Not here as we are now back to the lovely Yorkshire rain ! However Spain was very, very hot so we did little but read and swim during the day but had some lovely evenings out as the sun went down.

We went over to the local town of Guardamar one evening for their Moors and Christians’ parade – a couple of years ago we went to the biggest one in Spain at Alcoy – this was a lot smaller but still very, very loud – even the kids who are used to cannon going off had to retreat when the gunners started!

There were some lovely lights and the costumes were excellent – no close up pics unfortunately as it was very crowded.

It was my grandmother’s 97th birthday the day before we got to Spain so we went out for a meal with family and friends to celebrate – here she is with Jake and Ellie at her favourite Chinese in Guardamar which does an excellent 3 course meal with half bottle of wine for around 4 euros!

Ellie has discovered she likes sangria – especially when it is served looking like a proper holiday drink with the requisite decorations – here she is with a very large glass!

We are off to Asby de la Zouche Castle in Leicestershire for another show this weekend so will post pics from Berkeley when I can. That was a lovely event – bit wet but we had a great time at a stunning location.

Yes I know it is a little bit late but had a house full of people when we got back and then have been laid up with the dreaded chest infection so have not had time to post since we returned from sunny Spain.

We had lovely time – it was mostly very warm and sunny and we had a couple of visits to the beach and a few bike rides. Also did Karaoke with my cousin Joanne which we really enjoyed – Ellie and I did a couple of  rockin’ Meatloaf duets!

Have got a couple of pics of the seaside bit –

To counteract all that eating and drinking you need some exercise and one of the things I like most to do in Spain is go cycling. This is Jake in one of my favourite places to cycle, the scrubland just about 5 mins ride from my little Spanish house. It is a big off road paradise (much easier on the bones than the Annapurnas!) with the most wonderful views of the mountains and sea.

I also love the weather of course , that pic above was taken on Dec 23rd – look at that sun! Nothing like Yorkshire.

This pic below is the view from my little house the morning after we arrived,  the 22nd Dec – you can’t tell but you can see the sea through the gap in the houses – fab!

I also love the fact that the Spanish do Xmas very traditionally – there are lots of lights and all the beautiful large scale nativity scenes – the Belen. This is the church square in Torrevieja.

They have a celebration on Christmas Eve called Papa Noel where Santa (0r in Torrevieja a whole train of them!) comes into town and gives the children sweets or presents. Most of the children dress in Santa outfits – this little girl was waiting to see him all dressed up looking very cute.

Sandcastles – I remember building some pretty good stuff as a kid on the beach at Weston Super Mare – boats and cars etc but the Spanish sand artists are amazing – this was one on the beach in Benidorm this Xmas.

We came back to the UK on the 30th and spent New Year with my sister, her two kids and cute dog. New Year’s Eve we had my brother Ben and his girlfriend Amanda round and our neighbours.

This is Ellie with Isabelle, our neighbours’ beautiful granddaughter, who was with us for a bit on New Year’s Eve before she got sleepy.

Do not have any other good pics from New Year’s Eve sadly as old camera does not like taking pics in low light – new camera has been written off by the menders and they have sent vouchers towards a new one so will be sorting that out soon – will try very hard not to get this one wet – but will buy insurance as a precaution!!! However do have a very cute picture of Buffy my sister’s dog who behaved very well on her first visit here.

Well I hope that you have all had a good festive season and are looking forward to 2009. It has been a very sad year for lots of close friends with lots of heartache and we have had our share of traumas here but I am confident that the future will be so much better.

I am very, very  lucky. I also have the most fabulous kids in the world and fantastic friends and work colleagues who have been so supportive – couldn’t have done it without you guys, thank you all! Wishing you all the best for the coming year.

Well got back from Spain last Weds very late – it was a lovely holiday very hot so we spent most of our time at the beach, pool and water parks. Lots of sitting around reading books, going out for meals and generally being very slobby which was lovely. Heat was a bit intense at times though (not to complain!) so had to go and cool off in the jacuzzi pictures of that and us all out for a meal in the local square below.

As promised here are some more of our pics from our recent holiday to Spain. We did  a lot of travelling around as usual and had three long bike rides as the weather was so good as you can see from all the sun in these pics. We visited the spa baths at Archenna and they have built a new pool with wonderful Jacuzzis, bubble jets, whirlpools etc which is fab. Also went looking at boats in the local marina and priced some in the boat dealers in Alicante.

It does cheer me up looking at these pics as we have had such bad weather here just lately – lost a couple of roof tiles this weekend which is a pain. My mother e-mailed Ellen to tell her that they were having unseasonably warm weather there at the moment and told her not to tell me! I really don’t want to turn into someone who is obsessed by the weather but it is depressing when all it does is rain. Having said that it has been nice this weekend and there are spring bulbs coming up in the garden so the end is in sight. Enjoy the pics!

Our little Spanish house with cacti

Bougainvillea in our garden

 Alison cycling

Palm trees at the spa in Archenna

Calpe taken from the rock