Firstly, I need to say that very recently we lost a wonderful, funny, knowledgeable and long-standing friend. Peter Thompson was a well-respected local historian from Dervock and Ballymoney – and had a phenomenal collection of military memorabilia to prove it! He really put our wee village, Dervock, and our market town, Ballymoney, on the map, and raised their profiles to give them their proper place in the history of our island.
On a more personal level, I have known Peter and his lovely family just about all my life. Every time the husband and I made our journey home to see friends and family Peter was always included in that group, and was really more family than friend. We always came to him armed with some special Spanish brandy, and equally, we never left his house empty handed!
The craic with Peter was always great, and we shall miss his humour, that wee twinkle in his eye, the wealth of stories he had to tell and the laughs we had while remembering times past. Never forgotten, always missed, always in our hearts. I just can’t believe we’re not going to see him next time we’re over home. I shall miss you forever my friend, I hope you’re having fun somewhere. Cherish your friends, amigos, you never know when is the last time for everything.
Quite a few people have been asking me about how easy or difficult it is to make friends when you move to a completely new area. The short answer is that it is and it isn’t! If that sounds more than a bit of a cop-out, what I mean is that it is really easy to gravitate towards people who speak your own language, especially if you are trying to learn a completely different language altogether.
But beware – not every smiling human is your friend! One of the things we all miss when we move to a foreign country is our friends. If you’re fortunate, then you will still have a circle of friends “back home” with whom you regularly keep in touch. Over here in Spain, as in probably every other foreign place, if you want to make friends you need to go out and find them. There are always lots of “extra-curricular” activities and clubs you can join, chances are you will meet a group of people who share your interests. However, a word of warning – unlike your friends back home they won’t share your history, nor you theirs, so it may not always do what it says on the tin!
Having said that, we have made some wonderful friends here in Spain. Some have turned out to be a lasting delight, and we are always cheered when we get together. Others have fallen by the wayside; some are simply no big loss, some have turned out to be a crushing disappointment, and some have eventually shown themselves to be just out-and-out nasty! It’s actually no bad thing to let go of the ones you don’t need – your job is not to obtain approval from everyone you meet, that’s something you’ll never get.
Goodness knows there are weirdos everywhere, and it’s best to keep well clear and don’t engage with them. We know a couple of people who have turned out to be very, very odd, who used to be friends – or so we thought. One person now seems to view me as the wicked witch of the west – I’m really not, though, I’m actually quite nice! It is indeed often a relief to separate from such toxic ones. Here’s something to make you wonder – were told by a number of people that a certain person’s husband had undergone fairly major surgery and that they all believed she was hoping he wouldn’t come round from the anaesthetic. Good grief, when I remember how desperately ill Peter was a few years back,and how he nearly died, I would have moved heaven and earth to make sure he recovered, and happily, he did. Mind you, that same woman also told a lot of people that she thought my husband was “drop dead gorgeous” and that she thought she “might have a chance with him”. Err….quite right to the first part and utterly, utterly deluded by the second, and gave us both a good laugh!
Another idiot who decided he no longer liked me spread lots of lies about me. Actually he seems to lie about quite a lot of things – for example he apparently knows Phil Collins well. Err, don’t think so! I gather while he was working in a supermarket he caught sight of him once. In fact he’s simply another unhappy, deluded and jealous person whose life hasn’t quite turned out as well as he had hoped, a bit like the woman I mentioned. Beware, there are quite a few of them around, and it always comes down to jealousy on their part. It’s not your job to soothe the jealous feelings of those who can’t stand their own failings and their own less-than-perfect lives, so just walk away. Life’s too short to deal with unnecessary drama. A great Polish proverb says “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” Very liberating!
Ideally you would want to have a fairly wide circle of acquaintances, and within that circle there will be a couple of people you can really trust. Like I said, life is far, far too short to bother with people who are never going to be part of your “tribe”, so love the ones you’re with, and set the rest free to annoy somebody else!
Our friends back home are still so cherished, especially my best friend Wendy – we’ve known each other all our lives.
This photo, I think, was taken at my 40th birthday party, we look so young! Err, that’s because, compared to today, we WERE so young! Wendy sent it to me in a wee special frame, for my birthday – very precious memories!
Now, I know you think I’m always talking about food….here’s some more! On the “let’s get a bit healthier” mode, we make banana and porridge oat muffins, great for breakfast, great any time.
Here’s the recipe:
225g porridge oats
Small pot of plain Greek yoghurt
2 eggs
Big tablespoon of honey
2 tsp baking powder
half tsp baking soda
2 ripe bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
Grease muffin tins with non-stick stuff or with butter – don’t use paper cases as the muffins will stick to them.
Put everything in a big jug and use a hand blender, go for it till the mixture is mostly smooth. Give the batter a stir once or twice to make sure all ingredients are properly mixed.
Pour the batter into muffin tins dividing equally among 10 muffin holes.
Bake in a pre-heated 200C oven for 15 ish minutes until a toothpick inserted into centre of muffin comes out clean.
Let them rest for a bit in the tin, then carefully remove them and allow to cool completely on baking rack.
Makes 10 muffins.
If I’m adding Nutella, I put a wee bit of batter in the pans, then put a wee dot of Nutella in, then top it up with batter. If you’re adding herbs etc then just mix it straight in to the batter.
This one’s my favourite – if I have frozen raspberries or whatever I do the same as with the Nutella – half fill, add a raspberry (or blueberry, or whatever you like!) and then I top with a raspberry and a bit of mint, or whatever takes your fancy. Very healthy. very good for you and very tasty!
Yum! Incidentally, if you spell “muffins” backwards, it’s what you do when you take them out of the oven!
More food….there’s a Chinese restaurant in San Javier we go to now and again. I just can’t believe the feast they serve you for about €10 per person. That includes starter, main course, pudding and half a bottle of wine each.
Couldn’t beat it! By the time I remembered to take a photo we’d already gobbled down our starters, so here’s the mains – chicken and almonds, and shoulder of lamb, with rice and noodles.
One of the nicest places to eat locally for us is Restaurante Esquina de San Anton, owned by our lovely friend Beatriz.
(Photos by Efren Sanchez).
The food is absolutely delicious – definitely a cut above the ordinary. Prawns, steaks, fish, everything freshly cooked and beautifully presented.
We often call in for tapas, not just the full lunch menu, and always find the food to be just sublime – little cod balls in the lightest imaginable batter, huge langoustines in a light, crispy tempura coating, smoked salmon rolls….the list goes on! It helps when you get a great welcoming hug from Beatriz as well! Actually the last time we were there she gave us a bottle of the restaurant’s own wine to take home, and very nice it was too.
Hard to beat a well-rounded rioja!
The other night we went over to Ciudad Quesada for dinner at the restaurant of another friend, Joe. His restaurant is the Patagonia Grill House, and is famous for its steaks, burgers and mixed grills. So, for two people, this is what a mixed grill looks like – it’s accompanied by baked potato, chips and salad, and it takes some eating!
The mixed grill comes with flank steak, pork, chicken, Argentinian chorizo, black pudding and ribs. Just as well that for the previous day we’d eaten very little, in preparation for a bit of a feast! Joe, like Peter, has Polish family origins, so they always enjoy a bit of a chat.
Oh good grief after that last lot you’ll think we do nothing over here except eat from one day to the next! Well you wouldn’t be far wrong, but we do tend to only eat one meal a day, and most often at lunchtime. I can’t understand how Spaniards can sleep at night after a big heavy dinner, often not even starting to eat until at least 10pm!
Okay so here’s something I’ve been banging on about for far too long now – the fact that our water supply is so unreliable, not to mention such poor quality.
We’ve lived in this house now for more than 6 years, and we have never had a single day of uninterrupted water supply. Either the pipes that serve the area get so clogged with calcium that the water can’t flow, or the neighbours using hoses, washing machines etc mean the water pressure isn’t enough to ensure it reaches our house further up.
I’m sick of it. Absolutely and utterly sick of it. For goodness sake Fortuna was a Roman town – those Romans weren’t daft, they knew there was plenty of water underground, which is why they settled here and, more to the point, why we have a beautiful spa centre with outdoor pools heated all year round due to thermal springs. Remember, the Romans could make water flow uphill…why on earth can’t the Spanish do the same?! It seems like I’ve turned into a “Karen” by continually complaining to the water provider here, Aqualia. Well, not quite, because at least my complaints are entirely reasonable and justified!
When my daughter Alice and her friend Helen were here with us on holiday recently, we had the worst stoppage to date. It happened the day before the girls were due to fly home – we had no water at all for more than 24 hours. Drinking is not an issue as we use bottled water for that. Washing, brushing teeth and flushing toilets is another matter! Baby wipes are always in plentiful supply in our house, and we are always careful to keep plenty of spare bottles of water in the bathrooms to get a bit of a wash, helped along with baby wipes.
It’s just as well we have a pool, as we can use buckets of water from there to flush the toilets successfully. We thought that the recent power outages all across Spain and Portugal were bad – well I can assure you that it’s a heck of a lot easier to do without electricity for 24 hours than without water.
Now, here’s a thing – we kept checking with out range of elderly neighbours if their water supply had been restored – always a negative answer. But….nobody had contacted the emergency phone number for Aqualia to report the fault. Well, nobody except us. We phoned continually, to no avail. Eventually, the next morning, we went to the local Aqualia office – only open from 09:30 until 13:30 Monday to Friday. I was determined to sit there until I got photographic evidence that someone was actually in our wee hamlet doing whatever they needed to do to restore the water supply. However, I was really pleasantly surprised – the chap in the offic was most helpful, and got on the phone straightaway, directly to an engineer who promised to effect the repair that morning.
We bailed out for brunch locally, and it’s no exaggeration to say we were overjoyed to meet up with our lovely friends Julia and Kelvin – such a lovely interlude to a very stressful time! By the time we got home the engineer had been, cleared the cal from the pipes supplying our wee road, and the water was flowing freely again. Hooray! However it always begs the question – why don’t the neighbours ever phone to report a fault and see when it might be repaired? The Spanish seem to be more content to generally just follow the “wait and see” routine. Anyway, we’re all back to normal – for now. And as a result of all that we have arranged to install a big water deposito hat the house, with electric pump, so if the mains water ever stops for any reason, the pump will come on and we’ll have all the water we need. Assuming we don’t get a water AND electricity stoppage at the same time….
All this week it’s fiesta time in Fortuna, when there is a full programme of events from 8th to 17th August. The days – and nights – include lots of activites for children, foodie events, music shows, sporting events like cycling races, football tournaments, parties, and last, but not least, a massive parade through the town, celebrating the Roman history of Fortuna and its opposite celebration of its patron saint, San Roque.
The town is always packed to bursting, with crowds lining the streets especially for the final night’s parade honouring the Roman heritage and the patron saint. The events are extremely well organised, with many locals taking part in the actual parades. The restaurants which line the main street provide extra tables and chairs but if you haven’t booked a table for food well in advance you need to be prepared to stand for a long time!
Everything carries on well into the night, and the main road through the town centre is usually closed off from around 17:00 until around 08:00, so that gives you an idea of how long the partying lasts! I genuinely don’t know how the people can last, they must have an extra long siesta in the afternoon to prepare for being up all night.
Okay, as the Pythons would say, now for something completely different. I’ve said before that our health service here is really excellent, and when I hear about some of the difficulties experienced by people in the UK I am very happy with the Spanish service. It’s usually easy to get an appointment with a doctor – if there isn’t anything available online in the very near future we can always call in to our health centre and be seen by someone, as it’s a 24 hour emergency response centre, and the staff are always very helpful. I went online yesterday to look for an appointment with Andrea, our GP, and got one for today!
When Peter had a concern about a little mark on his temple he was referred to the dermatologist, seen at the clinic, and had localised surgery to remove what turned out to be a basal-cell carcinoma, all inside 4 weeks from the initial GP appointment. Very reassuring.
We’ve been decorating the pool courtyard, though I have to confess it’s been quite difficult, due to the heat. That space is a real wee suntrap, but when the temperature in the shade is 40+ you can impagine what it’s like in full sun! We have two big parasols we put up at one end of the pool to provide a bit of shade and relief from the relentless sun. I bought a few retro style tin plate pictures and Peter put them up at one end of the pool, very funky and different, I love them! I’ve also started making a “summer tree” from a big dead branch which I painted partly white, with plenty of gold and silver glitter. We put it in a big pot with a bunch of wee fairy lights round the base of the “trunk” and hung some more solar lights on the branches. It’s far from finished but looks great at night! We’ve also started adding more little solar lights round the courtyard,it’s a lovely place for a midnight dip.
Next…here’s some things I hate about my life here (yeah right!)
- Finding loads of bunched up cyclists on the road in front of me. I’m actually very considerate with cyclists, I don’t crowd them, and when I overtake I leave a full car width plus between us. But…some are just so inconsiderate, they ride in big groups, often strung out so you haven’t a mission of passing them, then they slow down so you’re stuck in third gear for about three kilometres. Dreadful anos. (Use google translate for that one!)
- Men who utter inane things and immediately laugh like donkeys at how clever/amusing/grown up they are. Even if they comment about how hot it is, they immediately roar with laughter. One of these days I’m going to ask them why they think that’s funny…
- Peeling and de-veining langoustines. Back-breaking over a kitchen sik with the sieve to catch the bits. Missing some of the “stuff” in their alimentary canals and wondering if anyone would notice if I jsut left them the way they were. And afterwards your hands smell like pants being worn by a toddler who’s being toilet trained….
- Car drivers who have no idea that their vehicles are fitted with indicators. It turns into a game of “guess where I’m going next”. If they’re indicating to turn left you daren’t overtake, even when you KNOW that indicator has been flashing for the last five kilometers. And god forbid you woud take a chance turning out of a T-junction when the approacing car indicates that it’s turning in….it’s not. Hold your ground and don;t be tempted as you’ll simply be rammed, and what’s more it will all be your fault!
- I really, really hate cleaning out the washing machine drawer,as our water here is so vile the drawer gets all gungy and disgusting. Has to be done though, so good spray of something strong, toothbrush, and away we go trying to get every last disgusting flake out.
- Even worse is cleaning the dishwasher filter. Vile. Just vile.
- Idiot foreigners (usually from the UK) who turn their noses up at traditional Spanish food. They won’t oder albondigas, for example, but will happily eat meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce. Err….albondigas ARE meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce!
- When it’s too hot for too long. Weeks of 40+ C in the shade is really not pleasant.
- The cost of air travel from here to Belfast – flights to the south of England cost pennies, but very different for us Norn Iron people!
Things I love about my life here:
- Eating the langoustines!
- The warm weather which lasts for months.
- Our lovely big house with its thick walls meaning it’s cool in summer and warm in winter.
- Our two big log burners keeping us warm in winter.
- The new aircon unit in the sitting room – cool or warm air, whatever we need, whenever we need it.
- The aircon unit above our bed, especially in the heat of summer, absolute bliss!
- Fresh food everywhere.
- Fantastic value when eating out. (More of that in a minute!)
- The really wonderful friends we have made here.
- Our neighbours, so friendly and helpful.
- Our mechanic, Javi, who always gets our cars through the MOT!
- Our genius phone expert, Emanuel, who always sorts out my mobile phone when I’ve mucked it up by doing something stupid!
- Cost of hotel stays in Spain, more of that later too!
- The fact that we have Irish passports – makes life so much easier.
- My fabulous husband.
- the fact that we have an actual bodega in our house!
It’s very easy and inexpensive to have a wee break away in rather decent hotels in Spain. Prices are so much lower than in the UK and so value for money is hard to beat. For example, we have booked a full board 3 night pre-Christmas trip up the coast to a gorgeous hotel on the beach and just up the coast, for €179 each, can’t wait! We’ve also booked a very nice hotel right in the centre of Granada, for 3 nights, for a total cost of €122. Have a look at these and see why it’s not difficult to plan a couple of days change of scene. First is the Hotel Cap Negret, in Altea, wonderful! Look here: https://www.hotelcapnegret.es/
The hotel in Granada is at https://www.hotelsacromonte.es/galeria.html
Right, back to food, as I did say above somewhere! We went out for lunch to celebrate our recent wedding anniversary, to a lovely restaurant called Roca, in Aspe, which is about 40 minutes from us.
Very well decorated and maintained, in beautiful “Scandi” type colours, very soothing and relaxing. Spanish restaurants were traditionally full of dark wood furnishings and strip lighting that did nothing to create any kind of pleasant ambience, but happily all that is now changing. Roca is most definitely at the “posh” end of the market but wait till you hear this….
To start with I had crispy cannelloni stuffed with soft pork cheek confit, with a truffle sauce. Peter had special flavoured rice with chicken and chickpeas. Both dishes utterly sublime, and beautifully presented, and actually enough to qualify as a main course. We then chose the same main course, Iberico pork fillet with vegetables and potato wedges in a merlot sauce. Melt in the mouth and absolutely sublime. For pudding Peter had pistachio and white chocolate tart, and I had a baked cheesecake with strawberry preserve. Oh. My. Word. Beyond delicious, the whole meal. And you won’t believe this but that menu del dia costs €15 per person. Extra for drinks etc, but seriously, €15 per person?! Amazing! You can see why we eat out so often here – the quality of the food is wonderful, and the value is unsurpassed! I have no photos of the food because we were so overcome that we just “got tore in” as they say in very polite Norn Iron circles!
I think I might have written enough this time so will end by just letting you know about a friend’s new business here, Flowers by Sammy. My friend Samantha has started this business since coming to live in Spain, and my word the flowers she produces for you are fabulous! I’m actually a big fan of “not-real-but-look-better-and-last-longer-than-the -real-thing” blooms, and these days the plastic look is gone, and the modern flowers are simply beautiful. The website is at https://flowersbysammy.es/ feast your eyes on these beauties!
I’m sure you’ll agree they’re simply stunning!
That’s it for this time, no doubt the next issue will be filled with more foodie adventures to make your mouths water, not to mention the brilliant time we had when Laurie and the grandchildren were here.
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Take care of each other till next time!
My life in Spain 