Life admin

Although we are away from the UK we don't consider ourselves on holiday, merely living in another place. So, unlike a holiday where you organise beforehand, know exactly how long you will be away, what you plan to do on your return, our trip is not at all like that. There have been number of life admin activities we have had to work through whilst we have been here.

The first significant act was finding a vet for Audrey when she became unwell. It's all well and good knowing that a cat is 'gato' in Spanish, but how do you explain that your cat is unwell and you want to make an appointment. I've been learning Spanish whilst we've been here using a language app called Duolingo so I thought I'd give it a bash. When I phoned I delivered my practised spiel but of course found it hard to understand the response! When the receptionist said 'would it be helpful if we continued in English' I swallowed my pride and said 'yes please'. During all the visits we made to the vet they were happy to converse in English which was really helpful given the somewhat stressful situation we were in.

The vet prescribed medication for Audrey but they don't dispense it themselves. They provide a prescription which you take to the 'farmacia'. I think there's at least one pharmacy on every street in Benidorm - so finding one isn't a problem. Taking in the prescription I didn't know what to expect but I handed the script over and hey presto I had a box of pills and was €5.85 lighter in my pocket!

Audrey on the road to recovery and feeling much better

Our on board LPG 6kg tank and an 11kg tank were finally depleted in mid February. Not eager to take down the awning and drive the van to the nearest garage selling LPG I chatted with the on site guru - Tom, our neighbour opposite, who has been coming to Villasol for the last 11 years. He suggested I get a Repsol propane gas cylinder from 'Malcolm' on the La Toretta site opposite to us. He sells them filled, without the need to take out a rental agreement. Good idea I thought so we found said Malcolm and purchased our cylinder. During this time we met up with Robin & Dave and Troy & Andrew. Discussing over dinner how I'd go about connecting up the cylinder Troy suggested getting a regulator and using the BBQ point at the back of the van to deliver the gas. It works a treat and was not something I'd considered - since doing this I've seen a number of other motorhomes resorting to the same approach - thanks Troy.

I had both vehicles MOTd when we came back to the UK for a couple of weeks in October. At that time the garage advised the front tyres would soon need replacing on Jaffa (the car) as there was some wear on the inside edge of each one. As we've motored along either towing or driving the car, the wear became more apparent and it was clear I couldn't avoid the need to change them any longer. We found a garage and went in. The receptionist didn't speak English so we relied on Google translate which is good but not always accurate! The receptionist looked at the tyres, agreed they needed changing and the wheel alignment checking. He wanted to provide a quote but needed our NIE number. This is a Spanish requirement when undertaking certain transactions including with vehicles. We don't have one (yet) so he helpfully used his own number so we could undertake the work. I agreed the quote, he said 'dos horas' - (two hours) so we toddled off to the nearby Carrefour for a mooch around and a bite of lunch. When we returned the car looked resplendent in a pair of new front boots. We paid, got the key and went to drive away when we realised there was a bit of a problem - the front wheels were scraping on the wheel arch when we turned the steering wheel. I got out and had a look - they'd fitted 185's (the same as the rear wheels) instead of 165's required for the front. They didn't have the tyres we needed in stock so refitted our old tyres and ordered in the new ones. He would call when they arrived - 'miercoles o jueves' - (Wednesday or Thursday). Of course when he called he chatted to me in Spanish so I had to try and listen for key words 'jueves' - (Thursday), 'a los once' - (after 11). So learning the lingo has been beneficial even if I'm not fluent. Cutting a long story short two days later we had new tyres fitted - thanks to José at Ayurgi, Google and Duolingo!

Jaffa with lovely new front tyres overlooking the Med near Javier

We've decided that we would like to spend our winters in Spain. With travel restrictions coming in following Brexit (sorry I said THE 'B' word) we need to make sure that we can still enjoy winter sun in the future. One way to overcome this is to seek residency in Spain. This doesn't mean we have to live here permanently but will mean that we will be able to travel here unrestricted in the future. The first step is to obtain an NIE number and we have just started this process. There is a requirement to pay a small fee and take a lot of paperwork to the police station in Benidorm. We have used an agent to make sure we get it right and hope that we will achieve this first step by Thursday 12 March.

Other things we were happy to tick off our "to do" list was to give Maurice, the motorhome, a good clean! In January we had storm Gloria which covered everything in Saharan sand dust, closely followed in February when the air was full of a fine green pollen from the pine trees which surround the town. It coated everything - the ground, the motorhome, windows and the awning. Washing the motorhome is a chore we quite happily put off because it is an exhausting job, but when it is gleaming, we always appreciate it. The motorhome has spent a lot of its life in the sunshine and as a result some of the decals are a little jaded, we hope to have them replaced when time allows.

We have also celebrated our 17th anniversary whilst in Benidorm, enjoying cocktails in the old town at a cliff top bar called D'Vora which overlooks the golden Levante beach. After the best sangrias in the town, we headed to our reserved table at Ians ( no apostrophe - it is run by two guys called Ian), a culinary treat which is set amid the winding cobbled streets of the old town. We were introduced to the restaurant by our friends Debbie and Steve and were keen to return to sample more of the menu. Raff had the duck which was cooked with a tangerine and cointreau sauce and I enjoyed fresh local sea bass with a white wine sauce. The meal was superb and the hosts - both Ians and one Andrew were fabulous.

Enjoying 17th anniversary drinks on the balcony at the D'Vora hotel

Corona virus - as far as we are aware there are not any instances of the virus locally. We don't go to a lot of crowded locations and are taking the personal hygiene recommendations to heart. We haven't seen instances of panic buying but hand sanitiser seems to be in short supply. We will pay attention to the news locally and take appropriate action.

Our plan for the rest of our stay is to enjoy more of the same - sun, relaxation and returning to some of the beautiful places we have discovered - which will be featured in future blog posts!