I would like to make one thing very clear, yes we have had a lot of problems in Spain, yes mainly because we were naive, many just because that is our journey and the lessons we needed to learn. Many because of other people. But would we jack it all in and return to the UK, No way !
We love it here, it is our home and at times can be very challenging, but the pro's out way the con's for us. This blog is nothing more than me sharing our experiences and if one person avoids one of our mistakes that's a bonus. Enjoy our story !
The big move !!
We decided that we would move lot, stock and barrel in the Easter holidays of 2008. The girls could then leave school at the end of term, but our eldest wouldn't have to sit the stat exams at the beginning of the following term. It was really important for us that she didn't do this exam, because at that time she was a nervous little thing who worried endlessly and not being the sort of child who fitted well into the school system in the UK. She has always been social and caring child, which helped her get through the trauma of a UK school.
As the housing market had was now well and truly crashing, we decided to rent our house out. As I opened the door to the prospective tenant, it was amazing ! She said 'I love it!', she hadn't even walked through the door yet ! Kirsty and I hit it off start away, as it turned out I was to bump into that night at a group I went to every week ! Fate really wanted us to meet that day !
The contract was signed and the moving date set.
Barry along with an old family friend who lived on the coast in Spain, would drive the hired long based van, to Tim and Debbie's off load and then Rolf would drive onto the coast and drop the van off.
Barry would go two weeks before us, I would stay with my Dad, take the kids to school and clean the house from floor to ceiling ready for Kirsty to move in. We had goodbye parties to go to with the girls school friends and other family and friends to visit, before the off !
Barry had to find us a house to rent and get the girls into the school. He had the help of a translator and the school was sorted easily.
The house however was a bit more difficult !
Tim knew an Irish couple who had just moved out of their house in the centre of Serón, to live in Mojacar Playa, he asked them and they agreed to rent it to us. We needed a contract in order to get our NIE numbers, Bridget (the owner) wasn't keen on this idea, but in the end did give us a contract of sorts! ( It was good enough to get the NIE, so no problem).
My Dad took the girls and I to the airport, it was a weird feeling, I had never travelled on my own with the girls before and even though Dad was booked to come out in two weeks, it all seemed very final. The girls as always were brilliant,all full of excitement, but beautifully behaved.
Barry collected us from the airport and we stayed in the apartment we had rented from Tim and Debbie for two more nights, whilst we moved everything into our new house.
When I saw the house I could have killed Barry ! He had explained it to me on the phone and made it sound ideal. He had said that it needed some work, but not much and also we may be able to buy it at a later point. He was in another world ! The house needed loads of work and some structural !
It was in the middle of the village which meant you couldn't get a car near it, ok not the end of the world, just makes moving in interesting ! Then we went inside ! Oh my God, it was rough, full of Bridget's belongings and filthy !
As you walk through the front door into an entrance hall, stairs on the right, next to and under them was the bathroom, well bathroom is a slightly ambitions statement a toilet, sink and shower, all squeezed into an under stairs cupboard and painted black !!
It front of the front door was a long narrow room, used as a bedroom with no windows. On the left was a large kitchen, very Spanish in style, basic but workable !
Upstairs was a landing, with the best feature of the house a build in glass fronted cabinet, rough as been painted so many times, but when I looked at it I just saw how it used to be ! To the right was a bedroom, this had a very interesting feature, a toilet ! The toilet was in the middle of one end of the room, didn't even come with a sink ! Oh and this bedroom didn't have a door on it ! Very interesting bit of interior design, not that I would recommend it !
Then there was another bedroom that adjoined another bedroom, again without a door, but would be perfect for the girls as separate rooms but not, would help them being close together !
Upstairs again, to a good size lounge, with a small room off it, which became our bedroom and also a small roof terrace. The roof terrace was my favourite part of the house although of course it was in a very sad state with the wooden shade falling down, but it had a great view to of the mountain road to Las Menas !
We had our work cut out painting every room, to get rid of the very badly painted flowers and black paint, the bottom bedroom we turned into storage for all Bridget's rubbish, it quickly became full floor to ceiling. The bedroom with the toilet feature became storage for our things, as I didn't plan to live here long I wanted my own house and this was NOT it !
To be continued ......