I April 2001 Pauline and I saw an add' in the local paper about an exhibition in a local hotel of houses for sale in Spain. While we had been on holidays in various places, we had always been looking in the estate agents with the possibility of retiring there. We had been talking about it for sometime and then this add' turned up. We went to the exhibition and were impressed. Although we did not get a chance to talk to the chap who was running the show, we picked up a portfolio and went home and read.
In the next weeks local paper there was another add' for houses in Spain. We decided to go along for a look. This time I did manage to talk to the chap who was running the show, He turned out to be one of the most arrogant people I've ever met. Needless to says we picked up no portfolio. The next day we phoned the chap from the first exhibition we'd been to and booked flights for July 1st for a three day inspection trip. Men don't buy house. I know that Pauline had already picked a house that was in our price range. On the first day they showed us around the area and we went to lunch. Later in the day they showed us some houses but not the one that Pauline had in mind. That night we went out to dinner and Pauline told Bernie our man from the exhibition the house she wanted to look at. He agreed and said we'd go first thing in the morning. Next day we went to the Show House and I watched paulines face as she walked in. I knew immediately from the the look on her face that it was going to be one of these. We said OK this is the type we want. They then took us to where we now live, which at this time was a building site. Although the house we decided to have was up but far from finished. We said OK this is the one we want. they took us back to the office and we paid our deposit and the house was ours. They asked us when we would like to move in and we said as soon as possible and they said how about December 10 and we agreed. It was only later that we found out that people who had bought earlier than us could not move in until much later. All these other people bought through agents. I can only assume that because we bought direct ours was ready sooner.

We went home to sell our house in England. Which was in Leigh on Sea, Essex. The first person who walked in bought it. later in July I had go into hospital for a minor operation and was off work for six weeks and immediately after at the beginning of September we went on holiday to Tenneriffe. While we were there we phoned back home to find that the sale had fallen through on one day and had been sold to another buyer the very next day. So that part of it ended quite happily. When we got back from our holiday I went back to work for three weeks and then retired. It was a great feeling.

We booked the last ferry of the year leaving Plymouth on Nov 11. We had an excellent crossing 22 hours to Santander. We drove down to Madrid took the ring road (A40, alias M25) and took the road to Alicante, we were by this time getting tired and it would be midnight by the time we would have gotten to Torrevieca where we had borrowed a villa from a friend in Ireland. So we decided to stop for the night at a place called La Rhoda. The hotel was lovely. Wood paneled walls. All for the princely sum of �27 per room per night. The next day we drove to Torrevieca and come to the conclusion that we would never have found the villa in the dark. We stayed at the villa for about five weeks.

We moved into our new house on the 17 Dec 2001.We live at a place called Monte Azul, Benijofar, in the province of Alicante.(Although the signpost at the entrance to the site says El Dorado. (Which means 'The Gold) All the ladies are not very happy with that name and tend to ignore it) We were the only People on the site of 60 houses so as you can imagine Christmas was not going to be a very lively affair. But as it turned out some other people who we knew who lived on an adjacent site took us to the Cassada Club for Christmas dinner, tea, and evening drinks and dancing. Although it was not the same as being in England being with everyone you know it was better than nothing at all.

But now that we have been here for a year things are very different. During the year as people moved into the site and we got to know them we made many friends. There are some people who I've not met yet or, you never get to meet because maybe they have family commitments. But never the less the ones that I do really know are now very good friends. So good in fact that Pauline, Diane and Phil are going back to England together for a few days in February. Whist we three chaps John, Mike and Brian will have to stay on our own in the spanish sunshine aaaaah aaaaaaah.

Getting back to the subject matter "Living in Spain" After living here for over a year I have just a little expirence. The food is cheap. The beer is cheaper. the wine is terrific and cheaper still. If you go to a search engine and ask for 'Spanish Villas' it will come up with hundreds of sites. There are still some pitfalls to buying a place in Spain. There are still some shady operators around. We bought our house direct from one of the largest building companies in Spain. No agents. This means that if I have a complaint I can go directly to the builder and not through an agent. This has advantages. Like being seen to straight away.

We have applied for residencia but it takes an awful long time. Residencia has certain advantages, like being able to properly buy a Spanish registered car, if you buy a car without residencia it is like having it on long term hire. You never really own it. There are various other things that I cannot think of right now. As I write it's New Years Day the sun has just come out and in a few moments I will be taking a chair outside and read my book in the sun.

I will be adding to this page as we go along