Whilst our house still needs a fair amount of work done it, our feathered friends appear to be getting on with their lives, and their building skills are developing at quite a pace.

The Java sparrows, quickly settled into their new home. A large aviary, hand made by Nick. About 2 weeks ago, they must have decided it was time to enlarge the family and the materials Nick supplied for them for nest building, started to be moved around to the various sites that could be a possible.

Now I have to admit, they are not the best of nest builders. To me it appears to be an untidy jumble of grasses and string. They on the other hand seem to quite pleased with it.

Mr Java selects a piece of grass. He jumps up amongst the various twigs and shows it to Mrs Java. She seems to be the one that decides whether it is suitable or not. If it isn't, she takes it off him, throws it back down to the bottom, scolds him and sends him back for something better! They all look the same to me, but hey, what do I know.

We can't actually see into the nest, but we think there may well be eggs in there.

As for the Zebra finchestheir building techniques are far superior. They are however far more practiced.

Mr Zebra does the same as Mr Java and the wife is definitely in control.and so she should be!

He however has not only built a bungalow for his wife and children.there are 5 eggs by the way..he has also built himself a semi-detached residence all of his own.

The family home has both front and back entrances, plus a rather nice patio to the front door. This is apparently where the little ones can sit and stretch prior to making their maiden flight.

Mr Java's home is just as elaborate and appears to be on two floors. With a front and side entrance, he can make a quick entrance or exit depending on how quickly he may need to escape the wife!

Whilst all this has been going on at home, both me and Greg have tearing around the countryside visiting a few different places.

The other day we headed North again and went to a place called Puerto de Mazzarón. Whilst essentially it is Spanish, a large number of Brits live there. I took my camera and intended on taking some lovely sunny shots of the port and buildings.

Unfortunately, the clouds gathered, and the rain started. It rained for hours.

At about four in the afternoon, we decided enough was enough and started to make our way to the motorway, ready to head home.

The road we were on was steep. As we looked ahead we could see a torrent of water coming towards us. Greg was driving, and for what seemed like ages, but was probably just a minute or so, he battled to keep control of the car.

To one side of us was a sheer drop. To the other was a bubbling, mass of water and debris, smacking into the car.

We managed by the skin of our teeth to get the car to a slightly higher point. Behind us however, other cars were stuck. The water got deeper and faster.

Luckily nobody got hurt, although I heard that in some other places around Alicante, people weren't so lucky.

So the next time we think rain is on its way we are going to stay at home, light the fire, and get stuck into a good book!