Home and away
A lot has happened over the past couple of weeks. Spain´s football team deservedly won the European championship (we watched the match in Torremolinos and it was a real joy to see the Spaniards celebrate), Rafa Nadal won the men´s final at Wimbledon after a spectacular game against Federer and on Monday Ian and I returned to Spain after an action-packed week in the UK.
It was our best friend´s birthday and she had gone to a lot of trouble by taking her nearest and dearest out for a slap-up meal last Friday as well as throwing a big party on the Saturday night. Both Ian and I managed to see a number of ex-colleagues, former neighbours and friends and it really was great to catch up with so many people.
The UK seems to have become very environmentally friendly, charging customers for carrier bags in shops and supermarkets and everybody appears to be running around clutching some sort of bag for life. Very commendable and definitely something that Spain should take on board as the Spaniards are still miles – no, sorry - kilometers behind when it comes to looking after the environment.
We were both quite shocked by the prices in the UK – it seems fairly normal to spend £35 a head for food and wine in a restaurant and buying wine in a supermarket is expensive too. A bottle of red for which we pay about €4 here in Spain sets you back a massive £8 in England. (We have recently discovered an extremely palatable white wine in our local supermarket which costs a mere €1.41 a bottle, so I guess we ARE a bit spoiled as far as prices are concerned.) When the lady at the car hire place agreed that we could bring the car back with a ¾ full tank and said that should save us £15, yet again, we were amazed. £60 to fill up a small car with petrol? Yikes!
The weather for once behaved itself and we enjoyed a few sunny days but we were shivering with cold at night time, obviously accustomed to balmy temperatures throughout the evening here in Spain. I hadn´t realised how much I´ve missed grass! (I mean grass as in lawn not the stuff you smoke). Whenever I got the chance during our week in Blighty, I slipped off my shoes and walked on the wonderfully green patches of grass that obviously benefit greatly from the frequent rain.
An episode in the M&S food hall made me realise just how Spanish we´ve become. It was packed in there and as we wound our way through the crowds of shoppers, we accidentally brushed against another couple. We continued walking, when I heard the woman´s accusing voice behind me: “Excuse me, please – is what we say!” Sorry love, we live in Spain - we don´t!
After a frantic drive back to the airport with five minutes to spare before the check-in desk closed and a nailbiting wait at the X-ray machine which had decided to eat one of Ian´s shoes and his coat, we finally collapsed into our emergency exit seats which – hurrah! - provided ample legroom and eventually arrived back ´home` at midnight where the outside temperature was still 27ºC.
Reflecting over the past ten months, I think that we have settled into our new environment rather well despite our frequent moves. If and when we find the area where we want to put down roots and where we can both contemplate and afford to buy a house, we can start to feel well and truly at home. On that note, we´re off exploring the Córdoba province on Monday. Stand by for more adventures.
Right, I think a glass of chilled white wine is called for. Bearing in mind it´ll cost me the princely sum of …. (what´s €1.41 divided by 4?), I might well have two. How I love living in Spain……..