So here we are sitting in the sunshine in Barcelona whiling away a few weeks with Alex, Dave and family and between the Bodega and shopping in Barcelona life is very pleasant. It suddenly becomes more hectic on Thursday when two of their friends from the old days in Holland, Joe and Anna arrived with their daughters Dani and Lee but much more importantly with Sam the dog.


Joe and the family are this summer, for business reasons, moving from the UK to Madrid so this is a school fixing, and house viewing trip. Fly out to Madrid, collect Joe’s new car and then drive to Alex’s for a few days and then drive home. Best laid plans and all that .... ... of course Joe’s new car isn’t ready so they are now stuck in Spain with no return flight home.


Two problems become apparent. No airline will book a one way ticket back to the UK for Sam and the cost to hire a car in Madrid and leave it in the UK is 5000euros.


As the problem is discussed you see the horror begin to dawn on Sam’s face as he realises that he seems to be the issue. I think it’s fair to mention at this point that Sam is used to better things, he could of course have been left at home in kennels in the UK but this was never an option for a dog of Sam’s breeding. Not for him a room in some Kennels he is more the Dorchester with waiter service type.


It is also necessary for Sam to be on the trip in case he doesn't approve of either the school or the new house. If he disapproves then alternatives will be needed. Any way the problem is solved by Joe borrowing a car from a colleague to drive back to the UK to get Sam home and then driving back to swap to his own new car. So that’s Barcelona to the UK and then the UK to Madrid and then eventually Madrid back to the UK, as I see it that’s something like a 5000 mile round trip to get Sam home. Everyone thought that was an excellent solution except of course Joe who was doing the driving and Sam who wasn’t sure that the colleague’s car was of the required standard for his return to the UK.


We had a great time meeting up again with Joe, Anna and the kids and we had three days of long alcoholic lunches and walks on the beech naturally with me looking the other way. Evenings were spent sitting with Joe and Dave either in the Bodega or at one of the many beach bars a stones throw from Alex’s house but I am not sure they were as keen as me at looking the other way.



To every one’s relief when it comes time for Joe and Anna to leave Sam walks out to the car, looks around, nods his approval, jumps on the back seat and before all the cases are loaded he is fast asleep on his blanket, presumably dreaming about when the waiter will turn up with his breakfast. An excellent few days.