iona

Nieces and Nephew again:  Nell, Nia, Iona, Rhiannon & Rob

Rachel's three girls

The compulsory eating shots.....

Rhiannon posing with Bethan's birthday present - the complete works of Shakespeare.

My present was on it's way - a Marilyn Manson hoody (whoever she is). 

Talk about one extreme to the other!

 

Ah lovely pic:  Nia, Rob, Rhiannon, Nel & Iona

Dad Bruno giving his speech - he'd even prepared notes!

 

I did take a load more photos - which didn't come out as they were all blurred, as I had the camera on the wrong setting, duh.  Of course, as I was taking all the pics, I'm not on any of them!

We all had a lovely night, thanks to Rachel for organising it.  No mean feat when we all live in different parts of the country.  It was lovely to see everybody.  Rhiannon is having another party this weekend for all her friends - a Halloween party.  Rachel & Bruno will be on duty guarding the house!