Forget last year's lobster bring on the Tuna

...Sunny days abound in La Cala, clear blue skies and temperatures in the high 30 degree C. As it is July it is my Wife Angela's birthday. As she is working on her birthday we decided to celebrate the day before. I didn't tell her the arrangements but I had organised a meal for 5 at a restaurant called Al Fresco in the village of Finestrat. Dave and Pete were invited and Dave's brother Mike who is staying with them for a week's holiday.

The trip entailed a bus ride, because none of us wanted to drive, knowing that there would be plenty of alcohol involved in such a day's outing. We arranged to meet at the bus stop at 1215, and that is all Ange knew, she didn't know where we were gpoing or where we were eating. She didn't even twig when we got on the bus. The bus stops right in the centre of Finestrat and as we were not eating until 2.30 pm, we decided to call in another bar/restaurant for pre-lunch drinks. This bar is called Moli dos, because there is a Moli uno.

Now as I have been having problems with my glucose readings being very high, I decided to stop drinking mahou and instead I started drinking Tinto de Verano, which is red wine and casera (unsweetened lemonade) this had been successful along with other measures such as cutting down on carbo-hydrates and not eating too late in the day. So my reading which were formerly anything up 14 in a morning, were now down to between 6 and 7 which is near perfect. But, today was a free for all and I was not going to be as good as I formerly had been. So I started with a pint of Amstel, followed by another. Dave and Michael joined me, Pete had a San Miguel and Ange a diet coke (she can't drink until she has eaten otherwise she is fit for nothing later).

Once we had our aperatife, we wandered along to Al Fresco. We were early but as we were the only ones there the restrauteur was more than happy for us to dine early. The waitress, who apartently was from Moldovia, scurried around to set us a table outside in the shade, whilst Jim the owner and Chef took our drinks order. He said "Do you all like prawns....?" to which I answered "..Is the Pope Catholic?" ... "Ah good I will prepare a few for you whilxst you decide on what you want to eat..." he said with some glee. The Menu del Dia was very good and we all wanted items from that. I and 4 others had the tuna mixed salad ad Ange had cerano ham and melon. For the main course I and Dave had minute steak, chips and roast vegetables, Pete and Mike had chicken stir fry and Ange had fresh tuna steak. We had ordered a bottle of white wine, which was quickly followed by another and then a third, Mike drank pints of beer.

From a diabetic point of view then came the dilemma, Pinapple or Stawberry cream cake, no contest, I had the strawberry cream cake along with the other three lads and Ange had the pinapple. In the meantime, Jim the owner heard us talking about Ange's birthday and treated us to a bottle of bubbly, very generous....and he brought a desert wine for us with the sweet.

We finally finished with cafe cortado for Pete and Cafe con leche for the rest of us.

One of the local Scots population (another guy called Jim) came and sat at the next table and we all struck up a conversation. He told us he had just left his pool and decided to take his dog for a walk and call by for a coffee. He was extolling the virtues of living in Finestrat village as opposed to Benidorm. We all prefer not to live in Benidorm, it is far too noisy and in certain parts can be rowdy at this time of year when the British tourists are unleashed from 'Nanny' Britain, who dictates to the mass populus what and when they must drink. So when they are allowed out into a liberal country which is completely in tune with sensible alcohol usage and therefore has it available cheaply and widely, they tend to be like children in a sweet shop and run amock. In the sleepy villages where we socialise, we savour the wine, drink sensible quantities slowly over long periods rather than drink like the next drink could be the last. During this conversation Jim the Owner/Chef asked if he could join us for a drink, which we welcomed (he was a wonderful host). He told us of his origins and how he likes to run his restaurant, and he clearly feels inhibited with menus, because he said if we liked anything in particular next time to pre-warn him and he would endeavour to do it.

After such a great afternoon it was time to get our bill and move on. Jim promptly did some reckoning in his head and said lets call it 55 Euros, I gave him 60 and said lets call that a deal. He said. "that's far too generous" I said "We are extremely happy with the food service and entertainment, we are more than happy to pay 60 euros", "Then" he replied. "...you can have another bottle of wine and a pint." So we sat there for a little longer until it was finally time to catch the 4 pm bus.

Oops! No bus. The last bus was at 1 pm. So we went into "The Font", another bar, and had a drink whilst we considered a taxi or two. The Spanish waiter who said "Call me 007, James Bond" for some reason best known to himself, kindly rang for 2 taxis. In no time at all we were driving back down to La Cala and Marina bar bound for a few more drinks.

In the bar was Garth and Veronia, Sheila was also with them and there were spare seats to the side so we sat in those. Bob, John and Anne were at another table we couldn't quite fit around and in time they joined us as did Michelle and her son Connor, Rick and Joanne (Joanne was here briefly for a hen party) and as the evening went by Patrick also joined us. The evening transpired to be a major party atmosphere which was good for us all but specifically for Ange as it was her birthday. At one point Pepi put on the record "Compleanos felis" or happy birthday and we all sang to her. In general it was a fantastic day and the Al Fresco restaurant in Finestrat should be at the top of everyone's list of favourite places to dine.

I emailed Laurence the following day in response to an email I received from him. He and Tony are currently in the UK. I explained how nice the meal was and the cost, he and Tony joined us last year. He replied "55 Euros!!!" ... "It was that each last year!" ... I didn't reply, but I was well aware that if I made the same mistake as last year in going to a posh place, I would never hear the last of it, but if I am honest, the 55 Euros we paid this year was far better value, far better in flavour and quality...and a fifth of the price... and Ange merely swapped the lobster for tuna...A lesson learned....

San Juan and a long summer...

,,,San Juan has been and gone. What a great night though! Everyone I can think of was there, at least 40 people in our group. There they are on the left the mottley crew.

I have to say a great big thank you to everyone who brought food and drink, and especially Lee and Ben from the Bodega Bar in Finestrat, what generous guys!

Everyone I spoke to had the best time ever despite the rather short-sighted stance of Finestrat Council, who seem not to recognise the importance to the local economy of this event. No matter, the people there made the evening a great success and lets make next year even better.

...Lots have been happening. But unfortunately it's been a bad year for my wife and I, I lost my Dad in January and Angela lost her Mum only a couple of weeks ago, our son Ian two grandparents. But life goes on and back here in La Cala that's what its been doing.

...I had a spot of trouble with the Policia Locale the other day, or El Plod as I affectionately call them. I was on my way to Benidorm in the car. I tend to drive along the bay and up the back road past the incomplete hotel to get on to the N332 road. As I turned the corner by the side of the hotel, the car in front was doing 5 miles an hour, and I was a bit late, so I accelerated and overtook him, but as I did so El Plod in a landrover was on the oncoming side, witnessed my move and drove as to block my side of the road so I had to stop. In all such circumstances every Brit is likely to react the same way and say to the Policeman "hablas inglese" to which I got the response "No inglese Espanol solo". He wasn't going to make it easy clearly. He made me open the hatchback, then asked for my documents. In Spain you have to carry your driving licence, Insurance documents and a recept proving payment of the policy, your passport, a SUMA receipt (local Tax). And you must be in possession of two triangles, two safety vests, a full set of bulbs for the lights and if you wear specs a spare pair. An additional offence too is driving with incorrect footweat aka sandals. I was very worried because I could be facing a 60 to 100 euro fine I think he sensed my anguish. The Policeman was stern and studied my passport in fine detail. He told me in Spanish it is an offence to drive fast in a built up area. I said "lo ciento" meaning 'I am sorry' and he then said "OK drive slowly" and let me go. Phew....very lucky!

...The Marina Bar continues to be the base for meeting most of my friends. Sundays often end up as a major social meeting where we tend to fill the bar up much to the delight of Pepi and Antonio the owners. At this time of year there is a market all the way around the bay. The stall holders sell bric-a-brac, they do henna tattoos, braid hair, sell jewelry and cheap watches etc. On the first day it should have started a crowd of potential stall holders met on the beach front. There was a council official there, but the tone seemed to get a little heated and the meeting dispelled. The market didn't set up that night or for several nights after that. I asked Antonio what the problem might be. "I doan know, eeet seeems to bee to do wid de contact and licences...eeet may start next week or August....I doan know..." The next time I went to the bar Antonio was putting the extra tables and chairs out, they are allowed to put 8 tables on the pavement because the close the road from 6pm. "Bobbie..." he exclaimed, "De market ees sytarting tonigh" and sure enough the council officials came and installed the barriers to stop cars using the road, and the stall holders started to construct their stalls. I like this time, it injects a strong holiday atmosphere, and people seem to come from nowhere and the bars become busy once again.

Unfortunately the music has been stopped by the Police. The rumour is that another bar owner had his music stopped due to there being no licence, so he placed a denuncia (denouncement) with the Police who had to do the same to all the other bars. This meant Andrea had to stop singing at La Cala Cala and Cheryl at the Marina bar. Andrea however managed to get another gig at a bar just over the border in La Cala de Villajoyose, only a couple of hundred yards away, and they were allowed to play music. So on a Friday and Saturday Andrea takes some trade from the Marina and La Cala Cala. But not all the Villajoyosa residents are happy with the situation and I heard that on saturday night someone threw a bucket of water over andrea as she sang from one of the aprtments above....as you can imagine she was not very happy.

...Anyway the summer sees a lot of the long-term Brits migrate back to blighty, because many find it too hot here in July and August. Jeremy and Colin, Trevor and Andrew, Gary and Mike, and sundry others have departed, it was a bigger job for Laurence and Tony, they had to reposition their yacht for the summer, they sailed it back to Denia. Then they had to pack up their home before setting off to the south of England. But here there are still a hand full of us die hards who will keep the local watering hole afloat. We have new members to our group such as Michelle (Shell) and Jonathon, who no doubt you will get to know as time goes on.

Hopefully nothing tragic will drive my wife and I back to the UK unexpectedly, and I can begin to blog in earnest once more.

Watch this space......I have new subjects on whom to blog.................