I wonder if anyone even checks this anymore. I am at Mum and Dads so I have no excuse, as it might be a while before we get internet up at home in Chester. Just off for a cheeky tescos trip. Always one of the things I look forward to when I come to the UK. Seriously. Or ASDA. I am not fussy...though am more asda-inclined myself.These are the products that I Love to see when I come (since I never see them in Spain)
Bagels, curry sauce, naan bread, a hundred other types of bread including ROLLS (yes you heard it. they dont have rolls. Only sesame topped burger buns..and not very good ones) Quorn in every shape or form, mushroom pate, normal cheerios (not honey nut) George childrens clothes, Cherokee childrens clothes, tinned peaches and every type of tinned fruit at reasonable prices, peanut butter for 70p (3.50 in Spain) reeses PBC's (Asda) yellow and orange sweet peppers, taco spice, flour tortillas at reasonable prices, flapjacks, all bakery products, all bakery products, all bakery products (chewey cookies, apple donuts, choc donuts, jam donuts, iced buns etc) and a hundred other things which I cannot think of but when I see it in a minute I wil say joyously "I REMEMBER THIS!"
The removal man is coming tomorrow to take our stuf incl computer, though we will still check internet every day so will be keeping an eye on websites and emailing. In any case I will be at Mum and Dads exactly next Monday so its not too bad. You will survive the deprivation bravely no doubt.
How can such a great man come from such a mother??????????????????????????????
Pam is the wonderful lady who is actually......doing something to help us now. It was about time, as the date is getting closer. Anyway the official start date is the 5th Feb, but we are working to move into our new flat by the 1st Jan. I say "new flat", we do not have a flat/house yet, but Pam is on the case, and we are too. Alfredo is speaking english almost every day and has said a couple of times "I just want to be there!" Well that is serious progress.This week we will hopefully get a date for our stuff to be picked up, and see when it will get to Chester. We have our tenants who are delightful people, not that I would care if they were unpleasant as long as they pay up and do not trash the place. But it is definitely a plus that they are civil, friendly people.Meanwhile, a story about our car. Alfredo decided to go to the General Direction of Traffic to check the owner had indeed changed the names over. Nope. It was still in our name. Alfredo calls the guy, and he says "Look, I meant to do it, I am really osrry but the second day I drove the car it started spewing black smoke out and I am trying to decide if it is worth repairing or just selling it on, meanwhile it is parked and I am not driving it. Let me think what I am going to do for a couple of weeks" We were quite..gutted for the man, but glad we didnt get the black smoke thing to pay for, and Alfredo went to he DGT and just did the change himself. Today is a holiday "Constitution Day". We are just doing menial tasks and trying to sort some more things out for Chester. Yipee! One week till the Mitchells go to Chicago, are you all excited guys?
What a great way to learn in your front room. Internet is so useful for that. I was reading up about Alfredos knee and all that it entails, as I mentioned in the newsletter it is inflammatory spondyloarthropathy and it is a variety of rheumatoid athritis which sounds terrible for someone that young that I in fact learns that it affects the majority of people betwen 20 and 45. His doctor said "if you want to go home and read up about it do so, but be careful what you read online" So he goes home and starts reading about all the different spondyloarthropathy conditions some of which are very severe and aggressive and include Chrones Disease and he basically started reading some medical encyclopedia (never a good idea) which enumerates every possible complication down to swelling of the organs and heart problems and got himself into a right state bless him. When he had breathed and calmed down, he realised just what the doctor had said, which is, you have this thing in your knees which affects other joints too, but you do not have it severely, we have caught it early and there is no need for this to get out of control if you continue to be mobile and look after yourself. Anyway this morning he bought an exercise bike as it is supposed to be very good for hm as well as swimming, walking and basically...nothing else. So if his dream to get black belt was doubtful before, its now out the window. I decided to read up about diet as I am a great believer in diet-curing. not that my diet is exemplary but I believe so many many complications come from incorrect diet and so many many things can be solved by improving it. Did you know that Rheum.Athritis , though they are not sure about the causes (possibly hereditary tendencies they say but thats it)....anyway one thing they have found is that there is something called a TRIGGER that calls your immunity system to fight something in your body, and for some reason in some people, this immunity response abnormalises and develops into this inflammatory problem. Long after the initial problem has gone away, you are stuck with the condition. So what are these triggers? There is a huge long list. Interesting. They are ALL bacteria/toxins found in foodstuffs, salmonella, camolybacter, and a ton more. They also think that a lack of antioxidants can exacerbate the problem or even increase your tendency to contract it. So what do we say- 5 a day!
So basically there is evidence to suggest that the following give very very positive results in RA patients- lots of fruit and vegetables, increased fibre, and several studies have suggested that a vegetarian diet is very helpful. But as Alfredo ruled that out on the spot, the other alternative (which he is always plugging anyway, being a good Mediterranean boy) is little if not zero red meat, and plenty of fish (oily, that is) We dont eat red meat much at all but he is always on the "oily fish" soapbox. For those not au fait, this would include tuna (though to have omega 3 it must be fresh, as it is all lost in the canning process and fresh tuna is so expensive!) sardines, pilchards, salmon, swordfish (MY FAVOURITE, who has tried it? it is so good! Tastes like chicken...OK it doesn´t but it is a very succulent tasty fish, doesnt taste "fishy" if you know what I am saying, no bones and not "flakey" A little expensive but so good) On that note. I wish you good day, happy weekend and please leave your comments below.
Where has my family gone? Is anyone there? Where are your comments?
OK so the first propspective tenants come to our house. It is a Ucranian woman and her husband. The estate agent is only supposed to bring people who are working, and officially too. So she seems like anice lady but she barely speaks a word of Spanish, and I am thinking "So where do you work? I am guessing you clean houses or something because where else could you would you be working with zero language?" So I am wondering what level of payment stability she is offering me, and then I hear her say (BTW I was amusing Amelia so Alfredo and the estate agent and couple could chat more easily) "Well maybe I will birng my sister over from Ucrania because the rent is a lot of money for me to pick up by myself" By myself? So the husband is not working? Supposedly he is, but let m tell you when the first thing someone does is express doubt at being able to foot the rent every month and is already considering possible problems, my warning bell is a-sounding. In any case even if she brings her sister over she will be not be working and if she is, she will be working illegally like so many others, ie for a pittance. Anyway at the end she goes "OK...we...like flat...we rent flat" Alfredo was like "OK, well, we will be in touch with the agent tomorrow" So it transpires that she is working part time and her husband full-time, though i do not know in what and Alfredo is going to the estate agents tomorrow to see their papers ie what they earn etc Its pretty tough renting a flat here, and I feel like I have passed into that category of ridiculously picky home owner but I don´t care, because I cannot afford non-payers, it is way difficult to ick someone out here. For the first month they do not pay you it can take up to 4 months meanwhile, they are not paying and maybe trashing the place too. The law is very heavily weighted towards the tenant in lots of ways, and then they wonder why so many property investors are scared to rent and just leave houses standing empty. Not that I feel sorry for them. Anyone that can afford to leave a second house standing empty is not that badly off, lets face it. Oh who will rent my house??
This is the Spanish term for....what would it be....Let me see...lunch is at 2, supper is at anywhere from 8 onwards and MERIENDA is what you have inbetween.When people get together with friends it is rarely for lunch. Single friends get together for CENA (supper) but friends with kids get together for a MERIENDA between about 5 and 7.30/8. It is either a light affair where you just get out olives, cheese, crisps, little nibbles or whatever you fancy, or a more of a cooked affair, though on reflection the cooked affairs tend to be eaten around7 onwards and are termed "merienda-cena". We just had our friends round for a merienda, Samuel and Amelia used to play in the park every day until he moved house and Silvia and Javi have become good friends of ours even though we rarely see each other. Good people. Silvia and I both started trying for babies together way back when, though she got lucky straight away, and Samuel has an 8 month old little sister called IRENE. If you say it in Spanish its prettier I prmise (ee-ray-nay) Well ours was just a plain old merienda with cheese (very good indeed and a commodite we eat a lot of in this house), guacamole and tortillas, olives, ham (that would be jamon, ie the cured type) toasted baguette with grated tomatoe and olive oil on top (a v typical dish, also a favourite with us), juice, and then a few christmas goodies.Samuel and Amelia have not seen each other for ages and were shy at first but bythe end were whooping, hollering and blowing raspberries on the glass door. They left not exactly late by spanish standards (gone 8.30) but sufficiently late for Amelia to be now in a right bad mood and crying her eyes out yet not going to sleep. But no matter, a good time was had by all and as soon as she goes to sleep we are going to watch a DVD.night all
I cannot seem to get started with updating nowadays, and do not really feel in the mood anyway, but so as not to let the side down ¿everyone, but especially inspired by Hannahs oh so frequent updates? I guess I will post sth albeit a pathetic load of nothing.Mum is 60 in 2 days, and dad alreday is. They are getting, I have been reliably informed their special bus passes for elderly people!! Ho ho, no offence meant Mum and Dad.Just a cheap joke... Aging is a good thing. I know I love being 30 and I am pretty sure I will love being 30=something, and have no idea why this big stigma is attatched to age, esp for women. Christmas is approaching and I just feel like I am not enjoying it at all because I am having intermittent panic attacks about the move and just being stressed out by the lack of information and the whole logistical nightmare. I feel it will be a very very positive thing but in the interim I feel overwhelmed and stressed, and wish we could just leave a rented flat and not be worried about all this tenant!paperwork!taxes!insurance lark. oops. That was supposed to be a slash key, not an exclamation mark, my keyboard is apparantly still drunk.Alfredos sister is expecting a baby we have just been told.That might shift the balance of obsession somewhat. here is hoping eh?
Amelia is belting out home made songs to us and her latest is called "tray tray" she croons "tray tray tray tray" up and down the scale, and then takes a little bow at the end. She has also delighted us with "black" and "Christmas".
