Life in Lebrija, Sevilla

I am not aware of any rugby in Sevilla only football and we avoid the bars when there is a big match on. The spanish are loud enough before they get wound up by watching overpaid people run around a field.

We had new neighbours (spanish) move in last week-end. Despite the 4inch soundproofing I added to the party walls we can still hear them shouting at each other. I even turned the telly up full but we could still hear them.

We have tried asking them to be quiet but naturally being spanish they have no understanding of of peace and quiet.

One of my spanish friends came round to listen and agreed that apart from having a gap of around two kilometers between houses there is little that one can do. In his block of apartments there are fights most weeks over noise.

Our house is now on the market as we cannot bear to live like this. It is like a council estate back in the UK.

Hopefully our prayers will be answered and we will sell and move somewhere more sociable than Spain.

Today we awoke to sunshine, not a lot but at least it is not raining.

Now all we have to do is wait for the walls and floors to dry out and then the builders will hpefully fix the constructional faults and next winter will be cosy and dry.

At least today I can sit outside with a beer whilst watching the damp slowly disappear.

Jacqci kindly informed me that she is the proud owner of a "ceiling mop" which she uses to remove moisture.

I thought our house was bad but at least the rising damp has not reached that high yet!

We are also praying that the house next door remains empty. The Spanish tenants who occupied it for six months kept us awake all night. I had just acquired a gun but they moved out. Why are the Spanish apparently oblivious to their neighbours. The inside of their houses are immaculate because they throw all their rubbish  in the street and as for their dog droppings.

Here we have developed the Lebrijan side step. It should be taught to all ex-pats who are contemplating a place in the sun.

Tomorrow I will try to publish more positive thoughts and not mention moto's. noise, damp, the meditteranean diet (or lack of), rotten vegetables and any of the other things that are sent to annoy me.

In the meantime I will continue my search for the good life.

I don't want this blog to be a continuous moan but at the moment there is little to be cheerful about.

The weather continues to be atrocious with high winds and rain. It seems to have been raining since before Christmas.

Having just looked at the 7 day forecast it looks set to continue in the same vein.

Four years ago when we first decided to move to Spain for the winter everytime we came over to look at the progress of the build the sun shone. Perhaps the climate chage industry is right after all.

However all is not doom and gloom. We are not in the UK with its warm, dry houses and central heating.

Naive I may have been but I thought that all new houses would be waterproof. I should have done more research in Spain. The houses in this community all leak to a greater or lesser degree with mould growing on walls, furniture and fittings. It is also growing in my lungs.

The locals assure me that this is normal and that when the hot weather comes again everything will dry out and you simply have to repaint your house before the rains come again next winter. It does not seem to occur to them that simple changes to their construction methods would bring about a great improvement in their quality of life. They also think it normal to have no soundproofing. I really enjoy listening to neighbours going to the toilet

They seem to enjoy their daily meetings down at the local health centre.The noise is deafening as whole families cough and shout at each other.

Has anybody got anything positive to say about life in Spain.

I am now looking forward to spending another summer back in the UK on our narrowboat. It may be a wet summer but it will be dry and warm inside the boat.