On the Road Again!

The countdown started with the alarm going off at 8am. By 9am we were up, breakfasted (a noun into a verb) and tidying the apartment and sorting the rubbish. Transferring some stuff (the dirty bag) to my little case to pack around the Arsenal boot bag (electrical stuff like chargers etc) and the Acer notebook meant that the big case would weigh a mere 19.5kgs. Once checked out and email/facebook/blogger checked on the wifi we made slow progress to Playamar to have a coffee and read the kindles.  Time usually drags but with the current two-hour before flights stipulation, we needed to be getting a move on.  TomTom took us to Malagacar and we dropped the Aygo off. I mentioned the key buttons didn't work and they just said the battery had gone.... In 7000kms?  Not good enough Toyota!! Once on the shuttle bus it was a matter of minutes before we joined the queue for the check-in. Pretty painless it was too. Security was a doddle, Claire's hip failed to set off any alarms and ...

The last full day of the holiday. I was awake all night with a gut ache to match even the best curry night afterburn. A couple of codeine-phosphate had it under control in a few hours. We didn't want to waste the day so we set off for Torremolinos. In the end I felt a bit duff so we turned around. Stopping for a coffee at the Cafestore at Arroyo de la Miel grew into lunch. Plus they have free wifi so we could catch up with news and Facebook etc.   Next stop?

Monday already. Day 3 of 8!!  Time seems to go much more quickly when you are on holiday!! It's our 13th wedding anniversary today. Today we had another leisurely morning. Breakfast and reading over coffee and Bimbo toast! It was gone noon before we stirred ourselves to get washed and changed to go out. I set the TomTom for Playamar (Torremolinos ) and we aygo'd there.  Once again the TomTom route is a little different to the way we normally go. Yesterday we missed the Marbella arch over the road, twice. Today we avoided the coast road that we usually grind along. Our first stop was a Mercadona supermarket where we wanted some lunch stuff, maybe bocadillos? Thwarted we bought some beer snacks and set off. Exiting the car proved a Challenge. Capital C challenge. To get out you need a bar code to show you have shopped. We didn't have a bar code... Reversing back down the slope and re-parking we were able to get the ticket checked and a bar code receipt issued!  Phew. We the...

Fog or mist? We woke up and the sea mist was back. The view from the apartment balcony is a bit of a stretch to the sea but everything is hidden by the blanket of cold looking mist. The plan today is to go into Malaga for a wander. It's not far on the train, maybe five stops, plus gives us an idea on the trip to the airport on Saturday. The cooler weather seems to have calmed down the parakeets. They have taken to the area very well and fly about in often large groups. The squawk they make does sound pretty horrible. Even rooks and crows make a more pleasant sound. Hopefully it will warm up and the sun will burn through.

Another late get up. Relaxation. We're here on holiday to get off the treadmill for a week. It will pass all too quickly and before we know it we'll be back at work. Shit how I will have the Monday morning blues! We read for a while. The Kindles getting a fair old bashing. Our trip today was to Torremolinos. Okay, La Colina is part of Torremolinos but up in the north east corner. It was only one stop on the train but saved Claire's hip and foot a lot of pain. Maybe the choice of an apartment with public transport and no car was a little misguided. In the end we had a walk round, lunch consisted of a Serrano ham bocadillo then some more walking looking in food shops for stuff to make a tuna salad. It took three shops to get what we needed for a few "at home" dinners. I much prefer eating lunch out to dinner! Tomorrow it's back to the train for a day in Malaga.