Within a few days of being in Altea and having made a great connection with Sara from Altearte, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a ladies lunch. Sara and I had done yoga that morning and the time for lunch was 2pm. I’m not used to Spanish time at all, for me noon is T3 (liothyronine) tablet time to get me through the day and then food at 1pm so I arrived starving!
As I arrived and saw the large group of smiling faces I was asked where I was from.
There were 13 ladies there, including me and I was the only person from England! There were Argentinians, French, Dutch, Norwegian, American, Irish,
South African (makes me miss my friend when I hear that accent)
and more in fact there were almost as many nationalities as ladies.
Delores and a film star
Add in some real glamour with an Argentinian, just back from shooting her first film! Then this was a lunch to be at.
Fortunately the language of the lunch was English, agreed as the universal language at the moment till Chinese takes over.
This picture looks so serious but it wasn’t. The next minute this lovely Mother and Daughter were laughing their heads off at a joke down their end of the table.
Laughter was as much on the menu as was a huge sampling of wonderful Spanish modern cuisine.
Birthday girl
Delores our lovely Irish hostess, is a lady well recognized for her skill of bringing people together. She definitely did on that afternoon and with a flourish at the end we found out that she had called us all together to celebrate her sister’s birthday.
I know that ‘Happy Birthday’ is the most sung song in the world and the ladies at the table proved it was as they sang it in all the languages available to us.
It was a lovely introduction to Altea and lunches, though I’ve yet to have such a spectacular one again.
I met people who otherwise I may not have come into contact with. I have cafes to go to where people know me. I met a teacher who always says Hi to me now when I pass her class at the local community center. It was networking at its simplest, friendliest and best.
What was my lasting impression was that these ladies were all in ‘the moment’. There were no mobile phone calls, no running off to have to do a job, no leaving till the everyone was ready to move on.
It truly was time to spend with friends.
A very valuable lesson to all of us who have our mobile phones
at the ready and an excuse not to spend time
with people who matter to us.
Gill Brookshaw - Recover your Life 
Back to the old days of when you sat down for lunch/dinner/meetings, where there was never any interruptions’ from `outside the circle`. Without those interruptions or distractions’ we accomplish much more and become more attentive to the people that are there to take part in the lunch/dinner/meetings that we have.
See how much we have become reliable to the mobile phone/computer the next time you meet up with someone, ask them to turn it off, or better still, don’t bring it at all. If they value your company and want to have lunch/dinner/meetings with you, without the `NEED` of interruptions and distractions’, they will do it the old fashioned way, and say to whoever `NEEDS` to be contacted at the time, `I’m unavailable between ???? and ????.
Thanks Russ for your thoughtful comments.
Valuing the company of the people you are with is the greatest compliment you can give them.
It is also good for us as an individual as it allows our brain to focus on one thing at a time and not to add extra stressors into our lives.
Thanks
Recovering Me