So I have been in Villa Martin just outside Torrevieja for 6 days now and it feels like I've just arrived. It's 24 Degrees by 11 on its way to 27. After a long drive via Lyon and Barcelona we arrived in the evening and went straight to the pub. I really liked Lyon and want to go back and explore more of France outside Paris, was shocked at the amount of French that I have picked up in the last couple of years, would be nice to keep on practicing.

The place that Simon has is essentially the Spanish version of Whitton, housing projects as far as the eye can see, little boxes filled with old people and families, mostly English, a few Germans and the occasional Spaniard. The only thing that has seemed to change is the architecture and the weather. And as it's not the peak season and the recession and things it's a bit of a ghost town too. Oh well, can't complain. . .

On my off time I'm hoping to get a scooter (which seems to be near impossible) to escape this prefab scab and see some real Spain. The beach is nice, the Mediterranean is salty and warm, but I don't want to come to a new place and lie on the beach. I need to explore! A holiday should not just a change of venue, but a change of lifestyle. It's tough because my job is 10 times easier if Simon stays in his comfort zone (which is rather narrow) and as I like just going and doing stuff without planning, we are loggerheads when we leave in the van.

But I am feeling great, I have a great tan in progress (even if it does have tan lines), I'm getting paid £60 a day just to be here even if I'm not working, and I don't have to pay for my beers at the pub. So here is a little series I'd like to call the "salad bowl tour of the prefab scab".