101 Things they never told us before we came to Spain

 

 

Accommodation

Fishing

Golf
 

 

 

 

Pure Water in Spain.
Always There. Always Fresh.

Is pure potable water important to you?

www.purewaterspain.com.

 

 


For this Ribera d'Ebre region

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. The Amusing.

In no particular order or logical fashion. Like most of Catalunya.

  • We did our homework.
  • We read our books.
  • We went to our seminars.
  • We visited many potential warm sites around the Mediterranean.
  • Then we loaded up our van and drove to Spain.
  • And boy, did we ever still we have a lot to learn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DO YOU HAVE A FLY AND MOSQUITO PROBLEM??

I have the answer, easy to use and very effective for up to 3 months
(with no rain).

Tel : 977 462213
Mobile : 667 571103
Email: charlotterentia@yahoo.com

¿¿TIENE UNA PROBLEMA CON MOSCAS Y MOSQUITOS??

Yo tengo un solucio'n.

Tel : 977 462213 Mobil : 667 571103
Email: charlotterentia@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  1. We would never want to go back if we could help it. It is more than just an adventure. It is a whole new life experience to grab, cherish and thrive on for many more years to come.
  2. There are more fiestas than you can ever keep track of. And they vary by town, but oh what great fun to mix with local traditions and be accepted.
  3. All the parking rules change on fiesta days, and they don't tell you in English, and will tow your car away. They put a little notice in the local paper and hope that tourists in Europe read it before hand!!!
  4. When you buy a chicken at the supermarket, the head is still on.
  5. Everyone drives so politely on the little country lanes, but tries to run you off the road otherwise.
  6. You have to negotiate in Spanish to get a telephone. Could take days or months or years…
  7. They don't speak Spanish in most of North East Spain. They speak Catalan (OK we knew this… not just how much), but if you have any recall of school French you will get by.
  8. Many of their "fixer-uppers" are really old Roman ruins, with tiny rooms and old stone walls. Bedrooms in old townhouses don't necessarily come with windows!
  9. You cannot build as big a house as you want to. At least not all in the same year. They restrict the pace at which you can add rooms.
  10. The medical system (when you figure it out) is miles ahead of the UK's.
  11. You need your N.I.E.number and residency card number to do almost anything - even to buy a television!
  12. Your US bank card will work great almost everywhere, and let you take out more money at one time than you can in the US. (Submitted by brother Athol). The "Hole in the Wall" (ATM) will give you a better rate than the cashier 4 metres away.
  13. Local football games don't start until about 10pm, but you are very welcome to join the village crowd outdoors around a big TV.
  14. The patron saints of Spain should be Obelix and GetAFix. There sure are plenty of stones for them.
  15. Different real estate agents mark up the same property differently.
  16. Real estate prices go up in Summer when the mad dogs and Englishmen are out in the midday sun, then go back down in the Fall.
  17. The internet works great, or not at all (Oops.. same as back home).
  18. When you try to buy furniture, it is mostly the very modern kind.
  19. When you buy furniture, the different pieces of the frame, bed, etc have to be purchased separately. You have to ask for the legs!!!
  20. Despite what the sign says, the gas man is not there every day, especially if you want help loading and unloading canisters.
  21. Some of the popular beach-side related shops are closed off-season. Even if the weather is great.
  22. One of the best cafeterias in Tortosa town is at the hospital Verge de la Cinta-with an amazing panoramic view of the Castle and beyond to the mountains, along with a great Menu of the Day available at "Spanish" lunchtimes and evenings (usually to cater for visiting times and for relatives staying IN with the patient.) Now if only the parking wasn't the worst. You now park in the MOAT …its dry now..Let's hope the new hospital to be built (2008) in Roquetes will have considered this issue!
  23. We didn't expect English breakfasts. But fish paste pizza (or whatever it is)? Tapa's and eels (not Cockney eels!) for breakfast is a delicacy on Saturday morning and if you can chew those squiggly little things, it is then washed down with volumes of coffee with cognac afterwards…don't drive after those coffees!
  24. Digital satellite phones and televison, even radio - do not work in all mountainous regions. A bigger dish does not a make any difference. British tellies don't work in the Eu. Or Spain -well not those 2 years old. You land up with either a clear picture or good sound, but never both together.
  25. Siesta ShockWAVE for us Brits. Everything just shuts down from 1 under 5 every afternoon. Saturday afternoons and Sundays are total closure for shopping. How spoilt we became to shop in Tesco 24 hours or just nip down to B & Q in the old country.
  26. Waking (before daylight) to the noise of hunters shooting wild boar, rabbits, birds, grouse or hare on weekends and other days too.
  27. I am told "officially" that hunting is allowed on Wednesday and Sundays…sure tell the locals who just love to hunt, have gun will hunt in winter. Even on your property at early hours of a Sunday morning…. They have the right to cross your land, unless you have a private notice up, plus the prohibited one (in Catalan) available from the "Adjuntemunt" (town hall).
  28. You can live on 200€ a month (for food) or spend it all on one meal at one great restaurant.
  29. If you drive a long wheeled based "White van" from England, there is no where to park it in town, but always someone else who needs it - and you fast become good at bartering. We swapped ours for very decent, solid pine bedroom furniture to a discerning Cockney couple also settling down out here. (Not sure where they hang their clothes now, but we're okay Jack...)
  30. They have great pastries and desserts. But it is devilishly difficult to buy Grandma a traditional "British sponge" birthday cake to glisten with 80 little candles.
  31. How do local teenagers take home their Saturday morning shopping to the family? You won't believe it! It involves 4 teenagers and two motor- bikes (scooters). They ride parallel to each other and the one's on the back hand onto the loaded shopping trolley handle in the middle, down the middle of the main street, while a grid-lock of cars forms behind them. (I wonder if SUMA got their trolley back? It was heading out "el campo" way…)
  32. Birds of prey that will fly towards your windscreen, hover and drop in front of your moving car to snatch away road kill, then spread their wings and soar magnificently up and back over the mountains.
  33. By the way the trucks you see with "Rum Traffic" on the side of them are not transporting aperitiff's in spray cans! They are the white line painters of the highways and byways. Shame isn't it?
  34. If today you feed and harbour one cute, abandoned forlorn looking kitten - tomorrow you feed the tribe. We have Senor Toma`s to prove it, and Tiger Lilly(Tomas`s sister now also with a very fat(!) tummy) and Elsa (the mother and her now 2nd generation kitten-Priscilla..fews weeks old) Tiger Lilly had 5 beautifully coloured kittens of which Oliver and Yorkie were re-homed. We still have Smokey Joe, Sixpence (affectionately now known as Penny Paws) and Squirrel (alias Squizzel) all with very smart brightly coloured collars from Papa Noel "Lee" for Christmas 2006!
  35. The vets are excellently trained and very qualified and are numerous, but they are not cheap! But if you can afford them the care and attention to detail is of a very high quality. But first you get welcomed with open arms and have to chat to them about your family, your home and they also go into great details about theirs. But then whenever you see them out and about, you are then introduced to their companions as their very best "English friends who just love Catalonia!" Can I get a discount now if I have 10 cats to be spayed?
  36. Oh, I forgot, I've had two done and 3 to go that are mine (others are refugees). Feline sterilizations: friendly Tom =45€ and Frisky Fluffy =90€..womb and ovaries…peace in the finca. Then February blew in with snow and cold nights and a few sunny days and all the kittens are now in season….
  37. As a rule of thumb they are not a province of dog and cat lovers, as the good olde Brits. The traditional provincial folk regard dogs are for hunting and guarding fincas. Puppies in apartments for the "modern youths" are cute and a fashion symbol until they grow up into big dogs and destroy the home while they are out at work. Soon they are driven out to the countryside and just abandoned! They just don't know what to do with them when they become a problem.
  38. Since Elsa (Neighbours cat "Chalkita") had Priscilla dumped on another neighbour she has had another 4 kittens ! Affectionately referred to as the " Refugees". During the summer we did not know of their existence as the neighbour behind us was there for the summer and willingly fed them. Come winter, shut up the house, pull down the blinds and let them fend for themselves - maybe they see them next summer if they have not become "road kill", find enough field mice or some other Europeans take them in and love and feed them…name them; Harry, CandyFloss, Ewok and Charlie (not sure if she is a boy or a girl!). Free to a good home. (Call me…!)
  39. Animals out here have different food likes and mine treat meal times like a day out at MacDonalds. One will go and round up the rest (until they are banished outside). My lion cat "Senor Toma`s" loves hot chips, pasta and sandwiches. Besides, my Pastor Alemanas - alias German Shepherd puppy, snores louder than I DO! One of the cats too.
  40. Hubby says: Must have budgies in doors - sounds are homely. Who forgot to tell me how noisey and messy feathered things they are. Come on spring when they can go out on the terrace. This year an aviary will be built!
  41. Beware of the proverbial "Cat burglars". They do untold damage to fancy newly installed, windows with fly (mozzie) screens. They treat security shutters as mere climbing frames for ferile cats trying to break in for food-proverbial cat burglars.
  42. Awake to a beautifully sung dawn chorus of birds in spring! All returning from Morocco and further a field where they have been wintering. A whole flock at a time can be found nestling amongst your olive trees - so many different varieties. Each morning you rise early to see who has landed 'home' today.
  43. The Delta of the Ebro is just amazing for the keen twitcher.. 365 or more different bird varieties. No two days viewing are the same…cycle, walk,ride or drive to see these magnificent and proud bird species.
  44. What an adventure everyday is living out here! How you learn to take nothing for granted. Living out "el Campo" with the luxury (Oh, yes! -if your property is deigned RUSTIC) with mains electricity you may still be without power during a thunderstorm and a little back up diesel generator does save the anguish of losing your freezer contents - that is jammed full with all the lovely treats created by your new found hobbies from the veggie patch and your beloved fruit orchard.
  45. Thunderstorms out here are an exciting experience and a marvelous one for home videos and the intrepid photographer. The next storm is always different from the last one and you need to relax and watch the artistic displays in the sky as the storms orchestrates itself across the horizons. Reminds me of being a child in Africa, when my brothers we used to tell me to count from the last thunderclap to the next one to guess how far away the storm was. Who cared? My head was buried under the bedcovers!
  46. The wonderful night skies and oh so many stars to behold, you gasp in wonder, at the sheer beauty and magnitude of them. . Reminds me of the last CD my late son, Steve bought me by Enya "Who will paint the sky with stars". I feel peace encloaks my shoulders as though he is here with us…Christmas eve 2006 - The Stars…I have never seen such a star studded night!
  47. Temperature variances in Europe .It was minus 10 degrees celsius in Hanover and 17 degrees in Tortosa. A couple of the January 2007 days have been as warm as 22 degrees down here in Tortosa but the nights could still be frosty ones in March.
  48. But we knew from over the last few years to still expect snow before spring. A couple of days of heavy snow fell in February (2005) in Benifallet, Jesu`s or in Tortosa in the Baix Ebre region. It was amusing to the English folk and quelled any homesickness they felt for Old Blighty. The locals were awe-struck by it all in Tortosa…First time in 14 years and the locals kept telling us "no normal". Last week in January (2007) we awoke to Mont Caro and the adjoining top ranges cloaked in snow.
  49. Chicago is known as the windy city. Catalonia is definitely the windy province and all the mountain tops are being covered with wind turbines…no wonder they love Don Quixote!! Spring 2006 year brought winds of 180 kilometers per hour off Mont Caro.. we were in the direct line of their advance. Olive picking in November (2005) was exuberant but you have to brace against the freezing wind chill factor. November 2006 crop for us was disappointing due to the long hot summers and we know we need proper irrigation to be laid by this summer 2007.
  50. My best friend on these chilly nights is our wonderful, wonderful wood burning fire and when we you are snug inside away from the outside cold you soon forget the hours of searching and accumulating wood for these cold months.
  51. Combination heating is good for warmth and cooking. If electricity goes off you still have your gas cooker and outside barbecue. If your butane gas bottles run out for your cooking, you have the added alternative of a microwave and Electric Turbo oven. If you have radiator central heaters running off gas have a gas contract for Propane as well as Butane, as the former will work in temperatures below 5degrees. The gas inspector insisted these were outside and they froze in 2006, so we built a little gas hut and insulated it and have had hot water (so far) at night.
  52. Don't let the dust beat you and spoil your washing hanging out to dry. Hang it out at night in high summer, when the dust is less and it is ready for ironing when you get up and it is still cool to do those dreaded chores. In winters peg it on with hundreds of strong pegs to stop the gale winds snatching it off - the advantage of these strong winds is your washing dries twice as quickly!
  53. Blue bin liners - not very Fen Shuish, but needs must - cover the computer from dust or the disk drive groans and will continually play up and even worse!
  54. Overwhelmed with the quantity of early deciduous fruit ripening all at once, while all your pickling, bottling, preserving, jam-making and recipes are still in storage and maybe on route to your home in rustic Catalonia…if they can find you!
  55. FLOUR - purchasing it out here is a nightmare. Whatever happened to just plain flour or self-raising flour or bread flour or whole meal flour? When you are ask the question they reply- for pastries, frying or "integral" (wholemeal). But it is the flour for baking plain or self-raising. I have experimented with various store brands and Yorkshire puddings rise with some and not others!
  56. Giant catfish abound in the River Ebro -even albino types. But no sign of any "Finny Haddock" in the markets.
  57. Fish it seems more expensive at first than one's available in Yorkshire from Hulls' fishing trawlers. However, look at what the local "Mam's" are buying. Asked the Fishmonger how do you cook this one or that. They are only too willing to share traditional recipes handed down from one Abuela or another (Grandma). You will soon enjoy local fish!
  58. Check out the nearest fish stalls in the covered markets to see what the trawlers have brought in. Or listen to the Tanoy system in the villages for the announcements that "sardines" have just arrived and beat the local ladies in their slippers to the local shop before they are sold out.
  59. The Eastern Europeans and Russians have been seen to fish and eat anything they can catch out of the River Ebro. (I wouldn't !)
  60. British pork or beef style sausages, nor British Bacon , unless the British Supermarkets have some.. but can be pricey.
  61. They have special fiesta days in the villages where all the different and traditional provincial sausages are dished up (bring your own salad and vino!) The local black sausage with rice must be tried…it will become your favourite along with the chorizo sausages…mouth-watering done on a barbecue.
  62. Is it chicken or rabbit or hare? I asked when dining with Spanish friends. Maybe. Which? Does it matter are you enjoying it, I am asked. Could be game as in hare…mmmh! What a paella though! It was enormous and nothing was left over for the scavengers.
  63. Cheese is more expensive than in Yorkshire and cheddars and Red Leicesters are nigh on impossible to come across. Though local cheeses are tasty and you have a wide variety of French fromages as well.
  64. Pan, local French loaf you soon learn to buy fresh each day -does not freeze well and dries as hard as rock on day 2 - good for compost otherwise.
  65. Bread yeast is hard to obtain here for home baking.
  66. Wonderful wild herbs of rosemary, thyme and sage, along with asparagus can be picked freely in the countryside. Even mushrooms, but these must be checked with the chemist if they are edible.
  67. If you want to have a go at home baked bread ask a Spanish lady to show you how her Mama made bread. You will find it difficult to stop cutting the warm loaf when it is made with herbs or onion or black olives. Don't knock it until you have tried it!
  68. In March the sweet potatoes on sale are usually Israeli imports and are expensive at 2.50 a kilo, but taste oh so good roasted in olive oil with wild rosemary or mash them with margarine and cinnamon and black pepper - you even forget your chop on the plate!
  69. Veggies available all year around in Sainsbury, Tesco, Asda or Morrisons are NOT available in Catalonia. Skip the shopping list! Just wander around the street markets in the towns and villages and see what the locals are selling fresh. Then go away and plan your menus. Or as we do out of necessity ..grow as many of our own as we can and experiment with veggies not eaten before. Ask the locals how they cook them - coz their dishes are always full of flavour. Catalonians not only have a high fish diet but a high fresh vegetable intake as well.
  70. Shopping for groceries - advisable to spend time with both Catalan and Spanish dictionaries before you set off, and keep a little list in your bag. Very perplexing when trying to work out is it chicken, rabbit, turkey, mixture or horse, cow , goat, lamb or pig or pigeon or game, fish.
  71. Properties in Catalonia -this includes "rustic" / non-urban, have increased in value between 16 percent with some as high as 32% between 2004 and early 2006. However, wonderful and beautifully restored properties that offer both second home and retirement futures, as well as current tourist business income.
  72. When you see a sign for "No portable" it does not been that Aquarius thee water carrier is unavailable to transport water for you, rather that certain properties have water. - sure, river water but it is not drinkablet("non potable") because it is pumped from the river Ebro or elsewhere. Water that comes from Cardo Springs above Benifallet into the village to your apartment or village house is "portable"(drinkable) - it is the same water that is bottled and sold in Sabeco.
  73. Take a sample first and ask the local "Farmacia" to analyze it for drinkability. This must be in a sealed bottle filled right to the top with as little air in as possible. You need to label it clearly where the water is taken from and out of which water container…river, font reservoir (bolsa), piscine, well, cisterne (water storage tank above or below ground) or tap. The charges can vary from a reasonable amount of 37€ to 65€ , and if you have installed a new well for a guest house, hotel or such like the whole spandoodle water analysis could be as much as +/- 700€. However that will be cheaper than being sued for poisoning your paying guests. Otherwise, there is a water authority in Tortosa who will advise you what is required.
  74. Their love of dance! From a young age the children are taught all aspects of dance from formal, to traditional, to local customs, to modern , salsa and disco. Puts the reserved Brits on the wallflower rack at Fiestas, (Everyday is a Saints day -everyday you can find an excuse to do something else..manana…manana). Fiestas day and night - one town different to another-always a fiesta somewhere. Renaixant one in July (in 2007 =19th July for 4 days) is a very big and colourful medieval one that takes over the old and new town. Valencia's most famous one is the Fireworks one.. spectacular. How friendly, open, sharing and so family orientated are the Catalonians and the Valencianos..and make great friends at these festivals.
  75. Roundabouts have 3 or more different instructions. Give way to the left. Traffic lights or go until you come to a full straight line and give way to right for those going through their green traffic lights and yield signs too Actually 5 - if you are on a scooter - anything goes..oh, and there may be pedestrian crossings as well. Parking on corners / in the middle of the road is alright as long as you have double flashes going on your indicators - never mind the grid-lock behind you. First lesson of driving here is.."Where is the hooter?"..Used for many reasons!!
  76. What happens when Grandma looses her marbles? No one warned me about the horrors of old age or how quickly they happen. The stress and the worry - the 24-7 care and myself getting cabin fever in summer! If you are coping with caring for relatives with dementia in Spain or elsewhere please email me info@brighterspain.com . Any advice gratefully received.
  77. Postal Service - don't expect mail on your doorstep in rural Spain - don't expect to have a post box- often you have to find one you can share with. Where the post boxes are is not where the Post Office is. The Post Office is only opened for an hour maybe two if you are lucky. They will keep your post for 2 weeks and then return it if not collected. If they do not know you, they may send your mail straight back or send it to the nearest big town for you to guess where it is!! Trying to have parcels sent by courier has to go to a house address for signing. Forget it! Locals can't find where we live, so how will a Barcelona - two hours express van delivery service find you with a cherished parcel sent from South Africa or California!
  78. Paper trail of Spain may seem a nightmare to try and understand - but hey don't blame the locals when we have not mastered their language (anyway they probably speak at least 3 if not 5 languages, just because English is not one of them is not their problem).I only wish I had started studying Spanish earlier in England, but if you did school French ask them to write down in Catalan what they mean and you will be surprised how much you do understand. Emrace both Catalan and Spanish with both hands and learning languages even in senior years can be such a delight and you will get so much more out of this beautiful land. If the paper work is still daunting just employ a GESTOR. It can be less nerve racking in the long run and leaves you free to enjoy the countryside walks or strolls along golden beaches. I know which one I chose in the end!
  79. Miguel - what a God send and friend and helper, oh yes, nearly forgot -everyone's favourite mechanic (in Roquetes..Tortosa. (977 501 056)) who speaks good English (and his charming Spanish partner -character called Alberto..whose son Victor just happens to be a Vet with a good command of English). Furniture - well, it is like hindsight a wonderful thing. We were advised to ditch all our heavy English furniture and Silent night beds. What a big regret /mistake that was. Furniture is not cheap here and one forgets that it took us 25 years of married bliss to accumulate all our household goods and furniture - not to mention the outdoors stuff. If I could have my old leather suite back I will promise never to complain about the chocolate brown colour I so detested. Oh, and beautifully fit solid pine kitchen and farm style table….for when all the Valencianos visit.
  80. Surprised at how much the Swiss, Belgium and French like to holiday here - or even wish to live. Not to mention a smashing Danish couple we met.
  81. Some properties may have a perfectly liveable house on it, but with a non-existent septic tank or "posse negre`" alias po, for waste products sunk in the ground. Ask where the "kaka" goes. If it is natural seepage, it is into the river. We need to protect our environment. If it does have a posse negre` ask when it was last emptied -probably never.(Why am I not surprised?) These only work well if there is a large amount of water passing through them. So you may need to open it and swill through a considerable sum of water before summer hits hard, or you will be living in 'pongoville'…especially if you have been back to old England for a few months.
  82. It is a learning curve when dealing in property dealings with provincial farmers. They make look poorly clad and dishevelled in their farm gear- but they are shrewd and switch pricing from pesetas to euros and back again...to confuse us who are only just grasping the Euro. Always ask them to write down the price on a piece of paper and barter with them.
  83. "Lost in translation" brushes across my face like the Cardo mountain breezes when I read property advertisements whispering "needs slight renovations". Could imply a relic of the Spanish Castro civil war and may still have 3 walls upright and partial roof beams just about hanging on.
  84. Another corker was the advertisement for "island for sale with ferry". It is not the Rotterdam to Hull ferry, it is a raft tied together with bamboo and 45 gallon drums and a prayer…several may be in order when crossing. After the last torrential rain, the remains of this ferry was glimpsed hanging over the weir at Xerta. This has now been sold and is being bought back under compulsory purchase, so the River Authority can restore it to its natural habitats for the bird life common to the River Ebro and the Delta.
  85. The Brits or other European AGENTS showing you around properties for sale with a very impressive, stout Spaniard (Napoleon look-alike) claiming to be the local mayor "alcalde" is NOT! He is just in their pocket. Check at the town hall and make an appointment to see the mayor personally and take a valid translator with you and ask for proof that he is the mayor - if in doubt. Always ask for documents in writing and if in Spanish can be easily translated back in the UK.(Not many Catalan translators back there.)
  86. Bonfires- usually you are allowed to burn between 15th October and 15th March in Catalonia. But you are still supposed to fill in the register in the local town hall so they don't send out the fire brigade. Unless Grandma accidentally empties the hot ash from the wood burning stove over the compost you have accumulating a newly to be formed flower bed for spring and whoosh! Hey Prest! "Have you seen my bonfire? All THAT with no matches!" Mother..what have you done?
  87. Times at first things may seem frustrating as they are so different to UK where we have been spoilt with everything made easy for the DIY hobbiers. Seize the moment and remember your adventurous spirit as you sailed out of Portsmouth as to all the challenges you were prepared to take on board! Everything electrical has to be made up of each tiny little piece and priced individually..even a plug or light fitting or radiator..even the combi-boiler - you have to by the valves and connectors, etc., separately. Radiators are priced in sections, so when you see a radiator for 11.50€ beware…that is only a 30cm strip! You learn so many new crafts and skills out here and it keeps the grey cells active puzzling it all out!
  88. Forestry commission….pines and palms are protected, even on private land so don't hack them down without permission. River authority owns the river bank..so beware of cutting back bamboo or building fishing swims without the right paperwork.
  89. Hardware stores quote you net on prices and then the tax is added on at the till…aftershock. Talking of these DIY hypermarkets.. different towns different hours, different fiestas on different days...so check before you set off on a long drive that they are open.
  90. Garbage disposal here is not at your door. You have to lug it down to a strategically placed skip on the outskirts of a local town - or recycle it yourself.
  91. Baking Powder is good for destroying ants. Bring a big box. If you use insecticide to combat ants ("HORMIGONS") make sure you don't spray near flowers or shrubs…it will kill them too!
  92. Your newly made countrymen friends who have been out here for "years" before you and says "trust me" sets off the warning lights. Do not leave your common sense at the airport. Check out his credentials before employing him - he may just be a fishermen trying to earn a living. Always ask to see his NIE form with a certified Police stamp on it and his Social Number card .See if he is still smiling and chatting to you after that. Just slow down, cool off and think. Do not be pressurized into anything. Ask for local quotes as well, besides these craftsmen know which Spanish materials are tried and tested, also used to reforming traditional casitas and Masias. They are probably cheaper too -just remember August (maybe even July) is too hot to expect any construction work…so just chill under your mulberry trees in the shade with some iced tea and watch the world go by. Remember when they tell you things are okay /Valle - they use the word to mean "Maybe okay tomorrow…manana. "Para la manana" is actually tomorrow morning and the use of it means the goods / engineer / technician/ builder/ plumber / painter are usually here tomorrow -well, sometime tomorrow -maybe.
  93. Wild fauna -ibex, small pig, fox -are all protected and have a restricted and short hunting season along with rabbit, hare and wild fowl or grouse. Season may vary from one area to another, so check at the town hall.
  94. Witnessed a snake falling out of a tree that had wrapped itself around a river rat…scary. A British fisherman said he thought it looked like an octopus falling out of the tree…was it too much sangria in the sunshine?
  95. The FLIES!!!! (the "mossos").The Spanish fly does a twelve hour shift in the hot months. They wake up at 10 o'clock and pester everyone until 10pm. (Now we know why the Spanish eat their evening meal so late! It is nothing to do with their culture.)
  96. Where would the Mediterraneans be without out Senor El Mosquito (alias mozzies - Not Mossos de Esquerada! - though their traffic fines sting too!!) ? These blighters and tiny black flies, (the Spanish fly is not a liqourice!) will wake as early as 7.00am and hang around for a few hours. They then take the usual time siesta and just as you are stirring yourself and looking forward to enjoying the cooler afternoons after 4pm and they are back again until darkness falls.10.00pm is their bedtime, that is why the Spanish eat so late! Best way to treat these are what the locals use is either ammonia or bleach applied to the bite area. Check your dogs and cats ears as they can harm them too. They even have an appearance of a black ant with wings, not friendly fire!! The local always smell of lavender oil and shower in honey based products in summer, the men of cologne..these fragrances do keep them at bay.
  97. The importance of the extended family and Sundays are very strictly held as the family day to combine eating and drinking and relaxing. The respect for the old.. no old age homes here.. the young must look after the old, as the old used to look after the young. I find it refreshing to stroll around the towns and villages and be treated with respect and friendliness by young children, teenagers and even younger adults. Catalonia, thank goodness, not just in the country but in the towns the streets, parks and plazas and beaches are still, safe for the children to play out on. They always seem more carefree, more independent, more self-confidant and somehow more responsible in themselves…this culture seems to be working. Lets help preserve it!
  98. Wonderful neighbours (like your grandparents used to talk about their wonderful neighbours after World War 2!) who will share everything they have of their crop of fruit, veg, surplus eggs, oil and preserves They are interested in your everyday daily activities...in England you would think they were nosey, not here...they are genuinely eager to integrate your family news and activities and help with your smallest of struggles to the most arduous task. Always accompanied with smiles and chatter ( a necessary, but pleasant part of Catalonian life) problems too. They will come across and show you how to prune your different fruit trees in different ways…how to mend a flat roof to waterproof it for Spanish downpours. If you need to buy something ask your neighbours first where you can do it. Spain operates on "It's who you know...especially for discounts" and always tell the shopkeeper who sent you.
  99. Our own home grown meadows (poppy fields for Julie in the spring) - so colourful and full of bees (sorry Gareth!) and butterflies - spring season alone I have counted 13 new wild flower varieties - dread howing them away to keep the area around the olive tree plant-free to allow maximum nutrition for the olives. However, when I spent 3 solid weeks in autumn with a petrol strimmer (and help from Julie wanting "to do her bit while here for Christmas"), I found my memory rather hazy on the beauty we beheld in spring!
  100. Easter Sunday 2004 and my mother met Jesus, while we sat in Benifallet in the glorious sun. (Seriously, jokes aside!) He worked in the bar across the road from where we sipped our iced cokes. I have heard Jesus walked on water, but this one rides a motorbike!
  101. The pine-clad and green are the Catalonian mountains compared to the dry south of Andulucia! How magnificent and vast and fast flowing is the River Ebro with its source high up by Bilbao and snaking down to the tranquil Delta conservation area and rice lands as it enters the blue tranquility of the Mediterranean Sea. These wonderful, beautiful mountains soaring high up to the clouds (ever - changing in the lights of sunrise and astounding sunsets) dip their toes into the cool Mediterranean waters.
  102. And counting….if you have any humorous or memorable experiences to share, please email us at info@brighterspain.com. We would love to hear from you.

 

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