I make absolutely no apologies for kicking off with a picture of me taken on Thursday afternoon, the last day of our break to Spain. I feel like a £million at the moment and I reckon that shows in the picture.
When I think back to how I was feeling just 4 weeks ago, never mind 3 months, I realise just how much in need of a holiday I really was. To be able to spend that holiday with Sarah and the kids, as well as with such amazing friends new and old in Spain was the icing on the cake. We had a fantastic time and relaxed in the best possible way, by a pool with a constant supply of drink, good music and outstanding food. We laughed constantly, reminisced about old times, threw each other in the pool and generally behaved like kids! We spoke some Spanish - though most of it was Spanglish - sticking an 'O' on the end of most words to make them sound 'authentico'. 
I even managed a beer. Or 3 to be precise. I had tried a sip of the Cruzcampo every day - John has it on draught at his house in the poolside bar (how cool is that?). Initially the after taste of the beer was horrible, on the last day of the holiday I persevered and drank 6 half glasses of it - and the following morning I had the headache to prove it. On 3 pints - what a lightweight - I can see me being a very cheap date in the future!
I also managed just about everything put in front of me on a plate. Pork tenderloin marinated in (well, its a closely guarded secret what its marinated in), chicken, sausage, steak, chips, a chocolate eclair. I have to wash everything down with a sip of water but its such a relief to be tasting good food again. The only thing I didn't cope too well with was one of John's special curries, but to be fair - nobody else seemed to manage that too well either!! 
I spent the next half hour after tasting it sat in the kitchen drinking copious quantities of water and consuming chocolate and vanilla ice cream to provide some relief to my stinging throat!!
While we were there we managed a trip to Ronda, a beautiful Spanish town set in a spectacular location and only 20 minutes drive from Teba. Ronda is famous for its bridge over the gorge that runs through the middle of the town, and its huge cliff-face at the south of the town. We did some shopping and ate out for lunch. Sarah and I also visited the lakes and El Chorro, another famous location in Spain and home to scenes from the Sinatra movie Von Ryans Express. We ate lunch in a bar overlooking one of the clear turquoise lakes nearby with the unmistakeable scent of pine trees in the heat - something more associated with Greece. The view from our table is below;
On our last day we decided to leave the mountains and head for the water park at Torremolinos where we met Sarah's friend Nadine who is holidaying there. Nadine has her daughter Immy and friend Chloe in tow so a day for the kids seemed fair - in reality I went on just as much stuff as the kids and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Later we ate in a pizza place in Benalmadena that the kids and I had eaten in 3 years previously, right on the front overlooking the beach. The pizza was great, although I left the crusts, something I tell the kids off for doing!!
I want to round off this blog by saying a massive thank you to both John and Jill for their hospitality, to Sarah and the kids for making this holiday such a brilliant experience and to everyone else who was there for wishing me well and then not dwelling on the past 6 months, it was great to put things completely out of my mind and be normal again. I'm looking forward to seeing you all very soon.
And the very last thing I want to do is post one last picture - taken on the first morning of the holidays - for no other reason than to demonstrate I did take more than one t-shirt away with me!!!
All the best
Nigel xx
PS: I'm going back to work tomorrow, Monday, and I'm thinking that might be a good milestone for bringing the blog to an end. I have to consider the publication of fund raising efforts in that decision and please watch this space for news of a massive event coming hopefully this August Bank Holiday - confirmation tomorrow hopefully.
Can I ask you all - if you havent done so already - to please subscribe to the blog by popping your email address in the 'Subscribe to this blog' box at the right hand side - that will save you constantly popping back to check for posts when I clearly have much less to write about.
Legend.