Discovering a new life in Costa Almeria

This weekend see the 9th 'Experiencia Espantapitas' taking place in Terreros. My understanding of this is a music, arts and discussion festival for indie music. On the south end of the town (out past the Calypso) an area has been made for all the campers and there are hundreds of tents there with more dreadlocks on show than I've ever seen before. I think this is a festival that moves around Spain, I don't think it's here every year.

The arena has been built at the other end of the beach next door to Pepa's and the festival is running tonight and tomorrow, yesterday being a rehearsal day. We can hear the music up at the villa so anyone living on Calas del Pinar (where we are buying) will be getting a rousing free rendition as they are very close to the action, and it's currently 1.30am and still going on.

Read my full blog entry at http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com

Now that's a phrase I never thought I'd be typing.

Back in June the Terreros Ladies Group bought me a Kumquat tree for my birthday. Now, they weren't to know that me and horticulture don't exactly go hand in hand, that when I buy cut flowers and put them in a vase the only time they get water is when I first put them in or that growing plants in the garden involves coming into close contact with soil which may hide any one of a multitude of insects not to mention the number of livestock that will move in amongst the leaves, fruit and flowers of any plant left in my possession.

This tree is in a pot so that it can be moved and planted when we move into our own home later on, so I now have a serious watering issue. We live in the hottest climate I've ever lived in where things dry out in an hour and I am now responsible for ensuring this tree has adequate water at all times to nurture and grow flowers and fruit which, when ripened (always assuming we'll get that far) will be ideal for making marmalade (and cooking ranks about level with my skills in horticulture - still, you should learn new tasks once you have retired and have the time - shouldn't you?).

See full blog and photo evidence at http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com

The hardest thing about moving to Spain was leaving my Dad, but we spoke often on the phone and when he was in hospital I came back to visit him. He was always so keen to hear how we were getting on and when I was back in Sheffield visiting he was always telling me to fly back to Spain, as that was where my life is now.

Well, the benefits of only being a couple of hours away could not have been more apparent than when I phoned him last week and realised how poorly he sounded. I was booked on a flight and back with him at home within a few hours. It meant I could have a last cup of coffee and a chat with him before he went to sleep for the last time.

Anyone with family and friends who you've always been meaning to ring but never got round to it, ring them today for me - you never know when it will be too late.

I know my Dad was happy to see how well we had settled in Spain, he was pleased at how much my health has improved since we moved here and I know he had total faith in Neil to look after me - Dad's job was done and he could finally slip away as he wanted to, in his sleep with me there to look after him.

Sleep well Dad.

We have been playing at our golf course for about 3 months now and so we decided it was time we started to take part in some competitions - so, today was our 1st,

Normally at this point I would say - read more at http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com but the truth is as yet, we don't know how we got on............

but we may do tomorrow.

In the meantime, I can tell you how well we think we did at http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com

3 times a week we pass the beach on the way to the golf course early in the morning and very often there are a number of beach umbrella's stuck in the sand with no loungers underneath, no chairs and no people - just umbrellea's so I asked where they came from. Apparently, this is how our spanish holiday makers reserve their spot on the beach. They then go for breakfast, go shopping, infact go where ever knowing that when they return, their place will be safe.

I also noticed that despite the beach being quite wide from the promenade to the sea ALL the beach umbrellas and sunbathers seem to be in a concentration of 3 or 4 meters close to the sea. There may be 20 meters of empty beach but no-one sets their umbrella there, they go very close to someone already in place. Whether this is because the sand is so hot they prefer to be on top of each other rather than having to walk across hot sand to get to the sea, or whether they feel there is safety in numbers, who knows - but it does seem odd to see them all clustered together when there is so much empty beach.

Whilst we have been in Spain we have been fortunate to make friends with some spanish families and Amelia and Jose Luis invited us to their party last night to celebrate Amelia's birthday, and the invitation had said we were to dress up as either cowboys, indians or can-can girls (or boys!)..........

Read more at  http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com 

Well, spanish lesson numero uno went much better than I expected. Having studied (and passed) 'O' level spanish in 1974 and not used the language since, I had been brushing up on words by using the Spanish training program on my Nintendo DS, bashing gophers on the head that happened to hold plaque with the correct word and doing word searches in spanish. 

But, since living here it has been apparent how little I could put together to form a sentence and I anticipated serious problems getting back into reading and constructing full sentences. But, having sat down with my book - Present Day Spanish - Volume 1, the chosen book of my tutor, well - I was pleasantly surprised...........

Read more on my main blog at http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com

Oh, and 'una aldea a orillas del mar? - a village by the sea.