2024 Diary - Page 41

9 March

The taxi wasn't due to collect us until 1 pm so plenty of time to go to the gym and for a walk. Nice to see some aubretia starting to flower and Priory Gardens was looking lovely in the spring sunshine.

Our room is spacious and comfortable with a separate sitting area. We are over an hour's drive from the airport so it was late when we got there but soon went to sleep ready for our new adventure.

10 March

The view from our balcony is amazing! The weather is fine and sunny with some cloud so not too hot - perfect for us.

I found the gym (and had it all to myself). Breakfast was good with plenty of choice and the TUI rep was helpful when we booked a trip on the water for Tuesday.

I got lost on the way back from the gym but now understand which stairs to go up and down to make it easier. If I hadn't got lost I might not have come across the rabbit and the dog (the same ones as I see on the way to work in London!).

Jonathon and I went for a stroll to Morro Jable to check out one of the restaurants that the TUI rep had recommended. It looked fine but was quite a long walk up steep hills so not sure we'll be going there because of Jonathon's legs.

We had dinner in the hotel (buffet style, very easy for our first night),got some different restaurant recommendations from the reception lady and called it a day.

11 March

Went to the gym slightly earlier today so got a glimpse of the sunrise from the pool area. Perhaps I'll get up earlier still one day and go down to the beach for a better view!

It was very strange (but pretty) to have a "rainbow" across my breakfast - didn't change the taste!

We did quite a bit of sitting and reading today. I did manage to go for a stroll into Jandia after breakfast / brunch.

There was lots of artwork to see and the odd bit of wildlife in the protected area. I particularly liked the statue of the turtle with its babies. I got just past the skeleton of the sperm whale before I turned round and went back.

Major panic this afternoon because my new iPhone wouldn't accept the charging stick and I hadn't brought a "proper" camera with me! In the end it was just a tiny bit of debris that had snuck into the hole where the charger goes and we managed to get it out. Phew!

We went for a stroll in the evening. The idea was to get something to eat before sunset but nothing much was open at that time so we ended up having yummy home-made ice-cream then strolling along the beach until the sun set.

12 March

My birthday! The only card we brought with us was the one from Jonathon - I'll open the others when we get home.

The gym was still shus when I got there this morning so I went for a sunrise walk instead. It was spectacular!

The sand that we could see from our balcony looked really pretty. By the end of the day it had been trampled into a mess but for a while ....

We were collected by minibus and taken to Magic Deluxe, our catamaran home for the day trip.

It was very comfortable with only 12 guests (10 Germans and us!) and 2 crew.

It was lovely to see some Atlantic Spotted Dolphin and I was really pleased to get a couple of photos of them using my iPhone.

Jonathon's photos were infinitely better - see our holiday page for those.

We needed some provisions so I popped to the supermarket, via a 5 km walk along the beach and a paddle en route. It is much harder walking on sand than pavement so I was quite tired when I got back.

13 March

Jonathon did the sunrise photo shoot while I went to the gym. It was open when I got there but the treadmill was broken so I did a bit of cycling and lifted a weight or two then went for a walk on the beach (J had gone back to the room by then).

His sandals were dry by the afternoon (apparently you get the best shots standing in the water!)

We went in the pool late afternoon. I did swimming while Jonathon did floating and cooling his feet down.

Today was apparently the day I walked to Jandia. I did it three times in all. The first to the shops, via the nature area; the second to check out the restaurant that we fancied for this evening and the third to actually go to the restaurant.

La Isla was very nice but the waitresses were rushed off their feet. By the time we were leaving a waiter had joined them but a lot of the guests had paid up and left so he probably wondered what the fuss was about.

I counted the steps down to the beach from our room today - there are 99. The lift that would have taken us part of the way is out of order so we have no sensible, alternative way of getting there. With that and the walk to and from La Isla, Jonathon was tired out and had to have a rest before setting up for the sunset shots.

The photo (immediately below) from my iPhone makes the sunset look more dramatic than it actually was.

That said, Jonathon's photos were also pretty colourful!

14 March

I joined Jonathon for this morning's sunrise then took myself off to the gym to do a bit of exercise.

From the viewing point - that catamaran could have been us on Tuesday!

Delicous, hand-made ice cream was our next stop - back at Chilli Chocolate.

Jonathon got the chance to say hello to a couple of chipmunks who made their presence felt on the way there.

We had dinner at San Borondon - very tasty. The surprise was that there were no desserts - seems quite normal here for restaurants not to offer pudding. Poor Jonathon!

The walk back to the hotel was very pleasant in the pretty evening light.

Jonathon went up to the pool area for his sunset photos today for a change of viewpoint.

15 March

I can't believe we've already got to Friday - our last full day here.

Jonathon got up to takesome photos of the sunrise but it was far from spectacular so he took pictures of the waves instead.

I went for a walk up to the lighthouse (and back) to enjoy the early morning light followed by a quick visit to the gym.

I finished my book (An Equal Music by Vikram Seth) so popped that on the "sharing shelf" on my way to the pool for a swim.

My next "job" was to walk over to Morro Jable to check out restaurants for dinner. Neither of the two recommended on Trip Advisor were going to work for us but Marty & Davide was open today so that's where we decided to go.

We popped to Chilli Chocolate for ice cream (hard to resist when it's so yummy!).

I had the Dorado (Sea Bream) - delicious but I wasn't expecting a whole fish, head, tail and all!

16 March

Jonathon's cameras were all packed up so I was chief sunrise photographer for today. I watched it come up and enjoyed a walk about before heading to the gym.

I was delighted to see an Ibis collecting nesting material. I'd heard them squawking about earlier in the week but this was the first one I'd seen to take a photo of.

We got everything packed up after breakfast and checked out then headed off to Chilli Chocolate for yet more ice cream. Jonathon has a new favourite - Stracciatella - after years of favouring Mint Choc Chip. What a surprise!

Jonathon went straight back to the hotel while I went for a final walk.

It was much hotter today (30C rather than the 20-25C we've been enjoying) and we had to wear our "going home" clothes so not ideal but the hotel was cool and comfortable as we waited for the coach to take us to the airport.

The flight was delayed by an hour and five minutes but the coach transfer wasn't so plenty of time at the airport!

17 March

I woke up to rain and green-ness! So different from the last week but quite refreshing. Hopeless for getting the washing dry so I had to hang it all around the house. Managed to find space for two of the three loads - the last one will have to wait.

Oli wasn't at home when we got back last night but was adamant that he needed an extra special grooming session this morning when I got up. Loads of fur came out so I think he was probably right. A lot of fur came out on the second, third and fourth grooming session as well!

Once I'd caught up with jobs, had dinner (chilli con carne because we'd not had anything like it over the course of last week) and let that settle, I went to the gym for a quick treadmill session to get my steps finished.

Had a Skype call with Mum. She'd been very worried about Dad last week because of the state he was in when she visited him on Tuesday. The antibiotics seem to be working well because he was much better by Friday when Pauline visited and still doing well when Carole went today.

Had a catch up with Christine who has been dog sitting for Laura for a few days while she was at Cheltenham last week. I did the last load of washing so that's all done. Just got to get it dry and do the ironing in due course.

Finally sat down with Jonathon to watch some television!

Gilda came over and we went for our Monday walk. Petts Wood wasn't as muddy as I expected which was a pleasant surprise.

We met up with Jonathon at Aqua for lunch - tasty as always.

Alma came and did the cleaning. She's increased her prices but it's so hard to find a good cleaner that we'll have to live with it.

19 March

Back to gym followed by work today.

Work was not very interesting and, when the internet crashed, quite frustrating!

Met Gilda at Bromley for Life of Pi. Got there in time for the start despite my normal train being cancelled (phew!). The show was very different and I really enjoyed it.

20 March

Nice surprise to learn I'd got a photo in the local paper this week, especially as I only submitted it on Monday.

Work was fun today. We had a day's workshop on culture change (similar to the workshop I joined in Munich last year). Everyone was up for it and we had a great time working together. Because I had to be in early for that I had a gym free day.

I walked by the river / round by Saint Paul's on the way to Thai Square to meet Mark for dinner.

Had a phone call from the clinic to say that my appointment tomorrow has been cancelled so I now have free day.

I did some gardening after dinner and managed to get the grass done, the pampas finished, the sedum trimmed back and the bird baths scrubbed clean.

Ravi came round with Betsy (dog) to borrow some garden sacks. I was in charge of Betsy's lead while Ravi wheeled the sacks round to his house in my wheelbarrow then insisted wheeling it back to our house for me! Betsy wasn't too impressed being left at home for the return visit.

I had an email from Cinnamon Trust to say a local lady called Carol needs help with dog walking because of mobility issues. She has 3 dogs and I'm going to meet her and them on Sunday afternoon to make sure we all get on.

Jonathon went out to do a photo shoot - Oli and I stayed home.

22 March

Got up early as usual only to find that my yoga class had been cancelled because Kevin, the teacher, wasn't well. Oli was clearly not ready to get up with me when the alarm went off but eventually moved himself off my bed so I could make it etc.

Lovely to see all three foxes in for breakfast this morning. It's the first time we've seen Vixie since we came back from holiday (we've seen the other two just about every day!)

I walked to the clinic to hand in the unused tablets as agreed. At 5C, it was cold enough for me to wear the new hat Pauline bought me for my birthday. Apparently the reason I don't meet the criteria is that I've not had any treatment / procedures recently to treat it. As the NHS and private consultant told me a quite a few years ago that I'd have to live with it because there was nothing they could do I'm not sure what I could have done differently. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence but I've been coughing more today (1.5 days after I stopped taking the tablets!).

The walk was quite nice as usual despite it being a dull, grey day. It was really good to see the first bluebells of the year by the river.

I popped into M&S to get Jonathon some more padded socks because he said he found them very comfy. I spotted a nice T-shirt on the way in so bought that for myself while I was there.

I'd agreed to let Marcia have some Forget-me-nots so I dug those up and put them in pots. I also found her some Lady's Mantle, Geraniums and Comfrey. Her husband (whose name I've forgotten) came to pick them up in the end.

My main gardening job for today was weeding the path near the steps from the patio - it certainly looks a lot better than when I started!

23 March

Woke up to a message from Ginny to say she'd been mugged and had her bag stolen last night just round the corner from where she lives. She's not hurt but is very shaken and traumatised. Poor thing.

Went to the gym for a tiny bit but today's main exercise was the Knoll Active walk. The route I'd planned would have been very hilly but because the wind was quite strong I was concerned that the combination of hills and wind would have been too much for some of the walkers.

We went through Poverest, alongside the Cray and back through PG. There was quite a lot of overlap with where I walked yesterday and some of the walkers thought we were repeating a walk we'd done before until we got to the part where we hadn't been before then there were lots of oohs and aahs!

No sooner had I got home and sat down to have dinner than the hailstorm started. Rain had been forecast but nothing like what happened. My grass cross was white over and the windowsills looked like we'd had a snow storm rather than hail. It soon passed over and the sun came out again and melted it all off.

Had a Skype call with Mum - no real news from her end.

Jonathon was asked to go back to the same place as last night and do another photo shoot for the same artist because she was so pleased with the photos from yesterday. He had transport problems thanks to trespassers on the line - far too frequent a problem these days.

The sunset was a lovely end to the day.

24 March

I decided it was high time I completed my fitness challenge for the month (only had one more day to do to meet it) so got up early, went to the gym and pounded on the treadmill until I'd done as much as I could there, knowing that I'd be able to do the rest during the course of the day. All done for March so I can relax a bit now!

We were asked to be at church a 30 minutes earlier to learn a new song so we could lead the congregation. It's about 5 weeks since I last did any singing but I was pleased how my voice held out. The new song was easier than one of the others Margaret had chosen.

The daffodil cross at the side of the church is looking lovely at the moment. Carol mentioned it to me so I popped round that side and took a photo after the service.

Carol (the one with the dogs) phoned to cancel our meeting becasue she wasn't feeling well. I've asked her to contact me when she's feeling better so we can move things forward if she wants to.

Carole went to see Dad and managed to get him outside to enjoy some fresh air which was lovely to hear about.

I spent the afternoon edging the grass and weeding. i didn't finish it but got quite a bit done. It's not my favourite job but need to be done and the garden definitely looks better as a result!

We were both in this evening so caught up with some TV.

25 March

Ela's class to start the day - I think I was still a bit stiff from gardening yesterday so it felt pretty tough. The sunrise was really pretty on the way to the gym.

Gilda came for our weekly walk. She brought some special sewing needles with her to lend to someone who lives near me so we dropped those off then walked for a while before meeting Jonathon at Masala Dabbas for lunch. I don't know if they've got a new chef but we all commented on how tasty our food was today.

Having let my food settle I did some gardening and have now finished the "first time of the year" grass edging. It looks a lot tidier and I'm very pleased to have got it done.

Caught up with Christine. They've finally had some dry weather so Gordon has managed to get some drilling and fertiliser spreading done at last. They've lost all their Oil Seed Rape to flea beetle this year so that's had to be ploughed back in and that land has now been sown with Spring Barley.

27 March

A lovely surprise to see one of my photos in the paper again this week.

I've sent in my blossom and blue sky photo (taken this morning) so let's see if that gets through for next week.

No gym today so I had time to walk via St. Katharine's Dock to get to the office.

I also went for a walk at lunch time but got caught in the rain that time.

I've no idea what these two police launches were looking for but they were there for ages. Hope they found it. They came whizzing past me on the way to the restaurant, heading East so all action today.

I went up to the Sky Garden (might as well make the most of it before we move offices later in the year). By that time, it had stopped raining so the views were lovely.

Met Mark at Zizzi for dinner.

28 March

First job was Ela's class - so hard this morning but I was quite sleepy, having been woken up by the alarm (usually I'm already awake). I warmed down on a treadmill and felt a bit more normal (but still tired) when I'd finished.

I took some potato sets to Jo's so she can plant them when she gets back from France at the weekend. It was chucking it down but I went to Priory Gardens afterwards to get my steps finished. It was pretty damp underfoot to say the least.

I was very cold and wet when I got home but it meant I didn't need to venture out again and I felt much more with it having had some (very) fresh air. The Egyptian goslings were very sensibly hiding under Mum to give them some protection from the horrible weather.

I caught up with some inside jobs and we decided that Costa Rica looked like a good place to investigate for a big holiday next year (our 20th wedding anniversary and my 65th birthday). We looked online and found that Audley Travel had specialists for that part of the world so booked a phone call with Tomas and had a long chat with him about what we want (wildlife, nature), what we definitely don't want (white water rafting etc.), dates and flights etc. He'll gather up the information and get back to us, hopefully by the end of next week so we can decide whether it works for us or not. It looks very exciting!

29 March

Yoga this morning followed by treadmill and cross trainer to get my steps done (it was raining again). I went to the fruit and veg stall in the Walnuts Centre - it's quite new and I checked yesterday that the man accepted credit cards so thought I'd go and get some produce from him.

Churches Together in Orpington held a Good Friday service in Market Place so I went down to listen / take part in that. Dawn (gym friend) was there so I could share her words sheet.

It stayed dry and bright through the afternoon so I got quite a few jobs done in the garden and shed. The potatoes are now plented in their sacks (and will be kept in the shed for a week or two in case of frost). A few peas were sown in pots (under close supervision). Most will be planted directly into the veg beds but I always like to set a few off first.

I got lots of pruning done - roses and buddleia mainly but a few other bits as well. It's starting to look a bit tidier.

Jacky spotted a tiny fox cub in Priory Gardens. Both it and a sibling have been rescued and taken to Fox Rescue. Hope they survive.

30 March

I had a senior moment last night and moved my bedside clock forward an hour (I was a day early!). I had a nice surprise when I realised I could stay in bed for an hour ore than I expected.

I didn't do much in the gym because I knew I'd do my steps etc. on the Knoll walk.

I took the group (only 5 of us) up to London Bridge to see Marc and Gillie's sculptures then we jumped onto a DLR train down to Cutty Sark.

From there, we walked to the Maritime Museum and through Greenwich Park.

It was a beautiful day, the gardens and park looked lovely in the Spring sunshine.

Last photo stop was Blackheath Common before walking to Lewisham to catch the train home. It was a lovely walk.

Mum and I caught up on Skype then I got a tiny bit of gardening done (mainly cutting and raking the grass) before coming back inside.

Jonathon went off to Toulouse Lautrec at short notice while Oli and I stayed home.

To 2024 Diary (Page 42)