March 12th 2008
Written by Geoff Forster
Wednesday March 12th 2008
Up well before dawn, it's going to take some getting used to, but if Jane has to do it, then I'll do it too. At least we're on the same sleeping pattern and I'll get more done.
I work most of the morning, processing photographs and blogging. I'm beginning to plan the Gibraltar website.
Just after midday I set off with the dogs to feed the donkeys. It is really hot. Clear blue skies and the sun is climbing higher everyday. I'd only gone a few metres when I noticed my shins were really hurting. A result of yesterday's exertions.
After about ten minutes I realised I'd left the camera on the table. So no photos.
Ferdy, the oldest of our Border Collies is thirteen. He started to slow up after around six km. I tied him to a tree in the shade, a little concerned he wouldn't make it up the 1:4 hill on the return trip.
I fed the donkeys, carrots, seed and hay. They are both fit and well.
I filled up their water tubs. I kept back a third of one of the containers to take to Ferdy.
Lugging water containers up the hill in direct sunlight isn't fun. Ferdy was fine when I got to the top. He drank a few mouthfuls and was soon playing with a stick with the other two idiots. I tipped most of the container over my head in an attempt to cool down.
We took it a little slower than usual, walking in the shade whenever possible. We stopped under a Cork Oak and I ate some oranges while gazing across the Genal Valley. Stunning view. It is an amazing place.
Back home I fed the dogs and started going over some of the archived blog resizing the photographs and changing margins. Also I'm checking that old links are still working as I go. When I transferred the blog, I resized the photos from 400px to 500px, to fit the new page size. A mistake, as some of the photos look very stretched and the quality has reduced to much. It'll take a day or two to complete.
I had a meeting about a new website design. Quite interesting as it will probably include an online shop. Something I've been meaning to explore for a few years, now I'll have no excuses.
I get on to it straight after the meeting, reading up and researching different possibilities.
Jane gets back after a long day. Parking in La Linea on Wednesdays is not good. There's a large market there and parking possibilities are severely effected. She'd had to pay 15€ to go in a multi-storey.
We cooked a meal and spent some time with the cats and dogs.
Then we sat on the sun terrace and I watered the plants.
We've got a number of tubs some of which we under-planted with bulbs. The Grape Hyacinths and some very delicate looking miniature Daffodils are out at the moment.
Later we started to watch 'Slipstream'. Written by, directed by and also starring Anthony Hopkins. As far as I can tell it's about a man (Hopkins) who is beginning to lose the plot, which seems a doubly apt observation as his character is a script writer. One of those movies you wonder how anyone can dream up and then actually film. Bizarre, complex, and constantly jumping images are overlaid in a bewildering but very clever feat of directing and editing. We got about halfway through it and I'm still not sure what's happening but I'm looking forward to seeing the conclusion. It's either going to be really good or leave you wondering what the hell you've just spent ninety minutes watching.