December '08

Loz leaves for the UK
After a fun three & half months with us in Catalunya, Loz has had to get back to the UK to get some work and earn a bit of proper money so that he can pursue his intention to travel the world. We have had a lot of laughs and he has worked hard pruning the olives and strimming the grasses and plants under the trees for very little reward. So all the best to him and thanks for the help.

Hopefully Loz will be back early in the New Year, especially if he hears that by then we will have a tractor with a desbrozadora to keep the grasses down and Alex will have a 3G internet connection.

Papa's Noels
Just before Christmas, the local motorcycle club made its annual Papa Noel run round the local villages to collect the childrens Xmas lists and hand out a few presents. It was quite a site as 40-45 Santa Claus's riding motorbikes and quad bikes through the village.

After collecting the childrens lists, they got out of the Santa gear and retired to Bar Mario for a slap up and very rowdy lunch. They were particularly pleased to get copies of the photos I took.

A room full of booze
The pool room in the bar also acts as their storeroom. You are not likely to see this happening in the UK.

Tractor
As mentioned above, we have been looking for a tractor to work the olive groves and help cart things around when we start restoring the Moli early in the New Year.

After a lot of searching and investigative work, we are looking at one of the local dealers who can supply Kubota tractors amongst other makes. The one we fancy is the 66bhp M6040.

If we get it, we will also need a trailer, a mower and a "pala" which is a multi-purpose shovel like thing which fits to the back of the tractor and can be used for all sorts of jobs including scraping the ground flat.

New bridge parapets
We got a shock when we were turned back from crossing the bridge to get to our finca. They were putting in fancy new railings to replace the smashed up concrete parapets.

Xmas in the UK
We took a week long break over Christmas, to visit our families in the UK. Spent 6 days making the most of the sales in all the shops and had a good time seeing all our friends as well as having a great Christmas day and Boxing day with our families. We just managed to pack all our goodies into our suitcases and stay within the Ryanair weight limit for the return trip to Catalunya.

New Year in Mas de Barberans
With only two days to prepare, we managed to arrange to borrow our landlords garage and have a New Years eve meal with our Irish and Australian friends who have holiday homes in and around Mas. They were excellent company and after we finished (around 1 am) we went on up to the Adjuntament to join in the dancing. The locals were quite taken with my kilt, so I had to pose for photo's with various people.

Adeu 2008

PB

November '08
January '09