Pit Stop at Ainslie's

We had planned to sleep in the van overnight to save Ainslie the bother of washing bedding etc and then make our way up to Campoverde the next morning to have a few days to do all our washing and to catch up with more friends. However, it was soon decided that we would stay two nights with Ainslie and move into his villa.

We had a brilliant time with Ainse. The first evening, we went out to Cheritos [or something like that] to eat and then moved on to Beaky’s Gig [of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich – a famous pop group back in the sixties for you youngsters!] where there was a karaoke going on. Sean was in charge and the punters were mainly Irish and were having a lively time. David was swept onto the dance floor by a woman called Belinda, who soon moved in on Ainslie when she found out that David was married to me! She claimed to be a journalist from Dublin and was looking for company for dinner the next evening. We didn’t make any firm arrangements [Ainslie said he would make enquiries as nobody is quite what they seem in these parts!]

Once back at Ainslie’s, we spent quite a bit of time looking at the photos of Janine and Martin’s weddings and then listening to music including some of the tracks he played with the band out in Spain. One particular song accompanied by Ainslie on guitar was especially memorable [we’ve always known that Ainslie played in various bands back in the sixties but never quite appreciated just how good he is].

The next day was a quite a busy one. Ainslie lent us a vacuum cleaner so we were able to clean out the van and also hose the mats down [the last pitch in Morocco was very sandy and then it had rained so it was good to get it all sorted again]. We were also able to put our towels and a few other things through his washing machine which was a real bonus. Ainslie’s new villa is beautiful, all open plan downstairs with tiled floors and colourful rugs. There are a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms downstairs and then Ainslie has a pad upstairs with its own bathroom, balcony etc. A grand design!

In the evening, we went back to the restaurant of the night before and then on to another bar where Steve was doing a karaoke and everyone was celebrating Rainer’s birthday. Again, it turned out to be quite a lively evening – especially when one bloke donned a wig in imitation of one of Rainer’s daughter’s and took the mike [and the mickey] on the karaoke. He was the bloke who took Ainslie’s place in the band and is an ex-member of “Squeeze.”

We had to leave the next morning and were quite sad when it came to saying "goodbye." Sorry - but forgot to take any photos!