Dogs, Dogs and still more Dogs

Well its 2025, We have been married 18 years this year, together for 20 and spent more than 10 years here in (mostly) sunny Spain.

Literally from the off we had dogs, heck we brought 5 with us and within a couple of months were fostering a couple of Podencos, I've written about them previously so wont bore you with them again. Unfortunately the one we kept, Heidi passed away late last year, but bearing in mind her whole system was shutting down due to Leish, when she arrived, 9 more sun and fun filled years was pretty good.

The more things change the more they stay the same, we are currently back up to nine furries. I must point out though that two of them are very very temporary fosters, I'll get to that story later.

In the mean time, we still have two of the original five we came here with, Sophie, Sophia Diamond Princess, according to her papers, Queen of the house but unfortunately now a bit blind, so needs carrying up and down stairs for her own safety.

Next is Marty,

the only other Original poodle from the UK, also getting on a bit in years and like Sophie also very few teeth left.

In respect of small fun dogs, we thave Tinto, we rescued him late lockdown from a rescue some 50 kilometers away. For two days would only respond to me, totally ignored the real boss of the house Mrs D, then suddenly flipped, If I leave the room, I might get a head raise, If Mrs D leaves its pawing the door, crying and sometimes even howling, bluddy turncoat.

We still have Tutu (Tucci Two) and she still thinks having her tummy rubbed is her idea of heaven, again unfortunately also due to age very few teeth and the ones left are very misaligned, but they match her goggle eyes and mismatched ears.

Then comes Matty, possibly much older than his papers state, technically not ours an on "loan foster" from a rescue down near the coast. He loves sleeping in a bed tucked down my side of the bed so I can reach down and snuggle him. One of the few that does not actually sleep on the bed.

A new one, I havent mentioned before is Snowy (sometimes Snowball), this one came to us with another Poodle, very elderly and in terrible health condition and unfortunately he passed over the Rainbow Bridge not long ago.Snowy has the usual mismatched features like Tuti, and very protruding teeth and has recently had a dental which took many of his back teeth out. He is a licker but his front teeth scratch, not that it worries us, he is a happy little soul particularly since he is no longer bullied by the dog he arrived with. Like Tutu he loves  being out on the upper terrace on a plastic chair ( or table) in the sun.

Of couse we cannot forget the biggest heart in the group, Milly (also Moo, Millicent and many other words too rude to print). Milly is a Dachund x German Sheherd (Probably) unlikely as that sounds, she was the smallest of the litter of rescues and is now pushing 20kilos but has a heart of gold. If we have puppies in or one of the others gets too excited and squeals, Milly is the first there to check they are allright. In fact the next dog I will mention fell asleep on the back of my chair tonight and rolled off on to the floor (not for the first time ) and yelped as he landed, Milly was straight there licking his paw, she is definately a lover.

So thats our current permanent group. however we have two others belonging to a friend who lives at the other end of our street. He recently had a serious accident and his leg was broken amongst other injuries and was hospitalised and currently has to live in a flat down town as he cannot access the upper parts ohis house. He is wheelchair bound but fortunately the flat has a lift so my wife and her friend are cleaning the hose and tidying it up for sale. Poor guy has two rescue dogs of his own and obviouly cannot care for them in his current state, so we are caring on his behalf.

The littlest is Kaiser, He is the one who insists on sleeping on the back of my chair and sometimes falling off, for some reason he is not too keen on ladies but he now accepts Mrs D and allowed her to cuddle him tonight after his most recent tumble.

He has prety much licked the hair off the up of my head (thats my excuse anyway) and along with Tutu and Milly, wake me gently each morning with a tongue wash (?)

Accompanying Kaiser is Sally, a much more laid back dog, probably something along the limes of a Breton Spaniel. She loves nothing more than a tug with one of her many many tuggers which she teases you with until she lets you win grabbing one end. She has fitted in very well and seems totally fine with her new temporary home.

So, thats our current brood, it has been a stressful year, having lost Heidi, the podenco, Pippin the poodle and the abuela Evita in the last twelve months it has hurt a lot but we know hat their last years were filled with love and sun and lots of treats.

I have started a new project on the upstairs terrace to make what we are calling "The Orangry" sounds posh doesn't it, I will post pictures if it works. Today we recieved a new canopy fabric for the extending canopy over the downstairs patio, we have wonderful new Tree of Life Curtains to give some privacy to the hot tub and Mrs D has just returned from a weekend with her Dad and family in the Uk where he was celebrating his 90th Birthday. He says it feels strange to have a son in law who is 72 and I have to agree with him.

We even managed to sneak in another Fuengirola trip where we discovered the best Argentinian Steak House ever. We only found it by accident as we patronise a very very Spanish breakfast bar and because we became regulars we were invited and boy was it worth it, Check out Sabores Fuengirola on Tripadviser or Google.

Thats all the news that matters for the moment, when I get sorted with the projects ( if Big Mat bring me some cement and tile adhesive) I'll update you.

 

Fuengerola (again)

 So this is a follow up to What we did on our Hollybobs, We went to Fuengerola again for a couple of nights.

Firstly it was cheap, 2 nights in a hotel in Fuengerola town for the 2 of us was less than 70 Euros, OK we had to pay 18 Euros for parking from Saturday Morning to Monday morning but even that was half price thanks to a discount from the Hotel.

Lets start with the hotel as it was a 2 star establishment, 3 streets back from the sea and slap bang in the middle of the restaurant district. It was a special deal for that weekend, it can usually cost more. It was OK, bed was comfortable and we took our own tea and coffee making gear as none was supplied in the room, nice balcony and a fridge, with the best will in the world, do you need more, well the Wi-Fi was a bit hit and miss but the staff were great and coffee could be obtained in reception. Did I mention it was only 3 streets back from the sea?

If you are looking, it was called Hotel Marbella and I can sort of recommend it, we are not fussy and for the money it was great value.

There are 2 places we cannot praise highly enough , the first is Safari Bar right on the main drag, Fantastic rustic look, amazing staff and the Sangrias are better than anything we have had in our near Decade here in Spain, the food is pretty damn good as well.

The second is a Chinese restaurant in the lanes a bit back from the front, in a sea of Brit Bars, Irish Bars and "Fusion" bars, it stands as a beacon of brilliant food. It is called Ying Bing, we have been a couple of times before, Just before the pandemic and just as everything opened up again and the food and service is still exemplary.

Now it is well known by our friends and family that when we came to Spain, the one thing we did not want was to move to Little Britain hence living in deepest darkest Andalucia, over 170 kilometers from the coast, so one thing we don't do is the typical English bars when we do visit the seaside. This time, Sunday morning we were up somewhat early and on our wandering found a place just opening that did English breakfast from 3.95, as everything else was shut, we asked the guy if he could make tea (something you do not buy in a cafe in Spain, ever) and he said he could and he did so we relented and had English breakfast with extra crispy bacon.

After spending Saturday getting mellow at Safari Bar we went out for drinks in the restaurant district and found a Hotel that did barbecue to share for 28 Euros, good grief it was wonderful and it turned out it was a 2 min walk from the hotel so win win.

One thing that always made a trip to Malaga region acceptable when we came out here was a visit to Fuengerola Iceland to pick up some foods that, to put it bluntly are unobtainable up here. Examples of difficult to buy stuff were, Pasties, Back bacon, pork pies, Scotch eggs, Greggs pastries, Gravy granules, malt vinegar and Brown Sauce, so essentially treats for special occasions. It was a place we visited when picking up or dropping off friends from the UK or Ireland at the airport. 

Of course we visited and oh boy, what a terrible disappointment, not only were the prices astronomic and by that I mean stratospheric but they had a sign saying the could no longer supply, Pork Pies, Richmond Sausages and several other things. Clearly it is another Brexit Bonus, going so well isn't it?

Fortunately we have found a wholesaler warehouse in the town so went there instead. We use to spend between 100 and 200 Euros in Iceland (not all for us, we had shopping lists from other British residents), this time 13 Euros for a friend and about 10 Euros for us, also that was probably our last visit, its just not worth it.

Anyway, that was our trip this time, Recomendations, Hotel Marbella with reservations, Safari Bar and Ying Bing and Hotel Casa Consistorial all without any reservations. To avoid: Iceland/Overseas Supermarket as it's over priced and poorly stocked, the staff are a bit underwealming these days, its almost as though they know their days are numbered.

Until next time peeps, be good to each other.

What we did on our Hollybobs

 Currently being down to only seven (7!) dogs, the last of the temporary fosters having finally been adopted, we really needed a break. Mrs D's blood pressure has been spiking and in this heat that is not the best idea.

We managed to book with the same hotel in Fuengirola that we stopped at a couple of years ago just after the extreme lockdown restrictions were easing.  Hotel El Puerto if you fancy it. It has two fantastic towers, the one we stayed in is the shorter, 8 actual floors and a swimming pool on the roof, called Sancho Tower, the other one about 5 floors higher is called Quijote. I couldn't find a single windmill to explain this.

We got a room on the 8th Floor with a beautiful view over the docks and the sea with the morning sun streaming in and fantastically cool and shaded in the afternoon.

The weekend started a bit iffy as we tried to visit a shop on Benelmadena, if you want a bit of free advice here, Dont even try. Traffic there is an absolute nightmare, and parking is a complete hell. We never did find the shop and as my blood pressure was beginning to climb with frustration Mrs D sensibly said forget it and we drove straight on to Fuengirola, what a difference, parked outside the hotel, unloaded, got a key and fob for the parking, even managed to check in early. The staff couldn't have been nicer.

We decided to have a few mins rest and unpack so we could go off and explore again. We wandered down the main drag and spotted a Chinese restaurant that we ate at last time so went to have a look, still there and open and serving. Wow, superb food again, lovely to see a good survivor after the last few years. The main drag is full of typical expat eateries offering chips with everything or sunday lunch and a pint but we tend to avoid those out of principle, it is Spain after all.

After a super repast we meandered back onto the main drag  and noticed this really odd place surrounded by mismatched chunks of wood and, fancying a coffee thought lets try it.

The very nice young lady running service there (Saskia, aka Sassy) persuaded Mrs D to try their Sangria, claiming that she has never had a real one until we try hers., I had a coffee. Up here in Jaen province, Sangria is really only Tinto Verano with a chunk of some fruit in it. The Sangria here is NOT that. It is a wonderful mixture of liquors and soda with a fruit salad in it and it tastes divine.

Safari Bar Fuengirola on Facebook

As I had also now had a beer (or2) and Mrs D was on her second Sangria we decided that enough was enough and staggered back to the hotel for a siesta.To be fair that evening was a simple relax, a walk around the dock area, a bit too secure to see much but interesting all the same and trying to avoid the hucksters on the Disco bars with their 2 for 1s. Finally an early night.

Next morning just after 10 we were back at Safari Bar for one of their breakfasts each and can I just say WOWSERS.

Salmon Tostada with a poached egg and Hollandaise sauce, If there is a better way to start the day, I haven't found it in the last 70 years. Had a couple of coffees and some more sangria, by which time it was lunch time, actually a bit more like siesta time, so we did.

Several Hours later as we woke up we needed food but it had to be something simple & quick. Our first mistake, we decided on KFC, just down the road, grab a simple bucket and fries. OMG, Never again, it was so salty as to be almost inedible and then we pulled several bits apart to see undercooked chicken, Do yourself a favour if you want something quick and easy, avoid the KFC in Fuengirola. The staff couldn't care less and the food was crap.

Back to the hotel and bed.with Almax and Omoprazole.

Sunday morning we were back at Safari Bar for breakfast after checking with the hotel staff that the Austrian GP would be on the big screens outside. After breakfast and a few Sangrias and Beers and a nice walk around the back streets 

 we grabbed a good spot and watched the preshow. Suddenly Mrs D vanished leaving a jug of Mediocre sangria on the table. When she reappeared around lap 15 she had changed quite a bit, she now had beautiful braided hair
in Petronas Blue colour.  

After the farce, sorry race we decided that we were going to try a fish restaurant buried deep in the dock area, well off the tourist route. Good grief, what a find, We were the only foreigners in that night and it was packed/ Biggest piece of Swordfish I ever had (sorry I'd already had a few bites before taking the photo) and it was delish. The chef had 3 barbies running for the smaller fish and it was fantastic

If you find yourself in Fuengirola in the evening, you have to try this place, it opens directly on to the Fish market so you know its fresh and the taste tells you everything, the olive oil and garlic jue just puts the polish on it.

Unfortunately, the next day was the end of our weekend break. Mrs D gets another one down in Malaga with her daughter-in-law and DiL's mother next week but she deserves it after putting up with me for the last 16 years. My next break is in November when I'm going to UK for a weekend where my daughter by another mother and father is getting married, as my own daughter banned me from her wedding, I'm finally going to a real one.

I'll let you know how that goes, maybe.

hasta La Huego

 

May 2022 Update from Casa Felicidad

 

Bueno, el Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Martos aún no ha otorgado al Asociación para la Defensa y Adopción de Animales Ciudad de la Peña su licencia para operar su refugio, por lo que todavía podemos operar prácticamente solo como hogar de acogida.

Don't worry, that is the only Spanish in this blog. It is however true, Our local Animal (Dog and Cat) rescue can still only operate on a Foster Home Only basis as they still do not have a license to use the land they have on the outskirts of the city. Right now we are lucky insofar as we only have one abandoned dog in foster in our house at the moment however our local rescue is desperate for foster help both with dogs, puppies, cats, and litters of kittens. If you feel you can help (or donate) please do not hesitate to contact them.

The Foster Dog is called (by us) Sammy, his Spanish name translates as Little Heels, not sure what the significance of that is but whatever. He is a Big softie boy, about 8+ years old, and has a broken front right leg that stubbornly refuses to heal and by golly is the treatment expensive. In about 10 days a new treatment will be tried at the specialist hospital in Granada, so all fingers crossed.

           

We do of course still have our other rescues and semi fosters, and Heidi, the Podenco cross with

dementia is still with us, still barking at nothing, still shaking in fear at any loud bangs, such a rarity in firework loving Spain eh? and has now begun to corner stare, which is disconcerting, to say the least. 

She does however enjoy the sun, so all we can do is make her life as happy as possible, as we have done for the past nearly 7 years.

Our other Oldie semi foster is Evita. The story of how she came to us is odd. A nearby rescue centre put out a request for any old, unwanted but working washing machines, we didn't have one but we did have a tumble drier which in Spanish sunshine was rarely used, so we offered it to them. They eagerly accepted as drying the hundreds of towels and blankets was another problem they had, of course, we offered to deliver it and were treated to a walk around the centre. This was a fatal mistake for a couple of animal lovers and we fell in love with this little old girl who was a bit grumpy and unhappy with all the youngsters bounding around her. The arrangement we have is that technically she is in Foster with us but for all practical purposes she is ours. She is never too keen when puppies start walking but again she is a sun worshipper, as long as she has a comfy place to lay she is happy.

Our largest and smallest rescues are Milly some sort of Dachshund German Shepard Cross, a tiny puppy when she came to us and now a big lolloping lump of loving dog, and Tutu who was the smallest of a rescue litter and has stayed tiny, she has mismatched ears, google eyes and a snaggle tooth. She loves nothing more than tummy rubs and is convinced that is what her hoomans were put on this earth for.

Tinto is another rescue, oddly enough when he first came, he was totally attached to me
but suddenly switched his affection to Mrs. D and is now mortified if she leaves the room or garden without him, when she went away for 10 days to the coast to visit her son, daughter in law and grandchild, Tinto spent pretty much the whole time just staring at the door waiting for her to come home and now rarely leaves her side.

The only remaining dogs we have that we brought from England are our two Toy Poodles Marty, named as such as we got him just after buying our house in Martos who is a Parti Poodle, black and white along with the Grande Dame of the house Sophie, or more Properly Sophia Diamond Princess, Yes she is a real pedigree and has the attitude to prove it. Sophie has always hated walking, in

fact, one time we even bought a child's doll pushchair at a Boot Sale (for £2) so that she didn't have to walk around on the stony ground. We walked her all around Cheddar in it and she loved it.

Unfortunately, age is beginning to catch up and her eyesight is not what it used to be and her legs don't jump quite as easily as they used to, so we have a little ramp at the end of the bed to make it easier for her to get on and off.

At Casa Felicidad otherwise all is peaceful, the last lot of puppies went about a month ago and because of Sammy, we have had to insist we can only take urgent or desperate cases as puppies could easily knock him over or unbalance him, although he is getting better using just 3 legs and seems to cope with the stairs fairly well, just not too often.

Everybody is enjoying the sunny days, the birds seem happy with the new position of their feeder and we appear to have a nesting family locally as there is a regular visitor and possibly his Mrs. Sparrow occasionally.  

Now that spring is here and along with the rain, the sun is really warm, the bees have appeared again and are checking out all the fantastic plants we have set up, apparently just for them. We are also regularly visited by butterflies who also seem to enjoy having a rest in the pretty colours.

So we hope that life is treating you as well as it is treating us and sorry for repeating it but please  Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Martos get your fingers out and help Asociación para la Defensa y Adopción de Animales Ciudad de la Peña

 

Have a great time and above all Be Kind, See you next time

 

Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Martos, Please Do The Right Thing (Please Share)

 It has been a tough couple of years with this Coof thing and all, but living in Spain has had its advantages, most importantly the weather has meant we have spent a good proportion of our time outside. I've even built a Tiki bar in our covered area on our downstairs patio.

Despite battling the pandemic and all the financial hardships that it brought, The Spanish administration has also delivered one of the most important pieces of legislation in recent years. It has declared that animals are sentient creatures and it is against the law to mistreat them and even listed some of what they term mistreatments. As in certain parts of the UK, animal abandonment is a big problem over here and in the six and a half years we have been living here we have done as much as we can to assist our local rescue centre by fostering and even adopting abandoned dogs.

For all these years the Asociación para la Defensa y Adopción de Animales Ciudad de la Peña has used us to foster new born puppies, elderly and vey sick and injured dogs. We are able to assist with these specifically as we don't work and can therefore devote more hours than many of the fosterers who have to earn a living in addition to the volunteering. We have no objection to this as we love animals and devoted large parts of our time (and money) to doing similar in the UK, however, it has become more and more difficult for the organisation to help as our local council, Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Martos so good in many things, particularly in beautifying the town, has failed to give the Rescue people the proper licence. 

A Recent quote on one of the rescue posts read "Debido a la falta de colaboración del Ayuntamiento para la renovación de la cesión de los terrenos del refugio, en el cual hemos tenido que paralizar la actividad y del mismo modo a la tenencia de la licencia para poder realizar la actividad"  

This translates as;

Due to the lack of cooperation of the City Council for the renewal of the assignment of the lands of refuge, in which we have had to paralyze the activity and similarly to the possession of the license to be able to perform the activity.

Our living room has now become an obstacle course of protective barriers as we have a dog that has been beaten severely and now has a repaired and healing broken leg and another that has been hit by at least one car and has a crushed (and untreatable) pelvis. 

At the same time, we are coping with a Podenco with dementia, or possibly brain damage as she was hit by a car some time ago, A puppy whose owner is having trouble coping with, so just a temporary foster we hope. We also have an abandoned small
podenco cross, an old girl, an abandoned Papillon cross, Our own German Shepard/Sausage dog cross (a rescue,) 2 miniature poodles and a rescued Chihuahua cross.

As I said earlier, we do this out of love for the animals and ask for nothing in return, the love the dogs give us is reward enough.

We do however plead with our council for help for the rescue, I implore   Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Martos to contact the Rescue and implement the licences and permissions so that much-needed building and repairs can go ahead.  

Thank you for reading this far and I only ask that you share it far and wide and if you can, ask the council to expedite the permissions.

A Very Sad Car History

 OK, so during the coof thing, and not being allowed to mix much, Facebook has been a bit of a thing here and my feed has been filled with some wonderful old cars, some American ones as well but generally pretty nice.

This got me thinking about Top Gear (the original one) and the guests they had one. During the pre drive bit the interview usually included a bit about the guests car history and this got me thinking about mine. Oh dear, my car history is a bit hit and miss, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Obviously when you are at school transport is usually mums taxi (my dad would not drive) and my independence needed a bike so my first proper transport was a Moulton Stowaway. For those not of a certain age, this was one of the first proper folding bikes but had incredibly tiny wheels. I lived in Somerset at the time near Longleat before it went quite so mercenary and with my mates used to cycle around the then new Lion enclosure on this.

When I left school and went to college, part of the time I was in Frome and part of the time in Radstock so needed something a bit more powerful so got myself a Vespa 90. The college had a lot of Engineering students as well and they had big powerful motorbikes , they found it quite amusing to totally surround my baby Piaggio with big BSAs and Nortons, One of them even managed to jump start it, crashing it into a wall. Fortunately his dad ran the local bike repair shop so I got it fixed (and updated a bit) for free.

Got my first job in a bank in Bristol and was living in digs with a relative. My uncle had an Austin Gypsy (a lot like a Land Rover and He promised I could buy it cheap if I fixed it up and painted it, which I did, however when I came home one evening I found he had sold it to another relative and I was stuck as I had a holiday booked in a caravan in Cornwall the following week. I managed to sell the Vespa for £30 ( I know, simpler times) and buy a Car for the same amount. It also cost me £30 to insure it (Bank employees got special deals) It was a Ford Prefect from 1952 so a year older than me and it worked brilliantly as long as it wasn't raining when you went up hills (Vacuum Wipers you know) 

I kept this for a while before an MOT failure meant it had to be scrapped so I then bought an Austin A35, I'm sorry if you like these but I hated it and soon sold it and replaced it with another 100E.

This one got the full treatment, I painted it Foxy Brown, had a blower intake on the bonnet (not connected to anything you understand, just for looks) Metalflake bumpers, electric aerial, high back seat covers the whole bit. My mate had a new Vauxhall Viva and I raced him from Radstock to Frome one weekend and beat him by several mins..

As is the way of all cars from this era, the rust bug finally got too much and I sold it and replaced it with a Mini. No ordinary Mini of course, It had an Austin 1100 engine fitted, a steering wheel the size of a sixpence, it was lowered and painted bright orange. It also had a short gearstick which whilst not unusual today, as anyone who remembers the original mini knows, the gearsick went through the bottom of the firewall straight into the gear box. Herein lies the problem.. I bought the car in London and was driving it back to Hemington in Somerset, a distance of just over 100 miles and the new M4, It took me just over 12 hours, the battery kept discharging, it was dark and raining and I hit a fallen branch which shattered the connection box for the remote gearstick, It was never the same again.

 I also got tired of being followed and stopped by the police as I was usually driving it around Somerset and Bristol at night, I was back in Bristol but my dad lived in Frome., So I got rid of it. This was exchanged for a 1965 Cortina 1500 which was fantastic, best heater ever but it got crushed by a left turning Truck and had to be written off. I briefly had a Vauxhall Viva estate and yes it was this exact colour, Yellow.

I replaced it with a Hillman Imp but my mother had a Corsair and it was too big for her and so we swapped. The Corsair was fantastic, Auto, 2000cc and went like a train, all the great features of the Cortina but more powerful.

The Corsair was replaced with another Automatic, Vauxhall Cresta, also powerful but a Bent propshaft eventually caused this one to go the way of so many others. I had fun in this when the wheel bolts sheared off and a wheel and tyre rolled under the rear wing, shot into the air and over the car following me. The following car was one of those white ones with stripes down the side and blue lights on the roof.

I replaced the Cresta with something quite unusual, I found a deal on a beautiful Humber Sceptre, which I just fell in love with, Big, powerful, beautiful comfortable leather seats, and just floated along. I had looked at a Ford Anglia 107E with a Escort Mexico engine fitted, but as it scared me witless, I decided comfort was a better option. It finally died on me but not before some wonderful trips to the South Coast for music nights.

 By this time I had decided that big cars were the way to go, Petrol was expensive but therefore big cars could be bought for peanuts, I got a Triumph 2000 estate also Auto, a bit of a theme was developing here, and wow what a powerhouse, shlepping over the Manchester Ship canal at over 90, I mean 70 of course.

Perhaps my driving style or perhaps the very high mileage finally caused this one to pump black smoke, a lot, dollop of Redex seemed to temporarily cure it so I quickly traded it in for a GT6, Dog, I loved that car, bit wayward at the backend, it was a Mk1 but It would blow most MGs out of the water, Just not the MGC 3.5Ltr.

I even kept this one through my first time marriage but as my then wife was under 25, she couldn't drive it for insurance reasons (actually I couldn't afford to insure her) She had a Renault 5 which we could afford so I sold my GT6, reluctantly. and we traded her basic 5 for a 5GTL

It was this colour and over here in Spain the few GTLs I've seen are all this Old Gold, so maybe that's the only colour they came in.

Eventually new job and needing a newer car, Wife had been made redundant, She wanted a Volkswagon Polo the first one had just come out and of course the only one the garage had was that reddish Brown that is marginally better than British Beige..It was a very deceptive car, I was a bit like the Tardis, bigger on the inside, it seemed to swallow loads that you would normally need a Volvo estate to cope with but it was a bit gutless and of course Volkswagon brakes !!.

I traded it in for an XR2, which did not go down well in the household but wow, talk about a train on rails, it was ace, apart from a leaky sun roof which I didn't discover until I got a lap full of water lowering the sun visor one day.

Again Life gets in the way of fun and with a baby on the way we discovered that the pushchair/Pram contraption wouldn't fit in the boot with the massive spare tyre so the baby pocket rocket had to go.

We replaced it with a Rover, and I also acquired a Ford Fiesta basic for Mrs D but the Rover was mine.

Unfortunately I had a coming together with a bus that was right across the road in a country lane on the way to work and, as is the way with Rovers they are a bit fragile on the front end and it got written off.

Fortunately the local garage had a blue one and, as I was paying cash got a great deal, discount and a tow bar fitted free, this became the replacement.

We had friends from Wales and had been on a great holiday with them to France but, as we both now had babies, to do it again we needed something a bit bigger, so nothing ventured, I tootled off down to Southport and acquired a Toyota Spacecruiser, 6 up plus a mahoosive tent and all the paraphernalia needed for a fortnight in France for two small babies and off we went. I was lucky with this one, It had the mileage to the moon and back but was fairly unthirsty and didn't need a drop of oil the whole time, we did France and Wales in it, CB chatting to people the whole time (yes simpler days)

Eventually of course it was a bit too thirsty around town so it went for slightly more than I paid for it so a win there,.I was now living  in the Midlands during the week so was using the Rover to pootle back and forth at weekends and then Divorce reared it's ugly head and I was stuck in a bedsit in Cannock with a Rover as my transport and fell out of love with it.. Traded it in for a Sportrak which was much more fun. It would pull my boat out of the water which the Rover wouldn't do and the rear section and roof came off for that lovely summer day that we get in England.

Once the financial situation became a bit clearer (read dire) this had to go and I was pushed to buy something really cheap so got a scruffy red Astra, paint peeling off as they do, but this one looked like paint stripper had been poured over it but it was only £200  so it had to suffice. 

That was stolen, yes really, and at a most inconsiderate time as I was due to drive to Reading and Maidenhead that day for work so had to hire a car, bosses were not well pleased, when recovered by the police it had to be scrapped so I got a series of Sierras, again due to price drove them until their MOTs ran out and swapped them in.

As I was now living in Castle Donington, the age of these cars was becoming a bit of an issue and I couldn't keep using the Vectra belonging to my new wife as she needed it over the weekends when I was visiting my daughter so I bought a Peugeot 308 but there were issues with it from the off and had to return it quite quickly.

 I bit the bullet and went to a local dealer in CD and with the new Mrs Ds blessing bought a boy racer MG ZS in British Racing Green. This was unfortunately involved in a very low speed slide into the back of a Ford on ice and again the fragile Rover front end caused a write off (PS I wasn't driving)

I replaced it wit a beautiful Laguna, a car I'd lusted after for a while and it was an absolute dream to drive so stable and sure footed. 

Sadly life usually kicks

 in just when you seem to have the perfect life and I lost my job so the Laguna had to go, we managed with the Vectra for a while but I need a car for travel and Mrs D needed one for shopping when I was away.so I just got the cheapest thing I could, don't laugh. Yes it's a Daewoo Lanos, basically a rip off of the Vauxhall Astra I had stolen in Leicester. 

Finally I started working for myself and was able to replace the Laguna so was happy again, but health issues then arose fr both of us and the Laguna had to go,. and while I was in Hospital Mrs D spotted an absolute bargain, got the train to Birmingham and drove home in one of the best cars we have ever driven..

The mighty Audi A4 V6 Avant Auto, what a mighty machine, we both loved that car and often had to Rock -Paper-scissors about who would drive.

2016 rolled around and we decided to move to Spain, I parted with the Audi, again reluctantly but as everything here in Martos is very local and the bus is ridiculously cheap, we didn't have a car.

I hired a Panda when Mrs Ds son came over for a visit and we hired a Fiat Doblo to get to the house from the airport and visit other towns to buy furniture but that's it for 9 months.

.

Finally realising we might use a car occasionally I bought a Citroen Xsara Diesel (this will be important later), It was Ok but good grief it was underpowered, Some motorway hills I had to change to third if I was 4 up. Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, I leant it to a newby here in the town to move some stuff and he filled it up with petrol, destroying the engine, so scrapwards it went.

It was replaced with a Hyundai Accent, smaller petrol engine but 50% more HP., It was again OK but Mrs D was never comfortable in it and when the head gasket finally blew and wrecked the engine, she wasn't unhappy.

Finally we come to the present day, and I have to confess this is not actually my car, It's registered to Mrs D and she loves it, I might actually drive it a bit more but I'm sure that wont last much longer. She calls it Bluebell due to the colour and it is beautiful, stupid milage (kilometerage?) under 60k and it is a Mercedes A190 Avantguard. Bits a tad pricy, (New key is over 300 Euros) but it drives fantastically and we have a couple of great garages for servicing so Ok on that score and a friendly Mercedes Garage only 20klicks away.

So, Not counting the bikes that's about 30 cars, very few of which I would ever have again, The XR2, the GT6 , The Laguna and the Audi are exceptions. The one regret I have is travelling to London to see a Lotus Europa Lotus special for £1000 which I couldn't afford at the time and they are now totally out of reach, but hey, it's been a ride. (when they didn't break down)

Sorry, couldn't resist