It's been a bit of a wild and windy night. I've not slept much at all, what with the sounds of the strong winds buffeting the van and the cheap B and Q garden furniture blowing around the campsite and large plastic bins being swept like tumble weed down the service roads.
When I did eventually drop off bloody pine cones the size of cricket balls were being blown from the tree above me, landing on the top of the van and putting paid to any chance of a snooze.
It rained for the first time yesterday, it was forecast so it should have come as no surprise. The timing could not have been better. I'd just left the van for the short walk to the indoor swimming pool to do my, now daily, 100 laps of the pool when the heavens opened. It's not the warmest of 'heated' swimming pools, especially as the heating is done by a huge bank of solar panels and there has been a distinct lack of anything solar all day.
By the time I got there, a short 5 minute walk, I was absolutely saturated. I did have the good sense to stuff my towel up my fleece so at least that would be dry. It was good to get in the pool to get warm. After I'd finished my swim and exited the pool, I was rather disappointed to find the rain had increased somewhat during my 45 minutes in the pool. My previously dry towel was situated under the only bloody leak in the pools roof and it was as wet as I was. If the wind keeps up during today, at least it's going to dry.
My gas saga continues. I am at least some way towards a solution though.
Yesterday I procured a 6kg Repsol gas bottle. I quite simply lied and made up an address. I was asked for proof of address so made one up. I'd written it down when I went to the supermarket. My friend Mandy had given me the idea. She has a place not far from where I am and suggested that I use her address. I didn't do that in case there were repercussions but wrote down some unsuspecting soul's address I happened to pass and gave that as mine.
The put on the confident look I used often as a sales person and Ding dong. I got the bottle. Now I have one it is quite simple just to swap it when I need a refill. But it's not quite as easy as that, it never is ;-). Although I have the Spanish adaptor that goes on the bottle to connect to the high pressure hose. , I appear not to have the right high pressure hose. I have propane, I need butane.So I now have gas but no way to connect it to my pipe. I know exactly what I need, it's just finding one.
I very helpful English chap who has pitch at the end of my 'street' offered it assist. I got chatting to him at the communal area where you wash your pots. He said be had a big box of hoses and offered to have a look. He came round to my 'house' with what only be described as a Heath Robinson array of pipes, connectors, regulators and jubilee clips. I'm sure, if I'd have let him he would have bodged something up. I'm afraid I declined. I really would prefer not to go up like a New Year fire cracker.
During the afternoon I wandered into the small town. There was a ironmongery shop there and a shop, owned by a Chinese bloke that seems to the equivalent of the pound land shop. I know he doesn't speak English at all as a couple of days ago I tried to buy a 30amp fuse for the battery charging unit that I know full well is broken but can't seem to let go.....
Trying to explain that I wanted a high pressure gas hose to the old Spanish man in the ironmongers was not unlike that sketch with the two Ronnie's. I didn't get one, despite him trying to persuade me that I could use a water hose. Fortunately I also didn't get any 'O' or 'fork handles'.
I did stop off at the Chinese shop, just on the off chance. No luck there although I did buy a few bits, including a 30amp fuse. I had already tried the 25 amp fuse which didn't do the trick. It was only 75c for a box of mixed ones and you can never have too many fuses....
For those that know me, they will well appreciate there are only a couple of people who dislike Christmas more than me. Ebenezer, somebody or other and Matthew Williamson. I quite like Christmas Eve but that's about it. It's a distraction to real life. Shopping is like stroking a cat backwards. It's tortuous and I dislike it a lot.
Today I mellowed somewhat, I saw something in the Chinese emporium that is my (so far) only acknowledgement of the season. I know it's a small step. I bought a mulled wine and cinnamon air freshener. It's now installed in my van and it smells like Christmas!
Today I will be taking a trip to Fueingirola in search of that elusive high pressure gas hose. I think I'll take the bus. Visions of trying to park a big van in a shopping centre car park meant for small cars, with that added nightmare of it being four days before Christmas and if the Spanish are anything like the Brits, they will be on a mission, wanting to buy anything that isn't nailed down whether they need it or not. No.... The bus it is.........
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