If you had to leave Spain!

We all hear people commenting on what they miss from the Uk, salad cream, real ale, fish and chips and so on. If for some reason you had to leave Spain what would you miss?

Well personally i do not miss anything ! except for my family ! from England !! If i had to leave Spain i would miss the Spanish people who are so welcoming ! the weather ! open spaces to walk our doggy ! and our lovely cave house ! and of course the forum which is great !! thanks to all that run it !

I would live on the beach rather than leave. But if FORCED then the coffee. I go to the Posa virtually every morning, couldn't afford to do that in the UK for sure.

The delicious free tapas! x

I would never move from Spain! if it went pear-shaped here I would move up Tarragona way (where the rest of my extended Spanish family live)

there are too many things I would miss from Spain

I hardly miss anything from UK

far too many to list but here are a few and where to begin, our cave house first, the local people and our amazing neighbours, the scenery, the weather, always something interesting happening be that fiesta or a local wedding. Tapas, the strong coffee, the delicious food served at the most amazing prices in the local resultants, day trips to the lake(s).........

Good friends.

I miss nothing from the uk apart from watching my beloved Torquay but here i would miss loads, the friendly locals, the food, the weather and in general the way of life.

Blue skies.

Free food of all kinds - sharon fruit is so rare and unusual back home it is virtually displayed on a revolving velvet cushion in the shops -- I picked a bagful last week in Cullar from a tree I found down by the river.

Opportunity.

Space.

Beauty.

Only availlable in small amounts in Huddersfield

I can't imagine what whould have to happen to make us leave here and return to the UK but if it ever did happen would miss everything - the locals, my cave, the views, wonderful day trips out, the history, the fiestas, the quirky ways of village life, the food, the weather I could go on for ever! What do I miss from the UK one thing only my Family!

I'd miss everything about my life here!

Sharon fruit are easy to get in South London (not on trees though ) but very very expensive. And I've never seen them on the tree. How exciting is that!

I'd miss the delicious fruit and veg bounty we come home with every other day from our generous friends and neighbours. Blue skies, the sun, open spaces, NO TRAFFIC!, the adventure, the pick and mix nuts and dried fruit stall at the markets, the good standard of care at the hospital, the views...

Big skies, fantastic friends, both Spanish and English, dead casual way of life, months of guaranteed sunshine, the ever-changing view of the sierras surrounding the altiplano every time I drive to Huescar, the kindness and warmth of people everywhere, on every level. Wouldn't miss the standard restaurant food though - it's monotonous crap.

I love your 'no nonsense, honest opinions' Jenny!

Well, the positives (which way, way outnumber the only negative) are "no-nonsense, honest" as well! (including my opinion of my friends here, which includes you!) What you see is what you get, that's me.


P.S. Steer me towards a local restaurant (apart from the 2 [brit-owned] in El Margen, La Mimbrera in Orce, Cuevas al Jalib & the one in central Baza run by ex-La Mimbrera staff, whose name I've forgotten, but where the surly service now outweighs the good food and, of course, Sally's fabulous Sunday lunches in Castillejar), and I'll gladly climb down from my statement about local restaurants and eat humble pie for my sins.

yep think have to move no traffic further up my list, after spending many a time stuck in traffic jams in UK

for sure market day has to go high on the list and picking out the fresh fruit and veg as everyones stops for a chat, then there's the amazing meat you can get at Julians butcher shop.

Yes, Santamaria - forgot about the traffic. Despite living in el campo, we have easy access to an amazing motorway (-ish) network, which is usually completely empty and, in most directions, goes through stunning scenery. Compare it with the M25. Damn good use of EU funding, I'd say.

Where's Julian's butcher's shop? I usually buy meat at Huescar meat market (fantastic value & quality), but am always alert to other possibilities.

Dave - I have 2 strong memories of guests' reactions to local restaurants (usually Emilio's, given that we live opposite). One was, "Why bother? the food's much better here," and the other was a mournful, "That's a terrible thing to do to a fish." The latter remark was about 4 years ago, and they still haven't learned how to cook fish.

Sorry - my earlier post re. local restaurants didn't make sense. I should have said, "Steer me to . . . . that serves really good food and I'll gladly eat humble pie for my sins".

Hi Jenny, Which house do you live in? I used to live opposite Emillios so I may have old pictures of your house, Regards Jayne

Adding to the blissful lack of traffic here, I'd add - next to NO TRAFFIC WARDENS! Coming from London where parking and traffic were a major problem to a place where traffic (if you can call it that) is only caused by slow moving works' vehicles, where I've never seen a traffic warden, and where you can park with ease and always within walking distance is absolute bliss and a real stress reducer for us.

As a contractor my hubby received £60-100 parking tickets fortnightly for just trying to do his job. And it could easily take us an hour to travel 10 miles - rush hour didn't exist anymore, this was at any time of the day! Now we can do a similar journey in 10 stress-free mins.

Oh, and the speed bumps and the buses and the school run down our road which created a gridlock on a daily basis and assault to the nervous system. I'm glad we left that behind!

This is difficult to put concisely as there is so much I would miss.
I have to say though that I couldn't live with myself if we had to take our boys back. Nico is just a baby so would probably adjust but I couldn't do it to Josh. He was 2 when we came over and has had all his schooling here so to jump from a class of 7 in a village school to a class of 30 odd in a comp would be horrendous for him (I have taught in a few so know!)
Plus the freedom the kids have is second to none, Josh and his friend can play outside in the campo and I have no worries about traffic or other modern threats. They come home with a variety of wildlife, (which stays firmly outside!) covered in mud or dust and get to use their imagination and do little boys' stuff in complete safety. Back in Newcastle he would be stuck at home glued to the TV or computer or we'd be fighting the evening traffic to get to some activity class or other (that is if we could afford it)
I would miss life in general, the great value of fresh fruit and veg, super fresh and good quality meat we buy daily in Orce.

Everything else that people have mentioned really but above all the life that our kids have, we couldn''t replicate that.

Gayle

Jayne -

Could it be that you're the Jayne we bought the house off in February 2005?

Hi Jenny no Gayle is defiatnatley not the Jayne you bought the house from LOL!!

Sharon and I stayed in your cave when Jayne use to put folks up that were buying houses through Brendon.

Jayes other half painted the outside of the house in Los Cariones for us when we first bought it.

Jayne loved cooking Fish

and anyone that knows sharon, she hate fish!!!!!!


What I miss about Spain?

THE LOCAL SPANISH FOLKS
THE TAPAS
COST OF LIVING
THE COUNCIL BILS
THE WEATHER
THE SCENERY
THE BARS
THE MARKET
THE TAPAS
BEER AT 80 EUROS, PROBERLY GONE UP NOW
OUR FIRST HOUSE NEIGHBOURS
EMILLIOS
THE CASTILLEJAR BAKERY
THE TAPAS
MY MT8S
THE TAPAS THE BEER THE SCENERY
THE BEER AND LAST OF ALL

THE TAPAS

cOL XXXX