Suddenly it's September...

I have started to write a post several times this week and then stopped. Very possibly I am now so relaxed that doing anything at all is just a bit too much effort ....or it could be that I am trying really hard not to tempt providence or get carried away... or put things in writing before it is the right time... but what the heck... this week we have accepted an offer on our house in England. There, I've said it. I know it doesn't mean we have sold it; I know that these things take time and there is room for any number of problems but I DO so hope that the sale will go through and go through smoothly.

And now you can wish and hope for me too and I already feel better for sharing the news rather than keeping it to myself.

This week we have also heard that the children have been allocated places at schools near here in La Flecha - Romy and Ruy will go to a newly built school about 5kms away which is a bit of a pain as I'd really hoped they could go to the school here but it's apparently full. This doesn't surprise me as there has been so much building here in the past 8 years or so that there simply must be a lot more children. Hence the new school nearby - we are going to go and have a look and meet the head next week - the new term starts on 9th September. Mateo has been allocated to a school whose name it is going to take me all term to remember - hang on whilst I check again - it's Instituto de Educacion Secundaria Condesa Eylo Alfonso. Mateo will never EVER remember it!  They don't start back until 17th September, which is a Friday and seems a bit strange to me, but that's how it is. Mateo is resigned to going to a new school and knows that he wanted to come and live in Spain but of all of them, he is bound to feel the most nervous I guess; Ruy is pretty cool and will fit in easily because he's sociable, plays football and has already made friends with the kids who play in the plaza; Romy, bless her, is really looking forward to going although a bit frustrated that she will have to start again in Year 1 as 6 is the statutory school age here. It's a big thing for them and I too will be pretty nervous next week and the week after when Mateo starts.




In the meantime, we are still going back and forth to Aguilar de Campoo - last time, we camped there for a few days and had a great time. It is not a particularly well run campsite but it is in lovely situation, amongst the pines and was nice and quiet while we were there (apart from us, of course - our children are rarely quiet!)

One of the days, we checked out access to the coast and it took just one hour to drive up to Santander and the lovely beaches there - we ended up on one call 'La Tagle' and although the day started out rather overcast, it was a perfect beach day as it was warm, not too hot and the sea was fantastic.

 
Mateo, Ruy and Romy are the three figures in the middle of this picture

 
In the tent one of the nights, we played 'I went to market..' and it was most amusing - I can even remember our final list and will put it here for posterity! We went in this order - me, Romy, Ruy and Mateo - just so get a feel for how their minds work!

I went to market and I bought -

A pig;
an orange;
some strawberries;
a stick;
a can of peas;
a flower;
a horse;
a rabid penguin;
a sack of potatoes;
a stack of rainbow paper;
a husky;
a fishbowl;
a fish to go in it;
a tent;
a turnip;
a shadow demon;
some batteries;
a roof for the house;
an intergalactic space station;
a mysterious egg
AND a green bag.

This must have been the point when Romy had fallen asleep because we stopped. A pretty good list,  I think!

And tomorrow, we are going back to view some 'terreno' or 'fincas' which are areas of rural land as Cesar still really wants to build a house for us on a site where we could eventually put some yurts for holiday use. It will take us a while to get permissions to do this sort of thing and we don't want to buy land that we can't use as we wish, so there's a long way to go. However, we are still looking for a house just in case the 'right' one is out there - I have already seen it, but it's not what Cesar was looking for - but bear this name in mind .... Puentetoma. There's a house there I like very much and we're going to see it again tomorrow too...

And suddenly it's September!