Home alone…..

The last few weeks have been all about preparing for hubby’s trip back to the UK.

Its been full on – I swear Royal visits take less organising than this has but finally the day is here and he has left.

I am all alone now for two whole weeks. Its a sobering thought.

Well, technically I am not alone of course as I have the company of our two very gobby, very needy and very demanding cats. They spend the whole day wanting to be let in and out of the caravan, expecting their food bowls to be kept constantly full and then spend their nights cuddled up next to me on the bed purring for all their worth!

As the car lights disappeared down the drive this morning (yes he has taken the car back as it needs to be MOTed) I braced myself for a LONG two weeks without him.

As I have no way of getting out and about without the car I am pretty much confined to barracks. With enough food and water for me and the cats it feels as if we are preparing for a siege!!

Hopefully I won’t go stir crazy in his absence, although I can’t guarantee much as I’m not the best on my own!!

You can either expect a lot of random posts or complete radio silence such is the way it could go.

And I have a feeling I am going to be on Skype a lot………

 

 

Hubby returns….

Hubby returned safely to the fold yesterday after his two days away on a stag do.

He looked bleary eyed and sounded incredibly husky (rather sexy actually!!) but had thoroughly enjoyed his jaunt away with the lads.

Two days of male bonding and testosterone fueled events had clearly agreed with him and he enthusiastically spilled the beans as I caught up with all the news and goings on.

Unfotunately it would be more than my life is worth if I revealed what goes on in the inner sanctum of the stag do. A strictly male preserve of ‘macho-ness’ and bravado the phrase ‘What happens on tour stays on tour’ applies; although from what I can gather all that happened was vast amounts of alcohol were consummed and brain cells fried.

I feel it safe to reveal a few ‘hubby related’ tit bits from the weekend though! Go-karting on the Friday saw his competitive streak come to the fore but alas his attempts were not quite enough to beat the unconquerable ‘Mr B’ and he had to make do with second place. For ‘Mr B’ being beaten isn’t an option although I do seem to remember a swimming race in Prestatyn where he didn’t quite get the result he was looking for!!

Hubby also gallantly attempted to keep up in the drinking stakes and ended the night with a Sambuca and that ’empty vessel’ feeling – his words not mine! Unfortunately he doesn’t get the chance to indulge in heavy drinking sessions anymore – or maybe that is a good thing! Leaving a day early meant he missed out on the grand finale but kept his liver intact; a trade off that in the cold light of day was probably the wisest decision to make.

I can only imagine how heads and stomachs are feeling this morning as the lads wake up and contemplate their flights home. Lets hope there isn’t too much turbulence – of any variety!!

And so another stag was given a successful send off as he transitions from the echelons of ‘singledom’  and joins the rest of us in the ranks of ‘married old farts’

On a serious note – congratulations to D & K on your impending nuptials; its about time too really!! 🙂

 

Tough Love…

I have just got back from shopping and am slightly shocked to report that I have been mugged…….by a kid…….for a tin of tuna!!

There is a gypsy site just over the road from the supermarket and there are always a few waifs hanging around. They come and use the cafe and look so bedraggled and dirty that I have in the past exclaimed how sorry I feel for them. Not anymore!!

This morning there were quite a crowd of them and as I came out of the supermarket two of them started to follow me into the car park.

One of them who was no more than 5 or 6 walked behind me and pinched me on the bum!! which was obviously designed to get me to turn around. Huh…..they have to get up earlier than that as this girl is from London and learned a long time ago not to be easily distracted. I just pushed him away and he ran off but the other (who was older) was more persistent walking alongside the trolley grinning like a cheshire cat. I was more concerned about my bag than anything else and so was keeping a tight grip on that with one hand whilst trying to push him away with the other but he made a grap for some shopping and shot off with a tin of tuna!!

At that moment a security guard from the store came out and shouted and the kid threw the tin back at me and I have to say it was quite the shot as it landed straight back in the bag that he had taken it from!

Thinking it was all over I scurried over to the car and started loading up but when I looked up I saw that the guard was coming across to me with the lad and an older kid. I thought that they would just make him apologise but when they got to the car the older kid slapped the lad around the head really hard. I must confess to being quite shocked by this and cried out but they just dragged him away crying.

Wow…..tough love. Coming from a society where any form of physical discipline towards children is frowned upon I found the punishment maybe outweighed the crime but on reflection maybe a short sharp shock will stop him and make him think twice about doing it in future……or maybe it will just make him more careful not to be caught next time.

I guess I am an easy target as it is obvious I am not Portuguese and therefore not so likely to complain.

Either way my own personal security guard who has been somewhat lax about accompanying me shopping lately has now decided that it is not safe for me to go on my own and he will be escorting me at all times from now on – lol bless him

Never a dull moment here in rural Portugal 🙂

Ps – The cats are very relieved to know that their tuna was returned. There would have been much disgruntledness (not a word I know) if their stock take had come up one tin short!!

Drum roll please…..

Drum roll, fanfare……. I have an announcement to make.

I am embarking on a new challenge, an undertaking that will be the biggest thing I have ever done.

It will take time – about two years from now until completion but I am putting my heart and soul behind it and hope that I can come through and achieve it.

So…..what is it………

Well, I am about to embark on a Barefoot and Raw Marathon Challenge.

Full details can be found here at a new blog/website I have created called Barefoot and Raw but basically my challenge is to run 7 marathons on 7 continents (and yes there is a marathon in Antartica!) barefooted and fueled solely by raw food.

The reason for this craziness – Elephants……

Yep you heard that right. Elephants, a full explanation can be found on the About the challenge page on the blog but I was quite simply blown away by the story of the elephants at The Elephant Santuary in Tennesse that I just had to do something to help – please do take the time to watch the videos and you will see what I mean.

This challenge will have many stages, not least the logistics of pulling it all together and I am asking for help at this point in time in getting the blog out to as many people as possible. The more hits I have on the blog the higher my ranking with google, and the higher my ranking the more people get to see it. The more people who get to see it then the more chance of garnering publicity I have – you get the picture.

So, can I please ask that :-

1/ You go to the blog and read about the amazing elephants, follow it (I promise I will try to make it interesting) and subscribe so you receive all the updates.

2/ Forward the blog onto as many people as you can asking them to do the same.

Thank you so much, and I’ll see you over at Barefoot and Raw.

Don’t forget the link is www.barefootandraw.wordpress.com

Helen x

ps – I will still be posting tales from our travels here as well.

After the sun comes the rain…

It had to happen but after over two months of hot sunny weather it was still a shock to be woken by the sound of rain pounding on the roof of the caravan.

I lay in bed this morning warm and cosy listening to the drumming drone of the sudden change in weather glad that we had already moved bags away from the edge of the awning last night.  The clay ground here is like concrete and so it will be a struggle for the water to drain away today but hopefully our ‘moat’ will do its job and keep the worst of the surface water out of the tent.

The ground desperately needs some rain, the meadows that were lush and green when we arrived are parched and stripped bare from the cows grazing over the summer. Sebio has been supplementing them on hay over the last month and has now moved them to the top field again so we have lost our inquisitive neighbours. 😦

Molly is cuddled up on the bed not wanting to venture out in the cooler wet weather and Oscar is curled up on a deckchair in the awning – a half way house as he is not quite ready to be a ‘bed’ cat again yet.

We are in for wet weather for the next two days and then the sun returns for the weekend and next week, but it is a sign that the seasons are shifting and our summer in Portugal is drawing to a close. We have about 8 weeks left here before we head back into Spain and it will be a busy 8 weeks as we have the bulk of our sightseeing and trips out still to come!!

It will be a struggle to drag ourselves away from our little oasis here in Portugal as we have had such a relaxing and laid back summer, but new adventures await and its time to get out and explore a little……… 🙂