Trouble in Paradise

The challenges of this week were certainly about to accelerate. I decided to wear trousers on the girls night out, jazzing up my outfit with a feather boa in honour of halloween, as several of the group of 35 were coming dressed as witches, or brides of Dracula, in preparation for a wild night out in Benidorm.I decided to take the car, and leave it in the Albir Gardens Hotel car park overnight.

That was the plan, however the car was not in the place I had left it. Anxious enquiries of people in an adjacent bar revealed that it had been towed away by the police, and that it would cost 150 euros to get it back. In a state of shock and with time ticking by, I quickly decided to abandon the feather boa and car keys, and get a taxi to the venue, where at least I could find out more about retrieving the car, and drown my sorrows with the witches of Benidorm. In retrospect this was a good idea. Not only had some of them been in this position, but they told me to take the cash with me and my passport, and that the car pound would be shut for the night now, so I might as well have a good time and enjoy my half bottle of wine. This was good advice, I had an enjoyable evening, and a lift back with some fellow car pound victims. “They always do this when there is a fiesta coming up and they have to pay for all the lights and fireworks.” Whether this is a local english fable I have no way of knowing, there were 3 other cars lifted from that same spot, and 3 yellow stickers left on the pavement telling the owners what had happened.

The witches quite understood why I did not feel like joining them in Benidorm, and I was able to retrieve the car the next day, with a taxi to the police station, and another to the car pound, situated at extreme ends of Altea another win win situation for the taxi drivers! After depositing the car in a safer place, I decided that today would be the day I went swimming; and so it was. Packed the bike with rug, and book and suncream, and cycled to Albir, where the warm november sun dissipated any vague paranoid feelings that hung around, and yes I could stay in the sea in November and have the sun dry me. Paradise restored