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  • Published on

    Elche!

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    After talking to the guys at work, we are now hiring a car for a while.  Here on The Costa Blanca, you can hire a car for €4 a day,  why the hell wouldn´t you.  So in the mean time, before we actually buy something, we at least have a car to get about in. 
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    Personally I don´t shop in Primark, though Jamie has just said to me, it´s kinda posh out here.  To be honest, the type of customers that frequent it at least in Elche are very different to those back in The UK. 

    ​Jamie´s clothes mainly consisted of track suits, caps and hoodies.  I´m not quite sure who´s influenced him in the wardrobe department, but to be honest, it needed to be changed.  He was adamant, that on top of his new life, he wanted to change everything about himself.  Not a bad thing to do, once in a while, when one considers, just how much all of our lives have changed for the better in recent times!  So change it was!
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    Natalee Michelle

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    Jamie had an interview on Wednesday morning, for a local restaurant here in GA.  The interview went well, and he is happy that he will be working in a few weeks.  Working will be great for positive thinking and will motivate him on to bigger and better things.

    ​He popped into the shop afterwards to do a shift with me and spent the afternoon working with the girls, rearranging ornaments and sorting out men´s clothes.  So happy faces all round!  The Ladies to like to Mother our Jamie!
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    We decided to go to Elche, about 20 km from where we are, so Jamie could go to Primark and sort out his lack of wardrobe.  Primark doesn´t really exist here in the same way as it does in the UK, but there are some British Malls here and there dotted around Spain!
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    Jamie spent about €60 and practically got a whole new wardrobe.  He has to be one of the most awkward people to shop with ever.  With a waste size of 26 inches, he is practically child size, so finding stuff that fits is a real chore.  Still at least he managed to find some clothes that fitted!

    ​To my horror we had lunch in Mcdonalds, which is even cheaper here, than it is in The UK.  I hate burgers as a rule, but Jamie wanted a Happy Meal, yes a happy meal!
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    We skyped Natalee Michelle when we got home from shopping.  It´s always great to talk to her.  Jamie showed her his new outfits and we had a chat about life, the universe and that.  We are hoping she is going to come out and stay here with us for a bit, I think she would fall in love with the place! Missing this girl loads.  She has done so much for all of us, that we truly owe her the World. 

    ​Another wonderful, happy and glorious day on The Costa´s. #stilllovingspain
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    10 March 2016

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    A gorgeous photograph of myself and Jamie this morning, after I woke him up early, thinking he was working with June today.  Got the day wrong and he wasn´t happy!
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    A photo of Rosa and I.  A stalwart at The Horse Care Centre. 
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    Bought myself a sarong for the summer!
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    Weight loss and keeping fit going well!

    ​Peace and Love Always!
  • Published on

    Tuesday!

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    It has been another great day.  The sun has been shining and everyone has had a smile on their face.  That is the biggest difference here, between Spain and The UK.  The happy grins, satisfied expressions and relaxed persona.  It really does make for a far more enjoyable life!
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    Bought our Jamie a little present today.  He had been feeling under the weather.  The one day of rain we had in a fortnight and he was out in it.  Probably just a cold, but unlike those of us, born a generation before, they find it difficult to cope with the slightest sniffle these days!
    I´m going to include a News bulletin on a regular basis, so people back home know how we are all doing.  Jamie has an interview tomorrow at 10am and a date in the afternoon.  Darrell is handing out CV´s and I am fabulous, as ever.  Enjoying life!
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    Darrell came in to work for me today.  He is going to do some voluntary work with us.  He is as passionate about the cause as I am!
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    Jamie made pasta carbonara tonight.  I taught him how to make a white sauce from scratch, made a rue and the rest was easy.  Jamie is actually amazed, just how easy it is to cook!
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    Saving Oscar

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    I wanted to just include a quick but extremely important Blog from my boss, Sue!  We are all working hard to prevent Oscar being handed back to his abusive owners.  Laws are very different here in Spain and Rod and Sue´s Foundation is doing wonders throughout Spain to save the lives of horses and donkeys, in a similar fashion to the RSPCA in Great Britain!  Please message your support to The Rescue Centre or myself to pass on to Sue.

                                                       Thanks

                                                                    Luke

                            Attached are photo`s of horses and donkey`s that we rescued from the place in San Louis that you are telling us that Oscar has to go back to. Also a photo of a dead horse that we were to late to save from there.
    Also Oscar had shoes on which if they owned him for two years he was being ridden or used to pull a cart. He was also skeletal as shown in the last photo taken the day he arrived at the centre. As previously stated this horses legs have been destroyed by over work. His tendons have lost their elasticity and therefor causing the joints to slowly collapse. With out medication he will be in a great deal of pain and with out specialist shoeing and medical care the joints will collapse much quicker. Even in our care he will only have two or thee years at the most then he would have been put to sleep humanly
    If he is not receiving correct veterinary care it would be kinder to put him to sleep now.
    Monday he will still be having a blood test to determine why he is drinking so much water. Dorothea thinks he possibly has kidney problems that will also require daily medication.
    If this horse is handed back to these people by the authorities that originally asked us to save him it would be a tragedy for him and a big step backwards for animal rescue in Spain.
    Regards
                    Rod and Sue Weeding           Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre

  • Published on

    EU Referendum!

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    I´ve just got back from the shop.  I walked in early with Darrell and Jamie.  They are heading into Alicante today, mainly to the airport, to hand in their CV´s, then into the City to do some shopping.  Me, well, I would rather stay at home, rest, do some writing and a bit of cooking.  Back to work tomorrow, and with all the walking I have been doing, I really need the time to relax.

    ​In the shop, I picked up the weekly copy of The Costa Blanca News, and was struck by the headline `You could loose it all!` The headline is in reference to the up coming EU referendum in The UK.  It makes for scary reading and offers a stark warning to all those expats that live and work here in Spain.  Yes you really could loose it all.  This is of course, not a headline you would hear in The UK, because it does not relate to the average UK Citizen!

    ​Let me first talk a bit about your average expat, living here on The Costa´s.  They are not wealthy, they do not have an endless supply of money and they take nothing from The British State.  They all have either worked hard or are indeed working hard to survive.  Like us, they claim no benefits, nor do they want to and they are contributors to The Spanish Tax System.  These people have chosen to move abroad for a better quality of life.  A lot of the people I have met have illnesses that require a warmer climate and others, like my partner and Jamie, just want to live a life that gives us more opportunities and an existence British people could only dream of.  Remember NO ONE, has taken anything from Britain and in the main have paid their dues to The Treasury over many years. In many cases they have had entitlement to benefits withdrawn, whilst all the while, Britain continues to pay benefits to foreign citizens, who haven´t even done a days work in their new chosen Country.  This does not happen here in Spain, none of us are entitled to anything.  This is the reality here at least, not what you read about expats in the newspapers or see on television.  We do not constantly sit on our terrace drinking wine, soaking up the sun!

    ​You have a vote coming up soon in The UK.  ¿In or Out?  Quite a simple question.  Should we leave The EU or work to make changes to the current system from within.  Now for me, this was always an easy choice, before coming to live in Spain.  I wanted out.  I did not want any more of my taxes wasted paying for this huge lumbering institution, which had no credibility left, in my eyes and the eyes of many others at least.  We had no option, leave and forge our own destiny once again. ¿What´s the worst that could happen?

    ​I guess you already know what I am going to say next.  ¡I have changed my mind! Yes, since living here on The Costa Blanca, I have indeed adjusted my views.  My vision of the expat communities, across the EU and indeed the World, were much the same as others.  The are wealthy and indeed I had very little care for their plight.  Well I now live as an expat, in a wonderful community, the likes of which is long since dead in The UK, with hard working, modest people who are the most positive, motivational and wonderfully creative bunch of individuals, I have ever met and ¡I understand their fears and worries, because I now share them, all of them!

    ​Nobody knows what will happen in the June vote.  I am still of the opinion that The UK will vote to leave The EU and that saddens and worries me.  This should not be a vote based on emotion, the consequences should be carefully weighed up and an opinion as to how one is going to vote, should be based on factual information.  The campaign, from what I have seen on British television, is now assessing the serious issues involved in the event of a OUT vote, and there are many!

    Currently, if you have retired here or are working you will be entitled to free healthcare, just like the Spanish.  Although not part of the Schengen agreement, the entitlement comes through EU law.  Personally I am paying for private health care, as do many Spanish, as a sort of top up to the current system, but for those pensioners on low incomes for example, they could loose this right.  It would be disasterous for them and a return to the UK, would be likely!

    ​The subject of residency also raises its ugly head.  ¿Would those who have residency based on their European credentials loose their rights?  Chances are they will, as Britain would no longer be a part of The EU.  There are many risks involved in voting NO.  The risks to those I know here, and have formed friendships with, are very real and pressing!

    ​Of course no one knows what the outcome will be, but remember, when you put a cross in the box of choice, think how your decision will effect others.  Not only us expats, but also jobs and the freedom to move around Europe, the future direction of The EU, which if a part of, we can influence and what will replace this institution.  Europe will not just carry on, as is, with its relationship with The UK.  Things will change dramatically and that is something you should all be aware of!

    ​Vote to stay in, included, not excluded.  Vote for change inside The EU, not outside.  Above all vote for the future, your children´s future and for the future of The UK and Europe!