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Some Marmalade, Madam?
Since Tavira is only 18 miles from the Spanish border, it would have been rude of us not to have paid a visit to Spain during our short stay in the Algarve. How fortunate then that Seville, Andalusia’s...
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Lottie’s Project – House Hunting In Andalucia
Two weeks ago, I was flying off on a mission. Armed with a motley assortment of Irishman’s maxed out credit cards, airplane tickets, vouchers for hotel and car hire in Malaga and whatever clothes I...
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Holding My Nerve And, A Near Miss With A Rabbit Hutch.
Before I venture any further with this story, it might be helpful to first explain why in the end we decided to focus on Spain rather than Portugal as a place to re-locate to. Having previously waxed...
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Taking A Left Turn Or, How The Other Half Live
After arriving at an ungodly hour of the morning at Soekarno-Hatta airport, I checked in for my Emirates flight back to London via Dubai and then went to find a cup of coffee. As the noisy tannoy...
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Mi aerodeslizador está lleno de anguilas – Lottie’s answer to learning Spanish
Lottie’s cruise. Photo taken from Google Images I know Irishman meant well and was only trying to offer encouragement by telling me that Thomas Jefferson taught himself Spanish in nineteen days, but...
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The Bucket List
The last of the bags, bedding, and essentials, had been crammed into the back of the car. All that remained for me to do the moment that Irishman’s back was turned, was to smuggle in two plastic...
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Our Baptism Of Fire
< Irishman squeezed my hand lovingly. This was it, our baptism of fire. Our initiation into Spanish village life was about to begin. We parted the beaded curtain and walked into the dimly lit bar....
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Buckets Of Fun
It must have been around 1.30am when I woke up needing a pee. I rolled over to get out of bed but some force of gravity pushed me back down into the centre of the mattress. I could not remember there...
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The Joy Ride
Paco seemed most amused at being the bearer of bad news. He watched the shock on our faces as our eyes scanned the empty parking spot where the car had previously stood. He started laughing, a raucous,...
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Which Juan? That Juan? Or This Juan? Or The Other Juan?
Looking on the bright side, having a car with a mind of its own did mean that we got to meet most of the villagers on our first day. Perhaps not the most orthodox social introduction to the people...
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My Cup Runneth Over
Within a week or so, quotes starting arriving for the various building works that we urgently needed to do. So far we’d been lucky with the weather. Although it had become cold at night, each morning...
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Introducing Colin Snout. Rescue Me!
The chocolate brown eyes looked lovingly up at me from inside Manolo’s coat. ‘Oh you little darling’ I said, lifting the puppy from Manolo’s arms and taking the furry bundle into my own. ‘He is a gift...
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Mysterious Happenings At Bleak House
The novelty of camping in our new home ended the moment the builders arrived. Up until that point we’d been coping well; it was basic living, but we were managing. Within days of their starting work,...
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Know Your Spanish Onions
I think I must have downed at least four sherries whilst sat in the bar with Antonia, pondering on what to do with the mysterious icons. I weaved my way back to the house, went upstairs and gathered...
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La Matanza – Rural living in Andalucia
For days afterwards, the smell of onions permeated everything; it was in my hair, on my hands, impregnated in my clothes. My hands were cut to shreds and fingers stained dark brown from the onion...
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Extra Virgin
No sooner had the frenzy of chorizo and sausage making finally ground to a halt and the last rings of La Matanza’s prized morcilla been hung out to dry, than it was time for the start of olive...
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Twelve Grapes
The novelty of pooing in a bucket wore off sooner than I had imagined . I’d rather hoped that the entertainment factor would see me through at least a few weeks but in fact it was less short lived than...
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Fatty’s First Spanish Winter
Winter caught us with our pants down. Not only were we ill prepared, we hadn’t realized just how freezing it can get here. One minute we’d been enjoying the warm October sunshine; the next there was...
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Swallows And Artichokes
Soon the cloudless Andalucían sky was teeming with swallows. Their fork tailed silhouettes swooping and darting across the brilliant azure. Beneath their flight path, Primavera had been busy spreading...
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Fairies & Cherries
The wait is over. Blossom has turned to fruit and the cherry harvest has begun. The trees are so laden with their scarlet bounty that the boughs are sagging under the weight. The ladies in the village...
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