Sunday December 11th - flying

4 AM, and we're wide awake. On to Rotterdam, flying. Breakfast with krentenbollen. Skip shower. M&M did put on the alarm clock, even though we stressed they needed to stay in bed.

If your one hand luggage is below max weight and your other is a bit above you still need to pay. Another 15 euro poorer. Security checks with dog are more fun. Everyone loves her, and with reason. Car keys? Um, they need to be handed in still! Just in time..

Everything is on time, which is nice.

Flying. The lady next to me grumbles the coffee is thin and cold. She's right. That is why I have hot chocolate. Which is thin too, but not cold, as the water was reheated after my neighbour's complaints.

Alicante is still there. Luggage and dog arrive quickly, and we're on our way with the second rental car that day.

Two hours and a bit, and we're... eh.. yes, home!

 Leaving your house behind 4 months does not always work well, as there are attempted burglary traces on our terrace door. Which is a nice old thick wooden door with three big latches and a lock. The door bravely withstood the attempts, no entry. The lock is bent, but we were able to buy exactly the same again.

The bastards also cut our internet cable, as they feared we had remote security cameras, as many people here have. We'll have one too, soon, with an SD card and rechargeable battery. We'll get you next time...

Next Comunicaciones were so kind as to fix the internet cable the next day, and at a nominal fee. Very good service. Thanks guys!

And we'll install grills in front of the front- and terrace doors, as all other windows have.

Our efforts to keep the workshop/garage dry have not worked well. The new wooden doors are bent because of the damp, and does not close currently. Worse is that the ceiling was completely soaked, and there was an atmosphere as in a tropical greenhouse. Which is not great for the car. The leather chairs were completely mouldy. No worries, it was washed off quickly with a bit of soap. But it was a shock. We better not have stayed away another few months.

Cause is that the walls are porous, and rain water from the roof and the terrace canopy fall right on top of the garage walls. I took care to redirect that water already, and we have asked for a quote to plaster the garage walls properly.

But a beloved car as wet as this was not great I can tell you. Even though the sun was shining, and the temperature was 20º.

Next!

So, we're back online, and back into existence.

Back in NL there is ADHD, ADSL, and lots of wires to get data in and out of your house. Even radio and television en Eric Corton and Sven Kockelmann enter your home via cable. All of that is absent here. Here the future has begun, and everything is wireless, via Next, and at the same cost!

They screw a smal box onto your casa, here pictured against a nice blue sky backdrop, 26°, sunshine and a mild breeze. The box looks towards the antennae on the encircling hills:

(see the blue sky, 26°, and the mild breeze?)

Well, it's not entirely wireless. A cable runs from the antenna-box to another box, which has a cable to a wifi-router. And the power has a cable as well.

Next also has telephone and television, but we will have to wait a bit, as watching tv takes up bandwidth. Too many tv watchers and the internetters start to complain, and the tv watchers as well, as short freezes will happen.

In the mean time nothing here will freeze, and we won't complain, with mild breezes and 26°.

(Did we mention the nice weather yet?)

PS: well actually, we have do frozen water, that we put into Campari in little cubes, together with oranges and lemons from our own trees, or our neighbours'.

PPS: should you choose Next because of this blog then let them know, so we can have a month free internet!

PPPS: nice weather here!