SKI-er or Sk-ater. We know how to enjoy ourselves

Savvy_Sue

Oh dear Polly, that's not good! Hope she is doing well now, and that you had good insurance!

pollypenny

Persuaded her to take insurance, against her normal practice. While we were on way to Tunnel, I asked if I should keep with the other documents.

'Oh, I haven't brought it,' was the glib response!

Tai Chi breathing - keep calm, keep calm.

We had to come back to fetch it. :mad: :mad:

Savvy_Sue

pollypenny wrote: »

Persuaded her to take insurance, against her normal practice. While we were on way to Tunnel, I asked if I should keep with the other documents.

'Oh, I haven't brought it,' was the glib response!

Tai Chi breathing - keep calm, keep calm.

We had to come back to fetch it. :mad: :mad:

Was that while you were still en route, or after she'd had the fall?

one of Mum and Dad's last trips together, Dad left some of the tickets at home and had to rush back for them, very stressy especially as Mum gets crabby and unpleasant when things like that happen. But MIL and FIL were in a car being taken to Southampton for a cruise when the driver said "Have you got passports etc?" and MIL realised she'd left all FIL's medication at home! Fortunately they had time to go back for it!

I now have a written checklist and go through it several times before we set off!

pollypenny

We were en route.

In the end there was no need for us to have returned for it. We have to pay and claim back. The one awkward point was when we had to pay for the ambulance which transferred her in cash in euros!

seven-day-weekend

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Well we are back off to Spain in a month's time on the 23rd November.


The car has had its service (it gets two a year, one in Spain before the drive over and one in the UK before the drive back, no wonder it has lasted such a long time!) and we are ready to go, apart from packing. We are travelling on Britanny Ferry's Cap Finisterre from Portsmouth to Santander as our old faithful Pride of Bilbao has retired. I'm sure I will not like the Cap as much, have a soft spot for the Pride!

Had a phone call today to say that Cap Finisterre will be going into Santurtzi (Bilbao) instead of Santander. Great news, familiar territory!

We thought we would never see our little Hostal Iruna run by Joachin ever again! And people dancing in the town square under umbrellas in the rain.

If any of you ever fancy northern Spain, do look at the Basque Country (Euskadi in Basque, Pais Vasco in Spanish), it is absolutely beautiful. This time when we were travelling North we asked our Satnav to avoid the motorway and it took us round the most amazing countryside that we would never have seen otherwise. The Basque people are friendly (to Brits anyway, they don't like the Spanish much ) and the food is the best in Spain. The language is impossible, full of x's,z's and k's but most Basque people also speak Castillian Spanish.

However it does have a lot of rainfall which is what makes it so green, so don't expect wall-to-wall sunshine like on the Costa del Sol, (although it is still much sunnier than the UK).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_%28autonomous_community%29

beedeedee

Yes - we've danced in the square at Santurtzi as well! Strangely the couples all dance on one spot and we were the only ones moving round in a vague circle as they do in the UK...

margaretclare

We're going away for Christmas, staying at a small hotel at Bouillon in the Belgian Ardennes. We've just received the menu for their 'Reveillon' meal (after Midnight Mass) and asking us if we'd like to reserve a table. Well, we do like to participate in other countries' traditions when we go overseas - we're not the kind of English who expect fish and chips in Spain and Portugal. (Have eaten delicious fish stew on the Algarve, a Portuguese tradition, and grilled sardines fresh from the sea...)

There's punch to start with, coming back from Midnight Mass having not eaten much during the day - Christmas Eve is fasting, apparently. Then there's a dual terrine - terrine is like pate. Young wild boar in wine and kid in Calvados with honey preserve. Is your mouth watering yet???

Then, wild boar stew with dauphinois potatoes with grated cheese, pear and bilberry. Mixed vegetables including broccoli and chicory. Then, cheese, and/or nest of beetroot salad. To end, rum and raisin ice-cream.

This is going to be instead of Christmas dinner for us.

Last Christmas we went to the traditional Christmas Eve service in Coventry Cathedral and that was absolutely wonderful. But we were refused a hot drink when we got back to the hotel because 'the mulled wine was only for those who were going to Midnight Mass'. As most of the other folk in the hotel were wrinklies in coach parties and coaches were not laid on to take them to church, I doubt if any of them got there!!! Christmas dinner for us, if I remember rightly, was sandwiches bought from a petrol station and eaten in the car, that was after we'd been to a nearby village church for a lovely Christmas Day service.

Have just heard back from the hotel - this meal is available in the evening before Midnight Mass, 6.30 to 10.30 pm. The church is only 300 metres away. It sounds absolutely wonderful, am looking forward to it. Will put the 1100 calories/day on hold for just the time we're away!

seven-day-weekend

Sounds wonderful Margaret, do enjoy yourself.

After the midnght mass on the 24th December, we will 'do' the traditional British Christmas dinner on the 25th with some other expats - we're all chipping in together with food and drink and holding it at the largest house (not ours, I'm glad to say!). Then there is New Years' Eve with cava and grapes at midnight in the village square, then the village Fiesta on January 2nd and 3rd dedicated to our Santo Patronal, El Niño, the Christ Child . We will follow him around the village as he is lifted high on his dais and then there is a huge firework display in his honour. Then there is Tres Reyes (Three Kings) on January 5th, the Kings bring the childrens' presents (as well as the ones from Papa Navidad) and there is another celebration in the square. January 6th is the Spanish Christmas Day and is a quiet, family-based time.

The end of December and beginning of January is very busy here in our village as you can tell!

pollypenny

We're off to Florida again for Christmas!

Be glad to escape this weather, but a bit worried about house. Can you drain the water from a combi boiler?

Errata

pollypenny wrote: »

We're off to Florida again for Christmas!

Be glad to escape this weather, but a bit worried about house. Can you drain the water from a combi boiler?

You've only just come back from Florida Have a lovely time and enjoy your Christmas in the sun

If you post your question on the In My Home board, you should get a better response than on here - lots of knowledgeable plumbers and gas geezers give advice on it.