Back to life, back to reality!

Hello to you all from Blighty!  First things first: apologies for the longer than usual delay in updating you.  It's been a busy time since we left Dunkirk almost two weeks ago.

We managed to cram our worldly goods into our new car and boarded the ferry for Dover.  Its just as well we allowed plenty of time as our friendly French port workers were on strike and had shut Calais, meaning all traffic - including over a hundred articulated lorries - were diverted to Dunkirk.  We joined a 2-3 mile tailback but amazingly we boarded our reserved ferry - not a given as the lorries were trying to jump the queue. 

Our tardis-like VW Passat Estate

We'd heard about the pollution cloud over the UK and saw evidence of it in terms of reduced visibility at sea.  Otherwise the crossing was good but we caught sight of the White Cliffs with only 10 minutes before berthing such was the fog.  On arrival in the UK were still officially homeless as our tenants date to move out was a week away so we spent a couple of nights at one of our homes from home - The Royal Temple Yacht Club, Ramsgate - where we met up with some familiar faces with whom we had a good chat about our trip and RTYC news.

The next day was a chance to catch up with friends and a much needed visit to the hairdresser!  Then onto Mum's with whom we spent a few days catching up, collecting more of our worldly goods and a debrief as Mum's been a great P.A. to us while we've been away.  We're looking forward to taking her to Claridge's for afternoon tea as a special thank you - cheers Mum!

Friday 11 April
We left Mum's early as today is the day we move back into the house after a year and we knew our tenants planned to be out by midday.  We got the go ahead from our agents at 10.30am so, by the time we got back to Kent they had long gone.  We have to say that we were blessed with perfect tenants - they left the house in immaculate condition so we simply had to move back in.  Thanks to Steve and Agnes for looking after our home so well and to our agents - Kite Homes - who sourced us the ideal tenants.  We know how lucky we are as we've heard some horror stories - some from people we met in the canals doing the same as us to help fund the year away.

We set about retrieving our furniture from the garage - all in excellent condition - dry and damp-free (we took care to cover and wrap them well and used silica packets galore to protect them as best we could so we're glad we took the time).  With the bed and sofas in and other essentials we were pretty much done but fancied dinner out as it'd had been a long afternoon.  When we got home my mind then turned to the task of packing for a long weekend in Malaga, departing the next day!  This happened as a result of booking my flights - and our tenants requesting to leave a bit earlier than planned - so with flights booked it was all systems go.

With alarm clocks set for 4.30am the next day we hit the sack on our sofabed pretty early (we realised when unpacking the garage that we'd disposed of our divan(!) so our comfy sofabed came to the rescue of two travel weary bodies.  We figured out we've slept in 25 beds since leaving the UK last April!

You may recall Mick and I met two American women at the Rioja Wine Festival last October and we all hit it off.  Cathy, from California, flies to Spain twice yearly - once for Easter celebrations and the other for a harvest festival in October.  We had loose arrangements to meet in April but Mick and I left Spain a bit earlier than planned.  Cathy and I stayed in touch and she mentioned her trip to Malaga for Semana Santa and I couldn't resist.  I've always wanted to experience Semana Santa (Holy Week) and knew I'd be in good hands with Cathy being a Spain aficionada.  And how could I resist going back to my beloved Malaga ... it was a no brainer even though it was a bit last minute. even by my standards!

So, on that note, I'll bid you Happy Easter and until my next post on Semana Santa Malaga style here's a little taster!



A trono passing our window en route to her home church