A trip of the switch: another shabby blog story...

Stunning view across the valleys north of Alicante

In case any of you are wondering what happened next after the cliffhanger that I finished the last post on (well that's what I hoped it would be), I thought I'd continue the story of my adventures in a Spanish Airbnb. The rest of my stay wasn't half as eventful although it was absolutely lovely as I shall go on to show in photos, but the first night was the one made for storytelling.

Where was I then? Oh yes, I'd managed to scramble into bed after my dark and dangerous encounter with the switches from hell in the stairwell.

So there I was lying on the bed with my iPad for company when I felt the evening chill starting to creep up my legs from my toes. My hostess had shown me there was a small fan heater and had indicated by means of extensive sign language that I could use it if I got cold. She also pointed to an extension cable that would make it possible to do so without having to haul the wardrobe out of the way to plug it in. I'd peered at the cable rather doubtfully as it didn't look all too new, but deciding this was the right moment to trust her, I pulled the heater off the shelf and plugged it in. With some trepidation, I turned up the dial, and then with relieved gratitude, I felt the warm air flow into the room. I climbed back on the bed, put my feet under the duvet and started reading. Bliss. After all my adventures, this was just what I needed. The room started to heat up and I was comfortable. I began to think my mistrust had been unfounded. Big mistake.

Just as I was getting to a good bit in my book (I forget now what it was, but let's assume I was going to find out who dunnit), a sharp clap announced the end of my fun. The lights went out, the heater went off and I was left in pitch darkness again. Oh no? Oh yes!

So much for the extension cable. I felt sure that was the weak link in this particular situation but for a moment I felt guilty and rushed over to turn the heater off. What had I done? One night in Alicante and I was causing electrical mayhem. Of course I realised soon enough it wasn't like that and in fact it was nothing to do with me at all.

However, now I had a problem. If I wanted light in my life again, I'd have to report this to my hostess, but her rooms were right at the other end of the apartment. To reach her, I'd have to find my way through the dining room, into another passage and figure out which door I should pound on to get her attention. I peered out into the passage. Everything was black. Oh dear. I had visions of re-enacting my spider dance on the stairs only with the greater risk that I would start bashing into obstacles and break things other than myself if I had to grope my way all that distance. This prospect didn't seem very inspiring.

After plucking up courage and then losing it several times (picture a speeded up film of someone going in and out of a room - that was me), losing it won and I decided the world could get stuffed for the night; I would just go to sleep. Stumbling around in the dark, I unplugged the heater, pulled the blankets off the other bed, piled them on mine and crawled under. Fortunately, and in spite of the fact I was still quite cold, I went to sleep quite quickly. Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the night needing the loo.

I lay there for a moment sort of hoping that the lights would have miraculously untripped by this time, but no such luck. I got up, groped around for the switches and tried them all. The lights remained rather uncooperatively off. Then I had the genius stroke of remembering my iPad. Down to its last 3% (because of course I couldn't charge it up), I prayed it would last long enough to light me to the bathroom and back. So there I was again, holding my screen out like some kind of shield to negotiate my way through the inky darkness and whispering 'The dining room, the final frontier' and  'may the force be with me' to cheer myself up. It's amazing what fun I can have by myself.

The iPad survived until, business accomplished, I was halfway back to my room, but by then I'd noticed a ghostly light creeping through one of the windows. When the screen went off too, I managed to make the last few steps without disaster.

In the morning, I reported the incident to my hostess, who merely shrugged, walked to the switchboard in the passage, a mere couple of metres from room and pushed up the switch. If I'd only known.

I didn't fess up about my night time adventures, nor did I say anything about the cable. I expect she knew, but given our somewhat limited communication means, I think neither of us wanted to complicate matters any further. I had my breakfast (a curious combination of dry toast, fruit and coffee), packed my bag, and with broad smiles (what more could we do?) we bade each other farewell.

The remaining three days were heaven. I spent them in great company in a beautiful location and visited a charming local animal blessing festival in Teulada. For this, though, some photos will suffice. Enjoy the rest of your week allemaal!

Moraira sea front

The shack I'd adopt if I could

View from just below the shack

Wonderful walks

Beautiful almond blossom alive with bees

Lemons ripe for the picking

Waiting for the procession to begin for the animal blessing

Heading towards the church. All creatures
great and small

The great ones...beautiful!

And the priest dispensing holy water on all
the furry friends