The moment I woke up this morning I knew that I was okay; my cold, allergy,or whatever it was had gone, which was just as well because I was tired of sneezing, and my nose was red and sore.
A Spanish friend of ours (my niece’s boyfriend actually) came around to see us, bringing with him a typical Spanish breakfast of fresh bread, tomatoes, cheese and prosciutto (delicious, especially so because he prepared it), and we had such a good time sitting around doing nothing but chatting and eating that the day disappeared – the only one of us who had any exercise was our elderly neighbour, Alan, who went out for his constitutional, up the steep winding slope to the town centre and back.
By the evening we had almost given in to the lethargy and nearly succumbed to staying in.
“I don’t mind not going out to that Flamenco bar,” I said to Chris, hoping that he didn’t want to go out either.
“I don’t really want to go out either,” Chris picked up my lead. (I had a feeling I could count on him.)
“What about you, Mary – how do you feel about going out?” I asked.
“I’d be happy to stay in and go to bed early,” answered Mary.
“What about you, Geoff?” I turned to my brother-in-law.
“Whatever you like,” he said very agreeably.
Alan is a tad hard of hearing and had missed the conversation thus far; I called out:
“And how do you feel about going out to the Flamenco bar Alan? Would you prefer to stay in and get an early night if we’re to be up early to go to La Alhambra tomorrow?”
“Oh, I would love to go if that’s what all the rest of you want to do,” he replied.
So we all smiled and nodded, and we roused ourselves from our laziness, and we spruced ourselves up to go out after all.
Some hours later, slightly before midnight, we stepped out onto the street outside the Flamenco bar – or rather, I should say we danced out onto the street – and Mary and I clapped loudly, stamping our feet at the same time. Just at that moment an African couple walked by. They looked at us, laughed and shouted:
“Ole!”
“Ole!” we said back, and we carried on dancing.
And now it is time for bed. We have to be up early in the morning. I am so glad that Alan wanted to go out. It’s so good to feel well.