We started this month with another holiday in Tenerife for 9 nights. This was the last of Claire’s so called free holidays. We had to pay for our own flights and undergo a 2 hour timeshare presentation but we have been to so many we didn’t think that this would be a problem. It was, at the end of the presentation, Claire asked where I should sign. I couldn’t believe my ears, I was expecting her to thank them and leave just like she has all the other times. Anyway, I start with several photos of this holiday that you wouldn’t have seen.
One thing that surprises me about Tenerife is the aount of sedimentary rock, especially around coastal areas. Being a volcanic island created from magma building up from the ocean floor 20 to 50 million years ago. I associate a volcanic island with magma rather than sediments but I guess that sediments would have been deposited as soon as the volcanic rock came out of the sea and then getting trapped between subsequent layers of lava flows.
Anyway, however they formed there are some beautiful carved sandstone bays around the coast where El Medano is situated.
I guess that they also get eroded away far quicker than rock of volcanic origin, especially when they couldn’t have been buried very deeply in the first place. If you scrape these rocks with a pebble, although definitely rock, they do seem to be looser and flakier than the sandstone that we build our houses from back home.
We had a drive up to the original volcanic plateau again on our penultimate day. I was surprised to see just how much sedimentary rock had been deposited well into our journey high up and well away from the coast. How the hell did it get there? Unfortunately, the roads are narrow and windy so it wasn’t possible to get and photos this time.
The volcanic rock layers at the top of the island are different altogether, much more rugged and sharp. When they get eroded away they form fabulous rock structures sticking out of the landscape.
I had to take a photo of the highest point on Tenerife (and even Spain) mount Teide. We had a view of this mountain from our balcony but were a little further away from it down by the coast.
I just had to include this lovely wispy cloud, typical of those in Tenerife and unlike our dark heavy water laden ones back home.
On our last night in Tenerife we had arranged to meet up with some people that we had met on a previous trip called Dave and Eva. They had already been conned into, not one but two timeshares. They no longer wanted them as they were being ripped off by extortionate maintenance fees. they even offered us them for nothing when they had paid £10000 for them. We were both surprised when they told us that their 50th wedding anniversary was imminent; we had both been tricked by their youthful looks.
Holiday over, we returned home to find that the weather was the same as when we had left; rain every day. We had the hottest March on record this year followed by the wettest April and Im wondering what May will be remembered for. I remember the day that the warm March weather changed to the rainy April weather well because it was the same day that they started our hosepipe ban; its still on now at the end of May. However, the weather has now changed and we are currently enjoying a bout of warmer weather. This enabled me to restart my walks around the lakes and through the woods without getting caped in mud. I have included the 1955 picture taken from the back of our clubhouse.
The reason being that I took a similar one myself as a comparison. The main building of the clubhouse is the same age as me but you can see where they built on the restaurant more recently. What a difference the thatch made.
The better weather also made way for our lakeside trees to be pruned. Seems like an exciting job.
We also had Claire’s first stepdad John come to stay with us for a long weekend this month. While he was here he helped us prune back our gardens and erect our new gazebo just before we had other visitors, Anne, Jim and Sue. here is anne and Jim.
And here is Claire John and Sue. I had made a hot chili and a mild chicken tika massala whilst Sue had brought the sweets. We thought it best to congregate in our most recent caravan as there are more seats.
The chelsea match was on so Sue changed into her supporters kit.
The tension was more than some could bear at some points but luckily Chelsea somehow pulled through.
Steve came down on 25th to have a look around our recently purchased caravans. He is off to Korea and Thailand for 3 weeks so he is leaving his car here while I take him to heathrow airport. They said on the radio that it was the worst travelling day this year and I was stuck in it. It took me three hours to get to Heathrow and three and a half to get home. Talking of holidays, it doesn't look like we will be going away at the end of this month like we have done most months so far this year. Too many commitments Im afraid. We still have jobs in Melton helping my parents settle into their new bungalow, my aunt Daphne is still in intensive care in Lowestoft, and Sue is imminently going into hospital for her operation to remove a tumor. We also have our Two Mile Ash flat on the market with nothing happening so we may relet it again, we have someone moving out from our Cranfield flat on 5th June and so have work to do there. We also have our one bed flat on Giffard park coming vacant early next month where the tenant Carl has been living for 12 years. This needs extensive work, new bathroom, kitchen, carpets, total redec and even the external wooden stairs need replacing.
The girls went for a swim at the pool while I watched the Monaco F1 qualifying, then I cooked a BBQ while everyone sunbathed on our new patio.
We had a quiet reflective day on Sunday before I drove down to Lowestoft to join Jim (the other executor) in sorting out the paperwork and funeral. It looks like there will be a couple of weeks work at least getting to the bottom of the paperwork and house contents. According to Daphne's will, she has left me her house and contents, Jim her car and selected items and both Jim and I will get a share of her late husbands trust fund along with several other people including my Mum. Nothing is certain yet as the house was recently transferred into another trust fund. We don't have access to either of these trust funds which makes little sense when we are the ones sorting everything out. Jim changed the front door lock as so many people have keys and already things are going missing. Not a pleasant end to this month but made easier because Daphne was ready to die, had been given drugs to feel no pain and had completely come to terms with it and being her normal self to the very end.
Tuesday turned out to be one of the worst days of my life, having not slept a wink the previous night and getting up at 4.30am to get back to the mountains of paperwork necessary to work through. I cant say much because this will be taken through the courts, but after having been refused a copy of the latest trust that Daphne’s financial advisor had managed to get her to sign, even though nobody has seen it yet, it appears that this trust literally, goes against Daphne’s will. I have also been told that while I am acting as Daphne’s executor, I cannot stay in Daphne’s house. It is for this reason that I am penning this last paragraph from a Travelodge. If Daphne was in her grave yet, she would surely be turning in it!
You don’t need to read mystery and suspense novels on your Kindle’s, just follow the Krause’s blog. Let the battle commence.
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