Handbags

...My friends Julie, Michelle (Shell) and Shawn have just gone back to England after having spent a week in La Cala. Shell and Julie come over every year and stay in an apartment, so that they can relax away from the kids and daily pressure, soak up the sun on the beach, and visit their old mate Bob.

I picked them up from the airport and we went in search of the agency where they had to pick up the keys to the apartment. This turned out to be right at the end of the Rincon de loix, and we managed to park behind the agency. We went in the shop and was less than warmly greeted by a lady who apparently got thrown out of the Gestapo for practicing cruelty! She told us we had to return the keys on the day we left. I explained that would be 0830 in a week's time and would she be here to pick them up. She eventually realised that as the shop opens at 1000 am it would mean a very early start for her so she reluctantly agreed we could leave them in the lounge of the apartment as they left.

As they say location location location, and this apartment didn't have it. It is up a hill and Julie and Shell don't do hills! Shawn was already in town he had booked into the La Cala hotel for a night and he had to do hills on that occasion because we were trying to find the entrance to the building. Once we had it is a fairly comfortable apartment, but without air conditioning, this was another negative for the girls, but if nothing else Shell and Jules are Trojans and they decided the best thing to do was go to the Marina bar and get bladdered.

So we arrived at the Marina and they ordered drinks as did I and we reacquainted ourselves by chatting about various things for a few drinks more. It was eventually decided that we would go into the Old town that night.

Ange my wife was working but she was OK about me going out with them, and I walked up the hill whilst Shell, Julie and Shawn got themselves ready. Its hard to say which was the most fastidious, but on balance I think it was Shawn, who wore the blue shirt predicted by Julie.

We got a taxi to town and started in O'Maras where Jonathan works, the next bar was the Happy Handbag. This bar as the name implies is a gay bar and the guy who owns it Ken has a collection, no a plethora, of handbags adorning the walls and ceiling. These handbags are given by customers. Julie was like a child in a sweet shop (who by this time had a sufficiency of the falling over water inside her). We think she went round them 3 times before she sat back in her seat emptied the contents of her bag and handed it to ken. He placed it in a prominent place there and then. In an aside to ken Julie said that Shell had a Chloe bag and she would persuade shell to send it mmmmm!!!

We decided then to go around to Papagayo (a dutch bar and papagayo means parrot) the name is also a play on the word gay. Mario and Yuri are nice guys and always welcoming. We were all getting a bit worse for wear by this time, so we decided to go home after this bar until I got a text from Jonathan saying he was in the Company bar, so we decided one last drink with him.

It was getting on for 2 am before I got out of the taxi the girls had been up for about 24 hours.

I don't think they got up too early the next day, but when they did they settled on the beach, I took them up the hill in the car that day because they were coming to ours for a curry.

Each day they went to the beach and at some stage I would wander down and have a chat. Both shell and Julie had this observation about the Spanish sunbathers, no matter if they were swimming or sunbathing they always look elegant, their hair always in place, make-up perfect. So Julie decided one day that she was doing the make-up to perfection and emulate the Spanish senoritas, Shell said "After a swim she looked like she gone 10 rounds with Joe Bugner, the eye shadow smudged and lippy all over the place. We still don't seem to have the knack" They reverted to not bothering.

We spent their last night at paneils restaurant where as usual we had an excellent meal, we all drank sangria and had an early night. You may have noted that I don't mention Shawn much, well Shawn is like the elusive pimpernel we sought him there we sought him here, but at any time when we were together someone would say where did Shawn go.

I dropped them at the airport sad to see them go because they are great company and good friends, Shell did whisper to me "..and that Ken ain't getting my Chloe bag neither." ...... I look forward to next year...