Adam and Ayla are taking their first plane trip tomorrow... to Menorca. With their parents. They're all down in Manchester right now.

Adam says he hopes it won't crash.

Linda and I will be taking a short 3 night holiday down in the Lake District again with Tess in a few weeks.

Also for my Song Hall of Fame... "Cortez the Killer" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

An epic song about the Spanish conquest of the Latin American indigenous people...

Click to view

Being added to my personal "Song Hall of Fame" list of favourite songs... "Spanish Caravan" by The Doors ( Read more... )

We've been thinking about the referendum on Scottish independence from the UK a lot lately. The vote is a ways away... in September... but it's a pretty heated debate recently already.

Linda is very against independence. I've been pretty much swayed into the Better Together camp as well, not least because Linda insists that she will disown me if I ( Read more... )

What was going on in my life in May 2006 ( Read more... )

Here are excerpts from a year-end Christmas letter Linda is sending her aunt and uncle in Canada:

"How quickly has this year gone - again!  We really enjoyed having you and Aidan visit. He is such a charming young man and he really fitted in here. I sat chatting to him about all sorts and it reminded me of when Steven and I did exactly that. Really ( Read more... )

So, I've had some kind of flu bug since I got back from Spain a week ago. It just keeps hanging on, not going away. Linda had it pretty bad (caught off me) but it only lasted about a day and a half with her. It's made me pretty grumpy these past few days, this Spanish Flu.

Today, a new guinea pig cage arrived which Linda had ordered. It's HUGE. ( Read more... )

I'm in the air typing this and will post it later on...

Today we went to Gibraltar. Huge traffic jam getting in to Gibraltar... might have been an accident, as an ambulance went by, but the traffic finally cleared. Almost gave up altogether. Had some impressive views of the Rock from the car but we kinda wanted to actually get in, so we persevered ( Read more... )

Today we went in to Marbella to meet up with Nicole, Graham, Alan, Anne and Declan. We all went out for lunch at a place right on the beach. Linda and I shared a vegetable paella for two and a salad, which ended up being too much food. Afterwards we shopped for gifts for various people in the Old Town... a few toy things for Adam and some things ( Read more... )

Estepona is a town and municipality in the region of the Costa del Sol, southern Spain. It is located in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Estepona is renowned for its beaches, which stretch along some 21 km of coastline. It is a popular resort and holiday destination ( Read more... )