Puntos de vista - a personal Spain blog

There are 14 MOST IMPORTANT PLACES in my seventy-odd years of life on this earth. Those MIPs are Barnstaple, Exeter, Salford, San Sebastian, Stuttgart, Sheffield, Warrington, Moscow, Ronda, Prague, Adelaide, Chalon-sur-Saône, Luxembourg and Maulbronn. They are my Baker’s-Plus Dozen.

In Part 1 I wrote about the first seven, taking me from birth, through childhood, adolescence, student years and careers to the end of my working life.

Part 2 picks up where I left off, as I emigrated to Spain, to fulfil a long-held dream. Interestingly, while the first seven were dominated by the UK, the next seven are all foreign, in Australia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the former Soviet Union, and Spain.

[World Map courtesy of Unsplash]

They represent significant places in my later life journey.

8 Moscow, Soviet Union (now Russia)

In 1989 my wife Jeryl got a call out of the blue from her Russian penfriend Rita. As a result of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost, ordinary Soviet citizens were being allowed to travel outside of the USSR for the first time.

Rita, Sascha and their young daughter would be arriving at London Euston station in a week. Could we pick them up? They were staying with us! First we'd heard of it!

    Red Square in Moscow [Photo: CNN]

Well, we live in the northwest in Warrington, a long way from London. At that time the M5 and M6 motorways were in chaos owing to roadworks.

Another problem was that I was in a wheelchair, having ruptured an Achilles tendon playing squash a couple of months previously.

But, hey! It’s not every day - nor even every century! - that you get a visit from a Russian family, so we worked it out.

We enjoyed hosting them and we did lots of fun things. I spoke no Russian and they spoke no English. But with Jeryl as interpreter – she has a degree in Russian – we got on fine.

The thing they loved most was going shopping. They loved ASDA – they couldn’t believe that you could get fresh fruit all year round and meat was freely available!

Move forward a year and they invited us to the Sov U to stay with them. Jeryl wasn’t keen.

She could remember what the country was like when she spent several months there 20 years before as part of her degree.

The queues; the empty food shops; the alcoholism; drug use; brutal police. It didn’t sound promising, but we went anyway.

I was no longer in a wheelchair, the kids were older (6 and 3) - so we did it.

Krasnodar, USSR [Photo: Shutterstock]

We flew to Moscow and spent a few days doing the sights of the capital, before we travelled by train to Krasnodar, which was their hometown, some 24 hours away!

I enjoyed myself immensely. Our hosts were generous to a fault and showed us some lovely sights. The best bit was when the coup d’etat happened that summer while we were in a camp in the mountains, but that’s a story I have written about elsewhere …..

9 Ronda, Malaga, Spain

Our relationship with the City of Dreams (Ciudad Soñada) began in 2000 when Jeryl and I did a tour of Andalucia to celebrate our silver wedding. We stayed in paradores using a 5-night discount card.

Our first port of call was Ronda, and we were knocked out by the place. So much so that the following year we bought a modern apartment with a shared pool in the up-and-coming Barrio de San Francisco. This was to be a bolt-hole for us but also a holiday rental.

    Ronda parador in the centre of the photo [Andalucia.org]

Two years later we bought a second property, a falling-down end-terrace bungalow as a DIY project for me. I was about to retire early (55), so would have the time.

    Piso Blanco, Ronda [Photo: Paul Whitelock]                      Casa Blanca with us [Photo: Johnny White]

By 2005 I was divorced and retired.

In 2008 I met a German lady, also called Rita, my Meter Maid*, who was living in a village near Ronda called Montejaque. By the end of that year, I had emigrated to live with her. We married two years later in Maulbronn (qv).

10 Prague, Czech Republic

Back to 2005, Jeryl, son Tom (18) and I went to Prague. Jeryl, a university professor had academic “business” in the Czech capital, and Tom and I tagged along.

Coincidentally, at the very same time our daughter Amy (21) was on an orchestra tour to Prague from her Oxford College. She’s an oboeist.

Prague is a stunning city, straddling both sides of the River Danube.

    Prague [Photo: Wikipedia]

With 100 churches and superb beers, Prague is an ideal place for Roman Catholic alcoholics!

11 Adelaide, South Australia

When the UK was still a member of the European Union, there were a number of great opportunities for British citizens, adults and children, to benefit from international educational activities through Socrates and Comenius programmes.

    [Image courtesy of  lpf.it]

It was part of my brief as an education adviser to promote these and sometimes to lead groups on study visits. I did a few while I worked for St Helens Council and later Sefton Council.

I took part in and led study visits to Asturias, Brussels, Chalon-sur-Saone, Stuttgart and Adelaide over a period of some 25 years.

They were all great experiences, but Adelaide was fascinating. We were there to look at how South Australia schools taught gifted children. We were there for two weeks and in our free time got to see Aborigine life in the Outback, the coast near Adelaide, Kangaroo Island and Sydney harbour.

Adelaide, South Australia [Photo: Expedia]

They say, “While the cat’s away, the mice will play” and “What happens in Rome, stays in Rome”, but, whilst a handful of “things” went on within the group of teachers, I have nothing personal to report.

12 Chalon-sur-Saône, France

Whilst I was working for St Helens Council, one of my projects was to set up work experience programmes for sixth formers in our schools with our twin towns in France and Germany.

I wrote in Part 1 about St Helens, the so-called “glass town” (Pilkington’s had a huge safety glass manufacturing plant in the town) and its link with Stuttgart (qv).

    Chalon-sur-Saone [Photo: Expedia]

In the case of Chalon-sur-Saone in Burgundy the work experience went from nowhere to somewhere in double-quick time, as a result of my efforts, together with Mme “Guite” Ligier, my counterpart in the French “glass town”.

I had the opportunity to visit Chalon a number of times and to host the French “delegation” when they visited St Helens. We all became great friends during that time.

As was the case in Adelaide (qv), the number of opportunities “to play away from home” were many, but I resisted the temptation.

13 Luxembourg

I’ve been to Luxembourg a lot over the years.

Jeryl and I used to visit our good friends from Salford Uni, Jac and Dan, fairly frequently.

They both got jobs as translators for the European Commission after graduation,

After our kids were born we continued to visit.

    Luxembourg Ville [Photo: Outdoor Active]

Jac and Dan split up when their children were young and a few years later Dan sadly committed suicide, leaving Jac a widow with sole care of two young children.

Jac resigned from the EC and set up as a piano teacher, working from home, which gave her more flexibility vis-à-vis Miriam and Robbie.

I visited her on my own in 2004 while I was staying with my friend Alan’s parents-in-law in Metz (France), which is just down the road. My marriage was coming to an end, so I was almost available for a romance, BUT NOTHING HAPPENED.

Wind the clock forward a few years to 2008. Jac knew that I was divorced, retired and miserable.

She also knew that I was pretty good with my hands (DIY!). She made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

“Would you come out to Luxembourg and help my daughter and son-in-law do up a house I bought them? I’ll pay for your flights, accommodate and feed you and pay for “treats”.

I said: “Yes” without hesitation.

I spent the whole summer there helping with the house, doing jobs at Jac’s also, eg decorating, gardening and sorting out the chaos that was her garage and workshop.

[Image courtesy of Youtube]

We had a summer romance. I was smitten, Jac less so and our relationship came to an end before it really started.

I flew direct to Spain in order to drown my sorrows in Ronda, met Rita and the rest is history…..

14 Maulbronn, Germany

Maulbronn? Why?

The aforementioned Rita is German and had lived in the Baden-Württemberg town with her second husband Uli.

Maulbronn happens to be home to one of the most exquisite abbeys in the whole of Germany.

Famous pupils at the attached seminary include Hermann Hesse, author of “Steppenwolf”, who started there in 1827.

    Maulbronn Abbey [YouTube]

When we decided to get married, it was logical to do so in Germany. We decided on Maulbronn because it’s stunningly beautiful; it was easily accessible to most of  Rita’s family; and she was best friends with Eva, who was the administrator for the abbey.

Organising a wedding in Germany from Spain was a challenge to say the least, but we managed it.

I loved the whole occasion. The chapel was full. Rita was well-known in the area.

Our wedding in Maulbronn [Photo: HMR]

The reception - drinks and snacks - was outside in the forecourt, and many friends came along to say hello.

Then we were whisked away to the private reception at a fabulous restaurant, in the hills above Talheim, where we enjoyed a private meal with speeches and a dance.

Then, it was back to the hotel in Talheim village where most of us were staying. Some of the guests drank till dawn - and paid the price the next day!

Conclusion

So, that concludes my Baker's-Dozen-Plus MIPs. Whether there will be new places in the coming years, I doubt. Maybe Cuba, if I ever get there.

Check out Part 1 here: The Top Dozen MIPs in My Life – Part 1

© Pablo de Ronda

Links:

Beginning at the beginning

My Special Places in Spain

The houses that Jack built! Part 1

The houses that Jack built! Part 2

The houses that Jack built! - Secret Serrania de Ronda

The Story of El Rincón in Ronda 2005 - 2010

Photos:

Andalucia.org, Britannia, CNN, Expedia, Facebook, Fenix.info, HMR, lpf.it, Outdooractive, Shutterstock, Unsplash, Wikipedia, YouTube

Tags:

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áéíóúü

The MOST IMPORTANT PLACES in my seven-plus decades of life on this earth are Barnstaple, Exeter, Salford, San Sebastian, Stuttgart, Sheffield, Warrington, Moscow, Ronda, Prague, Adelaide, Chalon-sur-Saône, Luxembourg and Maulbronn.

    [World map courtesy of Adobe Stock]

You will notice that there are 14 places in my list. A Baker’s-Plus Dozen, then.

These are towns and cities in Australia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the former Soviet Union, Spain and the UK.

They represent significant places in my life journey.

1 Barnstaple, Devon

My birthplace. I lived in this North Devon town for the first 13 years of my life. I was born there in a cottage hospital (a type of hospital long extinct) to John and Vera. Dad was a Welshman and mum a Devonshire dumpling.

We lived in three houses in Barum (Roman name). My parents, both from poor working-class backgrounds, were keen to get on in life. We started off in a brand-new council house, graduated to a terraced house, which my parents did up and sold for a profit and bought my gran’s rented house from her landlord and we all lived there for a couple of years.

    Barnstaple, Devon [Wikipedia]

I surrendered my tonsils and almost lost a finger, and I nearly became a Jehovah’s Witness. I was a Scout Cub and went to the local Methodist Church where I met my second girlfriend, Bev. I used to walk her home from church; we never held hands; never even kissed. I was 12.

I was head boy of my primary school, where my first "girlfriend" was Yvonne, passed the 11-plus and went to Barnstaple Boys’ Grammar School. I was there for two years before we suddenly moved south to Exeter, the county town.

Barnstaple Boys' G S (now Park Community College)

2 Exeter, Devon

We moved to “the big city” when I was 13. At Hele’s School I captained the U14 cricket team, played rugger for the U15s and tennis for the 1^st VI. I also took up hockey outside of school where I played for Exeter Hornets.

In the five years at Hele’s, we lived in two houses. I went to the Methodist Church where I met my next girlfriend, Jayne, who was older than I was. I was now 16, so we held hands, and we kissed, but I remained a virgin.

Exeter aerial view [Photo: Martin & Co.]

Later, in the Sixth Form, I started going to the Assemblies of God (Pentecostal) church where I found my next girlfriend, Andrea. She was very pretty. We petted a lot and then started having unprotected sex pretty regularly – how stupid can you get? Yet,  we got away with it!

Academically I did well and won a place at Salford University, my first choice, to study for a degree in German and Spanish.

3 Salford, Greater Manchester

I loved living and studying in Salford, despite the city being the “Dirty Old Town” of The Pogues' song.

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The pubs were great, the beer was cheap and good (I particularly liked Boddingtons, Holts, Hyde’s, Sam Smiths and Oldham Bitter).

I joined the Drama Society, as word had gone round that most members were girls! This proved to the case.

I played the monkey in "The Fireraisers" by Swiss dramatist Max Frisch. The play was an allegory of the rise of Nazism which led to the Second World War.

    The splendid original building of Salford University

My make-up artist was a gorgeous Welsh girl called Bronwyn, a Social Studies student. We dated for a while but it petered out as I went off on my year abroad.

The Modern Languages course was also stuffed full of beautiful girls, most of whom I fell madly in love with (from a distance – they never knew!). It wasn’t until my second year that I got a girlfriend, or should I say, Hazel, a Yorkshire lass, got me! She asked me out!

After my year abroad in San Sebastian and Stuttgart (see below) I returned to Salford and found a flat in Upper Kersal (North Salford) with my pal Mel from Belfast.

Out of the blue we got a Thursday night “gig” as the resident folk singers at The Star Inn, Salford. 

The one-armed landlord called us "Hobson's Choice". Did he have a sense of humour or was he taking the p**s?

BTW, how does someone with only one arm / hand serve drinks?

I started dating one of the “groupies” who showed up every week. She turned out to be a Mod Lang student at Salford too, albeit two years below me.

Jeryl was studying French and Russian and she subsequently became my first wife of 30 years.

However, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Paul and Mel performing at The Star Inn [Photo: Jeryl Burgess]

4 San Sebastián (now Donostia), Guipuzkoa, Spain

Our Spanish group was sent off to the capital of the Basque province Guipuzkoa as part of our year abroad.

We studied at the university there for three months and then had another three months in the country to “do what we liked”, ie travel, work, further study.

    San Sebastian [Photo courtesy of Spain.info]

At the start I was seeing Brenda, a fellow student, but she quickly “dumped” me for an older and richer Spanish man. I was “gutted”.

Meanwhile, I had got myself a job with a local tour operator, Dorfe, first of all in the office, then as a tour guide with Catholic pilgrims who were doing a two-centre holiday in Lourdes (the shrine to Bernadette in France) and in San Seb.

I absolutely loved being in San Sebastian, and said to myself that I would like to live in Spain permanently one day.

Some of our student group in San Sebastian's port

I returned to work the high season for the next three or four years. In so doing I further whetted my appetite to emigrate.

During this time I had brief flirtations with three Irish colleagues, a couple of French girls, two Spanish colleagues and two English clients.

Despite it being the 70s, back then condoms were not available in strictly Roman Catholic Spain, still a dictatorship under General Franco.

This evil man didn’t die until 1975, so all these relationships went unconsummated.

[Photo courtesy of Euro Weekly News]

As for emigrating to Spain, that took another four decades, a nervous breakdown, redundancy and divorce, but I got here in the end.

5 Stuttgart, West Germany

Stuttgart was my home for six months as the second part of my year abroad, following hard on the heels of San Sebastian. I’d been allocated a great job as a translator at Daimler-Benz AG, the manufacturers of Mercedes-Benz cars.

A few weeks in I was rushed to hospital for an emergency appendectomy. That was an interesting episode. My student insurance only entitled me to 3^rd class care, although I have no complaints whatsoever.

    Stuttgart [Photo: Trip Advisor]

My fellow patients were all foreigners, ie non-Germans. They were Gastarbeiter (guest workers).

A spinster colleague from the office was my most frequent visitor. She introduced me to books by Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck, neither of whom I had read before.

Another visitor was Jac, a Welsh girl from my course who was also studying German and Spanish, and was in all of my classes and tutorials. She too had a placement in Stuttgart, at Bosch.

More about Jac later …..

Some novels by John Steinbeck [Image courtesy of Salinas Public Library]

Back at work, after a period of convalescence, life went on.

No love life materialised, but I had some other great experiences, Highlights were a weekend in Paris; seeing Alexis Korner live in Stuttgart; attending the Munich Oktoberfest (Beer Festival); and visiting the Schwarzwald (Black Forest).

Full-time staff and work placement students at Daimler-Benz

20 years later Stuttgart re-appeared in my life. I was working for St Helen’s Council, where I led on educational links.

The twin town in Germany was Stuttgart.

I set up a successful work experience exchange for sixth formers, so I enjoyed a couple of monitoring visits in the capital of Baden-Würrtemberg before I left St Helens for a better job with another Merseyside council, Sefton.

The Daimler-Benz plant in Stuttgart [dbmg]

6 Sheffield, West Yorkshire

After graduation I decided to go into teaching. To do that I needed a teaching qualification, as a post-graduate, that's a one-year PGCE (Post-graduate Certificate in Education).

The only place I could find offering my two languages, German and Spanish, was Sheffield City College, now Sheffield Hallam University.

So, off I went to this “steel” city just across the Pennines from where I had studied in Salford.

    "Steely" Sheffield [Photo: Trip Advisor]

I suffered a little "culture shock"! I had to get used to a few things, like the accent and the custom of men calling other men “love”, but I liked the city a lot. Working class, my kinda people.

I found lodgings, a huge room in an old, detached house in a posh-ish district, within walking distance of the College.

I liked Sheffield beer (mostly Ward’s). By this time beer, specifically real ale, was becoming an important factor in my life.

As for lectures/classes I was the only one doing Spanish!

I joined the Amateur Dramatic Group which was very forward-thinking and well-resourced.

I appeared in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” by Muriel Spark as Teddy, Miss Brodie’s lover.

We also made a film of the Irish play “Riders to the Sea” by J M Synge, in which I played the lead.

Maggie Smith as Miss Jean Brodie [Photo: Rotten Tomatoes]

We postgrad students appeared to be a very attractive proposition for the non-postgrad girls. I was seduced by an undergraduate member of the cast, who came home with me after the post-show party on the last night.

I’m ashamed to say I don’t remember her name, but she was really nice. I had a couple of other offers from girls in my “digs”, but they had boyfriends, so I politely turned them down.

Besides, I was technically still dating Jeryl (qv) although she was on her year abroad in The Soviet Union and France, and I hadn't seen her for ages.

7 Warrington, Cheshire

This former “wire” town in Rugby League territory with two breweries and a “flat cap” image transformed itself into a modern “new town”, home to the first IKEA store to open in the UK, the largest Marks & Spencer superstore, “Mr Smith’s” nightclub and a thriving “mecca” for lovers of real ale.

    Warrington's "golden gates" [Wikipedia]

Warrington and her surrounding villages are important to me for several reasons.

I lived in the town for a quarter of a century; my two children were born and went to school there; I was governor of two schools; and I played hockey, tennis and squash at Warrington Sports Club.

I also got to play some great roles as a member of The Playmakers of Stockton Heath. These included Biff in Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons”; the police inspector in JB Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls”; Donald, the tragic boy who burned to death in Dennis Potter’s "Blue Remembered Hills"; and the best part I’ve ever played, The Emcee in “Cabaret”.

We lived in the same house for 25 years, although it went through several upgrades, largely by my own hand.

The Kit Kat Girls in "Cabaret" [Photo: The Playmakers]

After my “annus horribilis” (nervous breakdown, redundancy and divorce in quick succession), I moved away from Warrington, but returned a few years later to live with my mum before I bought myself a Victorian “pile” to renovate.

I finally bade farewell to Warrington when I emigrated to Spain in 2008.

Check out Part 2 here: The Top Dozen MIPs in My Life – Part 2

© Pablo de Ronda

Links:

EM 10004 Video NA RunEscape Gunshot KinmenV1 Nor DWTY F NA EN PC A sinodemo

From North Devon to South Spain in six decades - Part One - Olive Press News Spain

From North Devon to South Spain in seven decades… Part Two: After The Hangover - Secret Serrania de Ronda

From North Devon to South Spain in seven decades… Part Three: A New Life in Andalucía

From North Devon to South Spain in seven decades… Epilogue: ¡La carne de burro no es transparente! (You’re blocking the sunlight!)

Photos:

Adobe Stock, anon, dbmg, Facebook, Jeryl, Karl Smallman, Park Community College, Paul Whitelock, Playmakers, Rotten Tomatoes, Trip Advisor, Wikipedia

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áéíóúü

Today, Saturday 4 January 2025, would have been my 50^th wedding anniversary.

However, that marriage, to Jeryl, came to an end in 1995, after 30 years.

A pretty good effort, I reckon, with lots of positive outcomes.

In 30 years …..

Jeryl and I had two children together, Amy, now 41, and Tom, 37.

Amy lives in Stratford, East London, and has two boys, Felix, 8, and Jude, soon to be 5. Since graduation with a double first in English and German from The Queen’s College, Oxford, Amy has worked exclusively in the charity sector. She is currently Chief Executive of an educational charity, Tutors United.

An accomplished oboeist she plays in several orchestras across London.

Tom lives in Hastings, East Sussex, where he also has two boys with wife Susannah. They are Wilbur, 5, and Buckley, 1.

Tom and Susannah are both professional actors and singers although both are currently “resting”. Susannah, because she’s a full-time mum, and Tom, because Boris Johnson, the disgraced former prime minister, who was in charge during the Covid-19 pandemic, shut theatrical activity down, and the sector has been slow to recover. Tom currently works for Hastings Council.

Before the pandemic and before children both Tom and Susannah appeared in plays and musicals in London and the South East and on tours abroad. Susannah has focused more on singing and songwriting and already has a CD of self-penned songs to her name [see album cover right].

Daughter-in-law Susannah's CD [Courtesy of Amazon]

Turning point

When Jeryl and I split up, it proved to be a turning point for us both.

Jeryl retired early from academic life (she was professor of international marketing and head of department at Bradford University Business School), retrained as an actress and moved to London to be near our children and to be near the acting action.

Jeryl has played some great parts in theatres throughout the UK. She has also had featured roles in "Casualty", "Doctors" and "Killing Eve", as well as being a featured dancer in an episode of "Strictly Come Dancing".

As for me, I suffered a nervous breakdown around the time of our parting and was made redundant from my job as a school inspector/adviser. I took early retirement and started to draw my work pension.

I spent a fair bit of time in Ronda (Málaga, Spain), where I owned two properties. My new girlfriend Maude also bought a property in Ronda, the first time she visited the City of Dreams with me.

So, I was living in Bryn-y-Maen, North Wales with Maude, who was still working, and spending increasing amounts of time in Ronda doing up one of my properties, Casa Blanca and subsequently El Rincón, as her house was called.

This was a period where I got to know a lot of people in this beautiful Andalusian town.

By this time, between us, Maude and I had a portfolio of three rental properties.

The beginning of the end

My relationship with Maude came to a natural end after some three years, I moved out of the house in Bryn-y-Maen and went to live with my mum (I was 58).

My dream of living in Spain, which I’d had since I first visited the country aged 20, was now a possibility. I tried it but it didn’t work at first. I fell in with a crowd of heavy-drinking immigrants, which was fun for a while, but not really how I saw my life in Spain in the long term.                                                                                                                            

The cottage in Bryn-y-Maen [Snowdonia]

Tunstall Villa, Latchford

Living with my mum wasn’t a "healthy" nor viable option for me nor her in the long term. I needed to find a place of my own. I had sold Casa Blanca, so had some money in the bank which I invested in a portfolio of high-interest accounts with various banks, some foreign.

In Spring 2008 I thought I’d found a place quite near my mum’s, but then I went off to Luxembourg to help my university contemporary and friend Jac, a widow, do up a house she’d bought for her daughter and son-in-law.

I was there for three months, during which time I had a ball. My house fell through, but I enjoyed a brief summer romance with Jac and returned with her to the UK, when she went on her annual visit to South Wales, where she hails from.

Jac addresses the British Ladies Group in Luxembourg [Delano.lu]

Back up north in Warrington, I started looking for another house and found Tunstall Villa, a somewhat down-on-its-luck detached Victorian Villa on a decent sized plot.

I negotiated with the vendor and we agreed a good price, which included most of the furniture and fittings.

I returned to Luxembourg to do more work for Jac at the end of August and from there I flew to Spain to spend some time in Ronda during the Feria de Pedro Romero, which takes place on the first weekend in September.

Tunstall Villa, Latchford [On the Market]

Feria de Pedro Romero

I met up with my friend Michael who was living in Ronda, and still does. His brother and girlfriend were visiting from their home in North Wales but couldn’t find any accommodation. Everywhere was fully booked.

I let them stay in my flat with me.

That evening, a Friday, we went off to the Recinto Ferial (showground) where there was a funfair and several casetas, bars in large tents run be different organisations in Ronda, some private and some open to all.

In the first caseta we visited something happened which changed my life forever …..

“Lovely Rita, Meter Maid”

In this particular caseta there were some 20 "guiris" (foreigners). I knew a handful but by no means all, so I was introduced to everybody in turn. One very lovely lady turned out to be a German, resident in Montejaque (Málaga). Her name? Rita. I am a fluent German speaker, so she was thrilled to have someone to talk to in her mother tongue.

In my head the words “lovely” and “Rita” made me think of the Beatles song “Lovely Rita, Meter Maid”! So that was what I called her.

Feeling brave, I heard myself inviting myself to visit her at her home in Montejaque. She said yes and that’s what happened. Kaffee und Kuchen at 4.00 pm on the day before I was due to fly home. Her sister Birgid was visiting from Germany.

[Image: Wikipedia]

I later discovered that during the afternoon coffee session they were assessing me as to whether I would be a suitable guest that evening when an English couple were coming round for dinner. I passed the test apparently and was duly invited to stay for dinner.

The following day I flew back to Liverpool.

Rita and I kept in touch by email. She visited me in England a couple of times that Autumn and I went to Germany for her grandson’s christening and to meet her family. By the end of December, I had emigrated to live with Rita.

Within two years we were married. I sold Tunstall Villa and in February 2011, we moved into Villa Indiana, the detached bungalow with a huge garden, where we have lived ever since.

    Rita and Paul get married in Maulbronn in 2010 [HMR]      "Lovely Rita" with Paul, Christmas 2024 [Selfie]

Catalyst

Thinking back to 2005, when Jeryl and I divorced, that proved to be a positive turning point in both of our lives. Jeryl was able to pursue her dream of becoming a professional actor and I achieved my goal of living happily ever after in Spain.

Neither of us regret our 30 years as a married couple. We had some fantastic experiences and produced two great children, who in turn have given us four gorgeous grandsons.

So, to have regrets is pointless. Life moves on and, in both our cases, gave us the opportunity to pursue new and fulfilling lives.

[McConnell Family Law Group]

¡Viva el divorcio!

© Pablo de Ronda

Links:

SUSANNAH AUSTIN - NIGHTWALKING - Vídeo Dailymotion - An example of Susannah's work

What is a guiri? It's what the Spanish call us foreigners - but is it good or bad?

West End Live 2016 Sunny Afternoon - Tom in the prize-winning West End Kinks' musical

With thanks to:

Cervantes Theatre, Jeryl Whitelock Burgess, Ray Davies, Tom Whitelock

Photo acknowledgements:

Amazon, Cervantes Theatre, McConnell Family Law Group, On the Market, Paul Whitelock, Snowdonia, Tom Whitelock, www.delano.lu

Tags:

Amazon, Bryn-y-Maen, Cervantes Theatre, Daily Motion, Eye on Spain, guiri, Latchford, Málaga, Jeryl Whitelock Burgess, McConnell Family Law Group, Montejaque, On the Market, Paul Whitelock, Rolling Stone, Ronda, Secret Serrania, Tom Whitelock, Tutors United, Wales, Warrington, www.delano.lu