I forgot to say that the other day I was delighted to see that I am not the only one reading this blog, so thanks Mike the Trike for your interest and also for letting me know I am not the only one who can hear the strange sounds from the other flats. When I ask my Spanish friends or neighbours they all seem to say the same thing, usually 'what dog?'

It's very easy to get nothing done...........I realise that it took me so long to get this blog up and running because I spent the first few years on a spectacular bender in Spain. 24 hour licensing didn't exist in England and so it seemed incredible to me that I could go out at any hour here. All that has changed and now this town has curbed its licensing hours, I have curbed my drinking and the obvious has happened back in Blighty. I have fond memories of illegal drinking holes in Soho and the desperate measures we used just to have a drink. When I think about it, the problem was more to do with having somewhere to go and chat till the small hours and less about the drink. Just before the 24 hour drinking was introduced I remember we went back to London and spent half the night searching and pleading with various establishments and ended up in a stranger's house with a bottle of wine she found in the cupboard.

Apart from the insomnia and the ability to socialise at whatever hour another reason ( there are more) for coming here was the discovery that there is a fiesta somewhere in Spain every day. This seems to be true here especially in the surrounding villages. In France there is a cheese for every day, in Belgium it must be beer, The Netherlands is probably some vice or another and Britain it must be a gripe or a moan. The first time I really understood the meaning of 'Whinging Pom' was in New Zealand whilst watching the tele and some Brits where disgusted at the hurricane that had ruined their holiday in the Caribbean.

I used to scoff at the things my mother sends me through the post but I often find them useful especially for teaching English and for any metric conversion. I was a bit perturbed when she mentioned that she'd popped some issue of The Lady but the articles have come in good use for students here. I drew the line at a magazine that went by the dubious name of This England which bravely declares itself 'Britains Loveliest Magazine' but somehow it doesn't seem out of place on my shelf after all the shennanigans of the last few years. My favourite has to be the Dairy Diary with articles like Meat to Please You and Eating For Health ( as opposed to just eating ????) This diary came with the Mini Dairy Diary and opening at random I was reminded that in the same week King George the Third was declared insane, Norman Wisdom was born, not in the same year of course.

Piti kicked off around lunchtime and it seems the only way to cope is to join in. He soon shut up as I howled my house down. I heard one of my noisy neighbours tell me to shut up which I think is a bit mad seeing as they can't hear any of the noise they are making or the dog or anything for that matter.

It seems the 35 million Euros spent on our new Palacio de Congresos is going to be justified now that the Dance and Theatre Festival begins this week, never mind that hardly anyone goes and if they do we have the lovely renovated Olimpia Teatro and The Matadero, a converted slaughterhouse.

Talking of new, we have what seems to be another 'new' political party. The UPyD, El Partido Union Progreso y Democracia, as if we need any more, parties, progress or democracy! They will soon have a HQ where they can attend to 'members and sympathisers', somewhere people can complain about the Pharaonic actions of the council. Let's see what they come up with..................