Raise a glass!

When our less than ideal neighbours put their crippled rat (oh alright, a rat-dog) into a plastic prison and loaded it into the back of their car we were virtually certain that their reign of audio terror was at an end.

Since we were informed by the overbearing parvenus that they only inhabited their house for a few months in the year we have hoped that the whole dysfunctional bunch would decamp to Barcelona so that their foul mouthed daughter could continue her studies and expand her extensive friendship among the remaining adolescent male population.

When the shutters came down and the car moved off we opened a bottle of Cava and drank a toast. We now look forward to a great deal of nothing from the house next door rather than listening to the blaring television dominating the ‘outside’ sitting room; the daily shouting matches between parents and daughter; the late night karaoke sessions of the adolescents and the general parade of proprietorship of the swimming pool and poolside area with loud voices and raucous singing.

I only hope that they are not on vacation somewhere commensurate with their pretentions, only to return with even more intolerable attitudes! With any luck we will not see them for any length of time until next summer.

On a housekeeping note I have now brought some sense of order to the ‘attic’ mainly, it has to be said, by pushing all the stuff cluttering up the place into the long cupboard under the eaves. Don’t knock it – it worked! I now have a decent working space with, what for me, is a fairly clear desk. Admittedly this is only because I have done little work for school so far and therefore the usual accumulation of papers and work related impedimenta have not yet taken over.

The Spanish version of ‘Big Brother’ has started its interminable monopolization of air time and Toni is unnaturally fascinated by it. I therefore have to contend with a double whammy of football and Big Brother, so I expect to be utilizing the educational and refreshment facilities of the ‘attic’ for some months to come!

The Family arrived just before lunch and immediately decamped to the pool. The shower is not working and the water temperature was cooler than normal. We wonder if this is a sign that the maintenance of the pool is being wound down for the winter: we sincerely hope not as we expect to have a number of weeks swimming before the temperature becomes such that only the more extreme religious masochistic fanatics would welcome immersion.

We decided to go out for lunch and have the menu del dia in our 'local' the Maritime Club. My meal of a rice soup with lobster and other sea food, followed by fresh tuna with a tomato sauce. To end I had crema catalana. I wont go into the price of the meal with wine etc, but I have to say that the tuna was spectacular and I would have been happy if I had paid double the price of the meal just for that course!

Meanwhile I worry about what new horrors the morning will bring. We have been threatened with yet another computer course. This one, at least, will be specifically designed (or aimed) at the English Department. Though speaking from experience the fact that a course is supposed to be for a particular group of teachers means virtually nothing. I shall, however, reserve judgement.

As if!