Weather, Quizzes and Punctures

Saturday 29th January 2011

A week of fairly nasty weather interspersed with interludes of very pleasant sunshine . It started with high winds, turned to rain, developed into storms, settled into gales with ocasional thunder and finished with hail but there was always spells of of hot sunshine. Weird and unpredictable but I am writing this as the sun sets majestically over the Atlantic and the forecast is promising.
We have settled into the routine of La Rosaleda, managed to visit the farm shop, the market and the beaches between climate changes.....some stunning surf one afternoon.
Have renewed friendship with Paul & Marianne, parked nearby who we met 3 years ago on a bus to CADIZ and got on well with, saw briefly last year but not parked close to and who are now are best buddies......especially since they partnered us at the Wed. night quiz and we came 2nd (could have won). Since over 4 weeks last year the Gf and I were placed 1st,2nd,3rd & 4th with a variety of partners we have a reputation to maintain......and the money is useful.

Through Paul & Marianne we have joined the Boules set and having purchased our own sets at the Chinese Bazaar (7€50 each) have had 3 very jolly afternoons with P&M, Tony & Sabena, & Jim & Carol.

Dave & Geraldine arrived on Monday having abandoned Nick & Barbera in Girona still trying to get their Hymer moving. To be fair, there are no campsites open in bandit country at this time of year and N&B were being looked after by the AA rescue team so they had no option but to press on. As of today, N&B are back on the road and mobile...but around 2500€ poorer......having had both fuel pumps (high and low pressure) replaced although the second (fiat main dealer) garage has suggested that the neither of the pumps looked as though they had been replaced recently...???? An email this evening suggests that they will be here monday/tuesday after getting to Vilanova today.

Just to keep me on my toes, the small God of luck who normally watches over me presented me with a flat rear tyre on the bike this morning in case I was feeling overconfident. Last year we had a puncture on the scooter. Fortunately I had a puncture repair kit with me, although the glue tube was dried up but neighbours wre soon flocking to assist. Successfully mended said puncture and inflated tyre only to discover that the valve was leaking, albeit slowly. Rode into town to discover that replacement schrader valves are not a common item in the local bike shops (2) but I did get one in the motorbike shop...but the little twiddly tool to insert/remove them were unknown. Did pick up a spare inner-tube for a mere 3€50 which seemed very reasonable. Back at the ranch, word was circulated and a schrader valve tool appeared as if by magic and problem sorted..........which was a relief as changing the inner tube would involve removing the back wheel and disconnecting all the cables to the disc brakes and the hub gears which seems a daunting prospect.....I have emailed the Electric Transport Shop for instructions as the manual is more concerned with battery management and troubleshooting.

Phantom have still not sorted out the tracker gps......may have to drive somewhere remote and set the alarm off 30 times.

My great joy this trip so far has been the discovery that I can connect to Suffolk Libraries on the internet and download 3 books at a time for the E-Reader which last for 21 days before disappearing back into the ether..........don't ask me, I don't know how it works but it does and it's a terrific service which I would be quite happy to pay subscription for.....and they have 000's of books on the catalogue. The Gf is now getting interested and we may have to buy another e-reader.
Nextime: Radio Roda and the voice of america