Relocation to Spain Experience

[Martynt74]

Are you doing that in Spanish or English? I'm just curious as to how your language skills are coming on living there full time

English, the woman seemed to be Dutch/German.

Honestly, my language skills aren't great. I've not been putting any real effort in, and so whilst i'm better than i was back in October. I'm still at the real basics of simple sentences to get questions/answers across rather than holding conversations. 100% my failing and not sure what i can do to motivate myself.

 

[Martynt74]

Replace the wife with a local xD

That's one option, but she's also the only reason i'm allowed in the country!

(and i love her, but that's less of a factor)

 

[Martynt74]

Best part about Spain. My wife has come to the hospital for a scan on her shoulder.

I’m not allowed in the room so I’m in the cafe drinking beer because they serve it inside the hospital

 

[Martynt74]

I do seem to remember that they serve beer in loads of places the UK doesn't. Do they serve it in Maccy Ds? I vaguely remember fast food places selling it as well.

Yeah. Fast food places/any fridge in petrol stations etc do it.

Was just weird also getting it in a hospital.

 

[Martynt74]

So. Friday we also moved into the final rental as it’s an open ended contract that we only leave when our house is built.

Can’t remember if I said, but the couple were trying to sell it but due to legal issues they can’t and there’s no sign of them resolving that anytime soon.

The owners have bought a new house further south which in a more central location to shops/bars and is smaller as this house is too big for them given old age and deteriorating health and having stuff on their doorstep rather than driving is a plus.

She kept saying that she’d cleaned everything and it was spotless. I knew my wife would still want to clean to get to her standard es but optimism was high.
We turned up Friday morning and it was filthy. They had 3 big dogs and the garden was full of dog poo. I filled a large mop bucket with what I picked up!

Inside was a similar storey and today I spent around 6 hours on my hands and knees scrubbing the grout with a stiff brush. It’s not perfect but it’s mostly ok now.

The man had dementia and Parkinson’s and the toilets had poo/wee both inside and outside the bowl. The floors were also covered in various spilt drinks.

The positive is that today has mostly finished it all off and tomorrow we can mostly relax although I need to dismantle my desk from the previous rental and grab the last of my things and then do the final clean of that place!

Feeling very glad we decided to buy a bed which will hopefully arrive soon. We’ve also decided that we’re going to buy a sofa. We know the dimensions for the lounge in our new house so no risk there on buying something that doesn’t fit. Probably get some nice comfy outpost armchairs too.

Now we’re at this point we’re feeling pretty optimistic. The house itself is great and has loads of space which is something we’ve struggled with. Especially as there’s virtually nothing of the previous owners belongings bar some furniture we’ll stick in the shed or our storage unit.

We can get almost all our stuff from storage and really make it “our” home.

 

[Martynt74]

Haha this was still after using the steamer! Just didn’t touch it. That thing has been a life saver though and saved loads of effort.

No issue with deposit at the fist place and doubt there’ll be one at th last place. All rentals have been direct with owners and pretty relaxed.

 

[Martynt74]

Really great that you’re making progress towards your final goal. When do you think your place will get built? Nice that you can avoid moving around and feel a bit more settled.

Yeah. This is a real boost. A house we can unpack and not have to think about moving again anytime soon so we can make it feel like home rather than a rental.

No clue in build. Aiming for Feb/March but depends on planning mostly.

 

[Martynt74]

One other thing. I can't decide if it's good or not. As she was running out of time (had to have a dog put down on Thursday as two had had a fight), she didn't manage to take some of the chickens with her. We've been left with 2 chickens and a cockerel.

The Chicken pen is directly outside our bedroom window. I shut them away at night and then need to let them out in the morning. Having the cockerel screaming in the morning is great for getting me up early, and it'll be awesome to get me up/out for early bike rides. Although Saturday/Sunday it started around 7:15, and this morning after i finally got to open a bottle of whisky and relax around 11pm last night, it started at 6:30. Again great for cycling, less so for a ropey head. My wife also isn't keen so the prior owner is trying to arrange for someone to collect them, but i think i'll miss having that motivation to get up early.

In other news, we got the TV out of storage and it's completely dead. No idea what the cause is. It's a Samsung one with a separate OneConnect box containing all the inputs/power and then a fibre cable to the TV. There's no standby switch or any kind of indicator of power so no idea if it's the TV, the cable (known to fail) or the box. Each item is expensive so any experiment would be pricey if i'm wrong! The One Connect box used to get hot and now it's cool to the touch when plugged in, but unsure if that's because it's the failure or whether it's just because it's not having to process anything.

 

[Martynt74]

So, the house is clean (mostly - We've shut the door on 2 of the bedrooms after giving it a quick wipe down), we've got a local cleaner to do the pool house today and then i can move my gym stuff in there which will be great for me.

Few updates

1 - Chickens went last Monday. I kind of miss having the rooster to wake me up, but it's certainly nice not having them. Need to disinfect the area they were in though and clean it as there's chicken poo everywhere!
2 - Got my residency approved. Need to have a second appointment to have fingerprints taken before i can get the card. Annoyingly the wait is quite long and it's the end of June. Hoping the delays don't cause issues with mortgage delays.
3 - TV is fixed. Not picked it up yet, but they've not mentioned new parts so hoping it's nothing too expensive
4 - Still no word on the Jeep. Might try and chase them this week!
5 - Had a week off work last week. Was aiming for massive relaxation but don't think i spent much time doing nothing. Was mainly doing DIY tasks etc and sorting stuff out. Good news is my office is now clean and tidy @bastic you now win messiest office space

 

[Martynt74]

WFH in pool house - must have an iron will to avoid occasional dip; temp is ok already ? much missed habit to return from work and taking a dip in residence pool.

chickens - got to be up early for cycling to avoid the midday sun too and avoid english stereotype - recceing out the watering holes essential

Haha the pool house will become my gym. One side if the wall is glass curtains so reckon in summer it'll get pretty toasting in there, not sure i want to have it as an office. Plus for any guests on holiday by the pool would be irritating if i'm on calls! I've actually not been in the pool much. Mainly as i'm a rubbish swimming so just use it for cooling off after workouts. Although this pool is 12x4m so might try swimming a bit more. What's really odd is it's a flat 1.5m depth all over. Brilliant for me as there's no shallow bit. Less brilliant for my wife.

Pool house got cleaned yesterday although she ran out of time for the bathroom, but i'm going to head to storage at lunch to get my squat rack/weights.

Chickens are gone!

In other news, got a call yesterday from the Samsung repair place. Turns out there was no issue. Got home, and still couldn't switch it on. However when unpacking i noticed some physical buttons under the TV. Pressed one of those and it sprung into life. Turns out the battery remotes were too low and not sending a "Turn on" signal

 

[Martynt74]

Well done on the TV repair

I presume the pool house/gym is a candidate for Air-Con with all the glass? or get some of that mirror type film perhaps?

I think I would be in the pool every evening after work if I had one at my place!

Yeah, probably would be, but given this is rental i have no intention on installing anything! It has ceiling fans!

I though the panoramic glass in the picture was the living space , if it's pool house, then place is palatial;

Oh yeah, the pictures from the Images thread is just the pool house, which is a long narrow building, probably 12m x 4m. It has the glass curtains on one side which can be opened entirely.

My wife (and her family) are all like this.

Air conditioning makes you ill
Leaving a window open makes you ill
Having a fan on makes you ill

Slovakia regularly gets temperatures in the mid to high 30s in the summer, but if we go anywhere in the car the windows are up (incase the breeze gives you an ear infection) and the air con is off (incase you get an unspecified respiratory illness)

I'm lucky, my wife doesn't sleep well so she's constantly adjusting the A/C during the night. I'm definitely aclimatising though. Was 25C yesterday and i was out in a fairly thick Rab mid-layer.

That car journey sounds awful. The A/C in the Kia is a bit ropey and never feels too cold, so i actually like windows down, although my wife isn't a fan. Sucks to be her when i get my Jeep back

 

[Martynt74]

I'm out your way next week to look at places. Staying in Pego and have appointments lined up between Denia and Oliva

Awesome. I quite liked Pego. The cycling up over the hill towards Sagra is lovely. El Verger/Els Poblets would probably be my picks (assuming you want coastal). Prices seem reasonable, and some lovely bars whilst easily getting to Denia/Ondara etc.

This place did some cracking food

LBS – Los Baños Sunshine – Restaurante Mediterráneo

Los Baños Sunshine es un restaurante mediterráneo y está situado a tan solo dos pasos sobre la playa. Un paraíso junto al mar. Llámanos +34 699 413 005.

losbanosunshinebar.com

 

[Martynt74]

Oh yeah, i even notice a huge difference in attitude between dialing from my English phone vs my Spanish phone. I tried dialing one for days with no answer. Used my Spanish phone and they answered right away

 

[Martynt74]

When are they breaking (hard) ground - is that in full summer ?

( good exchange rate for you at the moment, but I haven't studied what the market thinks about labour vs tory win. )

*shrug*

Waiting on planning still.

It's going to be a tricky one. I can't imagine anyone wants to be pouring concrete in 40C heat. It's already getting to low 30's during the day and we're not in peak summer yet. Did try and speak to the developer yesterday about whether we could start digging out foundations/leveling the land so that as soon as it's approved then we can get the concrete done straight away in better temps. However since it's still classed as agricultural, we could be fined for doing lots of prep work before actual planning is approved.

Yeah just moved over the last 40k from my ISA and got 1.176 which is about as high as i've seen. That's pretty much everything in Euros now apart from my wifes salary each month to be transferred so don't need to be worried. It's weird not checking on investments too. A shame really as i imagine now that interest rates will start to drop the share prices should rise a bit. Although i think the recent jump in GBP/EUR is driven by the EU Bank dropping rates. Should help for a mortgage though!

 

[Martynt74]

Finally got my residency yesterday. Standard baffling experience. Had an appointment for 5:30, got there just before to find loads of people milling about on the pavement outside with wads of paper like i had. There was an entrance in the gate with a rope across.

Stood around wondering if someone would come out and call names (this has happened elsewhere), then some guy seemed to get fed up waiting and tried to climb under the rope. At which point the police came over and shouted at him a while and pushed him back. I was close to following him, but was conviniently stood at the entrance at this point and explained i had an appointment and got waved through. The guy who got shouted at was eventually let in around 30 minutes later.

Process itself was fairly easy, although what's amusing is that i got a paper form whilst they print the proper ID card, but i just have to monitor a facebook page where they announce which batch of ID cards are ready for collection!

 

[Martynt74]

Did you get your wrangler fixed up ?

summertime wildlife Do you have the background orchestra of cicada's - uk dawn chorus not the same , little lizards in france are cool too.

Still in the garage, i'm being told "less than a month". Did find a bargain of a soft top roof for it though which is currently under the carport.

Not really much in the way of bbackground noise really. We have some swallows nesting behind an AC unit, and there's a constant barking of dogs to contend with though!