Big Ooops

After a leisurely start with a breakfast of cooked mushrooms and tomatoes on toast for a change, (having run out of muesli), I collected Patricia and we drove to the coffee morning at Sabinillas and left the car in the coolness of the subterranean municipal car park rather than drive around looking for an on-street space. This is the worst time of year for finding a parking place above ground apparently.

Patricia told me a story about a neighbour who had been scammed after last week's fire. A salesman came around offering to install a smoke detector that would warn of impending fire and charged €300 to provide a plug in device that can be bought for a tenth of that price in a Chinese gadget shop. I also heard a story of fake officials knocking on doors claiming to be gas safety inspectors, come to test gas bombas. A fatal error to visit an all electric apartment block, however!

Coffee morning people came and went in fits and starts. There were seven of us altogether. Many more are still away or poorly. It was Thea's farewell appearance before going on a three week Saga Mediterranean cruise teaching painting. How providential she turned down a cruise leaving ten days ago, and was here accompanying her good friend Lew the day he died. Patricia and Thea were going to meet Lew's American next of kin to hand over his house keys after lunch, so I drove back to Estepona alone via the supermarket. I opted for Aldi's, at the other end of the retail park, closest to the roundabout, but then had to navigate my way around its unfamiliar layout, but found almost everything on my shopping list.

Lunch was an experiment with onion, brown lentils, aubergine and tomato puree, with leftover pasta. I was pleased with the result. Clare sent me photos of the building work going on at number eleven, next door to us at home. Building the new two storey extension requires demolition of the old ground storey first, rebuilding with load bearing walls. I wonder if this will reduce the amount of light we get in the rear of our house? Later when I was out walking, we talked on WhatsApp for ages about the dust and noise of the work next door. There are half a dozen men working flat out on the reconstruction, will they really be finished by the time we return at the end of August?

Walking back on the coast path I noticed for the first time in three weeks that I had mis-read the sign announcing that you're on it. It's senda litoral not sender littoral as I presumed. How careless.

Crossing the bridge over the rio Guadolbón I noticed there was water in the river bed again. For the past couple of weeks it's been dried out in the heat. In recent days, the Sierra Bermeja and neighbouring hills has been wreathed in cloud, and the return of surface water 20km downstream is a welcome sign for the coastal pond-life.