Murcia September 2009

As some readers will know the fact that we retired in July actually delayed our summer holiday – it seemed crazy to pay peak prices to go abroad in July/August when we had all the non-school holidays to aim at.

The theory is good but for over six weeks we both felt that we were on a usual summer holiday from school and had not been able to organize ourselves to get abroad. We were further delayed by my commitment to play in the final County Over55 match v South Wales on the 13th of September. Consequently we booked to travel to Murcia in Spain on Monday the 14th returning on Tuesday the 29th. The economics were on our side the whole holiday was less than half it would have been in August but the tennis fixture was cancelled and we could have gone a week sooner.

We traveled from East Midlands Airport to Murcia which provides a contrast in that Murcia is basically at the same stage of development as EMA was ten years ago. Our flight arrived early to a typical Ryan Air fanfare and my battered old Prince kit bag appeared first on the luggage reclaim however the car-hire was busier than we had ever known it so it took 45 minutes to find ourselves in a Ford Focus and heading to our familiar haunt of Verdermar near to Villamartin.

It was late evening when we were settled in our rented villa so we retired to be ready for the two weeks of “Scorchio” that we had been promised.

The following morning we did a supermarket shop to equip us for at least a week. My tennis for the day was to be the men’s practice at Orihuela Costa scheduled for 5.00pm to 7.00pm when it would still be hot but not like the middle of the day. A thunderstorm started by noon and washed out all possibility of playing. The rain continued on and off for the rest of the day and we ate out in the evening as power cuts are common in the area when there is rain.

Julia and I were resolved to play tennis together the following day but the courts at Orihuela were flooded although the sun was out by this time, we returned to our estate and planned our next move.

When we stopped at the local shops I was hailed by an English voice. It was Richard Harrison, a very good player from Duffield, a rival tennis club in the Derby league. It emerged that he had owned an apartment in the area for five years, he had almost given up on getting tennis at anything even close to his standard but he was happy to turn out for a friendly doubles later in the week before going home on the first Sunday we were there. We exchanged phone numbers.

In the afternoon Dave, our host, joined us for tennis at the Montepiedra Sports Centre, which is higher ground than Orihuela and better equipped, with three artificial grass courts. After all three of us hitting together, Dave and I tried to play singles but the heat was truly astonishing and after three hard fought games we were both struggling for breath. We had paused to consider how we could retreat gracefully when the sky darkened ominously and the heavens opened again. We were not the first place to get the rain storm and as we returned to our estate there were several streets running with water seeking its way to the sea. The rain continued for most of the day.

On the Thursday things became a little more typical in terms of weather, Julia and I played tennis later in the day although the courts were still flooded in the morning. The weather never reached “Scorchio” but we did manage a brief dip in the pool during the middle part of the fortnight.

On the Saturday Richard joined me and the two best Orihuela players in a doubles, Derbyshire beat Orihuela convincingly 6-1, despite Richard borrowing a racket to play and not having played for several weeks. There was a small appreciative audience to the event but I was frustrated to tweak my back early in the first set which limited my movement. I completed the three sets, one with each partner, but I really had hoped to emerge with better results than the two Daves it was not to be: Richard won all three sets 6-1!

That was the best of the tennis although after two days I was fit to play again but mainly concentrated on Padel Tennis, a cross between tennis and squash which I had successfully resisted on my previous visits, I enjoyed the challenge and, having played squash, I found myself competent quite quickly. It is said to be addictive but I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve played a few more times. I was fortunate to get some coaching from the resident coach at Montepiedra, Gareth Pritchard who had just been selected for the British Padel team.

As the second week progressed we were running sort of euros so it seemed sensible to pay for a meal with my MasterCard – it was refused. We were in a German restaurant in Spain so communication was not easy, we paid in cash and the following day I tried to buy petrol at an English speaking petrol station – it was refused again. I phoned my bank and was put through to the Fraud Department and they confessed that they had blocked my card based on its use to top up my mobile phone. I was livid as this is a perfectly normal transaction appearing on every statement that they send me but they wait until I am abroad and decide this is reason enough to cut off my card. I am currently trying to get this point over to the firm but they are not getting it. I dread being in the USA moving between three states and paying for hotels but by their track record that will pass for perfectly normal spending!

The holiday finished as it started with 48 hours of thunderstorms and flooding making the coast roads particularly frightening to drive. At some points Julia found herself waiting on top of the large speed-bumps waiting for the lake of water ahead to settle before proceeding. Where we knew that there were pavements they were now invisible making the stream of water downhill at least a foot deep. We were comfortable in the villa with just some mopping of the sun porch and we did at least feel that retirement had started.

The journey home on Tuesday night was uneventful but we were told that it had not rained in Derby since we left – this may become a theme.