I know, I'll paint it pink

As many of you will know, I am the president of the community in which we live in. As any fellow president will appreciate it's a very tough task which is also very time consuming.

One of the main problems I've found is that many people don't understand the concept of a community and how it's supposed to work. Many people still have the mentality that as they've bought their property then they can do whatever the like with it.

From an internal point of view I really don't care what they do, but when they start defacing the exterior then that's a big problem, and totally against the horizontal laws which govern communities in Spain.

The other day I just couldn't believe what one owner has done. They've painted the outside of the apartment in pink! What ever possesses anyone to do that? And pink....the rest of the development is white.

I dispair. Why oh why did I decide to stay as president for another year.

Anyway, that owner has now been sent a nice letter telling him to get his paint brush out again and buy some white paint quickly.

Whatever next? Every week someone decides to do something to the outside of their property and it's tough to keep on top of it.

Let's see what happens this week....I can barely contain the excitement...not!

Doing Atkins in Spain

Anyone who knows me knows that I love eating! Problem is I love eating ALL the wrong stuff; chocolates, crips, biscuits, cakes...you get the picture. I don't really care for "proper" food, I could happily survive the rest of my life on Walkers salt and vinegar and Cadbury's Finger biscuits.

Obviously I'd probably have quite a short life on that diet.

But, over the past year I have very much over done it with too much of the above named "junk" (although I loathe to call it that!)

Having 2 kids and a gorgious partner I really felt it was time to kill the bad habits and get healthy and slim again. I jumped on the scales just over two weeks ago and nearly died of shock....99.5 kilos...ouch! That's 15 st 8 lb if you're trying to convert. So it was time to do the only diet that works for me....Atkins.

I know, lots of people think it's a "dangerous" diet but I first did it 4 years ago and after 6 weeks had reached my target weight and had never felt better. It works for me although I know for some it doesn't.

Anyway, two and a bit weeks since I started I am now down to a stonking 93.1 kilos. Pretty good huh? I want to lose at least another 10 kilos but I think the last few kilos will be quite stubborn.

Now, doing the Atkins diet in Spain is far from easy. You don't get any of the low-carb products like you do in the UK which makes the diet much easier and much more varied in what you can eat. The novely of lunchtime fry-ups soon wears off.

There are no low-carb cooking sauces here, no low-carb anything really! It's tough to know what to eat day in day out.

But a visit to a good fish restuarnt (such as Romeo's in Castillo) or the ultimate steak restaurant Estribo, soon makes the diet all the more easier. This diet is certainly not for those who count pennies, it is an expensive diet to maintain!

Still, the weight's coming off, I feel much better and looking forward to losing the next 10 kilos.

Note: Can you believe that I starting writing this post over two hours ago? So many people have either called me or popped in that it's nearly 11 O'clock and still no work.

Come on fatty...back to work!

Crazy drivers

Today is really not a good day to be driving around like an idiot today. Indicators are being used even less than normal, people are sitting in the outside lane for no reason, people changing lanes without letting the car coming along know about it....and I could go on.

I've been killed twice nearly already and I don't think I've got very many lives left so think I'll stay in for the rest of the day.

It has been an absolutely glorious day here but why did I spot two English women walking along in town in their bikins!? You just don't do that. Mind, gives is the old guys in the village a little wake up boost now and then ;)