This time we are here for the winter months and have packed our warm clothes, the finca has a wood burner in the lounge but that is all and it gets a tad cold in the bedrooms at night.

We are back to basics, in order to keep warm, Mark aka Paco, has to chop wood. Over here a favourite local pastime is ‘Bin Dipping’. Of course you can buy wood and kindling, but it’s not cheap, so everyone is on the lookout for wood, so when you drive past the neighbourhood bin area you slow down in the hope of seeing anything wooden. Unfortunately, as novices we haven’t yet mastered the skill of arriving at the right time, but to date we have picked up a couple of flower pots,

a plastic chair and bucket.