Not stopped -

Since moving the caravan, we don’t seem to have stopped. Dave has been rehearsing and playing with his new band ‘adisabas’, we’ve managed to find a more accessible place to live (more later), helped our friend Annette set up her new bread shop, and we’ve had a visit from our old mate Kit.

The band first; called ‘adisabas’ because … er, it sounds like the music they play. To quote the info that’s being put up on the bands new web site -

‘Violin, sitar, guitar, recorder and percussion combine to create an exciting and dynamic blend of distinctive world music. The music itself is best described as eclectic, covering traditional rhythmic styles as diverse as those of Turkey, Morocco, and Eastern Europe ... The band plays many of their own compositions but also incorporates music from the medieval folk genre, including that of England, France, Italy and Spain’.

See what we mean?!

So far they’ve brought the house down at the venues they’ve played. The last one was the Bar Jyoti, which is over the river in Tablones. Their next gig, in between recording a demo CD, is at Benita’s leaving party on the 21^st June (Benita is a friend who’s been here about 12 years and is returning to Wales). The band then pack up for the summer period of July-August (when it becomes too hot to play anything) and resume their search for stardom in September. We’ll be posting the web site details as soon as everything is finalized.

The new house is something that came out of the blue, and in answer to a call to the universe to sort something out for us when it became more apparent that Dave can no longer manage the steep slope. Having had a weekly course of acupuncture, he’s been a lot more mobile and in a lot less pain. However, the slope up to the present house seems to trigger an immediate relapse whenever he attempts it, and he’s left with severe pain in his hip and an inability to walk for a couple of hours afterwards.

The current place is great in all other respects, with amazing views over the vega and plenty of room to entertain family and friends when they visit. It’s also become the official rehearsal place for ‘adisabas’, much to the delight of our elderly neighbors who really seem to enjoy their music. We’re also set-up with regard to our internet and telephone, which is vital to our work.

The new place is about another two kilometers towards Chris and Anna’s valley and is beautifully situated in an olive grove high on the side of a hill. The distinct advantage is that it’s level throughout, except for a couple of steps up to the entrance, and you can drive right up to the front door (we currently have to get help lugging our shopping, gas, musical instruments, etc., up and down a 100 meter steep track from the house to the road). The guy who’s building it is also putting a long, easy ramp up to the front door as an alternative to the couple of steps. It’s all brand new along with a glass fronted wood fire, a modern fully fitted kitchen, double glazing, two bathrooms and two bedrooms.

He’s just got some finishing touches to do and says we can move in about the end of July. We’ve therefore got a battalion of helpers on stand-by, along with lots of boxes supplied by Annette, who gets them every week containing her bread delivery.

Talking of which; our friend Annette has just opened her new bread shop in the old market at Orgiva. She came up with the name ‘Pannette’ for it – who said the Germans don’t have a sense of humor?! Dave has been busy designing and printing her signs and price lists, along with a temporary sign for the shop front until she can get a proper one made. Jeni’s been doing her bit by serving in the shop whilst Annette has been chasing around trying to sort out all of the paperwork from the Town Hall. So far she’s managing to sell most of her bread every day, and after been told to bake her bread crispier, which she now has, has increased her sales dramatically.

I’ve saved the visit of Kit until last, as many of you won’t know him. Sadly Kit’s wife Sally died of cancer about four months ago, having been ill for a long time. We invited him down to stop with us for a bit of a break. He’s proved to be the washing-up fairy, the cooking fairy and the taking us out for meals fairy all rolled up into one (‘who you calling a big fairy?’ might well be his response to this).

Kit and Dave go back a long way, Kit having once been Dave's editor on an Arts magazine some 20 years ago! He’s decided that he loves it down here and plans to go back to ‘oop North’ and sell his property as soon as he can. The plan is then to eventually buy something down here and spend the rest of his retirement in the sun!