Our Christmas trip to Malaga 2013

Our Christmas trip to Malaga 2013
Early on this year the three of us met that is to say myself Brian and Zorro not long after the Christmas and new year celebrations and all agreed that in 2013 we wanted to do something different this year over the Christmas and New Year period. We talked about options and decided we wanted to go to somewhere warm but not to far away or expensive over the whole 10 day period.

After some discussion and research we finally settled on Malaga in Spain, the next task was to find accommodation, hotels were very expensive for the time of year, so we looked at hostels their equivalent to our guest houses. Eventually I found one that seemed to tick all the boxes, because we all wanted single rooms in a pleasant setting.
Just before booking I noticed the company also had a range of apartments, including one in the city centre, it had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and from the photos looked like it would suit our needs and the price seemed quite reasonable compared to anything else.

So I e mailed to the others who were happy with it. I e mailed the owner who confirmed it was free, so we booked it, there seemed to be some confusion with communication so I passed to Zorro as he is competent in written and spoken Spanish and all was solved, all they wanted was a small deposit which was sent to them
Next was to find a flight for myself and Brian as Zorro was making his own arrangements, I looked at a range of airlines and then came the shock, the prices were way more than some of the holidays we had been on, also I could not find a single company that would do the return trip for our dates, so have therefore had to book with two low cost(but not in this instance) airlines, the times of flights are not the best either, but it should be a pleasant break in reasonable weather.

Zorro kindly made contact with the owners the other day and all is well for our booking, the hotel was outside Malaga and up a hill so as well we are placed in the centre, the only problems at present are that we still do not have information on how to gain access to the apartment and, wet weather may occur so unsure what sort of clothes to take for the trip, I now have my money for share of accomodation and some spending money, next task is how to get to the airport, whether due to time of flight and need to be there at 5am, to use a taxi or pay for car parking near to the airport, I have obtained our boarding cards for flight out, must remember to do the ones for return journey tomorrow
Well all boarding cards sorted, we have decided to book a taxi and that is all done despite fact initially I gave the wrong date, now waiting to hear from Zorro, discussed luggage allowance, hopefully will only need light clothing, but from weather outside here at present is a good time to get away, we have high winds and heavy rain. I need to sort out my porridge for the trip LOL.

20 December 2013
heard again from Zorro, he has sorted out access to the apartment, weather fine, only issue is that lift at station not working so he will come and meet us at airport. Bad news at present is that back is playing up, wonder why it always seems to be just before a holiday, am charging up batteries for devices, what change these days with all this technology, that need chargers as a priority, together with various medication, just in case.

A Funny Old Year 10 December 2013

As we are approaching the end of the year and its early morning and I cannot sleep, it seemed a good time to give you readers an update on my thoughts and experiances over this last 12 months.

Where to start, maybe a reminder of a couple of good things such as my trip to Scandinavia where I went to Copenhagen with Brian,  then on to my holiday of a lifetime with Mykle and Jean in Norway,  not only did i have a holiday with them but found them to be two lovely kind people who had created a beautiful home out of nothing in such a beautiful setting. It was also a reminder of what i could achieve despite my bad back and other health issues.

The next good thing was that at last I had my TURP operation to help with my waterworks which will help in a number of ways for the future, the other good thong was that the doctors told me there was no underlying cancer which was a relief. Another bonus hopefully out of this was that, due to my complaint to the hospital the quality of the toilet paper will improve on the ward.

For some years I have been looking for different ways to spend my time that are more pleasurable,  I had been aware of the U3A organisation for some time and finally made an effort,  joining earlier in the year, I think I will write briefly now and maybe do a longer blog of my experiances with them another time.

I have been to a number of the main meetings and talks at U3A, which have been enjoyable, meeting new people in a social setting, plus I have joined a recently formed photography group within the branch, which is a pleasant mixture of people and skill levels. I also briefly joined a beginners group with them for Spanish,  but found I did not enjoy the style of tuition, I wanted to order a drink or meal not to know the waiters name, so gave it up.

Updated 12 December

As part of this I have become involved in creating a new database of members to more easily track the membership and their interests using a product called Cardbox, again more of this maybe in a future blog, si seems it was a positive move and has widened the circle social contacts I have.

Out of the blue earlier this year I started with nose bleeds in my right nostril which I have not had for many years. They seemed to get worse over about 10 days ending up in a trip to A & E when it would not stop eventually 3 hours later it stopped at the time we were in the middle of a heat wave. I got outside waited for my lift as it arrived, off it set again, this time they admittef me, put a plug up my nose and kept me overnight, the next day cauterised it and sent me home. Within an hour it was off again so back in for a further four days, I was amazed how many people came in during this time but unlike me were quiclky discharged. Finally they took the bung out and cauterised again, so far no more problems.

I forgot to say earlier in the year I finally bought this tablet which was a great buy, as I can read e mail when have access to Wi Fi, search the internet and do many other things when away from home including listening to my music and doing tasks such as my blog, which am doing in bed again as cannot sleep, oh I forgot I can also read,  I have plenty of reading material on it in fact I would imagine sufficient to last me the rest of my life

I went away with Andy and Brian to Newquay as recorded earlier, think I will look carefully at the length of trips in the future if on a coach or other forms of transport.

One of the things I wanted to do was to see Chorus Line the musical in London, again as I recorded on here I managed that plus to meet up with ex saga friends for a trip down the thames and then across it on the new cable car.

I asked my son what he wanted for his 40th birthday, he said a trip to the Grand Canyon it looks like finally next year we will manage this, together with a brief visit to New York and Las Vegas, I am advised that this will be best carried out in November, since then I have devifef to extend the trip for me after he returns from Vegas,  and then depending on whether my friend in Hawaii is available to visit there, otherwise to go to Australia and finally see Sydney and other places, before travelling on to Penang to meet with my friend from childhood, then possibly to visit Singapore and see the lights before returning home.

The trip may be the last long distance one other than possibly if I finally get to my safari which I have talked about for years, the sad thing for me is that at present I will be on my own, which will be enjoyable but I dont think quite so good as having someone to share the experiences but who knows whats round the corner

Over this year our ME group has created more social activities which I have enjoyed plus I now am assisting on the committee and am an active member of the Facebook group we have,  which has helped people cope with the isolation which is so often part of this condition.

The flat has finally had a coat of paint on all ceilings and woodwork and hopefully in the new year the living room will be decorated, it would of been done much sooner but for the problem of finding someone to fo the work, its odd that when so many are looking for work my trying to find someone to carry out the task has been so hard

Earlier this year I changed my computer and decided to use voice recognition more, its bern a mixed thing due to a number of reasons, I do know it is helpfil and encourages me to sit bettet on my seat improving posture and lessening back pain,  what I should of done was to have further training so I could do even more with it  and lessening the the effects of typing on my hands and arms, one of my resolutioms is to do this in the new year.

One of the other issues, has been the fact that I have been transferring my LPS,  (for those to young to know these are the large vinyl records we all used to listen to our music on in the past, ) onto my computer, part of the problem is that I cannot use both the microphone and input from the record deck at the same time, so have to disconnect the leads and alter the settings on the computer. The task is still not complete, but I am getting there, so far nearly 300 done.  The hope is that I will be more likely to switch off the tv and listen to the music and maybe do more reading instead
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A couple of months ago I joined a course to help people who have long term health or disability issues to cope with the symptoms and pain not as a cure more in becoming better at dealing with it, its run by an organisation called Breathworks and is based on Buddhist teachings but without thr religious aspect, I found it helpful and feel that it will help me to move on in how I deal not only with health issues but also generally in life

So a busy year of such contrasts, some of the things I hoped to achieve have fallen by the wayside but also other doors have opened that I did not expect.