Castalla June - August ( Part 2)
This is the day Philip arrives, I have just heard he has touched down in Barcelona. Yay.
Of course I did not sleep too well last night and I feel tired. Happily I can have a nice long siesta and be ready for Philip's arrival much later this evening.
I am expecting the last amazon delivery today ...
I did my shopping this morning in Consum ,and a wee stool from the Indian shop to put by the bath for soap etc.(9 euro) I remember when they were 2 euro. :)
I feel a little shooglie , not sure if it is weather or excitement. I waken most mornings feeling as if I am hungover....must be the heat...I only drink water and tea.
I did have a coffee and sparking water at La Bassetta while I was out.
It is 12.00 Noon. I am going to make up a few more beds . La Galleria and Room of Requirement. I might move in RoR as it is cooler than my room. So far like in Taiwan I have avoided using the A/C
I am scared of a big electricity bill again. If I need it I will put it on, of course.
Sunday July 5th
What a time we have been having...
On Friday I got the message that Philip was in Barcelona and was heading for the train.
For the rest of the day I heard nothing which I thought was a bit odd as imagined Philip would let me know when he was on the train and when he was in Villena.
The day wore on into evening and still not a word. I sent a few messages but got nothing back.
I started to get a bit worried. I went from thinking , no wifi on the train , phone dead, to a terrible train crash.
Eventually I got a phone call at 10.00 from Pilar to say Philip would be here in 30 minutes...what a relief.
The house was all ready, wine and beer in the fridge nibbles on a tray, fairy lights on the balcony, candles and incense burning.
I sat in Seodin looking through my albums to make sure I heard the bell. Eventually Philip arrived, looking as tall and handsome as ever in spite of the long long journey.
We took his case to his room..where he enjoyed looking around. We then poured some wine and went into see the PJ2 bathroom. He was delighted with it all. We took a picture, ate and drank wine and talked for hours. Mainly Philip telling me about his every eventful journey.
We eventually went to bed , we were both up early, Philip made egg white omelettes, then off we went to the Saturday Market where we bought plants ,herbs, nuts and olives, had a coffee and La Bassetta .We took all our purchases back to Castlenel then out again to Hong Da for compost and adapters.
In the afternoon Philip had fun finding all kinds of treasures in the SPTDV. He has things scattered all around the place deciding where things should go. It was fun and quite emotional reading some things he had written in primary school.
We went out in the evening to Consum for Red Wine and lots of cheese then on to La Bassetta " to park the car" Philip had G&T I has vino blanco. After more chat and people watching. we came back for supper....Philip told me a lot about AI which is both exciting and terrifying.
Sunday I slept much better , I am calming down now. Philip made is an amazing omelette with all kinds of things in it including sausages.( not for me )
We then planed the day; I did my Jane Fonda and some writing, Philip has set up Alexa and giving me access to lots of channels .
Philip is going to make Pasta today which I will enjoy watching; and when the kitchen is free I will cook up all the veggies that are in the downstairs fridge.
I am sitting here in room of requirement I hear bands in the distance...and a lot of horns honking I think this is the day of Blessing the trucks.....I love Castalla.
July 7th.
We have had lots of busy days mostly around Castlenel with the odd morning out for coffee.
Philip loving seeing all his things that were packed away and deciding what he want to keep and what he can let go of. I have been doing most of the cooking and generally keeping up with laundry and general house work which there is more of obviously as we are now two.
We have been practicing making pasta from scratch., good fun a few mishaps but getting better each day.
We enjoyed a wee beer at Pehuen last night and watched some of the Spain Portugal match.
Being in a big house means we can enjoy being together and have our own space too.
I already can't imagine him going away again; but I know I always adapt after a day or two.
Philip is away in Alicante today. I am enjoying catching up with shopping and household things.
We will meet for a beer later. In the next few days Philip will see Frank..collect his new screen.
Old Mates catching up.
We enjoyed a lovely zoom with M&M on Thursday evening lots of fun and laughter
and a zoom with Johnny and Ellie on Friday evening; more fun and laughter .
This week has been a mixture of Philip seeing local friends and neighbours, zooms with family, setting up an office in SPTDV making his room "his" again.
Changing some things around in Castlenel.
After J&E zoom we went to have a beer before dinner , we watched the launch of the M&C book for this year, then decided it would be more fun to stay out to watch the Spanish Brussels match at Pehuen. We went back to the house at half time; made up some sandwiches took a few beers and went to the town square to watch the second half. It was a fab game and Spain won 2-1
Presenting the M&C 2025 book.We came back and continued to watch ER just one episode as tomorrow is a big day with the arrival of Andrew and Lucy.
Saturday July 11th
Was up quite early ,watered the plants, put final touches in La Galleria airing it and putting the fan on.
Put fresh towel in their loo etc...
Philip went to the market for the cooked chicken. I did a final clean, brought up fresh things from Butler's Pantry Fridge.
After the final showers I gave the PJ2 bathroom a final clean just before A&L arrive.Philip made us a lovely ice coffee then we heard the doorbell.....hooray they were finally here.
They looked round at all the new things in Castlenel and gave it thumbs up ( phew)
We had a lunch , Philip's tomato soup, fresh "Barra" chicken Salad. We heard some family news, and all about Lucy's marathon. It was a special moment for me to have Andrew and Philip together in Castlenel with Lucy and I.
Andrew and Lucy are in La Galleria asleep and I can hear Philip rehearsing Somewhere over the Rainbow.
and playing around with his Controller.
" God bless us everyone"
Dickens
Presenting Captains in the square
After siestas raising glasses to Phil ,beer at Pehuen we had dinner in Castlenel kitchen and we had lots of catching up and wine....very special for me ,perhaps all of us to be together in one place, very rare nowadays.
Sunday we had a lovely day in Castlenel with Lucy being in charge of hanging pictures in Los Angelos. We were all busy with one thing and another including chopping and cooking in the kitchen. I love days like that.
July 12th. Scillians in LA....bravo Lucy.
Monday 13th Andrew ,Philip and I went to Onil to Caxia Bank to take Phil's name off the account.It was very smooth and a little bit sad...two members of La Comparsa and now dead and gone. Change is all around us ...always.
Lucy was with us and went to have a look round Onil and get some nibbles for the evening.
She finished hanging the pictures on Monday afternoon.Yay her work has transformed LA.
Pilar Alberto and Sammy were all coming at 7.00 PM for drinks. Pilar had to work late and Alberto and Sammy came at 7.00 they met Philip and Andrew at the door on their way back from Pehuen. Lucy had a call with her sister Sofie . In the end I prepared the nibbles; lit candles and made LA welcome for our guests.
It was delightful to see Teresa arrive with Philip, she was tired and I left them to unpack and relax and catch up.
At Le 6'o'clock...Teresa gave me two gorgeous pairs of earring she had made for me; a pair of loose colourful trousers and lots of food treats. She is very generous and thoughtful...her mother also sent me some food treats.
Later we all went to Pehuen to meet up with Alberto Pilar and Sammy. All very convivial; towards the end of the evening Malcolm arrived. Looking well and not changed very much in 10 years.
We came back and Malcom had some food and we all chatted for a long time.
17th
All the guests slept quite late, I was up watering plants and doing my morning things... we had a relaxing day breakfast lunch....beers ...zoom with Andrew and Lucy...
18th
Saturday Market....Market Chicken was bought and eaten as soon as they all come back.... I went for a solo coffee ( a wee break )
We had Sicilians ( coffee sparkling water and lime or lemon) at 6.00 each evening while P&T were here; Philip made Spaghetti Carbonara from scratch with bacon from the market. They all loved it I had some spag without the bacon. We sat around chatting for a long time.it was delightful to see how Philip and Malcolm fell into their close friendship after so long , enjoying reminiscing and sharing new things. Teresa has quickly making friends with Malcolm.
19th July.
Philip Teresa and Malcom went off wine tasting and I quickly caught up with some cleaning, laundry and tidying. Only Malcolm noticed :)
We had lunch siesta's ....Sicilians ....a zoom with Julie....and decided to go to Pehuen early for food and to see the final of the World Cup...Spain v Argentina ( Pehuen is owned by Argentians)
It was a wonderful atmosphere and we enjoyed being together taking it all in.
When the match started there was a rise in excitement..... then it was pretty quiet for a while..as often happens all the excitement was in the last 15 minutes.
When the whistle blew and Spain were world champions we all went a little crazy.
20th
After brunch and lots more chat....Malcom left at 3.00 his flight was about 5.00 PM.
I had a nice long siesta and P&T cooked that night then we watched Back to the Future 2.
Unfortunately Malcolm's flight was delayed for 5 or 6 hours.... he got home in the early hours and had to go to work....I hope he thought it was worth it... we all did.
It seemed we had only just welcomed Teresa and it was time to start packing and winding down towards them leaving.
I bought the Back to the Future trilogy for Philip.After I saw the first one at Woolton Cinema I mentioned how good it was to Philip and he told me there were another two. I thought it would be nice to watch them together here in Castlenel.
21st
It was exceptionally hot today we went to the market which was quite quiet; I bought a dress and some trousers, very cheap. The dress is very like one I bought in Okinawa , cheap but cool enough in the very hot weather.
I also bought two pillows for Castlenel.
Teresa made a lovely salad and Philip finished the carbonara...how he could cook in this heat...I have no idea.
We wandered around for hours, drinking coffee juice eating nibbles.... it is an amazing place.
P&T drinking Valencia cocktails.
Finally we left the market looking for a place to sit and have our last coffee before I left for the bus station:(
We found a wee place with a/c and had a wee chat and a cold drink....then it was time for me to get a cab...in the end P&T came with me as their train was an hour later and they had done all they wanted to do.
We waited in the waiting area till the bus came...I knew it was unlikely I would catch the connection in Alcoy as my bus arrived at 5.30 and the Castalla bus left at 5.30 the next bus was not till 9.00 PM I was prepared to get a cab.
My bus arrived it was time to say goodbye and have last hugs....I was very brave until that point then the tears came but it was fine we hugged and I cried and we all laughed.
I was soon on my way to Alcoy.
Magically I saw the Castalla bus leaving as I stepped off the Valencia bus . I hailed the driver and bless his heart he stopped for me.
Home Sweet Home.
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.”
"Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls."
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