Farewell UK, Hola Espana!

17/2/2016

Leaving Southampton

I met Jamie at Southampton Airport on a cold January morning. It was the kind of day, you actually didn´t mind leaving The UK, for warmer climbs. This was mine and Jamie´s last day in The UK at least. Darrell was staying back to pack the van, for his long trip through Europe , to Southern Spain. He had a last few things to do, before he could leave from Portsmouth, travelling through France and Spain with Dale!

We had an early morning flight from Southampton and to be honest I was in holiday mode, although it is only over the last few days, that it has finally sunk in, that we have all, moved for good! It does take a while for these things to sink in. In many respects, it was a last minute decision for our Jamie to come. He had thought long and hard about joining us and despite others trying to dissuade him from leaving, for their own unknown reasons, he did take the brave step of leaving for a new life, leaving behind the less savoury aspects of life in Southampton.

For Jason and myself this was a decision we had mulled over a year before and finally decided to do it, after the worst year of our life. It was fate! I am a firm believer in fate and what we had once planned was now coming to a conclusion, and we were actually leaving England for good!

Leaving somewhere you have lived for, in my case, most of my life can be hard, but after the year Darrell and I have had, nothing could have been easier. We were both more than ready to leave, though, my biggest fear was leaving such good friends behind, after spending so long, finding them in the first place!

Jamie and I had a few early morning beers in the bar, at the airport. I made sure he was fine with leaving The UK one last time, then our flight was called and we were on our way. On the way to a new life in the sun, away from the worst life can throw your way, where no one knew us and where we could finally press the reset button!

Darrell had booked us into a grotty two star hotel in the city, although despite its initial appearance, it was actually quite nice, situated right in the centre. Our room overlooked bars, cafes and restaurants and was at the heart of the town!

Arrival

Jamie and I landed safely on the first leg of our journey to a new life!

We had a few bevvies and some decent food, which in all honesty, with everything being packed up at Gay Capri, we hadn´t had in a long while. It was nice to finally relax, take in the sites and finally feel some warmth, after the cold miserable weather back in The UK!

Two Days

For the next few days, Jamie and I were left to our own devices, as Jason drove down through Europe.

The next morning we had to collect the keys for Casa Caprice from our Agents, just outside of the city. It sounded easy enough, but actually, nothing could be further from the truth!

We picked up a taxi outside the hotel, early in the morning.

We told the driver the address of the agent, and set off on our way. Now I didn´t know much about the region we are now living in, certainly not the Urbanizations or the areas in and around the city, but it seemed, neither did the taxi driver, who got lost on route!

It turns out, that all these new urbanizations are rather foreign to anyone who does not actually live on one. We drove around for a good half hour before, after checking the WIFI on my phone, I found the agents we had got the house from. Disaster avoided!

Pirate Ship

For the next few days we spent time exploring our new surroundings. The nearest city to us is Alicante, so we spent most of our time there.

We found our favourite part of town, down by the marina, had a few beers on the Pirate Ship and a few more beers at Soho Mar, which, we have all agreed is our favourite bar so far!

Just two days to wait before Darrell arrived with Dale and the cats!

Casa Caprice

A few pictures from Casa Caprice. It is a bit smaller than I am used too, but it´s a lovely house, with a fantastic view and the neighbours are great. Above all there is no one here to remind us, of such a horrible time in Southampton, that is all that matters to us!

The rest of our ´Gay Family´ arrive!

Aunty Dale

A big thank you to Aunty Dale for helping both myself and Darrell out and of course being here for our first week. It is a memory we shall cherish always.

The weather here was a bit chilly, while poor Dale was with us and to be honest, I think he was glad to leave, to the modernity of his Bungalow in Bitterne, central heating and 70 inch television!

Gay Family

I can´t stress enough how important it has been to have good people around us, especially over the last year. Dale, has, without exception been there for us both, throughout this difficult period. The fact that he was even there with us, during our move to Europe, speaks loads for him. He is a special guy.

All of us got emotional, during this first week here on the continent. We had a lot of memories to talk over and a lot of fears to discuss. This is new for us all and we don´t want to muck this one up, so it really does help to talk to someone like Dale. We are sure he will keep in touch and we will see him again soon!

Two days later, on Tuesday evening the rest of our wayward ´Gay Family´ arrived, after a tiring trip across Europe. Dale had driven most of the way, as Darrell had pulled his back during the moving process and to be honest, they were both knackered, bless them!

Sadly Dale didn´t have a lot of time to do any site seeing here, but we did all manage to get out and about a bit and see Alicante mainly and have a few drinks in the local ex pat bars, here and about. It was actually lovely having him here. He is a dear friend who Darrell and I have known for many years!

Teaching Jamie

Controlling partners, friends and others who have either been too caring, or not caring enough, this has been the story of Jamie´s life up to now.

Darrell and I want to help Jamie restart his life and rebuild it, into something he can be proud of!

Bringing Jamie out to Spain with us, has been a decision, not everyone understands, for what seems their own selfish reasons. Both Darrell and I are not selfish. We believe in giving everyone a chance in life and helping if we can.

Sadly Jamie has had mostly everything done for him over the years, you could almost mention the word control!

Cooking

I have promised Jamie´s Nan, that I would look after him and make sure he is okay. We have also said we will do our best to make sure he learns to look after himself a lot more, learning how to cook, experiencing new things, peoples, cultures and food as well as making sure he can just do the simplest things in life, that up until now, he has been unable to do, because other people have taken that option away from him. So that´s it. we will do our best!

The Square

Over the last week we have discovered ´The Square´. We didn´t know it was there until recently, as a lot of the areas around here are gated communities. The Square consists of a few bars and restaurants and caters for the ex pat community, and we love it!

I think I can speak for us all, when I say, we really do love it here. The sense of community, is amazing, it doesn´t matter who you are. We have all been welcomed with open arms, invited out and are thoroughly enjoying, getting to know the locals, who are a tremendous bunch!

None of us have ever experienced such a close knit community spirit before. Well Darrell and I did when we lived in Whiteparish, and we enjoyed it then, as much as we do now. Many of the residents have lived here for as long as this place has been about, forteen or more years. Britain has a lot to learn, where the building of communities are concerned!

Working

We have got our ´Working Numbers´now and can now start the process of looking for jobs. How easy this will be will depend on how hard we are willing to work to stay here in Spain. All of us want it, so it is going to be easy and we relish the opportunity. Here begins the rest of all our lives!

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