I often start these messages with the line ‘Hello from Bournemouth’ – but this might be the last time I do so. That’s not because I’m going to stop writing emails – you don’t get out of hearing from me that easily. No, the reason that might change is because we’ve taken the rather monumental decision to uproot and relocate to Northern Spain.
If that sounds completely out of the blue, and I appreciate it probably does, then it isn’t really. As many of you know, my partner Maria is Spanish, and we’ve long talked about the idea of spending a few years out there, in order to let the kids learn the language and connect with that side of their culture, and to have a bit of an adventure. But I’ve always had to keep quiet about it in these messages, so as not to alarm Maria’s employers. However, now that she’s employed by the family business (the books) that’s not such an issue. And for a combination of reasons it feels like now is the right time. We think.
We actually came quite close to moving to Spain in 2018, going as far as visiting schools and finding a really nice house, but what stopped us was a combination of not quite having the money to do it comfortably, and anxieties over what would happen with Brexit. Actually that’s a lie. What stopped us was a complete failure of courage at the critical moment, when we thought about giving up our cosy lives here in the UK, surrounded by wonderful friends and family, and with our well-practiced routines flowing smoothly by day after day. We just told each other it was about the money and the uncertainty of Brexit.
So what’s changed, given that I haven’t got any braver in the intervening years? Well a couple of things I suppose. Firstly an effect of the pandemic has been to make our town incredibly popular with Londoners who suddenly don’t have to be in the office five days a week. The shift to working-from-home has driven a scramble for many to relocate into coastal towns within a few hours of the city, and Bournemouth is at the top of many lists. As a result the value of our modest little house-near-the-beach has zoomed skywards to what seems like stupid prices. As I said, the lack of cash was never the real reason why we bottled out of moving a few years back, but the reality of what we can now afford in Spain, should we sell up here, makes the whole thing that-much-more tempting.
But it really comes down to something rather deeper than the economics. I am genuinely very happy with my lot. I have a lovely family and I’m incredibly lucky to get to make a living from writing. Plus I love you lot, so it almost feels indecent to claim I’m still somehow unsatisfied, especially when you watch the news and see how much suffering is the norm for so many people. But at the same time, it’s frightening how quickly the weeks have been whooshing by in recent years, each one almost indistinguishable from the one that came before. And so Maria and I seem to have both decided that we’ve become a little too comfortable. Too cosy, and that we need to shake things up a bit. It’s almost as if, should we not do something drastic, we might wake up one day and find the kids are all grown up, but we forgot to live our dreams.
Practically speaking how is this going to work, I hear literally no one asking? (but I’m going to answer anyway, since this is actually a self-therapy session in disguise.) Maria is, as you might know, from Spain, but she comes from the south (around Seville) and grew up in Madrid. Madrid for me is a non-starter, because it’s not on the coast. I have my standards. There is coast around Seville, and it was one of the places we looked at as a possible relocation option in 2018, but it just didn’t feel like home to me. It’s very dry – most of the land seems to be either desert or salt marsh – and it doesn’t really feel wild, at least not in the same way as, say, the long, wide beaches of Cornwall, or the mountains of North Wales. And for some reason I’ve always felt drawn to such places. But Spain’s north coast has plenty of both, and it rains a lot too, so I should feel at home with that. We’ve settled on the area around the city of Santander, which is about mid-way along Spain’s north coast. It’s very green, kind of empty, but the landscape is beautiful, and crucially they actually speak Spanish (further east they speak Basque, and further west it changes to Gallegan – both of which feel like a step too far.)
As to where exactly – town or village, remote hillside or beachfront apartment – we don’t know yet, but as you’re reading this we’re packing the car to drive down to have a look around and work it out (covid allowing, and a rather worrying yellow warning light on the car).
Finally though, I just wanted to say, as I type these words that I am totally terrified. There’s certainly a good dose of excitement mixed in there too, but mostly at this point it’s fear, mixed in with impressively complex layers of guilt over the childhood-ruining event we’re planning to inflict on the kids. So if you’ve ever taken a plunge similar to this – or perhaps even if you always dreamt about it but didn’t – I’d love to hear about how it went for you. The way I’m thinking about things right now is that we’re 90% committed to doing this, but there’s still 10% of the decision left to make, which we can only do now by going down there. But hearing about your adventures will definitely help. I don’t think I’ll be able to respond in detail, as we’re packing in a lot of house viewings and school visits, but we’ll certainly read with interest.
Anyway, that’s my little update. Big news for us, and hopefully of some interest to you. I actually feel much better for writing this, as it’s been almost like a family secret for a long time now. It feels good to get it out. You’re very welcome to reply with an invoice for your time!(*)
Take care, and thanks for reading.
Gregg
PS. Pic below is a place called Oyambre, one of the beaches around where we’re looking, and included just to give you an idea of how this part of Spain is quite different to the typical image of the Costa’s. I quite like the house on the right… 🙂
* But just to be clear, I won’t pay it.
CLICK HERE TO READ ON (PART TWO: IS THIS HAPPENING OR NOT?)
