Spanish Eyes, English Words

Are you a writer living in Spain? Or maybe you live in the UK but your heart is in Spain and so you write about it like EOS blogger Rosie Walters. If you fit into either of these categories, you may be interested in joining the Facebook group Writers In Spain, which I have recently set up. At the moment it's a very small group - well, Rome wasn't built in a day - but I'm hoping to grow it into a supportive community where writers living in Spain or writing about Spain can connect with other writers, promote their work and offer tips and suggestions to fellow writers.

If you want to join the group, I'd ask that you post a short introduction to let other group members know what you do and how you came to be writing about Spain. And since we don't want the group to be just a link dropping place - there are enough of those already - it would be great if you could post the odd writing tip, or suggestions for increasing writing earnings. Maybe you know a great site to write for, or even more important, one to avoid. Or perhaps you have a great writing-related anecdote to share.

The only criteria for joining the group are that you are a writer living in Spain, or living in another country and writing about Spain. Obviously you don't need to be writing exclusively about Spain, but there needs to be a Spanish connection, as I really don't want this to be a general writers group - there are plenty of those around already, but I haven't been able to find one geared towards writers who live in or write about Spain.

I'm really looking forward to building a supportive community for writers and hanging out with like minded people with a love of writing and all things Spanish. Hasta pronto, mis amigos!

Before we moved to Spain in 2008, we spent several years researching stuff and reading books. We decided to buy on a community, because there was all the furore about the Land Grab Laws and illegal builds, and obviously we didn't want to see our hard earned cash being bulldozed a few years down the line. Our estate agent suggested we buy on a community on an urbanisation, so that's what we did.

At first, it was pretty good.The community was fairly new, and as nobody really wanted to be President and set things up, they were more than happy to agree with everything the people who put their heads above the parapet and volunteered as President and Vice President proposed. The first two or three Annual General Meetings were, if not oases of tranquility, at least fairly civilised.

However, when everything was running smoothly, and the fees were coming in and the jobs getting done, a few people decided they weren't happy about not allowing lilos in the community pool, and not being able to have huge satellite dishes on their property so they could get the TV channels they wanted. This despite the fact they'd agreed unanimously at the inaugural meeting that the pool was too small for inflatables, and that individual satellite dishes were an eyesore the community didn't want or need. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Now, all of a sudden, those people who only ever spent two or three weeks a year in their property found they couldn't manage without a lilo in the pool or their favourite TV channel. Going to the beach with their inflatables, or missing out on a couple of episodes of their favourite programme was not an option - the rules they'd helped to formulate and agreed to would just have to be changed, and if they couldn't be changed, then they'd be broken. After all, that's what rules are for, isn't it?

Basically, the vociferous minority have managed to get their own way on everything, because the majority of residents are either too apathetic to be bothered to stand up for what they really want, or too scared of inviting the approbium of the people on a mission by saying what they really think and really want. And it all came to a head this year when around a quarter of the community managed to push through a vote for an inferior contractor because the people who could have made a difference didn't think it was worth bothering to turn up at the AGM, since the vociferous minority always get what they want, regardless of the views of the majority.

I wish I could say this is an isolated experience, but from reading the local English language press I know only too well that it's not. In fact on many communities, there is open warfare, or at least a declaration of hostilities and a divided community. Why can't people live and let live, and do what's best for themselves and the wider community? I think the basic problem is that when people get to realise they can have an impact on the community by voting in a certain way, they become a teensy bit power crazed. Either that or they've had too much sun or sangria.

The concept of 'An Englishman's home is his castle' doesn't really apply on Spanish communities, and there seems to be a certain pattern at work. The initial reaction is, 'It's my property, and I can do what I like,' but when people realise that by going against the community they may attract a denuncia and be unable to sell their property when they wish to, they spin the opposite way. Then they become community minded, but only inasmuch as they want the community rules changed to suit themselves and their own little clique.

I'm not a regretting type of person. You make a decision, and you take responsibility and live with that decision and adapt to it, rather than wasting time on thinking of what might have been if you'd done things differently. However, one thing I do regret is our decision to buy on a community on an urbanisation. You see, it's not about community at all - it's about politics and personalities. We love our home and garden, and we do have some great neighbours, but  if somebody came and offered us a reasonable price for our place, we'd sell up and move into the village tomorow. At least in Algorfa there is a true sense of community.

Oh well, the dust has settled on my brief flirtation with media fame, and things are somewhat calmer in Piddock Place now. My current affairs debut was aired on Monday 5 May in a five minute segment on The One Show, and although I was quite happy with my own on camera performance - I didn't stutter, hiccup, dry up or transmit any type of digestive noises across the broadcasting world - I must say I was less than happy with the piece itself.

In fact I was annoyed that, rather than taking the opportunity to show that life in Spain is nowhere near as bad as the media paint it, they seemed to home in on the negative aspects. Only my short piece and another piece from a couple who have recently moved to Spain really spoke up for life out here as it really is lived, and I can see just how those viewpoints will be perceived by the Moaning Ex Expat Brigade. I'll be dismissed as the token gesture to BBC neutrality, while the other couple will be pitied as poor souls who have yet to find out that instead of living the dream, they have landed in a nightmare.

I sort of knew how it was going to play when the first of the Expats By The Sea came out with the old turkey of 'Hardly any Brits on the golf course these days.' It's comments like that which have earned expats - particularly retired expats - the undeserved reputation of living it up in the sun while pensioners at home starve because they will insist on having their Winter Fuel Allowance, even though the temperatures are sky high all year round. It all helps to create a false picture.

If the production team had wanted originality and an interpretation of the true state of play here, they would surely have left in Donna Gee's contribution. As a respected journalist of many years standing who isn't afraid to say what's on her mind and tell it like it is, Donna would have put things into perspective, but her interview ended up on the cutting room floor.

Maybe they didn't want to portray Spain in an attractive light, or know what it's really like to live here, because they also trotted out the other old expat chestnut, the illegal build. While you have to feel a modicum of sympathy for someone who has to hand back the keys of his property and possibly see his life savings bulldozed, you also have to wonder why anyone in their right mind would purchase a house anywhere - let alone in a foreign country - that didn't have all the right planning permissions.

The bit about the illegal build took up most of the slot, and actually, it had no place in that piece, because the reasons that were given for moving back were mainly financial ones. The guy who paid 300,000 Euro 8 years ago for a villa that was clearly worth at least 3 times that much has nobody but himself and his own greed to blame.

I feel the BBC missed an opportunity here, because there was enough material to do a full, balanced documentary about this topic. They could have interviewed estate agents, who would surely have told them that the property market is picking up again, with many homes selling within days or even hours of going on the market. And they could have left in the bit where I paid just 6 Euro for so much fruit and vegetables that it took two members of the production team to carry it back to my car. That would have gone some way to exploding the 'cant afford to eat in Spain' myth.

But most of all, our own Donna Gee could have told them just why the headline figure of 90,000 Brits leaving Spain is not the basis for building a good piece of investigative journalism, since the authenticity of those figures is questionable. Another opportunity missed. Better luck next time, BBC!

I have proof positive that Eye On Spain blog posts figure high in Google search results. Last Friday morning, I wrote an opinion piece about the 90,000 Brits that have allegedly returned to the UK from Spain. On Friday evening, I was contacted by a BBC researcher who was bringing a film crew to Spain to talk to British expats who were returning or staying, and find out more about what life is really like for expats in Spain.

I was pretty flattered that my seemingly innocuous post had attracted the attention of the BBC, so of course I agreed, although when they said they were filming over 100 miles away, it looked as if my media career would be over before it had even begun. However, they were keen to get my views on camera, so they agreed to come to me in Algorfa on Sunday morning. Since I was pretty emphatic that it is possible to eat cheaply in Spain if you eat like the Spanish do and shop at the markets, it was decided that the interview would be filmed at our local Sunday market.

When Sunday arrived, I was even more nervous than I was when I appeared on Mastermind back in 2007. You may think that sounds strange, but when I was on the quiz show, I knew that all I had t do was sit in that black chair and answer questions, whereas an on camera interview is something very different. I'm not media trained, and it's the first time I've done this, although I was interviewed on the radio for the Jeremy Vine Show last year. Again, that was because a researcher had picked up my blog post about the Winter Fuel Allowance.

I need not have worried, because the film crew were very helpful, and briefed me on the sort of questions the presenter would be asking. Basically we just wandered around the stalls in the sun, causing a stir among stall holders and shoppers alike. The stall holders were so delighted to be on the BBC they showered us with meat, fruit, cheese and fruit - so much so that I asked the film crew to come back next week and film at the paella stall at lunch time!

Since Sunday, I've heard that my piece on camera went really well. I still don't know when it will be aired - apparently it's for The One Show - but they'll let me know in plenty of time. All I'd ask is that my friends here on Eye On Spain resist the urge to sell their stories to the tabloids about how they knew me before I was famous. Even us media celebrities deserve a private life!

Edited to add: I just heard from Laura. The piece will air on The One Show at 8.00pm Spanish time on Monday 5 May. I've also discovered that another EOS blogger, Donna Gee, will also feature in the programme. EOS certainly gets you noticed!