Happy St Andrews Day
Happy St Andrews Day to everyone Scottish.
St Andrews Day was 1st declared as a Public Holiday in 2006 although banks and employers do not have to give the day off to their workers. Andrew and his brother Peter were followers of Jesus and it is believed he was killed by crucifixiton in Greece for spreading the Christian religion. The cross forms part of the Scottish flag.
For a long time the bones of St Andrew were kept in Greece but legend has it that a monk had a dream and an angel told him to remove and take just some of the bones for safe keeping. They were taken to the ends of the world which would have been possibly Scotland.
Another belief is that an historical collector brought the bones to St Andrew and either way they were most likely destroyed during the Scottish Reformation when any Catholic relic was found and removed by Protestants.
Part of St Andrew was kept in Italy and they kindly sent part of his shoulder to Scotland in 1879.
I discovered hell on Saturday
And it is called IKEA.
First the journey there was horrendous as we had sheet rain ( Erika thought I was swearing…) and the roads had all flooded. If you saw a flying car instead of a plane, that would have been us.
Parked at IKEA, eventually. Hubby had a hole in his shoe, the umbrellas blew inside out and joined the umbrella graveyard piled up at the door of IKEA.
We wanted to get some bedroom furniture but like rats in a laboratory we had to walk through the whole shop, meet the dregs of Malaga society, rub shoulders with people that looked like they were dying from a cold virus before we could get to the bedroom section. Erikita found it very interesting to see three year old boys with diamond earrings and youngsters throwing giant ladybird cushions around the toy section, each other and customers in general. They may have been IKEA staff.
Erikita tried out several mattresses and then began to fall asleep so we went for a lunch break in the restaurant. I say restaurant, I’m thinking more rat infested, filthy, heaving cattle market. You queue, you queue some more and by the time you get your hot food and have found somewhere stained and littered with goo to sit, your food has gone cold and quite frankly you’ve gone off your meal. If you want to diet, go to the Malaga IKEA restaurant on a Saturday afternoon.
Eventually got all our bits whilst hopefully avoiding gastroenteritis and managed to walk through the candle section without picking up anything apart from flu.
Almost at the exit and I realised I had picked up the wrong duvet covers. Hubby not happy. He has to go back…..into the rat laboratory.
Queue, queue and get to the till for transportation. Check out girl starts laughing at hubby when he queries does he need certain bits for the bed. She then starts to show signs of hysteria when he gives her the number of the mattress he wishes to order. No, you need to go back to the department and get the man to give you a piece of paper. Hubby not happy. He has to go back…into the rat laboratory.
Queue, queue and get to the till for transportation. We have the necesary paperwork and hubby has the necessary headache.
Everything is going through fine apart from the important computer support that hubby wanted. He has picked up the display model and he is not allowed it. Hubby not happy. He won’t go back…..he says he won’t ever go back to IKEA.
On the plus side we have the bedroom furniture.
On the downside hubby and I have aged 10 years.
Send a message from Santa
If you are looking to send a message from Santa to your children then look no further. This link will take you to a website where you can get Santa to talk to your child, he will know their name, special friends, it is just lovely! He is a real character, in a grotto and, well I want a message from Santa…..
Cheap L’occitane gift sets
I went to El Corte Ingles today to price up L’occitane gift sets for Christmas gifts. I found a beautiful boxed set of L’occitane verbena collection which included a L’occitane 250ml verbena shower gel, 75ml of verbena body lotion, 30ml of a verbena cooling hand cream gel, a 30ml hand cream containing shea butter AND a 100g soap. All in a large box. In El Corte Ingles it is 35 euros which I thought was a good price for the gift set.
Well you can order the same L’occitane gift set from Feel Unique and they will deliver FREE OF CHARGE internationally, to Spain for the price of £27.00. They also had a gorgeous toilet bag filled with L’occitane products for just £17.00
They have over 6000 products in stock from Tigi to Clarins. Click here to go to their website.
Rain until Tuesday…
Not looking good weather wise here in Marbella, although temperatures are around 18 degrees, there will be rain every day until at least Tuesday. Sometimes though, rain here can be a chance just to have a snuggle day. My recipe for snuggle evenings is as follows.
I’ve just lit the log fire, my softest socks are on, I am wearing my pj’s and have a glass of red wine to hand. Mousakka is in the oven, children are fed and happy and all is right with the world.
Have a cosy and warm week-end….
Passion Cafe in San Pedro
We had to buy some paint today and stopped by at the Passion Cafe near McDonalds in San Pedro for a quick lunch. Warm and inviting atmosphere and good choice of menu. Hubby and I shared the Californian wrap and it was packed full of fresh ingredients, lots of advocado and it came with a generous helping of salad. I was impressed and thought it was even nicer than the ones at Terra Sana.
The two waiters we had were attentive but lacked “soul.” The decor is tired and needs a good coat of paint and some new furnishings and my pet hate, a dirty paper menu. I can’t think of anything worse than handing someone a dessert menu with large food stains across it. It actually turned me off. The desserts are 6.50 euros so quite expensive. The wrap was around 12.50 euros.
However the food was really good and from October they have started a Sunday roast.
Where do you buy English bedding in Spain?
If you are located near Marbella/Fuengirola then you can find good quality English bedding in Dunnes in Mijas Costa or the Yorkshire Bedding Company located close to Dunnes and Lidl. The Yorkshire Linen company just a short walk to the left of Lidl is by far my favourite, huge choice, great prices and Julie the owner is so helpful.
I haven’t had time to head over to Mijas and badly needed a UK Super King sized duvet. I ordered one from a shop on ebay, they stock over 2000 products and deliver to Spain, brand new.
It takes about a week to arrive and the duvet cover I have ordered is beautiful, gold and cream with two pillowcases, delivered to Spain for £37.98. I think that is an excellent price. Even in the UK companies such as Marks and Spencers charge much more than that for a superking sized duvet cover.
The contact website is,
http://www.pricerighthome.com/
Firewood Marbella, Lena Marbella
Just thought I’d update after a very good experience with the company that delivered my firewood in Marbella. The man arrived with a van, manually took out a cubic metre of wood and stacked it up beautifully for me. The wood is dry and caught fire very quickly when tested last night! It was 65 euros for a cubic metre of olive firewood. He delivers the firewood to Marbella and the surrounding area. He also speaks English.
Contact number is 622679932
Back to my holiday home
I do like La Canada, I like it a lot which is why around this time of year I move into my holiday home under the giant Christmas tree next to the Luna Cafe. So the next few posts are about my morning out and about in La Canada…..
L’Occitane in Marbella
The new L’Occitane shop in La Canada has now opened. It is located near Habitat where the old part of La Canada shopping centre meets the newer part, on the ground floor.
Lots of lovely gifts for Christmas, in the window the soaps piled up and wrapped in clear cellophane caught my eye but they have the whole range in the shop, not just a tiny section as they do in El Corte Ingles in Puerto Banus.
I love L’Occitane and can highly recommend the silver bottle of lavendar bubble bath. The scent doesn’t disappear and it is ideal for those days when you feel a little shivery and need to just relax. The Almond shower oil is also divine. Lovely in the bath too, it turns the water milky and the scent is heavenly…..it also leaves your skin so soft and silky.
I also like their Verbena hand wash….I’ll stop now and put my energy into writing a list for Santa instead…..