OK, anyone reading my previous post knows I made some life-changing decisions this summer, which I promised to share with you in my first post for September.

What is it I hear you asking?

Well Hubs and I have decided to leave the country that has been our adopted home for the last 10 years! Bearing in mind we had only come for 1 year in the first instance, I think we can rest assure that no-one can accuse us of not having "staying power".



So why are we leaving?
There are a multitude of reasons, but principally we both have lone, elderley parents. When we left, we never envisaged still being in Spain when old-age struck both our parents. Hubs is an only child, and altho' I have a sister who lives 10 minutes away from my Dad, I might as well be an only child.

This summer saw lots of unexpected ailments, emergency calls for the ambulance and hospital stays, that made us realise it was more stressful being in Spain and directing everything from here, than being in the UK.Altho' Spain is only about 3 hours from the UK, it is still difficult to fly out every time they have a problem.



Altho' we won't actully be making moves until Spring (due to work commitments we would like to honour) I made a list of all the silly things I miss about the UK (leaving aside the obvious of family and friends).Here are some of them.

I miss:

* having some of the best hairdressers in the world at my fingertips,and knowing the explanation of what I desire won't get "lost in translation".

*I miss being able to go to the best concerts and theatre productions at a moments notice. I haven't been to a pop concert in the 10 years I've lived here, as Spain is not usually on the concert route for many of the big stars.

*I miss the seasons. Yes waking up to blue skies is wonderful, but too much of a good thing...........



* I miss cosy nights in. It's impossible to do "cosy" in 40ºC heat and the air-conditioning blasting

* I miss being able to spend a Saturday afternoon wandering around some of my fav bookshops in London.The Spanish are not big readers. When I first arrived in Seville in 2001, there was only 1 bookshop in the whole of the city, and that was religious bookshop frequented principally by nuns and friars-really, I'm not joking! During this time Amazon became my best friend.

* I miss living in a city that doesn't judge you by the clothes you wear,the car you drive or the religion you practise. Seville/Spain is an extremely close-minded, classist and traditional country/city.Sometimes the "village mentality" can take it's toll

*I miss the build up to Christmas. There is nothing really like it in Spain, as Easter is the bigger celebration of the two.

* I miss having a pile of Sunday papers to read at my leisure over hot croissants. All my newspaper reading has been done on-line since moving here, as by the time international press reaches my city, it's already out of date. I really do miss holding, rustling, folding, highlighting and tearing bits out of my weekend papers.

*I miss not always being the "foreigner".

So these are just some of the points I put on my list and refer to every time I get a wobbly moment. I am sure I will change my mind a thousand times before the time arrives. But sharing my decision with my blogger friends (only) means I now feel committed to seeing this new chapter of our lives through.And I'm sure I will be blogging about many more wobbly moments, and asking all my wonderful friends for some advice.



So dear friends, what would you miss most about your city/country if you emigrated?
Would love to hear your thoughts as always.