Unless we have somewhere specific to be, or have made the decision to do something a little different, like drive somewhere a little further outside of our immediate locality, our normal morning routines these days are pretty much a nice slow and leisurely affair, so it is quite a rare occurrence for us to feel the need to have to set the alarm on the bedside clock. On Wednesday 15th, we had made a morning appointment, in Fuengirola, which is about a forty-minute drive away, to meet ‘Joe’, the owner of the firm that is going to re-model and install our new master en-suite bathroom, the same firm that re-modelled and installed our new kitchen last year. However, on the evening before, and at short notice, we had been invited round to some friends, for drinks and nibbles, although with our early start the following morning we didn’t want to over indulge on the Anti-Covid Vaccines as we didn’t want to oversleep and be late for our appointment, but there is a big difference between not wanting to do something and actually being disciplined enough to do it 🫣🙄

We have known these fellow British neighbour’s for several year’s, they have lived here for several year’s prior to ‘Brexshit’ and so the ‘Residency’ transition for them was far simpler than our experience. However, and unlike Shazza and myself, they are quite active and social within the local British Expat Community, so they give us all the news on those fronts, some of which can be informative, however a lot of it is also just ‘general gossip’, so needless to say really but the contributions to the overall conversation throughout the evening, from Shazza and myself, was pretty minimal, being the anti-social individuals from the Expat community that we have become. However, the advantage to that being that during the evening I could concentrate on other, more priority matters, namely the consumption of Anti-Covid Vaccines and scoffing the assorted nibbles, it would have been rude not to, but with the occasional break in proceedings to say, “Really ?”, just to show that I was actually listening 🤭 To be fair, they are actually a very nice couple, and of a similar age group to ourselves and they have a vast amount of local knowledge which, when needed, we have tapped in to from time to time. I guess you could say that Shazza and I are more information ‘gatherers’ than ‘providers’ but we do discuss our respective families with each other, and as they too like to travel, we also exchange information on our various travel destinations. To be honest, we are not as anti-social as I may try to make out at times, although we are not in and out of other residents apartments we do know, and chat to, a lot of our other International neighbours, our Spanish Gardner and the very nice Spanish lady who does the communal cleaning, most speak very good English, but even those that don’t, we still manage to communicate with quite well as our Spanish vocabulary is growing quite well, so it serves as good basic conversational practice for us.

Joe had asked us to meet with him, not at his showroom in Mijas Costa, but at a tile shop he uses in Fuengirola, so that we could select the design, and colour, of the new bathroom floor and wall tiles. Whilst we often drive past Fuengirola on the main A7 coastal road, we rarely stop there, unless Shazza wants to go to the ‘Holland & Barrett’ health store to get her re-supplies of herbal teas, and a few other ‘Plant Based’ vitamin products that she cannot get locally in our own shops. So, as the health store is only ten minutes away from the tile shop, she decided that we would leave a little earlier so that we could stop their first and she could re-stock her dwindling supplies.

It was a bright and sunny morning but still quite chilly, at only 8 degrees(c), so we were both wearing our jeans and ‘three’ top layers of clothing, roll on March when Spring and the much warmer weather will return to these shores 🥶 However, inside the car out of the chill, with the heater on and the sun shining in through the windows, it was warm, even the sparkling bright blue sea looked enticing. This part of the coastal road is always busy with cars, motorcycles, buses and trucks, all in a hurry to get somewhere and, although their are several different holiday coastal resorts along this particular stretch, from San Pedro all the way up to Fuengirola, and beyond, apart from the signposts identifying that you have entered one, it is hard to differentiate between them as they all sit next door to each other, with their own high rise apartment blocks, hotels, shopping malls, marinas, seafront promenades, although occasionally there is a stretch where the pine forest disect the communities, but basically it is just a mass of sprawling urbanisations on both sides of the road. Shazza had elected to drive and so I just sat and gazed out of the windows looking to see who had the best views from their apartment or hotel windows and balconies, although I couldn’t spend too much time daydreaming as I also had to act as an extra pair of eyes on the fast moving traffic that comes at you from all sides. Although it appears busy now, it is ten times worse during the peak Summer holiday period, that is when we choose to pay the small toll fee and use the very much quieter AP7 that virtually runs parallel with this coastal road. Nobody along this particular stretch of the A7 is very far from the beachfront, or town centres, some can walk to them from their front doors, whilst for others it may be a short 10-15 minute car journey or bus ride. We both commented on how long we thought it would be before these type of coastal Urbanisations engulfed our area too, with the number of cranes dominating the skyline erecting new build holiday complexes all along this coastline at an astonishing pace, we agreed that it may not be that far away 😢

We eventually found a place to park the car, a ten minute walk from the actual tile shop, where Joe himself had just arrived and was waiting for us. Much like our kitchen project, we are having our current master bathroom ensuite completely gutted and re-modelled. We are having a concealed sliding ‘Pocket Door’ installed, which is going to involve them knocking out part of an existing wall and then rebuilding a new one to accommodate the concealed sliding door when it is open, which is actually much like they use on Motor Yachts these days, so I did also consider asking them to put in a porthole, and a towel rail disguised as a helmsmans wheel, but Shazza vetoed that idea, before I had even verbally aired the suggestion to her 😲 she knows me too well, I should get her a job with the ‘Thought Police’ 😂 Anyway, after a lot of deliberations, as the choice of tiles was extensive, we decided on a similar colour combination to the one we have used in our new kitchen, a charcoal back wall in the full length walk-in shower area, which with chrome shower fittings should contrast quite nicely, then slightly lighter grey tiles on the remaining walls and floor. Although the new bathroom facilities, Sink, WC and Bidet, will be standard white, the cabinetry frontage on the wall and sink vanity unit, that isn’t mirrored, will also be finished in matching charcoal.

Tiles selected, Joe placed the order and then we departed and headed for Joe’s showroom premises in Mijas Costa, only a fifteen minute drive away. I hadn’t expected it to be so difficult to select the bathroom fixtures and fittings, from the range of shower units, types of shower heads, taps, towel rails, sink units and cabinetry, mirror wall unit and additional storage wall cabinet, WC’s, Bidet’s, toilet roll holders, placement of electric light switch, which had to be re-located due to the installation of new sliding pocket door, placement of one standard electrical socket and a USB shaver point, so trying to select all of this whilst trying to imagine the new bathroom layout and colour scheme in our heads and from basic computer generated drawings, our brains were getting overloaded 🥴 Joe is pretty good, he let us make the decisions, but would offer his advice when we asked for it and, like with the new kitchen he installed for us, nothing is impossible, he has his own team of designers, plumbers, builder’s, electricians and carpenters and so will design, build and install to what each individual customer requires. We came away after around an hour of deliberations with a Project start date of 9th June. In the next week we will receive Computer generated drawings of our new look bathroom and can then, if we so wish, make any amendments to it, so at least I have another entry to put in to my 2025 Calendar of events, which keeps me, and my OCD Buddy, very happy 😁

Although neither of us relish the chore of grocery shopping these days, I suggested to Shazza that we may as well get that task out of the way as well, on our way back home, she gave a less than enthusiastic response but agreed, well it did make sense, seeing as we would have to pass the Supermarket anyway 🤷‍♂️ But first things first, we both needed a coffee, and I was hungry, must have been something to do with the stress of watching all of the Euro’s go flying out of the bank account in the blink of an eye 😲 But we both knew just the place, a Cafe that is also part of a fuel filling station and conveniently located just a few minutes walk from the kitchen showroom, they do the best fully loaded proper ‘English Bacon’ sandwich for miles around 😋😋 By the time we returned home with our fully laden shopping bags, we had been out for a little over five hours, but in the end it had been a very productive day.

The stars must have been aligned for us during that week, for the following morning, which thankfully was back to our normal more leisurely starts to the day, I started reading the local Spanish news and discovered that from April this year, for those that are eligible and on the State Healthcare medical scheme, Dental Treatment will be provided ‘Free’, my most favourite word in the world. Up until now, Dental treatment has always had to be paid for and obtained privately, even for normal Spanish citizens. Costs for private dental treatment is not actually that expensive in Spain, subject to the type of treatment of course and their are lots of Dental Practices available, we have at least four in our town, so I guess that now they may have to put their charges up to cover for the loss of client’s who will now come under this new scheme.

Now if that wasn’t enough good news to start off my day, later the same morning I received an Email, followed up by a text message, from my mobile phone service provider informing me that they were doubling my Data allowance at no extra cost, which, although it is not quite as good as my favourite ‘Free’ word, but very nearly, so I will take it 🤗

Now I must just put this in to some sort of perspective for Shazza, or myself, never use anywhere near the original 50Gb allowance that we have on our individual mobile subscriptions, so we will not actually ‘personally’ benefit from this very generous gift, but then again it isn’t all about just us is it 🤔 There may be other’s who do use all of their Data allowance each month, and so have had to pay for any additional Data that they have used. Now I am making the assumption that both Shazza and I are not the only customer’s to receive this additional Data, so my more ‘Cynical’ side has resurfaced, and I actually find myself asking the question ‘Why ?’ 🙄 Mobile service providers do not ‘normally’ give Data away for ‘Free’, so there has to be a more devious, or perhaps more likely, a corporate, motive for their actions. I know what you are thinking, ‘For goodness sake Eric, just accept this very generous offer and stop asking questions’, and of course I will, I am certainly not going to say ‘No thank you I don’t want it’ am I ? But I am also of an age where I have been brought up with the notion that ‘Nothing In Life Is Ever Really Free’ and ‘If Something Looks Too Good To Be True’ usually it isn’t, so I am just putting it out there, that’s all 🤷‍♂️

I do not usually suffer from fully blown seasonal colds and I honestly cannot remember the last time that I suffered with ‘Influenza’ (Flu), fortunately, neither have I suffered with ‘Covid’, although I was ‘blackmailed’ into having the very first initial inoculation, and subsequently, six months later, the follow up booster, although since then we have both declined invitations for any further Covid or Influenza inoculations, which is a completely personal choice for our own personal reasons. So, I was a bit surprised when I woke up on the Friday morning with a dull headache, all my teeth ached (Neuralgia), I had the ‘sniffles’ and watery eyes, all the early symptoms of a head cold 😲 I am reluctant to take any medications, unless absolutely necessary, and usually just try to let nature take its course and for my own immune system to go into battle with any invading bacteria which, I do have to say, has always worked. However, one natural anti-cold remedy that I have used for a number of years if I do get the ‘sniffles’ is, a squeeze of natural lemon juice in a large mug, a thickly cut slice of lemon, a spoonful of natural honey and scalding it all together in boiling water, three or four mugs throughout the day is generally enough. Although I felt pretty miserable with the symptoms, probably more with the consistent dull headache and neuralgia, by early evening all of the symptoms had totally disappeared and all was good in my world again 🤗 However, as I always try to analyse things, I wondered why I should suddenly suffer with these symptoms whilst Shazza hadn’t 🤷‍♂️ The only thing that I could logically put this down to was the big variations in the recent weather, I can usually tolerate colder temperatures far better than Shazza but recently, I too had been feeling the icy chill that had been tormenting this coastline area over the last few weeks, and very much more than I had expected to and, it wasn’t as if I hadn’t dressed appropriately for these colder conditions. Oh well, it will just have to remain one of life’s many mysteries, but at least my faith in my ‘Old Wives Cold Remedy’ remains in tact 😉

Saturday saw another dramatic change in the temperatures, for days it had not gotten any higher than 15-17 degrees(c), with temperatures at night between 6-8 degrees(c), but when I awoke on that particular morning, completely ‘sniffle’ free with none of the other symptoms of the previous day, there was no early morning chill in the air and by 10am it was already 18 degrees(c). The ‘Works of Fiction’ were forecasting 22-23 degrees(c) by mid-afternoon, but, should I trust them 🙄

We decided that as it was the weekend we would delay our usual daily walk and, instead of stopping for a coffee, as it would be nearer lunch time by the time we reached the town seafront, that we would partake of a nice cold ‘Cervesa’ (Beer) first, and whilst doing so could, amongst our people watching and listening activities, choose what and where we fancied going for lunch 😋

The Marina and Town were both quite busy, what with it being a weekend and sunny and very warm, so it appeared that everyone was making the most of it whilst they could, as the ‘Works of Fiction’ had got their ‘Bah Humbug’ faces on once again and had also forecasted that this sunshine and warm temperatures would be short-lived, with four consecutive days of rain coming, starting on Tuesday. Yes we know that it is Winter and, Yes we know that we still continue to need as much of the wet stuff as possible, to keep the Embalce’s topped up, prior to the searingly hot Summer months, but come on, four consecutive days of it, they’re having a laugh 🤷‍♂️ and to add to their amusement, the temperatures are also once again forecast to drop. I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to rename this area from the ‘Costa del Sol 😎’ (Sunshine Coast) to the ‘Costa del Frio 🥶’ (Cold Coast).

However, whilst the good weather is back, no matter how short a period that may be, we were going to take full advantage of it and so we sat and enjoyed an additional cold Cerveza, which is one good thing that does actually taste better cold 🤭 We spent a lot of time being both the ‘Fashion and Weight Watchers Police’, which is always a good source of personal entertainment for us, “Oh, how judgemental are we ?” I said to Shazza, then I quietly sang to her the first line of a song that I knew, which seemed very appropriate, 🎶 Oh Lord it’s hard to be humble, when we are perfect in every way 🎶 and then we both just laughed, at ourselves of course 😂

We were too hungry to wait until we had walked back to the Marina, so we decided to eat at a small seafront Pizza restaurant in the town, we have dined here before and have never had any complaints. We were sat in the sunshine enjoying another pre-luncheon Anti-Covid Vaccine, well at least one of us was 🤭 Now that we were finally moving ahead with Project 2, we discussed Project 3, the last of our planned major projects, and one that we had been putting off since last year, which is the complete redecoration of the apartment, which we would once again do ourselves. However, unlike the last time, when we did it all in one go, we agreed that this time we would do it in stages, for very good logical reasons. We could decorate some areas before they came to do the bathroom, but with dismantling walls and removing some old and larger pieces of bathroom fixtures and fittings, there were some areas best left until after they had finished and we had cleaned up the brick dust. Whilst the bathroom project was being undertaken we would re-locate ourselves to the guest bedroom and use the guest bathroom facilities. The kitchen had been redecorated after the installation of the new kitchen so that didn’t need doing again. So, Stage One would be the re-decoration of the guest bedroom and bathroom, before we relocated into them, and we would also re-decorate the balcony, these we agreed we would commence this coming week as we had already purchased the paint, and replenished or renewed any decorating accessories, during the previous week. It made good sense, especially as it was forecast to be raining for four days. Stage 2 would have to wait until they had completed the installation of our new ensuite bathroom and, although that wouldn’t need to be done, apart from a general clean up after the contractor’s had departed, we would redecorate our master bedroom before we moved back into it and, also whilst at it, redecorate the inner hallway that separates the two bedrooms and guest bathroom. However, by that time it will be the height of Summer with daytime temperatures back up to the 40 degree(c) mark and night temperatures at 24-25 degrees(c), far too hot, not just for us but the paint would dry too quickly as we were applying it, so the last stage, Stage 3, the Living/Dining Room would have to wait until October.

So with our upcoming UK trip, the redecoration stages, the installation of the new ensuite, the as yet unknown, number of visitors who may want to come out to stay with us between now and Summer and our own, still to be decided, travel plans, it looks as if our 2025 diary of events is beginning to take some sort of shape 🤷‍♂️ My goodness it will soon be Christmas again !! 🍻🍾🥂🍗🎄😂😂😂

As I start to wrap up this latest ramble, prior to publishing it, we have now completed the redecoration of the Guest Bedroom, two coats of paint 😲 so we are taking a day off tomorrow (Wednesday) and starting the balcony on Thursday, but we are already fed up of painting, next time I will find a man that does it for a living 😉 As for the rain……….. well surprise, surprise, they got it wrong again so obviously the ‘Three Kings’ did not deliver their new Crystal Balls, instead of grey sky and rain, we have blue sky, sunshine and 19 degree(c) temperatures and the new ten day forecast does not show one drop of wet stuff in it 🤷‍♂️ How on earth do they manage to consistently keep their jobs when they consistently get the forecasts so wrong ? But I don’t want to finish with my grumpy head on so having seen this recently on Facebook, which did tend to strike a chord with me, I thought I would share it with you…….

Well my friends, that’s enough ‘rambling’ from me, for now, so until the next time……………….

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

It was Friday 3rd January, we had done the first part of our morning walk and so were sat having our coffee at one of our usual seafront Cafe/Bar’s. It was sunny and warm, barely a cloud in the sky and, finally, the wind had changed direction from the much chillier and blustery Easterlies, which had been with us for nearly two weeks, into a gentle Westerly with more of a light breeze than a wind. It was still only 17 degrees(c), these sort of temperatures are pretty much normal for this time of year and, although there may be the odd one or two degree variations, these daytime temperatures generally remain much the same throughout the majority of January, with the occasional day, here and there, of light rain. However the temperatures drop rapidly to around 8 degrees almost as soon as the sun begins to drop in the sky, but now, even the sunset is getting to be a little later each day with darkness not arriving until nearly 7pm. With the icy chill now gone, we basked in the warming rays of the morning sunshine and remained a little longer than unusual, sitting and enjoying a bit of an extended period of people watching, well it seemed rude not to. Being a Friday morning, the weekly market was in full swing and that, and the sunshine, had brought lots of people out from their winter hibernations, so the seafront felt vibrant and alive once more.

The Christmas and New Year celebrations, in most other Countries, are generally all over and done with by this first weekend of the New Year but, here in Spain, this particular weekend is the real main festive event, ‘Three Kings Day’, although officially it is on Monday 6th, which is a Bank Holiday, however the main parades and celebrations are held on the weekend before. Many of the Spanish, as well as some Winter sun tourists, are still on their extended festive holiday’s, apart from the shop workers and many of the Cafes/Bars and Restaurants of course, although some, in the more touristy areas will have closed at the end of the tourist season and would not open again until February or March. In almost every single village, town and city throughout Spain, the streets will be crammed full of people in a carnival like atmosphere and, in the larger cities, it is quite a large and Spectacular event, starting at lunchtime and going on until late into the evening.

Many of the Spanish that had travelled down to our area, from further inland, either from up in the mountains, or from Spanish regions further North, have holiday homes here too, so some of them were still here on their extended winter vacations and that does actually serve as a bit of a bonus for Shazza and myself 🤔 We are, slowly but surely, beginning to distinguish some of the varying dialects of those who do not originate from this part of the Andalusian region, although the differences are not always as obvious as many of the much stronger differing dialects that there are within different regions in the UK, here they are a little more subtle. In our particular area of southern Andalusia they tend to not sound the ‘s’ at the end of ‘some’ words e.g. Buenos Dias (Good Day) is pronounced ‘Buen Dia’ here and, words and sentences are ‘generally’ spoken at a much slower pace, as opposed to the much faster ‘machine gun’ Spanish spoken elsewhere in Spain. Also, and just to add to our understanding difficulties when trying to discreetly listen in to conversations of the local community here 🤭 is that they often abbreviate sentences and words in their normal day to day conversations, the normal street language, unlike the more proper ‘formal’ structured sentences that you get taught from the language tutorial programmes which, when you start to practice them in the real world scenarios, do serve to make you stand out as a ‘foreigner’ and non-native speaker. However, that said, most of the locals do appreciate it when you at least attempt to speak in Spanish, they generally understand what you are saying, or trying to say, and will often try to help you with the right words, or the pronunciations of those words. Sometimes we will even ask them “What is the word for that ?” Or “How do you say……?” and they are very happy to help, although we wouldn’t do it if we were at the front of a long queue at the check-out in a supermarket 😲 But just by way of giving you a brief example on how things can vary, ‘formally’ we would say “Que tenga un buen dia” (Have a good day), but here they just say ‘Tenga buen dia’, and, the ‘formal’ response to that would be ‘Et Tu’ (and you) but actually, the locals here respond generally with “Igualmente” (Likewise) and, although the use of either is correct, they do tend to look slightly impressed and give a smile when you answer with the more local ‘informal’ version. But I guess it is very much the same for foreign visitor’s who have used language courses to speak English, where the formal teaching methods do not reflect the ‘real world’ day to day spoken version in different Regions, so we can imagine the difficulties a foreigner visitor would have, if they went to Cornwall, Birmingham, Merseyside, Newcastle, Scotland, Wales or Ireland, I mean where in the English language course would you learn, “Hey wack, scud dat” 😲 😂

This language learning and speaking business, even after eighteen months of living here, is still very much a work in progress for us, but we do not beat ourselves up about our slow progress and we continue to self-teach ourselves, using several ‘free’ on-line linguistic programmes and, if we are going somewhere where we know we may need to use a specific Spanish word, phrase or sentence, perhaps on the rare occasions we may visit or phone the car dealership to book a service, or go to a large DIY store for plumbing parts or decorating materials etc. then we tend to look it up on ‘Google Translate’ and then try to memorise it, which to be honest sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t 🤷‍♂️ It is quite important though not to be afraid, or even embarrassed, at trying to speak the language and even to be able to laugh at yourself when you do get it wrong, the frown on their face is usually the clue that they haven’t understood you and believe me, just saying it much slower and much louder does not help one little bit 🤭 But it can get quite comical when, on occasions, I do sometimes revert to playing ‘Charades’, to attempt to visually inform them of what it is that we are looking for, although, in truth that doesn’t always help, especially when trying to imitate using an electric drill, I see the horror come across their face, then they shake their heads from side to side, before telling me in no uncertain terms that they are not permitted to sell ‘over the counter’ Machine Guns, well to be honest I was never very good at ‘Charades’ but it did make me wonder whether they sold under the counter one’s 😲 However, that apart, the actual biggest disadvantage that we happen to have, in our corner of Spain, is that we are in a popular tourist area, all the way along this coastline, from Malaga down to Gibraltar, so a lot of the Spanish population do actually speak and understand English and so, whilst we may prefer to try and practice our Spanish speaking skills on them, ‘they’ inevitably also want to practice their English speaking skills on us 🤷‍♂️ I guess that is why we enjoy it so much when we go on road trips elsewhere within Spain, to some of the areas where English is not generally spoken or understood and, so far, we have managed to survive quite well for 18 months, mainly without any major issues, so we are quite happy to just continue to keep improving, little by little at our own pace.

Anyway, I digressed again didn’t I, so where was I 🤔…………… Oh yes ! With the sea being as flat and calm as a millpond, the sun sparkling off the surface of the emerald green and blue water, the paddle boarders were out in force, along with some kayakers, small leisure boats doing a spot of sea fishing, there were even swimmers braving, what are still chilly Winter waters, and even a handful were laying on the beach sunbathing 😲 We sat and smiled as we watched them enjoying the warmth on this part of the Costa del Sol, although like many of the other more permanent residents of this area, we were dressed in our now more normal Winter attire, jeans, long-sleeved shirts, Shazza wearing a warm hoodie top, me with my sleeveless but padded body warmer, confirming beyond any doubt that we had now become well and truly acclimatised to the Spanish seasonal weather in this, our little corner of the Costa del Sol. Of course, we also smiled when we thought how, in the UK, 17 degrees(c) would be considered almost tropical at this time of year 😂

After our coffee, people watching and listening session, we walked up into the main town, which again was full of both shoppers and people, some enjoying Cafe and ‘Churros’, or Tostado’s, at the pavement Cafe’s, other’s scurrying in and out of shops, well okay, not actually scurrying, as that would intimate that they were moving at a faster pace than normal, this is Spain after all, so probably fairer to say that it was more of an ‘ambling’ pace 🤭 Shazza wanted to take the opportunity to stock up on a few more fruit and vegetable items, seeing as the shops would be shut over the Bank Holiday period, we were now back on to the ‘healthier’ plant based dietary regime after our week of over indulgence on, well let’s just call them the less healthy food options, which I confess we had ‘both’ enjoyed to the full, possibly a little more than we should have done but hey, come on, it had been Christmas after all 🤷‍♂️ In theory, I would now have to wait until we returned to the UK at Easter, so that I could try to entice the Grandchildren into sharing some of their Easter Eggs, or any other of their illicit sweet treats, with me and no, I don’t feel guilty, they have more than what is good for them so, as I see it, it is just a case of Grandad saving them from themselves 🤭 Although, but don’t tell Shazza this, for I will neither confirm, nor deny, that I may just have secreted some of the unopened illicit Christmas left over treasures to eat by myself, once the food police had retired to bed that is 😂

Whether it was the delightful warmth of the sunshine, the sounds of the sea gently rippling up onto the shoreline, or the volume of happy looking people we passed on the seafront promenade, for some reason, as we were walking back to the car with our shopping bags, we started to discuss what trips we may perhaps elect to do this coming year, although the word ‘discuss’ may imply a deep and meaningful conversation, so let’s just call it a brief dialogue 🤔 Back in our more conventional lives, prior to retirement and before commencing our Motor Home full-timing adventures, when we both had careers and had to work for a living, probably much like lots of other people in the same situation, we had to plan, and pre-book, our annual holidays well in advance, especially with Shazza being in the teaching profession, which tended to limit the periods in which we could take our annual holidays. Back in those days we used to divide our different holiday periods between those that we would take, either within the UK or in mainland Europe, touring in our Motorhome during the Easter period and the warmer Summer months, in late July we would generally do a road trip for several consecutive weeks before Shazza had to return for pre-term ‘Teacher Training Days’ or, with her being an Assistant Head Teacher, ‘Management Meetings’, so we were usually restricted to no more than four weeks, then, once a year, usually in the Autumn or Early Spring, outside of the ‘Cyclone & Hurricane’ seasons, we would go on a luxury ‘All-Inclusive’ hotel style holiday somewhere hot, and much further afield, but again, those hotel holiday’s also had to be pre-booked months in advance, however, now that we can be a lot more flexible, booking way in advance is no longer necessary which is actually quite nice, well it would be if one of us didn’t have an OCD Buddy 🤔

Although we are now retired and it would seem that, the ‘World is our Oyster’ as the saying goes, we do still have some, not necessarily restrictions as such, let’s call them ‘considerations’, when planning our own holiday periods 🤔 We have family member’s who, for obvious reasons, want to come out to visit us during the hotter Summer months, then other’s, who are not fans of the excessive Spanish heat, who prefer to visit during the Spring or Autumn and, as we are not that inclined to want to go back to the UK every year, then we try to accommodate visitor’s dates when they want to come to us, above our own travel requirements. But even when it does come to our own, more Northerly or Easterly European wish list destinations, Autumn and Winter months are not ideal, as Shazza is less tolerant than me of colder temperatures, so it isn’t as if we can just close our eyes and stick a pin in the calendar to decide when to go on our travels 🤷‍♂️ But, there is also a lot more of Central and Northern Spain that we both want to visit and explore, as well as some areas in neighbouring Portugal so, at the end of the day, we are spoilt for choice and so can balance our travel destinations out.

But it is a little strange because even the type of travel destinations have now changed, from the locations that we once used to select as a priority, for the sunny beachfront destinations offer no more than what we already currently have here, which comes with the added bonus of having no travel and accommodation costs, so we are already in a perfect holiday location 🤷‍♂️ Anyway, over the following few days our conversations turned from the subject of ‘destinations’ to more about what we actually preferred from our holiday locations, by way of a change of scenery, or perhaps even some different cultural attractions, I mean we both like wine and food, but we have never done ‘specific’ wine or culinary tour’s, if you don’t count eating and drinking in Bar’s and Restaurant’s 🤭

In the days before, and also during our Motor Home adventures, the excitement and thrill of travelling and visiting new places was our primary motivation, we had a strong sense of Wanderlust, we had permanent ‘Itchy Feet Syndrome’. Even when we first thought about living here in Spain, the advantages and the opportunities to travel were uppermost in our minds. We do both agree that we still want to see new places, new regions within new countries, but the urgency, and our severe lack of motivation to actually go and do any of those things does seem to be diminishing, to be of less importance than it was 🤷‍♂️

We both agree that we are probably now in a much better financial situation than we ever have been, not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but whereas before we would religiously put an agreed specified amount of money aside each month, to cover our annual holiday plans, and that would be the maximum total budget that we would have to work within, now, fortunately, we do not have such ‘tight’ constraints, albeit it is certainly not a moneyless pit, but we do have a little more budget flexibility these days.

Perhaps, our previous wanderlust was due to the ease of being able to travel whilst taking our home with us, our Motorhome, which we no longer have and I have resigned myself to the fact that we will not get another, even a smaller camper style van 🤷‍♂️ But I also remember when we used to travel wider afield, the long-haul holidays, which for me would commence when we left home for the Airport. In those days I actually enjoyed all aspects of Air Travel, even the chaos at the airports, looking down out of the aircraft window through white clouds, upon mountain tops with green emerald coloured lakes, or wide stretches of ocean with unknown small Islands and Lagoons, at night I would look down over vast areas of lights and wonder what places we were flying over, then their was the descents and approaches to our arrival airport, yes for me that was all part of the holiday excitement and the whole part of the holiday experience. However, these days I dislike that whole process, the driving to the airport, the mandatory two hour pre-departure process, queuing and checking-in, the queue at the security scanners and then the long wait before boarding, often with flight’s delayed. Then their is the ‘pot luck’ of whether you get a disruptive child sat beside you, or worse, a wider bodied person who doesn’t just occupy their own allocated seat space 🙄 The person sat behind and constantly kicking your seat, or the person with the constant barking cough or sneezing, spreading whatever contagious bacteria they have with everyone else, sat tightly packed together in that narrow forced air metal tube, yes it’s true, even now, several year’s after the Pandemic, it has still left an invisible scar upon us when it comes to travelling with hoards of stranger’s 😲 The flight’s themselves I now find quite boring and uncomfortable, my eyes growing tired if I strain them for too long looking out of the window at the views below, my bum, thighs and legs suffering pins and needles or numbness with being sat stationery for so long, although, in truth, although I do not enjoy the airport terminal process, I will just about tolerate flight’s if they are no longer than 3-4 hours, I just put in my ear pods, close my eyes and listen to music. So, the truth about all of this is in my realisation that this is just another sign of old age creeping up on me 🫣 I hope not, as it is too far to drive to an over-water bungalow in the Maldives, one of the long haul places on my ‘Bucket List 😲

I have to be honest though, these days I do much prefer going on trips where we can drive ourselves, that hasn’t actually changed as I really enjoyed our Motor Home lifestyle and I still thoroughly enjoy driving, although I have to share it a lot more these days, with Luis Hamilton’s doppelgänger (Shazza), but more so only on the longer road trips, but I shouldn’t complain as I do also enjoy being in the passenger seat at times, where I am able to look out of the windows, for much longer periods of time than when I am at the wheel, looking out upon the changing scenery and being the passenger enables me to take photo’s.

I do also still enjoy the ferry crossings to, and from, the UK, the one’s from Santander or Bilbao which can take between 24-36 hours. Previously, we would make the 12 hour drive from home to the ferry terminal, or vice versa, all in one go, as we were usually within the ‘Schengen Shuffle’ time constraints, although the novelty of that long drive has since worn off 🙄 But now, being under no time constraints, we have the freedom to travel a few days in advance of our ferry departures, stopping overnight at different locations en-route, before then reporting to board our ferry. Now of course, the sea crossing dictates our freedom of movements on-board, the Bay of Biscay is notorious for being a little lumpy at the best of times and that can mean that Shazza has to remain horizontal, in the cabin and throughout the whole trip 🤢🤮 However, on a good crossing, and we have had several of them, we can both go and eat breakfast, lunch and/or dinner in one of the on-board eateries, have a stroll around the gift shops, have an Anti-Covid Vaccine, or two, at one of the on-board bars. We can stroll around the outside decks, dolphin, whale and boat watching and, they even provide outside seating if the weather is nice, alternatively we can sit in one of the lounges with our iPads, watch a film in the on-board cinema or just watch TV back in the cabin, or even have an impromptu ‘Siesta’, so what is there not to to like, so yes I like being on ferries and so who knows, I may yet get Shazza one of these days to relent somewhat on her aversion to taking a cruise ship holiday 🤗 However, that is still very much a work in progress, I continue to feed her little snippets of articles and ‘You Tube’ documentaries on Scandinavian and Caribbean Cruises and, whilst she is making some murmurings in the right direction, I think that in reality I am still too far away from getting her to actually commit to saying ‘Yes, go and book one’ ☹️

So, we have certainly not lost our Wanderlust, but I think that we have the disadvantage of now already living permanently in a sunny seaside location, the disadvantage being, that we now tend to question our decisions on why we would spend money going to a different sunny seaside location to sit around a pool, or on the beach, when we can already do that here 🤷‍♂️ I don’t think that we have completely ruled it out, it’s just not one of the choices at the top of our priority list. We have also got out of the habit of planning, or pre-booking, any holiday too far ahead, as due to modern day technologies we can now book hotel accommodations, ferries and flight’s on-line and just at a moments notice and, we have the freedom to opt to stay for as little, or as long, as we like and not have to commit in advance to 7, 10 or 14 night’s as you have to do with ‘package holidays’ 🤷‍♂️

Shazza is now much more focused on shorter trips, those that are less than a week, but I have also observed that she no longer refers to these as ‘Holidays’, but as ‘Mini-Breaks’, so I have started to ask myself, is their a proper definition of “When Is A Holiday Not A Holiday ?”, or is this just an excuse so that when she gets fed up of the mini-breaks, she can still turn around to me and say, “Do you realise that we haven’t had a holiday this year so I was thinking of booking a couple of weeks somewhere…………” 😲

We didn’t really get any further forward with our discussions, we ended up at exactly the same place as we were at before, just listing all the places we would ‘like’ to go to, but not actually selecting any for this coming year 😤😤 We do have our upcoming self-drive trip to the UK around Easter, that will take care of a little over 3 weeks, but that was already pre-booked towards the latter half of last year and I have been reliably informed, by you know who, that this is not ‘a holiday’ as such, but more of just a visit to our respective families 🤷‍♂️ You may also recall from my ramblings last year, that after completing Project One on the upgrading of our twenty-year old apartment, which was the complete re-modelling and installation of the Kitchen, that I mentioned Project Two, the complete renovation of our en-suite bathroom. We were toying with the idea of having both done last year but, in the end, we both agreed that it would have been a lot of mess and upheaval to do both at the same time, so I have just re-contacted the bathroom Installation company to see when they can now come and do our bathroom, so that will be something else to build into our planning calendar 🙄 Fortunately we do not have the burden of renewing our Residency Permit this year, that is not due until June 2026 and, once again, if successful, will be for another two years until 2028 at which point, we will then have completed the 5 year ‘Temporary Residence’ period and can then apply for ‘Permanent Residency Status’ 🤗

We do know that we will have our Mini-Breaks this year, but who knows where they will be to, I am favouring some ‘mini-breaks’ to Madrid, Lisbon and Vienna, whilst Shazza is still considering her preferred options 🤷‍♂️ “There is no rush, we have all year in front of us to decide” she says, and I guess in a way she is right, but it doesn’t half create havoc with me, my OCD buddy and my calendar planner for 2025 🙄🤭

Now, let me ask you a question 🤔 Have you ever had a pre-conceived conception about a place, a town or city, a country, or even a region in a particular country, something that prevents you from wanting to visit it ? Well we had that aversion to the small border down of ‘La Línea’, which is a mere thirty minute drive from us but, according to most of the local media publications, it is made out to be the crime capital of Southern Spain, Drug Gangs, People Smuggling, Other Contraband smuggling and of course all of the associated violence that exists in such environments 😲🫣 It is the town that is literally located immediately opposite the Gibraltar frontier crossing, we have been to Gibraltar numerous times over the last nine years or so, sometimes driving across on to the Island itself and, other times parking in the large car park, on the Spanish side, just across the main road that divides La Linea from Gibraltar, and which is just a few minutes walk to the border crossing. So there I was, sat on the balcony enjoying my morning coffee, basking in the sunshine when Shazza, out of the blue, says, “Do you fancy going to La Linea this morning ?” I gave her one of my flabbergasted sort of looks before providing my one word reply, “No”, which I believed to be a straightforward and totally unambiguous response which required no further clarification or explanation 🤷‍♂️. “Why Not ?” she then asked, “Well for one thing, I don’t need a re-stock of any of my recreational drugs at the moment, but thank you for asking, and I don’t fancy being violently mugged today either” I responded sarcastically. But she wasn’t going to let the subject matter drop, and informed me that apparently she had recently been reading, on one of her Social Media platforms, about a tourist who had visited and had said that it was a charming place to visit. “Was it one of the local drug barons ?” I said, followed by a little chuckle, but she didn’t laugh, even though I thought it was really quite humorous 🤷‍♂️ So there it was, my first, and probably my only opportunity, to be able to put my foot down in this brand new year, actually it was my secret ‘New Year’s Resolution’, so let’s see how long this one lasts 🙄

It was a nice bright sunny morning as we headed down the A7 towards Gibraltar 🤭 Although I tend to do most of the driving when we are in our local area, Shazza (Or my own little ‘Gangsters Moll’ as I have now renamed her), had volunteered to drive on this particular occasion, she probably knew where the drug dealers and other criminals hung out, so she knew the bad areas to stay away from 😂 We parked in the large car park just outside the frontier crossing, which is enclosed behind tall chainlink fencing, although I don’t know why, there are several open access gates from the roadside so it cannot be for security reasons 🤷‍♂️ We crossed the road and headed towards what we believed was the main town centre. Surprisingly, well to me at least, it all looked rather pleasant, we fist walked down a long avenue market style affair, lined on both sides were permanent stalls, small but each had those roll down type metal doors. I was quite surprised by the amount of ‘butcher’s’ stalls, each positioned next to each other but with different names above them, fresh meat of every variety on display, as of course you would expect to see in a butcher’s shop, but very much more than you would ever see on the supermarket shelves, pity that we don’t eat ‘red meat’ at home anymore I could have had a field day here ☹️ As well as the butcher’s stalls there were ‘Panaderias’ (bread stalls), ‘Pastelerias’ (Cake stalls), an array of ‘Tourist Tat’ stalls, Tobacconists and several Cafe’s.

We walked the full length, crossed another road and arrived in a large Plaza which was still occupied with lots of fairground rides and the associated side stalls that had been here for the ‘Three Kings Day’ celebrations. On the opposite end of the Plaza we came to another road, we just looked where the majority of people seemed to be heading, the one’s that didn’t look drugged up or battered and beaten from their daylight muggings 🤭 It turned out to be the correct decision as they led us into the main shopping streets, a maze of broad modern pedestrianised walkways. What was nice to see, or in this case, not to see, was the usual array of global corporate retailers that seem to have infected most towns and cities these days, here they were all Spanish medium sized retailers and small family owned businesses, of course their were the usual high street Spanish Banking Institutions but here, it felt authentically Spanish, we both liked the charm of the place, it was reasonably busy but not crowded and we did not feel out of place or uncomfortable. We adopted our usual ploy of not having any general direction in mind, we walked down what looked like the central sort of boulevard of shops, turned down side streets, laden with a mixture of shops and street cafe/bars, wandered into several nice Plazas until it was time to stop for a Coffee.

We didn’t actually stop for coffee in the Plaza’s as the ones that had the pavement seating areas were in the shade, and it still felt quite chilly out of the sunshine, instead we headed back into the central maze like streets where the pavement cafe’s had those gas heater’s going. It was a slightly unique experience, there was waiter service at the tables for drinks, but if you wanted something to eat, a sandwich, tostado, churro or pastry then you had to go into one of the adjacent establishments, make your choice and pay for it separately. Shazza had, as usual, eaten breakfast so she wasn’t hungry so I wandered off to see what tantalised my tastebuds and I came back with a large sticky glazed cinnamon bun, stuffed full of mixed pieces of candied fruit, and delicious it was too, I of course did the gentlemanly thing and offered Shazza a piece, but when she declined I didn’t make the mistake of asking her again 😂😋😋

We had seen the bulk of the town so started to wander back towards the market stalls, however, we were reluctant to return home, it felt warm in the sun and we just felt so relaxed so we found a large park, adjacent to the main town area and directly opposite the Gibraltar Air Terminal Building. We imagined that in the Summer months this park, with it’s large open grassed areas, sheltered under swathes of trees, with several separate children’s play areas would see families, with their picnics spread out on blankets on the ground, just enjoying themselves, watching the aircraft taking off and landing at the small airport, or going for walks along the seafront and looking at the boats and ships in the large bay, on one side the Port of Gibraltar with it’s marina and, on the other side the Spanish Port of Algeciras and departure point of the Ferries to Morocco.

We had both enjoyed our little local sightseeing tour, and it served as a reminder to sometimes just take a chance on a place, for we had never visited here before due to our own misconceptions, created by adverse media reports, but it really is a very nice town and if you ever find yourselves down this way, perhaps intending to visit Gibraltar, then it is worthwhile spending a little time here too. For us, ‘La Linea’ is just as convenient for us to drive to as ‘Estepona’, so now, when we do find ourselves getting a little bored with the same walking routines in our own marina and town, we now have two alternative locations on our doorstep, one a twenty minute drive along the Northern Coast, and the other, a thirty minute drive to the South 👍 Worth just adding that there are plenty of 24 hour ‘Payed’ parking options for even the largest of Motorhomes, albeit they do not have any Motorhome service facilities so, provided you arrive with full/empty on-board tanks, as appropriate, you could stay for two or three days and see both Gibraltar and La Linea, either on route to, or from ‘Tarifa’, the popular town, beach and surfing area, which is also just thirty minutes drive away, on the South West coast of Spain. This part of Southern Spain, with its Western and Southern Atlantic Coastline, Eastern Mediterranean Coastline and the inland mountain towns, villages and National Parks, is a real haven for visitor’s, and for the more adventurous, it is just a very short ferry ride across to Morocco, either just as a day visitor on a ferry trip to Tangier, or for longer adventures with the Car, Caravan or Motorhome 👍

That is all from me for now, so until my next ramble…………….

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

One of the most frequently asked questions on many of the on-line Spanish Residency websites, as well as numerous Spanish ‘Expat Forums’, is “How Much Does It Actually Cost To Live In Spain ?” This, seemingly straightforward question is, in reality, a pretty difficult one to answer, for there are just so many variables e.g. Whereabouts, geographically speaking, do you actually want to choose to live, North, South, East or West ?’, By the coast or inland ?’, In a Large City, Town or in a smaller Village ?’ 🤷‍♂️ I am guessing though that most people who are asking this question are just looking for more of a ‘rough’ idea, something to give them a starting point, and so in this ramble, I may, hopefully at least, be able to provide some ‘real time’ general cost of living examples, that may provide some, if perhaps not all, answers to that question.

I will just say, for those of you reading this who may want to know more about the actual initial Visa and Residency Processes, Procedures and Costs, this is quite a separate subject to what I am covering in this particular ramble, but I have already covered those particular subject’s in previous blog rambles. So, and just for clarification, this particular ramble is only in relation to the day to day ‘general costs of living’, once you have obtained your residency and are actually living here in Spain on a full-time basis.

We have, as most regular reader’s of my rambles will already be aware, been living here in Spain on a permanent basis since June 2023, however, here in Spain the Spanish ‘Financial and Tax’ year’s run from 1st Jan – 31st Dec, as opposed to the UK, where we used to live, where the financial year ran from Apr – Mar. So we could not, in our initial six months of living here in Spain, actually conduct an accurate annual financial breakdown for 2023. So, as we have now just completed our first full financial year of living in Spain, I am going to share with you what it cost ‘us’ to live here in the 2024 financial year.

When viewing the Spreadsheet (that I have published below) just remember that it is specific to what it has actually cost Shazza and I, to live here, in our ‘apartment’ within a gated residential community located within the ‘Province’ of Malaga, and the Municipality of ‘Manilva’. Other’s choosing to come to retire in Spain may in fact choose a different geographical location, in a different property type and of course have different lifestyle requirements. These costs are not intended to be used as a direct cost of living comparison with the UK, or indeed any other country, basically because we have not owned, or rented, a property in the UK for over 11 years now and so we have no accurate knowledge of the comparable UK living costs or those in any other country 🤷‍♂️ That said, I have provided on the spreadsheet the ‘actual’ real time costs to us in Euros(€), on both an Annual & Monthly basis and then, more so for my UK reader’s, in separate columns, I have also converted those Euro(€) costs back into UK Sterling(£). For those of you who live in other Countries, outside of the Eurozone, obviously you just need to use the current conversion rate of your own country against the Euro, if you want to do your own cost comparisons. The costs shown in each column are the ‘actual costs’, as in they are not estimates or just my hypothetical budget allocations for each category, and for ease I have rounded them up, or down, as appropriate to the nearest Euro. Additionally, you will see that I have shown monthly costs, although practically we do not physically have to pay some of these bills on a monthly basis, e.g. Electricity is billed bi-monthly, Water is billed quarterly, Communal and Bank charges are billed quarterly, Insurances (Home and Car) are billed annually etc. etc.

You will also note, by their absence, when viewing the spreadsheet, that I have not included ‘our costs’ that are associated to our normal monthly expenditure on ‘Groceries’ or our ‘Personal Expenditure’. That is simply because what ‘we’ spend within those categories will more than likely be different to anybody else’s 🤷‍♂️ Other residents, whether they be single, a couple or a family, will have their own budgets and expenditures for these two particular categories and will also be very much dependent on individual disposable incomes and preferred lifestyles e.g. Do you prefer to purchase home-branded products (where available) rather than Spanish equivalents ? Does your grocery budget include beer, wine, spirits ? Do you prefer to eat out on a frequent basis ? Do you have hobbies that entail payment of subscriptions ? (Golf, Bowls, Tennis, Padel (like Tennis but different) Swimming, Gymnasiums, Walking Clubs, Social Groups etc. etc.) But, and for some sort of general guidance really, Shazza and I allocate a monthly Grocery budget that is the same as it would have been if we were still in the UK, obviously we do review it on an annual basis and make changes to it if, or when it is necessary, but worthy of note perhaps is that we have not increased, or decreased, our grocery budget in the whole of the eighteen months that we have been living here. Additionally, we have just recently sat down and conducted our financial budget review for the coming year (2025) and Shazza tells me that, currently at least, she can still manage within the same grocery budget that we have had for the last two year’s 👍 Of course, we have no idea how expensive, or economical, groceries are in other countries (USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Scandinavia etc. etc.) so you may find groceries here either, more expensive, or much cheaper, than in your own ‘home’ country 🤷‍♂️ Generally speaking though, unless your lifestyle will be completely different here in Spain, to what you currently enjoy in your home country, then you can use your own current budgets as a guide for both the ‘General Groceries’ and ‘Personal Expenditure’ categories when living over here in Spain.

We own our property here outright, so we have no Mortgage or Rental payments to budget for. The other important factor when considering your costs to live here in Spain is whether you need to cover the costs of ‘Private Healthcare’. We are fortunate that the UK and Spain have a reciprocal state health agreement, which means that we, as ‘UK State Pensioners’, get ‘free’ access to the Spanish State Medical Healthcare facilities (but not Dental care), so we do not have to pay for Private Medical Healthcare. I will also go into a little more detail on some of the other category costs a little later, but first, it’s time to put some meat on the bone for you………………………

Now just to provide some additional information about those categories and costs:

Annual Communal Charge

Size does matter in Spain, specifically when it comes to the size of properties (the footprint) and not all Apartments in our particular complex are the same size, they can be 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms, Living/Dining/Kitchen/Bedrooms/Bathrooms vary in size, there are ground floor apartments with garden/patio areas so they do not pay for costs associated to the cleaning/servicing of the lifts (Elevators). The more ‘generic costs’ that all residents in our small community have to pay towards encompass a Landscape/General Handyman contractor who, on a daily basis, maintains all the external areas (Pool, Gardens, Lighting). We have a contract cleaner who, on a weekly basis, maintains all of the general internal communal areas in each Block, e.g. stairwells, glazed areas and the lifts. The communal charge also covers all of the ‘mandatory’ annual Servicing and Inspections e.g. Electronic Security Gate & Security Cameras, Pool Health & Safety, Lifts, Fire Extinguishers & Emergency Lighting. There is a charge included for external usage of Water and Electricity (Pool, Garden and internal Community Lighting). There is a quarterly charge to a local external maintenance Authority (MACRO) for costs associated to the external Refuse Collection Areas, Roads and Pavement Cleaning and maintenance, Maintenance of external Grass and Shrub areas and Maintenance and Serviceability of the public Street Lighting. Finally, the whole external areas of the complex buildings, and the general Internal communal areas, get re-decorated every 5 years. All of these costs are included in the Annual Communal Charge which is reviewed, and budgets agreed, each year at the Residents Annual General Meeting (There has been no increase, or reductions, in the last 3 years). These charges can, and do, vary between different residential complexes, the neighbouring gated residential communities set their own Communal Charges and they are of course dependent on what facilities those communities provide. So other than the cost of the property that you may wish to purchase, you should also ask the Estate Agent, or Solicitor, the question about annual Communal Charges 👍

Council Tax

Basically this is paid Annually, directly by us, to the local Municipal Council for things such as Police, Fire Service, Main Roads and Lighting and General Maintenace of all public areas in our particular Municipality.

Buildings & Contents Insurance

Unlike the UK, where the ‘majority’ of Apartments are generally purchased on a ‘Leashold’ basis, meaning that, whilst people own the actual property (the bricks ‘n’ mortar) they do not own the land that it is built upon, therefore they have to pay the ‘Land Owner’ an annual ‘Ground Rent’ and for Private apartment complexes possibly also a ‘Service Charge’ to maintain the external areas. Here in Spain, we actually purchased our property with part ownership of the ‘Freehold’, meaning, we own a share of the land that it is built upon so, each property owner has to legally have Building Insurance Cover, as well as the usual Insurance cover for personal contents (although that element is not mandatory but advisable).

Electricity/Water Charges

Self explanatory really. We are on both Mains Electricty & Water. Each Apartment has its own water and electric usage meters. We are not connected to Mains Gas. Worthy of note: Some rural properties, mainly older ones, have no connections to either Mains Water, Electricity or Gas (Water is supplied from Wells, Electricity provided by Solar Panels and/or Wind Turbines and gas via bottles) although they can pay to be connected to ‘mains’ facilities where it is available.

Bank Service Charges

It is very common out here in Spain for the majority of Banks to make a charge to personal account holder’s, for processing and administrating your accounts (Their may be just one or two that do not). These charges can be reduced, but it is dependent on each individual banking institution. There are several conditions that need to be met to receive the discounted charge e.g. a minimum amount that has to be credit into the account each month and, at least two products purchased through the bank (Home Insurance, Health Insurance, Car Insurance etc.) We do not purchase any additional products through the bank, which is a personal decision, but we do still receive a 66.6% reduction on the annual charges 👍 The Bank Charges for our particular Bank are taken quarterly, although this year they gave us, what I am assuming was a Christmas Bonus, as they refunded the final ‘quarterly charge’ 👍

Home Telephone/Wifi/TV Subscription

Again, this is pretty straight forward, we do have a home telephone so their is of course a line rental charge for that, but the service provider we use, also provides us with our home WiFi connectivity and a selection of Spanish, and some English speaking, TV Programmes, there is no TV Licence Fee payable in Spain but we do pay a separate subscription to obtain some specific TV and Internet Channels (Amazon Firestick). Worth noting is that with our home landline, all outgoing telephone calls to numbers ‘within Spain’ are ‘Free’ (My favourite word 🤭)

Mobile Phones

Shazza and I have our own individual mobile phones. We use a service provider in Spain. Our contracts include 50Gb Data per month ‘within Spain‘, that data allowance is reduced slightly for ‘roaming’ outside of Spain and within Europe (Including UK). All calls and Texts are ‘Free’ within the usage allowance.

Car Maintenance

This covers all ‘Routine’ Maintenace and parts. You will note a ‘0’ amount shown in this category for 2024, that is because both the maintenance schedule, and the ITV Testing (MOT), are conducted bi-annually and neither are due until later in 2025, so there were no associated costs in 2024.

Car tax

This is paid to our local ‘Municipal Council’ on an annual basis and, compared to the Car Tax payable in the UK, it is ridiculously cheap here 😲

Car Insurance

In Spain, it is the vehicle that is insured and not the driver. Therefore, there are no charges for additional driver’s, but they must have the consent of the owner to drive the vehicle, be over 18 year’s old and hold the appropriate licence. Our particular vehicle insurance automatically includes Breakdown & Recovery Assistance within Europe (Including UK), although outside of Spain this cover is only valid for a total of 90 days in any one Insurance year. There are no excess charges for glass replacement.

Fuel (Diesel)

Of course, this will vary, year on year and be dependent very much on our usage. The cost shown for 2024 includes ‘all’ of our road trips as well as our normal daily/weekly domestic use.

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So there you have it, I hope that the above information and explanations have provided ‘some’ beneficial information for those of you that require it, but, do bear in mind what I stated earlier, this annual statement, of ‘our’ 2024 costs does not account for Groceries, Personal Expenditure or, for this year at least, no Car Maintenance costs.

From my own perspective and, to be totally open and honest with you, I have absolutely no idea on how much it would cost us to now live a ‘comparative’ lifestyle back in the UK, so I cannot do any sort of realistic comparison study 🤷‍♂️ I will leave that up to you to do if you so wish. From a purely personal perspective though, Shazza and I find it quite economical to live here, in our particular area of Spain and, something that we cannot put a price on is our overall quality of life, the generally good all year climate, and the generally very relaxed way of daily life, is, for us personally, very much better than it was in the UK, although, once the honeymoon period has worn off, it can take some time to get used to this very much slower pace of Spanish life.

There are of course, as with all aspects of life, some compromises that do have to be made, the language barrier being the main one, however, in popular tourist areas, that is not generally a major issue and can only become a little problematic when dealing with ‘Officialdom’, although there are always solutions e.g. ‘Google Translate’, Interpreters, Solicitors and even friends and neighbours 😉 Combined with the ‘potential’ language barrier problems are the wheels of Bureaucracy themselves, which believe me, do grind very very slowly here, not just for ‘Expats’ but even for the local Spanish inhabitants, and that can be extremely frustrating at times. Then of course there can be the problem, for some, with the physical distance from extended family members but, in all honesty, this should be part of the planning and preparation discussions ‘before’ taking the leap into emigrating to any new country 🤷‍♂️ However, modern communication technology in Spain is excellent and we can keep in touch with family and friends located all around the globe.

So, until my next ramble……………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

Well there we go, the end of yet another year but, the question is, did it end with a ‘bang’, or just a bit of a ‘fizz’ 🤔 I can only speak for ourselves of course, so, for us, as always, the end of the year did end up with a bit of fizz 🍾🍾🥂🤭 So, before I get into this first ramble of 2025, Shazza, and myself, would of course just like to wish you all……………..

‘Una Feliz Ano Nuevo’ (A Happy New Year)

As is also usual for us, Shazza and I commence each New Year looking back and conducting our own personal review of the previous year, it has become one of those regular habits and quite often over the last few years we have found ourselves thankful that the previous year had ended, and hoping that the forthcoming one would be very much better. So, for a nice change, we both agreed that 2024 had actually turned out to be one of our much better year’s, in comparison to many of the previous one’s, as it had lacked any real incidents of concern or worry for us. Over many of the past few year’s there were several major issues that had created some concerns and worries, either Motorhome related, during our full timing period, or with car issues, then there were family medical emergencies and even one, or two, medical issues of my own 🙄 Although, thankfully, my particular medical issues turned out to be nothing too major, albeit the detached retina that I unexpectedly suffered in March 2022 was a bit concerning at the time (Understatement). However, over the last few year’s there just always seemed to be something or other going on that made them not so pleasant and, in some of those year’s, there were multiple incidents, all of which should go without saying, we could have well done without 🤷‍♂️ So it was good for us to look back over our last twelve months as it appears that we have seen a much welcomed turn in our fortunes, the ‘Dark Forces’, which I have to say had, in many of the previous years, proven to been the Bain of our lives, seemed to have now focused their attentions elsewhere for a change and, if that focus happened to be towards any of you, then you do have my sincere sympathies, but then again, I would be lying if I didn’t admit to being pleased that they had, for once, left us alone. Anyway, our fingers are tightly crossed, hoping that 2025 provides a repeat performance of this last year 🤞🙏

Now of course, and being completely realistic, we both know that there will always be a high ‘probability’ that there will be untoward things that could happen, often because they are the sort of things that are totally beyond our control and are all usually created by external influences, whether they be Political, Bureaucratic, Environmental, Medical or even family issues, however, even with some of those external factors we can, well occasionally at least, navigate our way around or through some of them, or, if we can foresee problems on the horizon, maybe at least try to provide some form of protection, or damage limitation, from them, and hopefully reduce any impact. But, as for the rest, with those things that we cannot control, or influence the outcomes of, well………🤷‍♂️ I am certain by now that you already know what my philosophy is on those things, with ‘Not worrying about what you cannot control or influence’ 😉

Shazza and I no longer make ‘New Year Resolutions’, we don’t see the point really as basically we regularly break them all, and within the first few weeks, if not day’s, of making them 🤭 However, I do have to say that Shazza does still maintain her usual annual ‘New Year’ party piece, the one where she starts off on the morning of January 1st, wishing me a ‘Happy New Year’, but then, and deliberately looking me directly in the eye, accompanied with a very wicked grin on her face, she say’s, ‘Out with the old and in with the new’, and then she gives me one of her mischievous looks and then chuckles 🙄 Normally my response would just be to respond with ‘Whatever 🤷‍♂️” However, this year I was ready for her, “Well my darling, you do know that it works both ways don’t you, and do remember that this year, you too have a BIG birthday number coming up” then I gave her one of my own mischievous smiles, and a wink, just for good measure but, and most unlike her, as quick as a flash she comes back with, “Oh well, I guess we are better off just sticking with what we already have then, better the devil you know” and then she winked back at me, she can be a cheeky bugger at times 😲

Anyway, as a New Year gets underway, Shazza and I do hope that you all had a nice trouble free festive period, whether like us, you spent it together as a couple or, you spent it in a larger social group with family or friends. But, before we do move on with another new year of my rambles, which I feel sure you are all looking forward to and, as my last ramble was at the beginning of December, I should just start off this first ramble of 2025 with a bit of a catch-up on our last couple of weeks of 2024……………. Oh come on now !! stop your groaning for goodness sake, you know it would be rude of me not to 🤭 So, if you have any left, pour yourself a glass of your preferred Anti-Covid Vaccine, perhaps grab the last mince pie that is lingering somewhere in a cupboard and settle yourselves down in a nice comfy chair 😴

Most notably during the last part of December were the two ‘gifts’ that we received, from what are probably our most least popular, but very regular, daily acquaintances, yes of course I do mean the ‘Works of Fiction’. So, their first ‘gift’ to us was the very unusual, and totally unexpected, very cold blast of air that they presented to us, and I do not just mean the usual cooler air that we get here during the Winter months, this was a whole week’s worth of Arctic Cold, both during the day as well as the night 🥶 Oh alright then, it probably wasn’t Arctic, well not in the true sense of the word, and certainly nowhere near as cold as perhaps a few other places in the World, but to us Southern Spanish Softies, it certainly felt like Arctic conditions had descended upon us. We couldn’t believe that we were doing last minute Christmas grocery shopping in daytime temperatures of only 8 degrees(c), what on earth were they playing at, don’t they know that we don’t have temperatures that low here, well not during the day, perhaps in the early hours of the mornings during January or February, but never at 10:30am on a mid-December morning 😲 We had to resort to wearing not just our jeans, long-sleeved shirts and a heavier and warmer jumpers, but also a thicker warmer outer coat, and it had to be bad for I even felt the need to wear my ‘Peaky Blinders’ Winter Cap. I can tell you now that the moths, that I was forced to evict from their cosy home of the last eighteen months, were certainly not in the least bit impressed with me. Not only that, but we also had to resort to putting the heating on in the apartment, during the middle of the afternoon’s for goodness sake 😲 Unfortunately for us, and unlike ‘Elvis’, this was one of those ‘gifts’ that we could not ‘return to sender’ (No such number, no such zone 🕺), sorry, couldn’t help myself 🙄 The second ‘Gift’ received from the ‘Works of Fiction’ and no, it wasn’t a ‘Willy Warmer’, a set of ‘Thermal Underwear’ or a ‘Sheepskin Coat’, any, or all of which, would actually have been very much appreciated but no, it was actually another gift that neither of us actually really wanted, although, in truth, it was one that we probably actually did need, yes more of the wet stuff, which came complete with all of the usual festive trimmings, the lightning show and the sound effects ☔️⛈️ However, it only lasted for thirty-six hours and, in truth, it was barely enough to add any significant amount to the Embalces (Reservoirs), but I suppose every little helps as they say, and I guess after the last couple of years here in drought ridden Spain, we should not really look a gift horse in the mouth so it should, hopefully at least, be sufficient to keep us out of drought conditions for the best part of this coming Summer, with ‘our’ local Embalse now being two thirds full and nearly 200% more water in it than the same time last December🤞The only downside to that though, is the fact that we no longer have domestic water restrictions, so Shazza is demanding that she should be able to enjoy taking a shower on her own, spoilsport 😂

On the day that the first of the rainfall was predicted, which according to their more usual dysfunctional crystal ball, was expected to be from 1pm, we decided to get out in the morning just to do some shopping, although just a few bits and pieces. However, it did require another trip into Estepona, although going their is never a hardship or inconvenience, it was also an opportunity to do the last re-fuel of the car for this year, and put it through the car wash, even though we knew it was going to rain, but at least the car would get another coat of wax so, allowing time for that minor task, we set off pretty early.

We actually parked in a different place to where we would usually park, this time, just on the outskirts of the town because, for what we both needed, our respective shops were inconveniently on opposites sides of the town. However, although chilly, it was quite nice to walk down, and through, streets that we had never actually roamed down before. It is always nice to explore different parts of Estepona, seeing different hidden green park areas, small roundabouts with decorative fountains on them, different street art on sides of the buildings as well as the little shopping areas and cafe/bars that, under normal circumstances, we would never get to see, strange how you stick to certain routines, places you park, routes you take, and by doing so you just miss out on so much 🤷‍♂️ It didn’t actually take us that long, around twenty minutes, before we once again arrived into some of the more familiar parts of the town, where the shoppers were out in abundance and it felt so vibrant and alive. Since we first started coming into Estepona, many year’s ago now, we have seen it changing at quite a considerable pace, streets that were once filled with traffic have now been pedestrianised, and not just the new looking sea front area that I have mentioned in previous rambles. There are new shops, cafes and restaurants being built in the central town areas, a couple of trendy boutique style hotels and several new modern low rise apartment blocks, it is clearly evident that their is a lot of financial investment being put into the town, and I have to say that in the main, it does still look quite nice, however, we hope that it doesn’t go too far in it’s modernisation and spoil the overall ambience and character of the place.

As the morning ticked away quite rapidly, we could see the huge mass of black lingering cloud moving ever so slowly closer, towards us, it was moving in from the South, so we finished what we had to do and quickly made our way back to the car, we didn’t even stop for our usual morning coffee’s and, just as we could feel the first few very light drops of rain starting to fall on us, we reached the car. Of course, as the direction of the rain was coming in from the South, from the Gibraltar end, we would be driving into it and so, by the time we reached home, it was falling quite heavily, so we were both glad to get back inside into our little sanctuary, where we put the heating straight on as the temperature had already started to plummet even further.

The cold chill reminded us of Winters back in the UK, but thankfully without the accompanying frost, there was also very little wind, so the mass of black cloud just appeared to hang in the sky, like a gigantic alien spaceship, directly over us, where it remained for the rest of the day and well into the night. The lightning didn’t actually start until the early evening, even through the black mass we could see the bright forked flashes of light as they pierced their way through the curtain of thick cloud, the flashes of light arrived every minute or so, and they were accompanied, very shortly afterwards, by very loud and long deep rumbles of thunder, indicating that it was right overhead. The rain was initially quite heavy, but then it settled into more of a constant light rain, what I call ‘normal’ rainfall, this lasted right through the night and into the following day, but on this occasion there was no threat of flooding from the continuous cascades of water. The ‘Works of Fiction’ had, unusually, got it spot on this time, both with the time the rain had started, and also when it had been forecasted to stop so in the end we had only been confined to barracks for a day and a half, although even when the rain stopped, unfortunately the colder temperatures remained, but they were offset a little by the return of the bright winter sunshine, which, at least whilst we were out in it, it was warming, although the minute we walked, or sat, in the shade, we could immediately feel the drop in temperature. The colder weather had not stopped us from going out for our daily walks, or from having our usual routine morning coffee stops. This very unusual icy blast was due to disappear the following week, that is of course if the ‘Works of Fiction’ could be trusted, getting it right once is quite fortunate for them, but twice would be a damn miracle. I really, really hope that the ‘Three Kings’ bring them a new, more reliable crystal ball to use throughout the coming year, in fact if their is a BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) offer on, then perhaps they could make a bulk purchase and give them out to all weather forecasting Agencies 🤭

We still had a little over a week to go, to the big day and, apart from the very last minute grocery shop for the fresh fruit and vegetables, we were ready. I did allow myself a smile though 🤭 thinking about our three granddaughter’s, if they were to ever stay with us over Christmas, what would they think of waking up on Christmas Morning and finding their Christmas Stockings at the end of the bed, filled with Broccoli, Beetroot, Carrots, Onions, Tomatoes and Celery sticks 😲 I would have most certainly have ensured that each stocking would have been labelled, ‘From Nana’ and then, secreted inside their stockings, I would have left a treasure map of where I had stashed the illicit, and much unhealthier, sweet treats 😂

The family Christmas presents had been despatched weeks ago, Festive Greeting Cards and messages had also been sent to family and friends, the fridge, freezer and grocery cupboards were full and, very importantly, my Anti-Covid Vaccine stocks had been replenished, well we didn’t know how long we could get snowed in for over the festive period did we 🤷‍♂️ as you know, the ‘Works of Fiction’ and their weather forecasting is so unpredictable so me and my OCD Buddy like to be prepared for all eventualities 🤭well that’s our excuse anyway and we are sticking to it. But we now found ourselves in a sort of limbo, all of the pre-Christmas preparations had been completed, even the Christmas decorations were out, but now it was like sitting and watching paint dry, just waiting for the starter’s gun to sound to announce the commencement of the festivities 🤷‍♂️

Although it was back to being sunny most days again, no more rain in the forecast and back to nice blue sky, albeit dispersed amongst some white, more cotton wool like ball-shaped clouds, there was still this unseasonal chill in the air, well unseasonal for this part of Spain at least so, for now it was still back to wearing long trousers, and a jumper, or our thicker hoodie tops over our shirts, we hadn’t seen our shorts and tee-shirts for nearly a week, I bet the buggers have gone off without us on their own Caribbean Winter Sun holiday 🧳🩴🏝️

We made the decision one day to forego our more usual morning walk, to stay in, where we could laze our days away sat in the balcony, where the warmth of the afternoon sun, shining in through all the glass, made it feel nice and toasty, and then go out in the evening for a change, just as it started to get dark, around 6:30pm. We would still do our normal walking route though, just this time with the primary objective of going to view the Christmas illuminations in the town, well it would have been rude of us not to, seeing as they had gone to all the trouble of putting them up for us 🤭 Now not that we ever need an excuse, but seeing that we would be out, we I decided to treat ourselves to Dinner somewhere, we would decide where, once we were in town. We hadn’t eaten Dinner out since we went to the Portuguese restaurant, which seems, I don’t know how many ‘Plant Based’ dinners ago now 🤷‍♂️ usually we just stick to our winter routine of eating ‘lunches’ out, we generally save the eating of ‘Dinner’ out, for during the much warmer and much lighter Summer night’s.

We parked the car in the usual place in the former fishing village, the castle had been decorated on the outside, a tree and some festive decorations and blue spotlights lit up the external walls, it looked nice. The approach road, and a couple of streets in the village itself had a few overhead festive illuminations although nothing really spectacular or what we considered ‘over the top’. With houses and apartments having their outer security shutters closed we could not see if any individual’s had festive internal decorations. We were a little disappointed that the long promenade approach to the Marina had not one single string of decorative lighting strewn from the lampposts and only one apartment, amongst a large modern block of glazed frontage apartments, had made any effort to be outwardly festive. Even the Marina was somewhat disappointing this year, in previous year’s Yacht masts had been adorned with multi-coloured twinkling lights, but not even a single one so far this year, but I guess they do still have time yet. A few palm trees had strings of lights wrapped around them and at each entrance of the Marina there was at least a festive illuminated banner. The Marina itself, normally bustling with people with the sound of music emanating from bars, no not that ‘Sound of Music’, you will have to wait for that film to be shown again on TV on Christmas Day, for about the millionth year in succession 🙄 The Marina was ghostly quiet, okay there were a handful of people, but that was it, the majority of the lower tier restaurants were empty, the waiter’s, and waitresses, just stood around waiting for someone, anyone, to walk in to break their boredom, I mean come on, it was 7pm on a Saturday evening, where was everybody, perhaps the unusually cold weather had encouraged them to stay at home where it was warm 🤷‍♂️ We didn’t stop, we were on a mission to get into the town to see the light’s. Once again though, the much longer seafront promenade leading into the town was empty, of both people and festive illuminations, had we missed a hazardous weather ‘Alert’ on our phones we wondered 😲 At least once we had made it to the town there was a presence of some other human life, not very much, but enough to confirm that we were not totally alone. Once again though, although many of the restaurants were open, all lit up, tables all set, they had no customer’s 🤷‍♂️ Now it is normal here for the Northern Europeans to come and eat Dinner between 6pm-8pm, first sitting as we refer to it, the Spanish don’t come out to dine, the second sitting, until around 10pm but, very unusually, even the bar’s were empty, it just didn’t feel quite right somehow, perhaps it was the pre-Christmas lull. There were no festive illuminations along the main part of the seafront promenade, but we already knew that, it was the inner streets that were decorated and so we headed away from the seafront and into the town.

It didn’t take us long to wander through the streets, and although we knew that this would not be the same festive spectacle as in many of the much larger towns and cities, it just appeared to be very lack lustre this year, compared to previous year’s, the full moon with its moonbeam across the sea and the stars twinkling high above in the black night sky was putting on more of a show for us on this particular night, or perhaps it was just a matter of our previous year’s memories had been obscured by our then rose-tinted glasses 🤷‍♂️ But at least we had come out to look, we had got some exercise, some fresh air in our lungs and to be honest it didn’t for once actually feel all that cold, I even had my waist length leather jacket unzipped half way. Prior to coming out I had the evening planned out in my head, we would walk in to town, view the lights and then stop in a bar where we would enjoy a nice pre-dinner ‘Vermut’, or maybe two 😉 before finding somewhere with a bit of ambience to eat a nice Dinner.

Between the two of us we agreed, unanimously, that even ambience had done a runner so we did not stop for a pre-dinner aperitif, we headed back towards the Marina. The Marina offered us plenty of establishments where we could have eaten Dinner, Chinese, Indian, Italian, Moroccan, Mexican, Portuguese, Steak, Pizza, Fish ‘n’ Chips, Burgers, but they were still all virtually empty, the best of the bunch still only had four people, even the Police could not have classed it enough for an illegal gathering. So we decided on one of our favourites, which was not in the Marina, or in the Village where the car was parked, but just a few minutes from home, our favourite Indian Restaurant, ‘Mini-India’ located above our local ‘Eroski’ supermarket. We always enjoy the food there, even Shazza, with her particular Plant Based’ dietary limitations has plenty of choice variations on both ‘Starters’ and ‘Mains’, the service is always impeccable and it has a nice ambience, with or without any other customer’s, and to top it off, the staff are very friendly and it is exceptionally good value for money. Although the place was empty when we arrived, we had just got our pre-dinner drinks and ordered our food when the place very quickly started to fill up, I told our waiter that I had rung a local coach party that we had seen on our way in, they looked hungry and so I had told them to come here, he laughed and said ‘Thank You’, although I don’t think he believed me as there was no loyalty discount when we received the bill 🤔

Once back at home it was still relatively early, so we got out of our ‘going out clothes’ and into our much more relaxing ‘evening wear’, Shazza opened up a bottle of our favourite red coloured Anti-Covid Vaccine, we also needed a bit of a sweet hit, so I broke into Shazza’s, not so secret, Christmas Supplies cupboard and liberated a packet of nice iced-topped UK Christmas fruit cake slices, good job I had picked up two packets from the M&S foodhall 🤭 Then we spent the rest of the evening curled up on the sofa, where we finished watching the rest of Season 2 of ‘Clarkson’s Farm’, all in all it had turned out to be a very nice, not routine, Saturday evening.

The Friday before Christmas Shazza went for her late afternoon’s hairdressers appointment, Shazza was happy to drive herself down into the village, but I said that I would drive us down as it would be good to get some fresh air, so I dropped her off and told told her I would wait around the corner in our usual car park area, near the beach and sea wall. It was a dry evening and there was barely a breeze so, rather than sit in the car, I stood by the beach just listening to the water gently rippling up onto the sand looking out at the calm blue sea and gazing around at the mountains, I don’t think that I will ever get bored of looking out upon these views and although the sea, the mountains, the small whitewashed villages and towns never move, the differing weather conditions can make such a difference to both the views and the sounds that I hear.

After only a couple of minutes I saw a couple walk along the sea wall towards where I was standing, I knew they were not locals, because they were dressed in shorts and tee-shirts and carrying rain jackets. When they descended the couple of steps off the sea wall and into the car park they stopped, had a brief conversation between themselves and then started pointing in several directions. I asked them, in English, if they needed any help and whether they were looking for somewhere in particular. Anyway, from that point I discovered that they were from the Netherlands, they had just arrived and were staying on the local campsite and were unfamiliar with the area. So I gave them some directions into the Marina and local town, explained where the local Supermarkets, Cafe/Bars and Restaurants were located, as you do. They obviously realised that I was English, and so we got into a much more deeper conversation, the details of which I will not bore you with, however, it was during that conversation when I had ‘An Unexpected Blast From My Past’ 😲 34 year’s ago, when I was serving in the Military, I was stationed in the Netherlands for a couple of years and I lived in a house, amongst the locals, in a small town called ‘Geleen’, back in those days I also had some friends who lived just down the road, only a couple of miles away, in a small village called ‘Sittard’. So you could have knocked me down with a feather when the Dutch Lady told me that she was in fact born in ‘Geleen’ and that she, and her husband, have lived in ‘Sittard’ for the last 40 year’s, my goodness what a small world it is, although they didn’t know my former friends, who, realistically could themselves have moved elsewhere by now. But this Dutch couple I had just met were themselves motor-homers, although not full timers, and over the last 8 year’s or so had travelled within Europe and Morocco, so we discussed some of the places where we had both travelled, and just out of total irrelevance, but yet another coincidence, I discovered that they owned and travelled in a ‘Hymer’ motor home 😲 Strange really, for had I have sat in the car and waited for Shazza’s return, or gone to a local Cafe, I would not have had this brief encounter, or discovered such coincidences and had this blast from the past with my former life 🤷‍♂️

On Christmas Eve morning we went for our usual walk, stopped for our usual coffee and then, as we started to return home we could hear music down one of the town side streets, so naturally, being the nosey Parker’s that we are, we went to investigate. From the small musical assembly, small number of people watching and lack of Police marshalling this event we knew that this was not an Official festive parade, probably just something that a local group had put together, a small group of children and adults, dressed in festive jumpers, banged their decorative tambourines and bashed their drums, women ‘hooligans’ on a following carriage ‘assaulted’ us with sweets and they were followed by some rather large Elfettes, riding baby inflated Rheindeer’s, smiled and waved, it brought a massive smile to both our faces and just kind of made our day !

We returned home in quite a festive mood, then laid out our traditional Christmas ‘Treats’ table, Shazza also prepared a few hot Tapas, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Prawn Filled pastries, Chicken Wings, Sliced chunks of ham, Home-Baked Pitta Bread, Home-made Guacamole and Humus, Mince Pies and of course, a glass or two of red flavoured Anti-COVID Vaccine, then we spent the rest of the afternoon, and evening, curled up on the sofa watching Christmas movies, the real Christmas Spirit had finally arrived 🎄

Christmas morning arrived and, after our usual leisurely start, we then sat and had video calls with Chris, Sarah and the three Grandaughter’s in England, and then with Stacey and Dean in Germany afterwards we engaged in text conversations with other family members and friends. We had pre-booked our table for Christmas Dinner for 1:30pm, we had made the decision to walk from home to the Marina, because although Shazza does not normally drink very much and so would generally drives us home, it was Christmas, we would be getting a complimentary glass of Cava upon arrival and a complimentary bottle of wine with our meal, and we didn’t know if we would have any after dinner liquor. It was a nice dry, sunny and warm day, around 18 degrees(c) and so we knew it would only take us ten minutes to walk down to the seafront, ten minutes, if that, to the village where we would normally park the car and then ten minutes to the restaurant in the Marina, so we left at 1pm. It was relatively quiet as we walked down towards the beach, but we had anticipated that with the Spanish celebrating their festivities the previous evening, on the beach their were a few dog walkers and the usual array of beach fishermen but, as we entered the marina the parties in the different culinary venues were certainly well underway. Their were several tables already occupied in our own selected Bar/Restaurant but ‘Mario’ had allocated us a table outside, overlooking the boats on their pontoons and where we could also engage in our favourite leisurely pastime of people watching. He greets everyone in the same manner, as if every customer is a personal friend, he certainly knows how to make people feel special. It wasn’t an event as such, apart from pre-recorded Christmas tunes there was no live music or entertainment, as their had been at some of our previous Christmas establishments, but it was a nice and peaceful way to enjoy our three-course dinner. Neither was it one of those occasions where everyone had to arrive at a specific time or were served meals all at the same time, this was just a normal restaurant but offering several festive starters, mains, and desserts, although no Turkey, but the main course did come with all the usual festive trimmings, mashed potatoes, yorkshire pudding, sage & onion stuffing, sprouts, parsnips, carrots, broccoli and traditional gravy. Those who selected Salmon, or steak, obviously got appropriate sauces. Shazza went for the Salmon and I went for the Honey Glazed Ham. They cooked to order so everything that was supposed to be hot was piping hot, including the soup starter and the warm desserts. We got a complimentary glass of Cava and a bottle of red wine and by the time we departed we were both well stuffed 🤪

We had not done the walk back up the hill for very many months, just sheer and utter laziness on our parts, but it wasn’t as bad as we had imagined it would be with us being out of practice, being alcohol infused probably had something to do with it 🤭

We went for our usual morning walk on Boxing Day, but didn’t stop for coffee, all the shops were open as usual, as it is a normal working day in Spain. They will of course be closed on New Year’s Day and then closed again a few days later for the ‘Three Kings Celebrations’ and Parades. The Spanish have a lot more ‘Bank Holidays’ than they do in the UK, around 14 days a year, but some are National Holidays and are supplemented by different annual holiday periods within each individual region, not that such things effect us retired folk, everyday is either a weekend or bank holiday 🤭 Shazza and I do not celebrate New Year’s Eve, meaning we no longer book a venue to go out and celebrate it, we opened a bottle of Anti-Covid Vaccine, of the fizzy variety 🍾🥂 Shazza prepared us another Tapas style buffet meal and we ‘attempted’ to finish off the more unhealthy snacks and goodies that we had purchased for the festive period, just so that we could get back onto the straight and narrow, and believe me, we both certainly both need to work on the ‘narrow’ bit 😲 I certainly wanted to conveniently forget where we had hidden the bathroom scales, just for a couple of extra weeks, but ‘Sergeant Major Shazza’ is adamant that we ‘both’ get stuck into the 2025 health regime from day one 🏃‍♀️🏋️🥑🥒🍆 ”Wouldn’t it be easier just to go out and buy some new clothes ?” I suggested, but I should have known better than to open up that can of worms. Fortunately, I didn’t have to suffer too many of her ‘School Detention’ periods, or her subsequent lectures, on the benefits and advantages of good Nutritional Health and Exercise, which she was keen to highlight, was especially important for those in their advancing year’s 😲 I can tell you this much, that’s her well and truly off my ‘Valentines Card’ list for this year if, with her intimated ‘old age’ comment, that I can manage to make it that far 🤭 However, I am implementing my own ‘Longevity’ initiative, I am buying a large stock of ‘peanuts’, my theory being that if Jimmy Carter, former peanut farmer and part-time US President, can make it to 100 years old before popping his clogs, then that is good enough for me and so my amended health regime for 2025 will include, regular doses of Anti-Covid Vaccines and Salted Peanuts 🍷🥜😋

So that’s it, another festive period over, which we hope you enjoyed in whatever way you chose to celebrate it, or not, as the case may be, but now that is just another year that has now been resigned to the annals of history, I wonder what 2025 has in store for us 🤔

My next ramble, which will be hitting your Email ‘Inbox’ in perhaps only a day or two after this one does, yup, no rest for the wicked as they say, will be our first Spanish annual ‘Cost of Living’ report for 2024, which I am sharing with you in the that hope that it will be of some interest, for those of you who may seeking this sort of information, in order to assist with your own decision making processes on whether a new ‘Retirement’ lifestyle here in Spain is economically viable 🤷‍♂️

Until the next time………………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

Before I get into what will be my last Ramble of 2024, I have to just say that since updating to the new upgraded ‘Paid Plan’ very recently, I have noticed, from my site Admin Page, that there has been an unexpected surge in the number of readers and, other than the more usual regulars (UK and Spain), there are many more recently from not only the USA and Canada, but also from Other European, Asian and Middle Eastern Countries, so just a quick hello and thank you for taking the time and patience to read them. For those of you that are new to my ‘Rambles’, you may also be interested in reading my previous ‘Ramblings’ and so get the full picture of how are lives have changed over the last eleven year’s, below I will provide a screenshot which provides a full list, with links, to those sites (These are in chronological order of the previous publications, commencing from the bottom, the start of our adventures, to the current day at the top)

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So here we are yet again, almost at the end of yet another year, and like every year, I ask myself the same question, ‘Why do they seem to come around so quickly ?’ especially when we really, and more than ever now that we are retired, just need each passing year to just slow down a bit 🤷‍♂️ However, it does appear especially strange living here in Spain, after all this is the land of Mañana, Mañana, where the wheels of almost everything generally turn at a considerably slower pace, whether that be just the everyday pace of life here, which is certainly much slower and very relaxing, or the official bureaucratic processes, when a day can sometimes feel like a week, a week can feel more like a month and…….. well what can I say, especially when you are urgently waiting for officialdom to do something, well a week can then feel almost as long as a month, but then, and almost without warning, the end of the year comes around smack on time, so how can that be 🤷‍♂️

The festive season itself does feel a little different here, for us at least, for although we have spent several Christmas and New Year periods here in Spain at what was then just our ‘Bolt Hole’, where we would see the shops, and the streets, adorned with Christmas decorations and light’s, the Spanish TV and Radio Station channels full of festive advertisements, but now, living here in what is nearly all year sunshine, it just does not feel right somehow, walking along the seafront promenade in lovely warm sunshine singing 🎶 It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas 🎶 when in truth it doesn’t, and we really just feel like singing 🎶 It still feels like we’re on an extended Summer Holiday 🎶

So, as I say, this will not be our first festive period spent here in Spain, but it is our second, as newish ‘Permanent Residents’, not that that means that it will be any different to any of the other ten festive periods that we have spent here, but it certainly still does feel different to the Christmas periods back in the UK. I can still remember the days when I used to be travelling in the car on my way home from somewhere or other, work or shopping, although only around 4:30pm and already dark, as I drove down the streets the festive illuminations would all be alight, glowing brightly, shops and houses on both sides of the road would have twinkling coloured lights in the windows, tinsel and decorative baubles and often, through open curtains in some of the houses, you could see the lavishly decorated Christmas tree’s, even the outside front garden areas were often lit up with light’s that traced the outline of the house, or trees were adorned with multi-coloured lights, then it all felt very festive and people went to a lot of trouble to mark this special annual festive period, some were even quite competitive in wanting to have a better display than their neighbours, it was a wonderful sight. I wonder if that will be true now, what with the hikes in the costs of Electricity, although this is the time of year when such matters I suppose are put to one side. In contrast with the darkness and the festive illuminations, would be the mandatory white frost which covers pavements and lawns, even on the leafless branches of tree’s where the thin finger like protrusions would be covered in hoar frost, pedestrians and shoppers would be rushing home to a warm crackling fire in the hearth, or more modern day log burners or homes with gas centrally heated radiators, they would walk at a hastened pace, which would see them breathing out funnels of white breath as they huddled, tensed up, between several layers of clothing. On Christmas Eve we would all pray that it would snow overnight to just complete the picture of a Winter Wonderland on Christmas Day morning although, quite often I have to say, it failed to materialise on the one day of the year that you really wanted it to, why I wonder can you not count on anything to be reliable in today’s modern world 🤷‍♂️

Now, putting the weather aside, Christmas is still Christmas here in Spain and their are some similarities with the festive periods elsewhere, the Christmas Lights, Christmas Carols, Christmas songs on the radio (In both Spanish and English), associated Festive food and yes, even the traditional illuminated and decorated Christmas tree’s, although in towns they are not generally trees but large triangles that are all lit up and of course, if you live in the much more Northern and cooler parts of the country, the frost and the snow is quite common. However, down here in the South Eastern part of the Costa del Sol, in our little corner of Andalusia, if we are lucky, we can sometimes look out of our windows and see the snow on the mountain peaks, although, coming to think of it, that hasn’t happened in the last couple of year’s or so, must be something to do with that Global Warming stuff that people keep going on about 🤔 A few year’s ago now, Malaga City residents did have snow on their beach, but even that didn’t reach down as far as us, so the snowmen here have to be constructed on the beaches and are built from sand, but the bonus is that they don’t melt like the white one’s do, so they tend to last a little bit longer 🤭

Now the night’s get darker here a bit earlier too, but not until around 6:30pm, that is when the sun sets and darkness begins to fall. The festive illuminations are the only real reminder to us that it is getting near to Christmas, some individual houses and apartments do have their Christmas decorations on display, but not as many as in the UK, with their twinkling multi-coloured lights and even some of the Cafe/Bars and Restaurants decorate their internal areas with a Christmas theme, and within the main ‘Expat’ community areas, they advertise their Christmas and New Year Parties and Menu’s, all of which have to be pre-booked in advance of course, the more popular one’s having been fully booked since before the end of September. Shazza and I have of course already pre-booked our Christmas Day Dinner, at a Spanish run establishment in the Marina, well we didn’t want to miss out did we, although we knew beforehand that the majority of voices that we will hear at that festive dinner will be either English, German, Dutch, Belgian or Scandinavian, for the Spanish themselves actually traditionally eat their Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve, just before, or just after, attending Christmas Mass.

So okay, apart from the festive decorations, Christmas Tree’s and different day and time for eating Christmas Dinner, is there anything very much different about the festive period here in Spain, as opposed to anywhere else 🤔 There are 15 different ‘Regions’ within ‘mainland’ Spain, and they are divided into 50 different ‘Provinces’, and some of them have their own unique local traditions and Christmas celebrations, although, as I am not a ‘Lonely Planet’ travel guide, I am not going to go through and list each one of them, that after all is what ‘Mr Google’ is for, if any of you are that inquisitive 😉

Traditionally, in Spain, Christmas Tree’s and decorations are put up on December 8th. I say traditionally because like everywhere in the world these days, traditions have begun to change over the year’s, some people now put their trees up earlier, or even later, and here too in Spain the same is happening, many larger Cities and Towns (Malaga, Seville, Cadiz, Valencia, Barcelona) already had their Christmas Trees, and street lights, out and ‘officially’ had their switching on ceremonies well before the 8th December. Spain is primarily a Roman Catholic country and still have lots of Religious Festivals, many just before or just after Christmas, however, the younger generation whilst they enjoy the ‘Public Holidays’ that go with them, fewer and fewer actively now attend church. Christmas street markets are in abundance too, with wine and beer or Vermut being the regular star performers, not many warming mugs of ‘Gluhweine’ or Bratwurst in finger rolls here though 😢 I like a nice roasted bratty and fried onions in a bun and a mug of warm gluhweine to wash it down, to make it feel like Christmas has arrived.

Spain has its own traditions , the first being the ‘El Gordo’ Lottery, literally meaning the ‘Fat One’ with huge cash prizes of more than €2 Billion. Now this is different to the Euromillions Lottery as the ‘El Gordo’ has been held here in Spain since 1812. In 2011 an entire town shared a single ticket and split the share of the €950 million prize 😲 I was tempted to buy a few tickets myself to get in on the act but managed to restrain myself, €25 for just 1/10th of a share and the odds of winning 🤷‍♂️ I think my biggest fear was that if we did win, Shazza would want to go and buy a homestead in the mountains somewhere and start her self-sufficiency lifestyle, at my age that sounds a bit too much like hard work, so let the youngsters do it, I am quite happy to buy what we need from the supermarkets and fruiterias 🤭

As is traditional in the UK, we have both a Christmas Cake, and after Christmas Dinner, a Christmas pudding usually filled with dried fruit and nuts, possibly a little bit of a kick with the addition of some ‘Alcohol’, normally Brandy, but inside their is usually a coin hidden and everyone waits with eager anticipation to see who is the lucky recipient of the Christmas treasure, being careful of course not to choke on it 😲 I am surprised these days with all of the health and safety restrictions that this aspect has not been prohibited 🤭 The Christmas cake is slightly different and is a traditional style cake but covered with Marzipan (Almond Paste) and decorated with white icing with some sort of festive decorations, a sprig of holly with berries, on top, again there are a whole host of recipes and variations.

Now if you have children, cover their eyes for this next bit for, here in Spain, it is not Santa Claus that bring children their gifts on Christmas Eve, although they do open some, instead it is the ‘Three Kings’ that deliver the presents, but not until 5th January, when their are parades in the streets and the ‘Three Kings’ from their carriages throw sweet treats out amongst the crowds, to adults and children alike, and yes we too have attended such parades in previous years, although we didn’t keep the goodies we managed to catch, or that bounced off our heads, we handed them to the nearest children, it would have been rude not to.

Now here in Spain, whilst they may not have the Christmas Pudding, as we know it, they do have a traditional cake, only it is not a Christmas Cake but a ‘Three Kings Cake’ or, as it is known here, a ‘Roscon de Reyes’ and it too comes in a variety of forms. Inside is hidden a ‘Fava Bean’ and a small ‘Figurine’, whoever gets the figurine is said to be blessed with good luck for the coming year, but the person who gets the bean has to pay for next years ‘Roscon de Reyes, although in our home it doesn’t matter whether I find the figurine or the bean, I always end up buying the cake 🤔 Our favourite is the one filled with cream, although this is the speciality version, but they come in numerous varieties and, as we do not normally eat a lot, if any, puddings or cakes these days, this really does make it a special time of the year, a period when the bathroom scales conveniently get lost for several days 😂

Another Christmas tradition in Spain is the sights of all the ‘Poinsettia’ plants, they are everywhere. Although it originated in Mexico where the ‘Aztec’s’ revered it for not only its beauty, but medicinal properties, after the Spanish Conquests the Franciscan Monks introduced it into Europe where it became a symbol of Christmas.

The Spanish also have their own unique favourite Christmas sweet treats, from the vast flavoured assortments of ‘Turron’ (Nougat) and ‘Polverons’ and ‘Mantecados’. Although all of these can be purchased these days all year round, they are particularly popular over Christmas and the confectioners windows and supermarket shelves are full with them. The ‘Polveron’ is a heavy, soft and very crumbly Spanish shortbread, mostly produced in the Province of Andalusia where there are 70 factories producing them, I have to say though, they are more of a ‘required taste’, probably because they are more doughy in texture whereas Mantecados are more of a ‘Cookie’ type biscuit.

Now you may be wondering whether to spend Christmas here in Spain, if you prefer your more traditional festive cuisine. Let me just say that, especially in the more ‘touristy’ areas, there are plenty of Supermarkets that cater for lots of International visitor’s. You can still get your Turkey joints or Duck, Sage & Onion Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Christmas Pudding, Brandy Butter etc. etc. etc. As well as the vast choice of Spanish Supermarkets there are also ALDI, LIDL, Carrefour, ELeqlerc, Marks & Spencer’s and just across the frontier, in Gibraltar, there is also a Morrisons. Their are also English Butcher’s, as well as the Spanish one’s, where you can get your joints of Beef, Lamb and Pork and near us their is even a Scandinavian produce store. All year round there are restaurants that serve a traditional English Roast Dinner and at Christmas they do the traditional Christmas Turkey Dinner. However, whilst the Spanish may not eat their Beef, Pork or Lamb the way that we are used to in the UK, they do still eat it so these ‘red meats’ are widely available. But I would suggest that if you are in Spain then why not go native and sample their own style of food, it’s all part of the cultural experience just like trying out the regional variations of ‘Tapas’ 🤷‍♂️

It would be wrong of me not to mention ‘Ham’ and ‘Chorizo’ the Spanish eat lots of it and both come in a wide variety of ‘cuts’ and ‘flavours’, these again are eaten all year round and widely available in any Supermarket or ‘Carcinaria’ (Butcher). But it is Christmas when, instead of seeing the small packets of ham being purchased, the Spanish purchase whole legs of it. The ‘Iberico’ and ‘Serrano’ hams are renowned to be the best, coming from the free-ranging acorn fed pigs, but it also comes in different grades, just like the smaller packages, the best have the ‘Black’ labels and the next best are the ‘Red’ labels, although there are other lower grades, the difference of course being the price.

So there we go, hopefully I have got your gastric juices flowing now and, even if it isn’t a white frosty Christmas here, like we were used to, and it isn’t Santa Claus that brings the presents on Christmas Eve night and so we have to wait a little longer until the 5th January, when it is the three Kings that deliver them, this is Spain and they have their own way of celebrating it, so yes, Christmas is maybe a little different than what we are used to, but to coin a phrase from Star Trek, ‘Just Not As We Know It’.

Okay, so you may be thinking, from my introductory ramblings, then reading my later exultations of Christmas in Spain, that I am being rather confusingly contradictory 🤷‍♂️ I guess it comes across that way so, to hopefully make the picture a little more clearer, from our perspective, we do not live in the town and rarely go in at night when all the street festive illuminations are lit up, so when we do go in on our daily walks and may occasionally stop for lunch, this is what we see, and remember, we are in shorts and tee-shirts, the sun is shining, it is very warm, the sky and sea are both very blue………………..

So you may understand why it doesn’t quite feel like Christmas here, perhaps we should come out at night and see the illuminations 🤔 But do not interpret this as me complaining, far from it. We have recently taken a short trip to a local town up in the ‘snow free’ mountains to visit a small Christmas market and we are going on a shopping trip in the next few days to do the last bit of our Christmas food shopping. Lots of people we don’t know who we pass in the streets, or sat at tables near us in a Cafe or Restaraunt are already wishing us ‘Feliz Navidad’ (Happy Christmas), we of course return the gesture and sometimes tag on ‘y Prospero Ano Nuevo’ (and Prosperous New Year) or, as that can be a bit of a mouthful everytime, just ‘Igualmente’ (The same to you). On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, Shazza is preparing us ‘Tapas’ style meals, both hot and cold in a buffet style and, we have a selection of both Spanish and British savoury and sweet festive nibbles, we will wait until after Christmas to purchase our ‘Roscon de Reyes’, as that needs to be kept refrigerated and then eaten within a couple of days, so we will of course be entering into the spirit of Christmas, but just not the weeks in advance as we would have done previously in the UK, which actually is a bit of a blessing. We will of course miss watching the children, and grandchildren, all excited when seeing the presents under the tree and then opening them, but we won’t miss the clearing up of all the discarded cardboard and wrapping paper afterwards and I am sure that Shazza will not miss the hours of toil in the kitchen.

So living in another country, far away from our family, and friends, at this festive time of year can of course provide for some mixed emotions, but isn’t that what Video calls are for ? thank god for modern technology that’s what I say, well sometimes at least 🤔😂 At the end of the day it is the life we chose, and it is something that Shazza and I talk about, often at this time of year for some strange reason 😉 But, in the end we both come away with the same opinion and that is that we don’t have any regrets on any aspect of our lives together so far, and we just hope that we can continue to keep healthy enough to keep having our adventures in the coming year, and well beyond.

Finally, (‘Thank god for that’, I hear you cry, yes I can hear you 🤭). Wherever you may be in this often chaotic world of our’s, stay safe, stay warm, stay dry and a massive heartfelt thank you from me, for continuing to read my rambles. Shazza and I wish you all, wherever you may be……………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, “La Vida Es Buena”

Although it seems a lot longer, surprisingly, it was actually only two weeks ago that we were in the Spanish town of ‘Carmona’. Since our return we have not really done anything too interesting, well probably nothing that you, my reader’s, would be overly excited about, in fact the truth is that I had no intention of writing another ramble due to that fact, well at least not until perhaps my usual pre-Christmas and end of year festive ‘ramble’, which I am sure you are all looking forward to with eager anticipation 🤗 But there is a very good reason for me writing, and publishing, this unintended particular ramble, but I will get around to that a little bit later, but, seeing that I do find myself at the keyboard, well I may as well make the most of it, it would be rude of me not to 🤭

So for those of you who have little, or no, experience of Spanish Winter’s, it really does depend very much on which part of Spain you choose to visit, or live. Spain is a vast country and so there are varying climatic conditions, both during the Summer and Winter months, in fact, in the North of the country, and Northern Central Belt, you will see and feel the changes between Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, although further South, in our neck of the woods, the difference between Spring and Summer and Summer and Autumn is unnoticeable, we have just two seasons, ‘Very Hot’ (Summer) and ‘Not so Hot’ (Winter).

During the Winter months, further North, it is very much cooler, actually it can be damn cold, with lots of those areas suffering with rain, fog, ice and snow, although the Winter periods are generally not as long as some of the more Northerly European Countries. Further South though it is a different picture, especially along the Coastal Areas, although they too can differ dependent on whether you are on the Atlantic (West) or Mediterranean (East) coastlines.

As I mentioned in my last ramble, we found it a lot warmer once we had returned home from our mini break but, even here at home the weather was certainly changing. After having spent several several Winter’s here since 2015, we have got used to the variations which, during the Winter months, can vary from one week to the next, but more importantly, after living here in Spain now on a ‘Permanent’ basis for the last eighteen months, we have certainly acclimatised and so we feel the temperature changes much more than we did when we were just ‘Temporary’ visitors.

When we were just temporary visitor’s, travelling down from the generally much cooler Northern European climate, down to this part of Southern Spain, it really was bliss, leaving behind the cold, near arctic, conditions of the UK to the warm sunshine on the Mediterranean, to the more usual 18-20 degrees(c) in November and December, barring the occasional freak storms and heavy rainfall. But it is amazing how different those temperatures feel to us now, certainly after enjoying temperatures that were constantly ranging between 35-40 degrees(c) during the long Summer months, that often stretch from May-October, to now when those temperatures have dropped by 18-20 degree(c), December and January are generally the coldest months, where daytime temperatures can drop to as low as 15 degrees(c) and down to as low as 9-10 degrees(c) at night 🥶 but, this is not for continued periods of time and we are often switching between shorts and tee-shirts to Chino’s and long-sleeved shirts 🤷‍♂️ We don’t rely on the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts, they are seldom correct, we just get up each day, look out of the French windows, check the wind direction, and strength, and then decide what to wear on that particular day.

In the first few days that were back, albeit it was the back end of November, we were very happy to still be wearing our shorts and tee-shirts, there was very little wind, occasionally a light breeze blowing and, although blue sky and sunshine, the heat of the sun no longer burnt our exposed flesh as it does in the Summer so it was pleasant to be out walking and sat enjoying a cool and refreshing Anti-COVID Vaccine, just watching the world go by, where we would enjoy our favourite hobby of ‘people watching’, although there are now fewer people to observe since the main tourist season came to an end. Likewise, there are rarely any leisure boats to sit and admire, albeit we do still see the odd paddle-boarder, kayaker and odd crazy person taking a dip in the rapidly cooling sea. We have been quite fortunate to also get glimpses of pods of dolphins as we sit enjoying our drinks, not too far from the shoreline, rounding up shoals of fish and then feasting upon them, briefly breaching the surface of the waterline before disappearing again leaving the tell tale white splashes, then they chase the escapee’s further along the coastline and round them up again. The gulls that fly low over the pod are our visual indicator of where the dolphins are, as the dolphins move quite quickly, the gulls wait for their opportunity to dive into the sea and pick off the remaining victims who are still laying stunned just below the surface.

This pleasantly warm weather only lasted a few brief days before turning yet again again, it was followed by several days of thick grey overcast skies which the sun was unable to penetrate. The wind had turned from a light breeze to very strong and blustery Easterlies, or Westerlies, some mornings they even had a cold bite to them, morning temperatures dropped to 15 degrees(c) which, for us at least, is starting to get a little chilly, although we have not experienced any more rain since the two bad storms that wreaked havoc in many areas of Spain, although we were lucky. Now we awake to no more than heavy morning Dews which still manages to keep everything looking green and fresh.

There were days when we did stay in and took a brief respite from our daily walks, we used the opportunities to do Domestic chores, everywhere in our apartment got hoovered, dusted and as all our floors are tiled, they all got got mopped too. Even the guest bedroom and bathroom got cleaned again, even though it had been done quite thoroughly after Shazza’s mum had departed which was not so very long ago. But we did not stay in every cloudy day, there was grocery shopping to be done, Christmas Cards to post and a few other minor bits and pieces to be purchased. For those outings we had to resort to going back to wearing heavy jeans, long-sleeved shirts and a light hoodie top, although we noticed that the actual indigenous locals were now donning scarves, heavier coats and even gloves 😲 It wasn’t that cold. The Winter tourists that are now here, the silver rinse brigade, stand out in their shorts and tee-shirts with their lily white legs and arms 🤭 Shazza and I do still laugh at each other when we find ourselves complaining at the Winter weather here, as back in the days when we were in the UK living in the van, from October through to March, sometimes even longer, jeans would be our normal everyday clothing, along with the long-sleeved shirts and jumpers, and most definitely thick coats, scarves, gloves and hats.

But this grey, gloomy and chilly weather didn’t last long, perhaps only 2-3 days when, once again, the grey leaden sky changed again to blue with partially clouded white wispy clouds, the sun shone brightly and the temperature’s raised, although now it still remains cool in the mornings, but by the mid-afternoon’s it is up to 22 degrees(c). The shorts, and the short-sleeved shirts were once again the order of the day, this is a pretty bog standard Winter weather pattern in this part of Spain and it will remain changeable like this until the end of January or early February, it is what it is 🤷‍♂️

We had not eaten out for a little over a week when we returned from our mini-break, but we had more than made up for that during this past week 😲 A lunch one day in town, a lunch one day in the Marina and, one evening we decided to change our routine of just curling up together on the Sofa glued to the TV screen and we went out on what I told Shazza was a ‘Date Night’ 😂 We had Dinner at a nice Portuguese style restaurant in the Marina.

Even though it is the non-tourist season, there are always people about, either other International ‘Legal Immigrants’ (Expats) like ourselves, a few Spanish locals and a small handful of ‘Temporary’ Winter visitors, Camper Vanners who either wild camp locally, or stay on the local campsite, or those who rent properties for long winter sun vacations, usually from the silver rinse brigade category. So the place isn’t completely deserted, but compared to the busier Tourist periods, it feels a lot calmer now, there is no requirement to pre-book a table, we can just choose to eat at wherever takes our fancy, and of course, with less customer’s, the waiters and waitresses are not running around frantically so the service is exceptional, the Chef’s not having to deal with a rolling escalator of food orders have the time to cook everything perfectly, dress the plates and serve ‘Hot’ food, so Shazza and I like these Winter periods, which is probably just confirmation, if any were needed, that we are getting older 🙄

One day we decided to change our routine and drive into the nearby slighter larger town of ‘Estepona’, it is only a short twenty-minute drive and it is where we now go to do our Supermarket shopping. We have always liked Estepona, but we could not afford to buy a property there back in 2015, we certainly couldn’t afford to buy one there now, in fact we could not afford to buy the property we currently live in, if we were buying now, as prices have now doubled and are not slowing down, which would be great news if we were planning on selling, but we are not, we are more than happy here, well for now at least, who knows what tomorrow will bring 🤷‍♂️ So we are glad that we got it when we did, although it had been ‘Fate’ that had brought us here, so more a case of being in the right place at the right time 🙏

Usually we would drive to the opposite side of the town to park, which is only a short walk along the seafront promenade into the town, but it was a beautiful sunny day, just the barest breath of a breeze, so we decided to park at the Marina and walk into the main part of town from there, a much longer walk than our usual daily walks but it was nice for a change of scenery. There were a couple of things that we needed from the local shops, which were not provided in our own town, so we did have a purpose on this particular visit, although that isn’t always the case when we come here. On our way home we wanted to call in to the newly rebuilt ‘ALDI’ store, just to see what more European delicacies they had, in the way of Christmas gastronomic goodies. We no longer celebrate Christmas like we used to, it isn’t the same without family or children around us, we still have not purchased a tree and I doubt that we will now, much to Shazza’s delight, let’s just say that these days she is more ‘Bah Humbug’ than ‘Festive Elfette’ 😂 We do have some Christmas festive ornaments that she will tolerate me putting out nearer the time, and we do like a few festive foodie treats, I draw the line at decorative broccoli and snow coloured Tofu to celebrate Christmas 🤭

So, remember the ‘Title’ of this ramble ? Yes I know, it seems such a long time ago since you read it well, are you sitting comfortably or do you need to stop for a comfort break and a three-course dinner 😂 One afternoon recently, on our way back from one of our usual local walks, completely out of the blue Shazza just pipes up and says “Are you going to write a Christmas Blog Post this year ?”, now Shazza rarely mentions my rambles, in fact to be completely honest, she rarely reads them, which is why I can get away with often telling you about how awful she always treats me 😂 Anyway, a bit suspicious of why she would raise this topic, “Yes, of course, I am certain that my reader’s would revolt if I didn’t, it would be like Santa not distributing his gifts on the 25th December, totally unacceptable” I responded. She laughed, “Yeah right, I am sure not receiving one of your blogs would leave them heartbroken” she says. See, didn’t I just tell you how awful she is towards me 😲

Anyway, that served as a reminder for me to start to think about commencing to piece together my festive draft so, once we got home, I sat in the balcony in the late afternoon sunshine and started to pen a few thoughts. But I soon discovered a problem, once I had written my first paragraph and re-read it, I wanted to make a change, but my keyboard disappeared off the screen and I could not get it back. I had to close down my writing ‘App’ and re-open it, but even then, whilst the keyboard returned it would not let me back into the pre-written paragraph to make changes and I could not even open a new paragraph ‘block’ 😲 You will be pleased to hear that I won’t be going into every last detail, just accept that everything that I tried, failed to resolve the problem, so my frustration just grew and grew. Eventually, after over half a day later, the penny dropped 🙄

Everyone who has followed my full series of blogs knows that, as I do not pay a subscription for the use of the service, and have not done so now for a little over 11 year’s, well you know just how much I love that word ‘Free’ 🤭 The problem with these ‘Free’ one’s is that they only allow so much storage space for Data, Images etc and so when I run out of space I have to start a completely new blog site, with a new title and you, my loyal reader’s, have to go to the new re-directed blog site, it is a pain in the proverbial for both you and me. Well, I discovered that this current blog had been going now for over a year, a lot longer than normal, which I know, should have been my first warning sign especially as I had managed to publish 53 Rambles in that time, but now I had run out of space !! Usually I am good at keeping a track of just how much space I am using and what space I have left, I know when to write my last blog post and prior to that, would have already selected a new ‘Free’ blog template, selected a title and new site address to direct you to, written a first ramble and then be ready to go again, but not this time 🤷‍♂️ Okay, my OCD Buddy was saying to me, so just do what you do normally Eric, go back to the Blog provider’s site, select a new ‘Free’ template and start again with a new one, the way you have always done things 🤷‍♂️ But it wasn’t quite as simple as that, not this time 😡

Each year, usually much sooner, whenever I run out of space, I discover that the blog template that I am currently using, and have got used to using all of the associated formatting tools, either no longer exists, or worse, it now comes under a ‘Payed Plan’ which I have to upgrade to, if I wish to continue to use it 😡 However, the limited ‘Free’ Plans that are available are extremely basic, boring and with limited functionality. So if I want to change the font size or style, that has to be part of a ‘Paid Upgrade’, if I want to change the colour palette, that too has to be part of a ‘Paid Upgrade’, if I want to include a ‘Subscribe to Blog’ box, or a ‘Comments Box’, yup, you’ve guessed it, now part of a ‘Paid Upgrade’, these are all basic functionality processes that even the most basic of Blogger’s require, this is the way the Blog Template Providers are trying to corner me into finally paying to write and publish my blogs 🤷‍♂️ Now don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that these sort of Service Provider’s are a business at the end of the day, and not a charity, and that they only offer ‘Free’ plans to initially entice you in, once snared, then comes the reel in. For some blog writer’s this is not a bad way to dip your feet in, to reach a target audience and then, if it proves popular with thousands of readers, subscribers and follower’s alike, then they can expand from there and many use these sort of Platforms as a way of generating some income, fair play to them. However, for people like me, who just enjoy writing for pleasure, more of a hobby, certainly not for any sort of income, it now seems to me that ‘My Freedom Of Speech Is Being Taken Away’ 🤷‍♂️

So let me come clean with you, at this point, after a whole day and a half of trying to find suitable ‘Free’ templates, trying to format each one of them in turn, to use just the basic of functions to a layout that I liked, I failed miserably. I was so frustrated that I now have to go for an appointment at the hospital to have new hair implants 😲🤭 I actually contemplated just giving up altogether with this whole blogging lark, I convinced myself that I had had a bloody good run at it, and to be fair I had managed with the ‘Free’ system for just over 11 years now. Perhaps this was just my old friend ‘Fate’, just giving me the hint that this was the time to end this particular journey. Although I didn’t feel right about just disappearing into the ‘ether’ without signing off properly, but what could I do, I literally had no space to even write a short post to say farewell and thank you, perhaps though, I also had to be honest with myself, in that it wouldn’t really matter, there were lots of other blogs out there, I was just a very small one with a very small readership in comparison with the thousands of other’s. My main concern was that I enjoyed this writing, it had become a hobby and it used up time which I would otherwise have spent twiddling my thumbs, I would need to find a new one or Shazza would be the one to suffer, big time, ‘Idle hands make for devil’s work” as the saying goes………….

The following day, as usual, we went out for our daily walk “You are quieter than normal, is anything wrong?” Shazza says. “I’m alright, just trying to think of a new hobby to fill my time” I responded. The conversation led from there and I explained what problems I was having with the Blog. Now Sharon has nothing to do with actually contributing to the blog in a practical way, other than letting me include photograph’s with her in them, and she often get’s frustrated when we are out and about, and I keep stopping to take photo’s, which she knows are specifically for inclusion in my rambles. “So, if you pay to upgrade, can you keep your current blog template ?” She asks, “Yes, but I could also tweek it a bit and make some changes to the base template” I reply, “Is it expensive ?” She says, “Not really, an Annual Subscription is about the same cost as one lunch in the Marina” I respond, “Then just do it, it’s a hobby you enjoy, and let’s face it you have got away with not paying for it for all these year’s” she says. “Look at it this way, I buy books for my Kindle on a regular basis, that is my hobby, so what if you have to pay for your’s ?”she says. After picking myself up off the floor, dusting myself down, and having to get over the shock by consuming many extra Anti-Covid Vaccines 🤭 I asked her if she was alright, “Why ?” She asked, then quickly latching on to what I was about to say she squinted her eyes playfully at me and said, “Think very carefully about what you were about to say, I may just change my mind”, we both laughed but I also now knew that she cannot any longer complain about me writing my blog, or stopping to take photo’s to include in it, but I will keep quiet about that until I need to use it 🤭

So, for you my current blog ‘Subscibers’, their is good news and that is that you will now not have to go to a new blog site address or re-subscribe, I will be using this same site although the domain name is now “ournewlifebeginspart2.com” (as opposed to ‘ournewlifebeginspart2.wordpress.com). However, I have altered the base template a bit, changed the ‘Colour Pallete’ and ‘Font Style’, but hopefully it will not impact on you receiving, reading, liking or commenting, on this or any of my future rambles. However, if you do encounter any issues, put a ‘Comment’ on the last post and I will try and sort out any teething problems.

So, in the words of Mel Gibson (Braveheart), ‘They may take away my FREEdom to write, but they will never take away my Ramblings’, or words to that effect 😂 So, I had better get working on that festive ramble eh 🤔

Until next time………….

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

Neither of us had slept well on our first night in our hotel in Carmona, the bed was hard and their were three thick layers of upper bedding, which felt heavy and claustrophobic, we ended up pushing the two top layers to the bottom of the bed. Then there were the noises, the first was an aggravating click-click coming from somewhere outside the room, it repeated every minute or so all through the night, other guests had no consideration, not speaking in hushed voices as they made their way to their rooms late at night, then banging their room doors shut, the room floors were tiled with no carpets, so above us we could hear the occupants scraping furniture on the floor. We wondered that If this is what it is like during the quieter Winter months, we hated to think what it would have been like in the height of Summer, but it is only when you are away from home that you notice these things, we certainly now appreciate the much more peaceful sanctuary of our own home, but at the end of the day we were only here for two nights 🤷‍♂️

We were also a little surprised that a 4* hotel like this did not provide tea/coffee making facilities in the room, but to be honest that is quite a common theme in a lot of hotels throughout Spain, so we had come prepared, with our own travel kettle and makings, so we could at least enjoy our leisurely morning coffee’s before finding a local cafe to enjoy breakfast. The hotel charged €18 each for a Continental Style breakfast, which is fine if you like a nice hearty all you can eat sort of breakfast, but it would have been a waste of money for Shazza or myself for the little she eats and me not being able to eat until much later. So we returned to the Central Square, one of the Cafe’s was bustling whilst the other’s looked virtually empty or were closed, we thought we had chosen wisely by selecting a table at one of the busier one’s which, from the conversations, sounded as if it was frequented by mainly Spanish people. However, we soon realised that although they may have been Spanish, they too were tourists visiting the area, the tell tale signs were the tourist maps they were studying over their breakfast’s. We ordered our usual, two coffee’s and two ‘Tostado’s’, we hadn’t had a Tostado for several weeks now, by choice, in fact, we have not had one since returning from our Galicia trip, so this would be nice. Well it had been, up until the point where we went to pay, for two coffees and two tostado’s, in our home town, we pay exactly €6, here they charged €11, which just went to prove that even ‘Rip Off Britain’ has equally competitive challengers for the title here in Spain 😲😲 Perhaps we should have remembered that the ‘Old Town’ was the tourist district 🤷‍♂️

We didn’t have a set plan for our last day’s activities, other than first making our way to the old ‘Fortress’ located near the ‘Parador’ luxury hotel, as it was located just outside the main tourist area of the Old Town, but no more than a fifteen minute walk from where we stopped for breakfast, after that, we would just adopt our usual strategy of wandering aimlessly through the maze of narrow cobbled streets until we came across somewhere of interest to stop and look around. What a waste of time that walk to the fortress ended up being, it was closed for the season to the general public, even those staying at the expensive ‘Parador’ luxury hotel, we would have been highly p****d off had we have paid to have stayed there, good decision Shazza, and I told her so. Not to be out done totally, we took a walk around the perimeter and were pleased that we hadn’t paid the entry fee, irrespective of what it may have cost, as it was just a ruin 🤷‍♂️

On our way back towards the ‘Old Town’ I kept chuntering on about what a waste of time that had been, Shazza agreed of course, but tried to pacify me by saying that at least we hadn’t wasted €200 staying at the ‘Parador’, that it was another lovely warm and sunny day for walking and, even in the middle of November here we were, still able to wear our short’s and tee-shirts. Wow ! that really did cheer me up, but only because it is rare for me to witness Shazza vocalising such an optimistic outlook 😂

So we started to just wander our way along lots of narrow cobbled pavements and roads, dwarfed by three and four storeys buildings, most of the houses were hidden behind big thick looking wooden doors, more like castle doors with large black bolts and ironwork running top to bottom on both sides, but with ornate brass door knockers. However, occasionally we did come across one’s that were open and we could see into the front porch area and into the ornately decorated, floor to ceiling, vibrant coloured tiled entrances, but beyond that, glazed inner doors concealed what lay within. There were narrow alleys that also ran between these slightly wider cobbled streets and, occasionally we would find streets lined with Orange Trees, some with steps leading up to other street levels and some with grand looking buildings, or churches, in fact this town has a lot of churches, a mosque, convents and monasteries. We had no specific plan, no sense of a general direction, just really to see as much of the town as we could before we got fed up, so we just wandered in whatever direction we pleased, occasionally we had to stand with our backs against the wall as a car squeezed past, a reminder that some of these cobbled roads were not just for pedestrians 😲

We came across a grand looking white-washed building, a security guard stood at the entrance smoking a cigarette, their were two or three people stood outside, separately, at various points, looking as if they were waiting for something, or someone, then we saw the big sign above the door identifying it as the ‘Ministry of Justice’, the local courthouse. Just behind it, a small white single story building, where we could hear a lot of chatter and the distinctive sounds of crockery emanating from it well before we got close enough to look inside, when we did we could see that it was a small canteen/cafe sort of affair, not one of the touristy sort of places, a bit more rough and ready, so we made the assumption, rightly or wrongly, that this was probably where people waited before reporting to have their case heard in the court 🤷‍♂️

Along one cobbled street we came across quite an ornate stone carved building, it looked a narrow building, but the tall doors were wide open, I took a glimpse inside the entrance and discovered that it was a history museum, I gave Shazza an enquiring look, she said “Why not”, so we went inside to a small wooden counter. The very nice lady who came to greet us spoke perfect English, although we had greeted her in Spanish with ‘Buena Dias’ 🤷‍♂️ Anyway, I forgave her the minute she used my favourite word and told me that due to my ‘senior status’ my entry was ‘Free’ 🤗 Although Shazza’s entry fee was the princely sum of €2.50, “You could have lied about your age, she hadn’t asked me for any proof” I said, “Darling” she smiled sarcastically, “There may have been a very good reason that she did not require any documentary evidence in your case” 😲🥺

Whilst from the outside, due to the different colouring of the stonework, the building looked quite narrow, however, once inside, it was quite a wide, spacious and long building and comprised of two storeys. Now I know what some of you may already be thinking, Eric and Shazza, self-confessed history heathens, spending time, and money, in a history museum 🤔 Let me just say, it appears that with age comes an acquired taste for more refined cultural knowledge, I was obviously now at that ‘Senior Status’ in my life, Shazza however was still not quite there yet, but like my love of roaming around Castles and Lighthouses and recent interest in the ‘Knights Templar’ and history of the ‘Moors’, she was prepared, at least for now, to tolerate my latest geriatric interests, but I was under no illusion that the minute I startled dribbling from the corner of my mouth, and not remembering her name, that I would have perhaps have begun to push her tolerance a bit too far, so I made sure that I always now carried a packet of tissues, and a card with her name on it, in my pocket 😂

I found it quite interesting to read how, in the earlier periods of history, that Refugees from other countries were openly welcomed into other lands, and that rather than have a fear, or mistrust of them, they took advantage of their many skills, and knowledge, to enhance and even improve their own lands commerce and industry. We often hear academics these days say that we can learn a lot from history, but it is becoming quite apparent to me that more often than not, we do not. Perhaps ‘Starmer’ does have a plan to improve the UK’s ailing NHS and Social Care System and perhaps even other industries and professions with the influx of foreign refugees, especially in those areas where we, the UK, lack those skills or knowledge, or even dare I suggest, the refugee work ethic, only time will tell I suppose 🤷‍♂️ Then again, we could mistrust them all, let them drown at sea and then tell ourselves every Sunday in church that underneath, we really are God Fearing Christians 🙏

I have to say that I was actually quite glad that we had stumbled upon this museum, although the reality was that I am really still a bit of a history heathen, as I skipped a lot of the exhibits that didn’t interest me and as for Shazza, well she was waiting for me outside, her interest had faded quite rapidly after first entering the museum and she had raced around it, perhaps if their had been a section on farming and the ancient ways of growing fruit and vegetables….. 🤷‍♂️ After the Museum we just continued with the same method of our explorations, wandering aimlessly until we found something else of interest, but I knew that I now had to find something to attract Shazza’s interest, although there would be no Stately Homes here for her to wander around, 🤔 but, I thought to myself………..she does like a nice church, and their were plenty of those to choose from.

Now you can call it a coincidence if you like, but quite possibly this was what they mean by ‘Divine Intervention’, for as we wandered along a narrow alleyway, we came into a square, a Plaza, the street name was ‘Calle Duquesa’, the same name as the small Marina near where we live, ‘Puerta Duquesa’ 😲 There was the usual high walls, the usual large wooden fortress looking doors, one of which was open, we looked inside to a courtyard which we later discovered is the ‘Patio de Los Naranjos’ (Courtyard of the Orange Trees) and the entrance to the Santa Maria Church. There would be no ‘Free’ admission for me here, but they did offer a reduction and so for the total princely sum of €3.60 we went for a look around. There was actually a staircase to an upper level before entering the church, but no, just in case you are wondering, it wasn’t the stairway to heaven and there were no pearly gates 🤭 just to a church museum, that wasn’t really of much interest to either of us, gold religious relics locked behind thick glass cabinets. We do find that churches are, generally, quiet places, and Shazza seems to find a sort of inner peace once inside them and will take the time to sit with her own private thoughts, or even say a prayer, I don’t know and I never ask. Whilst she has her personal space I just like to wander around, mainly to admire the amazing colours, and pictorial scenes, depicted in the stain glassed windows, or to wonder at the stone carvings in the pillars and on the gigantic ceilings, and think about the time and the effort, and engineering, that went into the construction of these buildings in periods of history where there were no modern day machinery.

Whilst I was wandering around in silence, suddenly, as the sun shone through the stained glass windows, their colours were reflected on the adjacent walls, as clouds passed, blocking the sun’s rays, they would disappear again, only to re-appear once again as the clouds cleared, it was like a ‘Kaleidoscope’ show and it entertained me for quite some time, ‘little things please little minds’, I know, but what can I say 🤷‍♂️

Show over and Shazza’s quiet contemplation finished, we left the church into the bright sunshine again and just continued with our wandering.

It had gone past lunchtime, we should have been hungry but neither of us were, but we did both agree that we needed a coffee, if only to enable us to rest our legs for a while and to take the opportunity to finally consult the tourist map so that we could see if their was anything we had missed that needed further exploration. Eventually, after walking through numerous narrow alleyways, small Plaza’s, and passing several more churches, we finally found ourselves at the bottom of the ‘Old Town’ and back by the ‘Seville Gate’ and right on the corner was a small Cafe/Bar. We discovered, after consulting the map, and identifying several landmarks and buildings on it, that we had actually zig zagged our way, up, down and across most of the ‘Old Town’, our tiring legs confirming the fact 🙄

There was one thing left that we both wanted to do, the walk along the fortress wall, and conveniently we were right opposite the ‘Tourist Information’ Office where we could gain access to it, again there would be an admission fee, but once again I was to hear my favourite word ‘Free’, although not for the youngster who was with me, that would cost another €2, she is getting to become expensive to take out on these city tours 😂 It was only when we went in to the Tourist Office that we learnt that these were not just walls to the city, but that it was actually formerly a fortress in its own right, one that dated back to the 12th Century BC 😲 Since that time numerous other occupiers of the city, from the ‘Carthaginians’, whoever they were 🤷‍♂️ to the ‘Romans’, had built upon and extended it, and it is alleged that Julia’s Ceaser had referred to it as, ‘The best defended city in Andalucía’, or ‘Betica’, as the region was known at the time, we do of course only have the historians word on that, even I am not that old to be able to confirm whether he actually truly spoke those words, and I wondered, even if he did, why would anyone who was with him at the time, bother to write those words down 🤷‍♂️ But there I go again, letting my cynical nature come to the fore 🤭

There were several levels to this former fortress, we climbed the stairways to all of them and looked into various rooms, through archer’s windows etc. however, we could not walk too far along the walls themselves, as they were either blocked off with safety barriers, or the old turreted walkways where soldiers once walked, these were now blocked off by the walls of more modern dwellings that had been erected along them. But we had both enjoyed this bit of exploration and agreed that, in comparison, this had been far more interesting than what the ruined fortress would have been, the one that we were unable to enter at the start of the day.

As we exited the Tourist Information Office, the lady behind the counter asked what other places we had visited, we told her where we had been over the last couple of days. She advised us that at the top of the ‘New Town’ there was the ‘Necropolis’ and ancient ‘Ampitheatre’, and she pointed to it on our map. We decided that we needed to go and take a look, then we would at least have seen it all, so it meant going back out through the ‘Seville Gate’, up the main modern high street and a lot further than we had walked the previous afternoon. Well, after all the effort, and it was uphill too, in the heat of the afternoon sunshine, we reached the Necropolis, but it was within a chain linked fence and looked just like a lumpy unkempt, grassed field, no obvious entry point to information board, and within that grassed field we saw the shape of an ‘Ampitheatre’, not a nice stone one with Roman Pillars, just big circles of grass shapes on different levels. I commented to Shazza that when we managed our 8 Acre Grass Campsite, using my John Deere Ride-On Mower, I could have reproduced exactly the same effect, she laughed and said that it would certainly have looked a lot neater than this grass field did. But we believe that it was ‘Fate’ that brought us to this point, as it was the end of our explorations and sightseeing, and as it just happened, had we not have come here we would not have discovered, on our way back, on the main high street in this modern part of Carmona, the most wonderful Oasis. Yes, a Tapas and Cafe/Bar, where the on-tap ice cold different flavoured beers all cost €1.50, and the majority of the extensive list of assorted Tapas cost just €1, or €2 if you ordered the ‘Media’ portion. It was late afternoon, the sun was shining, we were both thirsty and hungry, and we had nowhere else to explore. So we sat amongst the locals, or perhaps they were Spanish tourists, we couldn’t discern between them as their was not one single tourist map in sight, and we ate several Tapas, and quaffed several ice cold beers, almost the perfect ending to our mini-adventure.

For some inexplicable reason the walk back to our hotel didn’t seem to take that long 🥴🥴 I can neither confirm, or deny, that when we returned to our hotel room, whether we both engaged in a spot of personal contemplation or not, but when we had completed our respective periods it was dark outside 😂 Once again we enjoyed Dinner in the same hostelry as we had the previous evening, although Dinner sounds just a tad formal, this was more a small bar meal, as for some reason neither of us was that hungry 🤔 Although we must have been thirsty as we ‘each’ consumed several glasses of rather pleasant Anti-Covid Vaccines 🍷🍷🍷, it would of course have been rude not to.

We were awake very early the following morning, we did not sleep any better on that second night, for exactly the same reasons as on the first night, in fact we even considered whether the place was haunted as the noises, and timings of them, were identical to the night before. The mysterious click-click noise, loud voices in the corridors, banging of room doors and exactly the same scraping noise of furniture on the tiled floors in the room above us 😲👻

We had considered returning via the mountain road route, which would have been a slightly longer journey, just to see much more interesting scenery and we were not in a rush. However, whilst we were checking out, the receptionist, who happened to travel in to work from Malaga everyday along that route, told us that since the floods, with all the repair work and the construction traffic, it was taking a lot longer. So we made the decision to return on the same route we had travelled coming to Carmona. As soon as we stepped outside we could feel the chill in the air, the sky was grey and when we drove away we put on the car heating, it was only 12 degrees(c), we were not used to these sort of temperatures and we had put on our shorts and tee-shirts just as a matter of habit 🥶 It wasn’t until we were nearly home, within 30 miles, that we drove into sunshine, the clouds cleared, the sun was shining in an almost cloudless blue sky, the temperature had risen to a very pleasant 19 degrees(c). As we arrived back on the East Coast, to see the sparkling blue Mediterranean Sea once again, and to feel the warmth, was like receiving the best ‘Welcome Home’ present ever. We arrived home at lunchtime, it didn’t take long to unpack and we were soon sat on the balcony with a sandwich and lovely hot cuppa, it had been a nice short mini-adventure, we had enjoyed visiting Carmona and we could now cross it off the ‘To Do’ List, but I do have to say that it was so nice to be back home.

We had done enough walking over the last couple of days so we just spent the rest of the day relaxing in the afternoon sunshine on the balcony, the temperature had risen to 23 degree(c) by mid-afternoon and there was barely a breeze, the sea was as flat as a millpond. We knew that we had both over-indulged during the last two days, on both food and alcohol, especially Shazza who rarely drinks much alcohol these days, although we were not feeling guilty about it, that’s what taking these mini-adventures is all about, doing things differently, but were both glad to now get back on to the straight and narrow, well, in my case, perhaps only for the next couple of days 😉

As a footnote, we have both read about ‘Storm Bert’ that is currently affecting many parts of the UK, strong winds, floods, snow and ice. We can appreciate, for obvious reasons, what some of you ‘may’ be going through at this time, however, we do sincerely hope that you are not in any danger and that you are able to stay safe, dry and warm 🙏❤️

Until the next time…………….

Hasta Luego mi Amigos

It doesn’t take long to get back into the normal flow of things, especially after adverse weather events, which I know that I said that I wouldn’t talk about in this ramble so I will keep it brief, but the weather was thankfully now back into its usual Winter routine, cooler mornings of between 16-18 degrees(c), and warm afternoons that reach between 21-23 degrees(C), although the daily temperatures are beginning to decrease gradually bit by bit and when the strong winds blow they bring a chill with them, not so bad when we are walking but we can certainly feel it if we remain stationary for too long. The nights too are getting darker much earlier now, with the sun setting at around 6pm and by 6:30pm it is black outside, apart from the glow of the street lamps and, although the only view out to sea, are the lights that shine from the various freighters as they pass to and fro on the horizon, even from my balcony vantage point with the French windows closed, more so when the wind is blowing from the East, I can quite clearly hear the waves as they break onto the seashore below, sometimes slow and quite rhythmically, other times they just crash violently, but whatever the mood of the sea, I always find that it provides a calm sort of tranquility, additionally, the noise from the heavy leaves on the palm trees that surround us, well they too just add to the nightly audible ambience. Fortunately, although it is rapidly approaching the end of November, we have not, as yet, had to turn on our small three bar electric halogen heater in the living room, we have been known, in some previous years, to have had to use it from as early as October, so not having to use it as yet should save us some money on our next electricity bill, a thought that, unsurprisingly, provided me with yet another happy thought, I enjoy ‘saving’ money almost, but not quite, as much as I like the word ‘Free’ 🤭

On the Monday, after the usual relaxed coffee morning routine, Shazza announced that she wanted to go and do a ‘big’ shop at the Estepona Mercadonna supermarket 😲 which is the one we have now started to use on a regular basis over the last few months, it isn’t that much further away from the one we used to use, but that one now has lots of new residential buildings being constructed around it, so the parking situation, due to shopper’s and convoys of construction vehicles, is getting much more difficult, anyway, the Estepona one is larger, the aisles are wider and the parking area is larger, so it is a slightly less stressful event. We used to do a regular weekly shop, but with Shazza now purchasing most fresh fruit and vegetables in our local town every two or three days, or as and when we need them, the actual need to do the supermarket trips, for the larger and heavier items, are now down to every 10-14 days and she also has started to buy extra’s to stock up, I think she is already preparing for when Russia attacks the West, which according to her, could be any day soon 😲 I have told her not to worry though, as I am too old to be conscripted, although, she could still be called upon to return to the UK to work in the munitions factories, or perhaps to become a ‘Land Girl’ working in the fields, which surely would be a dream come true for her, what with her dreams of a self sufficient lifestyle 🤭 No, she didn’t find me funny either 😂

With trailing around shopping aisles, then hauling five heavy shopping bags from our car park up to the apartment, we considered that activity to be sufficient exercise for the day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon in the apartment, just pottering around passing the remainder of the day until it was time for Dinner, and then we sat and watched whatever there was on the TV, or Netflix, or You Tube, for the rest of the evening.

It was around 7:30pm on this particular Monday evening, and there I was, engrossed in a new, well new to me at least, ‘You Tube’ Video Vlog that I had just started to binge watch. I had discovered one about a London couple, who I was guessing were in their mid-thirties, who were starting a new full time Narrowboat Lifestyle cruising on the canals and rivers of the UK, giving up on their costly London rental property, whilst continuing to work in their professions as ‘Digital Nomads’. I always thought that such people earned this type of living whilst conducting a more nomadic lifestyle, e.g. in a Motorhome, Boat or even whilst Backpacking, generally people on the move 🤷‍♂️ the clue I thought was in the title ‘Digital Nomad’ but, apparently, this is no longer the case as anyone who works on a digital device, away from a traditional working environment, is classed as a Digital Nomad, but there you go, the world has moved on and is leaving my understanding of it further and further behind 🙄 Just digressing a little bit, regular readers of these rambles will know that once upon a time, in a land far far away, Shazza and I once had a yearning for living a full time life on a canal boat, but then we elected to choose the Motor homing lifestyle, primarily because we already owned a Motorhome and knew nothing about driving 50-60 foot long ‘Canal Boats’ or operating ‘Canal Locks’. In all reality, and with the rose tinted glasses well and truly off, that particular lifestyle has all but passed us by now, but we still enjoy watching other’s doing it.

Anyway, Shazza pipes up, right in the middle of one episode, “Should we get away for a couple of days ?”, I felt confident that she wasn’t going to suggest hiring a Narrowboat in Spain, simply because there aren’t any 🤭 “Sounds like a good idea” I muttered half heartedly, “Where are you thinking of going ?”, half expecting her to come up with several, possible maybe, sort of suggestions, that would require further and later discussion, but hopefully not until after I had finished watching my programme. ‘Carmona’ she says, “That sounds good, when do you want to go ?” I asked, with one ear still tuned in trying to listen and watch the video Vlog, “I thought we could go tomorrow” she says, as casually as you like, I immediately pressed ‘Pause’ on the TV Remote………………………😲

Now my regular readers will of course already know that Shazza never, and I mean, never, just comes up with her ‘Shazza Adventures’ spontaneously, she has usually mulled them over for a few days, if not weeks, beforehand, and has also been known, on occasions, to add in a bit of pre-planning and devious persuasion, in fact I would go as far to say that she has become somewhat of a master of her art, in both respects. So let me start first with why the ‘devious’ aspect of her plan……………….

Several months ago now, we had watched a series of documentary travel programmes by Michael Portillo, on his travels within Andalusia, which I have to say were quite Interesting. Now during these programmes we learned that in fact he, Michel Portillo, a former very prominent member of the UK Government and later a regular TV travel documentary presenter, who has lived the majority of his life within the UK, is actually of Spanish descendancy, and he still has Spanish family living in Andalusia, we also discovered that he in fact owned a property in ‘Carmona’, a large town just East of the city of Seville and, although we didn’t see much of the town in the programme itself, the little we did see made me interested in wanting to visit it at some point. I had in fact originally planned, unbeknown at the time to Shazza, to make it a two night stopover on our return from our recent road trip to Galicia, but that trip, as you may recall, was cut short rather abruptly by Shazza’s mysterious illness. So, Shazza was not selecting a place out of thin air just off the top off her head, she already knew that I would be more than up for a short road trip there, although me and my OCD buddy would normally have allocated a little more time at the planning and preparation stage, although Shazza obviously already had, she just hadn’t allocated too much time for either the discussion or agreement stage 🙄 Now you may also consider that I was doing the same to her on our Galicia trip, but, in my defence, Shazza had wanted ‘that trip’ to be done without any pre-planning, just ‘Going with the Flow’, so I had decided that on our homeward bound leg of that trip we would just have happened to have ‘Flowed’ into Carmona 😂

Now Carmona is in the Northern part of Andalusia, although just three hours or so North of us, does tend, with it being quite close to the ‘Sierra Nevada’ mountain ranges, to see a dramatic drop in temperatures over the winter months, certainly much more than down here in our part of the Costa del Sol, so she had informed me that having ‘pre-checked’ the advance weather forecast, the ‘Works of Fiction’ had indicated that the next couple of days would be the best of the weather and that thereafter, it would deteriorate quite rapidly 🤔 “Okay, let’s do it” I said, and faster than a robbers dog she pre-booked us two night’s accommodation in a hotel in the ‘Old Town’.

We had a choice of two routes, either a three hour journey up through a generally more scenic mountain route, or a faster, two and a half hour less scenic route, along the toll free motorways. Given the recent floods with damage to villages, towns, roads and bridges, I was reluctant to use the mountain route, a diversion up there could involve a lot longer travelling time, so we agreed that the safer more reliable option would be via the slightly faster toll free motorways.

Although the AEMET ‘Works of Fiction’ forecast (Spanish State Weather Forecasting Agency) had provided no pre-warning, we awoke to light rain, but little more than a heavy drizzle really, so we got up, packed our individual overnight bags with not much more than a change of clothing, toiletries and electronic gadgets and at 10:30am, we commenced our journey. Fortunately, the wet stuff stopped falling shortly after departing home and the sun came out, providing us with a rather pleasant drive. We stopped briefly to re-fuel, had I had known beforehand that we were going on a road trip I would have re-fuelled when we went shopping the previous day 🤷‍♂️ Shazza had already eaten breakfast before we departed home and I certainly was not ready to eat at that time of the morning, so, after an uneventful journey we arrived at the hotel at 1pm, an hour earlier than the official check-in time, fortunately our room was ready and so, after securing the car in the ‘underground car park’, and with fingers firmly crossed that there would be no more heavy rain, which would have involved us having to snorkel to it when we left 🤿 We got settled into what was a very spacious room, although somewhat disappointingly, it had no view from the window other than overlooking the internal courtyard and swimming pool, which was closed now until next year. Personally, I would have preferred to book a room at the rather luxurious ‘Parador’ hotel, which was located right next door to an old fortress which we could have visited for ‘Free’ if we were residents at that hotel, but, at over €200 per night (not including breakfast), Shazza had decided otherwise 😢

We were both ready for lunch, so after unpacking our bags we went on a familiarisation walk of the area and in the main square we found several bar/cafes, so we chose one and, in the lovely warmth of the afternoon sunshine, we enjoyed a very relaxed ‘Tapas’ lunch. We had not intended doing too much sightseeing, just really a walk to get our bearings, but being such a lovely warm afternoon we found ourselves walking through several areas of the old town and then part of the lower, more modern part, of the new town area.

Prior to this particular trip, and purely coincidentally, we had both watched a ‘Netflix’ documentary on a brief history of the ‘Moors’, as in the Islamic race of people who had occupied much of Southern Europe prior to being ousted by the ‘Christian’s’ during the crusades. We had only really gained an interest in this when we were researching more on the history of the ‘Knight’s Templar’, but it was to become a very useful bit of knowledge during this trip, more so with the Architectural styles of the buildings. For Shazza and I, as pretty much self-confessed ‘history heathens’, this was to become a revelation to us as we began to notice the ‘Moorish’ influence in many of the buildings, normally we would just have said, “They are nice buildings, what lovely arches and what pretty looking tiles” 😂

The ‘Works of Fiction’ had got it’s forecast spot on, it was a really hot sunny day, around 22 degrees(c), we had gone out in shorts and tee-shirts but had taken light hoodies just in case, and to be honest, in the shade, they were needed as we could feel the chill in the air.

After having implemented our recently acquired knowledge on Moorish Architecture, people watching and just having a general good nosey at everything going on around us, we took to wandering quite aimlessly through the narrow cobbled streets, there may have been ‘Ruta Turistica’ arrows to guide us, but we don’t follow organised routes, it is so much more fun just wandering at our leisure and getting lost 🤭

Although we had not planned on leaving the ‘Old Town’ area, wandering aimlessly along maze like narrow cobbled streets sometimes means you have no choice where you end up, yes of course we had a tourist map, but no, of course we didn’t refer to it, how much fun would that have been. This after all was a Shazza & Eric Adventure, not an official guided tour 🤷‍♂️

We had somehow found our way at the main gated entrance to the ‘Old Town’, the ‘Seville Gate’ as it is known, there are several smaller gated entrances located around the old town, who knows, we may just happen to stumble across them over the next couple of days 🤭 But we decided to leave the walls of the ‘old town’ and wandered across a road into the more modern part of town to see what it was like.

We continued to explore the main high street until we came to the end, of the shopping street that is, the road thereafter just went on up towards residential housing, so we turned around and explored down some side streets on the opposite side of the road, it is amazing what you sometimes find. We stumbled upon a road that had a fountain, decorated with six stone lions, which I have to say looked more impressive from a distance than when we actually got close up to them, not even worth a photo. On one corner of the street was a Cafe Bar, appropriately called ‘El Liones’ (The Lions), but it was closed, on the adjacent corner, another bar, and not to be outdone by its neighbouring competition, was called ‘Bar Leo’, but that too was closed. However, right opposite both, was a gated park, there were no flower beds, it wasn’t that kind of garden park, or perhaps the lack of any was more due to the time of year 🤔 but each side was lined with trees and between them some beautifully ornate bench seating. We later discovered, when I did finally decide to read some of the ‘Tourist Information’ brochure that was folded in the back pocket of my shorts, that this was the ‘Alameda de Alfonso XIII’, there was only the one entry/exit point so we walked it’s full length and then back again, as we had nothing better to do or any other place to be 🤷‍♂️

We wandered back towards the old town, on our way we came across the ‘Convent of La Concepcion’ with a statue of a monk outside with one of his hands gesturing downwards, “Go on Shazza, give us a pose, offer up your hand to him” I instructed her, somewhat reluctantly she agreed.

She was only gone for a couple of minutes, although it seemed longer, then she re-appeared again looking a bit shaken by her Saintly abduction. “Was it a heavenly experience ?” I asked her, “I don’t really know, I had no idea where I was, but it felt hellishly hot” she replied 😂 Okay, I made that bit up, as if you hadn’t already guessed that 🙄

Instead of walking through the gate, back into the old town, I wanted to see if we could get up onto the turreted walls so we followed the outer wall and came to a flight of steps that looked promising, however, it was not to be, it just led us up to a cobbled road with lots of stone houses and beyond that, a steep hill that we didn’t fancy exploring, we were getting a little leg weary by then.

As we walked through between the outer and the inner walls, we noticed a very modern glass fronted ‘Tourist Information’ Office, on the outside we saw a sign, with an arrow, that pointed to the access point to the upper walls, we decided to return the following day on Part Two of our voyage of discovery. We had entered the ‘Old Town’ via a different side so we were walking along an unfamiliar cobbled road, but it was fairly busy with people and vehicles so we gambled upon it leading us back to the central square, from there we would know our way back to the hotel. We decided to stop at a very convenient Tapas and Wine Bar where we both enjoyed a tall glass of ice cold, late afternoon, ‘Vermut’, well it would have been rude not to 😉

We had actually walked very much further than either of us had intended, but it had been enjoyable, we returned to the hotel and collapsed on the large double bed, I can neither confirm, or deny, whether we took a late afternoon siesta of our own, but when we next opened our eyes, it was dark outside 😂 We agreed that we did not fancy walking back into the old town to seek out somewhere to eat Dinner, so we just went to a Bar/Restaurant that, although a separate business from the hotel, was attached to it. We ate in the bar, rather than the restaurant, as did everybody else, where we consumed far too many ‘Vermut’s’, but it was good that neither of us had to worry about being the duty driver and that was the end of Day One of our two day trip.

To be continued………………..

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena

It was 11:00pm on a Tuesday night, we had just finished watching something or other on the TV and Shazza was getting herself ready to go to bed, I, as usual, had gone through to the balcony, ready to enjoy my period of quiet contemplation. I had just sat down in my seat and was gazing into the darkness outside the windows, when suddenly a very loud noise made me nearly jump out of my skin, it took a second or two for me to realise that it was coming from my mobile phone, then the same loud noise sounded on Shazza’s mobile phone in the living room and she came running through from the bedroom, even without first looking at the message we both spoke in unison,“It’s a Flood Alert” we exclaimed, and we were proved correct.

When we first bought our property here in Spain, our Spanish neighbours informed us that between October and January it was the rainy season, with the month of October generally being the wettest. However, over the following few year’s that we had been coming here, on a regular basis over those Winter periods, it had never really materialised, occasionally we could get three or four consecutive days of rain, the normal sort of downpours, but then it would go back to the more normal Southern Spanish Winter’s, long dry days with plenty of sunshine. That was of course apart from the occasion eight years ago, in November 2016, when the little Village at the bottom of the hill, the Marina and town of Sabinillas was affected by a major flood, created by an extended period of heavy rain which also coincided with an unusually high ‘Spring Tide’. However, over the last two or three year’s we have had barely any rain and, as you know from these rambles, we have suffered quite badly with a long period of drought and were constantly praying for the wet stuff. So now I suppose you could say that we should be careful of what we wish four, with the recent ‘DANA’ producing the equivalent of a month’s worth of torrential rain in just eight hours and then the rains continuing to fall for days afterwards 😲 However, in our little bubble in this corner of Spain, even that recent tumultuous and catastrophic storm had not affected us, at least not to the same degree as it had in other areas of Spain, we were shocked by the impact this latest storm had had on several areas throughout the whole of Spain and considered ourselves extremely ‘lucky’ to have been left totally unscathed.

As is our usual habit, we check the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts on a daily basis although, as the recent flooding in Valencia confirmed, due to either the historical inaccuracy of these forecasts, or the fact that they have tended to cry ‘Wolf’ too many times, people now tend to mistrust them and no longer take them at face value. As a consequence of the fatal tragedy, and havoc, that had ensued from that storm only a short two or three weeks ago, Shazza and I had been prompted, by a local media article, to register both our mobile numbers on the AEMET Alert System, which is not just for flood related incidents, it is supposed to give warnings about other dangers to life, whether they be from Wildfires, Earthquakes or indeed any other sort of Environmental danger.

We had been following all of the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts, between us we check four separate forecasts, even the BBC, and then we try to predict what the weather is more likely to be. It may not be very scientific, but then again, it appears that neither is the official ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts 🤷‍♂️ However, on this occasion all were forecasting yet another ‘DANA’ storm, this one though was being forecast to hit ‘all’ of the Eastern Coastal side of Spain and even some Western coastal areas too, including our own. The local Media publications were reinforcing the same warnings too, but was this an over reaction, as the Spanish Government could not afford to have a repeat of the International attention that the recent disaster had attracted, let alone the public outcry from its own citizens.

Now you would be forgiven for not realising that many other parts of Spain, both North, South, East and West, had also suffered with floods, each area suffering their own catastrophes, rivers bursting their banks and flooding streets and homes and businesses, cars washed away, damage to roads and other infrastructures, although fortunately without the fatalities. We, as in our immediate local area, had been spared any major problems during this first ‘DANA’ storm, although of course we did have some torrential rain, but even that had not caused our nearest river, the ‘Rio Manilva’ to overflow on this occasion. For several days after that storm had passed, things had returned to normal for our community, we could enjoy going out again on our daily walks, the sun was shining, the sky and the sea was blue and people were just going about their normal daily lives, we even enjoyed some nice lunches either in the town or the Marina, sat outside enjoying lovely warm sunshine. Shazza and I commented on this whilst enjoying one of those lunches, we both stated how surreal it was that, whilst many were currently struggling to reclaim their homes, and their livelihoods, with many now having to also cope with the grief of losing loved one’s, many other’s, just like ourselves, were just getting on with our normal daily lives as if nothing had happened 🤷‍♂️

However, now, our whole area had been placed on a ‘Red Alert’ on that Tuesday night, that area being the whole of the Malaga Province, although the alert message had stated that this was not effective until 10:00am the following morning. However, looking at the actual forecasts, the ‘Works of Fiction’ weather map reflected that our immediate area would not start to get any rain until the middle of the following night, and that the worst of the storm’s torrential rain, and gale force winds, would not actually arrive with us until the Wednesday, and then continue for the next two days, if they were to be trusted that is 🙄 I do have to say that whilst I don’t want to come across as being callous, or flippant, to the dangers that other’s may find themselves exposed to, but for us, there was little that we could do to prepare for these anticipated floods due to our location, we were at the top of the hill and our apartment is ‘at least’ 10 metres above the level of the road and pavement, even if the water level on the road below was to rise by 2 metres it would then overflow the wall of the neighbouring community which sits below us, so the reality was that we were not in any sort of real extreme danger, although of course, high water could flood the ground levels of our community apartment blocks, but both ground floor apartments in our small block were currently unoccupied.

That following morning we awoke to a cloudy morning, but it wasn’t a grey cloud and it was actually quite bright, so we decided to get out whilst we still could, we decided on a change to our routine and drove to Fuengirola, which is just short of an hours drive away on the other side of Marbella, it was the place for the nearest ‘Holland & Barrett’ store where Shazza could stock up on her specific brand of herbal tea and we also wanted to stock up on a few extra provisions if we were to be confined in the apartment for another three or four days. Our priorities differed, Shazza had a list of fresh fruit and vegetables, whilst my list had just one item on it, Anti-Covid Vaccines 🍷🍷🍷 The clouds had parted to reveal some blue sky, and that all important yellow ball of warmth, we could see the mountain ranges quite clearly, they are usually shrouded in low grey clouds when the weather begins to move in, but it was 23 degrees(c) and so we both wondered whether the ‘Works of Fiction’ had got it wrong, again 🙄 On the way back we called in at the ‘La Canada’ shopping mall at Marbella and had a very disappointing ‘Tapas’ lunch, the food was barely warm and, compared to what we were used to paying in our own Cafe/Bars and Restaurants, it was bloody expensive and a waste of money 😲 We took a stroll around the ‘Marks & Spencer’ store on the upper level of the large shopping mall, to see what Christmas gastronomic goodies they had on offer, although it was too early to buy any, we were just doing a bit of a recce. We had also decided this year, unusually for us, to treat ‘ourselves’ to Christmas presents, I needed to replace my pocket camera after dunking it in the sea this Summer, it wasn’t a waterproof one 🥺 and so I had identified a new one that was much better, better technical features to enable better landscape photography, and importantly, it was waterproof, up to a depth of 15 metres which would be good for snorkelling, although hopefully I wouldn’t be needing that attribute during the current anticipated forthcoming weather conditions. Disappointingly, the particular electronics store within the shopping mall vicinity, that was listed as having the particular camera in stock, unfortunately didn’t. Shazza also wants a new ‘Kindle’, she didn’t want to purchase it just yet and so activate the Warranty period before she started to use it, after Christmas 🤷‍♂️ So we have now made an executive decision and decided to wait until we return to the UK around Easter, we will pre-order both items and, any appropriate accessories, from Amazon and have them delivered to Shazza’s mums where we will be staying, oh well, we may have nothing to open here on Christmas morning, but at least when we do eventually get our Christmas presents it will make a nice change from Easter Eggs I suppose 😂

We got home and prepared ourselves for another few days of being confined. We recalled that It was November 2016 when our local area, the Marina and Town, last suffered a catastrophic flood, we had been here on one of our Winter Sun visits and had friends from the UK staying with us, fortunately, due to our location at the top of the hill, we had been in no real danger, the roads outside our apartment had been more like rivers, as the drains could not cope with the deluge of water in such a short space of time, but as water runs down hill the worst impact was at sea level, where storm drains overflowed adding to the mayhem, we wondered if it would be the same this time or whether they would be better prepared with the advance ‘Red Alert’ warning.

On the Tuesday, we waited, and we waited, and we waited, the sky got greyer and darker and much more threatening, but the sea remained visible. I remember opening the balcony French windows and finding it eerily quiet, the sea was flat and completely calm, in places it looked like a sheet of glass, there was not a breath of wind, no road noise, no human voices, not even the chirping of the birds, this was my first ever time of truly witnessing ‘The Calm Before The Storm’, but throughout the day and early evening there had been not one single raindrop. We kept checking the Local Media, ‘Works of Fiction’ and Social Media Forums and discovered that reports were coming in of areas just twenty minutes to the South of us, and those just twenty minutes North of us in Estepona, which had started with the rain, also further up the coastline, Marbella, Fuengirola, Benalmádena and Malaga, and towns and villages in-between, including those further inland, had started to suffer with torrential downpours, and rivers and streams had started to fill to dangerous levels, people were being evacuated from their homes.

What was really strange was that as yet, our small area, in our little geographical bubble, had not had one drop of rain, let alone torrential, it was as if we were being protected by some sort of invisible guardian, whilst all around us were bracing themselves against the inevitable, we were ‘Sandwiched Between Two Storm Fronts’ but not suffering the effects from either, how could that be, it didn’t make any sort of logical sense to us 🤷‍♂️

It was around midnight when I saw the first, quite short, flash of lightening, although it was smothered above the thick grey clouds so did not offer a spectacular display, as it had done previously, it was followed some time afterwards by a weak low rumble of thunder, perhaps this was part of the storm passing to the South of us I thought to myself 🤔 After an hour, just as I had decided to go to bed myself, their was a long and bright lightening strike, swiftly followed by a loud crack of thunder, then I heard the first drops of rain hit the outer security shutters, slowly at first then the pace began to increase. In bed, with all the external shutters closed I could not see any lightning, but the loud thunder cracks grew longer and louder as if they were right overhead, the rain was now hammering on the shutters, driven by gale force winds that had suddenly picked up, and so it went on, well into the early hours until eventually I drifted into a deep sleep, the duvet tucked up over my shoulder’s, even though it wasn’t cold, but as if it was an added layer of protection between me and the monster storm outside my windows which was beating on the shutters trying to get in.

I awoke at my usual early hour, Shazza was half awake, with the shutters closed it was dark and I switched the light on in the kitchen to make the usual morning coffee’s, so at least I had confirmed that we still had power, that was a bonus 👍 I took her’s through to the bedroom, with her iPad of course and then took up my usual position on the balcony. According to the ‘Works of Fiction’, Wednesday was supposed to be the day when our area would experience the worst of the storm, but the rain, whilst it was still falling, had decreased in intensity, to me it was just a normal rainy day, their was no lightening, or thunder, but was this just lulling me into a false sense of security for what was to come. During the rest of that day and into the evening and night the rain was constant, but it kept varying, one minute it was torrential, then it would ease off before turning into just long periods of drizzle, before another burst of torrential rain, this was a pattern that was repeated throughout the day and into the night. We kept checking the local forum chat groups, these would always be the first to report on any flooding, or damage, in our immediate locality, but there was nothing.

The following morning when I took up my normal lookout position, it had stopped raining, although the sky was just a mass of dark grey cloud, it looked threatening, as if there could be another deluge at any moment, but it never arrived. I checked the local, national and International media reports on my iPad to see how other areas had been affected and discovered that it wasn’t just Spain that had suffered extreme adverse weather conditions, Albufeira (Portugal), on the Southern Algarve coast had flooded and across the other side of the Mediterranean, Sicily too. Our area had now been downgraded from ‘Red Alert’ to ‘Orange’ and then later in the day ‘Yellow’, although further North up towards Malaga City, the ‘Red Alert’ remained active.

PORTUGAL

SICILY

Shazza and I already knew how lucky we, and our immediate local area, had been yet again, but seeing the above images (and a lot more), of the devastation that this second ‘DANA’ weather event had wreaked, not only in Spain, but elsewhere in Europe, certainly reinforced that feeling. These ‘DANA’s’, as they are called, are certainly nothing new, but it is their increasing intensity and frequency that the Meteorologists are concerned about and blaming on ‘Climate Change’. But the reality is, these extreme weather phenomonons are actually occurring all over the Globe, whether it be Floods, Tornados, Hurricanes, Cyclones, Wildfires, Earthquakes, Volcanic Eruptions etc. and I guess they will continue to occur. Shazza reminded me that actually, if you go back in history to the Ice Age, the changing weather systems are a continuing cycle of events, so she asked me the question, “How do we know that these weather events are not just part of that natural cycle ?” I looked at her with a blank expression on my face, and with my eyes glazing over 🤷‍♂️ “Ask me one on Sport” I responded 🤭

We never did get any more rain, although on the Friday, it was still very windy and a bit cloudy, but quite bright, so we decided that it was safe enough to risk venturing out, the kids were back at school, and the clean-up operations had commenced. As we walked along the seafront promenade the waves were tall, around 2-3 metres in height, they were pounding in quick succession onto the beaches and we could see all of the debris that they had brought in with them, lying strewn just above the water line, the army of council workers were already out, cleaning it up. There were the usual faces sat in our favourite cafe/bar, but there were no tables free, so we walked a little further to our second favourite and sat with our coffee’s watching, and listening, to the sounds of the waves and the screeching of the gulls, also to the conversations being held on nearby tables, it seemed that most were having the same similar conversations, ‘Mucha lluvia pero ningún daño a qui’ (A lot of rain but no damage here). The Spanish lady owner asked if we had been alright, we of course said that we were and asked if she had suffered any damage, she said that her property had not been flooded but a lot of the plastic tables and chairs had to be recovered from along the promenade after the gale force winds had carried them away, I did wonder how she knew which were her’s, as most of the Cafe/Bars have the same white plastic one’s, but I didn’t ask her, although, when I thought about it, they do have different brands of beer embossed on them. After our coffee’s and impromptu practice Spanish lesson, we walked into the main town to just pick up a few groceries, fruit and vegetables primarily, these days I don’t wake up with a ‘bed head’, more of a ‘Brocolli Head’, and I have told Shazza that if my grey hair starts to turn ginger then it’s time to cut down on the Carrots 😂😂 The town was its usual busy self, everyday life here was as usual, just normal. There was no evidence of any flood damage, no remnants of sticky mud on the streets or pavements, everything just looked quite normal 🤷‍♂️ As we walked back towards the Marina, and then onward towards the Village, where the car was parked, the sun came out and even in the wind it still felt quite warm. As we got into our car and started to pull away we noticed a car pull up and park, horizontally to the sea wall, we wondered why it had parked that way when there were plenty of bays free to enable it to park vertically, between the lined bays 🤔 Then we saw the waves breach the wall and spray the car roof, the person inside put on the windscreen wipers and cleaned their windows, cheaper than taking it to the car wash I suppose, but with Salty sea water !! 😲 Oh well, I thought to myself, they probably have a good supply of rust remover they need to get rid of 🤷‍♂️

You know how I like to take an optimistic view, well I have a little bit of good news to round off this ramble, some weeks ago I mentioned the drought and how they were going to make an announcement on whether to decrease our daily domestic water allowance, and I showed the level of our particular Embalse (Reservoir), which, at that time (28th October) reflected that it was at 41.69% capacity. Well, and rather unsurprisingly, I have to say, no announcement has been forthcoming, to be honest they have probably been involved in much more important meetings recently 🤔 However, I do not think the ‘Drought Committee’ will be having any meetings anytime in the near future as, just three weeks and two ‘DANA’ events later, the level in our Embalse is now at 61.02% But the more important statistic is that we have nearly 150% more capacity than we had at this time last year, and that will continue to keep rising a little for the next few days, due to the run off from the mountains. So sometimes, out of disaster and tragedy, you do have to pick out these little glimmers of good news, and with both England and Spain men’s football teams winning their recent International games towards the latter end of this week, well, what can I say, except that the end of the week has certainly been much better than when it started, now all I need is for them to sing my favourite hymns on ‘Songs of Praise’ on Sunday and I will be well happy 😂

Worthy of note, the above AEMET Agency weather forecast for our immediate area, it shows todays weather (Saturday November 16th) and the next three days, to be cloudy, yet I am sat here on the balcony doing the final draft on this ramble, in beautifully warm sunshine, looking at blue sky, so let’s hope that they get the weather forecast wrong again a week on Monday 🤭

Let’s hope that when I pen my next ramble, it will be about something other than the weather eh 😂 So, until next time……………………..

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena