Sometimes you can get information overload on the practical benefits of life in Spain, so I’m going to talk about those advantages from a personal viewpoint. If the non-existent English summers, fuel prices which need a second mortgage to fill the tank of anything larger than a Ford Fiesta, and rapidly rising food prices haven’t convinced you it’s time to move to the Costa Blanca - or wherever you fancy - perhaps this will.
We’ve been here for 5 years, and we immediately started to feel the benefits healthwise. My husband Tony and I both suffer with arthritis; he has Osteoarthritis and I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis and Lupus, which, simply put, is a type of arthritis in the vital organs. Anybody else would settle for just one painful, chronic condition, but hey, I’m greedy!
The point of this isn’t just to elicit a sympathetic response – though TLC and bottles of vodka are always gratefully received in the Piddock household – I want to tell you how our health has improved in our time on the Costa Blanca. The World Health Organisation says this is the healthiest place in the world for people with arthritis, as the climate is hot and dry with low humidity. You know what? They’re right!
Our joints are so much easier already; this means movement is less painful, so we can exercise more than before. It’s a bit early to enter us for the London Marathon, but at least we can both manage a gentle swim most days and a steady walk into our local village a couple of times a week. This extra movement, combined with living on salads and fruit because it’s too hot for anything more, means that I’ve lost almost a stone without trying. I’m more Fern Britton than Dawn French these days, even if I haven’t got their money.
Talking of money, we can now save a little each month, which hasn’t happened in the Piddock household in living memory. Brits who’ve lived in Spain for 10 years or more are bemoaning the increases in prices over here, but to us relatively new kids on the block, it’s like shopping in a Third World Country pricewise. Let me give you a couple of examples. Most eggs are free range in Spain, and they cost around 1.50 Euro in LIDL for a dozen large eggs. Back in Cornwall to see the family, I recently paid £2.50 for 15 medium eggs – and they were on special offer!
On the markets here, I can buy a week’s supply of fresh fruit and vegetables, perfect to eat, for between 5 and 10 Euro. Last summer, I paid around £5 for a punnet of peaches and a bag of oranges in the UK, and the peaches were so hard my grandson could have played cricket with them! And it took the whole bag of oranges to get a couple of glasses of tasteless juice. When you're used to fresh, exquisitely tasting Valencian oranges every morning, that's a bit of a come down.
Petrol and diesel is expensive by Spanish standards, but it’s still around 20% less than in England, so you don’t need to check the mileage on the satnav to see if you can afford a day out. When you’re on the road, there’s less traffic, few road works and no speed cameras, but watch out for radar traps. The only barrier to complete enjoyment of your Spanish road trip is, of course, the Spanish drivers.
Life’s literally a beach here. We’ve got beautiful beaches in Cornwall, but we don’t have the weather to make the most of them. Going to the beach on the Costa Blanca has given my 79 year old husband a new lease of life. When he sees dozens of bikini clad beauties cavorting in the sea or stretched out on the sand tanning their white bits, he’s like a recycled teenager.
I’m not too concerned about that, though. He’s a bit like a dog chasing a sports car; in the unlikely event that he ever caught one, he wouldn’t have a clue what to do with it!
