Razor shells

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Bernissa fountain

Benissa fountain

Saturday, another dry and sunny day.  Not quite what the weather forecast predicted.  It did though start to rain in the evening.

Market in Benissa

Market in Benissa

Today we went to Benissa and the local market there.  Here knitting needles (I am reliably informed they were a set of rare five double-ended 2.5 variants) were triumphantly purchased, along with the vegetables for the evening meal.  Popped into the local church where there was an excellent Nativity display.  Carol bought two poinsettias, but what to put them on?

Nativity scene

Nativity scene

Lunch back at the house, but it was beginning to cloud over and was getting a little cool, so an early start for the fire today.  A swift visit to Jalon revealed the ideal poinsettia saucer, miniature paella pans.  The Christmas decorations have arrived.

Supper was razor shells in butter and parsley sauce (Steve ate these in great trepidation after his last experience), followed by  Bonito with potatoes and spinach.

Walk up from Senje

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Terrace

Terrace

Local Cooperative in Jalon

Local Cooperative in Jalon

Up for breakfast at 9.00, and then out to Senje for a walk up the local hill.  The walk takes us around the back of the hill and to the top where there is a white cross.  The land around here looks terraced, but in fact it is where the rocks have been removed and piled up in rows to allow plants to grow.  We did pass by old wells and a deserted farmhouse on this walk.

On the way home, stopped at a supermarket to buy some prawns for lunch, which were eaten with garlic and (Chris’s) lemon flavoured mayonnaise.  After a few glasses of wine, into Jalon where Rosemary & Carol went scrubby thingy shopping and the men to the local wine co-operative to replenish our stocks.  Ended up buying a bottle of sweet wine, and 5 litres of rose for a satisfyingly ludicrous price.

Back at the ranch, Chef prepared an excellent repast of pork chops with a caper sauce, those being the female-chosen ingredients for Chef’s latest Ready, Steady Cook test.

Calpe and Scamp

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Father Christmas

Father Christmas

Calpe rock

Calpe rock

Today we went to Calpe for a wander around the fishing port.  Lots of fishing boats in port, nets being repaired, and a boat being filled with ice in preparation for a fishing trip.  A walk through the town took us to a lagoon with pink flamingos, and an island filled with herons.  Alas the flamingos were a little too far off to make a good photograph.

On the way back to the car we took a walk under and part way around Calpe Penon de Ifach, the rock.  Here we saw some scuba divers in training, followed by a flying display of starlings.  On the Calpe rocks there were a group of midgets scaling its dizzy heights.  We will be meeting them at the top on another, less windy day.

View of Benidorm

View of Benidorm

Flock of birds

Flock of birds

Back home for lunch, and then a visit to Chris, Yvonne and Scamp.  Plans were laid for a Thursday wine tasting and tapas lunch. Afterwards a drink in the Hallelujah bar  to meet Jim  followed by shopping in the local Jalon supermarket.

Early morning rush to Spain

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Vineyard in Lliber

Vineyard in LliberView from Villa

Up unnecessarily early to catch a flight from Luton to Alicante, Rosemary is a bit of a worrier when it comes to catching flights.  Flight left Grande Britannia in sunshine and landed in Alicante in bright sunshine, early and without the fan fare of Ryan Air.   We were met, greeted and promptly ferried to the Villa in Lliber where Carol and John were staying.  On route we had a good view of Benidorm and Calpe rock. I do admit Benidorm is quite an impressive view, when seen from a distance.

Quick settle-in and then lunch followed by a walk through the local vineyards, back to the Villa, more wine and drinks followed by Rabbit Paella cooked by

Rabbit Paella

Rabbit Paella

View from Villa

View from Villa

Chef Juan.

Back in the office

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I had another night in Bristol, Tuesday night, all on my Jack Tod.  So off I went to the Lock Fyne restaurant and partook of the £15 meal with a glass of wine.  Came to more in the end, when I added an extra wine and coffee at the end.  Even so £15 for a good quality three course meal is still pretty good.

The waitresses were attentive, and when I complted the comment form I left the comment The waitresses were gorgeous.  Of course I over-tipped them. Hope I will win the 12 bottles of champagne.

Back home on Wednesday night and now I am in the office.  Working from home you do lose the the human contact, and it can be quite cool.  Meanies that we are no heating allowed before 16.00.

Now it’s Bristol

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Monday I set off early for Bristol.  Worked all day trying to get Loadrunner work with our application.  Loadrunner is as testing tool which can be used to emulate thousands of users.  It is used to load an application to see if it will support the required number of users.

Well there was success, but it is not going to be very easy to set up the data.  Ah well, that’s not my problem.

In the evening went to the Hole in the Wall, local Bristol gastro pub and had a Duck Leg confit on beans.  A cassoulet of sorts.  Was quite good, quite enterprising.

Newcastle

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One moment you are not so busy, thinking the recession has hit, then suddenly everything changes and you wonder if the jobs will be done before the Christmas break.

On Thursday I let the Train take the Strain and travelled to Gateshead to start on some short bespoke projects for a number of clients.  Good journey and the battery in the PC still had 50% life left at the end.

Next day I walked in from the hotel to the office.  Set off in the dry, but by the time I was near the office a storm had brewed,  It was dark, the wind blew and snow, hail, sleet and rain fell, making the last few minutes a bit miserable.

Finished up early and caught the train back, this time I made use of the Internet connection on the train.  It was often slow and unpredictable, but was able to read my emails.

I have to admit the train is quite civilised, better than the 4 plus hour drive in the dark on a busy Friday night.

The kitchen fitting – day 4

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A running tap in the kitchen

A running tap in the kitchen

The dresser area and fridge.

The dresser area and fridge.

Thursday has been and gone.  We now have water back in the kitchen, the dishwasher is connected, but still no cooker.  The worktops are all attached and treated.  The dresser area has been constructed.  There was a small design change in the dresser area, some of the filler planks were not inserted because it would have made the top unit too wide and obscured the light switch.  It’s all coming together.  Hopefully today we will have the dresser completed and some of the doors & drawer fronts attached. 

Still to do are the cooker hood and cooker splash back, along with the worktops upstand.  Then I will have to get out the paint brush and paint the walls.

Thursday evening was in the Plough and Anchor.  Splashed out on a steak, which was cooked how I asked it to be cooked – rare.

The kitchen fitting – day 3

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Work surface in position

Work surface in position

Work surface in position

Work surface in position

The work surfaces were cut to size, and the hole drilled for the tap.  The joins between the surfaces were also cut ready for assembly.  The cutting was made difficult because the walls are not square.  One time I went downstairs to see the progress and I was confronted by knee deep shavings from the router.  Luckily this was all swept away before Rosemary materialised.  Finally a top surface of stuff was placed on the work surface.  The work surface is wood (oak), and does require treatment every few months.  Sounds rather high maintenance to me, but damage can be repaired with sand paper.

Another meal at the Plough and Anchor, for me it was fish and chips with mushy peas, and for Rosemary a pasta.  I think I have a date with the waitress, she is interested in visiting Cambridge and seeing the Georgian artefacts in the Fitzwilliam museum.  She is Georgian.  It would have been nice to make it a threesome with the second Georgian waitress, but they can’t have the same day off.

The kitchen fitting – day 2

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Drying work surface

Drying work surface

The new dresser

The new dresser

Tuesday, another day working on the kitchen.  By the end of the day the place looked like total chaos.  The work surfaces where laid around the kitchen while their undersides dried.  The cardboard boxes were building up, will have to be going to the skip to get rid of those on Thursday.  The base units where the sideboard was, were also constructed, and the fridge moved to its new location.

Ate late, went to the pub at 20:45 for a meal, Rosemary had pie of the day, while I had a side of pork spare ribs in BBQ sauce.  Yummy.  At least the pub was warm, and we thawed out a bit.