Back to basics today and a few words about shopping. I have just got back from doing my weekly shop; which can often be challenging, living in Spain. Today I have been to five different shops, in order to get everything I need for the next week. I always go to Lidl for the basics, preferring to buy groceries everyday on my morning walk around Gran Alacant.

Today I had to take a trip up to the top of the hill, not far from where I used to live. I had to go to the pharmacy to try and get hold of those packets of Asprin I needed a week ago, in order to thin the blood and prevent a heart attack. To be honest, it's my own paranoia that wants me to buy them. I understand I have to eventually make an appointment at the Doctors, but the process is so laborious, having to arrange an interpreter, that I just don't have the time to mess around. Buying these at 1'30€ a packet, rather than the 5€ Darrell paid, should give me peace of mind at least. Thanks to Jackie, who lives locally in Gran Alacant, I was able to get the right medication and not pay over the odds for a change!

Next it was a stopover at the English Supermarket Quicksave to get a few herbs and spices for dinner this evening. To my surprise, I found the big 500 gram jars of Marmite, not something I have seen in Spain before and only 5'95€; an absolute bargain price. A big thank you to Quicksave for getting them in. For a Marmite addict like me, it's just like winning the lottery.

Lastly it was a quick stop at Unide, to pick up a local paper, some freeze dried corn, that I love and tomato juice for a Bloody Mary or two. It was interesting to see the headline 'Shopping Days Limited,' in the Costa Blanca News. The local Valencian Regional Government, recently voted to limit the number of Sundays and Red Days shops can open. Outlets in larger tourist zones had been allowed to open throughout the year; the new rules will mean having more limited opening times, closing on many of these lucrative shopping days.

This is of course in stark contrast to the British way of doing things, who tend to allow unrestricted shopping hours on public holidays and Sundays. I am not sure which system works best. On one hand workers are given far more time off in Spain, especially when one considers the number of bank holidays here, are more than double that of the UK and it also keeps Sunday as a day of rest, which is a good thing for families. Having said this, the Spanish economy is in a bit of a mess and could do with the economic boost seven day a week opening allows. A curtailment could quite possibly be a step backwards; make up your own mind on that one.

Bags unpacked, it's time for me to cook dinner, Peri Peri Chicken!

It was a quick trip to Dialprix this morning,  to get ingredients for a goulash I was making. Chris popped along with me, mesmerised by the array of English products on Offer. I have to say, Dialprix is perfect for all those British essentials, hard to get elsewhere. He found a few things, he hasn't seen before as well; namely the 'Brocolli Flower,' in the photo above. So it`s been an old fashioned day of cooking for me, as Darrell slept after his night shift. I've got three days off, so can't think of anything better to do; that and writing, of course!

Foreign Office, Alicante

It was a 9am start and a quick trip into Alicante this morning. Darrell's Residencia card had finally come through at the Foreign Office. It has taken a long time to get to this point, mainly because of the slow Spanish Governmental system, that deals with official paperwork, documents and applications. Darrell's legal status is now the same as mine and there are no longer any conditions on his length of stay in Spain. We are both lucky enough to have completed this process, before the date, Britain leaves the European Union, hopeful that we will have no further hoops to jump through, when Brexit finally kicks in; something we will not know for sure until March 19th 2019.... 

Alicante/Urbanova Beach

....We decided to have a quick stopover at the beach on the way home. Despite the early morning cloud, you could see Alicante clearly to the left and Urbanova to the right. It was lovely taking in the views, breathing in the warm Spanish air and enjoying ten minutes of quiet tranquility, away from Gran Alacant....

Banco Sabadell, Gran Alacant

....Next it was a rather brief stay at Banco Sabadell. Usually we are waiting at least an hour to get served, in a country that enjoys queuing more than the UK; today it was straight to the counter, to show the cashier Darrell's new Residencia card, which allows them to remove, all those nasty non resident charges, applied to foreign national accounts in Spain....

​marmite watch:  consum, Gran Alacant

....Finally we stopped at Consum in the GA Centre, to get last minute supplies for Christmas and a couple of jars of Marmite. I am still very price conscious living in Spain; having paid 3'45€ for a small jar of Marmite two days ago, I wanted to get in some more, just in case the whole of Spain is shut for a week at Christmas, as is usually the case during a public holiday. Consum is usually the cheapest supermarket to buy the black stuff and as it happens, it was; 2'99€ is a bargain price for Spain, so I grabbed a few while I was there. After a quick trip to the market, to pick up the veg for Christmas dinner, it was a glass of Rioja to celebrate the end of a very rocky road and an hour long siesta to compensate for the early start!