2016 - that was the year that was!
 

Yes, the parasols are going into hibernation, the beach looks emptier each day, and the long awaited rain storms have arrived. The season’s over! A season to remember?
Five or six months ago we were all discussing whether the sunbeds were ever going to be on the beach in time, let alone the ‘platoon’ of parasols. Then, there was all the worrying whether we’d ever be able to buy another of our favourite ice creams from ‘our’ favourite kiosk. Oh yes, and how could I possibly forget all the “will they, won’t they” debates re the pedestrianisation of the front. “Yes I like it , no I don’t”. Yes, no, yes, no. I thought it was never going to end. My God, that got a bit heated at times? But, it did ‘end’, and forum members then started having heated debates about the increasing number of cyclists, and of their lack of cycling etiquette! Everybody was wanting to get their pennyworth in, even the forum members who, I quote “I can't get my head around why people of my generation think that they look good in their cycle gear - especially when they sit/lay in a chair on the edge of a café along the Pine Walk, having looked as though they have just completed 25 stages of the Tour de France - if this is you it doesn't look good” (I’m 60, wear lycra, and feel bloody good, thanks)! , and another, “These people are just thick, ignorant, obnoxious, thugs who have no concern for people on foot”. C’mon guys, let’s cool it a bit, everybody’s allowed their opinion but it was getting to the point where cyclists in general were being tarred with the same brush. But, it’s at times like this that Sparky jumps in and tells to stop behaving like school kids! Good ole’ Sparks!
Anyway, let’s look forward to next year. To be able to lie on a sunbed in the shade of a parasol in early June…. To, hopefully, buy another ‘uno fresa’ from the Valls kiosk…to walk without tripping on the new paving along the front…to not being knocked down and insulted by a cyclist, (or, in my case, being knocked off my bike by an impatient, car driving, tourist who decided to overtake me on a bend)….and finally, to check in to Sparky’s weather forecast each morning and to see scorchio, scorchio, scorchio! Thanks, Sparky.:)