La Cucaracha
One evening we return home and as I enter the bathroom I note, on the ceiling, the biggest cockroach I have ever seen. Is that an exaggeration? Possibly, but then every time I see a cockroach it seems a bigger one than the last. I don’t like them but needs must, and I decide to tackle it. I use a brush as it’s the only thing in the apartment big enough to put at least a few feet between us. My wife, Sue is blissfully unaware of the battle about to take place as she sits in our living room listening to some music. Brush at the ready together with my secret weapon, cockroach spray I tackle the foe. The expectation is to spray then flip it downand brush up and flush. What I have never been told however is that they can fly, or at least glide. And that’s exactly what it did, right past my face. I had two choices, stay calm or scream! I screamed! But at least I got reinforcements. Two of us are now trying to spray, trap and get rid of the enemy without crushing. After a battle of wits where the cockroach managed to escape to the living room, we finally got rid, burial at sea, as it were. The decision to keep the toilet light on all night from then on was made. Even though we managed to dispose of it we felt like we hadn’t really won! The trouble was, we felt violated and we toddled off to bed, lights on!
One thing we have not missed in our first week in Spain is the TV. We have rented a furnished apartment with the normal Spanish TV. We scan the channels for anything resembling an English language channel anyway and find three. Disney channel, an American channel that seems to show desperate housewives a lot and Discovery. In England we tended to fall into the trap of coming home from work and watching TV. Even if we don’t watch, the TV tends to be on anyway. To have a more outdoor and stress free life attracted us to Spain and we are spending a lot more of our time outside. There are only two serious concerns at this point, the first being Coronation Street - We have responsibilities, I for one have been brought up on it from a very young age and Steve McDonald has only recently got over a serious bout of depression – I don’t want to be responsible for any possible relapse. Secondly, the impending football season. Now I don’t want to fall into the trap of the English football fan abroad who spends all their time searching and watching the English Premier League. There are numerous bars around the immediate area of where we live, none of them show English football! Plenty of Spanish football, but nothing resembling the English Premier League. I try to put a positive spin on this, after all, I’m an Everton supporter and despite them being the greatest club in world football, we are not currently very well off, or good. The lack of football may actually improve my mental wellbeing! I could even support Real Madrid and live off reflected glory. I won’t let it take over my life however and a search for football should not take over from the real reason I’m in spain.
We also have no internet. This is more of an issue as we communicate a lot on Skype, Facebook and twitter, not to mention we will probably need it in our search for work. We have five sons between us and they are spread all across England so contact with them is very important to us. We are promised internet by our landlord but will have to wait 5 weeks. The block of apartments are quite old and for the whole block to get internet access requires agreement from the committee. Another apparent factor is that a lot of the internet companies are closed for the summer holidays. This means we have to go to local bars for internet access, not necessarily a bad thing but quite expensive long term. It’s always a source of amusement when you see a group of people sitting together, not talking because they are on Facebook or the internet. We now go to a local bar each day to catch up… and don’t talk to each other while we are there. At least my mobile phone plan includes unlimited EU calls even though my internet package is rendered useless in Spain.
We find a fantastic place to swim. For those who have never been to Torrevieja, there is a lovely harbour which has a stretch of yachts and bars alongside. Further up is a stretch of water where yachts drop anchor, order food which is delivered by boat from one of the local bars. It’s also perfect for swimming. Clear, blue, calm water perfect. We spend quite a bit of time there and it never gets too busy.
We get told that the weather in the UK is very poor at the moment. When usually there is at least one sustained period of maybe one or two weeks of nice weather, this year it’s just miserable, 12 or 13 degrees in July/August in some cases. OK, we are talking about the North West of England but having good weather clearly improves you mood. Our move is not just about the weather of course but the feel good factor is definitely the biggest draw here!
We end the week with the news that there will be family visiting. My dad, who is nearly 80 will be flying out with my sister. We have been told to expect a lot of family and friends visiting, especially at the beginning but having seen the price of flights this summer we weren’t sure whether that would be the case. Luckily a bargain was found and we have our first visitors soon.