Song of the day: “Wide awake” by…hold your breath, Katy Perry. Seriously, what’s it with my head having earworms of singers I don’t even like all that much. Luckily the song is not a bad one.
Well, I have to keep this short because if all goes well I have to go up to load up the car with Cousin Ed so we can leave for the market in Malaga. If we can manage to get there (the Land Rover is giving us fits) it is going to be an interesting evening, because the temps are, at this very moment 100 +. Yep. Every bit of movement causes a burst of sweat to break out, so slow movements are key for the day……
Okay, change in plans. Didn’t manage to write yesterday’s blog. By the time I started writing, big brother and mom came home from a quick trip into town that turned out to be longer than expected, because basically they couldn’t get the car up the mountain. Shaite. And that while cousin Ed and I still had to load up for the market. Grrr.
So anyway, I called the mechanic, and he told me that the injector must have gotten worse, and that we’ll just have to do the repair sooner than planned, darn it. Still, I had a job to do, so we loaded up the car regardless and set out toward Marbella, through the back road, because I didn’t want to risk the beach road with all its traffic. We made it, just barely, going as fast as possible at what was mostly a downward slope. Gained enough speed at those to get up the two inclines that we encountered (thank gawd I know that road well) and then, in the sweltering heat of at least 100 degrees, we drove down toward Marbella where the temps dropped a solid eight degrees. It was wonderful, it was bliss, and gradually the breeze dried the mm thick sheen of sweat on my skin. Yay!
We arrived only fifteen minutes late, and started setting up (sweating all over again) as planned. Had to do some serious footwork with the car in order to get it up to the car-park afterward, but managed. Everything was set up about an hour later, and the patrons started to arrive.
The photographer was there again, and he did ask to take a picture again (don’t worry, I’m pretty sure he does that with practically anyone, hah) but I still wasn’t comfortable enough. There was this moment where I was leaning against this old fashioned lantern, and suddenly I saw him at a distance lining up a photograph. Silly but my first instinct was to push away from the lantern and move out of the shot. He later assured me he wouldn’t take a picture unless I agreed with it, so I’m going to stop worrying. Heck there actually might be a day that I won’t tense up when the guy comes walking past. Hah.
I did settle on a nice “market outfit” yesterday. I had on a warm brown peasant skirt with white cotton lace at the bottom, topped by a sleeveless white top, warm brown floppy hat, and dangly earrings. I mean seriously, I don’t get all that much opportunities to dress remotely nice, so I am definitely using these days to have some “outfit” fun. Heck, my white sneakers underneath (definitely need my insoles when I’m on my feet for that amount of time) didn’t even detract from the image. The only downside was that I was wearing a turquoise bikini top under the white, which shone through. I thought it clashed with the brown, but what the heck, it’s a beach joint. Hah.
Had a few chats, recognized a few face from last week. Not the nice Hungarian women, guess they didn’t find it worth it. Neither was the unemployed Spanish woman, which was a pity. On the other hand, there was this nice Spanish lady who made jewelry, across from us, and beside her two young women with piles of wonderful second hand clothes. Hah. As a plus, unlike the last time, we got two big spotlights set specifically on our merchandise, so it looked splendid. No spectacular sales, but we made expenses at least. Yay.
As to the experiment I’ve been working on the past week (did some tie dye clothes) there was quite a bit of interest, and I even sold one shirt. It was the best one too, it had a circle in the center that went all the way through, back to front, and gawd, if it had been my size, I’d have kept it myself. Hah.
Now, the way back…it was fascinating. Since I have gotten a bit used to the present problem of the Land Rover, I thought it better I drive back as well. Managed to get up the incline (Funny Beach is off the highway with a hair pin road) with little trouble, but I did need to shift to low gear at the end, because my poor baby just refused to get up there. Annoyed some of the other sellers, but what the heck. Then, at the ramp of the highway, it turned out that it was the busiest moment of the day, with traffic zooming past at top speed. Oh my gawd, waited a solid three minutes before there was a gap big enough that I dared risking to get on, and when I did, I barely managed to gather enough speed to get on. There were two cars, coming up behind me fast, and they honked furiously while storming past. Jeez. Friggin’ scary!
Drove home having serious dialogue with the car, keeping her going at a steady clip, the rev just a bit over the top to keep her pulling, and just keeping our fingers crossed that there would be no traffic jams. There weren’t and after about five miles the highway cleared of traffic, giving us a clear road all the way to the mountain. That’s when the fun started. Managed about one third of the way in two, then had to shift back to one, and came to a standstill at the steepest part, right under the village. Gawd. I had to put the car into low gear, and even then I could only shift to two to keep her moving. Which was even scarier than the highway, because a car came up behind us, going a solid fifty and braking less than a yard behind our butt. Jeez! Made it up the mountain going 4 mph at most, and when we did, I pulled over for a deep breath and to put it back into normal gear. Rather than go over the village, we went through (no steep inclines there) and made it home (slowly) but without incident.
Big brother was waiting for us with food, and after a few minutes on the internet to unwind, it was time for bed at the three in the morning. It was an adventure, I’ll say that much.
As for the day and stuff before the market incidents…
The day before yesterday really was a quiet day, with writing, a trip to town to drop of the Opel so the radiator could be flushed (luckily the Opel is now done, meaning that we can drop the Land Rover off without lacking transportation) and then down to the basin terrace to write. Not a lot of pages (four and a half at most) but a good scene nonetheless. The characters finally got chatty, which was good since it’s two old girlfriends who know each other well. And boy were they chatty, they were still talking yesterday when, after ironing some clothes, I finally got to a couple of hours of writing (managed another three pages then).
No cooking in the past couple of days, which is stupid. With my deficiencies I really should skip on hot meals with lotsa veggies, but seriously, who’s got the time? I sure don’t.
There were the normal chores. The laundry, preparing and feeding dog food. Harvesting, watering, and of course weeding. Hah. There were dogs to pet (aka looking for ticks), dogs to soothe (Fortuyn and Groovy got into a fight, leaving the first with a nice cut in his neck) and more looking for ticks. If all goes as planned, we’re doing a tick bath again today, because it’s just getting to be ridiculous again. The other day I got eight of those big suckers between Arthur’s toes, for crying out loud. And Adma. We took like thirty small ticks OUT of her ears.
Well, I better get to it know, still lots to do before the day is through. Luckily it is not nearly as warm today as it was yesterday. In fact, right now it is actually quite pleasant. I will be needing to head into town later on (dropping off the Land Rover and all) but other than that, I’m not planning much of anything today, other than writing, that is. Gotta go.
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