Here we are again another 4 weeks have been lost in the preoccupation of moving to Spain.   Life it seems, can, pass you by very quickly if you are not careful.

We are now in Spain and settled into our basic but cosy rented accommodation.  The house sits on the border of Spain with Portugal, so close that I am in the bedroom typing this piece in Spain, whilst my husband is sitting in the Garden  having a coffee in Portugal.

The scenery here is, I have to say amazing, and it is easy to see why those who came before us were seduced into living here.    Extremadura is, I have been told ,(I have not measured  it to confirm) about the same size as Switzerland  or was it Holland, anyway it contains approx 1 million people, (1 million and 2 now!)  Of that million, 300,000  live in the 2 major towns/cities, Badajoz and Caceres and a few more in Merida.  Leaving the rest of the landscape, roads and sheer beauty for the rest of us.  You can travel down the Motorway/Road/ Camino for miles and miles and not see another car, house, village or person, you will see endless oak, Cork trees and fruit trees under which grazing on the land are, cattle, pigs and sheep.  Small enclaves of houses come into view and villages appear all of which are welcoming and a joy to visit.

 Roman fortresses and moors buildings are to be seen all around, and the villages are awash with cobbled stones and houses with little red roofs. You can be in a town and suddenly come across small green areas of grass where goats or sheep graze.

In our little enclave of about 50 houses, we, like most villages in Spain, have the advantage of a merry band of dogs, all of which ,look well cared for and contented.   We have named them and look out for them on our excursions  out of the village.

Monty -  Monty is, without doubt the top dog, if he had a baton under his front leg, and a little beret on, you can almost see him arranging the troops in Africa.   Monty is usually the first to spot  our GB car heading out of the village.  He will sit and nod you through like someone at a border patrol one false move and you're in the brig.  Following closely behind Monty is Yorkie, who is the most untidy and scruffiest little dog I have ever encountered.   Yorkie always looks like it is all too much for him, and simply follows Monties commands.  I think he has decided that Montys' ways are to be suffered and it is probably easier to follow than to argue.  Yorkie, unlike Monty who sits and nods, lays in the middle of the road, and lays, and lays, eventually he will lift his head, give us a cursory stare shuffle over a bit and let us proceed to the next checkpoint charlie, who we call Squeak.

Squeak looks to be a cross between a doberman and a Chihuahua, erring on the side of a Chihuahua ( re his size)   He really is there just to make up the numbers, he trundles down besides the car, driving my other half mad as he keeps going out of sight and we are worried he will end up under the wheels.  Soon enough though the gang of 3 are sighted in the rear mirror trotting back to the border control, job well done.   If you can manoeuvre through the gang then you can get get out of the village to get to where you need to go.  There is a caveat to that.  If the Cowman has decided that his Cows need to go up or even down the village you may have to wait a bit longer, equally if the local goat herd takes a sudden urge for village life as opposed to mountain life then you really are in a  M25 situation.

Finally, of course there is more to moving here than the pretty pretty, we have been busy viewing houses and have made some decisions , there is the getting on and living bit to do yet, but  to start with , we want to enjoy these moments and I just wanted to explain and show to you the pleasure we, at this early stage, are having in this glorious environment.  The title of this particular piece comes from a quote, I read a few days ago

It is all very beautiful and magical here - a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breathe it, let the sun bake into you. The skies and the lands are so enormous, and the detail so precise and exquisite that wherever you are you are isolated into a glowing world between the macro and the micro, where everything is sidewise under you and over you, and the clocks stopped long ago. 

Ansel Adams

from A Letter to Alfred Stieglitz from Abiquiu, New Mexico., September 21, 1937

He could have been describing Extremadura

The last time I looked at this blog was back in May. Shortly after our trip to Andalusia, and the discovery that there was Capital Gains Tax to pay on our house sale in here in the UK if we sold and moved within the same tax year.

Throughout the months that followed, we have continued to carry on with life in the UK as usual.
Maintaining the garden, tea at the local garden centre. So British!






We did have an unusual event. My husband had spinal surgery in July, which we always knew was on the cards, and, I am pleased to say he has recovered well, and as we suspected, is now unable to work in the industry he was in before, the upside is no pain, and can walk, prior to the operation chronic pain and could just about make it to the kitchen. Now he is unofficially semi- retired, and looking forward to new experiences in Spain. At the age of 55 we count ourselves lucky that we are in a position to be able to commit to a change in our lives.

As the husband was now at home, he has become the main "seeker" of information on our move to Spain; he has been following the ebbs and flows of the economic situation and the housing markets, collated information etc. I think he sees himself as a BBC Correspondence in charge of the move to Spain. When I return home after work, I get an immediate update on what has happened, where and why. I almost expect him to sign off with his name!!!




The summer months past, what a glorious summer we had here and we continued with our daily routines, but always at the back of our minds was the eventual change that we would be making to our lives. I have continued to make progress learning the Spanish language and now I feel, that I am at a stage, where I just need to be in Spain, using the language skills that I have so far learnt. My husband on the other hand needs to study more, and to that end, I am about to take the old adage used in the medical profession. See one, do one, teach one, and teach him, what I have so far learnt. Not sure how that will work, but if this blog is renamed, one man goes to Spain, we have divorced.


As you may remember from my previous posts, I always had an itch that I had to scratch, that itch is called Extremadura.

If I am honest I had concerns about this trip.   I have no idea where my desire to move to Extremadura came from. I think many years ago I stumbled across something on the web or watched something on the TV. I then started to investigate the region more. Its history, flora and fauna etc. Although we had discussed the possibility of moving abroad in the future, the where and when was not decided, although we had always thought it would be Andalusia,    Extremadura was not on our list of possibilities. However, whatever it was that I had read, it must have stuck with me, as I was the one who pushed for this particular visit. My husband agreed that we needed to go, if only to rule it out, and to ensure that I had scratched my itch. I just hoped we would not be disappointed and I had not built up some fantasy in my head.  So on September 9th we flew to Madrid to start our reconnaissance trip to this fairly unknown and remote corner of Spain.

Our first Destination was the town of Trujillo, which is situated approximately a 3 hour drive from Madrid airport. At first the landscape was pretty uninspiring as we drove towards our destination, not wows or look at that. Not the endless olive groves and white villages clinging to the hillsides in Andalusia. We drove the empty roads, and commented on the lack of people, it looks as though no one actually lives there. I have read that the population is about 1 million and all in an area the size of Switzerland.

As we drove into Extremadura the landscape unfolded in front of us. We started to drive through forests of corks and oak, areas are known as Dehesa (scrubland).



The Oak woodlands went on for miles, dotted throughout the landscape, with their brown trunks and the green foliage, sometimes these forests were dense at other times they were scattered throughout the hills, Dark shiny skinned Iberian pigs wandered beneath the trees, grazing on the grasses and the acorns. 



The acorns contain oils and enzymes, which are, apparently crucial in the production of Iberico Hams. Amongst the trees we also saw cattle grazing on the wild grasses. Extremadura is full of cattle ranches some go on for miles. Then suddenly we would drive through an area of open plains called chorros. Again where cattle and horses grazed.

Usually I am not a fan of what I refer to as “flat Lincolnshire land”, but in Extremadura I will make an exception. Although when we were there the grassland was scorched dry and brown, from a long hot summer, it was not hard to imagine how, after the first rains and in Spring time, the land would burst into life with flowers, what a sight that must be, We made a mental note, even if we do not move here we must come and see it,when in full bloom.

Among the forests, and the plains the Cork trees came into view. Whilst you may not have heard of any famous Extremdurian wines, the cork you remove from your bottle of plonk, may well have come from a cork tree in the area. I have read that 26% of the world’s market in wine corks, actually come from Spain. Many of the trees had already had their cork harvested, what was left was highly polished trunks, shining like conkers in the sun. 



There were mountain ranges in the distance and sometime around us, it was truly gorgeous.

We continued to drive to Trujillo, a perfect little town, where we spent the evening, having dinner in the exquisite square and preparing for our first full day in Extremadura and viewing our first properties in the area.

Next time, Trujillo, brain on plane and a sense of peace.........................




Main Square Trujillo.

 So here we are another month on from my last post and another month closer to the move.If I am being perfectly honest my feelings about this move change from absolute certainty to real fears of the unknown. Which I think on reflection is healthy.

The one thing that all mankind has in common is that we have all made our fair share of wrong decisions; anyone who has not made a bad decision has never had to make one or has spent their life avoiding them.  Every day most of us make decisions, from minor ones - should I have the large chocolate cake, to changing jobs or moving to another country.  Life is full of choice but it appears that the bigger they are and the more options we have the harder they get, choosing to jump out of the way of a speeding car is an easy decision to make almost, choosing to live in another country and then decide where, is much more difficult.

How we originally came to the decision I cannot remember. It seemed to be a long drawn out process over many years. It is said that you should, when making a decisions review the pros and cons. I am not in favour of the pros and cons rule after all how you can decide a pro or a con until you have lived it or experienced it. For those of you already in Spain some of the Pros you went for probably did not materialize  and may have become cons like for instance intense heat in the summer and cold in the winter, how many times have I been told - lucky you moving to Spain all that lovely weather, and yes the con is the weather will be fairly decent for a fair amount of the time, but there will be intense heat and freezing cold.

You could always spend time analysing the decision and choices that you have for example

·        What is the probable outcome of this choice?

·        What outcomes are highly unlikely?

·        What are the likely outcomes of not choosing this one?

·        What would be the outcome of doing the exact opposite?

Finally there are those who follow their gut instinct.

I have read somewhere that research shows that people who make decisions quickly, even when lacking information, tend to be more satisfied with their decisions than people who research and carefully weight their options.

Well to be honest although I have said we are following our gut instinct we have also spent time researching all the issues around moving to Spain. This leads me, to where we are now.  Having researched to death the move to Spain it was a HUGE shock to find out this week that if the house does not sell this side of 2014 and we move in 2015 the same year as the house sale we are liable to pay capital gains tax in Spain, unless we arrive after the tax residency rules of 183 days

Of all the things to miss this is one thing that could have caused us a major concern.

This is not really mentioned on any of the forums etc. and it is my belief that this is because people did not declare CGT when they sold up in the UK and moved to Spain, it is only now with the new overseas assets declaration that immigrants ( ex-pats) are starting to think about this.   I thought that this was a recent tax law but no it has been in place for many years. If you sell in the UK, move to Spain and do not invest ALL of the capital gain in a new property you are liable for CGT on the portion that is left UNLESS you were not TAX resident in that year. However if you know different please leave a comment and let me and others know.

 So for us if we sell before end of 2013 and move out in 2014 then we are fine. However if the house sale takes place in 2014 we have to ensure we do not take up permanent residency until July 2nd. This reminds me of a line in Gone from the wind

Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.

Why am I telling you this, because I think it proves that no amount of research can prepare you for the pitfalls that will occur once you have made your decision, you can analyse, write up the pros and cons but we are always at the mercy of governments, and legislators, whatever country you live in and at the end of the day as my old Nan and probably yours used to say, you have made your bed now lie in it.

We are still making our bed and it’s looking good. If not a little untidy from recent developments!

 Home and thinking about the Future

So here we are now back in the UK, full of hopes, fears and a little confused.  We know that Spain is where we want to be, where in Spain is another subject. We started this journey with a plan, large house, lots of land, up in a mountain, goats, horses etc etc.  Sitting at home in the UK that looked like the ideal life for us, everything we had always wanted, self suffiency plus the potential to have some rental income to top up my pension. The original idea changed as the trip progressed.

This trip to Spain enabled us to meet ex pats already living in Spain.  Some fell  into the category of those who had something to gain from us moving to Spain and others  fell into the category of future friends.  I will briefly cover the former.  If I heard the phrase  don't worry, its Spain once, I  heard it hundreds of times, especially from the agents.  It is clear to me that the " turn a blind eye" culture is alive and well in certain quarters, which actually worried me more.  We were told that we were under no pressure to buy, really, your telling me, I never had any intentions on buying a house on this trip, we had told everyone we contacted prior to our visit that this was the case, I can only assume that some prospective buyers do change their  minds once they are in Spain.  It was amazing as to how many properties would not be their in a few weeks, and did you  know you can put a 3K deposit down and move when you wanted.  Plus buy to lets are a great investment at the moment.  Needless to say most if not all are still for sale with a lot more added to the lists since we arrived home, and I am still not sure about the buy to let investments after all and 11% return on investment, I would have thought they most people would be biting the agents hands off.   Having said all that some of the agents were informative without any pressures and answered our questions with knowledge and experience.  Moving swiftly on we also met folks who I know we would love to meet again and would easily become friends.

We had one day out of researching areas, and we spent that day in Cordoba, near to where we were staying with Alan and Lorna and the Alpaca farms.  Their house is in what can only be described as an idyllic situation, 20 minutes down a track, up and down, round and round, amazing views and surrounded by olive groves and a pretty babbling river flowing through.  Although if you read Lorna's blog  from a few months ago, you will know that the pretty babbling river turned into a torrent of flood water complete with a run away car.

Lornas Blog

Cordoba was lovely, although the highways into the city made you realise that this is not just a little historical town but a major city, living and breathing. We managed to park and walked to the old quarter.  How pretty is this, lovely cobbled streets, old buildings,leaning into each other covered in the early signs of the up and coming patio festival, which must be an amazing sight when in full bloom. Orange trees in full fruit, ripe for picking except don't they are very bitter and husband found out. The Cathedral was just beautiful and we spent a long time in here, truly amazing. Lunch was had in a little restaurant up one of the side streets,  We shared a salad to start and then Spanish Omelet and Calamaris it was all very yummy. The afternoon was a gentle stroll looking at what else was on offer, the amazing Roman bridge for one.

After Alan and Lorna's we traveled to Alcala Real, stayed at a lovely B&B run by a young couple a real family home.

The view from the window was amazing, the castle in the distance. We woke up the following morning to 3 inches of snow. This actually enhanced the view even more, however it did nothing for my nerves re driving, the B&B in Alcala Real, is at the top of the town and we were heading down to move to our next stop Valor in the Alpujarras. Snow was not on the agenda however, after a gut wrenching drive we managed to get to the main roads safe and well and headed for out next destination.

The weather over the 3 hour drive was mixed, snow, hail sunshine and more snow.  As we eventually arrived in the region, the climb up and around the mountains began. The roads were amazingly well looked after, we did come across several rock falls, but these appeared to be well cordoned off and managed.  The views were amazing, as we travelled up and down the weather changed, lots of snow, not so much snow no snow.  As we travelled the signs for all the Alpujarras villages came and went, and they brought alive for me the book I had recently read, The Hand of Fatima, a lovely story about a boy and his life in the 15th century. Eventually we arrived at Valor, and met our next hosts. We were shown to our accommodation, which was a lovely little house, typical of the Alpujarras. However the arrival was marred by the Hosts. Remember it was freezing, we were offered a tiny little heater which apparently we could use for an hour or two, it would have just about heated a mouses toe.

 However that was not what upset me the most.  Having offered us the minuscule heater, they asked if we were there to look at houses, yes we said, well that was a big mistake.  We then received what I think they thought was constructive advice, which actually came across as offensive and actually plain bloody stupid., and while sharing the knowledge with us became actually aggressive.  I will select some of the phrase that stuck with us.

Don't buy a house in the country, the police will make you work the land - Not much fun when you are retired and they make you work.

The shops don't open in the afternoon, so you cannot buy milk

I don't drive..........and I never use the buses.

If the house you buy is  too close to the road the police will knock it down

Know I know that everyone has different experiences of their lives and I know that if you buy  property with agricultural use then yes that's what you have to do, But I have yet to hear of British OAP's being picked up on a Saturday and being made to work in a chain gang. Maybe I was being sensitive but I was really angry, I was paying money to stay in the house, I did not ask and pay for advice from someone who had not even asked my name.

That night I text someone who I had been in contact with before our arrival for a recommendation for a hotel. However one of the best things that happened on this trip was that they invited us to stay. So after our house hunting day around the Alpurujjas we arrived at the house.  I cannot express in words how welcoming they were.   We had a  fabulous dinner, several drinks and some amazing star gazing. We awoke the next morning, rested, warm and happy,  this was our last day in Spain and what a way to end.  This couple were living the life of  our dream, a lovely home, not fancy as in huge rooms or marble bathrooms, but comfortable and Spanish,  land ,not acres and acres, but enough to grow vegetables etc, lovely views but close to a sweet village that was  full of Spanish life .They were  rich in spirit and giving and we found new friends.  They gave us advice in a calm and measured manner a great deal of which we took on board, including some that we may not have wanted to hear, but enabled us to re consider our ideas.

So back to the beginning, here we are back in the UK.  We have made changes to our plans. No longer do we want a top up income, we would rather have the money in the bank, a smaller house with land but a smaller than originally thought. No horses, but definitely dogs, two, Spanish Mastiffs, maybe a goat, but heating is a must as in a priority.

We are not bothered that we have changed our ideas, that's the whole point of visiting Spain, what works on paper here in the UK is not necessarily going to work in reality.  Always remember, YOU have the power to change your life because YOU have the power to change your mind

We have another region to visit, we are going to Extremadura in August, as this is an area that  I have always had a yearning for and it is an itch that I have to scratch. 

So I leave you for the moment with a selection of photo's from our trip

 Property, location, don't worry, no one worries about that, its Spain!

So we have discussed the travelling the roads etc now we look at the real reason for the visit.. does the property in reality, match up to the prose produces by the Estate agents on the web sites.

So prior to arriving in Spain, we had emailed loads of estate agents, and in the end four different agents came back with ideas and thoughts based on what we had told them about our criteria.  At the outset we were perfectly up front with them with regards to our plans.  This was not a "buying" visit but a reality visit, what were the houses like in the areas we had chosen, what did - " needs a little work" mean,  whats a large garden in spain etc etc.  Our original criteria was

·        House with seperate letting potential

·        Decent size plot of land

·        Rural

·        Walking distance of village

or

2 houses  one to live in one to rent out either holiday or long term.

So off we went.  I am not going to go into all the individual properties we saw, but believe you me we saw a lot.  We were not dissapointed, the reality was in line with what we thought, although I am still of the belief that Estate Agents all have degrees in flowery prose.  Needs a little work usually meant, needs a complete overhaul, liveable meant,  you might live there but I would not.

Everyday we viewed various houses, made notes, looked at the possibilies, fell in love, then fell out of love - with the houses not each other, walked around the land, gasped at some of the most stunning views, laughed at the prospect of driving up and down some of  the hair raising camiros(sp) me with my eyes closed, talked in the evenings about what we had seen and eventually the visit was over.

The areas we visited were firstly around Estapa, I am afraid this did nothing for me, I do not know why, but there you have it, either a place grabs you or it does not.  Our next stop over was Nr Cordoba, this was a lovely area, the views etc were amazing. We also visited the lovely town of Alcala Real, where we woke up to snow, a beautiful scene, but a slippery drive down to the main road, where we visited a lovely house near Montifrio.  This was a house that you fell in love with, and we did, but we were not ready to move and were not going to be pushed into any on the spot decision. From here we moved onto the Alpurajjas.  This was without doubt my favourite area. Stunning views fabulous little villages and houses that fitted our original criteria.

A constant phrase we heard was as I have said in a previous post was don't worry.  When we asked questions about, legal issues, renting our properties etc, planning permissions nearly all said the same thing, don’t worry, we can sort that out, we have a solicitor who manages all the details, at one time someone even said the word investment. I assured each and every one that we would instruct our own solicitor, and we did worry about planning permissions etc. In fact as soon as someone says don’t worry, I worry!  .Sometimes I was made to feel like an illiterate itinerant!  There was some pressure to make decisions from some, but others were more understanding of the need to research and look around. I cannot count how many times we were told, if I had the money I would buy this or this house will not be here next week someone will snap it up.  Needless to say, they are all still there with new ones added.

Seven days later we arrived home tired and a little confused. There were houses that we saw that we really liked and others that we hated, some we just did not understand. Why do some people rip the original guts out of a house and turn it into a box.  Did we want a mountain  life, or lots of land or..............confusion reigned.

Despite the confusion we did learn a lot.  Heating the house is a must in the winter, water rights, living off/on grid, the benefits of solar power types of roads to and from houses, location of shops, did we want a village house or rural.  Now having been back for several weeks we have changes the criteria.  We are now looking for a house just for us, no rental at all, we are reducing the budget. No we do not want a lot of land, enough for veg, chooks etc.  We now only need a small house so as to manage reasonable heating costs in the winter. No we do not want a village, we do want rural. We want views and wildlife we do want dogs, no rental accommodation. We only want one house.  Location wise, we are still undecided.  The other thing we have learnt since we came home is that although the UK is only 2 hours away on a plane it is a long way away from emotional contact with family and friends. When we arrived home we had two phone calls. My mother was ill and awaiting results. My daughter was also undergoing tests.  The latter of which was ok the former we are still awaiting to hear about. This gave us a reality check of being away from our family. It has not made us change our minds, but has made us think about the costs of returning home and how we deal with these situations when and if they arrive again. . However, we are certain about one thing. Yes we want to move to Spain, yes we can afford it, it offers a lifestyle that we want.

Next time………who we met, what we did and where we ate

 Well the day arrived and off we went to Gatwick airport for our flight to Malaga. All went well, found Monarch airways efficient and had no issues with the flight.  Although I have to say, nothing to do with the airline as such, but what are all, those flipping suitcases, on the plane about and why, we had paid to put a case in the hold, 50 odd people did not, and then at the check in they are made an offer to do so at no cost, seems a bit unfair, and why does someone have to recline their seat back on a 2 hour journey.

Arrived in Malaga on a drizzly grey morning……picked up hire car, the care we had been allocated was damaged. A couple of large dents on both sides, I was concerned and highlighted this to the staff, it was then we heard for the first time the immortal words  “don’t Worry”,  my husband was not particularly happy with this but we were caught between a rock and a hard place, as they said, they had no other car… which I know was a lie, but not fluent enough in Spanish to argue.  It was not the last time we heard these words and already I was worried. Anyway upshot was, they had documented on all the paperwork, and we took some pictures.

  So off we went to our first destination, towards Puento Genil. Except 100 yards out of the car hire compound we ended up in a shopping centre car park, a few deep breaths and a brief argument over whose fault it was.

We eventually got on the main road towards our destination dark foreboding mountains came into view, dark clouds gathered over head.  This was not the “sunny” welcome that most would expect. We knew in advance that the weather is not all sun, sea and sangria all year round.  Many do not, lots of people said to us before we went = “oh how lovely… at least you will get some sunshine………Well, they should have been there when we arrived. Sun shine was in short supply. As I said we knew the weather could get cold and we felt this first hand during our visit, More of which later.

We found the journey to our first stop over a breeze, and both commented on how empty the roads were. We had been given excellent directions from our first contacts which helped, along with the Sat-Nav. Generally we had no issues with driving in Spain. Maybe I should clarify that statement, I did not drive, and this is something that I am going to have to eventually be able to do. We travelled around all sorts of roads when we were there including some scary winding roads with what looked like sheer drops. Some dodgy tracks, however as we progressed through the week, I felt more confident as a passenger! On our next trip, I will definitely have to drive and am determined to do so.  I wish I could practice here in the UK. As I have already stated we were stunned at how empty the roads were, including the motorways we encountered some traffic the day we went to Cordoba and the on the journey from Alcala Real to the Alpujarras I was very nervous about the roads etc. around the mountains in Alpujarras, and although I did have brief moments of OMG, generally the roads were great. We came across a few rock slips, and some ice – but on our return to the UK we had more pot holes between Gatwick and home then in Spain.  Yes some of the Caminiro’s were bumpy, but we expected that. 

Generally we had no major issues driving… he had no major issues driving!  But when we were travelling around the little villages in the mountain regions it became apparent as to why the cars all have knocks and bumps. Those little villages have such tiny narrow streets with so nice bends, just sharp turns. 

Tomorrow Houses and Estate agents!!!!!!!!!!  Don’t worry its Spain comes into its own

 So here we are a week away from our trip to Spain to discover locations for our new life.  One of the key recommendations from everyone we speak to us LEARN THE LANGUAGE.  Now for me, this is a must.  As I have stated before I can speak reasonable French, above school level below work level is how I would describe it.  When ever we have travelled abroad I have always tried to learn a few basic words, Thank-you, please, hello, goodbye etc, these few words have held us in good esteem in Turkey, Egypt, Mauritius and a few other places, and I have always felt that it is nothing  more than good manners to try and converse with someone in their own language.

However learning a few basic words in a foreign language is not the same as learning a language, and it was not until I was studying Spanish that it occurred to me that I had actually forgotten the basics of grammar how to speak and write my own language, so how could I possibly learn a foreign language. I looked back at my school days and we did not have English Grammar and English Lit we had a joined  up class covering both.   So off to the book shop where I purchased a book on  English Grammar and reacquainted myself with the joys of verbs, adjectives, pronouns and conjugation. I am so glad I did it Spanish verbs so much easier.

So onto the language.  I did, a while ago, studying  with an O.U. course in Spanish - which although working through I find a bit like working through treacle, if I was honest I would say I have wasted my money and learnt  nothing.  That aside brings us to today venture in to learning Spanish.

I am going to be the "key" learner ( so my husband tells me!!!!!)  I did well leaning French with Micheal Thomas so I have the Total Spanish CD.  I am doing very well with this as is my husband. He started a few weeks ago, a nervous learner, embarrassed  trying to pronounce the words, but you know, I am very proud of him, and he can now string the words together and is going to be able to make himself understood which is the main thing and if nothing else it is giving him the confidence to move forward with learning.

For me  Total Spanish is OK but I do find him very irritating more so than I did when learning French - and the guy on the CD I could happily beat with a lump of 2 x 4 wood!!!!!!!!!.  Also I am concerned that I will not learn enough about the conjugating of verbs, which as I type this is making me smile, at what stage in life did I think conjugating a verb would be a goo idea and I never thought I would once again be in  Smiths looking for pad, pens and a pencil case!

 I am fortunate that I have a friend at work who is Spanish and she is helping me a great deal and  although I get it wrong when i talk to her, it is great to have a native speaker to correct me.

So I am marching through the CD's but feel that I need to study more in depth.  Thank goodness for the kindle..  To be honest my feet were always firmly in the  if i want to read I'll read a proper book thank you........However I decided to dip my toe into modern technology and purchased one before Christmas. Since then I would not be without it. So I am no longer a Luddite in the world of book reading!.  Anyway I digress.   There are some great books written in Spanish on the web some are  really cheap and others are actually free.  These are two that I downloaded for free

Learn Spanish - Word Power 101 & 

Spanish Tales for Beginners (Spanish Edition)

I use these to read Spanish I understand very little but its great when something clicks!.

My  other two recent purchases, which I bought in Hard copy  are

Spanish  - Verbs and Practise by Collins

Spanish Verbs Tenses = Dorothy Richmond

So this is a quick update.  We travel to Andalusia next Saturday flying Monarch...luckily the Iberia strike is not affecting us.

I will take loads of pictures of EVERYTHING and let you know how the Spanish holds up

Bye

Before I post the main part of the blogg  I would like to make a few commments re the comments on the previous posting. Firstly I have no idea how to edit or reply to indvidual comments any thoughts would be gratefully recieved, and many thanks too all those who offered advice and friendship.

The main advice that came across was not to sell in the UK but rent and then rent in spain.  For some this may be appropriate, for us this is not.  I can see perfectly well the meaning behind this and we did consider it. But we, for our own reasons, decided against.  However, we are fortunate in respect of Family support should it all go very wrong. So we will rent in spain for at least 6 months but we wil buy eventually and will be selling this year in the UK.  

So here we go Blogg post number two.

 Planning

 The Journey to  of Spain started many many years ago. When our children now aged 28 & 30 respectively were young.