Kirsten catches a cold

The week has whistled by in a cloud of tissues. Yes, I came down with a horrible cold - hence the lack of blog updates. And yes, I felt very sorry for myself.

After our fun girls' weekend, Kevin landed at around school pick-up time on Monday. I had a lovely quiet day, as the germs had started kicking in - it was a sunny and breezy day again so I'd abandoned my work in the flat to spend a morning hour or two at a table in the sun outside Wellies - it was just too nice to stay inside. It was €5 for a cup of tea though, so there was a downside... Jemima had also had a fun day at school, so we set off happily for the airport, excited to have Daddy home. And it was lovely.

On Tuesday, after our run (getting back into the routine), Kevin and I tried the local healthy deli Coco's for lunch, for a change - a delicious chicken salad. I then disappeared (with multiple packs of tissues) to the hairdressers for three hours - Claire, who we rent the apartment from, always has different hair, so I asked her for a recommendation. And the lovely Andrea from The Salon in Puerto Portals lived up to her reputation. Afterwards, I met Jemima and Kevin for dinner at Diablito's in the marina, followed by an ice cream from our favourite place - the ice cream lady now greets us like old friends...

Then on Wednesday, as my cold had been getting steadily worse, and the weather was also pretty grey, I finally gave in and stayed in bed. Kevin went for a run, while I snuggled under the covers, snotty and sneezing, only emerging for lunch when I just about managed to drag myself down to Chameli's before school pick up and a return to bed.

And Thursday was more of the same: according to Kevin I snuffled and snored my way through the night, and the daytime saw me back in bed again - Jemima's this time, as I did some work reading while huddled under a duvet. Then Kevin took me on a little drive before another Chameli's lunch (roasted rice, yum) and another quiet convalescent evening - Jemima and I retired to bed while Kevin popped down to the marina to see the cars lining up for the annual Puerto Portals classic car rally (and then I stayed there, conked out, while Kevin put Jemima to bed).

Thankfully I woke up on Friday feeling much better, well enough to join Kevin on our training run. Because this was the big one, our longest so far: 20 minutes, no stopping! We were both a bit apprehensive - our longest run so far had been 8 minutes! But Jo Whiley (narrating our training app) told us we were ready, so we went for it. And we did it! 20 minutes meant we ran nearly the whole way around our route, which was very satisfying. We felt very proud of ourselves... And the sun was properly back, for what felt like the first time in a little while. So we celebrated both with lunch outside at Lila's, scene of my earlier overindulgent afternoon: a slightly overpriced restaurant but with a fabulous view overlooking Portals Nous beach. With the sun on my face, I could feel the cold finally receding. 

And thank goodness, because Jemima had another birthday party on Friday after school: Berta's this time, in a dedicated birthday party venue. Soft play, colouring, cake decorating, dinner, and then disco dancing - the fun never stopped, and she had a great time. We drove home eating party bag sweets, all of us looking forward to a sunny weekend.

A particularly good Chameli's menú (I'm on the water, I must be ill...)



The Puerto Portals classic car rally...

...while Jemima and I were in bed



Lila's

Berta's party

Overindulgence

It was the hottest day yet. It had been a glorious sunrise; and we'd had a lovely run in the sunshine. So the decision was: what next? It was so hot we were tempted by the beach - I quite fancied sitting reading in the sun, pretending it was summer; but we discovered we didn't have any deckchairs in the flat after all, so scrapped that idea (with the plan to buy some on our next shopping trip). So, as the next best thing, we went to Lila's, Portals' "beach club" - a restaurant and bar on a terrace overlooking the sandy bay below.

The problem is the size of the measures. Kevin had a small beer - the usual half pint-ish size. I had a glass of wine - and in Spain they are generally larger than usual, but this was an absolute bucketful, probably a third of a bottle. But we sat happily in the sun for a while, sipping away, looking out to sea, and people-watching on the terrace (various swanky types talking business; and three extremely glossy Russian ladies lunching). Then Kevin asked, "are you having another?". And in my weakness, I said "yes".  

After two glasses aka nearly a bottle of wine to myself, we walked slowly back up the steep hill for lunch at Chameli's. Kevin had pork cheek, and I had hake with a salsa verde. It was delicious - so delicious I ate every scrap, even though it was an enormous plateful. As a result, when we got home, the only option was for me to retire to bed; Kevin had to collect Jemima. I was completely over-drunk and over-eaten. 

Jemima, by contrast, was full of beans; she came home singing Spanish songs, and raving about the lentil soup (!) she'd had at lunchtime. She'd also been to arts and crafts club, so was clutching a picture of some hot air balloons - we are slowly adding colour to our very chic but fairly monochrome flat. Another jolly evening (my nap had revived me somewhat), and then bed, swearing to do better tomorrow. As my grandmother used to say, "everything in moderation"...

A tipsy journey up from the Portals Nous beach club

Sunrise

 Running in the marina

Dragon boats all lined up waiting for the Puerto Portals 2017 Winter race series - there must be twenty of them...

Lila's