The introduction to us...........................

This is the first blog I have ever written.  I’ve read lots of other peoples over the years and have finally decided to join this growing community with my personal take on life.

I can apologise in advance if you are looking for short blogs with recipes and the like, my pages will be simply about my life, relationships, the daily challenges that rear up and I guess, a general outpouring of all the extra bits in my brain - plus questions and thoughts I'd love your opinion on.

We (my husband and I and our young twins) left the UK when the children were babies.  We moved to France, spent nearly four years there and then followed the sunshine down to the South of Spain.  It’s been an interesting journey, one I’m three quarters of the way through writing a book about.   I’m not sure what I’ll do with the book once I’m finished, but it’s been good putting it all down on paper and remembering so much.

The difference between the UK, France and now Spain has been immense in many ways. All part of Europe but so different  - yet have similar ways of doing things - different languages, staggeringly different beaurocracy (France and Spain seem to share a love of using half a tree for every simple transaction) and people – good and bad!  

In France we house-sat in the beginning, then bought a renovation project – so very NOT easy with twin babies.  Mostly finished the renovation and then got fed up of the constant rain in the north of France,  moved down to the other end of France and rented for a couple of years, moved to a place in Spain for another house sit (nightmare situation), moved again to a house up the side of a mountain where the ‘road’ washed away every time we had heavy rain, bought a cafe bar on impulse (and luckily sold again) and ended up living about 20 kilometres inland from the Fuengirola area.  I use the term ‘ended up’ very lightly as I am already getting itchy feet and now I’ve at last got the Internet at home, the search for something new is beckoning. 

During this time we’ve set up our own businesses – not always easy with not so perfect language skills – enrolled the children in schools (twice), learned an acceptable amount of French to get by and almost hold a conversation, we’ve coped with broken legs – mine, twice – broken shoulder – husband, moving houses and discovering in changing the equivalent of a county you basically have to start over again.  Obviously once you’ve nearly mastered one country, it’s time to move to another and start at the beginning all over again.  So we did!  My youngest children have lived in seven houses and attended three schools, they’ve lived in three countries and are still only five.  Some may think we are crazy and we’ve had questions from people we know about their education etc., but at this point in time they seem to be not only very happy, but can read, do sums, have an excellent knowledge of animals, plants and trees and are extremely sociable with a confidence that astounds me frequently.  

I’ve been writing for about a  year but have only just started to put things on a blog.  I feel nervous each time I post something because i don’t ever think anyone will be interested, so, I hope you do enjoy the tales of our life, and if you do, please write a comment and become a ‘follower’.