Another year passes!
Another year passes ...
Yep! Another year is passing rapidly now. The last few weeks haven’t exactly been the best for the Valencia province, with huge floods and loss of life, although here in the Gandia area, we have been extremely lucky, mainly due to the foresight of the Gandia Ajuntamiento (Town Hall) of the time. About three years ago I believe, the town hall spent a huge amount of money, clearing out the dry river bed that runs around and through the town and lined much of the large river bed (barranco) with a woven plastic material similar to weed matting. Not the most attractive item, visually. But it did its job when the heavens opened. There have been several videos, shot on mobile phones, of the 20 feet plus wall of muddy water carrying tree trunks and debris from miles upriver rushing through the barranco almost up to the level of the bridge at horrendous speed, and it all ended up out at sea, rather than flooding the town. OK, the beach was solidly filled with debris washed back up, but all of that debris would have been hurtling towards property and life if were not for the efficiency of the barranco doing its job. Yet another time when we counted ourselves lucky that we chose to live in Gandia!
Actually, there is always a happy story to tell in the worst of circumstances and this recent flooding is no exception. For despite the horrendous work involved in putting right all the damage in Valencia city and the harm that the floods achieved, less than 48 hours after the main event, young folk were walking into the areas armed with spades, buckets and similar equipment to help those who had been hit so hard. Just ordinary people, mostly in their late teens to late twenties voluntarily taking on heavy labour for days at a time, to help those most stricken. No pay, no reward, just needing to help. At one point, a local television company filmed them queuing up at the Science park, in their droves, to be told where their help was needed most. The very best of human nature!
But that is very much the Spanish way. For all of the apparent belligerences sometimes seen or heard (especially with Spanish paperwork), they are very much ‘people’ people. They are known for their social openness and love of a good party for 'any' or 'no reason'. But they also stand up for each other in a way that seems to be largely lost elsewhere. They can be doggedly awkward and obstructive to deal with in an official way, yet incredibly supportive and empathetic in others. A complex people to be sure, but they do seem to get under your skin, and it doesn’t take long to want to be one of them.
At this moment in time, my much better other half is back in the UK, visiting a relative who has had to go into hospital, leaving me to my own devices. Yes, I can hear the murmurs of envy from here, chaps! But actually, I think that we have grown even closer since we’ve shared the journey of relocation, learning a new language and way of living and settled into our beautiful villa on the mountain. What I wanted to say was that I walk Wolfie (that’s me folks, the editor of this drivel! - Ed) in the woods around the monastery every morning as usual and meet the occasional dog walker in the process. All of whom stop and ask where my lovely lady is. The local supermarket checkout staff ask if everything is OK as I am not being supervised in the usual way. (They are all Spanish speakers, by the way). Our neighbours in the UK were generally friendly folks with one set of close friends, but here it’s as if there is another close tie. Maybe it’s because we are all away from our natural background and territory? We are a proper mix of nationalities as you regular followers will know, but there is definitely an extra layer of ‘care’ for each other here, which is both comforting and life enhancing.
We actually had no idea how our social life was going to change before we made the move over here. We were so busy working back in the UK, that we had a very ‘surface’ social life really. Mainly family orientated, with just a few friends, generally work centered. Of course retirement has a lot to do with it. I’m sure that we would have made more friends had we stayed in the UK after retirement, but it really has been an eye opener here. OK, so we have been here over three and a half years now, but a couple of weeks ago we actually sat down and discussed cutting down on our social engagements because we were actually getting worn out. Yes, literally every day we were out at least twice each day or having folks at the villa and out in the evening. Complaining? No, not at all. We have just had to learn the lesson that you really can’t burn the candle at both ends at this time of life! Plus, of course, you will find that owning a villa is much like owning a boat. There is always something to do.
We swapped a lovely little three-bed detached on a fairly modern estate, for a five-bed villa with guest suite and pool and still had enough in hand to make the changes that we wanted without touching hard earned savings. But a pool needs week round maintaining. Yes, I do it myself, but it still takes about five hours a week on average and the equivalent to sixty pounds a month in chemicals. It’s great having three bathrooms, but that does mean three bathrooms to maintain. It’s twice the size of the house in the UK. That's a lot of walls and ceilings to be painted every couple of years and the outside decoration is almost beyond us without professional help. Luckily that only needs doing every six to eight years. The tiled floors inside are great in the summer and so easy to clean, but in the winter (like it is getting now), you need your slippers and rugs scattered about. We don't have heating in our villa. Just the big open fireplace in the ‘snug’ and reverse cycle air conditioning in the bedrooms. But you know what? We actually like it. We are used to seasons in the UK. In Spain the seasons are less polar opposites. Sure, it can get really hot in the summer, but that means a relatively mild winter still feels damnably cold, you know? So, it’s nice sat in front of a log fire in your fleecy pj’s with your Spanish pixie slippers on, watching some box-set on the tv in the evening. Whereas in the spring/summer/autumn you are grateful for the tiled floors and cool holding ability of the Spanish house and we’re mostly out all the time anyway.
Christmas? Yes that’s coming up fast. Well, our number one son and his wife emigrated to Canada this summer, so we won’t be seeing them until our big trip to Canada next summer. Daughter dearest has used up all her holiday gallivanting around Mexico this year, so she’ll be staying at home in Brighton with new boyfriend and Ati the cat. We were in the UK for last Christmas, so we’ll be staying put this year – and yes that will be a little bit odd without the kids on Christmas morning. But hey! Guess what! A couple with whom we have made close friends are coming over for Christmas day lunch and are staying over for Boxing Day. Our neighbours are back the following day, so plans are already afoot for New Years Eve. We have a serious amount of interior and exterior festive lighting to put up, two trees to decorate, Wolfie’s presents have already arrived (oh, yes? - Ed) and been secreted away. (Damn! - Ed) I am currently looking out for bits n bobs for Missus Christmas’s morning stocking.
But I shall speak to you all again before then. Probably as the temperature gets ever lower and the grey skies ever more prevalent in northern Europe, you will be picking up the ol’ laptop and perusing properties in Spain to escape the winter chills. That’s what we did for a good couple of years before we made the move. All I will say is do proper due diligence! Of course, your heart has to be satisfied, but don’t forget your head. It’s a major shift for anyone, but you can make it a lot less stressful if you plan properly and create a good support network before you even come over to look at properties. We did. And we’ve never regretted it.
See ya!
For regular readers, “Nos vemos!”
