Day Sixty-four 17.5.05 We met Sina and Anna at 11am and went to Pego to open a bank account, this was relatively straight forward and after this we went for lunch at Bar Daniels for lunch. We popped into see Bill (The Estate Agent) to confirm our plans and then onto Denia to investigate getting a N.I.E form to enable us to buy in Spain. Unfortunately the office is only open in the morning so we went to the supermarket to get some lovely prawns for dinner. Sina and Anne kindly offered to let us stay the night which meant we both could drink without worrying and we could get off to an early start to the police station in Denia. Sina and Anne have been so helpful with the process of buying and have made the whole thing much less daunting. We're sure that without them we would have spent a lot of time just working out what to do next. We sat out on the terrace until late enjoying the warm evening with candles and a spectacular view with clear sky. I'm writing this a couple of days later so I've missed out a lot of the detail, my memory is a little blurred by alcohol! Day Sixty-five 18.5.05 We both had an excellent nights sleep in the peace and quiet of Les Basettas. We woke up and had a lovely fruit smoothie but not before Will had a swim in the pool.. After we went with Sina and Anne to the police station to obtain a N.I.E form today which allows us to buy in Spain. This is a sort of National Insurance number. It was a bit time consuming as we had to wait with a numbered ticket, collect the forms and then get another numbered ticket to submit the forms. We broke up the waiting with a coffee and toast at a local bar. We had an appointment with Bill to go to another bank to discuss a Spanish mortgage. This is just a precaution in case the flat in the UK doesn't sell before September. The Bank Manager was very nice and could speak good English which helped enormously. It was interesting to compare the Spanish system with the UK system, in many ways it is the same. Sina and Anne have been showing us around the local sights and we visited a local restaurant for lunch. The menu del dias was excellent value and the food was beautifully presented. Back at the campsite we spent an enjoyable evening with our Dutch neighbours Peter and Wilma and have made plans to see them again in the future. They are good company and very entertaining. Day Sixty-six 19.5.05 We set off early today from Denia for Sitges. We were sad to leave our new friends but to get back to Le Harve in time without a mad rush it was necessary. The drive was quite long and we split it between us. We have found a campsite just five minutes walk from the town and walked in to have a look. Will was wearing shorts and as always James was wearing jeans which were too hot. We stopped at a bar for tapas and sangria and met a couple from Norway. We had a nice chat and talked about visiting the Foords on our travels. We planned to go out in the evening so came back early for a siesta to make sure we were ready to hit the town. It had been a long day and after a couple of bars were too tired to go on. it's a real pain that things don't get lively until 2am. Day Sixty-seven 20.5.05 We had a late start today and sausage and eggs for breakfast. Whilst we were cooking it a Dutch man came over who had an excellent condition 'bay window' VW Camper. He admired our van and we paid him complements on his van. He said he's had it over twenty five years! We walked to the beach and spent all day there soaking up the sun broken only by a trip to Burger King for William's Whopper (I also had a small Royal Chicken.). We are planning to eat out tonight and will put this off until as late as possible to get the better nightlife after. Its 8pm now and I'm already hungry so we will just have see. The van has become a bit of a mess, and because we don't have the awning we are really noticing the lack of space. I think we will have a blitz now and get it all sorted. William has protested at this and says we should do it tomorrow. (Already sounding like a Spaniard!) I think we will just have another gin and tonic.