Their fault!

Of course I blame my parents. But, in a caring way.

My parents abandoned me in my early twenties, because they were lucky enough to be able to stop working at 55, and moved to Australia, as you do. (Civil service in those days...) However, I had a good job, something with computers and programming, which was nice. And stayed.

The Netherlands is a really nice country for working, and living while working. But, summers are short, and usually cool and wet. At the same time we enjoy a long winter, that is also cool and wet. I'm not fond of cool and wet.

While on vacation in the Canary Islands, in December, long ago, I realised that when the weather in Holland is nasty, there are always places on Earth where people are in the sun, having cocktails on a sunny terrace, and are dining al fresco. And even late at night it's great outside. I knew I wanted that.

Early in the naughties tv series started like "A Place In The Sun", "Escape to the Continent", "Droomhuis Gezocht" ("Dream house wanted"), "Ik vertrek" ("I'm leaving") where they film a couple wanting to start a new life abroad. Usually without enough money, not speaking the language, and not terribly organised, starting a B&B without knowing how to make a bed, or cook for guests, getting pregnant at the wrong moment, etc etc. Else it is not amusing for the viewers. We want drama. Of course we want drama! As long as the drama concerns other people, obviously.

However, those programs did give us an idea of property prices abroad, and our possibilities. The more south you go, the lower house prices are, if you skip the Provence and the Côte d'Azur and silly places like that. Selling our house leaves enough funds to buy a place down south, AND enough money to bridge the years left before retirement and pension money... Why work till you are 67? Perhaps that nasty mr. Brinkhorst likes to work till he dies, bragging about it, but we don't. There is more in life than work. Well, there can be. My folx are proof of that. (And, we don't plan pregnancies or B&B's.)

We looked at places in France for properties where you have peace and quiet, no airplanes, no motor cycles, no sports planes circling above your head like irritating bluebottles, no neighbours unable to play the piano and with a trampoline in the house. And preferably a bit more self-sustaining energy and food wise. So, heating with own firewood, electricity from solar panels. Or, find an old watermill, restore it's function, and generate our own electricity that way. Being an electrical engineer, I can do that.

Well, France was not kind to us. There are lots of interesting places advertised on the internet, on sites like www.green-acres.com. (I'll show you some houses we were interested in over the years, but later.) However, French estate agents refuse to tell you where a house is, exactly. If they reply to your email at ALL.

We know France in summer. While visiting some places while out of season we found out that we had too positive an opinion on France's climate. In winter it's as wet and cold as back home. The summer season is indeed a bit longer, and there are nice days in winter, too, but overall it's not that great.

So we gave up on France, after a few years.

Canary Islands, after all? Over our budget, often, and the properties are not big and self-sustaining. Though the Lanzarote blog grannyp.blogspot.com drew me towards the Canaries still...
Italy? Too... complicated.
Greece? Nice, but you never know if it will stay with Europe.
Cyprus? Very nice, too. But.
Portugal and Spain mainland only presented themselves when brought up by "pensionado" friends who went there quite often, in winter. Well, we are not exactly Marbella, Torremolinos or even Ibiza people, but we started to realise that if you look inland a few kilometers you may find peace and quiet, a wonderful climate, and a lower price level for both house and living.

We found a house, in the south of Spain, in Almeria. A 200-year-old watermill, with those nice and thick stone walls we always wanted (thank you again grannyp.blogspot.com!). However, without any water to run the mill, but with agricultural water to irrigate the garden.

We are now working on actually moving there, as soon as we can. Probably somewhere Q3 2016. Exactly the same year in life as my parents.

The house also came with a single mum dog, ticks, lice, and six puppies. More on that, and other things, past present and future, later.

And yes, my parents and sister are all still happily living in Australia, 30 years later.