Like this:

I appreciate that it is some time since I put pen to paper, well fingers to keys, so today is a bit of a catch up session.

The end of January found us heading off to a rented apartment at Torrox Costa just this side of Malaga in southern Spain. On our way down we had booked hotels at Perpignan and Valencia. Suffice to say that we had a very relaxing and stress free time the whole trip except for Day 2 in Valencia. There is a very local MO in this town.

1. Spot yourself a foreign registered car stationary at traffic lights.

2. Put a knife through the side wall of one of the tyres.

3. When the driver realises that he has a flat tyre and stops one of the ‘team’ will distract the occupants during which bags are stolen from the car and attempts used to steal money using cards etc.

Having read up on similar goings on in Seville we decided to give that town a miss only to be caught unawares. This happened despite our best efforts to secure all the luggage by putting it in the car but still lost out. I lost my bag with all my documents and wallet and Sue her overnight bag. So, two new tyres later, reporting to the local Police and looking at mug shots, we were looking forward to a good rest, which is what we got. Temperatures up to +20.

Back to France and reality saw -10 and it felt SO cold and the house took three days to warm through again. Replacing everything official that was stolen has proved remarkably easy and we now only have my passport to organise – through Paris and at great expense.

Today saw me back at the hospital following another blood test on Monday. We got the results through the post yesterday and spent some hours comparing them with the last set and looking things up on the net. I don’t know why I do this as I always get in a bit of a state and think the worst. So it was with trepidation that we saw the specialist this afternoon who took one look at the results, and me, said that there was nothing to worry about and told us he would like to see us for a further check up in August. So, what was all the worry about?

We can now make plans for the next 4 months.