De Perros y Limones

Driving in my car

Back to work. Bah.

Back to ironing shirts. Bah.

Almodovar Castle aka The Game of Thrones Castle

We do a lot of driving every day now we’re back to work. Bah.

Some days it’s one Hell of a lot, especially when we drive to and fro from the village to our rented gaff in Almodovar Del Rio. We spend a lot of money on fuel for both cars. It’s not sustainable.

We also spend a lot of time sat in traffic on the ring road around Cordoba and ponder on what on Earth we are doing.

The latest mural in Fuente Tojar. We really like it despite the the insanely large word.

Are we far from alone in this? Of course not. But is it necessary for us? Could we be doing something else? When you’re sat in traffic, realising that you’re in that rat race, you ponder these things. You also wonder why Rick Astley is so stuck in your head after he pops up on the stereo.

Anyway, Sonalee has changed to being part-time whilst I have taken on being full-time for the first time in 3 years. She is getting used to it. The dogs love it since they’re only in Almodovar for 3 nights per week and in the campo chasing rabbits for the rest of it.

Almodovar held its annual fiesta last week replete with the temporary bullring

The cat situation is slightly different. He hates, absolutely hates, being in the car and doesn’t like living in a town very much. So we leave him in the village to allow him to protect his territory from some of the vagabond cats nearby and to stop him being stressed. Our friends have been brilliant in going in to see him in the middle of the week to top up his food and cuddle him for a bit. He’s loving it.

We have started the big change over from summer to winter. Yes, the bloody heatwaves have finally stopped! OMG, it was getting ridiculous. 40 degree heat at the end of September. Insane.

Now it’s finally a bit nippy in the mornings and at night. So, swap over the fans for the heaters, chuck a duvet on the bed and start thinking about using the oven to cook “hearty” food again.

I’m starting to play football again now that the year 13s this year have got people who can organise stuff. At my age, I am never sure for just now much longer I will be able to do this so I’ve decided to sod it and join in and put up with the pain of legs that are not used to playing.

And the little bastards still haven’t managed to nutmeg me. Yet.

57 years old and playing against 18-year-olds. It’s not bad.

We had a small celebration for Sonalee’s birthday last month and a couple of evenings out in the village plaza whilst the weather is still warm enough to do so.

Otherwise, our lives are pretty much uneventful.

Which we will take any day. Around this time last year we lost Dante, our van and our cat Sparky all in quick succession. So, yes, uneventful is good because last year was shit in the extreme.

Fuente Tojar in all its glory. One of my better pics of it after 8 years of trying.

We both miss Dante and Sparky still. A lot. We think the dogs miss Dante a lot as well. They were a pack of 4 for so many years. I still catch myself carving up four treats sometimes which upsets me. Dora, however, is always willing to eat the spare bit.