Oct 14th Raining in Menorca

April 22nd ...Day one of the season... me un my roomie Amanda looking white and fresh,  full of anticipation ready to conquer the world of Tourism....

October 14th

Today it is raining in Menorca.... Thank goodness my girls are here with me so we are having a lazy wine and chocolate day... doing absolutely nothing.....hence catching up with my final blog.. unfortunately not been a very good blog site as life turned out to be a lot busier that I expected.





The weather for October has been excellent and I could have been on the beach most days at some point.... the beaches are all back to the wonderful empty spaces that they were in May... 





My girls have arrived on the island and we have been out and about but the island is so very quiet, all the bars and café and restaurants are closing down for the winter, still at least they are both relaxing from their hectic life styles... We have done some sight seeing so that they can get the real sense of Spanish life.. The old town of Ciutadella is very pretty made even more special having the chance to share it with them....






We have been out eating and tasting the local cocktails... melon with caramel provided by my local Spanish restaurant..









We have had our EOS party (End of season) party, and we have all learnt where we are may be going next season, I have been offered a position here in Menorca for summer 2015... This is Amanda and Penny and myself..


The Three Sovereign Specialist ladies, over looked and understated.
Well done to us finishing the season on 88% against a target of 85%


I have had a great new experience and loved the island of Menorca and a big thank you to the wonderful Menorca airport staff, my mini bus and taxi drivers, hotel staff, my line dancing ladies and the guys and girls I have worked with I am now looking forward to getting back into the social swing in England.
 Dusting off my dancing shoes and heading out for a social life....



 My final favourite view of Son Bou... I love this vista
 Returning home every night after work what ever the time always made      my heart sing....

Sunday 24th August....wall to wall sunshine

Sunday evening and feeling chilled... decided to have my own "Twinwood music festival on the terrace"  dancing between posts... my own personal show ...

Well the weather continues to be fabulous ... almost too hot... but at least I can keep the tan going..

Laura has been and gone.. great to see her, trouble was I still had to work and to anyone who knows me well I don't do slacking on work well...

but here is a taste of the things we did..#

Lots of beach visits and sightseeing..

 the beaches are the best at 5-8 at night still warm

but a little quieter... Bliss

 Sunset jeep safari.  Mad drive across the countryside, watch the sunset over the sea.. really good fun, great to see Laura smiling and laughing...

 

Our Favourite past time eating and more eating...so many wonderful restaurants to choose from.. 

 
 
And of course drinking the local sangria... best drink in Sonbou.. ( still no discount tight ....)

 

 

Party time watching the holiday makers " dad dancing " to the "Drifters" all good fun...

 This is the local Fiesta ... there is one nearly every week end.. The Spanish just love any excuse to party... they  have these strange huge tall people to entertain the crowds followed by the black horses charging down  the streets and standing on their high legs... ( which I have yet to see but planned for next weekend.)  Dance party starts after fireworks at midnight so need to do this on a non work day...

August 2014. yeah we have wifi....

Yess. the arrival of my daughter and now I have internet again...

so an update for the month of July...

The weather has suddenly got hot hot hot. so I have made a list of all the beaches on the island and I am busy working my way through them..  In June the beaches looked this this now they are packed, no parking spaces, no spare sand... The best time on the beach is 5-7pm perfect....

Work has been pretty full on but we are finally beginning to get to grips with it. Should I chose to do this again next year I will soo good at it but for the moment it is still a steep learning curve.. I just start to think I am getting it sussed and then the next new situation arrives..  I have leant so much about people and their expectations of their holidays...



The fall out of employees from the industry is really surprising, a continuous stream of boys and girls leaving the island, for various different reasons.. including my Cosmos mate and my Saga mate so really miss them for my social.

Talking of social still enjoying my line dance classes. Last week class was outside in the village square which was surreal...

Now is fiesta time still not found time to visit one but our local village has one next week so in

training for that, will be a late late night...


Off to enjoy my daughter.. lots of trips planned...

















 

June 24th...potential air strike....

I am a Francophile but come on..  no strike please.....

Today we are told the French baggage handlers went on strike..  so my customers leaving today at 17.15 are still in Mahon airport.....and tomorrows customers are "enjoying" their last night oblivious if they haven't heard the news or worrying if they have....

will keep you updated as this new experience is going to last until 30th June....

June 23 / 24 Cuitadella fiesta

This week was the beginning of the fiesta season.... madness rules...

The whole of the island turns out for this occasion, the shops close, cafés put away all their furniture, bolt the doors and move out.

The general idea seems to be to drink as much of the local "pomarda" (gin based) until your legs no longer work.

The festival lasts three /four days until the last man or woman finally gives in..

The whole town throws hazel nuts at one another...insane.. In England this would turn into a massive fight, in Menorca they just get patched up and off they go again..

The Famous black horses ride the streets even when the crowds are in the way... hospitals are busy places.. my friend got her foot stood on by a horse and is now in agony..  such fun..

six week on..june 17th...

Just spent a very nice hour listening to Si Cranston on radio two with Terry Wogan, and feeling quite relaxed because finally did some rock un roll dancing last night... may have been rock and roll Cuban style but well acceptable....two or three sangrias to oil the limbs may have helped...

The diary is slowly getting filled, Spanish line dancing on a Thursday evening, grapevine slide is the same in any language...line dancing, mixed with exercise routine and throw in a bit of folk...different..

This week at work has been an experience ...We should have been wearing a nurses uniforms...  I have spent a lot of time at the hospital, clients, slipped, fell, tripped, resulting in broken ankles, legs, and thighs,  Not an experience I want to repeat.... I felt useless not being about to speak Spanish to help the clients...nightmare, sadly one customer is staying in hospital and will be staying there for a quite a while...

Moral of this story is MAKE SURE you bring your European health card and your national insurance number and keep in on you at all times.... and your FULL health policy ... not just the policy details... BE PREPARED..it may happen to you....

Six weeks on and I am beginning to get into the swing of the Menorcan life style.. feeling very proud of myself when I go out @ 11pm and return 3am... only to met the Spanish people just coming out to party... by the time November comes I will be completely out of sinc with the British...


The weather here is fantastic.. suddenly got very hot...managing to find an hour or two to catch a few rays.. turning a nice rusty colour...biggest problem, I am struggling to fit into my clothes, too many meals out, too many glasses of vino and not enough exercise, still brown rolls look better than white rolls...or so we all keep reassuring each other...even the once skinny teenagers are struggling..

Official day off tomorrow so just deciding which beach resort to hit, meeting up with a cosmos rep and a saga rep,, so will be an afternoon of story telling...stories  you would not believe !!! about our wonderful holiday makers... Remember the next time you feel compelled  to complain,,, its not my fault...  you are in a hotel with "fat " people..

off to pack my beach bag... xx

June 2nd Nostalgic thoughts....

Today ..... home thoughts from abroad......feeling nostalgic for my family.....

Tomorrow my baby is 21 and I am in a different country what sort of parent I am..  but I have bought her a one way ticket to the sunshine..   and I intend to spoil her rotten....

Watching all the arrivals in the airport today, had to keep my sun glasses on to hide the runny eyes,,

love is a splendid thing which seems to overflow at airports.... poor Laura when she arrives she is going to be  so embarrassed... I am so gonna cramp her street cred......

This evening watched a middle aged lady waiting for her lover to arrive at the airport, was defiantly a lover not a husband.. he arrived carrying a rose and she would not stop hugging him.. who says romance is dead... take note lads...

Amanda parents arrive tomorrow so she will cry enough for both of us....

Sarah is still having a great time in Aussie and has discovered my work telephone number so just like being in England...

Enough of this sentimentality,  day off tomorrow.. going on a boat trip around Mahon with a new mate so should be good...and then going to see "fake That" in the evening....

Happy birthday to my darling girl....have a good one...make sure your dad looks after you well..

May 28th ... real work

well this is me Sovereign Holiday adviser in action.... 

May 22nd ..........contining

 

 

photos of the girls on our first trip out on the island... Mount Torre the highest point, very scary trip up small uphill lanes......but worth it for the view ..... the island of Majorca is only 12 miles away and if you can see it, it means bad weather the next day............


   photos of our villa and home for the next six months, my room mate and my work mate are sharing the villa and three villas are sharing the pool...

picture of our local beach.. just me and the sea... im sure this will change but at the moment really quiet longest beach on the island..

 
 

getting ready for a day out in the sunshine,

off to a pretty town called Cuitadella, sat in the sunshine and had fresh prawns and white wine for breakfast....

16th May 2014...nearly one month on....

  Well............

Been in the sunny island of Menorca for nearly four weeks.....

The island is very pretty with lots of lovely beaches, lots of places to see, lots of sunshine....

The only word that describes my new life is surreal...............How ironic that I am standing  in the arrivals lounge of Menorca advising clients about their holiday and only a few years I was scared of flying....
how life moves on.....

have lots of photos to upload but need a teenagers help...... and its very late and consumed too much red wine to focus..................

April l24th thursday .. we are here.. OMG....

Finally finished sorting the apartment in England many problems ..but hey who cares any more...
4.30 sitting on the roof of the hotel by the pool "reading "our instructions,  while the rest of the group are down in the basement doing admin....yeah like it..

right back to the start...  left middle of the night Monday.... flew all by myself to Malaga.. Flight good, even reassured the big burly guy in the next seat.. how ironic............  Then long wait and meeting some of my new mates... then into small plane with kamakarzie pilot over to menorca..
was a bit like travelling in a snaking caravan on the motorway...with no chance of stopping....not sure he slowed down to land... Tuesday training................... Tuesday afternoon collected car with my new roomie (she is training me in drinking and smoking ..great girl... experienced driving .... left hand drive car ..with clutch ... down the wrong way of a motorway... OMG don't ask.... today been to a "fair" for our trip suppliers .so blagged trips for a jeep safari, boat trip. horse riding on the beach, wine tasting, kayaking.. tonight we are off to a "famous horse show" so that sounds great.... we are staying at the Audax hotel at cala galdarna . so pretty, we have been very lucky as we have been out and about and had so may laughs the rest of the Menorca team are training inside... the sea is beautiful, hotel great, food wonderful.. gonna have to do some exercise at some point..... still waiting to find out where we are going to be staying,, so all fingers crossed... my roomie and I have a big diary on the wall for visitors so we are really hoping for an apartment.... So to all my family and friends,, day three and all is well... sunshine is so warm on this sunbed and my roomie has just brought me a crisp white wine... really should get back to some menorca reading... love to all xx

April 19th 2014... two days to go....

Two days to go. after a very hard week... complication and more complications....

but on a positive,,,, great evening out with my girls friends for bon voyage... great nights out dancing.. great evenings out with special friends...all this social......

 

all packed up and nearly ready to go... except landlords contract says different to my copy,,, don't remember any conversation about professionally cleaning the carpets.. and cleaning the windows inside and outside,,,, three floors up .....then the fridge leaked into the flat below more charges...

 

 



March 31st three weeks to go...

March 31st;   Three weeks to go.

Packed my case, unpacked  my case, packed my case, unpacked my case .... and on it goes...

Been filling my hours with social, social and more social,  dancing, dancing and more dancing, will be hoping for a rest when I finally get there....ha ha...

Getting organised on the mundane jobs,

Hairdressers
Dentist
Eye test
Spa day
Doctors
Shopping and more shopping and even more shopping;

the list is endless and boring really boring...

Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork..

Need to actually start to pack my possessions rather than keep thinking about doing it ready to go into storage;; must summon up the enthusiasm.

So off to my house in France for a few days to make it lovely for holiday makers and to enjoy the odd glass of red wine...

If you would like a wonderful holiday in Brittany, France, look up  Treuzarre...on the internet..

Have a good working week everyone....

March 24th.....One way ticket....

Today I received E ticket ONE WAY to Menorca....

Specialist Concierge holiday person...

So its definite !! beginning to feel like its  really happening....6am flight from Birmingham April 22nd..

Can now start seriously shopping for my new uniform...

1) swimwear
2) shorts
3) Cocktail dresses
4) flip flops
5) suntan cream

Not quite that simple but normally a new job for me is a High Viz jacket and steel toe cap footwear.., so feels really strange....

Spoken to the two other ladies that are doing a similar job... and they sound fabulous... I have a feeling I will need to step up my "fun" side.......looking forward to finding my 18 year old personality again....

Cheers !!!!!!     here is to the next seven months... sunshine, sunshine and more sunshine......

18th March 2014... Preparing to depart for the summer in the sun...

This a blog to enable me to keep in touch with all my friends and family............ As my good friends will confirm I am not "the best at keeping in touch" so this way I can communicate at leisure and hopefully I will hear from you all, with the news and gossip, at your convenience.......and hopefully I will see some of you for a visit to the sunshine isle of Menorca....

Today this adventure is beginning to sink in as the letting agency has brought a tenant around to view the flat....What can I say..

I love my flat especially the wonderful regency lounge complete with Chrystal Chandelier's....but  I must take off the rose tinted specs and remind myself of the times I have driven around the square trying to find somewhere to park... and the two parking tickets we have had..

Also the very noisy neighbours that seem to have arrived recently, the distinctive smell of "smoking" wafts in thro the bathroom ventilator especially on a Friday night....party night....

AND its taken me nearly six months to get a "hot" bath....so when I get nostalgic for my lovely sunny room remind me that all was as perfect as I may begin to remember it......

March 12th..Wednesday..

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