er now, my 60th birthday that is and what a good day it has been, extending until this hour (see the timestamp below) today (Thursday) and beginning the day before (Tuesday) at 5pm when I opened the bar. In fact the whole weekend has been one hell of a time for me as well, an insight to which I gave you on the phone earlier. Lary arrived back in Málaga at 1am on Saturday last after a long flight from Omsk which included a 10 hour stopover in Moscow waiting for a flight to Madrid. She is in the best of health and full of smiles etc after a 20 day stay in Hospital having her ailment treated. I have joked with her since that she said that she would be back within a month to which she responded that the nursing care in Russia is different to that in Spain (and, I suppose, the UK as well) in that you are not "in and out" in a matter of days, you are cared for until you are totally, fully, recovered and convalesced which in her case took almost 3 weeks. Having arrived back at that 1am she was on the phone to me just as soon as she got up at 3pm on Saturday having slept the journey's stresses away, worried as it turns out, that the lack of communication might have upset me. I was quite correct all the way down the line about her situation with phones and Internet though except that I never guessed that there are only two, yes two, internet cafe type places in Omsk and they get pretty busy.Sunday we had a lunch date together. Restaurante Salamanca was open but very, very busy. We were told that a table would not be available until about 2-30 which was an hour-and-a-half away so we went for a stroll along the seafront, taking a coffee in a cafe/bar dedicated to Humphrey Bogart in its manner of decor. Over the coffee she explained why she was unable to maintain proper contact and told me about the Russian Medical System as I've described above. She was very concerned about the lack of emails from her etc and I had a hard job convincing her that none of it mattered, that I'd guessed it wouldn't be easy for her and that I'd realized that while she was in hospital it would have been more or less impossible for her anyway and I topped-off my reassurances by showing her the SMSs I'd had from Katia giving me snippets of news. Arriving back at the restaurant just after 2 we noticed an empty table just inside the doorway, gave a nearby waiter an enquiring nod in its direction and were duly allowed to take it.
"Why have you got such a short haircut?"
"Because I fancied a change and it's cooler in the Sun"
"It doesn't suit you, I don't like it!"
"My friends in Torre say that it makes me look younger"
"They are wrong"
So I'm going back to normal, which means that I am going to have to buy a comb. No expense spared as they say. Lunch was fine as usual in that place, seafood soup etc etc. Nothing changes, except that she took a soft drink with her meal so I asked for a glass of Rosé Wine (Vino Rosado) only to be given a whole, full bottle. I took two glasses and when the Bill was presented I noticed that they hadn't been charged for. A quick word in her ear solicited the fact that "that is normal here, drink the whole bottle and they charge, take a glass or two and it's free." Thinking back, we've always shared a bottle and drunk the lot so it has never happened before. On Xmas Day you'll remember that I told you that she'd told me that she was going home to get treated, she would be back within a month and that she would bring me back something very Russian. Well, two out of three ain't bad, she has brought me back some Russian Caviar, two tins of it. So precious it has to be kept in the fridge even although the tins are not open!!
Tuesday I opened the bar as normal at 5pm and and shortly after Claire came in - "this is for you" (handing me an envelope) "I know it's tomorrow but tomorrow is your day off so you get it today and you must open it now." One of the funniest birthday cards I have ever seen. And that heralded a good night of celebration, albeit while I was working, which finished with me getting to bed at 5am or so having (I'm told) walked the last of my customers home to her Hotel first.
Feb 27th dawned on me at about half-past Midday and over my first cuppa I txt'd Lary.
"What are you doing today? I have a day off"
"Feliz cumpleaños, no hago nada"
Over the lunch on Sunday she commented that she wanted to cook Paella but didn't answer my query about when.
"OK, can I come and cook at your place later?"
"Claro, cuando quieres?"
"OK. First I have to go shopping. I'll call you later, at around 4 or 5".
"Vale"
My shopping spree netted all the ingredients for my "Paella para Ella" recipe only this time I left the mussels out because she's not particularly partial but bought some more expensive, bigger prawns and clams instead and also lashed out on some Saffron and fresh peas-in-the-pod as well. Back home everything I needed was thrown into my shopping trolley, including my paellera - have kitchen, can travel. I was ready. When I got back from the shops I found a message on my mobile (I'd forgotten to take it with me) saying that when I leave for Calahonda I should call her because she is in Torremolinos. I sent back that if she is already in Torre then why not come to mine instead (that packed trolley is heavy and I wasn't looking forward to lugging it halfway to Marbella.) She replied that she was visiting girlfriends (catching up on the last two months news) and didn't want to stay in Torre afterwards so I let her know that I was intending to catch the 4-30pm train. Which then meant that I had to because I immediately began to suspect that she would use that as an excuse to take her leave of her friends. Panic stations, 2 hours to go, I'd lost that freedom of choice about when to leave and I was waiting for the clothes I wanted to wear to dry after having put them through the washing machine.
Despite my best efforts with a hot iron I did end up putting on damp clothes but by the time I got to the station they were more-or-less dry. No sign of Lary though. Oh well, she'll work out when I'm due to arrive at the bus-stop and be there to meet me I expect. Ten minutes to wait for the train and all the while I kept a sly eye out for her, just in case. I struggled on board with my 2 ton trolley and grabbed one of the folding seats just inside the doors and as I settled down and raised my head after putting the seat down I heard "Hola" and there she was, right in front of me and I hadn't seen a thing "No te Vista?" she said with a grin and passed over a designer carrier bag containing a leisure shirt, "Feliz Cumpleaños." Then she asked "why didn't you call me earlier this morning? The weather was better, we could have done other things" and I explained about my late rising due to a party in the bar keeping me up til 5am. "A party??" Her tone was such that she sounded like she suddenly felt ignored by not being invited to my party like she has been in previous years and I had a devils own job (lack of adequate Spanish) trying to explain that it was impromptu, not planned etc. etc., that I was only expecting a normal shift in the bar and I knew that I was going to call her today anyway. "Actually I was going to call you today and invite David and Ann as well just like the dinner we had on your terrace when Katia was here, but while I was thinking about it you txt'd me" she said and I had to gently point out that Ann and David would have declined due to Ann's own convalescent state after her recent operations etc.
"Have you got the whole shop in there" she quipped as I unloaded everything, including my own knives, onto the work surface next to the sink. Hands washed, cutting boards sorted and with a "dame algo hacer" - give me something to do - we got stuck in to making a paella. I was told that I should have bought fresh (grey) prawns, not cooked, pink, ones but despite that major problem an hour or so later we were eating out on the terrace in the dying sun.
I've taken an opportunity to put my new all-singing, all-dancing digital camera that I told you about to good use to show our simple table setting within sight of the sea on the Costa del Sol. A view of Heaven? Not quite, an Angel is missing.
On the way home I began to worry about not having heard from Aaron but my fears were unfounded because for an hour between half-nine and half-ten or so my mobile was alive with texts going back and forth between me and him, me and Austen and me and Martin, and having been caught out on the street (so to speak) away from my computer and skype I was concerned that I'd run out of credit but I didn't and I'm not so sure now about the rumour going round that texts from here to the UK are €1 a time because my credit should not have lasted at that rate...but it did.
The day finally ended after a phonecall with Austen (who has had his computer highjacked as a spambot) with me going down to the bar at about 11pm only to find Else-Britt and Ole-Erik expectantly hoping to see me because they then presented me with a card and a gift.....the most awesome corkscrew machine thingy that you could ever imagine. I'll try to photogragh it later to show you. I'm glad that I went back to the bar and met them because they returned to Norway this morning and will be away for about 6 weeks, I think, and I know that to have been able to give me the gift in person really pleased them.
