Here we are again, sitting in the garden room with the rain falling and the temperature well below where it should be but are we bothered, certainly not, we are watching people going off to work while we plan our next trip to Barcelona. It is that time again. We are off once again to stay with Alex and the family in Barcelona for a few weeks.


The insurance company has been notified and the claim form is in the post just in case we need it although we got through our last visit with no insurance claim and no hospital visits. So here’s hoping!


So the weather can do what it wants for the next few weeks, our biggest problem will be trying to keep cool and I expect cold beers and a swimming pool to help in that department. Of course there will be the usual problems before we set off, shopping trips will be needed as Christine will have nothing to wear in a hot climate although this will be our fourth trip to Barcelona this year and that following five months in the Bahamas last year but I am confident that the shopping trip will be needed.


Then there is the packing of the suitcases. It’s a given fact that all Christine clothes will not fit in her suitcase and she will expect the rest to go in mine, and even then when I come to weigh the cases hers will be overweight. Eventually by my leaving all but a couple of T-shirts and a pair of shorts at home we will be under weight and ready to go.


But even I, although having lived with Christine for over forty years, which by the way seems a little odd as she still claims to be only fifty one, wasn’t ready for the trip to Boots the Chemist to stock up on skin care products for the hot weather. Alex had rung to say the mosquitoes had arrived which brought back memories for Christine of the Bahamas and the mosquitoes the size of bumble bees. So off we went to buy supplies for Christine to safeguard herself against any forthcoming attacks by anything less than a Kamikaze Pilot.


First it’s the plug in gadget with the in liquid repellent to plug in our bedroom so they can’t get us on a night, we get two of those, “can’t be too careful” says Christine so that’s £11 gone. Then we see a bottle of something to rub on the skin to get all day protection from any kind of insect bites, that’s an amazing £12 but as Christine always says “you only get what you pay for, if it’s cheap it won’t work”. Cheap, I mumble, she doesn’t know the meaning of the word. So we are now set for the night and the day so that’s it we can go..... no we can’t there is more.


We now spot a device for sucking poison out of a bite after the mosquito has struck, we have just spent £23 making sure they don’t bite but now we spent another £14 just in case they do, “better safe than sorry” says Christine as the device is added to the ever growing number of products in the shopping basket. This must be it, we must have done, but not quite we see some cream to rub on the bite, presumably after the poison has been sucked out, to reduce the irritation, so that’s another £4 gone, but now we can go .......


Except that on the way to the till we spot some new fangled sun screen lotion that only needs to be applied once a day which is obviously something we just have to have and that’s a whopping £19. How can sun tan lotion cost £19. I point out the slippery oily bottle for £3.20 which just produces the usually look as she proceeds to the till. So Christine is now protected against anything which may be inclined to bite her at any time of the night and day. Oh yes, we are also £60 lighter in the wallet.


As I have never used sun cream in my life, nor have I ever been bitten by a mosquito I just happen to mention that she has a high maintenance value and with that she is off shopping for whatever clothes she requires for the trip.


To finish off the day when we arrive home Christine gets a phone call from a friend who tells her she needs to take some anti something or other tablets which stops the mosquitoes coming near you in the first place. We will be back at Boots in the morning.


Meanwhile I just wonder, with all the portions, lotions and tablets to take, plug in or rub on we might be happy with the company of a mosquito as I can’t see anyone else coming anywhere near us.