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From a new life in spain, to an old life in britain, 'roaming brit' documents uncertain times!

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On 31st January 2016, my partner and I left Southampton to start a new life as Expats in Gran Alacant, on the Costa Blanca. This blog will document our journey, as we navigate the Spanish system, travelling a path untried and untested. With Brexit looming, political turmoil in Europe, and an unpredictable future, harsh decisions must be made. Illness, family bonds, and a Change of heart all make for challenging times in the life of a 'Roaming Brit!'

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Countdown to Australia!

31/7/2016

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It's one week, before Darrell leaves for Australia and we are trying to see as many people as we can before he leaves.  Last night we popped out with Chloe and her sister Emily.  We had dinner in The American Rock Bar and went over to Barloko, so Darrell could say goodbye to Roger before he goes.  After a few cocktails, we went down to Carabassi, to see Jamie. We ended up drinking until 4am, and I am suffering for it today. The hangovers only get worse, as I get older.

Darrell has a lot of goodbyes to make before he leaves and we are also off to see a friend in Murcia on Wednesday.  It does seem that we spend our life saying goodbye to people, but  I will still be here. This is at least, our home for the moment and we have made some incredible friends!
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Cats

30/7/2016

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I'm not quite sure how the cats are finding the heat at the moment, but they do seem to be reacting in just the same way we are.  It's bloody hot and getting hotter.  We are so glad we brought Precious and Lily with us to Spain.  It is a world apart from Britain and like us, their quality of life is so much better.  Lily is just getting over her ear infection, after taking her to the vets, on three separate occasions.  Interestingly, vet bills over here are far cheaper than those in The UK and the standard of care is so much better.  

Once Darrell moves to Australia, it will be down to me to look after them both.  I am well able to do it, it's just the cat litter, I'm not keen on.  Maybe I'll make that Jamie's responsibility.  Darrell has made me promise, that he can have video calls with the cats once a week.  Of course I will look after them well.  It will be good to have them here, while Darrell is away!

We got Precious in 2005, when we lived up north in Barnoldswick.  Her Brother Squeeler, who we got at the same time, sadly died, after being hit by a car, when we moved back down South to Southampton, a short time afterwards.  Lily was a rescue cat.  I got her in 2007.  She was a breeding cat, who had spent her life in a cage.  She was given a botched hernia operation, after she gave birth to her last litter of kittens and subsequently could not be used for breeding anymore.  Lily is a 'Oriental Foreign White', basically a siamese, without the colour point.  She is adorable, placid and reminds me more of a rag doll cat, they way she can just lay in the palm of your hand, wherever you place her.

Life would not be the same without these two by our side.  I could return to Australia with Darrell now, if it wasn't for the cats, but they are our family and no matter what happens in our life, we will never give up on our babies!
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Gay Capri!

30/7/2016

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So it has been one year to the day, that myself and Darrell started to pack up Gay Capri, in Britain, ready for our move to Spain.  Our Jamie and Kirsty came over to help, but like everything at the time, it just turned into a bit of a dressing up party!
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Hot and Spicy!

30/7/2016

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So tonight I cooked something a little hot and spicy.  Moans from Darrell and Jamie.  It's too hot they cried.

Let me just say that in all hot countries, people eat food like this.  It produces sweat, which in reality, is the body's way of keeping cool.  The spices used, also preserve meat in hot temperatures, which help to keep food for longer. Finally hot temperatures suppress appetite, Spicy food stimulates it.  Not just a pretty face, me!
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Keeping Busy!

30/7/2016

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My new writing room is finished at Casa Caprice. Overlooking, Heart Attack Hill, with Alicate vista in front of me. Inspiration for words and a positive future.

It looks like I might have a new job as well.  Only for a couple of days a week, so I can continue, with my new career.

A night out with a great girl tomorrow and a visit to a dear friend in Murcia on Wednesday.  Still keeping busy, everyday.  Still loving Spain!  
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Jamie behind the wheel!

29/7/2016

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With Darrell about to leave for Australia, it was Jamie's first day behind the wheel of the family car.  NEVER AGAIN, will I let him drive anywhere! Stalled on a roundabout, falling backwards into the car behind, was an experience I want to forget, especially after the Guardia Civil had pulled Darrell out of a sand dune earlier!  Oh my days, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
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Friendships!

29/7/2016

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I was having a chat with Jamie yesterday, about many things, when the subject of friendships came up.  Myself and Jamie had many of the same friends in Southampton, we mixed in the same circles and many of our friendships had lasted years.  Friends are important in anyone's life, especially for Jamie at his age. We have all met some fantastic compatriots since moving here.  These bonds were formed mainly at the beginning of our time in Gran Alacant, before the summer season started.  This is the ideal time to get to know people, when there are less bodies about and you have more time to spend with the hoi polloi.  The people we met and now have friendships with, are mainly residents, many of whom, have lived here for ten years or more.  They are great, slightly older than us, but are a joy to know.  They have pointed us in the right direction, showed us the right way to do things and been there if we have needed help!


​The summer season has bought in new faces, many new faces.  There is a mix of tourists from all over Europe as well as second home owners, mainly from the UK and Scandinavia.  On average, people spend probably about four weeks in Gran Alacant. Many of those here, have their own local pubs and bars, the ones they frequent more often, the ones they feel more comfortable drinking in and most importantly the places they get on with the staff better.  Jamie said to me, that he found it difficult making friends for brief periods of time, then people would leave, returning later in the year, or never at all.  To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it that way before.  I have just seen Gran Alacant as a bit of a transient place, people enjoy themselves when they are here and eventually move on, mainly after a brief period of time.  Personally I quite like that idea, of short term friendships.

I have made many friends over the years, not only in the UK, but also Australia, Croatia and The United States, all places I have visited or stayed in.  In my home town of Southampton or indeed the place I was born, I have friendships that have lasted the test of time, for thirty years or more,  Many of these friends left their own unique mark on my life, all of them for very different reasons.  I appreciate all of their intimacies, for individual reasons.  Many of these people will no longer be in my life on a regular basis now, but I know, as soon as we see each other in the future, we will start off where we have finished.  I have built these relationships up over a lifetime and quite frankly I have no need to do the same again.

That may seem harsh to those reading today's entry in my blog, and maybe it is, but in my experience, excluding the odd one or two individuals, friendships are not necessarily what you believe or want them to be!  Getting too close to people is a problem and not something I wish to do again.  Moving to Spain has shown many of those, we regarded as friends, for who they are.  People are quick to enjoy the fruits of comradeship, when you live just around the corner, offer a place to stay and money in their pocket.  When you pick up, move on and leave they are quick to turn the other way.

The nature of tourism, is short term travel.  People spending brief periods of time in a destination, they enjoy, then returning back to reality, in their home country.  For Jamie and myself, this is reality, this is home and we live it every day.  I am well used to living in this holiday destination.  I like the fact, there are smiling faces everyday and people are only here for short periods.  Although I have formed many close bonds with tourists and homeowners alike, who only spend a short time out here, I haven't actually got close enough to anyone, to get involved in their lives, which could store up problems for the future.  Coming from a life, so different, over many years in Southampton, this is a welcome change, one which I am embracing.

​For Jamie, someone who is a lot younger and has different friendship needs, it has been more difficult to adjust to this way of life.  Jamie is only twenty three, so the friendships he forms now, will be important for the rest of his life, just like they were, when I was his age.  In fact I had just met Darrell when I was Jamie's age.  Many of those people who were around then, for us, are still there now, even if it is in a different Country.

I  went out with Jamie on Sunday night, and met many of his friends.  These are the people, Jamie works with or near on a daily basis.  They are all great people.  They are the ones that will be around, when the tourists go home.  They will be here in the winter, when the place is quiet and they will be the ones, he ultimately gains true friendship from.  Without being detrimental to tourists, when they do spend time in Gran Alacant, you do only see one side of them, you don't see the real people they are, unlike those you live and work with everyday.  

The residents are good people, they are important.  They see people come and go all the time and have learned to live with what comes with it!  We have all made some great, long lasting friendships with those who live here on a permanent basis, because they do see life, a little more from our point of view.  They are the one's that have stuck their necks out for us.  The nature of friends and friendships is very different in Spain, transient and long lasting, genuine and less so, but this is all part of the growing experience of living in a new place.  In time, just as Jamie's homesickness has gone, so will his fear for friendship and he will settle down, towards the most productive part of his life so far.  Just like us all!


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Photographs!

28/7/2016

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A Life in Photographs!

It's not long before Darrell returns to Australia, so I've spent the day sorting through old photographs, of our twenty one years together.  Someone asked me the other day if we were separating, well the answer to that is no, no we are not.  If you read my blog entries, you would know, exactly what is going on.  We will be living a part for periods of time, while Darrell's Mother needs care in Australia.  I will be keeping the home fires burning, with Jamie, at Casa Caprice, in Spain. 

Looking through old photographs, is something we all should do from time to time.  It makes us remember where we have come from and recognise where we are heading!  I have always been a bit of an obsessive photographer, wanting to keeping memories from happy times, as well as those from less joyous occasions in our life. As I have gone through each file, looking at each picture, it has triggered a memory, I had forgotten.  Not completely forgotten, just left at the back of my mind, until days like today, trigger thoughts and emotions from times gone by! 

I've been trying to find old photographs of myself and Darrell, over our years together, no mean task, as despite the millions of photographs I have, there are not that many of us both. The majority of our years together, were before the advent of camera phones and digital cameras, yes we are that old.  Anyway I have found 194 so far, scouting through my network drive.  From the very first day we met, living in Australia, Birthdays, Anniversaries, events, Christmas and all the important moments in our life together so far.

Six months is a long time to be separated from the person you love, but having all the memories at hand, will help us both get through this period.  We do what we have to do, because it will secure our future forever.  We will be together forever, because that is our destiny.  We will always love one another, because love is what keeps us together, as a couple!

​Peace and love always!
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Me husband, that cried wolf too many times!

28/7/2016

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So Darrell and Jamie went to the beach.  Jamie had been out caining it for a few days and needed a wash.  Water is expensive, in these here parts.  They said, they would return in two whole hours.  I had just settled down for a bit of Spanish Tapas, when thirty seconds later, me husband was back.  Darrell had been stung by a jellyfish, singular, not a whole herd or anything.  He asked myself and Jamie, to piss on him, apparently, it would help with the pain.  Doubtful, I said Jamie will have to do it, as I hadn't done stuff like that, since I was a wee girl.  I later found out, that in this situation, piss is best.  I had no idea.  Anyway, as a secondary measure, I made up an emergency Bicarbonate of Soda paste to apply to the sting.  Currently my disabled husband,  (if anything is going to happen to someone, it will damn well always happen to him) is dying on the sofa covered in white stuff, something he hasn't done in a while! 
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Lily

27/7/2016

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Had to take Lily to the vets again this morning.  She has been suffering with a particularly bad ear infection. She seems to be on the mend now though, doing what cats do, sleeping a lot!
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    51-year-old Author and professional blogger. Expat formerly living in Gran Alacant on the Costa Blanca! Currently, residing in my adopted home of Perth, Western Australia.

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    A place to call home
    Finally, a place we can call home.  A community of like minded individuals, who used to call Britain home.  Now Spain is our choice, an altogether gentler, happier, sunnier and safer experience!
            Luke Feb 16
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  • Blog
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