So we come towards the end of our
first week, dearly beloved, and we’re all still in one piece. A small
celebration is in order. Please raise your glass – I’ll have a sin alcohol
cerveza while you’re there.
Right, well when you’ve quite
finished all this frivolity, then I’ll get on with some of mine. It was quite a
busy morning in the Casa Me Duck. First of all, Russ was round again, and also
the lady who does the cleaning on a Monday which is why we all repaired to the
El Rekreo for breakfast. This time I made sure that the only way I could get
olive oil onto my shorts would be with a great deal of care and effort. Well,
as you know, care and effort are not two of my virtues, and so I managed to get
through breakfast unscathed today.
Towards the end of the morning the
big event of the day happened. Shopping. Yes, alright, I know, I know. I’ve
never looked on shopping as a leisure activity, and far less as a spectator
sport. However, I do accept that sometimes it is a necessary evil. Fair play to
Jen, she trusted me to find our way to Albatera, and the nearest Mercadona
supermarket. Trust which was sadly misplaced as I headed off in the wrong
direction, which meant that Jen had to take up navigation duties a lot earlier
than she’d maybe expected. Wee made it to Mercadona, though. I can’t ever see
that name without the UB40 song “Food for Thought” coming irresistibly to mind
– ‘I’m in Mercadona etc. etc.’ I have to say, the young male shop assistants in
Mercadona are every bit as helpful as their British counterparts, although
sadly nowhere near as smart. We came in search of cider, for the pork dish
we’re going to have in a couple of days. In the drinks aisle we asked one of
them for cider, then, when he looked blank, for seedra. A smile of
comprehension lit up his acned features, and he headed off to look in another
aisle. We looked at the shelf beside us. It was there. We didn’t see the
assistant again.
Back to the casa, then, and we
congratulated ourselves that we’d only forgotten one item. So we settled down
to lunch, and then to wait for the worst of the afternoon heat to dissipate a
little bit.
Thus encouraged by the fact that the
sketchpedition had already been a success, I decided to try for a double. Another
of the numerous local communities is called El Realengo. Out of curiosity I
googled the name, and it has a small variety of meanings, including free,
ownerless, and idle. Much like my good self, when you come too think of it.
It’s always struck me as looking similar in construction to San Isidro, and
indeed when I googled it, I found that it was built mostly in the late 50s.
Hence it has a ‘modern’ church, quite different from San Isidro’s, yet clearly
dating from about the same time. I quite like it, and it wasn’t difficult to
sketch.
Back to the Casa from there, then. We
did chew over the possibility of me taking off for the day tomorrow, but we’re
going out for lunch, which actually suits me fine. I’m perfectly happy to keep
taking these little follow my nose sketching expeditions in the afternoons for
the time being. I’m not in the habit of doing shout outs, but I’d like to say a
quick hello to my step dad and my Mum, who took the trouble to drop me a line
earlier today to say how much they’re enjoying An English Fool Abroad With His
Sketchbook. Well, they’re only human, after all.
So that just about wraps it up for
tonight. See you tomorrow.
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