Hop Skip Jump

The title tells you everything about my progress over the last few weeks, hopping over to Spain first to establish a signing date for the house sale there and squeezed in a fantastic birthday with Sina and friends. First she took me into the campo to the bottom of a dingley dell garden and there was a special birhtday treat of a swedish sauna that had been fired up for me, lovely, then onto a new Japanese and Thai restaurant in Chiclana where she had assembled a motley batch of old friends, the food was incredible with dumplings to die for.

It was then a skip over to England which wasnt too much fun consisting of one drunken night with two days to recover; looking out for a wayward brother and putting my dear old Gran in a care home; well she is 98 bless her.

So then it was jum^ping back over to Spain to deal with the hassle of house clearing. Spent a considerable amount of time stressing over the house sale in Spain as they are so laid back about the actual date whilst hitting you with all manner of new charges. For instance i hadnt paid my Basura or rubbish collection fee for two years because it was in the old owners name so was suddenly hit for 300 euros. This is just one of many odd fees to pay that you were not aware of till you come to sell as anyone will tell you you cannot sell with an outstanding debt on the house.
Anyway a date was set and two days frantic moving of furniture and records ensued with all the choice pieces ending up in Sinas apartment so it almost felt like a home from home which I guess was the general idea.

The day of signing was fraught with confusion for all concerned, the young Madrid couple who were buying their first house, the agent with all his figures wrong plus the bank rep with a cheque for the wrong amount and slack paperwork. I was convinced at any moment the whole deal would fall flat on its face which would have been a shame as I had already spent the deposit in Fes, whoops!!

Miraculously it all came together and I found myself mortgage free with a nice bundle leftover and we all know where that is going to be spent , dont we children yes in the good old Medina. After a few days thumbtwiddling in Vejer as to all intents and purposes I dont have a home there although my old home has been magically transported to Sinas as a Vejer base it was time to get my head around popping back to Africa.

At this stage my brain was full of scenarios including having my car turned back at customs, irate builders waiting for money and wondering how I would feel seeing the old house again. Breezed through Tangiers after a two hour wait, how unusual, and then the 5 hour drive to Fes with my brain on numb mode for most of the time.

Soon i was back on familiar noisy, bustling turf and straight into the house with my bundles of Vejer leftover lights, furnishings, a Buddha and pots and pans for the future kitchen. My first impressions were Wow but thats all for now as the footie has started.