I have not been well since September 7 2012 when Addenbrooks robot extracted my cancerous prostrate gland. The weather does not help, it's snowing today on Mothering Sunday. It is an excuse for my writing skills though , content and flow and forgetting to include material. Lack of sleep, catching bugs on airplanes air con, when your immune system is ground zero because of antibiotics fighting infections and water works plumbing problems do not aid the brain.
I always wanted to follow the sun like a bird, since I was a lad. Now that the sun is an infrequent visitor to this green and not so pleasant land, I've concluded best to hang out 1300 miles south. No frost , no snow, but it does rain and not just on the plain, take a note George, by George you told porkies.
Waiting for spring summer in England is like waiting for a bus, and one cannot enjoy the flowers in this climate. Torrevieja is populated by old vikings and old saxons like me, there for one thing, a warmer sunnier outdoor life. It is quiet in the months other than July and August when Madrid and Barcelona evacuate. English food is in the shops, they even have an Iceland. Real Ale will be scarce and Gaviscon, but that will be on the truck.
I forgot to say the property is a ground floor self contained part of a 2 storey house. Upstairs is own by a Madrid businessman. The complex has 3 cascading swimming pools for use in its central grass area. Houses are about 125,000 euros in this small town, this place is worth £85,000 but who knows with the Spanish economy in such dire straits. The streets are kept cleaner than Peterborough, but that's no great contest. I have no job in England, any real job is a distant memory. I have no chance of a job and now until I am a pensioner, cannot even get benefit from our useless civil servants. In Spain when I get residencia I will get a SIP card for doctors and hospitals. Till then a E111 NHS medical form for £20 will cover any treatments for 3 years.
So its a one way ticket for me and Susan on that ferry sailing fairly soon. Though its Easy Jet to keep in touch with relatives especially the grandchildren. Peterborough was a port in a storm for both Susan and I shipwrecked in our relationships, love on the rocks, no big surprise, pour me a drink and I'll tell you some lies.
Endeavour at work, counts for little, saying yes sir, counts for more, except I ain't no sycophant. You make the best of things that life throws at you, I duck and dive to survive. I do not think it should be that, but I never found Utopia.
As a patriot, you try your best, you achieve success, but in England there are too many wankers, I am sad to admit, but they are far in the majority. Best I make my own off shore pied de terre.
I made mistakes, I have few regrets though, you think things will come good, then you catch colds.
Tuesday 26th February 2013, actually, some ungodly early hour courtesy of Ryan Dare out of Stansted and a Low Cost Holiday, which was not a holiday but a business trip to Torrevieja. And when we landed it was sunny, much warmer than Stansted Airport Car Park (brrrr). After all England's climate is changing to more floods and less sun, a sunny warm day in England seemed so long ago. It had been the wettest summer for a 100 years, when they started keeping records.
2 hour flight avoiding Irish stewardesses....................and a spare pilot sitting near the gents toilet in uniform in solidarity with the other passengers. I remarked "are you sure you are in the right seat, should you not have a wheel in front of your seat !!" to the amusement of his fellow passengers.
So Hola Alicante Airport (brand new) and get a hire car, a Ford Focus, designed with poor visibility in mind. And off to the Lawyers in Gran Alicante, and by the time I had found their offices we had seen all of Gran Alicante and Santa Pola (twice).
So we arrived late , but Isabel was still there to welcome us and help us.
Now hitherto, and its a long story 2 years long as it happens............... Susan lived in Torrevieja with her husband Harry. It became an unhappy existence and they agreed to divorce However when Susan left to visit her pregnant daughter in Peterborough England. Harry, the mad Irishman, seized his opportunity, changed the locks, sent the dogs to England with a man in a van. Susan's brother then died and she met El Allan on the computer that her daughter put her up to. So Susan left Harry and met Allan. The idea was always to buy Harry's half share of the Spanish Hosienda. But then, the Banks caused a global recession aided and abetted by worthless politicians, and the housing market slumped, crumbled .
2 years later Allan's house finally sold in England, meaning Susan and Allan could finally deal with El Loco in Torreveija, 10 years older than Susan, ex prison warder in N Ireland, a rebel who threatened to take a chain saw to the furniture and burn the place down. But Allan had taken a massive hit on getting rid of the house in England, so monies were enough but not flowing as hitherto forecasted. It was almost impossible to negotiate with El Loco and his solicitors in Spain.
So Isabel of Nova Legal was tremendous. Her sister Rosa and Isobel, held our hands for the next 4 days. They were chaperon's translators as well as Lawyers and very professional lawyers. A small firm with the personal touch that had found me on email after I started looking for a Spanish lawyer to deal with the situation. Also they were cheaper than others but better.
We had to stay at the Masa Hotel in Torreveija, which was a smart hotel, nice food right on the shoreline.
Day 2:
When Susan met Harry, more the point when Allan turned up. Well Harry had a male neighbour to protect him, (witness) but to be honest all the hot air was just bluff. He was desperate for me to buy him out. "Whats your gut feeling" he said, I replied I had indigestion and he actually brought me some tablets, till I told him "it was they way I tell em" !!. We had seen him and his new girlfriend cleaning the place the day before on our way to the hotel. "Is the paint dry yet" was another one of my sarcastic, even the score, jokes. Susan had to check the condition of the place and all her possessions that had been in the shed for 2 years and now dumped in bedroom 2.
It seemed Harry had sold some of Susan's family jewelry. It seemed he still wanted a divorce but did not know that it had to be dealt with in the English County Courts for jurisdiction. It seemed he did not actually know much at all. Nor appreciate much either.
So the next days, Rosa took us to the Police Station so that I could get an NIE number ( identity), then Isabel helped me open up a Spanish Bank Account. Then on Friday 1st March, Isabel took us to the Notary, where the money is handed over for the keys and the Deeds and we all sit round a table with the Noterier, so that everything is legal. Splendid system all done and dusted quicker than conveyancing in England.
The next 3 days were spent cleaning the place up ready for our return. Pity we did not have time to paint the walls, but that is when we return in April, with a Van loaded with furniture. I did have time to fix a few things, and change the locks on the front door. It is a nica place, it will be nicer and so will the garden.
My command of Spanish will have to improve, though some Spaniards speak English in the shops.
One last thing, in chucking out unwanted bits and pieces, there are street bins, and some hombres cycle round to see if there is anything useful thrown away, muck and brass. For 3 days one hombre was so impressed he called his friends to help him in their cars, after I told him he needed a bigger bike !!
