ann and andy lawrenson

Greetings all from the Costa Blanca care home for sick Brits. We have had Gavin, Stephen, Jan and Christie to stay recently, and all have arrived with various lurgies. Is there anyone fit and well left in England? I have finally succumbed myself today, and have stayed at home while the others go to explore the caves at Benidoleig. It’s just started raining so I hope they aren’t too far underground!

Life here is still pretty good. Ann has posted photos of the Costa Blanca MVC singing to a full house of 650 at the new theatre at Teulada. We were the lead choir and it was a really good night. We found a nice Italian restaurant afterwards.

Teulada is a town about the size of Steyning. It has the new theatre, with a £200,000 Steinway, a massive sports centre, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, loads of tennis and paddle tennis courts, plus a town hall and town square big enough for a major city. It also has in excess of 10% of it’s properties empty, enough public debt to choke a rhino (they can’t even afford the interest payments at present), several of its more prominent citizens including the former mayor, the planning officer and the chief accountant awaiting trial on corruption charges, and absolutely no prospect of ever being solvent again. It is in many respects typical of Spanish towns, and though our initial thoughts were that we might buy a place here, I think we have both decided that political and financial corruption is so endemic that it would not be sensible.

We are beginning to turn our thoughts to moving on from here in the middle of May, so if anyone in a reasonable state of health wants to pop out for a few days, let us know as soon as possible. We are planning a swoop through Southern Spain, then up through Portugal and into Central France, probably the Limousin, in mid-July. Plan is to look for a low-cost building project, then come back to UK end of July to get an MOT for the car and see everyone before returning to France for a month towards the end of August, hopefully in a position to buy.  Whether it will work out like that who knows, but I think we both feel that we need a base to call our own, and neither of us are in any hurry to return to England. Ann is quite happy lotus-eating, but I am beginning to climb the walls and can’t take many more three hour lunches. I’m just getting fatter and more alcoholic, and definitely need a shed and a garden! If anyone has a house that they want holiday-sitting for a couple of weeks, or a bed we can crash in for a couple of nights from 25th July, please let us know.

All the best,

Andy