Chris & Helen on route to Spain

​Some where in the bowels of the ship one or two large engines stated to
growl, and as the boat moved from the quay  Ireland receded into the misty
and rainy distance. (Please God we have got it right). The whole family
stood at the rail until there was nothing to see. As we opened the outer
door to be welcomed by the heat of the ship and the smell of food I had a
feeling that we had got it right and to start a new life in Andalucia in
Southern Spain was as right as it could get. We had loaded a 40ft. Horse
lorry with 3 Arab horses and everything else we could cram into it. We were
going to follow it down for 2500km. with the Jeep and trailer, with 3
Hamsters, 4 Cockatiels, 6 Pigeons, 2 Dogs and one Cat!!......3 kids and a
wife!
Nothing exciting happened until we arrived in Pamploma......snow, and lots
of it. Driving through France was only expencive...nothing else realy made
an impression, Pampaloma was about to change all that. The Jeep was
strugling with the weight of all behind. The occupants of the trailer had
suddenly had a huge temperature drop and the water bottles had started to
freeze up. Ireland might have been cold and wet....it was'nt freezing and
getting colder. The kids started making known their concern. ' Dad my
hamsters wont be happy in this cold, they wont die will they? and what about
Christys pigeons'?  (Please God can I ask one more thing? Can you please
send a snow plough as I'm running out of ideas?).........Ten minutes later a
snow plough arrived and we followed it over the mountains and 2 hours later
into an area that at least looked as though someone lived there. The
temperature rose and we  breathed a sigh of relief. Within minutes the
waterbottles at all the cages started to thaw out and we drove into a part
of Spain that was'nt snowed or frozen up. The three kids went to sleep.
We arrived in Madrid at the same time as the mobile rang. It was the lorry
with the horses and our belongings on board.  'Hi this is Mandy from the
Horse Transport, we are at your house and there is nobody to meet us!!!!!!!'
At that point I thought that all things spiritual, mistical, magical and
otherwise had deserted us. They had arrived a day earlier than us and had
nowhere to off load the horses or the thousand and one things that make up
our sole belongings. Iit was one in the morning and once again I was running
out of ideas. ( God......) no, he's had enough of this lot, must think we
are all bloody mad.  Then the thought of the century came to mind........who
got us into this mess?......the estate agent!  Lets ring the git and ask him
to solve the problem!!!!!!!....at 1.00am on a Sunday morning............he;d
  love the idea as he was always a miserable git and now he'd have something
to be miserable about!! The same pillock that showed us a Water pump house
in the middle of a 10 acre Ollive orchard and said it would make a lovely
house with a bit of imagination!.......and it was a bargin at 180,000
Euros.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!silly git must have thought we came from England!.
He did'nt sound very delighted when he answered the phone, and sounded even
less enthusiastic when I told him the real problem..........the lorry wanted
to off load now and be on his way back to France to pick up 2 race horses.
It was at that point I felt he went off us.
Monday in Spain was different. The temperature rose to 25. The month was
Feb. and things were looking up....at last.
Love you all, THE TRIPPLE H.

This months Andalucian Recipe............from Helen Louise.
This really quick Tapas is for as many people as you have with you.  Allow 4
Peppers per person, get out the deep fat fryer and a plate large enough to
hold your peppers and put 2 sheets of kitchen towel on the plate. The
peppers should be the green, long and twisted ones, not the hot ones!
Wait until the fat fryer is up to full heat and then tip all the peppers
straight in. Don't take off the short stem or cut them in any way...they
just go in whole. They usually keep floating to the top so  push them down,
and keep doing it for about 2 minutes.  Lift them out(holding them by the
stem) and onto the kitchen paper then sprinkle them with sea salt.   Serve
with crusty bread and a wine you like...enjoy.