Una lista de cosas

Sitting outside a café we chatted about what we missed about London and the changes that have come our way since being in Spain. For a bit of fun – and like one of those awful blue-sky/thought-shower meetings one would have had at work – here’s a list of things we came up with.

Don’t get us wrong, we adore Spain, being human though we’re bound to miss a few things from home. But it’s amazing how quickly you get used to changing ways – like listening to the radio and watching the news on TV.

These things get replaced with walks, reading (one of us is racing through them, from William Boyd and Gillian Flynn to Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky), playing more music (the other ‘performs’ this song every evening on guitar to an empty garden), listening to more music – and writing this blog.

And watching the sun go down, saying hi to the goats and looking out for eagles are things we do almost daily.

Things we miss from home:

– pasta-making machine
– the ‘local’ and proper beer (ale not lager)
– a big strong milky latte made with non-UHT milk
– having the occasional bath (not just a shower)
– watching TV cookery programmes
– internet access at home
– Cumberland sausages
– fiddling around with the pond for no particular reason
– playing music really loudly
– spending a day in central London at our favourite places
– shouting at BBC London TV every evening because of its obsession with ‘Olympics stories’ (even though the Games ended over a year ago)
– sitting in the greenhouse
– growing vegetables
– watching live football on a TV
– Lush products (no, we haven’t got shares in the company)
– daily walks across Greenwich Park
– a toilet that accepts toilet paper (no bin needed)
– wearing make-up comfortably
– our books and being able to look something up with ease
– being creative with the sewing machine (we did bring it but it’s broken)
– takeaway curries (that give you your whole day’s calorie allowance in one meal)

In a few days time, some of the above will disappear from the list as we’re moving properties.

Things we don’t miss from home:

– aircraft noise
– police sirens
– curtain-twitching neighbours
– daily commute on crowded trains
– junk mail
– parents who let their children run riot (Spanish children are angels in comparison)
– people who moan about having no money (despite having plenty), their jobs etc
– BBC London
– people dropping rubbish
– bible-bashers turning up on your doorstep
– food costing the earth

Things here we (generally) don’t get or see at home

– free fruit from trees – lemons, oranges, pomegranates etc
– constantly great weather (when it does rain here, you celebrate)
– millions of ants eating the cat-food
– snakes
– delicious jamón
– checking the bed at night for scolopendra
– free tapas
– mountains
– invasion of Rolser shopping bags
– goats trying to get into your garden

Where would we be without lists, eh?