Live The Best Possible Life That You Can

As this is the first of this new year’s rambles I would of course like to commence by wishing you all a, ‘Feliz y Prospero Ano Nuevo’ (Happy and Prosperous New Year) and both Shazza and myself trust that, wherever you were in the world last year celebrating the festive period, we hope that you had a safe and very pleasant one.

Now then, there is a popular saying, one that is used in a variety of ways, and on a variety of different occasions throughout a year, generally associated with when there is a clearing out of possessions that are no longer required, or just general clutter that accumulates over time, when perhaps people move House or do major Spring Cleaning, or when there is a Change of Government, even a Change of Management or staff etc. etc. but, it is also a statement that is heard more traditionally at the start of each New Year, and that statement is of course, “Out With The Old and In With The New”. I have repeated that same sentence myself over the years, not just at New Year, although now, as each year seems to be racing by, and far too swiftly for my liking, I am beginning to find myself a little less fond of its use, especially when it is a phrase aimed directly at me from my own beloved’s lips, “Happy New Year darling, out with the old, and in with the new” she said, as we both awoke on a rather grey and miserable wet first day of 2026, making sure of course that she put an emphasis on the words ‘out with the old’ and doing so in a mischievous manner, with a wry smile on her face, followed by a cheeky chuckle and wink of her eye. I quickly remind her that we now live in Spain where, ‘officially’, people are not considered as being ‘Old’ until they reach the age of 74 years, “No need to worry then my darling, well not for another five years at least” she says, with a much too hearty a laugh for my liking. So, should I be concerned that she is now looking for a newer, more younger model, rather than the older more familiar one I ask myself 😲 I am confident that I don’t really have anything to worry about, well not for the time being at least, for there is something to be said for us more senior models, familiarity, reliability (If you exclude DIY skills 😁), and there is even a certain comfort in already being aware of all the quirks, groans and squeaking parts 😂

Anyway, what have we been up to since the last ramble ? Well, we entertained what were our last visitor’s for 2025, my Sister and Brother-in-Law from Australia, but I already referred to that in my last ramblings. They arrived with us on the 18th December and departed again on the 22nd December, ready to take on the next stage of their ‘Grand-parenting duties’ back in the UK, before returning home to the land down under, armed with the knowledge, from people already well experienced in the Grand parenting field, that this would be the start of a very long journey for them, and we didn’t mean it in the context of their personal holiday travels, although with two of their three new favourite ‘little people’ now living on the other side of the world to themselves, those long haul trips may also become more regular events 🤭

I think they agreed with us, due to the much cooler Spanish Winter temperatures, and this year, the much wetter conditions, that perhaps their next visit to us should be in the Spring or Summer, to see Spain at its best, with its colourful countryside and Fiesta’s and of course its warm temperatures. But nevertheless, they had enjoyed their few days with us and between the clouds, that brought some light rainfall, we did manage to get out on the three full days that they were with us and they commented on just how relaxed everything felt. I guess living in a busy city the much calmer vibes of this part of Southern Spain is very noticeable.

Once we had driven our guests back to the airport on the Monday morning, we returned and, after a brief stop at our local supermarket, got ourselves settled down at home again, where we enjoyed a somewhat quiet, but very enjoyable, Christmas and New Year period by ourselves. We had our ‘British’ traditional Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve and then, throughout Christmas Day afternoon, and early evening, we had a selection of both Hot and Cold ‘Spanish’ style Tapas, so keeping a foot in each camp as it were. We of course ignored the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts most days and trusted once again in our own ‘Forrest Gump’ methodology, which you will not be surprised to hear, turned out to be much more accurate than the official predictions 🙄 so we were able to get out for our regular walks along the seafront on most days, which was nice in the sunshine, although we did have to get wrapped up against the bitterly cold and icy ‘Polar Blast’ that was impacting the whole of Europe at this time. However, the cold didn’t prevent us from partaking of our usual refreshment stops and people watching opportunities, after all their are some traditions and routines that still have to be maintained, festive season or not, it would be rude not to.

We did however take a break from our walking routine on Christmas Day, not for any religious reason you understand, no purely practicalities, because all of the Cafe/Bars were closed on that particular day, how inconsiderate of them 😂 Fortunately for us, the Spanish do not celebrate ‘Boxing Day’ (26th December) as a National Holiday, so the majority of the shops and Cafe/Bars were once again open and so we were able to once again resume our more usual daily routine. Apart from the almost mandatory over-indulgence of Christmas food, Christmas Music and Christmas Movies, this year’s festive period had been pretty much just normal days on our own particular Calendar, although we had of course spoken, via video calls, or text messages, with our family and friends located in the various different countries around the globe, to exchange festive wishes. To be honest even those family communications are just normal regular events that ordinarily take place throughout the duration of the year anyway, but we at least did get to share the excitement of our Grandchildren as they opened up their presents 🤗 Apart from the calls and texts and consuming some of the more specific and traditional festive fayre for this time of year, for ourselves it wasn’t really that different from any of our normal day’s. But then of course, being retired and already living a life of leisure, we don’t have cause to celebrate, or perhaps fully appreciate, the extended time off from work like a lot of other’s still have to do. All in all, the Christmas and New Year festive period were just normal kind of days for us although, and I say this with a smile on my face, without as many of the vegetables, legumes and many other of the more usual ‘Plant Based’ delicacies we would generally consume on a daily basis, so yes, for me in particular, it did feel rather like a bit of a holiday, as I got stuck in to my Turkey, Mince Pies, Christmas Pudding and all of the other totally unhealthy delicacies that are an essential part of the festive celebrations and, with their only being the two of us, well somebody had to suffer and eat, and drink, the majority of it 😂 However, I am sure that I will pay for that over indulgence when I next stand on the bathroom scales 🫣

Now I cannot say this with any certainty, but perhaps their may be some of you reading this ramble that ‘may’ probably think that we are a couple of lonely old sod’s who live in isolation, but that would be a totally wrong assumption, for whilst we do tend to choose to live a more ‘secluded’ lifestyle, enjoying doing things together by ourselves, rather than in wider social groups, that should not be confused with us being lonely or anti-social. We do still actually enjoy being amongst other people, and also enjoy speaking to them, as and when the opportunities arise throughout the year. Even at this time of year, we have lost count of how many people we have said ‘Feliz Navidad y Una Prospero Ano Nuevo’ (Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year) to, people that we do regularly see and speak to, and even complete stranger’s that we see on our walks or meet in the Cafe/Bars, or exchanging the pleasantries with the familiar faces of the shopkeepers and staff in the retail shops, the owner’s and staff in the Cafe/Bars that we regularly frequent.

I do confess that sometimes we even ask ourselves whether we are a bit of an oddity, preferring our own company rather than joining the multitude of ‘Expat’ groups that exist, so it was a bit reassuring to talk with a German couple we have come to know, who just happen to frequent the same Spanish Cafe/Bars as ourselves. They came over for a chat, and of course to exchange festive greetings, and we discovered that they, like ourselves, were spending the festive period by themselves this year, after having a hectic Christmas in 2024 visiting a whole host of relatives and friends back in their native homeland. We of course also saw some of our Spanish, and other International neighbours, who live in our own residential community, whilst we were coming and going, as well as the Cleaner and Gardner, whose only day’s off were on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, so I don’t know, perhaps it is just an age thing, where we no longer feel that we have to be out partying, or house hopping, or travelling hundreds of miles to be with family and friends at this time of year 🤷‍♂️

We do of course sometimes miss the much closer proximity of our immediate family, that goes without saying, but that also applies to at any other time of the year, not just during the festive period, but we already knew beforehand that this would be one of the more negative aspects of coming to live permanently in another country. However, we do still get to see and speak with them on both Christmas Day and on New Year’s Eve, as well as throughout the rest of the year, thanks to the advances in communication technology, but also, their enthusiasm in wanting to regularly come out to visit us here in Spain, both during our former ‘Schengen Shuffle’ periods and since permanently re-locating to live here, probably more than we had initially envisaged means that perhaps the time and distance apart is not felt as much. So, ‘Isolated’ we are not whereas, our choice of ‘Seclusion’, does have its own advantages 😉

What came as a bit of a surprise for us this year was a rare occurrence, for our particular area of Spain, was the sight of snow on the ‘lower foothills’ of our surrounding mountains, we rarely get to see snow even on the higher peaks that surround our particular area and, whilst frost, snow and ice is not unusual in many other parts of Spain, even Granada has its Ski slopes up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but you can be Ski-ing on the ‘Pistes’ in the morning and Sunbathing on the Costa del Sol beaches in the afternoon, but the white stuff is not a common sight in our particular area, we are much more accustomed to reading about it in the media, as opposed to actually seeing it with our own eyes, fortunately though, even those lower foothills are still a good drive away from us.

Additionally, some of the Costa del Sol beaches, around an hour or so away, in Malaga City and extending further North along the coast, found people waking up to what they initially thought was snow covering the sand, promenades and streets, but it had actually been due to a heavy hailstorm and, as a consequence of the very cold temperatures, it hadn’t melted away.

During the evening of the 27th December, around 9pm, we were sat watching a film on Netflix when we both nearly jumped out of our skins, both of our mobile phones, in unison, let out a high pitched beeping alarm. It was a ‘Red Alert’ from the local ‘Civil Guard Authorities’ warning of ‘Extreme Danger’ in our local area and wider parts of the Malaga Province from rising flood water, even instructing people living in low lying and coastal areas, or by Rivers, to get to higher ground 😲

Now I may have mentioned this once or twice before in these rambles, but neither Shazza or myself are what you would call particularly religious, although Shazza can often be heard in prayer, or at least I think she is praying, for she often uses the phrases ‘Oh My God’ or ‘Jesus Christ’, and not just at Christmas 🤭 However I did just happen to remind her that, very recently, the ‘Authorities’ had held a Tsunami exercise, and on top of that we have also, very recently, experienced several ‘Earthquakes’ in our immediate local area and now, a ‘Red Alert’ informing us of ‘Extreme Danger’ from ‘Flooding’. Now it cannot be just a coincidence that all the world’s Media is full of stories about the increase in the number of ‘Food Banks’ that exist, and of course, the wide assortment of various ‘Bacterial Viruses’ that are currently in global circulation which, once again appears to have increased in this last year, so perhaps these may be considered, although not vocalised by any Governments as being, ‘Famine’ and ‘Pestilence’ 😲 But somewhere deep in the recesses of my memory, I recalled very similar references, to all of these types of events happening at the same time, and published in a certain globally popular book, more usually found in religious buildings, as well as bedside lockers in hotel rooms where, in it, in a chapter that made numerous ‘Revelations’ (You may need to have read this certain book to understand that little quip) but in that particular publication it associated the combination of all of these things coming together as being events that would mark towards the end of the world and humanity as we know it, they used the word ‘Armageddon’ to describe such an apocalyptic event 😲

However, after the loud beeping had stopped, I went on to the balcony and looked out through the windows at the stormy weather, and whilst I could certainly see through the flashing lights in the dark sky, the cavalry of white stallions riding in battalions on the tumultous waves towards the shoreline, and I could hear the heavy rumbles of thunder, created by their rapidly approaching hooves, but I didn’t see any evidence of them being led by the ‘Four Horsemen Of The Apocolypse’. So although it was quite a nasty and chaotic night out in the stormy weather, I assured Shazza that I could not see the troublesome foursome riding towards us, and as we were living on a hill and excess water tended to run downhill, I considered that we were safe enough in our elevated sanctuary, so I sat back down, picked up my glass of Anti-Covid Vaccine in one hand, and grabbed a handful of Salted Peanuts with the other, and we both finished watching the film 🤷‍♂️

I have mentioned on numerous occasions in these rambles at just how strange it appears, that we seem to sit between two weather systems, one to the North of us from Estepona, which as I keep mentioning is only a 20 minute drive away, the other to the South of us, and in the area around the town of La Linea, which is only a 30 minute drive away 🤷‍♂️ So although the media reports from around our own area, and further afield, reflected a weekend of devastation we had appeared to have escaped. We went for a walk the following morning, just to see with our own eyes, whether there had been any sort of localised flooding or damage in the Village, Marina or our local town of Sabinillas, which may not have been disastrous enough to make the media headlines, but there was absolutely nothing, other than the puddles of water after the weekends heavy rainfall. We both asked the same question of ourselves ‘How can this be ?’ but as usual, we could find no answer, not even the locals in the Cafe/Bar that morning could believe the carnage created just a few miles up the road, was this divine intervention ? or, as we more realistically suspected, just another case of sheer good luck 🙏

The remaining days before the next festive event, New Year’s Eve, was just back to the more usual daily routines, walks, coffee stops, shopping, post Christmas clean of the apartment and the laundry. The Spanish celebrate New Year’s Eve a lot more quietly, although the larger Cities and Towns do celebrate with fireworks when the clocks strike midnight, but usually family events are spent at home and the Bars, Cafe’s and Restaurants are not generally open, at least to the general public although larger Spanish family groups may hold events behind closed doors in some of them. The Marina’s, who cater more for the tourist and expat communities do however hold the usual New Year’s Eve parties, but these are generally closed events, where attendance and tables have to be booked months in advance.

The next major celebration for the Spanish is, as I may have mentioned in a more recent ramble, is ‘Three Kings Day’ on 6th January, although the large parades are held the day before. This celebration is actually more like our Christmas Day for the Spanish, when gifts are exchanged and festive meals are consumed, including the traditional ‘Roscón de Reyes’, although I must confess to having our’s a little earlier than we really should have, but just so that our visitor’s could experience something that was Traditionally Festively Spanish, as they would not actually be in Spain for either Christmas or New Year.

On New Year’s Eve Day, Shazza and I conducted our own personal review of 2025 and, we agreed that whilst initially we had thought that we hadn’t done that much throughout the year, it had actually been another reasonably active, and productive one, we had enjoyed several travel experiences of our own, both extended one’s and some mini-breaks, we had hosted and entertained several family visitors, met up with some friends in different locations in both the UK and Spain and, we had completed two major projects in our apartment (En-suite Bathroom and complete redecoration of the apartment), so we had agreed that at least we had not just been sat on our arses over the last twelve months.

So, what do we have planned for 2026 🤔 Well I am certain that this will come as no surprise to you, but again we actually have nothing actually planned, we will just go with the flow again 🤷‍♂️ We do know that their are a couple of official ‘Bureaucratic’ process that we will have to conduct this year, the most important one being the renewal of our residency permit for another two year’s, but that isn’t until June, before that, in May, getting together all the documentation ready to submit our Annual Spanish Tax return, although to be honest they are both primarily administrative processes. We already know, although not exact dates, that at various points throughout the coming year, we will again host family and friends, other than that there will be the annual Fiesta’s and of course our own personal travels, which we have discussed and will hopefully involve city breaks around other parts of Europe and also a bit more exploration around different parts of Spain.

There is one immediate task I now have to complete, as we move into a New Year, and that is to conduct my 2025 end of year Financial Review. I did the same last year for 2024, which I shared with you, as many people who were themselves thinking of making the move to Spain were interested in, although I have to say that the interest came primarily from those living in the USA and Canada. However with that 2024 Financial Review, being our first ‘full’ year of living in Spain, there was nothing to compare it with, so it will be interesting to see how we have done, in respect of any ‘Cost of Living’ variations and what amendments and increases we may need to make to our monthly individual budget pots 🤔 Although I do this review for my own personal benefit, do let me know if you would be interested in me again publishing my 2025 review, but with one proviso from me, this review is based on our lives here, just the two of us, owning our property with no Mortgage or Rent to pay, retired and with no other income other than our Pensions. It will be different for people who are younger and have to work or indeed come with other family dependents.

In conclusion to a slightly longer first ramble of the year than I had initially intended, so at least some things don’t change eh 😂 But can I just say that no matter where you, my reader’s, may be living in the world, yes the grass is ‘sometimes’ greener on the other side of the fence, and sometimes it isn’t, depending on what your expectations are and, of course, if you elect never to cross that fence then you will never know 🤷‍♂️ Yes, the world can sometimes appear to be an unpleasant place to live in, no matter where you live or, what you choose to believe, from reading the usual Media publications or on the numerous Social Media Channels, but remember, especially with the Social Media one’s, the publishers of that content are there to solely make money for themselves, from you, although you cannot criticise them for that. Even the mainstream media headlines, they are only a very small snapshot of what may, or may not, be going on in the much larger outside world and they too, like the individuals on Social Media, are ‘Influencer’s’ trying to influence your thought’s and actions. Yes there are a multitude of bacterial viruses in circulation, some more usual ones and other newer one’s, but that is the same almost anywhere these days and the majority are treatable, either by regulated medications or via your own safeguards and common sense actions. There are lots of things going on this world that do not, or quite possibly, will not, impact on ‘you’ personally and, there are also many things that may, but for which you personally will have no control or influence over, and I wonder where you may have you heard that many times before 🤔 So, let 2026 be the year where you just ‘Live The Best Possible Life That You Can’, yes you may have to navigate some challenges put in your way, but also remember that when they arise, take any opportunities that may also be available to you. You never know, upon reflection, you may already acknowledge and accept, that you may already be living that best life, you just hadn’t realised it because ‘others’ influenced you to believe otherwise, sometimes though, you just cannot see something that is already right in front of you, because you were looking in a different direction 😉

FELIZ ANOS NUEVOS 2026 🎉🍾🍷

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena