Not quite brown enough, but still not a bad showing. At least my arm hair is beginning to turn golden again. Perhaps you didn't want to know that. Tell you what, I won't mention my white bits.

The rest of my time in Spain was just as relaxing as the first few days. It got hotter and hotter, and I was doing more and more lengths of the pool as the days wore on. Hooray! How sporty am I?

On Friday night I accompanied Mari Trini (Eduardo's mum) to her Sevillanas singing group. The ladies were all in fine voice, particularly one woman who had a real flamenco voice, and attitude to match. The main guitarrist was also very talented. In all, a most cultural experience! Especially when, after the main rehearsal had ended, most of the ladies stayed behind to do some more singing and dancing. I joined in on the clapping, and managed not to get it wrong most of the time.

Saturday was another day with Edu and his mates. This time, we did a barbecue in the same shady spot on the edge of town where the other evening we had drunk and played cards (Spanish playing cards are different, with four suits - clubs, swords, coins and cups - and only 10 cards per suit: they don't have 8,9 or 10). As before, we were drinking beer and then kalimotxo, a delightful blend of rough red wine and coke.

But this time we weren't just eating junk. We had some super tasty pork steaks, and many juicy sausages & chorizos. And bread, of course! But the best thing was the home-made alioli which Nacho brought. He is from Valencia, and alioli is a speciality there. All it had in it was an egg yolk, plenty of garlic and a litre of extra virgin olive oil. He spent an hour slowly beating the ingredients together to create a gloopy yellow substance that looked like congealed custard but tasted out of this world.

I have had a lot of time to chat with Mari Trini. In many ways she reminds me of my own mother. I miss my mum. Mari Trini is a motormouth, but very entertaining with it.

On Monday I went with Eduardo to the site of his PC shop in Getafe. The place is a wreck! But then, after the fire that gutted it that's not really a surprise. It's amazing how much soot gets everywhere. We spent a good few hours just clearing away the worst of it from the stock that his insurance company didn't impound - mostly boxes of blank CDs.

And then, on Tuesday I had to leave. One last session at the pool, in a last-minute attempt to get brown, then a tearful farewell with Mari Trini and Eduardo took me to the airport. I really very much enjoyed being in Spain again, and spending time with Eduardo, his friends & family (although sadly I didn't get to see Pepe & Pascale because Pascale had exams this week in Toulouse). I will be back!