Well, we´ve made it and here we are now in the Sierra de las Nieves in the Málaga province. Last Friday´s trip over took us about four hours and wasn´t too bad at all. The car was stuffed to the roof and I ended up balancing various items like cat basket (without cats in it though), a bag of cat food and a rucksack on my knees as, yet again, we´d run out of space. The cats were more or less ok throughout the journey although Grace got increasingly fed up and tried to head-butt her way out of the cat carrier. I had given them some - allegedly - calming Bach remedy drops which are purely herbal and nothing dodgy, I´ll have you know. The cats got one drop each whilst I administered myself four. Not convinced that they worked on Grace (nor me) but Jasmine seemed to be benefitting from the ´drug` and was relaxed throughout the trip, snoozing happily most of the way.
The new house really is great but it was (and in parts still is) absolutely filthy, so consequently Ian and I have turned into Mr and Mrs Mop over the past four days which we have spent cleaning, scrubbing, polishing, scouring, sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, wiping, buffing … (I think you get the picture). To give you an idea of just how bad it was: before we could wash various kitchen items like crockery and cutlery, we firstly had to give the sink a good clean and prior to mopping the floors, we had to rinse out the bucket as it was covered in a thick layer of dust and dirt. What a nightmare. Whenever we have moved out of a place, we have made sure to leave it spotless, so the next occupants could simply move in their gear. Disappointingly, not everybody seems to work to the same standards of cleanliness. Ian has also spent a fair while rectifying various unsuccessful DIY attempts by the owner (like putting up a shower screen - which didn´t open - at the wrong end of the bath or erecting a gazebo on top of a hill behind the house which had obviously had a battle with the wind and - as it appears - the wind won.) So, yet again, not the best start to our new life but despite a fairly exhausting and frustrating debut, we do already feel at home here and haven´t really had time to miss the Alpujarras as yet.
After having lived in a fairly small flat where the lounge, dining room and kitchen were all in one, we are now almost rattling around this massive house but the sensation of space inside and out is very liberating. The location of the villa affords us the most amazing views. From the top lounge, to the southeast we can see the city of Málaga with the Mediterranean beyond and to the east we can even catch a glimpse of the snow-covered mountains of the Sierra Nevada. The huge `garden´ has lots of almond and olive trees and there is a lemon tree and a massive fig tree in front of the house. I have also discovered herbs such as thyme, rosemary and fennel and I´m sure there´s lots more ´lurking` out there.
The best thing though: it´s sooooooo quiet. No church clock, no noisy neighbours, no screaming kids, no mopeds … All you hear is the occasional dog barking and of course bird song. Lovely. We can watch English television (even though we might never get round to it, as I think we´ll spend most of our time in the great outdoors) and we´ve got the internet up and running (as you can see), so everything is hunky dory, really. (Apart from the rooms that still need cleaning, the single beds that are too short for a tall person to sleep in and the umpteen cupboards which are crammed with lamps, glassware, bedding, electric heaters, radios et al. WHERE ARE WE GOING TO PUT OUR STUFF???)
I think we´ll be very happy here - eventually.
Stand by for more adventures.
xxx
Sea view