Meet Jamie

Following Following a hectic summer, with visitors filling casa alejandro to capacity and a visit to England, all is now quiet in Pradosol. We are very busy with repairs and maintenance, cleaning and gardening as well as enjoying more unpredictable weather varying from thunder, lightening, rain and clouds, to high winds then wall to wall blue skies and hot sun, all within one afternoon.

I have attached a photo of my adopted pet Jamie who keeps making an appearance to survey my gardening efforts or watch me peg out the washing as if I am some sort of strange alien exhibiting very peculiar behaviour. He moves very slowly, which is one of the reasons I like him, unlike the darting lizards which launch themselves out from behind my plantpots when I am watering my plants. He holds onto the fence with his little toes and uncurls them one by one in preparation to move, then slowly and determinedly he moves a leg, then another, his bulging lidded eye watching and rotating all the time. Sometimes he is at ground level where he blends in with the stones or the rockery at first resembling a moving rock. He has been seen perched on the garden wall, driving the neighbours dogs potty, just basking and blinking out of their reach, much to our amusement. Yes, I reckon he is quite a character and I imagine he we be off to hibernate before very long. My efforts to formally identify him and establish his preferences have proved inconclusive so I just hope he will stay close, enjoying my little garden whilst he can and will return again next summer.

Imagine this

You are a Spanish native, you wake up one morning in February and whilst it is sunny and warm, you know it is early in the year and will become much hotter, so you don your black skirt and cardigan, tights and shoes. Off you go for a walk to the village when coming towards you is this short, dumpy, middle-aged woman wearing knee length denim shorts and a red vest top (“Georges” – but you wouldn’t know that), bouncing along the road with a big beaming smile as if she’s just won the lottery. As she approaches you she broadens her smile even further and says “hello, I am on heat” and then does that gesture only a hot or post coital woman can do!!! Worse still, she then does the same to your recently heart transplanted husband sitting on the wall!

Well, as you’ve probably guessed, that is my latest faux pas!!! I only found out in my last Spanish class that I haven’t been saying “I am hot” but “I am on heat”….ooops! It is to the credit of the Espanols that they didn’t fall about laughing to my face, but nodded in bemusement!This can be added to my previous miscommunications of telling the architect that I intend to live here in two arseholes (easy to mix up Spanish words for years and anus), that I loved him (rather than the house) and to the kitchen fitter “I am a bit” rather than I am small! One thing is for sure, my lack of ability to learn and remember the language has not had a dampening affect on my enthusiasm to try to communicate!!  Better get back to my books/cds/computer/class!!