Laurie’s thoughts

This has been our third year in Spain and has been much less busy & more the relaxing life that we had hoped for.

Everything in and around the house is maturing nicely. We have altered the layout on the ground floor to make it less open-plan. That really helped us through what was Spain’s coldest winter for very many years. We even had frost a few nights which knocked many of the plants down, though most of them recovered quite quickly in the spring. We have also glassed in the top-rear terrace (facing South-West) so that we have a really warm place to sit during sunny winter afternoons.
The garden has also matured with plenty of figs, olives and the start of the orange & lemon crops. The tomatoes were a revelation to someone who isn’t too keen on them. Even the rhubarb has started to take hold.
We added a cover to the pool, that will lift the water temperature several degrees during the summer & tempt us all well into autumn.

This year we stayed in Spain throughout the summer so we were able to see more of the fiestas that all the towns have during July and August. Maybe it’s the time we spent in Asia but we don’t find the summer heat too oppressive, so many Brits seem to try to escape during August to escape the high temperatures.
In July our friends Ian & Ursula visited & we enjoyed a very relaxing time with them wandering around, eating & drinking.
Unfortunately Sumako, Susan’s friend from our time in Malaysia wasn’t able to make it this year, we hope she can make it another time. Ian & Natasha (ex-HK) were able to make it as Ian was attending a conference in Granada.
Our friends Bob & Jaja from Malaysia were due to visit in September but had to cancel when Bob became ill. Unfortunately it was very serious & Bob has since passed away. Our thoughts are with Jaja during this difficult time.

Our three grandchildren are growing so fast. Even though there are only a few months between them at this age they develop so quickly that they are so different. As we don’t see them very often we really get to notice the changes in them. Aidan and Oliver both came to see us in Spain during the summer and we saw all three of them when we went to the UK in November.
It was our first winter visit to see Jason, Karen and Ollie in the Shetlands. Susan had blue lips when she went in the summer, it wasn’t any warmer when we went in November .

Mark & Michele are expecting their second towards the end of February. They have recently moved from London to Manchester and are likely to be living in Wilmslow. In many ways that makes our trips to the UK simpler but means that we don’t have the same chance to visit London which we always enjoyed.

At Easter Telefonica came up with the goods & finally made broadband available to us. It’s made such a difference, though I suspect Susan feels that I have been a little less available for chores around the house :.
We visited Barcelona in June for our 20th anniversary. While there we had to visit the Camp Nou (home of Barcelona FC), that was Susan’s choice, not mine. I suspect that next time we visit Madrid we’ll have to visit the Bernabeu.
In July with Mark, Michele & Aidan we visited the Cazorla National Park an hour or so North of Granada. It was probably a little too warm for Aidan to do much walking so we just had to chill out for a couple of days

In September we went to the Feria Pisa de la Uva (grape) in Jerez where we learned to enjoy sherry, a quite different drink from what’s commonly drunk in the UK though.

For Laurie the event of the year has to be the trip to see Liverpool win the Champions League Final in Istanbul with Mark. Some people even spotted them in the crowd after the game; here is a photo of them in the crowd after the match as seen on Sky Sports.

We hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we hope that we may see you in 2006.

Laurie and Susan
laurie@lyates.com , susan@lyates.com

For our 20th wedding anniversary at the beginning of June we went to see our 3rd favourite football team’s stadium. Well actually we went to absorb the culture of one of our favourite cities, Barcelona and while there couldn’t resist a trip to Camp Nou. Unfortunately our trusty 9 year old Canon Ixus chose that week to break down and we didn’t get particularly good photos from the disposable camera we bought so there won’t be many photos to post. The good news is that we had a really excellent time and that gave me a good excuse to go out and acquire a nearly new digital camera from eBay. So now I don’t have many excuses left for not posting pictures.

On 25th May Mark & I went to see our team – Liverpool – play in the European Champions Final against AC Milan in Istanbul. What an experience that was, the atmosphere during the day was excellent with plenty of friendly banter between the many reds in the city and the few Milan fans who bothered to make the trip.
With the score at 3-0 against us at half time we were desperately hoping that it wouldn’t get any worse and one goal for us would allow us to keep our heads high. There were many people who stopped watching on TV thinking it was all over, as did we. The final result, at 3-3 and with Liverpool winning on penalties after extra time was little short of a miracle.
The return journey was incredibly chaotic with more than 100 of our flight being left on the tarmac when the plane left more than 5 hours late thanks to the incompetence of the airport staff and particularly the tour stewards who seem to have forgotten what they were there for.
Nevertheless it was indeed a trip to remember for a very long time.

Here is a clip of Mark & I in the crowd after the match as seen on Sky Sports.

Click the play button to see a movie of Mark and Aidan

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Ella preparing for the Miss Coin competition

Aidan at one year, looking for sharks

Jason and Oliver having a great time in their new car