Advertisement
Published: February 24th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Sunset in Calpe
The kids want ice cream but lukes looking forward to a pint!! Haven’t done a Blog for ages so I thought it was time I sat down and wrote a few lines.
After Vietnam we returned home to the wettest ever British summer, oh what a nice welcome home. Anyway, that doesn’t matter when you’re stuck in an office (like I was), I actually didn’t mind the rain too much it’s the getting wet that annoys me!!
We did have a break from the horrible wet stuff during our weeks holiday to Calpe on the Spanish Costa’s (not sure which Costa - I think its maybe Blanca)?? Well it was a lovely holiday anyway. We stayed in a gorgeous villa with private pool and had a really fantastic week. Accompanying us on the holiday were Mum and Dad, Ceri, Kev, Alfie & Maisy and Bri, Catherine, Luke & Niamh. As you can imagine we had a riot….the kids loved it, spent all day in the pool and all night in the games room that was in the cellar of the villa.
October soon came round so we headed back to Goa to begin our 6th season at Shooters. The bar wasn’t badly damaged by the monsoon this year so it didn’t take
The Amstel Boys
Having one of our famous BBQ's around the pool long for us to get the place up and running. Ruby & Brian were there for opening night this year which was nice. They’d actually arrived in Goa a week before us on their way back form Oz and were planning on staying for 2 weeks, in the end they stayed for 5 weeks before hopping off to Spain via Scotland to sort out their new villa.
We had a good start to the season, as always lots of familiar faces passing through and some new ones to add to the list of names that you have to remember!! We managed a few trips down south to Palolem and generally kept ourselves busy. I returned to the UK for 10 days on 8th December for a very, very important appointment. You all know what that was by now……my Take That concerts!! Well worth the £750 it cost for me to get home and back. Let’s just say that if they tour again and I’m half way around the world….I’ll be spending another £750. The concerts were great, the boys looked and sounded amazing and the seats that we had were fab. I enjoyed my time being back at home
First day back at work
Not too much of a mess this year despite the cold horrible wintry weather, first one I’d experienced since 2001!!! It was a novelty for me to be shopping at this time of year but I did realise that Christmas is far too commercial now, we don’t really see that in Goa, Christmas in Goa is just one day where nothing much seems different from the day before or the day after. It was lovely to see the kids getting all excited about Father Christmas’s approaching visit. We had a family “early xmas dinner” before I left, ate far too much food at Ceri & Kev’s as usual!!!
On my return we decided that Christmas Eve would be fancy dress party night at Shooters - this turned out to be the best Christmas Eve that we’ve ever had. The party went on ‘til late, the costumes were fantastic and the atmosphere was happy and fun. Prize for the best costume went to John and Scott who turned up as Lou and Andy from Little Britain (complete with wheelchair). They stayed in character all night, they were hilarious. Barry and I dressed as Genies for the party, we also had Ruth and Steve as Bill and Ben, the
Karma "The original dog"
She came back as soon as we opened up to clean, not sure what happened to her mate Shooter though....we really miss him Shooters boys dressed as Reindeers, we even had a couple turn up in a pair of fat suits!! It was a great night.
Christmas day was spent with Oriel up at Ashvem where we rented a couple of huts to stay overnight. We had a relaxing day on the beach - good way to relieve the hangovers!! We decided to have a change from the normal xmas lunch so replaced the turkey with lobster thermadore…..delicious washed down with a few cocktails and beers.
My Mum & Dad arrived for two weeks in January; we took some time off and went down to Palolem again for 3 days. Palolem was really quiet, so we had a nice time chillin’ out and relaxing after a hectic few weeks. Graham & Jean arrived (from Widnes), it was their 1st time in Goa and they absolutely loved it. We had some nice nights out with the 4 of them - always eat too much food when we have visitors here!! Jenny & Stan (our neighbours from Widnes) also came out for two weeks - they’ve been here twice before so know the score, in fact they’re old hands now. They had a
Jobs almost done
Lucky looking handsome - as always lovely time and are hoping to come back for a month next time.
Next on the agenda for us is our trip to The Maldives - it’s a Birthday treat for me (one that we are both really looking forward to). Looking to do a bit of diving while we are there….if we can remember how to, it’s been 5 years since we got our PADI certificates. Hopefully it’ll be like riding a bike…..just hope my bike doesn’t go all rusty!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.262s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 15; qc: 71; dbt: 0.2256s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
John Redmond
non-member comment
How the other half lives...
Hi 2U2!!! Looks like you are still having fun in the sun! I saw a picture of the sun the other day, why don't thay have it in England??? Hope you enjoy the Maldives, I might see you there when my ship comes in, I don't mean I am getting a boat... what it means is 'ZZZZZZZZZZ...am I boring you two again??? Have a nice time!!! John