Skimboarding, Silver Elite & Susanne In Spain

This week has been absolutely mad!  We saw off five of them (phew!) at Malaga Aiport on Monday, and Susanne Jorgensen of  The Singles Gym joined us for a week as we packed them off at Gate 222.  She’s taken the town – no, the Costa – by storm and even the most grumpy waiter has not been able to resist her charms.

Nelson had to stay behind because he was three months too young to travel on his own, but he’s had a great time learning to skimboard and Susanne has turned out to be a great skimboard coach.

I had a great time turning the video footage and photos into a YouTube video for him as he’s all fired up now.  View his video and encourage him in his latest passion here

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Puerto Banus, Puerto De La Duquesa, Photos & Parasols

I’m very proud that I’ve managed to blog each day, while on holiday in Casares.

Why am I bothering you may ask?  Because one of the elements of the deal I’ve struck with my friends Rona & Adrian, who lent us their lovely house for three weeks, is that I’ve made them a Wordpress driven website to help them promote the rental of their property in Casares, short-term and long-term over the winter.

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Casares Holiday | Day Eleven

Spud definitely wants to go home, Nelson’s not happy about staying on his own, a couple of the girls have offered half-heartedly to stay too to keep him company (but not his sister!).  We are talking to the airline now, to see what our options are.

After a bit of coaching/straight talking from Judith, I’ve discounted sending one of us home with him and then coming right back the same day, and neither of us are willing to cut our holiday a week short.  He can jolly well stay, get all the attention from the grownups, and play Farmville and Runescape endlessly.  I’ve also offered to take him on a trip to Selwo Adventure park or anything else he would like to do.  I fancy Ice Age 3 myself but he says it’s for babies!

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Holiday In Casares | Day Ten

So the ladies arrived this morning – Raquel and her sister – to do a mid-holiday clean for us.  Roger had emailed the time over, but it had gone into my Spam Folder for no discernable reason, so we were caught on the hop a bit trying to get the kids up and dressed so we could vacate for a few hours.

They moaned horribly about having to get up early even though we had got them to bed earlier last night in preparation!

We drove down to have breakfast at Puerto De La Duquesa and sat and looked at the boats while eating bacon, scramblers, toast and chocolate milkshakes (not me and Sarah obviously, we had fresh orange juice!)

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Holiday In Casares – Day Nine

We attempted to get the kids up early, as it was Chloe’s birthday and we wanted to go to the beach at Puerto Banus.

As usual it was a bit of an adventure, as I wasn’t 100% sure how to get there, but I remember managing it before so how hard can it be?  Roger said to avoid San Pedro turnoff, so we went as far as Marbella, before we turned off the E15 Autopista, then followed the coast roads till I saw signs for Istan, then Puerto Banus.  We came down the main avenue, parked in a convenient multi-story, then headed for the beach where we found the most FANTASTIC waves!  Like surfing waves, so the boys started asking for boogie boards.

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Holiday In Casares | Day Eight

Bit cloudy today after a sunny start and the maid service isn’t coming till Wednesday so we let the kids lie in again while we got on with some work – largely editing, tagging and uploading photos to http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoupaproperty and http://www.flickr.com/photos/casaresspain

We are going with Flickr being the best place to upload photos to, as they feed directly into the lovely little widget Sarah found.  All we need now is a photo gallery widget for the photo gallery page but every one we have found requires onerous form filling if your site is for commercial gain.  Forms? Nah!

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Holiday In Casares – Day Seven

The kids woke up seriously late today – we had to winkle them out of their beds at 2pm local time!  Then it was a debate about “pool or beach” and after a bit of to’ing and fro’ing the beach won, and as it was by then about 3pm, we tried Sabinillas but it being a Sunday, no parking nearby.

So we drove to, and through Puerto De La DuQuesa, where we used to live incidentally (long time readers of my ezine will remember) and found the little beach with the chiringuito that I remembered from before.  Lots of sardines drying on washing lines!

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Holiday In Casares – Day Six

Sarah and I are on a roll now, working together at the dining room table, the lovely view helps!  I’m starting to forget what day it is, and have given up wearing my watch entirely.  Today is…..Saturday, I think!

Working till lunchtime, that is, when the brats wake up, turn on Big Brother and generally kill the peace and quiet, and then, once they have “brunched” we all head down to the municipal pool around 2pm when the lifeguard arrives to open up.  He’s cute actually – one for the ladies, though, not the girls!

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Holiday In Casares – Day Five

Today we grownups have had a quieter day, with Sarah and I doing some serious work on HolidayRentalCasaresSpain.com and StoupaProperty.com.  We are having some kitchen sink drain issues and we had to wait in for Roger, who is acting as R&A’s “man on the ground” to pop round and try things with drain clearer and hoses.

Roger used to have his own financial services firm in Hong Kong and Gibraltar, but now, since marrying Claire,  just has a nice gentle life in Casares in the spring and summer, and travelling the world in the winter.  Sigh.  We are having drinks on Monday with them both, while our gang hang out with the kids of a client of Claire’s (she is an ex- top chef and cooks for some of the posh villas round here sometimes).

On the drain front, we have been particularly careful with not putting stuff (like olive oil and coffee grinds) down the drain, but we are still having minor issues.  In Greece it’s the loos, here it’s the sinks.  Temperamental continental plumbing!

Both sites are starting to look great, with some fancy photo widgets particularly.  And I have a free webinar booked, where I’m going to go into the Stoupa Property opportunity in a lot more detail, at 3pm on Wednesday, 26th August (or you can watch the recording afterwards).  Book yourself onto this webinar at http://www.stoupaproperty.com/webinar/

We have had an enquiry for the house, from a LIP (Location Independent Professional) for a months rental, in low season, they were attracted by the short drive to Malaga Airport, the short flying time to the UK and the high speed broadband.

What is a LIP?  You can find out more from my ex-client Lea Woodward’s site, http://www.LeaWoodward.com (and see pictures of her new baby – ahhhh!).  Essentially it’s a Location Independent Professional, someone who can work or run a business from anywhere, given an internet connection.  Hey!  that’s us, right now!

I think, from reading their always entertaining and practially useful ezine, that Lea and Jonathan are off to China next as they are investigating proxy servers and internet censorship behind the wall.

Lea came to work with me in 2006, to get their business entirely mobile, just before they upped and went, first to South America, to live and work around the world, looking for their ideal spot to settle down.  I think they have decided, like Judith and I, that there is no one ideal spot but perhaps three to four residences around the world, depending on the time of year, and what one is working on.

Back to Casares, the kids have met a bunch of local kids, including some “hot boys” and despite the fact none of them speak Spanish, and only one of the locals, Clara, speaks English, they are all getting on like a house on fire.

The kids all hang out at one of the top squares till the wee small hours, known here as Casares answer to BP (Buckingham Park in Shoreham).  The doorbell rings persistently if they are not dolled up and out on time.

Even Nelson has taken to straightening his fringe – and Spud got his curled by the girls – which he was not sure about!

This evening I attempted deep fried squidlings (olive oil didnt’ get hot enough) and octopus on the grill, which ended up a bit rubbery but not bad.  We’ve put the leftovers in vinegar and lemon juice, to steep in the fridge, hoping it’s going to get anywhere near Elias’ wife Stella’s “octopus in vinegar” as served at Pefko taverna.

You can see loads more photos of both our Greek holiday and Casares to date at our respective Flickr accounts.

http://www.Flickr.com/photos/casaresspain
http://www.Flickr.com/photos/stoupaproperty

And you can rent this beautiful house at
http://www.HolidayRentalCasaresSpain.com

Holiday In Casares | Day Four

In spite of spending hundreds of great european euros at the Estapona Carrefour just two days ago, we are out of juice, kit kats and bread, they don’t like the yoghurts, and we need more tomotoes and avocados.  Oh, and rose wine.

So we decide to combine a trip to Carrefour with a trip to Estapona beach.

There is the main beach, and also a little bay kind of thing, with a carpark, where there are two bar/restaurants and some waves!

Some of the kids get dropped off and those who love to shop (Phoebe and Keturah) come with us.  We buy a coolbox, for future use of those who rent the house, and to keep our dairy cool while we swim, and then go buy the essentials.

Which turn out to include one octopus for dinner tomorrow, some quails eggs (“want to try them!”) two handbags, two sets of sunglasses (more sunglasses!!) and a belly button bar for the girls.  Phoebe’s in the hole now for all of August’s allowance plus 40 euros but the belly button bar is TOTALLY BLING!

Back to the beach, where we all enjoy the waves, even though the water is not nearly as clear as Kologria Beach in Greece.  We are a beach towel down so the sand is a bit annoying and we are too late to get sunbeds, but we manage and Amy is the only one to get a bit pink today (her bum!)

The water is a bit cooler than Greece too, as we are quite near where the Atlantic comes in through the straits of Gibralter (we can see Gib on a clear day) and meets the Med.  I’m swimming happily along and then the thought occurs that it might be cold enough for sharks.  So I stick near the kids, they would make a tastier & easier snack for a large fish than me.

About 7pm we start to head back, but a tricky turning off to Casares catches both of us unaware and Sarah gaily heads off to Malaga.  I hope she’ orientated enough now to find her way back to Casares, and she’s got a full tank of petrol so I’m not too worried.  A working mobile phone in her car might have helped! Then I take the wrong exit on the next roundabout and end up back on the toll road, heading for San Luis de Sabinillas, which is where our kids went to schooll when we lived here.

Our car has the shopping, so as we are going along and we are a carfull of manpower down, I’m thinking about the whole drive up through car part, down little street, park in square mularkey, when I realise that I can just drive in from the top of village to park temporarily in the square and the kids can unload.

What is the point of having the little blighters if it’s not to make things easier with the slave labour?  Not that they are actually doing much apart from unloading shopping occasionally!  Loading the odd dishwasher perhaps….

I get going on tonights meal, which by popular request is chille con carne, with fresh peppers, mushrooms and carrots chopped in.  The mince is great, very lean with hardly any fat coming out of it – must be those free range bulls we keep driving past.

Sarah and co roll in about 9.15 and while regaling us with tales of trying to figure out her way back, we feed the kids (which is like feeding the forty thousand, with all this swimming!) and relax for the evening.

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