Un lugar encantador

Well I've been here two weeks now and time has gone quickly.

I have lots to say, mostly about how I do love it here and how it is such a special place. There is something that keeps drawing me back here.

The good thing is that I was OK here on my own. I did not feel uncomfortable going out to eat by myself, it feels perfectly safe to go hiking or for a walk in the evening. I remember my first night here, I went to eat at a place I have been to before many times, a small restaurant overlooking the sea. Here the proprietor will stop and talk and sit with me and have a drink, we talk about the weather, about business, family etc, we speak in Spanglish but we get by.  The ambiente is real. I feel that I just want to melt into his table and never leave. Then after two and a half hours I left and as I walked passed a bar a familiar face called me in and we had a drink etc. I got home at 1 am, tired but so content. I spent the grand total of 15 Euros. I cant do things like that in the UK, I would never go out to eat on my own.

I have realised that I have got into such a rut in the UK, I have become almost  a recluse. It is so nice to be out and about talking to people, sometimes I don't see anyone for days on end apart from my husband who leaves at 7.00 am and walks back through the door at 8.00pm. It has made me realise that I do want a life where I am outdoors more, where the weather is better, where I can be at the coast, where I can eat out and it doesnt cost a fortune, where I can go out and speak to people, it doesnt have to be deep and meaningful conversations all the time, it is therapy for me just to interact with people.

But, by the middle of the first week I really started to miss my husband, at least he is here now for two weeks.

Sometimes I think I want to stay here forever, but then I wonder would it be enough, what would I "do" here, I think about asking one of my contacts for a job but then I chicken out.

I do see this place playing a central part of our future plans, I just don't know yet to what extent. I am here for two more weeks and I wonder, will I stay a bit longer or will I return as planned. I wonder whether I could tolerate the heat and the influx of people in July and August.



Relief

I'm in Ibiza.

I'm so grateful to be here, it is such a relief to escape those dull grey shores.

This is a wonderful place where land meets sea, I am at the far norfth of the island away from mass tourism. I am at my home for the next month.  So far so good. I have received such a warm welcome from familiar faces.

I will write more in due course. I am feeling very unwell, I think I have picked up something nasty on the plane.

New Directions

Well I am REALLY looking forward to going to Ibiza for a month. It will be a nice rest from cooking and cleaning etc. I have never wanted to be a house wife. Which way is the office? Only joking.

But seriously, I said to DH the other day that I would prefer to be the one going out to work and he could clean house, do endless chores and ensure that my evening meal is on the table. I hate cooking but I enjoy good food. I would love to eat out more but it is so expensive and I really begrudge paying lots of money for what is mediocre food at best.

We have decided that DH will come out for a holiday to visit me when I am in Ibiza.

DH is at last getting fed up of the office. So it is agreed that we are leaving the UK in August and we are going to be travelling indefinitely. Well it isn't so much going travelling but rather nomadic living as a lifestyle choice. The rough plan is that we will head over to northern Spain and in September we will make our way down to Portugal. We are going to load up the car and initially we are going to camp. Thereafter we hope to find somewhere nice to stay a while in Portugal and get some accommodation.

So that's the rough plan. It is a very rough plan but deliberately so. For a change we ARE going to go with the flow and not get obsessed about filling in the blanks and the future. I really want to try a different way of living.

I don't want to settle here in the UK. I don't want to buy a house here. I dont want to be tied down I want to be free to go where I please. That is the way I feel at the moment, whether that will change I don't know.