Blogger's Block

I've spent the past few days telling myself that I ought to write something. That's always a bad sign because it means that I haven't got anything in mind. I've gone with the flow as long as I can, but it's time to write again, so that's what I'm doing. I don't know whether it will lead anywhere, but let's see. One piece of news which is always welcome to receive came in an email from our eldest daughter yesterday to tell us that she has booked flights for herself and our granddaughters to come out and see us at the beginning of April. Something to look forward to in the next two or three months. At the same time, I have mixed feelings because it means accepting that we're still going to be here in the spring. Viewings are still few and far between, and although people make the right noises and ask the right questions, so far that is as far as it has gone. We console ourselves with the thought that there are far worse places to sit out the selling process. So what, I wonder, does 2017 promise us. AS I look back over more years than perhaps I care to, one thing has become clear; things never turn out the way you had expected. The unpredictables creep in, some welcome, others less so. Last Sunday was a case in point. A mutual friend had posted some photos of a meal she had enjoyed at a local restaurant. They came as quite a surprise because the restaurant in question is a pretty standard, traditional Spanish menu which does well from the tourist and holidaymaker market. The food in the photos was not what you would expect. My wife and I decided it merited a visit. Then I got a text message from another friend suggesting meeting up for a drink one evening. I replied that we were going to give Bentomiz a try in view of the photos, and suggested they might like to join us. I got a reply almost immediately saying that the four of them were booked in for a five course lunch with wine pairing on New Year's Day; would we like to join them? Yes, we said. The day before I got joining instructions for the following day, which came as a shock. It seemed odd that we should 'meet us at the roundabout and follow us up, as the turn off the main road can be a bit tricky'. That didn't fit with where we thought we were going.That's when we discovered that our destination wasn't Bentomiz in the village, but Bodegas Bentomiz, a winery in the mountains about forty minutes drive from home. So a stroll up into the village transformed into a drive out to lovely country and some high end food served in the winery restaurant looking out over the valley and mountains between Sayalonga and Cómpeta. A totally unexpected way to celebrate the start of the year. I looked forward to whatever else the new year might have in store. I didn't have long to wait. Wednesday I woke to a tight chest, a hacking, dry cough that hurt my ribs and the father and mother of all colds. Ah well. You win some; you lose some. Happy New Year.