11 to 20 August - Stuart, Michelle and Jack

My son Stuart, his wife Michelle and son Jack came for their annual visit from 11 to 20 August. In the middle of a summer which the local people of Parcent swear is the hottest that they can remember, it rained on their first day!! Good thing mind, because it did lower the temperature a little.

It was too hot to do much during the day, except play in the pool. Fortunately they were more than ready to do just that - especially Jack. He loves being in the water, especially when his dad throws him around - the rougher the better.

Jack's favourite water game was hitting Stuart with his "thingy". He would hit Stuart on the head, and he would then have to pretend that he was knocked out in the water. Jack could play this game until Stuart was shattered jumping about.


One lunchtime we did go out, to the local Piscina (town swimming pool) where they have a lovely restaurant. There is a large outdoor area set amongst the trees and with a canopy. Its lovely and cool, even on the hottest day. And when Jack got bored, his Dad could take him for a walk amongst the trees.

At the side of the restaurant there is a large fish lake, which Jack loved. He had been to Mundomar the previous day, a water amusement park where Jack was much taken watching the fish swim in the large tanks. The ones here were pretty small by comparison, but he still loved watching them.

Stuart usually likes driving around to relax, but it was too hot this holiday, especially as our car does not have air conditioning! But they all seemed to enjoy their enforced relaxing holiday. To stop being bored Stuart would swim up to 200 lengths in our pool.

6 Aug 2009 - Paul and Jean at El Portet

Paul and Jean came to visit for a couple of days. They are staying at their own house at Calasparra, but came to us for a short break, and to bring us up to date with the latest news from UK.

It was much too hot to go for a walk, like we usually do. The most we would manage was to walk into Parcent to collect our post and have a drink at the cooperativea.

The rest of the time was spent between eating, drinking, wargaming and swimming. Paul is an old wargamer friend, and likes to play a game when he visits.

On their last night we went to El Portet, a lovely restaurant a few miles from Parcent on the Orba road. It was the first time we visited in the summer, and it was lovely to sit outside on a warm evening with a cooling breeze. Just as well, because the service was extremely slow. Most unusual, and perhaps due to staff problems. But the food was well up to its usual excellent standards. Best of all was a new sweet on the menu, a sort of cold bread cake with ice cream.