It has been a busy November starting with a visit to the UK at the start of the month. We had just enough time to finish the repair on Mitsy but the fault is still apparent although Lorenzo says that a blockage will eventually clear and will run smoothly. It could take up to 3000 kms though. We will see.

Our three weeks in the UK were enjoyable although the weather was not. It was damp, drizzly and cold and we did see snow falling although it did not settle. During our stay, the weather back home in Murcia was sunny and warm. Apparently it did not rain at all.

We  visited my Mum daily and it was good to see that carers were visiting three times a day to ensure she took medications, got her meals and, when possible , get her up and dressed. This was rare and it was not until the 19th November that, although she had got out of bed on occasion, that we saw her dressed. She is not making the physical effort and prefers to lie in bed. Of course this has an effect in that visitors may stay for a shorter time and as for the great grandchildren, they cannot be expected to sit at the end of the bed for a couple of hours. Thankfully this is an incentive for her to get up.  Her back pains then miraculously disappear.

Our English car then gave us problems. There was an awful juddering which we tried to solve by having all the wheels balanced. This did not work so we took the Mazda to a garage who did major work on one wheel which needed pad and disc and a new caliper (whatever that is). This did not solve the problem though and so we took it back to the tyre company who discovered that all the wheels were completely unbalanced and blamed it on their equipment which cannot have been calibrated correctly that day! Anyway, the boss supervised a new re balancing procedure and everything is now fine. I wish we could manage without cars.

We were in the UK this time for both Maisie’s and Ronnie’s birthdays. We went out for meals each time. A pleasure with such well behaved kids. Thea took her swimming tests to be able to get into the Beverley Barracudas Swimming Club/team. Although she has to be 9 years of age  (next February) she passed with flying colours having to do all four swimming strokes including butterfly and tumble turns. A very easy for a girl who, at 8 years of age, can swim one mile none stop. Well done Thea. Of course, I don’t think David and Melanie have thought about the training at 5am in the local pool. Maybe that won’t happen just yet.

On our return to Spain, the weather remained mild and there were enough olives to spend a couple more days harvesting. Many had fallen down in the wind but there were enough on the trees to generate a further 10 litres of Virgin Oil. So the final tally this year was 400 kilos of olives producing 60 litres of oil. That is a low percentage of 15%. Last year we were getting 25% but this is almost certainly due to the low rainfall this year and the exceedingly hot and dry spring and summer. All that remains to do now is trim all the trees which were not harvested. Now we look forward to our oranges and grapefruit which are looking great and will be ready by the end of the month.

Our friend John took a 4 day break to Brussels and, given recent events, was extremely nervous. However he seems to have had a great time eating waffles and kuskus.

We are now in full swing preparing for xmas and looking forward to the visit of Sally and Jim. We may even dust down our xmas tree. We have had two invites for the 23rd and the 24th so any diet we are still on by then will fail miserably.  Maybe we should give up chocolate and marzipan?