Ready for the off! - or only just!

El Toston y Faro at El Cotillo - a bit chilly!

Greyrocks has passed Christmas in Corralejo every year since 1992. Last year we went "off piste" for the New Year, and this time it was to be a Goan holiday that started in mid- December. This was to accommodate Chloë, who is no great fan of it all (Where does she get that from??) and has University closure days as well as normal leave, whilst Jack is less negative about it and also has to work as much as he can in his tourism low-paid job! So it would be almost two weeks for her and we would be away for about two months.
(It could now have been more as we have obtained five year Indian visas allowing up to six months - but "gently, gently"!)
So -  having returned from the Las Palmas birthday bash - we seemed to have plenty of time for preparation and closing down, but we hadn't reckoned on those factors beyond our control: health, weather and Spanish bureaucracy!
We resumed our healthy lifestyle campaign until our blood tests, with only a couple of lapses. This did the trick - the main purpose being to escape below the radar of our GP and the nurse. We went for the results a week later and - along with Ruth's 10 kg weight loss - got the "All clear!", but the  process of getting refunds on Bob's meds bought in advance for the summer at full price turned into an epic with multiple trips back to the Health Centre and to the pharmacy. It is still not fully resolved with respect to one of them!

The lapses in the regime were fun! Next door had a hire car for a while and we four went for a trip to Lajares, El Cotillo and the new British stores in the Los Alisios complex. We had an excellent tapas lunch at Los Piratas:- a new one on us - being in Lajares and inaccessible! We visited the lighthouse in windy conditions, and ended up back at Blue Rock. This led to arranging a meal out for the four plus hairdresser Elaine and Andrew. We went to El Anzuelo - now much improved- and as usual had a very jolly time as a sixsome!

Soon after Ruth began a filthy cold which has been doing the rounds, She was laid low by it for two full days, leading to cancelled plans for both business and pleasure, and the sense that we would barely be ready to leave. We were committed to our own "office party"  of days before, and made it a simple but tasty meal, including duck thighs from Lidl, that were not as good as we have had in previous years. and Ruth wanted to leave an empty freezer so that dictated some meals at home. The sewing machine packed up during a frenetic session of clothes mending, and the guy we had lined up to do some concrete work on the roof terrace didn't turn up. When there was triple confusion over a beautician appointment it was time to tear one's hair out!!

We were also on a drive not to waste the last remaining pre-paid sessions at the Bahia Real indoor swimming pool, so we fitted those in - in spite of both now having the cold - Ruth did some shoulder exercises there in addition to the swimming, and it also fits in nicely with Argentinian steak at La Bolada, where we have now worked out exactly what to order! After all, we would not be getting that for supper for a couple of months!

We left on schedule but Bob's cold was now in full flow, and three flights was daunting! We would have a day in Barcelona, so trousers and trainers were deployed.