Today a few thoughts that occurred to me over the weekend:

Firstly “The Summer” and has it or hasn´t it been good for businesses? I wrote in one of my articles a few weeks ago about how completely mobbed everything seemed to be and my perception that it was the busiest August I had known here in the bars and supermarkets and for parking. However for those of you who have listened to Chris´s Podcast yesterday you will have heard about the concerns of one of our bar-owner friends about how bad the Summer has been overall.

Chris has replied to comments on the Podcast that the truth seems to be that the tourist season when it finally started was really busy but it was very short this year, and with the increase in the number of bars and restaurants the competition for everyone´s cash is higher. This is a tough one and may be a call for all of us residents to get out and about more in the Winter! and effectively help to ’save our bars’, particularly as Winter is not really Winter here as we Brits know it.

On that note, I´m sitting writing this article at 7pm with the sun pouring into my study window and definitely heating me up, fantastic as it is now October, and I have reports of “heating already on” in the UK! However it is definitely starting to cool down which is also fantastic and I´m looking forward to Autumn OR effectively my “English Summer without the rain”. Even our little cat is returning to his more normal behaviour of actually seeking out patches of sun to sleep in.

Now I must write a rather girlie paragraph following on from my article about “Feet”. My pedicure and manicure WERE great but even the beautician didn´t seem too impressed with her latest Spanish nail polish. Apart from the range of colours being pretty but not wildely exciting, I have to report that said nail polish seem to have chipped off pretty soon after. So this is in praise of good old Revlon a far superior polish of which I have lots from my trips to the US. I WILL definitely be retuning for the pampering and relaxation but will be taking my own polish with me next time!

And one final thought. We have come to realise over time that there is no such thing as “wholesale” here. Initially I was interested to learn that bathroom and kitchen fitters, decorators etc. didn´t have special discounted shops like in the UK that ordinary people couldn´t use, and that restaurants bought their meat from the same butcher as me. Then as I bought some similar potato croquetas in the Mercadona to those that one of my favourite bars serves as tapas the picture became clearer.

Maybe the latter is a little disconcerting as we all like to think our tapas is home made, but it’s great if you want a relaxing evening with friends and some different nibbles to have with your wine, AND great that this type of food although not the healthiest is very cheap to buy. I even now have a lovely tin of mantequilla cookies inspired by another bar. The only problem with buying your own however is the concept of portion control. For those of us who like to stay healthy and fit, being given one cookie with a coffee in a bar is better than eating 4-6 from that tin on the coffee table at home!

I decided this was also a very good reason to buy a piece of cake from a bar too. I actually bake good cakes the 2 or 3 times a year when the occasion warrants, but who wants a whole cake to eat in a few days between 2 people? OK so don´t answer that! but you get my drift.