The 15th of March, 2020, and it’s Day 1 of our voluntary isolation. Yesterday we saw our son and our three grandchildren. Who knows, it might be the last time for a while. The Government have advised that the elderly, that’s us, keep our distance from all human contact unless absolutely necessary despite having no symptoms. They are recommending a self enforced quarantine period of four months. It may be a bit premature but we have to keep ourselves safe. The trouble is I don’t get any exercise. Only 700 steps today. Very bad. I must do better tomorrow.

An email from my cousin Petra in Germany confirms it is alot worse there. We all worry about each other and at the moment the feeling is that it will get alot worse before it gets better. I will do a fuller appraisal tomorrow.

It has been a busy November starting with a visit to the UK at the start of the month. We had just enough time to finish the repair on Mitsy but the fault is still apparent although Lorenzo says that a blockage will eventually clear and will run smoothly. It could take up to 3000 kms though. We will see.

Our three weeks in the UK were enjoyable although the weather was not. It was damp, drizzly and cold and we did see snow falling although it did not settle. During our stay, the weather back home in Murcia was sunny and warm. Apparently it did not rain at all.

We  visited my Mum daily and it was good to see that carers were visiting three times a day to ensure she took medications, got her meals and, when possible , get her up and dressed. This was rare and it was not until the 19th November that, although she had got out of bed on occasion, that we saw her dressed. She is not making the physical effort and prefers to lie in bed. Of course this has an effect in that visitors may stay for a shorter time and as for the great grandchildren, they cannot be expected to sit at the end of the bed for a couple of hours. Thankfully this is an incentive for her to get up.  Her back pains then miraculously disappear.

Our English car then gave us problems. There was an awful juddering which we tried to solve by having all the wheels balanced. This did not work so we took the Mazda to a garage who did major work on one wheel which needed pad and disc and a new caliper (whatever that is). This did not solve the problem though and so we took it back to the tyre company who discovered that all the wheels were completely unbalanced and blamed it on their equipment which cannot have been calibrated correctly that day! Anyway, the boss supervised a new re balancing procedure and everything is now fine. I wish we could manage without cars.

We were in the UK this time for both Maisie’s and Ronnie’s birthdays. We went out for meals each time. A pleasure with such well behaved kids. Thea took her swimming tests to be able to get into the Beverley Barracudas Swimming Club/team. Although she has to be 9 years of age  (next February) she passed with flying colours having to do all four swimming strokes including butterfly and tumble turns. A very easy for a girl who, at 8 years of age, can swim one mile none stop. Well done Thea. Of course, I don’t think David and Melanie have thought about the training at 5am in the local pool. Maybe that won’t happen just yet.

On our return to Spain, the weather remained mild and there were enough olives to spend a couple more days harvesting. Many had fallen down in the wind but there were enough on the trees to generate a further 10 litres of Virgin Oil. So the final tally this year was 400 kilos of olives producing 60 litres of oil. That is a low percentage of 15%. Last year we were getting 25% but this is almost certainly due to the low rainfall this year and the exceedingly hot and dry spring and summer. All that remains to do now is trim all the trees which were not harvested. Now we look forward to our oranges and grapefruit which are looking great and will be ready by the end of the month.

Our friend John took a 4 day break to Brussels and, given recent events, was extremely nervous. However he seems to have had a great time eating waffles and kuskus.

We are now in full swing preparing for xmas and looking forward to the visit of Sally and Jim. We may even dust down our xmas tree. We have had two invites for the 23rd and the 24th so any diet we are still on by then will fail miserably.  Maybe we should give up chocolate and marzipan?

We had started harvesting earlier this year. The rains were coming soon and some olives were already falling. Coupled with an impending visit to the UK, it seemed prudent to start now. After all, some of the locals had also started so we thought we would follow their lead. It transpired that the percentage of oil to kilograms picked would be low (last year we achieved 25%) but at least we would have some oil. In the past we have harvested as late as the end of December but harvesting has been necessary earlier each year. Strangely, the almond harvest has been getting later. Weird!
We girded our loins on Tuesday the 27th October and laid the nets. We started on the small trees and managed to pick, prune and sort 18 trees (out of 47) and our crop so far weighed in at 249 kilos. This produced 34.1  litres of virgin olive oil.
On the Saturday that week we thought we would tackle one of the biggest trees at the back of the casita. It was only when we started that we saw what a big job this tree would be. In the end it took us all day and that one tree produced 80 kilos. We were absolutely shattered, particularly as we pruned the beast as we went along. It was worth it as it produced 12 litres of oil on it’s own. On the Sunday we polished off the tree in the garden at the back of our house and that again was very bountiful.In the end, our average yield was 14% from 20 trees, yielding 350 kilograms of olives producing 50 litres of oil. We still have over 40 litres unused from 2014 so now we have a very large stock. We would like to take most of it to the UK but it will have to wait until we move back.
We are hoping that we will be able to harvest more olives in a couple of weeks but that will depend upon the kindness of the weather. If the weather is mild, our work is not yet over.

“Why are you going”? is a question we have often been asked over the last two years or so. Our Spanish and English friends cannot understand it although they are well aware of the fact that so much has changed in the UK that we are drawn to return. Mainly, we miss our three fantastic grandchildren and whilst the occasional visits to see them in the UK are very special, it can never be the same as living five miles away. I always imagined myself on a metaphorical terrace, sat on a wooden rocking chair, imparting words of wisdom to my grandchildren. Fanciful I know but when our occasional visits to the UK involve seeing them at my mother’s house when visits coincide, at their house for an hour after they have left school and the rare opportunity to go to the seaside for fish and chips, you can see where I am coming from. It is nobody’s fault but ours for choosing to live abroad. That’s the way it is, especially as the grandchildren are never likely to see where we live now we are selling up. So, the mountain must go to mohammed.

There are of course other reasons for considering the move. My Mother’s failing health for one. Although she has no life threatening illness, she is, I believe suffering from the early stages of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease. Her short term memory is immensely poor and spends the majority of her days in bed with “a bad back”. The pressure of trying to keep Mum at home with the help of Social Services, falls on the shoulders of my two sisters and we can very rarely ease any of that burden whilst we live here.

Of course, none of us is getting any younger and the pills taken daily, keep increasing in number and variety. Working on the land is only possible for me in short bursts and the prospect of a replacement knee in the not too distant future does not help. All in all, a final move to the UK seems to be the sensible option. Also, of course, there is the possibility that the UK will leave the EU and may make our house unsaleable, or maybe not but it is not worth the risk. I think we will stay in the EU though!

We would of course miss our friends in Spain immensely but we would always come back to see them. Our UK friends we see regularly in both countries so would continue our very good friendships with them anyway. Many of our families stopped coming years ago.

As for the weather…well that would be a big upheaval to leave this climate. Everyone feels better in the sun. Especially when arthritis , rheumatism and tendinitis set in. The cold damp weather is not good but one can always hop onto a plane to sunnier climes and that would be my plan.

We would be exchanging the Spanish Health Service for the NHS but that would make little difference. We have been well looked after here and have always been referred to and seen by specialists in  very quick time where required. I believe in the NHS and am confident that it may only be a little less efficient. I don’t think it would be better.

Clearly the cost of living in the UK is higher in most circumstances but we would not be running two residences with their attendant costs, rates, electric, gas, maintenance, telephones, two sets of clothing, 4 TVs etc and we would have one rather than three cars. I think our annual costs would be reduced by at least €2000/€3000. (A holiday in Spain or similar for the winter months?)

What else would I miss? Our swimming pool. The cheap lunches in local restaurants. The cheap Indian Restaurants. The cheap gin, wine, beer etc., etc. Great times with visiting friends. Our lovely house. Murcia in general. Alhama in particular. Cheap fuel. Warm nights on the patio by the pool with friends and “refreshments”. I could go on. Enough now! I’m feeling morose!

It seems some people are reading this Blog so here is what has been happening recently.

Our land has now been ploughed by Luis which enabled us to empty the contents of our swimming pool onto the land which will really swell the olives. They are looking good and we hope for a decent return this year.

The pool has had a tough time this year coping with algae. We managed to keep it under control with chemicals but, after a three week visit to the UK, it had turned a beautiful shade of green. Emptying the pool was the best option, although my mate Pete suggested a pool cover. “No sun no algae”. Well, a new cover is over €400. To fill the pool with fresh water next spring will cost about €30. So, no contest!

Once the waste water had soaked in to the land (also giving sustenance to a variety of weeds) we were able to spray with weed killer along the walls and where Luis had not been able to turn the land over with his plough. We have been using Luis now for about 8 years and he is still only charging €70. He is a great bloke and despite speaking very broad “Murciana” Spanish, we get on very well. Maybe it’s the occasional bottle of Rioja red wine I give him from time to time.

We have stocked up with 1.2 tonnes of logs for winter. We always order 1 tonne from Jose Leon but he always brings more. Again his charges over the 8 years we have used him, have never altered. 9 cents a kilo meaning we pay about £70 for our winter warmth. This years batch is excellent but contained no smaller stuff for starting the log burner so I was forced to start cutting bits off the massive stock of “kindling” from trees I have cut down or pruned. I will probably need to do that once a month.

Our friend, John, has returned from his Mediterranean Cruise. He enjoyed the fact that he could visit places on the west coast of Italy he had always wanted to visit but the cruise itself did not persuade him to do it again. Very much the same as us after our Norwegian Fjord adventure. A couple on our trip were celebrating their 50th anniversary. No, not wedding but their 50th Cruise, including the very same Norwegian cruise itinerary twice. No doubt they have their sea legs by now.
We have been planning a short break in Reykjavik next year. We are really looking forward to it. They eat a lot of horse and Minky whale. We are not sure if we will partake. We are hoping to catch a view of The Northern Lights. It certainly will be dark enough with only 4.5 hours of sunlight each day. No need to pack sunglasses I think.

Fiesta season in the region has now finished for the year. Our neighbours in Cuevas de Reyllo celebrated their last night on Monday (Spanish National Day) with fireworks we could hear 6 kilometers away. That said, all the Fiestas we have seen this year (Fuente Alamo, Alhama) have cut down considerably over the past couple of years. Even Fiesta street lighting was on one occasion, replaced by shiny paper being strung across the Main Street. It shows how bad things have become with Town Halls in financial difficulties. Complex floats have been largely replace by local groups dancing down the street in fancy dress, usually following a car and trailer loaded with massive loudspeakers and bottles of cola, laced with rum no doubt!! It doesn’t stop the locals turning out in force though who make every effort to dress up and have a good time. Good for them!

As I am about to post this, our Mitsubishi Spacestar is on a garage ramp. It feels, whilst driving (all speeds and gears) as if someone is “feathering” the brakes. It is very worrying and feels expensive. The car has 305,000 kms on the clock so maybe we should expect problems now. Hopefully it will be simple to fix as within the last 12 months our turbocharger “blew”  and two weeks later, so did the cylinder head gasket with a total cost of €1,500. Such is life.

I have decided to reactivate this BLOG, probably on the first of January 2016. We will have been residents of Spain since November 2002 and are now in the process of selling up completely and moving back to the UK. This Blog will probably be of interest to family and friends but is of course open to anyone who cares to read my ramblings.

I intend to report the difficulties (or otherwise) of selling up in Spain and how we will occupy our days in the meantime. Our house has already been on the market for some time now so the BLOG could be active for some time yet. I may even carry it on after we move back to the UK, or wherever. Who knows?

This BLOG will replace a newsletter sent to family and friends quarterly. The thing is, was everyone who got it, really interested? Well, if they (you) are , “Frank’s Blog” can be dipped into at any time as it will be written more frequently than my “Newsletter” was published (quarterly).  It will still include photographs and hyperlinks where appropriate. I hope you, dear reader, will find it interesting.