Getting back in the old routine!

Here we are, back on Vigo.

We appear to have left the continuing summer behind us in Manchester. Okay, we did have some late night rain there on Monday, I think it was, but not a lot to speak of. We landed in a cloudy Porto. Not quite so cloudy as we left it but still rather dull.

Oddly enough, considering that we flew from Manchester, a cockney family sat behind us on the plane, with occasional forays to see other members of the family closer to the front of the plane. They had with them a whiney toddler who protested loudly about putting on his seatbelt. I was tempted to ask if he made the same fuss about being fastened into his child seat in the car, but I managed to restrain myself.

They were on their way to Nana’s house on Portugal. I could not help overhearing the loud conversation about what the house was like, who would have which bedroom, what the garden was like, whether there would be a bit more life in the village now that summer was here, would they be able to make sandcastles, what else could they do and so on and so on and so on.

And as we came down through thick cloud to land I heard one of them ask, “Does it look sunny?” Which but of descending through cloud di she not understand? Ah well, so it goes.

The AUTNA bus from the airport to Vigo arrived on time. The driver insisted that those with “tickets internet”, which included us, should be allowed to get on first. We watched the usual scramble as first time users tried to find non-existent seat numbers. And off we went.

And we arrived at Valença where we all had to get off and wait for a replacement bus as apparently one of the wheels had punctured. Once again, so it goes!

The last week to ten days has been rather hectic. We arrived home late on Monday the 9th. Tuesday I scuttled around making sure beds were changed for soon to be arriving visitors and that food was bought.

On Wednesday I went to catch a bus so that I could catch a tram to the airport to meet my sister who was flying in from Andalucía. I watched the bus approach the crossroads and, instead of coming across the crossroads and into the village to turn around before heading for Oldham, simply turn left, cutting out the village circuit altogether.I was a bit cross! But eventually I made it to the airport and met my sister.

Thursday I took her for a long walk and made her cross the river on the stepping stones! She has not done such daring things for a while! I compensated for this by having a picnic in the park and a rather nice ice cream.

Friday we set off together for London, the main purpose of her visit, and for my return to the UK being so that we could celebrate my son”s birthday by going to a concert in Hyde Park.

His birthday celebrations have gone on and on, it seems. On the weekend of then birthday he was given tickets through colleagues at work to go to Hyde Park and see The Cure. Then on the following Wednesday, the day of my sister’s arrival, he and three friends, the original four who went through university sharing lodgings, went to see Pearl Jam, a group I only know by name, at the Madrid Cool festival. Madrid, he told us, was only slightly hotter than London.

He returned home the day after my sister and I arrived at his house and on the Sunday we all went off and danced barefoot in the park to the songs of Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and Paul Simon.

We ate our evening meals in the relative cool of the evening in my son’s garden, watching red kites float around on thermals. Sipping white wine in the late evening is no bad way to spend your time! This was not actually London but Buckinghamshire - close enough for Northerners to continue referring to it as London!

Even when my sister and I returned from London, we continued the rather hectic life style, going out on family outings with my daughter and her crowd, including an evening meal for eight and a half (the toddler) in a local Italian restaurant.

Consequently, for the last week and a bit everything has been neglected: my fitness routine (although dancing in the park might count), my normal eating patterns, keeping up with the news and this blog. Too much fun and games and reminiscing over old photographs. All activity has been haywire!

But yesterday I shipped my sister off to stay a few days with our older sister before she, the younger one, flies back to Andalucía.

And today we returned to Vigo. There is not quite so much sea mist around the A Guía promontory as when we left but the local dogs are still barking noisily.

Normal service will perhaps be resumed!