Relief

Wow. Just wow. We have come back to Lisbon for a few weeks just because we think we will never get the chance to live here ever again (never say never, I know) but also because we wanted an escape from the unbelievable heat of Spain. It is, as Sonalee observed, like living on a different planet. We are able to move around during the daylight hours – or at least from ten in the morning till eight at night.

To do that in Fuente Tojar is nigh on impossible at the moment. You can walk to the swimming pool a hundred yards up the road. You can walk to the shop to get what you absolutely need. But you can’t work outside. You can’t go out to your garden. You can’t really do very much at all except drink some beer, watch the Tour De France and fall asleep on your sofa.

That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

But, in all seriousness, if 41 degrees is the new normal for us in Andalusia and in our new place north of Madrid then we are all a little bit screwed because there is a climate crisis that isn’t going away and we are in the middle of it. The proof, if it was required, was the sight of forest fires in the mountains an hour away from us in the town of Colmenar Viejo.

Oh, yes. We have a new place north of Madrid to live in. It took us a week. I say us, Sonalee did most of the work, but we finally found a place that will take four dogs and a very annoyed cat and is within our budget and is not too far from our new school and has one of those electronic gate thingies. I know! Imagine, if you will, the two of us coming home and pushing the button that opens the big gate to let the car in…

And then total chaos as four dogs run down the commuterville/suburban street going mental because mummy and daddy have been away all day.

Actually, we have been a bit lucky. Whenever we mentioned we have four dogs (and a cat) to estate agents we were quickly told no. But this particular one was just a shrug of acceptance for which we are grateful. It turns out that the landlady’s mum lives next door and she has two dogs so they really aren’t that bothered. Just wait till they meet Luna; they might change their minds sharpish.

In truth, it has been a massive weight off. When we moved to Lisbon we had to stay on a farm for four week whilst Sonalee sought a more permanent place for us to live. This time both of us will be working so we do not have that luxury. We have a place to move into immediately. It is big. It has a weird granny flat with a built-in bar. It is in a commuter town forty minutes from snowboarding in the winter. It has a curry house five minutes away. Not sure of nearby pubs yet, let me work on that. We move from here in Lisbon in two weeks.

In between all of this searching for a new place to live and a return to our place in Andalusia we were lucky enough to see some old friends from around the world, friends that we have missed very much. For sure, we have the happy and smiley reunions with our village friends in the plaza bar (and the moans about village politics of course) but also those who were able to visit us in this part of sunny Europe. We had my niece who listened so politely as we tried to talk up our village; Kate who got quite drunk with us in Madrid and our friends from Romania who are now expecting a boy (not called Paul – very upset) in Autumn. Denise and Stuart were also around to push us to buy a travelling van – it is on the horizon. We were not able to do our annual visit to see my god-daughter but she was very much in our thoughts as we calculated driving time to Bilbao from our new place.

**You can just about see the smoke from a forest fire in the mountains near our soon to be home in Colmenar Viejo**

It was a weird mix of whirlwind travels and lounging around doing bugger all because it is so bloody hot. It is difficult to describe unless you step outside of a house to be physically smacked in the face by the heat from the road. My niece will testify.

I think I may have mentioned this before, but we are going to miss Lisbon. A lot. We are certainly going to miss the cooler temperatures, as are the dogs (and cat). They all found the heat of Andalusia hard work. The problem isn’t so much that it gets hot it is more that it never really gets that cool so that your body stops working trying to lower your temperature. For the fur babies it was particularly exhausting.

Anyway, we’re going to miss Lisbon. The multicultural aspects of it the most. These facets of life here in the Portuguese capital reveal themselves in the colourful clothing; the different languages you hear on the streets; the simple differences in hairstyles; the endless graffiti; the food – oh my god the food; the attitudes and the smiles. Where we are going to live back in Spain does not have these differences in anywhere near the volume that Lisbon has and I think we both appreciate that we need to revel in them for the few weeks that we have left here.

And that is what we are going to do. We are going to spend time with friends that we wish we could have gotten to know better and for longer. We are going to eat a lot of curry. We would probably do that anyway but, well, you know…

We are going to bask in the heat of a mere 27 degrees and get outside as much as we can. We have already ticked off one thing on our list and swam in the North Atlantic. It is totally and utterly freezing. Let’s not muck about, it is bonkers cold. Mark said it has three ‘yowzer’ points as you wade in; the genitalia, the nipples and the shoulders. He wasn’t wrong – each stage is an eyes wide open moment and one to be either savoured or ensured depending upon your outlook.

And we are going to get increasingly nervous about starting new jobs yet again in another new school yet again. It is inevitable that we do so. But, and I think I speak for Sonalee as well here, we hope it is the last bloody time we have to do so for a while. It is exhausting moving country, moving language, moving culture, gaining new residence status, moving to a new home, moving the animals to a new home, trying to make a good impression upon a new school, new teachers, new parents and new pupils. To do this every year is beyond ridiculous.

This will be our third new school in four years for the both of us. The one year it didn’t apply is the year we had off. Let this one be the one that we stay in for a few years at least. Let this one be the one that we can say we will return to normally. And not to have to move yet again after just one year!

I wish you could have all come to see us here in Lisbon. You would have loved it as much as we did. And now I hope you can come to see us in a satellite town north of Madrid. You will love it. We will be on the edge of a huge mountainous region full of the nature stuff that is good for us and yet we are also only 25 minutes on the train from one of the greatest capitals of Europe with some seriously amazing culture to devour.

Yes, it is true that there will be Real Madrid fans there but you have to look past that and see Madrid for what it is; a cultural centre fully deserving of your respect. Come and see us.