A new week dawns...

...and it might even be a bit less hectic than the last one, although I wouldn't like to bet on that.
Judi and Tom were finally repatriated yesterday morning. We took them to Xeraco to catch the little train up to Valencia from where they retraced their steps on the Euromed to Barcelona. At least there were no unscheduled and unexplained stops in the orange groves of Castellon. I understand that the hotel in Barcelona to which their airline had directed them was in the middle of an industrial estate and the restaurant was closed! No wonder it was cheap! At least it was very close to the airport for their early flight. They arrived back in Heathrow more or less on time which must have been a relief and met Tom's anxious mother at Heston Services - after a fairly swift de-briefing she took him back to Lichfield where I understand he was summarily despatched for a shower to make up for the deficiencies of twelve days without proper maternal supervision!
She rang me later to say how grateful they all were that we had been near enough to help, and I said it had been a pleasure - we had enjoyed Tom's company and he had certainly seemed to enjoy the adventure...and the few Cokes he had had over the week.
They both helped out with some of our Lions tasks while they were here - Tom helped Peter with preparing a sign for the car park at the quiz on Thursday while Judi and I went shopping, and then she later helped me to prepare the Interval Round for the same occasion. The quiz went well - everybody seemed to enjoy themselves even though the venue was a little crowded, and we made just over a hundred euros for the funds. It wasn't really a fund-raising occasion anyway - more an opportunity to raise the profile of the Jalon and Orba Lions in the valley. Our Press Officer took some photos of the winning teams for publication in the local press, so we shall get a bit more publicity for the cause.
There were a couple of warm sunny days in the week and both Judi and Tom went for a swim on Thursday afternoon - that's good! The pool has now been christened for 2010. Judi actually caught the sun a bit across the back of her neck so she has made a start on her tan for the year.
Saturday morning Peter and I did a bit of shopping and then went back to the Quiz venue at the Piscina Bar in Rafol de Almunia to settle up. Frances was very pleasant and helpful and actually waived some of the bill as their contribution to the effort. The three-course meal that they provided along with a bottle of wine, water and coffee was very good and amazingly good value at 8€ per person. She also showed us round some of the other rooms in the building and we might well be able to hold some of our meetings there - the advantage of that is that the local Mayor has said there will be no charge to the Lions for any of the functions or meetings that we hold in any of the buildings owned by the Town Hall! What a helpful man!
Peter actually went out for a ride on his motorbike with the local group this morning - it is four weeks since he damaged his ankles and yesterday was his first ride on the bike since then. The joints are very much improved but he now has to build up the strength in the ligaments and muscles.
We lunched at Café Rosa before returning to get on with some more of the preparation for the programme for the Fun Day in June. The deadline for sending in advertisements is the end of this coming week and we shall then have about ten days to get everything laid out and then set up on the computer before sending it to the printers. I'm looking forward to the day AFTER that!
I investigated the blog site this morning and found out how to have new entries sent out to readers automatically - unfortunately, the number of people I can include for this is quite restricted so the rest of you will still be getting my email! If you prefer, you can click on the button for 'follower' and you get the option to sign on, anonymously if you wish, and receive new entries from the site as I post them. You will need a Google account or something similar, but they are free and not too complicated. I'd be interested to hear how you feel about this.
Back soon!