La multa

It had been a dreamy Sunday. The sun had reappeared after a few weeks of stormy and unpredictable weather. There were but a few wispy clouds in the sky as we headed for Puig de Maria, an old monastery on the top of a very big hill. The views at the summit were apparently stunning, and after the tough hours walk we all confirmed that they were. The vista across to the Tramuntana was tempting, luring us for winter hiking and discoveries. The towns below had shrunk to Playmobil size and the blue of the coast as inviting as ever. It really was a breathtaking walk.

We were all feeling so happy, so content with life, so exercised, so healthy and looking forward to our meal in Pollenca as we descended the hill.  Only to be greeted with a parking fine, to be fair we had parked on a grassy kerb but so had everyone else - yes, they all received a fine as well.

Darn. 80 flipping euros up the spout. Upon looking at the fine it seems there was an option to pay 40 euros, I guess if we paid it quickily. Our Spanish could not work out how and when to pay so I asked a lady in a shop.

She shrugged her shoulders, I don't know she said, after reading all the 'terms and conditions' of the fine. I will call my friend she said, and then proceeded to write a telephone number of the hacienda for us. Maybe they will help you she said.

A Spanish person couldn't work out how to pay the 40 euro option, so we had lunch and thought about our dilemma.

"Oh you have una multa!" the waiter laughed at us, in perfect clipped English.

I explained our predicament. He read the back of the fine and couldn't tell us how to pay it either.

"Go to the police station after your lunch - you can pay it there, I don't know if it is 80 euros or 40 euros!" he shrugged again.

"I had a fine last week, in Palma, much more money than yours for the drinking and the driving you know?!" he grinned and gestured the international sign for drinking booze with his thumb and little finger.

"But I pay it the next day, 50% less, at the police station, " he explained.

Only in Mallorca.

Timmy

The doors are left open in the evenings, it still being warm enough for air to flow around the house. At 8.32pm last night in walks a kitten, just like that, all brazen and purposeful looking for some food and comfort.

"Muuuuuuuum, there's a kitten in the house!" shouted the girls.

"I thought Lupin had shrunk!" squealed A, Lupin being one of the Fattie Catties we flew to Mallorca from the UK.

And as I took a break from the cleaning and the organising, there he was in P's arms, apparently called Timmy in the 3 minutes he had entered our house. What a beautiful, if a little smelly, kitten he was.

We fed him some of the cat food our pompous kitties turned their noses up at and he gobbled it with the speed of a cat that hasn't eaten for a long time. He was so desperate to come in for cuddles and a play but the matriarchs hissed and spat at him through the windows. I had a feeling he might still be around in the morning.

As I wandered over to the horses, whinnying me their glorious greeting at 7am, along Timmy trots - as pleased as pleased can be. His little tail was vertical in the air and he purred as he ran to say Hello, warm from a night in the straw. So we fed him again.

            

Looks like we have 2 horses, 2 fattie catties, 1 stray cat, 1 parrot and 1 kitten and counting...

Escaped

She felt very close as she clip-clopped past my window. Our sleepy brains couldn't quite fathom where she was, if she was indeed even there.

I leapt out of bed at 5.25 am to find Kira wondering around the garden with glee. Her hulk seemed enormous as I padded out into the night in bare feet and pyjamas. Having eaten her garba, trashed the newly mowed and manicured lawn, filled her tummy to bursting and avoided falling in the swimming pool - I would say my horse had had a thoroughly good party-for-one.

Reluctantly she followed me back to her stable, pretty high on calories and wanting to play.

It's still the middle of the night I hushed to her, as I would a toddler who had wondered out of their cot bed, go back to sleep. But of course that was me wide awake for the day - Googling the crap out of "What to do if your horse eats too much...."

Houdini pony