It is not all about hard work...... relax and enjoy yourself.

One of the many factors in making my mind up to move to Spain was being caught up in the rat race. Going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark, being stuck in endless traffic jams…. Need I say more.

Yesterday I had one of those days when it struck me actually how lucky I am to be in the position I find myself in. When you live over here you take many things for granted, the sun is shining and its in the mid 30’s, the sky is blue and the sea is even bluer, the traffic is non existent and life is generally great, only yesterday it really reinforced itself on me after talking to some holiday makers at a beach side restaurant on the coast.

Yesterday I found myself with a rare day without clients, valuations or viewings. The page in my diary had remained ominously free of appointments for a couple of weeks which never happens. A day off seemed to good to be true to I scheduled a couple of meetings in the morning with collaborating agents on the coast and a golf pro friend who wanted some additions to his website.

The meetings were conducted in the usual Spanish fashion, not in the office but in a nice bar nearby with an ice cold drink. Whilst concluding one meeting I bumped into an old friend who was off for lunch with her husband….. invitation accepted we found ourselves sat high above the marina in Campoamor looking across the turquoise Mediterranean out towards the Murcian coast, the Mar Menor and the La Manga strip. Following a very pleasant and relaxed 3 course seafood menu del dia (10€).

My friends bid farewell and whilst I finished my drink and checked my emails on the phone a holidaying couple who were sat on the next table struck up a conversation. As it transpires they lived about 4 miles from my old stomping ground back in the UK and knew many of my old haunts. They were asking about what it is like to live here and we got onto the topic of my typical day verses theirs. Having just had a relaxed couple of meetings, a great and inexpensive lunch, I would make the 50km journey back to Hondon on empty motorways and through breathtaking mountain passes, just in time for a quick swim, perhaps a short siesta, and finish off the day with a few emails, on any other day I would be out meeting clients, viewing beautiful villas, sat in cafes and in general enjoying the experience.

My new friends were envious of the relaxed lifestyle that we lead over here, but the icing on the cake was when a neighbour from Hondon rang. They are having a week on their yacht in Cartagena and had sailed up into the Mar Menor and were anchored off Los Alcazares and asked if I fancied coming to meet them for a bite to eat this evening.

Sadly I had to decline, but it did get me thinking that despite the doom and gloom in every newspaper and television news report life is not too bad over here …….