The metal works folks came and installed the balustrade just in time as Colin’s friend from England arrived later the same day.  She’s bought a house at the coast and stayed the night with us before getting the keys.

The gate to the water pumps was also replaced, although we realized later that while it looks great the spaces between the bars are a little too wide as Henry Houdini can squeeze through and disappear behind the wall to eat last year’s rotten fallen almonds. Mo, who is much smaller, hasn’t yet tried to follow him but it’s only a matter of time.

For now we have to block the lower part with a barrier but will get it fixed when they come back to install metal bars outside the french doors in a couple of weeks.

In any case we had a lovely visit with Ann and Ernie, spending the evening in the sun room talking and some of us having a nice dip in the pool.

A few days later we took a day-trip to the coast to have lunch and see Ann’s new place.  It’s a lovely 3-bedroom 2-bath bungalow in a gated community and has three different outdoor spaces, including a roof terrace.

Lunch was nice – there’s a restaurant right on the grounds and it’s right next to the swimming pool, and not to mention about a five minute walk to the Med.

We’ve been on a couple more nice bike rides – the longest one being to Taberno, although the 42 km we covered was only because we took the ‘scenic route’ there.

Another ride was up to the village of Los Cerricos where we had a coffee before continuing on west towards Oria.  We only went a few km before turning back as it was starting to get hot – we’ll start earlier next time so we can go further.

We’ve ordered a beautiful claw-foot bathtub for my bathroom but once again are having problems with delivery.  The transport company insists on phoning before they arrive, but they won’t call a foreign number.  We finally got a spanish number this past weekend so hopefully will hear from them this week to take delivery.  Still waiting for IKEA to find us with the replacement wall lamp.

Having gotten tired of having no water when the pump continually turned off we got a new pump.  No water problems anymore!  But now we’ve had a couple of electric issues with breakers tripping, once in the middle of the night.  Maybe solar back-up would be nice, but we’ll see.

We also had some pool people out to measure for a winter cover, as well as a ladder at the far end.  We’re still waiting for the ‘gardeners’ to come but will likely have to find someone else to clear out weeds and brush behind the wall.  There are some nice aloe plants currently being overrun by the weeds, and also a lot of junk has been tossed over and needs to be gotten rid of.

I’m still having a running battle with the wasps, and I’ve broken another swatter. I like to believe I’m getting the better of them, but that might be only wishful thinking.

• Landscapes/scenery
• Photography
• Spain
• Travel