The view from the back

Cortez when he reached the new lands burnt his boats on the beach to ensure his crew were properly motivated, and they were. As I've said I have spent a large part of the last 30 years delivering-change to the front line in a large organisation . If the decision is made and it is believed to be correct then no good will come from having a return to comfort zone option, all the non believers will congregate there too afraid to enter the real world. Unless your one of those who can have a house where ever you want and hop around the world as you please then the rest of us need a Home. Some where to feel safe and welcomed not to have a cross on the calendar to remind you when to run away from the baddies. As I keep saying we want to live in Spain not on Spain, we've had some problems recently with our washer and a nice local guy has been to repair it , he speaks less English then we do Spanish but we manage , it makes us focus on what's wrong and what we need to be able to say after all we came here it's not his job to conform, and after some mime and a few jokes we have a washer that works and a new friend who always apologises for poor English ? We will be looking further afield then the almanzora valley although we like the area it's too English, having the worst of our English traits in abundance and has too many housing issues. I know that's a bit arbitrary but it's often like living an episode of only fools and horses or one of those London based DIY shows where a trail of tradesmen abuse the previous persons work. To be fair I think some are only here because they can't get work in the Uk nobody wants to finish a job without being chased. We came to Spain with the preconception that the Spanish where eccentric and lazy but far from it having seen them working in the fields behind us planting and pruning trees for hours on end their more industrious then the guy who wired our cooker hood and 2 weeks later has still not fitted the vent on the wall ( Carl from Essex  ) but -- they are eccentric ! When we get our NIE and can finally buy a  we will be using Spanish tradesman where possible and putting our €s in the local pot , because if I hear " r u there babes " addressed at my lovely wife whilst he has a fag on my patio once more ill scream , customers property , personal space , respect , common manors not a prayer . But for now we're trapped in a rented villa unable to buy a car or a house just passing time waiting for our appointment on the 24 oct , let's hope all is well and we can return on the 5 dec to collect our holly grail the NIE as we have to be out of our rental on the 1st June so it will be a bit full on let's hope the buying process is quicker than the NIE !