Bob and Ann

I know that I've said it before, but sometimes you are a certain place at a certain time, and you just meet someone and you just "click". That's how it was with Bob and Ann (not their real names!!!). When we arrived at Santa de Maria, the campsite was virtually empty. We were shown around with great gusto by the manager/owner Ivan, pronounced in Spanish as Ee Wan, and told to choose our pitch. This is never an easy thing to do, in fact I much prefer it when we are allocated pitches. To start with there is always the dilemma of do we pitch near someone for safety and security, or do we keep a distance and risk sending a message that we don't want to be bothered? Do we pitch near the toilet and washing up facilities so we are close, or do we keep away. One thing is for sure, we do try to stay away from people with dogs as we have learned from past experiences that they A) can bark during the night and B) can smell during the hot weather!!!

We left a space and drove into our walled area, quite a large space by Spanish campsite standards. We had our own low wooden fencing, and pine trees surrounding us. It was heaven compared to where we had previously been in Marbella!!! And we noticed the GB number plate on the motorhome near to us. Those of you who are avid readers of this blog will know that over the past 2 months we have met some lovely couples, all of whim have given us advice, travel tips, campsite approvals and disapprovals. We've met Ray, Jim and Sylvia from Scotland, Vivienne and John, a couple from Yorkshire, Gerd and Marc from Belgium, a couple from Wales, Jose and Maria, to name but a few and of course Abilio and Albertina. Most of the people we meet are actually British people who are over wintering in the warmer climes. But when we went to say a brief hello to our new neighbours, we knew that we would hit it off. Sharon was a year 3-4 teacher at a school in Nottingham before taking early retirement, and Andrew had had a printing business and was very interested in architecture and art. After a hilarious experience with a real couple called Bob and Ann, they are the names they give to British motorhomers when they haven't been introduced. And so for a while we were Bob and Ann!!!

To cut what could be a long story short, we have spent quite a bit of time during our stay at Santa de Maria with Sharon and Andrew, and we have enjoyed their company a lot. We have cried with laughter at their jokes and tales, and also shared more serious moments too. We have been made to feel very welcome by them as they have supplied us with teas, coffees, orange juices and lemonades, and patatas fritas. In fact, they were the reason that we stayed an extra day as on the morning we went over to say goodbye, it took a little longer than planned and before we knew it, it was 12:45 and we all needed lunch! 

Our last night there was spent playing the board game 'Carcassonne' and our parting gift to them was a DVD of "Whale Wars" by way of a thankyou for a French DVD and a spare game of 'Travel Scrabble' that they passed on to us. To date we haven't met anyone as kind and generous as them. Sharon and Andrew, we hope to see you again someday! And yes, you have now converted us all to Scrabble fans!!! 

Clare

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