I arrived here in Spain in a heavyweight kilt and thought I would have my first venture out this morning in shorts to look less conspicuous for my first day walking around here. Well the last day I wore trousers of any kind was 18th October and the shorts just did not feel right. I was obviously not going to be able to walk far as my inner legs were getting chafed by the shorts besides which I felt self conscious wearing these old fashioned khaki shorts so after a hundred yards or so I returned to the hotel and changed into a lightweight casual kilt with cargo pockets which I had thrown into my backpack at the last minute. Had a great day out, stormed Sohail Castle for xmarks again and bought a few essentials in the shops, lots of positive comments on the kilt.
Nearing the hotel on the way back I was accosted by a peddlar who had a wad of leaflets and who did the hard sell to try to persuade me to visit the wine musum which the leaflets advertised. He said they were holding a flamenco dance there tomorrow night and took hold of me to demonstrate the Spanish dancing. He started dancing too close for my comfort and just as I began to push him off he suddenly turned and ran away. I realised he had torn open the velcro cover of my kilt cargo pocket and made off with my wallet containing 280 Euros and 200 pounds sterling and my bank card, and the reason he had turned and ran was there was a police car approaching. I flagged down the police car and explained I had been robbed. Police did not seem all that interested in going after the guy but were extremely helpful with damage limitation, helped me contact my bank and I got my card blocked very quickly. There is nobody back home who can wire me some money, Ann is away on her physiotherapy course, daughter is still having her mental problems and all the rest of the family have died in the past few years. Sometimes you can feel very alone, thank goodness for being able to log onto xmarks and talk this through. Luckily I still have my coin bag of Euros and sterling containing a small amount of each, so living like a student. Prior to being robbed I had bought a ticket for a day trip by bus to Gibraltar on Wednesday, not been down there since 1986. The ticket got stolen with my wallet but it has my name and hotel pick up point on it so its no good to anyone else and hopefully they will still let me on when I can show them my passport when they come to collect me on Wednesday morning. The next three days breakfasts in the hotel are prepaid and I have a supply of biscuits, cakes and bottled water to see me through the rest of the day and just enough Euro coins left for my train fare back to the airport on Thursday night when I will be able to buy a snack on the flight home with my sterling coins. Car is waiting for me at the airport with enough fuel in it to get home and car parking is prepaid, so I should survive until I can get into my bank on Friday morning and get some ready cash for going to Dumfries for the Ferintosh Burns Weekend, where I am really really looking forward to being back among some of my xmarks friends. In fact you could say I am sitting here in Spain jonesing to be at Ferintosh.