Do we miss the UK?

In a word; no. Perhaps not really would be more appropriate, I do miss family, friends and workmates, but I do go home (a strange thing to say really, because it isn’t) now and then, and we do get visitors. Do I miss waiting fourteen times as long to get the dustbin emptied and paying in excess of fourteen times as much for the privilege, no. Do I miss being able to do my shopping seven days a week, no. Do I miss being constantly on the go for one reason or another, no. Do I miss ‘English’ food, no. Ok, I did have a really bad urge for a corned beef sandwich one lunchtime, no idea why, but I got over it. It’s strange the amount of things I’d thought I would miss, but don’t. Sure, there are some customs here that are strange to us ‘Brits’, carrying ID all the time, roundabouts that you drive through the middle of (it took my son-in-law a couple of days to get his head round that one), and leaving your insurance papers in the car at all times as it’s the car that’s insured, not you (maybe that’s just in case someone can be bothered to steal your car, at least they won’t get ‘done’ for no insurance, how thoughtful). You soon get used to a different pace of life and the shear amount of new friends you find yourself making; it’s a very social place. I went for a walk to check if the pool had been fixed once, its only two hundred yards away, the journey took an hour and a half, got chatting to some of the neighbours on the way past. Everyone here just seems to be generally more ‘happy’. Of course you still get the odd person who likes to moan about things, a very British thing to do, but never actually complain or do anything about it, the Spanish would, and very loudly from what I have seen. So perhaps it is a no after all, you get used to the lack of stress. After going to a market this morning, driving back through a small town, I ran into a traffic jam. Easter Sunday, there was a religious parade going through the town. Back in the UK, I would have been trying to get round it or something in case I would be late getting where I was going. Not here, engine off, handbrake on, and watch the spectacle unfold, lunch was going to be a little later than planned, not a problem. Linda and I have really settled in here now, and it is ‘home’, we’ll see how the other parts of the master plan unfold. By the way, if when reading this you find it a little disjointed, it’s because it has taken me about three hours to write it, I am constantly breaking off for a chat with various neighbours going past, being ‘social’ has its price, and I’m prepared to pay it.