Read my Christmas blog first. It will make more sense then. Also there are two photo albums "Christmas" and "New Years".

Jeans friend Eveline picked me up from the hotel in Alicante and we drove to Torre Pacheco. This area of Spain is called the Garden of Spain. Crops of lettuce, artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, and other tender vegetables. Most of these crops are harvested, packed and loaded onto the trucks at the field and then taken directly to northern Europe. So the lettuce that Birthe buys in Denmark could be one of the ones I saw being harvested in Spain. (Dec 29)

We took a tour of the neighbouring golf areas. Jean is an avid golfer and the area around Mar Menor and Torre Pacheco has many golf courses. Most of them have "villages" built around the courses. Jean's home is on the 6th fairway of the Mar Menor course. We went out for dinner to a restaurant in a tiny village with only 20 homes if you count the dog houses as well. They have converted an old olive oil processing plant into a restaurant. (Dec 30)

New Years Eve. The plan is to have dinner at home and then go to the local pub at midnight. Cleaning up, setting the table and cooking dinner are the plans for today. Jean cooked a wonder dinner including roast beef on the BBQ. Her celery soup was amazing. By the time we were finished dinner and headed over to the pub it was only about 10 minutes till New Years.

At the pub it was impossible to get a drink and very disorganized. I did enjoy the 12 grapes but I could not hear any bells ringing so I just ate the grapes. The tradition is that on each stroke of the clock at midnight you eat one grape. If you managed to eat all the grapes as the clock finishes ringing you will have good luck for the next year. We all found each other and were back home by 12:15. We ended up watching the New Years count down from London and rang in the New Year a second time at 1:00AM with a drink in hand. (Dec 31)

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.

I was up early on the 1st to call Suzanne, Mark, Blair, Frank and Tanya and wish them a Happy New Year. Today was a lazy day with clean up and relaxing on the agenda. We went for a long walk around the development where Jean lives. There were some new homes under construction and Jean and I were curious to see what they looked like. If a door or window is left open doesn't that mean that we can go in? The layouts are great but the construction quality might be a bit lacking.

Jean and I went for a walk up a mountain to an old military installation from the 1930's. It was abandoned and like most things in Spain they seem to just walked away and leave everything behind. What was not nailed down of course has long since been removed either legally or illegally. There are two HUGE "guns" at that were used for defence during the civil war.

Jean has a new wood burning stove at her house and managed to find a very large heavy log to use as a chopping block. She carried this block of wood down the mountain in her backpack and is very happy to have it. It has been tested and has been judged to be of perfect size and height for the intended job. Jean you are a crazy lady! (Jan 2)

A great day of touring in Cartagena today. "Cartagena is a Mediterranean city and naval station. Cartagena has been the capital of the Spanish Navy's Maritime Department of the Mediterranean since the arrival of the Spanish Bourbons in the eighteenth century. As far back as the sixteenth century it was one of the most important naval ports in Spain......Possessing one of the best harbors in the Western Mediterranean, it was re-founded by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal in 228 BC as Carthago Nova (New Carthage), for the purpose of serving as a stepping-off point for the conquest of Spain. The Roman general Scipio Africanus conquered it in 209 BC. Julius Caesar gave the town Latin Rights, and Octavian renamed it in his honor as the colony Colonia Iulia Victrix N.C."

The history of the areas we visited is amazing. From the time of the Romans to today Cartagena has it all. The Punic Wall Centre dates back to the latter part of the 3rd century BC and the House of Fortune dates back to the 1st century BC. The House of Fortune is a single family dwelling that was only discovered in 2000. It is under an office building. The Civil War Air-Raid Shelter was built in the 1930's to shelter evacuees during the civil war. Cartagena suffered between 40 and 117 (no one can agree on the actual number) bombing raids during the civil war. This shelter could house up to 5500 people. "The fact that the city was the Republican fleet's centre of operations, the port where war materials and victuals for the defence of Madrid were unloaded and the second most important centre for the Republican war industry made Cartagena a favourite target for the Italian and German air forces serving Franco." (Jan 5)

I am heading back to Benicassim today (Jan 8th ). The weather here has turned from cool to cold. Only 6 or 7 degrees at night and not much over 10 during the days. On my trip back to Benicassim I had a text message from a friend there and it is snowing in the village.

I have had an email from John, the farmer I worked for in Australia in 1995, with an offer to head south for a couple of months. I was 75% of the way to my decision and snow in Benicassim this has just cinched it! Watch for my next update from sunny Australia.

I hope that 2010 will bring all of you what you wish for.

I miss you all.

Love Tove