Adjusting lifestyle

We appreciated the fact that it's still considerably cooler here at night time, and enjoyed a good long sleep, followed by breakfast on the terrace, just as the sun appeared over the roof of a neighbouring house an hour after dawn. Judith picked us up and drove us to the Church Shop for the celebration of the midweek Eucharist. Six of us were present. After a cup of coffee at Rosie's bar next door, we went shopping for a pair of pyjamas, as that was one thing I'd forgotten to pack. So now I have an ensemble consisting of a lightweight blue sweatshirt and red knee length shorts. Not exactly my kind of slumberware, but they'll do.

After the service, I went to the car rental depot in town to pay for this month's hire. The chaplaincy car was a write off earlier in the year, when a third party drove into the side of it, giving the locum priest minor injuries, and upsetting the routine pastoral life. Thankfully, another retired priest was in the vicinity on holiday and was able to give support until normality was resumed. I now have to get used to driving a small Nissan town car, although my use of will be limited, since walking as much as possible is the fitness priority while we're here. There aren't so many convenient buses to take us about town, as in Cardiff, so time saving excuses are removed from our more relaxed schedule.

We were saddened to discover that 'Modus Vivendi' the pioneering organic food shop that had opened this time last year in the street near the bus station was about to close, as part of mutating into an organic veggie box delivery service. The idealism of the young entrepreneurs who started this venture is indeed admirable, but it seems that trying again is part of their philosophy, so we wish them luck. So, we had to visit a greengrocers and a fish shop in a nearby street to provision ourselves before the long walk home.

Clare had a swim before lunch, and after a siesta, we walked down to Burriana beach for her to have another swim in the sea, then a drink before the long hill climb back to Urbanzacion Almihara. The entrance road is closed at the moment as Nerja's water company has excavated trenches to change underground pipework. Cars are diverted from the housing estate through the empty ground used for the town's Mercdillo, Tuesdays and Sundays, and motorbike driving instruction and testing several afternoons a week.

For supper we are a favourite of ours, swordfish - it's called Pez espada here, not Emperador, as it is in Alicante province. When we're out shopping on foot, it's convenient to buy this frozen, so that it survives the heat. But we can get it fresh as well, if we're conveniently out with the car and a freezer bag. It's wonderful to have so much fresh fruit too - figs, plums, cherries in abundance at this time of year, peaches. The challenge is not to buy too much at a time, so that nothing goes off before we're ready to eat. Those natural processes seem to speed up in this congenial climate.