We’re on the move again this week.  Seem to have done this far too often in recent years, and you think we’d have learned a lot from this.  Well, I hope we have.  Here’s some stuff we have picked up, generally the hard way…

•  If people offer to help, nail them down instantly to times and places, before they melt away.
• Don’t place anything, ever, in a black plastic binbag, that is NOT rubbish destined for the bin.  Do not be tempted to put bedding, laundry etc into bags that make them look like they need helpfully chucking out, especially when multiple journeys/helpers are involved.
• You can’t have in your possession too much bubblewrap, tape, boxes or marker pens
• Levels of dirt acceptable in your own home / your own dirt, eg inside fridge trays or bathroom drawers, are ‘eurgghhh!’ when you are moving somewhere new and they are someone else’s dirt you must get rid of first
• Labelling any box ‘misc’ because you just shoved any old crap into it instead of sorting as you packed, is just going to backfire on you when you are cursing through the unpacking later
• Do not label anything with post-it notes, they do NOT stick well to boxes, and leads to chaos.  ‘Does anyone know what this “FRAGILE!!!” relates to..?’
• When packing up clothes and day to day stuff, think about pulling out and putting aside the stuff you need for the last few days before you move BEFORE you start.  Even pack yourself as suitcase as though you were off on holiday - then shove the case under the bed and you can pack up everything else in the room for the movers.
• Removal firm advice leaflets recommend keeping an ‘emergency on arrival’ box at hand with you at all times, but think carefully about exactly what you need in YOUR box, for those first 5 minutes after getting to your new home.  Whether its firelighters, a screwdriver, a corkscrew or your mobile charger, what can you not live without/wish to avoid searching for at that moment?
• If you really were going to eBay it you’d have done it by now.  Go to charity shop, go directly to charity shop, do not pass go and do not move clutter from one house to another
• Same with anything you were going to alter, mend or repair.  Let it go.
• Finally, if someone kindly brings you a bottle of something bubbly to welcome you to your new home, don’t think you’ll just pop it in the freezer to chill down for half an hour.  Unless you *want* to spend your first morning in your new place clearing moet-et-broken-glass icecream out of your new freezer that is.

Half term this week - for English schools at least - but what a contrast to our fond memories of this time last year, when with visitors from the UK we went for picnics in the mountains and walks on the beach, kids playing and paddling, parties in the park… Today it was a welcome change to sit outside and have a coffee, for a scant hour or two before the sun retreated and coats went back on.  It’s slightly milder, and it’s good to have had a little taste of springtime to come, but sadly it isnt truly here yet.

It was a very pleasant morning though, first face to face get-together for our latest project, http://www.oldschoolgate.com… this site/forum is basically an attempt to create exactly I was looking for 2 years ago, when researching our relocation.  It’s such a challenge planning a move for a whole family from over a thousand miles away, with scant precious visiting time to check things out.  How on earth did people manage before the internet..?  Between google earth, agents websites, and expat forums, I was able to use our reccy time as wisely as possible and find out as much as we could before taking the plunge, but I still felt a gap for specifically kids-related things.  It was hard to find out information about schooling, kids activities, fiestas etc, and how to go about basic things such as registering for health care or buying PE kit.  It was fantastic to find some incredibly knowledgeable and supportive friends who helped so much with such things, and I wanted to try and channel that knowledge and make it more accessible for others in the future.

Similarly now we’ve been here for over a year, we still find things we havent a clue about because we havent had to deal with them yet, and being in the international school system it’s harder still to hook up with other parents  - the catchment zones cover huge areas, and many children arrive by bus anyway.  The ‘Old School Gate’ is symbolic of the ultimate hob of gossip and news that has sustained generations of Mums around the world, the folk wisdom that gets passed on to those in need of it, ready to pay forward and help out the next person who asks for help.

If you, or anyone you know, has kids anywhere near the Costa Blanca… or if you’re researching or considering a move to the area - please check out http://www.oldschoolgate.com. We’re a new community of international, diverse, friendly and interesting parents, and we’d love to chat.  More meet-ups planned soon… as soon as the weather gets better anyway!

And if you’re not in the area but like the idea of an Old School Gate for your own community, give me a shout about that too.

A friend of a friend of ours has this thing of coming out with little sayings, one which stuck in my mind from way back was “Spain is a cold country, that happens to have hot sun”. 

At the time I didn’t really know what that meant, but now I do.  Most of the year Spain is warm and sunny, spring and autumn are sheer delight.  The hot summer you can survive, between the beach and the pool and not trying to do too much.  But the brief and brutal winter is HORRIBLE… in homes built to stay as cool as possible in summer heat, every icy breeze penetrates, and the lack of sun in our chilly north-facing villa adds to the frozen misery with damp and mould.  Between us we have never had more colds and respiratory infections, since moving to this ‘healthiest climate in the world’!

Our big mistake was viewing this beautiful villa in the early summer, when it was glorious, spacious and luxurious.  We paid no attention to the lack of radiators, curtains, interior doors, or even a woodburner… and we have spent the winter trying to heat the bits we are living in through a combination of inverting air conditioners (which produce astronomical electricity bills), and a calor gas heater which produces such damp the condensation runs down the windows, creating more black mildew and rot everywhere.  The girls rooms have little oil-filled radiators, that work OK in the smallest bedrooms (and in the office if you actually put your feet on them).  We have also become big fans of the good old hot water bottle!  Basically the strategy is focus on warming up the immediate area you are occupying, rather than the whole house or even room.  Lots of layers, hot drinks.  Warming soups…

So we are OFF.  In just two weeks, to a smaller, warmer place, with friendly helpful landlords, a proper long term lease, and that most wondrous of inventions… central heating!!!  Bring it on.

Apparently airport security staff, before they are kitted up with their new x-ray specs, are trained to look out for people who are anxious, sweaty, and distracted.  These people could be potential terrorists and bombers I guess…. however, they could also be passengers with the lovely Ryanair.  Wearing as much of their luggage as humanly possible, stressing about the threat of having their bags measured or god forbid weighed, wondering if the costcutting and profit squeezing is one day going to hit safety and fuelling margins, and fuming with resentment at the endless scratchcard and merchandise pushing.  Not to mention the self-congratulatory announcements about ‘yet another on-time flight’ just because they describe Alicante to London as taking 2 hrs 45 minutes when it always takes less than 2 hrs 20…

But before you even get to peel off the layers at security, you have to find the airport in the first place.  Of course we’ve done this a few times now and it’s getting easier, but it’s strange how one of the largest portals in Europe can be so invisible on approach.   It’s in a kind of dip in the landscape, and a lot of flight paths are over the sea, so you are practically on top of it before you notice the airport at all.  Driving from the North as we do, you go right past Alicante city to reach it, and there is sod-all signage, so you pass all signs to Alicante and see the city going by off on your left long before you see a sign saying ‘aeropuerto’ (which is also helpfully right next to the sign ‘Murcia’, which happens to be in the same direction, but also has an airport.  Not the one you are booked to fly from though, which adds to the fun).  Even when you’ve driven it many times its weird how there’s always this moment of doubt - have we missed the exit?  WTF has the airport gone this time?

All in all, I can only conclude, one should never leave the Costa Blanca at all, it’s way too stressful, and I am all for staying put.

It’s a bit ironic having moved to Spain in search of, amongst other things, a simpler life… to be so utterly dependent on the car these days.

The villa we live in currently - NOT for much longer, thank goodness - is very typical, in that it’s stuck up on a hill miles from anywhere, and you cannot get anywhere at all except by car.  Every time you realise you need bread or water or milk etc, you have to get the car out… and of course the school run, up the mountain to the beautiful new building, guzzles gallons of petrol every month.

The alternative is living in an apartment or townhouse in a much more urban area, which we haven’t ruled out one day, but for now we enjoy the peace of a villa whilst we havent yet spent a full summer here.  Our new place is at least walking distance to a shop and a few cafes, which will help.

Of course you don’t realise your auto-dependence so much when you take it for granted - 0nly when it lets you down!  Which it did this week, when we found coolant leaking all over the show.  Luckily R has managed to get it fixed, we hope - airport run tomorrow, so really really really hope it IS fixed!

It’s funny how you learn the Spanish that you need as well.  I am getting quite good at ordering a vegetarian meal anywhere, whilst R has a load of specialist vocabulary about thermostats and radiators that I hope I will never require…