The benefits of living in the town

Of course we love our location on the hill up to the Pedrera. It gives us good views; the plot is big enough for a pool and a garden and it very quiet up here.

A lot of Spanish people though seem to prefer living in apartments and houses in the towns. You can see why when you go down in the evenings to Bigastro. During the daytime Bigastro is very quiet except Mondays and market days. From 2 o clock until 5 during siesta it is deserted but then each night at about 7 it becomes a thriving community of folk. The children play out in the park, the teenagers meet each other in the streets, the parents go out for walks and the grandparents sit outside their houses watching the world go by. The shops are open and the bars are busy. By nine o clock Bigastro becomes quiet again as the people return to their apartments and houses to eat.

The Spanish, like the French and the Italians, love to paseo. Our Spanish teacher can’t understand why we Brits up the hill don’t. She can’t understand why we disappear into our houses during the evenings. Of course our eating habits are different. Spaniards tend to have their main meal at lunchtime whilst we have ours at night. So when they are out socialising we are tucking into our main meal for the day. Mainly though we are not used to going for walks at night. For most of the year in England it is too damn cold to go out in a T-shirt and shorts. I mean who wants to go out for a walk in the cold and the rain?

Maybe in time we will adapt and the park at the bottom of our estate will become a meeting place where we will sit and chat. Somehow I doubt it.