The Best Place to Live?

I was born in the middle of England and moved to Cornwall twenty years ago. Cornwall is beautiful; the scenery is spectacular, there are miles of sandy beaches, and the people are great. Make a friend of a Cornishman and you have a friend for life. The winters are mild, but there's one big problem. They are also very wet, and my Rheumatoid Arthritis has had enough of rain. I think we've found the ideal solution to this problem. We have just bought an apartment on the Costa Blanca in Spain, where you get less than 40 days of rain a year, hardly any of it in the winter.

We don't intend to live here permanently, but we're going to have the best of both worlds. So I am a resident of two countries. However, the short time we have so far spent in Spain leads me to think that Spain is probably a better place to live than England. The Costa Blanca is mainly Mediterranean scrub land, so if you're looking for picture postcard pretty, this one's a no-no. It does have its own attractions, though. If you like birds (of the feathered variety), this is the place for you. The salt lakes around Torrevieja are ideal for spotting herons, flamingos, and all sorts of other feathered friends. The Nature Reserve at Santa Pola, near La Marina, has stunning walks around the lake and a hide so you can watch the birds without disturbing them. Best of all, unlike many similar attractions, you don't have to pay for the privilege of seeing Nature at its best.

You can't drive far on the Costa Blanca without travelling through miles of orange and lemon groves. You can pick oranges and lemons from the trees as long as the grove is not fenced off and you do not enter private property. Or buy your own tree for the garden, as we did, for only 15 euros. Concentrated orange juice is a thing of the past for us now, as we squeeze our own juice, fresh each morning. We don't have our own fruit yet, but when you can buy 5 kilos of oranges for only 2 euros on the local market, who wants to spend their mornings wrestling with a tetrapak? I certainly don't!

This brings me neatly on to a great Spanish tradition - the food market. In the small area where we are, we can go to a market virtually every day of the week if we want to. The stalls groan with beautiful, fresh produce, and the stall holders are so proud of their wares, there are always samples to try before you buy. On Sunday, I sampled oranges, melons, strawberries, plums and grapes - all delicious and all just ripe for eating. And you know any produce you buy on a Spanish market is as fresh as can be. Anything which isn't sold that day is left by the roadside for local children and anyone who wants it to take away. New day, new stock. Can you honestly say that about your own produce provider?

The Spanish think vegetarians are mad, so a lot of Spanish restaurants don't have much to suit vegetarians, and vegans can probably forget about eating out together, unless they go to a British owned and run eating place. For the rest of us, dining out is a real experience which can be as cheap or expensive as you want. We find that, while we only eat out on special occasions in England, here we can easily afford to eat out two or three times a week if we want to, so our social life is improving as well. We eat a lot of fresh fish, chicken and salads, so our diet is much healthier and our waistlines are shrinking, despite eating out regularly.

If, like us, you enjoy good wines, you can feed your passion here. The range is staggering, and you can enjoy a nice bottle of wine with your barbecue for between 3 and 6 euros. In England, similar quality wine would cost around £10. A word of warning here, though. Because alcohol is so cheap in Spain, it's easy to overindulge. I try to have at least two alcohol free days a week to allow my liver to recover. And never, ever drink and drive, not even ‘just the one. There is zero tolerance here for drink driving, which is another good thing about Spain. The Spanish love their booze as much as the rest of us, but they know when to stop. The only drunken lager louts you see around here are likely to have Union Jack t shirts on, even though it is possible to drink around the clock if you want to.
Spanish people live life to the full; they work hard and play hard, and life is never dull around a Spaniard. However, their inherent good manners means that they will never disrupt your evening out as they enjoy their own. Most Spaniards have a good command of English, and they will try to include you in their conversation if possible. You can relax and enjoy it, because Spanish speech is not peppered with foul language or inappropriate comments. However, if football leaves you cold, don't mention the ‘F' word! Once you get a Spaniard talking about soccer, that's the end of any other form of conversation!
Well, those are just some of the reasons I think Spain is such a wonderful place to live. If you've never been there, try to go soon. You'll be glad you did!