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It was thanks
to Polly that we found out where the hospital was in
Antequerra. On Johns 13th birthday he was putting her
back in her stable and she was being a bit naughty, not
wanting to go in and leave the succulent grass she had
been eating. Somehow, in her agitation she managed to
kick John in the head. It looked much worse than it
turned out to be and he only needed a few stitches, but
thank goodness for our neighbours who took us to the
hospital in their car.
A tip – make sure you find out where your nearest
hospital is!
It soon became obvious that we needed a nice placid
friend for Polly, so we bought a lovely old horse called
Carretta. She and Polly soon became great friends and
going out for a ride became a pleasure rather than a
chore.
Over the first few months in our new home we gradually
came to grips with ticking off the never ending list of
‘things to do’ – residencias, paying into the social
security system, re-registering our British plate car
and getting Spanish driving licenses, as well as picking
up Spanish, (easier when you have Spanish neighbours)
and getting used to the Spanish way of life. How
frustrating it was in the beginning, when we were in the
middle of a particular building job and had run out of
cement at two o’clock, to realise that we couldn’t get
any more until 4.30, or when we were rushing around on a
morning shopping trip, trying to get everything done by
2, so that we didn’t have to kill time until 5. Of
course it is second nature to us now but it took some
getting used to, especially as we have never been able
to adapt to the Spanish way of having siestas in the
afternoon.
 Our early days of working all day in the Spanish heat
though, soon had us starting work on building a pool.
Once again our neighbours came to the rescue and found
us a digger
but days after the hole was dug we had torrential rain
and we had a pool full of water quicker than we had
imagined! Our first summer saw us sitting in the kids
paddling pool with our friends (and Paja!) drinking gin
and tonics! Polly lived in a stable by the house at the
time with a courtyard that had a door into our courtyard.
She was a very sociable horse and used to bang on the
door for us to open it, so we had to erect a bar across
for her to be able to see what was going on. She loved
to stick her head in when we were eating outside and
scrounge food (especially ice cream!) Obviously we did
not make a habit of feeding her tidbits as horses do not
take lightly to different food, but it was very
entertaining. One day as we were leading her out of her
stable for some grass she decided to stop and have a
drink from the paddling pool. The trouble with Polly is
that she also likes to splash her feet about in whatever
container (or stream) she is drinking out of and before
we could stop her she had ripped the bottom out of the
pool. She does love water and has been known to try to
roll in a stream when being ridden through it! The
swimming pool was finally finished the following summer,
with the whole family tiling it until dark every day to
be ready in time for our next influx of friends from
England.
During our first summer in Spain we had a holiday in
England, as we had promised the kids that they could go
back to see their friends. By then we didn’t really want
to go, but a promise is a promise and we set off,
leaving Clive’s mum Janet to house and animal sit.
Though it was good to see our friends, being back in
England only confirmed that Spain was our home and we
were very happy to get back.
Poor Janet, while we were away she had quite an eventful
time. First, one of the horses dragged her off to a
patch of grass, trapping her finger in the rope and
nearly breaking it. (Next door came to the rescue and
after that Pedro put the horses out everyday and Remes
supplied Janet with meals!) On top of that Carretta got
colic and Janet had to call a vet who told her that it
was important that Carretta did not lay down. Janet
didn’t know what to do as she couldn’t stay with
Carretta all the time, but little Paja came to the
rescue. Amazingly, every time Carretta laid down, Paja
ran into the house and barked at Janet! What a clever
little dog!
Trabuco is a very friendly village, and enjoys its
fiestas, of which there are many. From the Camping day
in April, when the whole population heads for the campo
to picnic and camp, then there is San Isidro in May, the
Feria in June, again in August, then the big Fiesta in
September which they celebrate in style, really getting
into the spirit, with all the women in fiesta dresses
and lots of horses. Of course Elizabeth and I had to
join in and wear our dresses, very hot but guaranteed to
make you feel part of the celebration. One year we rode
the horses into town in our dresses to take part in the
procession, great fun, especially galloping back home
with our dresses flowing out behind us.
Our first September, we went to the horse fair in Velez
Malaga and came home with a little black horse who we
named Blackberry. The man we bought her from said he
would deliver her and to our amazement she arrived in
the back of a white van, barely higher than her, and she
had a mule as a traveling partner!
Now we had three horses, one each for the three children
– we just needed two more. (Little did we know!)
On October 12th we have yet another fiesta and each year
it is celebrated 2 minutes up the road from us. The
first year the boys decided to enter the horses in the
cinta competition. They did really well, and to our
amazement Harry won on good old Carretta, getting four
ribbons. They were the only children in the competition
and some of the men didn’t look too happy but it was
great as it was Harry’s 12th birthday and he came home
with a big silver cup.
Our first Christmas in Trabuco we decided that it would
be a good idea to stage a traditional Christmas dinner
early for our Spanish neighbours. I don’t think they
knew what had hit them! Pedro is always very reluctant
to eat anything different and looked very suspiciously
at everything we gave him. He did like the christmas
pudding though! Considering the amount they eat at
weddings and first communions we were surprised that
they seemed to be amazed at how much we ate!
By now we felt like we had lived in Spain all our lives.
The children were doing well at school and had lots of
friends, we had a nice mix of Spanish and English
friends and regular visits from all our friends in
England – not once did we regret our decision to come
here.
To be continued…………
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