Finding neighbours
Bristol, 4th of December
Before we first thought about moving to Spain earlier this year we didn't know anyone else who had done
the same. And yet as soon as we started to talk about the idea to friends and acquaintances it was quite amazing how
many others were planning to do the same.The biggest coincidence relates back to my primary school days. In April I had
a contact through a website. It was from Marie who had been at primary school with me and whom I hadn't seen or heard
from since we were 10 years old - at least 30 years ago.
In our first e-mails we exchanged information about what was happening in our lives and found to our astonishment that we were each in the process of buying a place in rural Spain less than an hour's drive away from each other! This led to a regular correspondence and a sharing of stories and tips about the trials and tribulations of Spanish house buying processes. In August Marie and her partner came to Bristol to visit us and next year we will be almost neighbours.
Friends of friends
In
the summer my closest friend who lives in Sheffield told me that she had a friend who had some friends who were about to
move to the same village as us. Addresses and phone numbers were passed over and we made contact in the UK. Pat and Jim
were moving in October and we agreed to try and meet up in November. We found that we live about half a mile apart and
can see each other's houses from our respective terraces! We met up several times and got on really well. It feels very
reassuring to know that there are friendly faces nearby and they are already very kindly keeping an eye on our property
for us. The photograph shows the view of their house from our terrace.
From work colleagues to neighbours
David, a former work colleague and his partner moved to southern France this summer. He, like me, wanted to swap the pressures of working in the public sector for a more relaxed lifestyle in the sun. They decided that they would like to find another place in Spain so that they could spend winters there and maybe let it in the summer. They just happened to pick exactly the same area as us and were there exploring at the same time as we were last month. We were able to meet up and they were the first to view our newly acquired house after we got the keys. We hope to become neighbours next year.All in all we are starting to feel thoroughly at home even before we move!
Sent by: Sue
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