Sunday 29 August 2010

Hot Winds and Cool Waves!

I know I go on about the heat here, but having spent much of my life living in the UK and before arriving down here on this little island, we spent several years living in Holland. It’s not surprising that these really hot windy days more than take my breath away.

Although this last week has been hot, around 29c the really hot winds that came in last night came as a surprise. At around 9pm the wind got up and sitting on the terrace you could feel it was warm. Hoping it would turn a little cooler to take the dogs out we hung on. But by 11pm it was still very warm and so we decided we had to take the dogs for a walk and the seafront would probably be cooler. On our way down to the beach we met our friend who warned us that it was even hotter on the seafront. So much so that she had spent the last hour in the sea with her little doggie and suggested that’s what we should do.

As we walked along the seafront the wind was blowing strongly and the heat was amazing. We looked along the shoreline and saw many people in the water. It was clearly the best place to be even after 11pm!

 

So taking our shoes off, with the dogs still on their leads, we trudged over the warm sands down to the shoreline. Our latest doggy has never been on the beach so we were interested to see how he reacted to the ripples of the waves as they gentle crept along the beach. As soon as we walked into the water, Poppy, our first doggy turned and stood the length of her lead away from me with her back to the sea! Sadly this little doggy had been very badly treated and we suspect had been thrown into pools and water, hence her reluctance. We had hoped that after the years of living with us, she might not be so afraid, so not wanting to distress her, I stayed with her as CB took Barney down to the water. To our surprise instead of jumping in and enjoying the water, which he normally loves, he licked the salty waves and then ran back. It seemed our doggies were not interested in the ocean and cooling down so with sandy feet we trudged back to our shoes. But before putting on our shoes we went to the foot showers and would you believe it at 11.30pm we had to queue!



But if we thought last night the wind was hot, we were in for a surprise when we got up this morning. By early afternoon the temperature in the shade and in the garden was just 7c degrees difference – 40c in the shade and 47c in the garden. The doggies are flat out in our office in the villa where the AC is keeping them cool and were we are trying to catch up on writing and work with the occasional dip in the pool to cool down. It seems we could have this wind for a few more days. I just hope the forecasters are wrong!


Thursday 26 August 2010

Oh My God Moments!

I thought I would share with you one or two of my ‘Oh My God!’ moments.

When I was a child our neighbour used to take his daughter and me to school in his company car. In those days, very few people had cars and company cars were even less. But the car that took us the short distance to our school was large, black and shiny, the seats were big and comfortable and the windows were huge and so clean they sparkled. At the school gates we would alight from the car and wave enthusiastically at my friend’s father as he drove away. Nobody every said a word to us about our privileged ride to school, but years later I learnt that our neighbour was an undertaker and the company car he had so kindly taken us to school in was a hearse!

 
I’m not sure what you think about your name, but I admit to wishing mine had be different and one day in the office the topic of conversation got onto names. I bravely said that I could not understand how someone could look into a pram and say Pauline. But as the words left my mouth I saw my colleague pale. Trying to rescue the situation I added, yes but it is not your name that is Pauline, it is mine! It was the wrong thing to say as my colleague retorted, we called our daughter Pauline.

 
Many years ago, long before I got into communications, I was a buyer and one of the sales managers called to ask for a pricing for a particular product. After looking into his enquiry I called him back and began to explain the cost implications depending on the vehicle the product was delivered in. One vehicle had a compressor and the product would effectively be blown into the tank, whilst the other vehicle would need to be weighted on a weigh bridge and then the product would be pumped out. Having explained all of this, I concluded by saying. ‘You can either have a pump or a blow job….!’ 
Believe you me I had no idea that I had phrased it like that until I heard my colleague at the desk next to me yell out about what I was offering! Once I realised what I had said I could not speak. My colleague who was on the other end of the phone has never forgotten that conversation!

These are just a one or two of my OMG! moments, but I hope you will share one of your OMG! moments!

Saturday 21 August 2010

Just a Chat!

Now having a Blog page, I feel duty bound to keep it alive and interesting, but I can't think of anything to talk about. So rather than leave it for another day, I've decided to just chatter away and see where it all ends.

The start to the day was slow, last night was my first full nights sleep in over four weeks. My shingles have kept me awake with the pain and irritation and I have found myself wandering around the house at 3am, 4am, 5am trying to ease the pain. So last night having missed those early morning wanders, my body, in shock, kept on sleeping! Normally we take the dogs out around 7.30 - 7.45, but this morning my eye lids just stayed shut an hour longer! But once up, dogs walked and then showered I felt great. Though the irritation is something else, I feel I want to scratch away until there is no skin left, alas that is not the thing to do I've been told......! So in between going slightly crazy at the temptation to scratch away, we went out and drove up to Tias.



Tias is a little town 5kms up the mountain from where we live. We only needed to buy some teabags, but  somehow we also ended up with chocolate biscuits, a huge bag of leather dog chews, chocolate eclairs, kidney beans - they were half price - plus lots of other items I didn't realise I needed!

The view of Tias from Puerto del Carmen

Now with our bags stuffed with items we had no idea we had to have, we saw that it was lunch time. As we were in the shop that also has a cafe/restaurant we stopped and had a coffee and a crispy bacon roll.....delicious! Whilst enjoying the food we saw several people we know, had lovely chats with them, picked up lots of news and gossip before heading back to the car for home. Arriving home we saw that a kestrel had killed a pigeon and was happily eating it on our drive. I had no idea that we had kestrels near us, we can only assume they must have come down from the mountain areas for water and as we have plenty of pigeons flying around, there is also ample food supply too. But nonetheless, this side of nature is not pleasant.


Looking towards PDC from the Tias road

On a different note, I would like to say thank you to Rhiana Reads Blog spot - 'So I Say Thank You For The Books...' for giving me this week's page- Saturday 21st August. To read my article just click here  http://rhiana-reads.blogspot.com/

Now as the heat is 29c in the shade, I knew I had made the right decision to sit at my desk and Blog and also to work on my third novel. So hence why I've been here chattering with you. And yes the irration is still driving me crazy, as I sit talking to you I have frozen packs attached to my shingley areas in the hope it will take the heat out....a long way from sitting down with a nice warm water bottle!

Well, that's it for now, thanks for dropping by and please call again, I'll have the tea made and the chocky biscuits out next time!

Tuesday 17 August 2010

An Evening Stroll

Most evenings we take our two dogs out for a walk along the seafront. At this time of the year by 8.30pm the heat is comfortable enough to enjoy. The beach is a five minute stroll from our villa. It’s an easy amble as the journey to the beach is all down hill, but the return journey is a little more testing. The road that we take is steep, very steep! For the last three decades it has been fondly named by the British as cardiac hill. The hill is short, but seriously steep. As we walk this every day we no longer notice the incline and the dogs with four paw drive have no trouble at all. Though we occasionally encounter people puffing and panting and stopping to take a breather!
 
Once on the seafront, if we time it correctly, we can admire the sunset behind the volcanic mountains. But if we happen to miss this, there is still so much more to enjoy. The view along the coastline to Puerto Calero and Playa Quemada and beyond always looks so beautiful when the dusk light turns the scenery into silhouettes. And to the left off our coastline are the twinkling night lights of Fuerteventura, reminding us of our nearest neighbour to the south.


 
The beaches here in Puerto Del Carmen are wide and several kilometres long and are beautiful and because of this we are not allowed to take the dogs down there. And even as late as 9pm, at this time of the year, we can still see people splashing in the warm sea and playing on the beach, though by now it is almost dark.


The beaches during the day

As we amble along on the esplanade that runs along the seafront, our little doggies happily sniffing scents that only their sensitive noises can detect, we pass tourists and residents alike. Some strolling to walk off their evening meal and others checking out the menus on display from the many and varied restaurants. The Avenida or The Strip as it is often called by the British offers everything your taste buds dare to fancy. And fortunately by the time we are walking with the dogs we have eaten, or else we would be salivating at the delicious aromas permeating the air and making us hungry all over again!

Esplanade - daytime




 


Reaching our turning point we look out across the ocean to the dark horizon, then turning we retrace our footsteps back along the esplanade, heading for home; the dogs looking forward to their bowl filled with fresh cold water and ourselves a glass or Rioja!


Thursday 12 August 2010

Not as easy as it Seems!

Having spent the last twelve months working, most days, on my web site, I decided to have a go at having a Blog page. My thinking was that my web site and Blog page would work well together as I know some people prefer to look at my web whilst others like to have a peek at Blog pages. Just a few days into having a Blog and I am daunted. The ease of designing and updating my web is like a stroll in the park compared to trying to do anything here. And because I am completely at a loss on how to add the covers of my books to the side panel, I have decided to include them in this Blog page. And for those who have not yet stumbled upon my books, I will add a few words about each one too. But, if you are an aficionado on Blog pages and have time to pass on some tips, I would be eternally grateful! In the meantime, I hope you will find my first two novels. Magnolia House and Satchfield interstingly enough to investigate more!

Chat again soon!
 Pauline


 Magnolia House

When Jane Leonard gave half of her house to her only son, little did she realise that within twelve months, she would be forced to sell the home she had lived in for nearly five decades.


The choice for this action was not hers, but the events that led up to her handing over fifty percent of Magnolia House paled by comparison to what happened after the ink had dried on the documents that named the new owners.

As Magnolia House is put on the market for sale, love and betrayal, hopes and dreams and ultimately family loyalty will affect the lives of all of those who become involved.



                       

Satchfield Hall

When the news reached Henry Bryant-Smythe about his daughter’s indiscretion,  he not only dealt with it, but stamped on it with such a resounding thud, that the consequences ricocheted through the years and well into the future. Henry Bryant-Smythe cared nothing for the consequences of his actions and even less for the feelings of those involved, with the exception of his own, and these he cosseted.


Celia Bryant-Smythe’s disgrace set in motion events that would affect the lives of many people, taking decades to unravel. Lives would be lost and destroyed and it would take until the death of the one man who had callously started it all, Henry Bryant-Smythe, until it was finally over.

Satchfield Hall is not about gentleness, tranquillity and privilege; it is about power, love, lies and in the end revenge.

You can read the prologue and chapters 1 and 2 directly from my web site. http://www.paulinebarclay.co.uk/

Wednesday 11 August 2010

My Guests

Today the lovely Christine Stovell, author of Turning the Tide is talking on My Guest page. Christine is joined with the talented Shirley Wells, author of Presumed Dead, Elaine Hensel, proof reader, book reviewer and translater. There is also the amazing Laura who runs Novelkicks and Nigel White, whose family is a fan of my books, and when not reading they make beautiful pizza ovens!

If you want to meet these great people take a peek at www.paulinebarclay.co.uk and click on MY GUEST button.

If you would like to be a guest on My Guest page, please leave your comments and contact details.


Christine Stovell
Shirley Wells
Laura from Novel Kicks
Elaine Hensel