Ooops!

When we first arrived at Villas Andrea, we didn't’ know what to expect in terms of our neighbours. The only thing we were sure of was that the majority would be from Britain.

In those early days, everyone got on fine with each other; friendship groups formed and all seemed to be hunky dory. You knew that would not last though and sooner or later some of the people would stop seeing eye to eye with each other. A few of the friendship groups have lasted; others have drifted apart. It is fair to say that, In some cases, the parting of the ways has been acrimonious.

Throughout all this, Pam and I have been resolute. We get on with people as long as they get on with us: we try to avoid taking sides and getting involved in any wranglings that might take place. We don’t like listening to gossip and refuse to pass on any that we hear.

Living on the edge of the development has afforded us the luxury of being able to avoid these sort of issues and our policy seems to have worked because, as far as we know, our relationships with the neighbours are cordial.

But we pay a price because Pam and I don’t always know what is going on. Generally this is not a problem but occasionally we come unstuck.

Wednesday, our youngest daughter Laura commented on her Facebook that it was nice to have a chippie supper once in a while. Fried fish and chips are not the healthiest choice of foods so we generally avoid them. After all, I have enough problems with cholesterol without adding more into my system.

However, having been cooped up in the house for several days because of the weather, we decided to indulge our desire for Darren’s delicious cod and chips at the Pedrera last night. I sent him an email to make a booking but of course Darren is very busy these days and probably didn’t have time to read it.

We felt sure that it would not be a problem and that Darren would be able to accommodate us so we set off up to the Pedrera for our treat. As we got nearer, we saw a group of people on their way up who were rather smartly dressed for a Friday night;then we were passed by one of neighbours in his car- he was in his suit and had a flower in his lapel. A few steps more, we spotted people outside the Albergue who were obviously there for a special occasion.

At that point Pam twigged what was going on. She had heard that one of the couples who live on the estate were getting married in September. Putting two and two together, we realised that the wedding party was being held up at the Albergue last night. I asked the security guard, who was eyeing us up, wondering why we were so casually dressed and he confirmed that what we suspected was true.

Pam and I quickly turned round and beat a hasty retreat back to the house for three good reasons; a) we would never gatecrash someone’s private function, b) we were inappropriately dressed and c) fish and chips would probably not have been on the menu last night.

Although we had a good laugh about our mistake, it just goes to show that we need to keep our ears to the ground more. Pam and I wish the happy couple all the best and hope that those who attended the party had a great time. We enjoyed the dinner Pam prepared and will have to find another date to indulge our taste for Darren’s fish.