OFF TO SUNNY SPAIN

MONDAY 8th AUGUST

  I set off about 10.30am for Wembley Central where I caught a train to Gatwick via Clapham Junction.  I arrived over 2 hours before departure time, only to discover, once I had checked in that the flight was delayed by 45 minutes.  It gave me plenty of time to look around and I purchased Andrew Strauss' book on the Ashes tour to Australia.  It was £15.99, but the cashier told me that a previous customer hadn't utilised a half price voucher, so he would give it to me.  This reduced the price of the book to under £8.00, making it an even more enjoyable read.  I relived those halcyon moments in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.  In no time at all it was time to board and off we soared bound for Malaga.

  I had managed to establish contact with Adam after boarding the plane, and he told me to contact him when I had landed.  I gave him our new ETA.  Upon arrival he texted me to go to the Euopcar Rental Office.  There were no signs for car rentals anywhere in Arrivals.  I wandered around and was none the wiser.  I asked at a tourist information desk and the girl had no idea where the car rentals were!  So much for tourist information.  After asking numerous other people and wandering what seemed like miles I found the office and got myself put on the car insurance.  Adam, had in the meantime wandered off to another terminal in search of me, and gave me directions where to go.  Needless to say it took me ages to find him and I covered another marathon in searching for him.  Asked if I was happy to drive back to Nerja, I answered in the affirmative, and was immediately made the driver-in-chief for the rest of the holiday!

  It was 38 degrees C (or 100F) that day which was certainly quite warm but I was well versed in the sun and its effects.  Leia was a delight from the first and was completely at ease with me from the start, and I regularly get a kiss and a hug from this effervescent four year old!  Adam had laid in the beer and the wine and after Karen and Leia had gone to bed, Adam and I sat out on the veranda until 2.30am consuming the drink and smoking some Cuban cigars I had bought over from Brazil.  I was allocated an upstairs bedroom - in fact the master bedroom - across the landing from Leia.  Adam and Karen were two floors down in the basement and well away from any cries in the night!