Glass half empty?

I was just reading my comments in my last post and found that I had naively written the following; “As we approach our fifth anniversary of living in Spain it’s safe to say that, these days, we are rarely surprised by tardiness or bureaucracy, and my blood doesn’t boil like it used to, so I […]

Digging your scene

Another year has passed and we head towards another summer of travel and visitors. I find it hard to believe that this blog started five years ago, leaving England in a Ford Transit van with all of our possessions and a three year old child, heading into our Spanish adventure. Here we are in 2023 […]

looking forward

So another year is taking shape as we begin to escape the cold and tricky winter months here in Spain. We will still have our share of rain and storms before the summer arrives but January and February have already provided some wonderful weather as a taste of what lies ahead. Working outside in just […]

Forwards or backwards

After a quiet Christmas in our new home 2021 has begun with a daily swim in the new pool as my New Year’s resolution. December and January were difficult in terms of weather as we struggled to keep warm in what is, essentially, a ‘summer house’, but suddenly the temperatures have begun to rise and […]

De policia a granjero!

After five weeks of homelessness whilst the interior of the house was being renovated it was time to head back to Spain. A most enjoyable and productive month, staying with family in the French countryside, had come to an end and the moment had come to face the reality of developments back home in our […]

Light at the end of the tunnel

After three months of surreal and challenging isolation restrictions we have finally been rediscovering our liberty and the ‘new normality’ beckons. We have been able to socialise, the shops and bars are open, and even the beaches are beginning to welcome locals. For that I am grateful, but I still can’t shake off the feeling […]

The Good Life

This is a pretty good place to practice self isolation. We are fortunate to have plenty of outside space and an endless list of things to be getting on with so we are rather grateful, all things considered. It was before our trip back to England for Christmas when I last wrote about our life […]

Caravan on a hill

We successfully completed on the house purchase on November 25th!! On the day it was relatively straight forward. The bank representative appeared to hand over the cheques, everything was read and signed, and we met the vendor who spoke perfect English. Trying to be mature and respectful I refrained from asking him out loud “How […]

¡Madre mía!

Less than a month ago I said that I didn’t want to see my mechanic Mario any time soon. You can guess what has happened since then. The disconcerting clunking noise that has plagued the car since day one came back gradually so I had to revisit my greasy friend and arrange another appointment. I […]

Travelling Tales

I often miss my two BMWs from the UK which were both beautiful to look at and drive. Instead I now chug around in our ‘practical’ Fiat Doblo without worrying about bumps and scratches in these tiny narrow streets in which we live. They weren’t designed with cars in mind. In fact I had a […]