Let me introduce myself. I’m a 43-year-old professional artist of some fourteen years standing. I have had a home and studio here in Torrevieja, on the Costa Blanca for about six years or more. Until this last year or so I travelled between Spain and my other studio in Ireland and lived quite a nomadic lifestyle. Read more…

I am looking for inspiration. Actually, as a male this is probably better translated as a desperate and pitiful cry for help! The children are now on holiday. And, being Spain, this means summer holidays that last for a terrifying and horribly sustained three months - an eternity for working parents and probably even worse for those with no compelling reason to escape their house frequently for long periods. Read more…

Last Sunday I was invited to the first in a series of unique open air concerts in Beniarbeig entitled ‘Music at the Manor’. The fact that it clashed with Spain’s European Cup Final against Germany did make me think twice about attending, but I am so pleased I did decide to go along. It was a fabulous evening. Read more…

My husband Marcus’ 41st year started with the unveiling of a power tool. For his 40th birthday last year I bought him an impressive red concrete mixer. He was very proud.

Our knowledge of concrete making was limited - but it couldn’t be that hard, could it? We got out our big book of DIY, purchased the ingredients and cheerfully began preparing the mixture in the baking August sun in rural Murcia. Read more…

Summer’s here and the time is right … for eating lots of gazpacho, among other things. Mid-June the temperature shot up overnight and we woke up sweating under a laughably-named ’summer duvet’. Out came the fans, off came the bedclothes - and all other clothes, too. Read more…

Well, I was wrong on two counts. Firstly I thought the Germans would equalise (because they always do against England) and secondly I did not think there would be an even bigger party than after the semi-final win - but there was!

After three weeks, six undefeated matches - and scoring twelve goals and only conceding three - it was a justified celebration. Read more…

Spain’s annihilation of Russia (sorry Ivan) has sent the centre of Torrevieja into a total frenzy. Hours after the match ended 3-0 to Spain an impromptu cavalcade of neverending cars are still cruising down the main roads with horns blaring, flags waving, klaxons sounding. Guys sitting on the roofs of moving 4×4s banging drums - unbelievable! Read more…

“The opera is a bit like sex: you never know how long it will last and you’ll feel a fool if you clap in the middle.” I don’t recall who coined these words. It was probably Mark Twain; he had a way with a scurrilous comment and is attributed for all sorts of funnies, but I had no idea what he meant until recently.

I admit it, I’m a philistine. I’m almost 40 years old and I’d never been to the opera until this year when we went to the fantastic Theatre in Molina de Segura called Teatro Villa de Molina. Read more…

Living in the hills of Tenerife, the sights, sounds and smells seem amplified to epic proportions. Whether it’s the pungent smell of a dozen goats’ bottoms, the distant howling of my psycho neighbour, or the slap-in-the-face, poke-in-the-eye, boot-in-the-balls astonishment at the night sky, I LOVE LIVING HERE. Read more…

Firecrackers and car horns sounded late into the early morning following Spain’s narrow win over Italy - putting them through to the Euro 2008 football semi-finals. Amongst the crowd were Spain’s King and Queen who kept herself cool with a fan (the paper sort not the football sort). It was a tense match culminating in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out. The players highlighted in my earlier blog proved to be match-winning, with Spanish captain and goalkeeper Casillas heroically saving two of the Italian attempts and Fabregas slotting home the winning penalty for Spain. Read more…