Withdrawal symptoms

I am craving a Tinto de Verano!!

Yes, we're back - and in full recovery mode - after a lovely and full-on week on the Costa del Sol for Madam Arcati's birthday. We went once again en familia; this time with the Madam's sister Carol (again) and nephew Stu (for the first time) - and, of course, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves...

With only one "off day" - on Sunday night we had torrential storms in the wee small hours, and it remained so horrid there were only a few bars open along the paseo on Monday (all of which we visited, of course) - the sun was very welcome upon our pale British skins. A little shopping here, a lot of lovely food there, and - ¡claro está! - industrial quantities of booze everywhere, it was a much-needed week of utter hedonism. Bliss!

Now we're back in the truly miserable, cold, wet and dank UK, what did we miss while we were away..?

Not a lot, to be honest. There was endless coverage of the orange madman that Americans voted into power - his threats of tariffs against just about anyone including the EU, his crazy talk of taking over Gaza, and, in fact any of the shit that pours from his mouth. Speaking of crazy, our current government appears to be presiding over a remarkable crash of our economy - flat growth and rising inflation all round - which has served to cheer everyone up no end, as one might imagine. Especially if Chancellor Rachel "Nanny Stern" Reeves is genuinely [the screaming headline appeared in The Mail (aka Mein Kampf), so should be treated with extreme caution] considering axing or significantly reducing the annual £20,000 cash ISA (Individual Savings Account) tax-free allowance - my preferred way to save!

In other news...

• Not being a user of F**book, Tw*tter/"X" or any of that stuff (except Blogger, which is hardly the same), I remain ambivalent to the fact that social media has been compared to cancer by the UK's head of counter-terrorism.
• Our local council Haringey has (ha ha!) failed in its intention to introduce a new money-making scam tinker with its resident parking scheme, as more than 95% of residents who responded to its public consultation objected.
• When personal items belonging to the late, beloved, "national treasure" comedian Eric Morecambe went up for auction recently (after the death of his widow last year), his trademark dark-rimmed glasses were won by none other than that more modern "treasure" Robbie Williams!

Meanwhile, at Gobbler's Knob this Groundhog Day, "Punxsutawney Phil" predicted that the US will get six more weeks of winter this year; a woman flew from Cornwall to Malaga in Spain and then up to Manchester to collect her car because it was £250 cheaper than it would be to get the train; and the whole country of Sri Lanka was plunged into an electricity blackout - because of a monkey meddling with a power station!

We missed celebrating the centenaries of both Jack Lemmon and our Patron Saint of Booze Miss Elaine Stritch, the (gulp!) 95th birthday of Robert Wagner, the (double-gulp!) 70th of John Travolta, the 50th of Natalie Imbruglia and the 40th of the ultra-sexy Cristiano Ronaldo...

...and we also missed marking the death of television favourite Brian Murphy (the eternally hen-pecked "George Roper" in both Man About the House and George and Mildred [the original series behind the US hits Three's Company and The Ropers]; he later featured in Last of the Summer Wine).

Finally - did I bring anything back for your delectation, dear reader? How about Spain's entry for Eurovision 2025? It's still (just about) Tacky Music Monday, after all:

Melody - Esa Diva

[Yes, the singer is the same Melody (minus her "Vivancos" but with another set of safety gays altogether) who was responsible for our regularly-featured earworm El Baile de los Gorilas]

I may still be on holiday all this week, but...

Is it good to be back? NO!!