My life in Spain

Gardening in Spain seems very different to gardening in more northerly, damper climes. I am the first to admit to being no gardener – I’d probably have been evicted from the Garden of Eden for neglecting it – but I’m starting to develop more of an interest now that we have a lot more space at this house.

One really important thing I have learned is that we really should have planted more fruit trees as soon as we moved here, to give them a great headway now that we’re finally ready to decide what to do with our garden. Much of it is terraced so we need to find someone to clear all the unwanted stuff and even out the terracing, with proper steps from one level to the next so that I don’t fall and break my neck getting round the place!

Having said that, we have inherited a great variety of trees and plants in the gardens, most of which seem to flourish in spite of my lack of knowledge. Our trees include pine, nispero, lilac, strawberry, (yes, an actual strawberry tree!), olive, almond, fig, pomegranate, lemon and blood orange. We also have two vines. I’m intending to plant a couple more orange and lemon trees as well as a couple more vines for seedless grapes. It’s still a novelty to just wander round the garden picking lemons and oranges, nothing like Norn Iron at all! Photo of last year’s baby grapes, followed by how big they grow.

I had this little clementine tree in my last house, it didn’t take long to start producing loads of oranges, so I’m hoping our current blood orange tree plus a couple more to go in will be the same!

It gets so very hot here in the summer months that we need to be careful about what to plant. I love hanging baskets but they’re no good in the summer here – they just wither and die in the heat.I’m going to get a few pots of geraniums to add a bit more colour round the terrace. I’ve also planted lots of nasturtium seeds in various locations, mostly round the base of the trees on the terrace, and in some pots as well, as they are absolutely gorgeous shades of red, yellow and orange, and the husband also likes to use the flowers in salads, quite a peppery flavour and very tasty.

I’ve been experimenting with growing climbers in tubs as we have five columns at the front of the house and I thought they looked a bit bare. We planted three bougainvilleas and two jasmines, and they make a big difference to the front of the house. And yes, that tile needs repairing!

A big trip to the local garden centre is coming up, to get a load more compost, and a whole host of geraniums,, lobelias and whatever else I can see. So with all of that, plus the myriad of nasturtium seeds and border wild flower seeds I’m planting, it’s a safe bet that the house will definitely look a lot more colourful before too long!

wwwanirishlifeinspain.com

If your experience of Spain is as a tourist or holiday maker, then it’s likely there are a number of things you don’t know about Spain.

For example, there’s a fabulous gadget on all cars here which enables you to stop and/or park wherever you like, be it in the middle of the road, on a roundabout, under a “No Parking” sign or wherever.

It’s a fantastic invention and it works really, really well. Now I’m not saying it will work if you’re here on holiday and have a car hire sticker on the car, but all vehicles, including hire cars, are fitted with this nifty wee gadget, and it’s the most useful thing you can have. Imagine crawling through town on a buy day and needing to get your prescription filled at the local Farmacia, or you need a few groceries from the little supermarket in the main street. No parking spaces anywhere within about ahalf hour walk? No problem, just use your little magic gadget and you can double or even triple park while you scoot into the shop for whatever you need. It doesn’t matter if you block the traffic, you’re not going to be too long anyway, even if your trip includes popping in for a cold beer on a hot day before going back to your car.

This gadget is….your hazard warning light switch. It’s a free pass in Spain to park wherever, and for however long you like. Or so it seems. I have never, ever seen anyone ever get a ticket for this, even when the local police and Guardia Civil are out in full force enjoying the sunshine. It’s possibly because everyone in inland towns appears to be related to each other, including the police, and you can’t give your Aunt Maria’s brother-in-law Paco a parking ticket, can you? It woudn’t seem fair! And just look what I found when I came out of the post office the other day, this eejit parked so neatly in front of my car! He came back within about 2 minutes, grinned and waved, and drove off in a cloud of noxious gases. You really don’t want to be too fussy about the state of your car here!

Something else that often seems unfair to British tourists is that if you buy a lottery ticket here, and are lucky enough to win more than €2500, you will pay tax on it, at a rate of around 24%. The British aren’t used to paying tax on lottery wins, as in the UK any wins are tax-free. Not so in Spain. And you needn’t think you can scoot out of Spain home again before they ask you for the tax, it’s conveniently taken off before you can collect your winnings!

Bureaucracy in Spain is an utter nightmare. Shady deals are common, and it is still a fairly corrupt country, especially in the eyes of most other Europeans who are used to things being done properly and above board. First of all, to do anything in Spain requires a phenomenal amount of paperwork, and every sheet seems to cost a fortune. There are still many deals done under the counter and, sadly, if they think you’re English they’ll try to add a bit on to the bill. Two lessons here – learn to say “No soy inglesa soy irlandesa” (Im not English, I’m Irish), and make sure if you need plumbers, electricians, builders etc you get a lot of personal recommendations and, if possible, see their work. We have been extremely lucky in that the builders we have are excellent, and Miguel, our electrician, is a star, having been rewiring our whole house after his usual day job in the town hall! We have been very fortunate in that we’ve had no issues, unlike quite a few other “ex-pats” who seem to only moan about everything. You reap what you sow, as they say.

The biggest problem many areas in Spain has had in recent times is the illegal house builds. Some town mayors have, in the past, been only too willing to collaborate with shady builders and “pass” building projects that have no legal paperwork. This is slowly being rectified, and has led to a number of mayors and other town hall officials throughout Spain being found guilty of everything you can think of and sentenced to prison terms. Two interesting points here – firstly it is the responsibility of the developer to pay for the infrastructure to new housing they build, to cover roads, street lighting, sewerage etc. Many builders have named the clients as the developers, instead of themselves, meaning that home owners are now likely to be hit with bills of between €10,000 and €20,000 each to install the infrastructure. It is absolutely ESSENTIAL to make sure you have a good lawyer to check your paperwork, to make sure everything is legal and above board, and to avoid pitfalls such as mentioned above. The lawyer I used when moving here was Michael Davies, his office covers Almeria, Mojacar and Marbella, with much of the Costa del Sol. Michael is without doubt the best around, so if you’re thinking of buying in those areas do make contact and tell him I sent you! The website is https://www.daviessolicitors.com/davies-abogados-solicitors-barrister-spain/

Just a quickie here, as you might not guess where this is? It’s Benidorm, during the relief of the local but not international covid lockdown period when we were able to travel within Spain. A very far cry from most people’s idea of Benidorm when all you see on TV is the ex-pat and British culture! It’s actually very lovely, great beaches, beautiful old town, great shopping and you can opt for a quiet, chilled experience or a completely lively and party-all-night one!

Even if you are the most ardent animal lover you might still find some of the Spanish wildlife difficult to warm to. Much of it is really best admired from afar, as getting too close can have very undesirable consequences! There are lots of differences between the living things in the UK and those in Spain and that includes both pets and wild things.

The biggest, and possibly the most dangerous we have bumped into so far is wild boar. And when I say “bumped into” I mean it literally. We were heading out for dinner one evening, after dark, and tootling along the road, doing about 60kph, not fast at all. Out of nowhere appeared a herd of wild boar, including males, females and little piglets. I had no mission of stopping in time and ran straight into them, killing one outright and scattering the rest. In total shock I phoned my lovely friend, Clare Shirley – she’s bi-lingual – who arrived very quickly. Her husband Richard helped warn on-coming traffic of the carnage on the road while Clare phoned the Guardia Civil, who also arrived very quickly. The only thing they wanted to know was if I wanted them to put the dead boar into the boot of the car so we could take it home for the freezer! Err, no thanks, even though I am partial to a bowl of wild boar casserole!

It really bothered me that I had killed one and I hoped I hadn’t injured any others. Peter went back to the scene of the crime the next day, and spotted this young one just looking round. Those wild animals can be huge and very fast moving, and can easily kill a person. I was really glad the massive thing hadn’t come up over the bonnet and through the windscreen. In fact, the damage to the front of my car was minimal, and only cost €35 to sort. A bit of a miracle! I was so glad of my friend Clare’s help that night, she made contacting the GC very easy and straightforward.

Snakes are another delight here, and in the summer you will often see them crushed on the roads if they haven’t been quick enough to avoid the traffic. Most will keep out of sight and away from humans but occasionally you can come upon them a little too close for comfort.

One lovely day I was cooling off in the pool while Peter was sweeping up leaves from the patio. We both spotted a snake in the pool – I have never swum so fast to the steps in my life! I am seriously considering trying out for the Olympic swimming team, I’m sure I swam the whole length of the pool in under one second. We caught the snake in the pool net and took it away across the road to an area with plenty of undergrowth, and let it go. We laugh about it now but it was not funny at the time, not funny at all!

It was only a wee one, and not harmful to humans but…..no thanks!

The things that frightens me most are centipedes called scolopendras. They are hideous things which are around 10 centimetres long. They can move fairly quickly and have a bite/sting that causes humans indescribable pain, so you really don’t want to mess with them. They’re virtually indestructible as well, and even if you chop them in half they will still come after you – both bits, that is! We have come across only a very few in the house, and they really scare me. I try to be really quick and catch them with tongs and get rid of them over the big garden wall at the side of the house. They make my skin crawl and I absolutely HATE them as a bite or sting means you can end up in hospital very quickly.Yes, that bad!

Geckos are very commonplace here, and they are great wee things at keeping the mosquito population under control, but I’m not dying about seeing them in the house as they move very quickly and I’m always worried they might run over me at night in bed!

At least they are friendly to humans, and not a threat in any way. When we find one in the house we usually catch it in the pool net and get it back safely outside to the garden.

When I first moved to Spain I used to hear what sounded like electricity wires buzzing in the summer. It was ages before I learned they are cicadas, a sort of beetle insect, and the buzzing is the sound the males make when trying to attract a female. They are quite chunky and measure around a couple of inches long.Their eggs are laid underground and they stay there for years, finally surfacing to mate and then die. Not a lot of fun being a cicada! They are harmless to humans, are very shy and difficult to spot and tend to fall silent if you approach. They are masters of disguise so I was very lucky to get a photo of this one on a tree on our terrace.

Follow My life in Spain on WordPress.com

Spain is, without a doubt, one of the noisiest countries on the planet. In fact, according to Spaniards, Spain is really the noisiest country, followd by Japan, of all places.

I find Spaniards to be a naturally a joyful, loud and excitable lot, with a real enthusiasm for life. If you’ve ever been in a restaurant or even seated within about 50m of a group of Spaniards you will be hard pushed to hear the people at your own table! They all shout over each other, and even when not trying to make themselves heard there seems to be a certain tone belonging to Spanish voices which can penetrate stone walls!

Actually it’s one of the lovely things about Spain, and we love going to the coast or into the city for lunch and a bit of a stroll as there’s always a real buzz about the place. Of course there’s traffic noise but it’s more than that, it’s the general way people talk/shout at each other in the friendliest way you can imagine, but at around 100 decibels. They can be standing right next to you and yet they’re shouting straight into your face, marking the pauses with big smiles, hugs and nudges. Deafening!

Noise levels played a big factor when we were deciding where to buy our house. We’re in the country, about 630 metres above sea level, with phenomenal views over the mountains and valley towards Cartagena and the coast. Quite often we’re actually above the clouds which means we can’t even see Fortuna in the distance. The only noise up here is from dogs in the area, and frankly you get used to that after a while. Coming home after a busy day out is wonderful, the peace and quiet is guaranteed to make you just breathe in and…relax.

That’s actually the view from our en-suite bathroom, a real loo with a view!

We’re fast approaching the best time of the year for generally not exerting ourselves too much, and just lounging around, outside. Being able to eat outside is one of life’s little pleasures, whether it’s via the BBQ or just bringing the food out from the kitchen. It is a real joy to be able to have friends over, cook a big feast and just relax round the table with cold beers and vino, enjoying the warm evenings.

We bought a great hammock which we put up across the verandah, and where the husband can often be found snoozing after a hot day doing the necessary chores like being out for lunch. Our little grandsons both loved to climb in with Peter and play their games or read on their tablets. Little and large here enjoying the peace and quiet in between dips in the pool!

Summer nights are very hard to beat here. When the temperatures reach 40C+ during the day they can still frequently top 30C at night, so we’re glad to be in a big old house with thick stone walls to keep indoors cooler in summer and warmer in winter. It’s very, very difficult to sleep in such temperatures with no moving cool air, and when a fan tends to blow the warm air around you need to get creative about keeping cool. We gave in last year and installed an air con unit above our bed – utter bliss! It gives us a boost of heat in the winter and keeps us cool at night in the summer, ideal, and something you really need to think about if planning to live in Spain.

Wherever you choose, check what the weather is like all year round. By the coast it gets very humid, something neither of us can stand, which is why we chose inland. Where we are can be quite cold in winter, but now we have the two big log burners (plus the extra wee boost from the aircon unit in our bedroom) the house is heated very well. In the summer it’s a joy to walk indoors from the heat of the day, as the thick walls keep the house lovely and cool. While the heat of the summers here an be very appealing for holiday-makers, it’s a different story when you live here and have to manage with it every day. Thank goodness we’re retired and can just lie around in the pool all day!

One of the most frustrating things about living in Spain is the bureaucracy. Administrative systems here are about 50 years behind the rest of the world, and computers in “linked” departments don’t seem to be able to talk to each other. There are 2 main issues about this, the admin systems and the people who operate them.

As an example, in the UK when you want to change the ownership details of a car you’ve just bought into your name you just fill in the relevant form, send it off, and the log book is returned to you, all free of charge.

In Spain, there is a fairly hefty fee involved, and it’s based on a percentage of what the car is worth, around 4% of the purchase price. Actually, it’s based on a percentage of what the government DECIDES the car is worth. So even if you can prove you paid €10,000 for your second hand car, and you expect to pay around €400 to register the car in your name, the government might have decided that a car of that age, mileage etc would be worth €12,000, therefore you will pay more. Who do you pay it to? Guess!

To change the name you need to make an appointment at the Trafico office in the city, and turn up with all your paperwork relating to the car, plus your residencia card, your passport, and probably your first born child, Then you take a ticket like at the supermarket meat counter and wait till your number comes up. (Bringing a book and a picnic might be useful for what can be a long wait.)Then you present your information to the woman behind the counter who sniffs, grunts, and asks you for some other bit of irrelevant paper. No problem, you’ve brought everything including your birth certificate and 50 year old Primary School reports!

Most staff seem to be so surly – I see it as a challenge and smile at them like an idiot, chatting about the weather or anything else that comes to mind. Another ticket, another wait, another queue. The next ticket is for the desk beside the previous one – well if the humans can’t talk to each other why should the computers?! And you go through the whole rigmarole again and if you’re lucky you get dismissed, if not you have to wait and start again. If you’re really lucky you will get your car registration details through in the post.

There is, however, an easier way to beat this system, even if it seems to have been created to provide more jobs for people. This is the Gestoria or Asesor, who will do all the donkey work for you, for a fee, of course. When I lost all my paperwork for my car I went to our local Gestoria where the staff are quite brilliant, always friendly and helpful. In about 20 minutes all the relevant forms were completed, and they then made the appointment at Trafico, and, most importantly, THEY went there and got all my new car documents for me! For a fee of around €50 I reckon it’s so much more than worth it! I just love those people, they’re worth every cent! They’re updating my medical card and driving licence next, and I’m very happy to stay at home relaxing on the terrace and and admiring a view I never tire of.

Follow My life in Spain on WordPress.com

There are plenty of old jokes about how awful the Spanish drivers are, though it has to be said things have improved greatly with the advent of EU money for the basic infrastructure. Roads, in general, are excellent, with hundreds of kilometers of motorway and A roads up and down – and across – the country. In adition, hte rules of the road are very clear, and the branch of the police force, the Guardia Civil Trafico, aren’t a bit slow in handing out fines for misdemeanors though you get a 50% discount for paying the fine promptly!

Having said all that, the standard of driving is actually not that brilliant at all. On motorways people still drive far, far too close to the vehicles in front, but the worst perpetrators are the lorry drivers. Not only do they drive so close you can’t see their number plate but they must be exceeding their speed limit by a long way. Cars can drive at up to 120kph on motorways, which I usually do, but lorries are not allowed to exceed 90kph. Now it doesn’t take a genius to work out that if I’m driving at 120kph and lorry, who’s restricted to 90kph is sitting right up tight on my tail, it’s a recipe for disaster. These days I just let them all do what they want and I keep well away from them, they’re farr bigger than me!

The worst offenders are the lorries who are doing up to their legal speed limit,but then decide to overtake the perfectly inoffensive lorry in front of them. Indicate (sometimes!) pull out, and sit in the overtaking lane for up to 3kms, dandering along at around 60kph as it’s a bit uphill. So, the two sit side by side for ages, with nobody else able to get past. Dreadfully frustrating!

I have to say that our town has to have the worst drivers in the country. They pay absolutely no heed at all to any road signs, road markings, or traffic lights. The majority of them are very old and have probably never done a driving test, or never had to worry about “rules of the road”. It’s quite common to start to go through the lights when yours have turned green, only to see at least 3 more old boys heading straight for you, having all simply disregarded their red light – maybe they think they’ve had to wait long enough so they’re just going to keep going anyway! There is absolutely no point at all in trying to remonstrate with any of them, best to just ignore them and let them go, as this means they’ll be well out of your way. Their other favourite trick is when coming round a corner we are frequently met with a car coming in the opposite direction, towards us, but halfway over the centre white line. They should really provide drivers in Spain with free Immodium…

I’m always amazed at how many people here live well into their 90s, as, given the way they drive, they should have been dispatched to the big race track in the sky years ago!

Off the very well-maintained main roads the state of the surfaces can leave a lot to be desired. Pot holes are plentiful, but so are other dangers like items which seem to have appeared from nowhere, waiting to cause you serious car problems. We were heading into town not too long ago when suddenly there was tremendous bang from the rear driver’s side of the car. We stopped, looked at the tyre, and saw a huge bolt had gone right through it, in one way and out the other. I couldn’t believe it, and neither could Jose, our local garage owner. To this day we have no idea how it managed to embed itself in the tyre in the way it did – pretty impressive! I kept the bolt as a souvenir! I needed new tyres anyway so it was as well it happened when it did.

Another thing, if someone bumps into your car you can be sure they’ll probably laugh it off and nothing more will happen. An old boy smacked into the husband’s white Nissan Terrano not so long ago, but just drove off. When we caught up with him he offered us a half-used tin of white yacht paint to repair the scrape! You couldn’t make it up!

Oh, and as for cyclists…well that’s a whole other story for another day!

Follow My life in Spain on WordPress.com

Next on the list of things I like about Spain – the national healthcare system. Our healthcare is the same as in the UK, free at the point of delivery. We pay 10% of our prescription charges, which is very little. I can go online on an evening and book an appointment with out GP for the next day or the day after. Our own lovely GP, Laura, is currently on maternity leave and the locum is a wonderful man called Jesus. Yep, we have Jesus looking after us very well!

Two years ago Peter became very ill, following a routing colonoscopy where, while removing a couple of little polyps his intestine was perforated – it’s just one of those things that can happen, about one in a thousand cases., just unlucky, We didn’t know about the damage until the next morning when he was in considerable pain, and looked dreadful. I got him to hospital by ambulance, where the surgeon told me they might not be able to save him. Absolutely the loneliest time of my life, sitting till after midnight in the family waiting room, on my own, desperately hoping he wouldn’t die.. No friends were able to come as we were in lockdown due to the covid regulations.

He ended up with an ileostomy, which he hated. Changing those bags every day was a bit of a challenge – we learned to do it before breakfast which not only got it over with but reduced the risk of, err, involuntary splashes! Happily he was able to have a reversal operation a few months later and now just has a couple of very impressive abdominal scars to show for it. The medical staff at the hospital were fantastic, and in our health centre all the nurses loved him and all wanted to see him every time he needed his dressings changed.. It tells you a lot about the calibre of the man that he is so well thought of.

I knew he was on the mend after the 2nd surgery when he whatsapped me a photo one night….

To explain, and very handy information to pass on…the most important things I brought him when he was in hospital were his phone and charger, plenty of internet allowance on the phone as there was none in the hospital, an extension lead, a decent sized tabletop fan as it’s so hot in hospitals, and…the Claw. Invaluable for relieving itches when it hurts so much to move in any direction! So if you or anyone you know is having a hospital stay remember what to bring them!

Next on the list is the cost of living. Everything may well be costing all of us more now but your money still goes a lot further in Spain than in the UK. For example, diesel is currently costing us €1.36 per litre, which is around £1.19 sterling, and the cost is still falling. Fruit and vegetables are inexpensive and plentiful in the local markets, and eating out is ridiculously cheap. Also energy prices are still coming down – we have a very big house, and our last electricity bill was €71 for the month, and that included some use of aircon to heat our bedroom.

Given the huge range of plentiful and affordable vegetables I tried getting into healthy green veggie smoothies – disgusting! It took about 6 swallows to keep every mouthful down. See that smile? It’s not a smile, it’s a grimace, I’m trying not to be sick… Veggies might be cheap but as smoothies they are not welcome!

Follow My life in Spain on WordPress.com

Since our neighbour Antonio was kind enough to give us a huge bag of lemons in return for some lemon curd, I got onto it today and have made 6 jars for him. It really is the best lemon curd and is so easy to make. Here’s the recipe in case you want to try it.

350g sugar

225g butter, cubed

juice and zest of 5 lemons

5 medium eggs

rounded dessert spoon of cornflour

Makes 6 small jars, that’s about half the size of a regular jam jar. Muddle up the eggs in a biggish pan, (about the size of pan you would need for cooking potatoes for 4 people). Put everything else into the pan and whisk continually on a medium heat for about 7 minutes till it thickens. When it thickens, turn the heat to low and simmer for one minute. Pour into clean jars. (Why do you always have to say “clean jars”? Nobody’s going to use dirty jars, are they?!) Put the lids on and store in the fridge. Just delicious on a bit of wheaten loaf fresh out of the oven.

Also, a quick pudding is…whip up some cream till stiff. Fold in a jar of lemon curd. Crumble up some digestive or biscoff biscuits in the bottom of the most beautiful, fancy glasses you can find. Spoon in the lemon curd and cream mixture – it ends up like a lovely soft mousse. Crumble some more biscuit on top and add a couple of raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, or all of them. Bet you can’t eat it without licking your lips!

While we’re on recipes, here’s another favourite. Paris buns. I’m not the greatest cook in the world but Paris buns are hard to beat, and hard to describe! Like a sweet kind of cross between scones and cake, but more cake than scones, with wee sugar nibs on the top. You see? Quite difficult to describe! Anyhow, here’s the way I do them…

290ml milk

140ml vegetable oil

170g sugar

1 large egg

440g self-raising flour

Pre-heat oven to 200C. Mix milk, oil, eggs, sugar by hand. Sift in flour and mix by hand. Should be quite stiff. (The mixture, not you, unless the old arthritis is once again playing havoc with your skeleton!) Drop big blobs of it onto a greased baking tray. Add some wee sugar nibs/pearls to the tops. Bake for about 15 minutes till risen and golden. Just too delicious for words and a wee taste of home. Err, as well as the lemon curd the neighbours (they’re all Spanish) are deadly keen on the Paris buns but can’t work out why they’re Irish but are called “Paris” buns. Actually nobody really knows, and who cares? They’re just delicious! (This makes about 6, but we ate the rest before I took the photo…)

Incidentally, can you see those things in the fancy bottle? They’re home-grown chillies. We thought we’d have a go at making chilli oil, so we shoved in as many as we could and filled the bottle to the neck with best local olive oil. We didn’t realise you’re only supposed to put in a couple of chillis. Suffice to say if you have a cold, a hangover or anything similar, that stuff will clear it up straight away. Either that or it will kill you.

Follow My life in Spain on WordPress.com

Things I like about Spain? First up, the weather, of course! For around 300 days a year we have sunshine, and from June until October it varies from “warm” to “the furnaces of hell”. On weather sites it seems that only Spain can describe 32C as “pleasantly warm”. In Northern Ireland that would probably constitute a state of emergency with people warned to stay indoors! There are actually storms and rain sometimes, and often of biblical proportions. Every few years we get a big one – water thunders down streets, washing away bins, cars and anything else in its path. One of the strangest kinds of weather here is called “calima”, and that’s when the air gets filled with dust particles,, most often blown over from the Sahara desert. The air turns red, as does everything it touches, filthy houses, walls, cars, patios and pools. Very difficult to breathe so always best to stay inside. This photo was taken in the middle of the day, from our verandah, last year, and is absolutely not doctored or photoshopped in any way. Very weird and a little bit freaky.

Next up – the food. Spanish cuisine is simply fabulous, always fresh, always plentiful. Although fast-food places are becoming more and more available, it seems that the excellent Mediterranean cuisine still prevails. We do much of our grocery shopping in the bigger supermarkets but for fruit and vegetables we shop in our local Saturday market when the range is wonderful and the prices much better. Every thing is seasonal, so we appreciate fruits when in season, and they are much tastier then too.

A favourite is the “menu del dia”. This is a set lunchtime menu of at least 3 courses, said to originate in Franco’s time when he wanted to ensure that workers could enjoy a hearty and affordable midday meal with a choice of starters, mains and puddings.. As an example, here’s what we often have at our favourite local restaurant…

Large tuna salad. Crusty bread with allioli. Starter of consomme with meatballs. Main course of half chicken cooked on the plancha for a wonderful smokey flavour, served with chips and vegetables. Pudding is a 3-chocolate tart, more than delicious! We always have Sprite, a large bottle of water and a jug of wine. All this, for 2 people, for the ridiculous price of €24 total. No such thing as portion control here, just as well we only have one meal a day! As we say at home ,”you couldnae bate it way a big stick!”

As you might guess, we like to eat out fairly often! The Spanish are big meat-eaters which suits us very well, though vegetarian options are becoming more available. Vegans maybe not so much – yet! There are so many great places to eat out here that we are really spoiled for choice. Everything from great little tapas bars to Chinese all-you-can-eat buffets, to great restaurants, all serving wonderful fresh food at great prices.

We rarely eat any processed food here, the husband is very handy in the kitchen and enjoys cooking everything from scratch. His favourite is Indian food, and he uses just about every spice you could think of! We’re running out of space for the spice jars in the kitchen so they’re now on glass shelving on a spare bit of wall. Well that’s some of them anyway!

Follow My life in Spain on WordPress.com

So here we are, with an almost-finished house, at last. We’re getting in a team to sort the terraced garden properly, so I don’t risk breaking my neck climbing up and down there.

Our builder has now knocked down 2 sheds in the corral/courtyard below the terrace, as this is where the new pool will be going. The whole area is now prepared, with steps leading down from the terrace to the pool courtyard. We’re also going to build a BBQ there, and we need to put in a solar shower as it’s important to wash off sun cream before going in the water. If you don’t, it leaves a scummy mess that’s difficult to filter out and it clouds the water.

It won’t be long before the pool is up and running. I can’t wait for the days when we will be out in the mornings geting whatever we need, then a bite of lunch,then home in the heat to just get into the water to cool off. Very necessary in summer temperatures of around 43C, bliss!

There isn’t much left to do inside, either. Our electrician, Miguel, is finishing off all the upgrading of electrics, and it shouldn’t be too long before that’s done. He works for the town hall and comes to us after work when he can. He called round the other day to sort out some outside sockets, and he brought his 2 children and a big bag of quail eggs! (We only got to keep the eggs!) Spanish people are very, very hospitable, it’s really lovely. In return, they get lemon curd and limoncello from us.

Antonio from down the road landed up with a huge bag of lemons the other day and said we could have them on condition I made lemon curd for him – no problem!

Almost all the walls in the house are being painted white, with the exception of one of the downstairs bedrooms, and our room. We bought a king-sized bed head which had been painted silver – fabulous! We then decided it would look great against a cobalt blue wall, so Peter set to and got the job done. The downstairs bedrooms are all doubles, though they’re not very big, but enough room for the essentials. There’s a wardrobe in there too, hiding behind the door!

Within the next month or so everywhere will be freshly painted, pictures will be up on the walls, and the house will have magically turned into a home.

Follow My life in Spain on WordPress.com