Ramblings in Retirement

March 2007

When I was a child (just a few years ago), there was a song I remember which went “Rain, Rain, go to Spain. Well, whoever wrote that surely got their wish this year. April has been a washout here on the Costa Blanca. For the first two weeks we had constant grey skies and intermittent heavy rain which confined us to the house for most of the time. Later in the month we have had a little sunshine but towards the end of April, yet more wet stuff. Watching the news on BBC, we could see that there was excellent weather in the UK with record temperatures for the month and it makes you think that climate changes may be reversing the trend.

This is a lovely Chocolate plant in our front garden which is at it's best when wet. It certaily looks well!

April is when our Roses bloom and as they are a little late this year we may miss the best of them as we will be in the UK.

This is a trough of trailing Geraniums and my first stab at growing Nastursiums here in Spain (they don't like the dry conditions but this year should be OK.

We decided at long last to put our villa up for sale, the 40 or so steps from the roadside to our front door had at last become a nuisance and, who knows, could prove very difficult in the future. Selling property in Spain can be a very costly business, you have to pay an Estate Agent 5% of the selling price, and then, when the sale goes through, you need to pay a local tax on the increased value. If you reinvest the proceeds in another property, there is no Capital Gains Tax but, were you to buy another property at the same value, you incur Transfer Tax and various fees, which in total are about 10%! In effect you can be substantially out of pocket and that is before you buy new curtains etc. Nevertheless we instructed an Agent and placed the villa on the market at a relatively high price, as we know it can take up to 2 years to sell. Currently there is a slump in the market with no sign of improvement on the horizon and, as our villa, falls into the category of being too expensive as a holiday home; we may struggle to sell for some time. We are selling with mixed emotions, we love our villa, location and spectacular views and have invested considerable time and money to make it into the kind of home we are happy with (not to mention the blood, sweat and tears in getting the garden in order), but it seemed there was no way around the issue of the steps. With Penny’s angina and old age inevitably creeping on us there would come a time when getting to the front door with the shopping would be a significant problem.

However………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

On reading a local Spanish magazine I came across an advert from a company, which specialised in passenger lifts. I contacted the agent and he, in conjunction with a construction company, came to the villa and ascertained that we could install a lift, which would be suitable. Our garage is some 200 feet in length and 30 feet in depth and it is planned to install a tower construction in the corner of the garage which will come through the roof and be some 18 metres high, then at the exit on the upper level they will construct a bridge to take us to the pool patio area where we are on the flat. They plan the construction to look like a tower with false windows, applied stonework and to be capped with a four pointed tiled roof. This seems to be an excellent solution to our problem, not only will it be far cheaper than moving house, but also it adds value to the existing villa. We are currently having an architect draw up the plans for submitting to the local council and plan to start the works in September. (We don’t want our summer disrupted by building work). As soon as we get planning permission we will take the house off the market.

Penny’s uncle Ted and his wife Christine spent a few days with us towards the end of the month, they were visiting some relatives in Calpe, just down the coast, and finished their holiday with us. We were lucky that in the time they spent with us, the weather was not too bad with only one day overcast. We were able to show them something of the area and the town of Denia where we surprised them with a breakfast of orange juice, toasted baguette topped with fresh chopped tomato and a fresh coffee for just €2.50 (£1.65)! Christine, being a hardy North-Easterner, even braved the swimming pool when the temperature of the water was only 19 degrees!!

Due to the weather, most of the golf with the society has been a washout although we managed a game last week at which we got a good drenching. We were unable to complete the Spring Trophy competition which was disappointing as I was lying 3^rd and surely in with a chance!

At the Computer Club I have been trying to encourage my group of video editors to get involved in filming some home made sketches which we upload on to the club website. The second of these has been posted and you can watch it here, it's short and just for fun.

It is now almost the end of April and we are preparing to drive back to the UK. We set off on Sunday 29^th and will stay over with our friends in Tortosa as we journey north but I will give you all the details in the May edition.