While you were away...

Wow. What an adventure...

We've returned [and are still in recovery mode] from a fantabulosa TEN DAYS in sunny Spain, taking in all the sights, tastes and sensory delights - starting in the beautiful Andalusian capital Seville, then to the historic fortified port city of Cadiz, and on to "the home of sherry", Jerez de la Frontera, before travelling cross-country to Malaga and the Costa del Sol for a week of hedonism:

We feel very proud of our achievement - we had booked lovely apartments in each location, meandered our way around cities we had never explored without problem, found some atmospheric little bars and some utterly faboo restaurants, took in some magnificent architecture, and even the dystopian nightmare that is public transport in Spain [there are so few inter-city trains that everything needs to be pre-booked in advance (which we didn't know) so we ended up travelling from Seville to Cadiz by coach, and had to catch a train at 7.30am in order to get from Jerez to Malaga] didn't mar the experience!

But what did we miss while we were away?

Apart from the ghastly ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the biggest news was that PM Rishi Sunak has called a general election in the UK for 4th July. Cue endless weasel words and false promises from all sides. Sigh. We were in Cadiz for their local launch of the International Day Against Homophobia [plus, plus, plus - they keep adding bits to it every year], so I missed the opportunity to post our traditional message for bigots, opressors and tyrants everywhere: "Fuck You!" Opportunely, one of those very tyrants the President of Iran was killed in a helicopter crash last week. Boo hoo.

We also missed the RHS Chelsea Flower Show! That's a whole week of TV viewing on catch-up to look forward to...

Birthdays we missed included the centenaries of The Boy Friend creator Sandy Wilson, one of our fave singer-songwriters Charles Aznavour and the BBC's longest-serving DJ Desmond Carrington, Patti LaBelle's 80th, (Diana's brother) Earl Spencer's 60th (and the birthdays of Patron Saints Cher and Grace Jones, as well as those of Liberace, Rosemary Clooney, Stanley Baxter [still with us, aged 98], Dame Joan Collins, Miriam Margolyes and Victoria Wood), and...

...ultimate sex god Tom Daley's 30th birthday! Gulp. And I would. All of it...

[Full video here]

There was a raft of departures, too, including 9 to 5 actor Dabney Coleman, early 1960s crooner, yodeller and heartthrob Frank Ifield [who I didn't even know was still alive], sexy '70s Olympic champion swimmer David Wilkie and prolific Disney songs composer Richard Sherman. RIP, all.

But did I bring anything back for your delectation, dear reader, I hear you ask..?

Of course! [And it's still a Tacky Music Monday, even if it's another Bank Holiday here - this just can't be any tackier if it tried!]

Gino Graus - Dolores

My song. How sweet.

Is it good to be back?

NO!!!

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STOP PRESS:

RIP, Jan de Kapper, longtime host of one of our "go-to" bars in Benalmadena over the years, The Buddha Bar.