Chopsticks Allowed

On our quest for the perfect chinese restaurant experience we visited an establishment in Guardamar. Food was good but what really made the place shine where the staff. What truly pleasant people they were, had an interesting chat about China and learning other languages with a couple of the waitresses. The decor was very nice too, particularly liked a piece of art work showing a scene from china of a waterfall. Another thing was that the tables were nicely spaced so you did not have squeeze between to get to sit down. The usual bottle of wine with the meal and schnapps after but there was more a gift of a bracelet with the bill and another bottle of wine to take away with us. All this costs us a mighty, wait for it, 10.95. Its so nice to leave a restaurant feeling so relaxed and not to light in the wallet. The name of this new find is Chino Asiatic to be found at the far end of Guardamar past the church and carry on going past the Mercadona turning when you come to a large car park on the left( very handy for the restaurant ) the Chino Asiatic is at the far side of the parking.

The Gota Fria is here

Guardamar. With torrential rain throughout the night and most of the day, the damage it is causing is all around, many people with ground floor or accommodation at the bottom of a slope have found the the water pouring under their doors as it cannot drain away fast enough. The roads have been like rivers with 3 or 4 inches of water running down them. Manhole covers in the roads are being forced up and gushers of sewer type water gushing out of them. All this water is running down towards the beach and has eroded the beach into deep gullies (some several feet deep) as it makes its way to the sea, taking with it the wooden walkways, rubbish bins and anything in its path. On Reina Sofia park the duck ponds have overflowed and the childrens play area was roped off as the water has washed away a lot of the sand.
Driving inland to Formentera, lots of the fields are under water and resembling paddy fields, the farmers are will like this as they normally have to flood the fields manually from the sluices.

This & That From Around & About

What changeable weather we are having after heavy rain and hail storms in some places now the sun is back, what a surprise! We sat on the beach and swam in the sea yesterday. Still quite a few holidaymakers about , taking a chance on some sun after the awful UK summer I expect.
Heard an interesting and some what alarming tale today. A local business woman was attending a funeral, well that was the idea at least. It seems everyone got to the crematorium and the proceedings ground to a halt. The Funeral Director refused to continue until payment was made, expected cheques had not arrived. This good samaritan stepped in and paid the bill, later to be reimbursed by the grieving family. Makes you wonder what has occurred with other expat funerals and payments that lead the company to act in this way. I await further info on the matter.
Dia is once again open all day, well it was at the last count. Have you ever noticed they always have women working in our local Dia shop, one of the women told me that the company never employ men at this branch, I shall expect to see some of the men from around here burning there tee-shirts in protest at this blatant sexism. Spain certainly has a long way to go on the equal rights issues but my usual observation are that its the women who are short-changed.

Is it Thursday already?

Seems it is and no posting since saturday last. Its been a busy week. John did a stint on the animal rescue ambulance and boy did he need a shower when he got home. The hugh young dog he took to foster carers had been running loose eating anything she could find poor animal. What heroes the fosters are because this young lady is big now and still growing, lovely nature though as I saw when I meet petra out with her foster mum the next day.
As I say busy week, Bec poor thing has the flu, hopefully on the mend now though. We've had quite a bit of rain , oh yes bring it on. We did manage to get a nice walk through the park in Gaurdamar the other day though. The wild life there seemed to be enjoying the fact that everywhere had had a good wash. One lot of creatures that fascinates us are the terrapins in the parks pools. I recall friends keeping these type of reptiles as pets back in the sixties. There are native species of terrapins here in spain but we will have to get closers to see which these are. They range in size from one that would fit in the palm of your hand to huge things the size of a large dinner plate. The water fowl do not seem to bother them at all. We wonder what they find to eat in the pools, must be some good stuff has the population appears to be increasing

Its that time of year again

you know the weather cools down, quite a lot as it happens, leafs start to turn,days get shorter, everywhere gets quieter and as for John? Well he gets out the Hopi ear candles and gives us all some entertainment. This time Joaquin was around to see the whole process, mind you they are effective much more so than any thing the Doc tried. You can see from the photo Joaquin thought it was hilarious, and now he wants to try it himself. If he does I will be waiting to snap away for a few more pics to put in the family album. Makes you wonder what future generations will make of the whole thing. Bit more interesting than your average holiday photos I should think.

NB: Hopi candles came from the Health shop in Guardamar. No ears where hurt in the making of this posting