Fiesta season is in full flow at this time of the year in Spain and last night it was the turn of the small village La Alqueria, about a mile from La Villa Wow for theirs. All these fiestas owe their origins to Saints and the particular saint in this case was St Anna. We […]
Read More →I have learned at least one new Spanish word and that is Tonto. It means “Stupid”. (The feminine is Tonta and a group of stupid people are Tontos, really stupid people are called Tontoron. They have a word for everything the Spanish). Now I don’t know about you, but this puts the relationship which the […]
Read More →This has been the most hi tec holiday I have ever been on. I remember the days when you would come away with a pen (to write post cards), a phone card (to call home, once), a cassette walkman and a selection of mix tapes (carefully compiled before you came away so as to save […]
Read More →We have mainly been eating in at La Villa Wow this holiday (well, it seems daft Nikki bringing all those BBQ tools and us not using them). However last night with it being Rachel’s Birthday we went out to a fish restaurant in Alhurin called Casa Paco (Paco’s House. I’m getting good at this Spanish […]
Read More →In one of my previous blogs I told you about my lack of hand eye co-ordination. Well yesterday it was well and truly put to the test. A few weeks ago Rachel had said about going for a round of golf when we were out here. Tibu plays a bit and Nico is no stranger […]
Read More →I’ve caught a bit too much sun. I seem to have acquired an attractive red rash and so today have put the sun bathing and tumble turn training on hold. Myself and Karen decided to take a trip to a local village cake Coin. Not pronounced coin as in the money or Cohen as in […]
Read More →La Villa Wow sits in a large area of land. The size of which has been a constant source of debate. On the first night we tried to estimate exactly how big. The combined brain power of 6 people, 5 iPads and 6 iPhones came up with a variety of measurements in acres, hectares and […]
Read More →Me and languages don’t mix (as you can tell by the awful grammar in that opening statement). But me and foreign languages really don’t mix. I got an E in O Level French and I think that was more by good luck than any work I did. I’m quite good at both the sciences and […]
Read More →Today we took a trip into Malaga. Apparently it’s a city as well an airport. Who knew? One of Rach and Tibu’s friends (they actually have more than one friend. Show offs) had suggested that because the traffic and parking were so bad in Malaga city centre we park at Plaza Mayor which is a […]
Read More →I love swimming. Many of you will know that earlier this year I did the Swimathon (think yourself lucky the donations are closed or I would have included a link to the web page) so I’m serious about swimming. At times a little too serious. I’m not one of these swim with your head out […]
Read More →Ah Spain, the country where having a lisp is a positive speech advantage, and our home for the next 2 weeks. There are 6 of us in a villa in the mountains just North of Malaga (could I sound any more middle class?). Let me introduce you to my cohorts (good word Andrew, well done). […]
Read More →Today our journeys took us to one of Hamburgs most notorious streets. The Reeperbarn. On the flight out we saw a group of lads who were definitely on the way there, judging by the one who was dressed in a ladies sailor suit (and sorry Karen, came from Sunderland). The Reeperbahn is stag heaven (or […]
Read More →The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping to get a different result. Well every year I go to Christmas markets and get annoyed and frustrated with the crowds and pushing and shoving (and we were not designed to eat stood up. That’s why we have squidgy buttocks […]
Read More →Today we flew to Hamburg for the weekend to visit the Christmas markets (notice they are not called German markets because, well, all markets in Germany are technically German markets). I was surprised to find that there were in fact any markets left in Germany as the majority of the father land seemed to have […]
Read More →My dad likes to collect things. Coins, stamps, Dinky toys, bottles (I kid you not, my sister Nikki will confirm that as children we did indeed spend one Saturday afternoon scavenging around a rubbish dump for old bottles). I am not quite as bad (although Mum and Dad may disagree as they are currently storing […]
Read More →There is no denying that the Americans know how to give good service. The cliched “have a nice day” has made way for the more ambiguous “you have a god one” (day, life, motion…you chose). Sometimes I’m charmed by this and immediately fall in love with my server and really believe that they care for […]
Read More →The comedian/actor and all round clever dick Stephen Fry once commented that shell suits we’re the greatest leveller of class. From High Court Judges to chavs, everybody looks equally as bad. the same can be said for baseball caps. I always think a baseball cap on a man of a certain age looks undignified, but […]
Read More →America was designed to be driven across, down, diagonally however you want to do it, America is a driving paradise. Big cars, big roads, big fuel bills. On the first day we got the car I began faffing with the on board computer (Karen would refer to it as faffing, I prefer “familiarising myself with […]
Read More →Apologies for not blogging yesterday. We set off from Buellton in the Santa Ynez valley yesterday morning travelled via an outlet village (deep joy) and spent the afternoon on Santa Monica Beach. We set of for our hotel (on Sunset) but we put the wrong address in and ended up at the wrong hotel, hence […]
Read More →I love telly. And radio. And newspapers. And films. Basically I like the media and wherever I am in the world I try and absorb as much of the local media as I can. The advantage with American media is that I can understand it (I do watch Spanish TV and just try and guess […]
Read More →I’ve always been a bit snobby about the American language. I’ve thought it as being a bit lazy. I’m starting to change my mind. it’s actually quite efficient. Think about it, the main difference to the Queen’s English (not that any of ever speak like the queen…or she us) is that; they remove any unnecessary […]
Read More →I’m writing this sat in Monterey (home of the cheese) but we have spent most of the day in San Jose. Now before today all I really knew about it was Dionne Warwick needed directions there (presumably she didn’t have a sat nav or knew about google maps). Today we went to the science museum […]
Read More →Tonight we went to our first game of real live baseball. Now for those of you who don’t know much about it it’s the US’s 4 th most popular sport after football (American, not soccer), basketball and shooting people. I only realised tonight how similar it is to cricket. Now before the cricket purists start […]
Read More →Ok, I’ve got a confession. I’m a transport geek. There, I’ve said it. My name is Andrew and I like trains, trams and trolley buses. I mention this now as today I have been in transport geek heaven. San Francisco has a lot of ways of getting around (or transit as they seem to call […]
Read More →America is big. Americans are big. They like food. We like food. So after two weeks here I fear we will leave much larger than when we arrived. Today we decided to try and avoid this and be more sensible in my eating. We started with breakfast ( as over here, it’s also the first […]
Read More →We eventually arrived at our hotel after nearly 24 hours travel. The redwood Inn is a typical American motel type run by a lovey friendly Chinese family but you wouldn’t be surprised if you found a dead body in the back stairs. The clientele appears to be similar to us (cheap skates, or as I […]
Read More →Well at last we are off. Tried to check in online to discover we had been upgraded to World Traveller Plus (which apparently means we get proper cutlery and a hot towel. Some people will have paid a lot for that. Not us though, oh no). The only problem is that we were ineligible to […]
Read More →Hello all. This is mine and Karens blog to keep you in touch when we are away in California. Hopefully it will be witty, interesting and insightful. Speak soon. A & K.
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