RIP 01276 31275

The first taste of sunshine since we returned from Portugal has inspired me to put fingers to keyboard!

The caravan survived the winter and is up and running, although we beat a hasty retreat back to Cotswold Towers on Sunday morning as it was so cold and windy.

This week has been quite eventful so far.

On Tuesday the planned “seamless” switchover from Sky and BT to Virgin Media was completed with one major problem. Although we were assured that there was no need for us to contact BT to cancel and retain our phone number as this would all be handled by Virgin Media staff, we were left with a new exchange and number. Not only that, the BT service had not been cancelled so we now have another 30 days line rental and broadband charge to pay!

We are NOT amused. I have, of course, already opened negotiations with Virgin Media re compensation but loosing the phone number that we have had for 43 years is like losing a good friend.

With the change of the broadband and WiFi router location I took the opportunity to totally reorganise my office and clear out 25 years worth of old equipment and cables, a task that was long overdue.

See photo below featuring my backup laptop.

Why, you are asking yourselves, am I showing my old laptop in the picture?

Well, having spent most of the day sorting things out and after refitting a shelf, I was finally able to sit down and admire the new setup and check my email. I noticed that I had forgotten to throw out two old Windows and Frontpage manuals so I removed them from the shelf which immediately crashed down on top of my new Samsung laptop smashing the screen!!

Hey bloody Ho! - a fitting end to a far from perfect day!

You have to admire the Bradshaws from Westerham in Kent, who are on a mission to buy only British for a 12 month period. The have already found out that there are no light bulbs or batteries manufactured in the UK.

Visit their site at http://britishfamily.co.uk 

Whilst on holiday I completed the 5th book in Robert Rankins Brentford Trilogy – “The Brentford Chainstore Massacre”, reviewed by the Observer as:

“STARK RAVING GENIUS … ALARMING AND DEFORMED BRILLIANCE”

 These books just get better! Here’s an extract:

‘What blood type are you?’ asked Dr Steven Malone.
‘AB negative,’ said Jack. ‘I used to bleed a lot as a child.’
‘Nosebleeds?’ Dr Steven asked.
‘No, the top of my head.’
‘How unusual.’
‘Not really. My brother wanted to be a musician.’
‘I don’t think I quite follow you.’
‘He wanted to play the xylophone, but my dad couldn’t afford one, so my brother, my older brother, used to line up all us younger brothers in descending order of height, then go round behind us and strike each of us on the top of the head with a tent peg mallet. A sort of human xylophone, you see. He could do almost the entire Lennon and McCartney song book. I was Middle C. I used to suffer a lot from concussion.’
‘Does your brother play the xylophone now?’
‘In Broadmoor, yes’

Meanwhile, in the real world, another great musician and personality passed away last week:



I can remember buying those singles in the early sixties – Samantha, Midnight in Moscow, The Green Leaves of Summer, Rondo etc.  In fact, I still have them and they were part of what fell on my laptop on Tuesday!

I’ll leave you with one more memory:



Kenny Ball RIP

Weston-super-Bock!

I could quite easily live in the Algarve. The people are so laid back and friendly, the beaches are beautiful and unspoilt and it is so cheap to live here. For example, a three course meal with ½ litre of wine or a pint of beer followed by coffee and a glass of port is 7.50€ in one of the restaurants up the road from where we are currently staying. In the bar next door a pin of Super Bock is 1.50€ and a large glass of wine 1.00€.

This time we are in the small town of Olhos d'Agua (Water Eyes), so called for the fresh water springs visible on the beach at low tide. It is situated midway between Albufeira and Vilamoura about 18 miles west of Faro.

The weather for the first 10 days was hot and sunny but the last 3 days have been a mixture of sunshine, showers and heavy rain.

Yesterday we waited for the rain to ease before leaving the apartment at around 2pm to go for lunch. We had just got inside a cafe, not 10 minutes walk away, when the wind got up and the heavens opened. Our lunch came and there was a power cut. By the time we left to return, some 20 minutes later, the sun was shining.

On the road just down from the apartment there is a bridge over a deep gully. No more than 10 minutes after we crossed it, on our way out, a mini tornado had blown through the gully uprooting trees, blowing the gates off and damaging the roof of a beautiful villa and decimating several gardens before blowing itself out before reaching the town.

If we had been walking over that bridge at the time ....................................

Well it's back home tomorrow then down to Lesley on Saturday to open up the caravan for a new season. Hopefully we will have better weather this year and the whole family will be able to enjoy the new and improved beach, which 17 million pounds later, is now complete.

Sadly my favourite fishing spot has completely disappeared in the remodelling of the coastline but there is a nice protected lagoon that I can't wait to "sling my hook" into!

Here's a brilliant video of the 12 months work compressed into 5 minutes, (look out for Janice and me in the anoraks at about 2 min 53sec):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uvTV7izExs&feature=player_embedded#!

Since my last entry we finally made it to Weston-super-Mud and spent a great few days in the Wetherspoons Hotel on the seafront. Unfortunately, as you can see, the diets have gone out of the window:

I leave you with Weston-super-Mud and "The Cafe" filmed on the promenade last year:

Update from Lesley next week!

Hey Ho!