Well what a roller coaster ride this last year has been, yes, this week is the end of our first year in Spain. Those of you with the fortitude of character to have gone the distance with us will be aware of , how do they say , challenges we have over come so far.
We are believe it or not still on plan well ish , we have bought our cortijo and moved in , well were living here at least. the builders were due to start on the first of June but due to the delays on the licences we are still awaiting them .over the three months we have been here We have accumulated piles of tiles and bathroom fittings as per our arrangement so are poised ready to start, the electrics are now up to scratch and ready to go.
So that's the cortijo, as for us, we, re now feeling more settled in our own place, un like the rental when things go wrong we can now get it done either our selves or by a tradesman with out a week or twos delay and a heap of bad feeling. As a point of interest we didn't get all of our deposit back, the villa carried a Indalo man symbol apparently a sign of good luck , well we found the villa to be far from lucky if anything the Indalo man may have been the root of our bad luck. We have chosen not to have the Indalo man anywhere near our cortijo, So far so good!
The lovely wife's rash is a thing of the past, after all her discomfort and doctor visits as we moved it just cleared up , so she's either allergic to the villa or the situation down there.
Have we found our dream in Spain ? Honestly , not yet. Yes not yet . Were on plan have a cortijo we love and financially have come over the hump so what's the issue ? Well not having a pool is not ideal at this time of year but it's not the issue. We came to Spain wanting a villa and pool the usual expat plugin purchase, thankfully we rented as it opened our eyes to the issues you can have living year round in a two season property and the poor build quality. So we did what we said we wouldn't do and get a project. We feel the end position will be far superior in size and quality to what the same cash would buy on a urbanisation.
It's just our lives have been in flux since I was offered this great opportunity ! That's fast approaching three years now. Prior to arriving our health was on the slide with the various stresses and strains of middle age in a cold damp country we are enjoying improving health as a direct result of the Mediterranean life style we have embraced.
As the builders estimate three months and haven't even started yet we might not be sorted by Christmas but as they say
A bad day in Spain is better than a good day in the UK - Or is it ?
It's easy to assume that good weather , good food and the med are the ingredients of a wonderful future but don't be fooled , it can be a daily struggle to get any thing done , I don't just mean official things I mean ordinary things just going to the shops can be a drag as you tramp from one to the next trying to get what ever you want , no online ordering here , when you find what you want if it's not food then expect to pay 50% extra or more especially if it's electrical or needs delivery. Delivery costs seem to consist is the drivers wages for the DAY for an hours round trip. One on line retailer of kitchen appliances wants 90€ per appliance delivery on an order of 7 items then said they couldn't deliver as we were more than 60km from the warehouse ! 630€ delivery after spending 2500€ , no thanks . It is a real sign of the failure of this country when people import goods available in their local town because it's cheaper to bring them 1500 miles.
So the end if year report
Settling in well , could socialise more with their peers, needs more confidence, could have a promising future with a little effort !
Hmm role on next term.