Africa’s 10 minutes of Fame

Well I am not sure how much fame but none the less I think she was having fun.

The videos are of Africa at her school dancing on stage.

And a second below this

Aunty Jenny Sadly Missed

I have to admit I am very late with this post, which is completely due to the loss of a fantastic Aunt. I also wanted to write something appropriate, particularly as I was unable to make it to the funeral.

Obviously it is difficult to find the words, but what springs to mind immediately was the regret I have in not seeing Aunty Jenny recently, but I know that if I had she would have greeted me with open arms as always. And the fact that I always forget to send Xmas cards never stopped her sending us one or a birthday card every year without fail.

When I think of Aunty Jenny it is difficult to do so without including Uncle Ron, because they were a team and a team who were completely generous with their time and our best wishes go with Uncle Ron.

I know Mum and Dad will miss Jenny very much, because even though they were in Manchester they were always close and I am often reminded of how Mum and Jenny were both pregnant with Julie and me, which in some ways explains my fondness of the Huggets.

If there is one thing that stands out as a testament to Aunty Jenny and that is her children my cousins, all of whom I love and miss, because they are wonderful people in their own right and my best memories are when we were altogether in New Haven or at some party avoiding our parents, I will cherish those times always.

Finally I have seen my Friend Andy Carter

In all the years of running with Andy Carter and hearing about the fact he made it to the 800 Metre Olympic final in Munich, I can now say I have finally seen it.

I have to say thanks to Youtube as without it I would never have seen the race, its almost as though I can finally rest in peace.

Although Andy was retired by the time I started running with him, that tenaciousness was still there as we sprinted up the hills in Alderly Edge, he never wanted to give an edge and I will always remember his comment to me all those years ago “No matter how you feel finish the session”

So the video is here below and I am sure Mum and Dad will love to see it too.

PS Thanks Andy for some great sessions.

And a US version of a higher quality

Malcolm, Sarah, Julie and Mark visit

I was tempted to title this “My Crash” but we do not want to be too dramatic now!!

To explain a little on Wednesday I managed to come of my Mountain Bike, if I said bicycle I would have sounded if I was aged 5, mind you I think Conchi thinks I am. Still 4 days later I have no real idea what actually happened, although I can say that I was on a gravel/dirt track and it was fairly flat. What I think happened was I took one hand of the handle bars to wipe my fore head and I remember seeing the a small depression, then I went flying and just waited to come to a halt, the outcome was loads of scratches and a very painful right wrist.

I managed to cycle back home and the Conchi tried to repair me whilst doing so I managed to pass out, obviously Conchi wanted to take me to the hospital but I flatly refused, which I am sure mum would understand.

By Friday the swelling in the hand was no better but unfortunately my mother in law came round and insisted I go to the doctors, the upshot is I have a hairline fracture in my wrist and its now in plaster.

On top of this Malcolm Sarah Julie and Mark were coming to see us at the weekend, which was fine although I was nervous it was fantastic to see them and talk about old times, the only negative was I was not much use to Conchi for any ironing, cooking, cleaning or much else, so I am now on a 2 week holiday.

Well I will leave at that for now as I am finding it particularly difficult to type too, but will add some more photos and tell Mark all about www.flickr.com .

Fun Bike Ride in Granada

  Again I  have managed to go cycling and not get a photo of me on the bike,  but I did managed to get one of Africa and her friends cycling around Granada.

They all had a lot of fun, particularly riding through the streets of Granada without worrying about any cars. Still there was always the chance that one cyclist would bump into another!

Also one other positive I did get Conchita to have another go at riding a bike and although a little nervous managed it without any problems, so fingers crossed maybe the 3 of us will be able to ride together next year.

Stung!

 Although officially summer is over we still managed to get to the coast on Saturday, for a quick break. It is still hot but the sea was almost perfect, when I say perfect it was warm with a few waves to make it interesting.

As far as I was concerned the jelly fish had gone and the sea was clear, it certainly was from my limited snorkeling view. Anyway we returned from lunch and I thought I would have one last dip, then all of a sudden “OUCH!!” I thought I was bitten, I have to say it did hurt I scrambled out of the water to check my arm and was pleased to see I still had one! But no mark and still a throbbing pain, my guess was it must have been one of those blasted Jelly Fish, slowly but sorely the marks appeared confirming the fact. Three days later the marks are still there, but in case you are interested it was very similar to a bee sting, painful but not life threatening so I live on for another day.

I just hope it has not put me off swimming in the sea, but with a bit of luck I will have forgotten by the next trip.

On a more positive note I am back into the swing of cycling, which seems to have had a repairing effect on my foot and as a result I am not hobbling. I just hope the repair process continues and I am able to run soon, with the Granada half Marathon looming. I think I have just enough time to prepare.

One of the other visits I forgot to mention is we went to visit the El Valle de los Caídos  “The Valley of the Fallen” is a monumental memorial near to John’s house just outside of Madrid, erected by Franco. It is quite an amazing site but obviously very controversial, with the present government suggesting it be pulled down. In my opinion it is part of Spain’s history and when you consider most monuments are built by ruling powers, who killed many people, what is the difference here.

Still the family enjoyed the visit as they were on the winning side!

Summer is Over

Well almost, Conchi and I are now back at work but Africa and Conchita still have a couple more weeks left although, Conchita has 4 exams next week, which spoilt her break over the summer.

We did not get up to too much during our break but we did take a week out to visit John and Isabel in Madrid, which was a pleasant break.

The highlight of the holiday was I am sure for the children was the trip to Warner Bros World, which seemed more about getting wet than anything else. Still they loved every minute of it.

What did surprise me was the cost nearly 200 euros for a family of 4.

I will post more photos of our trip on flickr later today with a little luck.

On top of this we popped over to Toledo as a cousin of Conchi wants me to promote their Olive Oil into the UK, so I said I would see what i can do.

What was nice was that I was given a couple of bottle to test out their high quality Olive Oil, now being no expert it seemed fine to me but more testing is required!!

What I have now adopted on a short term is Olive Oil on plain bread a common custom in Spain and not so common to us English, but I did find adding a touch of salt made all the difference and reminded me of my Grandmother’s bread and dripping, although much more healthy. I suppose the question is if I can go all the way and add garlic and tomato like the rest of Spain, you just never know.

The cycling seems to be going well too and and I will add a photo as soon as I have all the gear, but and added positive it seems to be helping my foot recover and just maybe I will get to run again.

Next Monday Conchi will have reached our 19th Aniversary, no mean feat I wonder at times how we managed to get there without killing each other, but life seems to be great all helped by the sun of course.

In regards to the photo above we have Me, Conchi, Javier (Brother-in-law), Isabell (Sister-in-law), Isabilita (Daughter of John), Estair (Daughter of Javier), Africa  John (son of John), Anna (Daughter of Javier), Javier (Son of Javier) and John and Conchi took the photo.

I have bought a Mountain Bike

It seems as though I am writing here one page a month, mind you I did warn you it wouldn’t be that frequent, but I am keen to keep it going for so many reasons, which I will not go into here.

 

I have to admit I have been very occupied over the last few weeks with my laptop crashing, which has meant I have not been able to do to much work, mind you it is to hot to do anything anyway, sorry to rub it in to you guys and girls in the UK!

 

As the title says I have now bought a new mountain bike, which is more down to necessity as I am slowly putting on weight. I have not been able to run for 6 months with a foot injury, and just like mum I still have not taken the time to go to the Doctors.

A couple of weeks ago I went for my first cycle ride with a few friends and the sister-in-law, I felt as though I was a teenager again or one of the famous five and Granada is perfect for mountain biking, well at least you can guarantee the sun will shine Also it is a pleasure to ride and changing gears has certainly changed from the days when I used to ride a bike.

Also at the weekend we went to visit our friends in Cadiz, great journey, if you avoid the Malaga route. We also need to buy a tent, which we didn’t need to sleep in in the end but at least Africa and Christina made full use of it.

Africa’s First holly Communion

Well finally I have got round to writing a post and about time too as it was one of the more important occasions in our life here in Granada. A couple of weeks back it was Africa’s first holly communion.

 It was a very special day which finished with a party and all the local family were invited and of course my parents arrived too. Things didn’t go quite as well planed, as after the ceremony in the school church we traveled to the restaurant and half way up, the car decided it didn’t want to travel any further. We thought at the time the clutch had gone, fortunately later that day we found it was not as serious as first thought, still it meant there were no arguments on who was driving back later that evening!

 The day was excellent and I am sure Africa had a fun time, I also found time to chat to Conchi’s cousins, practicing my Spanish at the same time. I have to admit it has not improved too much over the 3 years we have been here and as a result I have a Spanish tutor, Conchi is a little jealous as she is 22 years old, so if I do not start to improve my life will be hell.

Going back to the party, Dad managed to go one drink to far with Conchi’s Uncle, still I think he had a good time. What did make me laugh was Dad thought he was buying a round, what he didn’t realise all the drinks were on Conchi and I.

Changing the subject slightly I have to admit my running training has been poor this year, in fact I have not been out for a run since January and as a result I have gone out an bought a mountain bike, as my waistline has become an major embarrassment and needs some drastic measures, what with summer upon us, I just cannot show my body to the public on the beach!!.

Last week was also special for Africa as there was a procession from her school where the new converts walled around Granada, if you have not experienced these they are very emotive with he brass band playing at the back and the students carrying the Virgin Mary or Christ etc on their backs. Well that shall have to do for now but I hope it has giving you a little taste of what went on.

Photos Added

Just a quick post to say that although I have not written for some time I have been posting quite a few photos on my flickr account. Just follow this link and it will take you to the photos of Africa’s 1st Holly communion.

I will try to write something in the next few days as there is a fair bit of catching up todo