That was 2017 - done and dusted. Most hectic year EVER.

I started 2017 employed and living in Scotland but knowing that the Scottish offices of my company were closing and we were being made redundant in April. I'd been offered a transfer to the English offices but wasn't at all sure I wanted to move back to England. So I went on holiday in February to Spain to think about it, to cheer up, to get some winter sunshine ...

Result - I fell in love with a house long on potential and decided to buy it, despite not speaking Spanish, or knowing anything about refurbishing large dilapidated 100-year-old rambling Spanish townhouses. Returned, put my house on the market, did a TEFL course and started teaching English online and found I loved teaching (phew). Income sorted, at least in theory. Sold the house in Scotland after 2 false starts, packed up and bought a super-cheap camper (never been a camping enthusiast) to get myself and my pets to Spain.

Problem - when it came to the crunch, because of the falling pound I could no longer afford the house in Spain, but went anyway because what else could I do? I'd sold up, turned down the English transfer, burned my Scottish boats. Plus I wanted to get over in time for a bloggers meet in September with a particular special visitor from Malaysia I had wanted to meet for a couple of years And wintering in a campervan in Spain would be warmer than Scotland (that turned out to be a very good decision, Scotland is having a stoater of a winter, brrrr)

Made the meet with barely a day in hand, then started some serious house-hunting (there have been blogs ) which ended when the house I had originally wanted dropped its price into my price range and wintering in the van was no longer required - luckily, since it is colder than usual here too, days around 16 to 18 C degrees, nights occasionally dropping as low as 8 degrees. The van was a wonderful stopgap but 8 weeks of living in it was an elegant sufficiency.

Since moving in, I have been bossed mercilessly by #1 CS buddy (building expert of note) into stripping old walls of dead paint and plaster, stripping down old wooden beams, doors and windows, treating walls then painting them, and even carrying 25 kg bags of building materials, albeit not very far or very fast. With his priceless help my shabby elefante blanco has become a stripped carcass, slowly growing room by room into a home and, hopefully, a self-funding future.

Writing has ground to almost a complete halt, and teaching has been on hold while the extremely noisy Spanish builders are in situ. My hands are calloused, I am semi-permanently paint-freckled, my hair stands on end 90% of the time, and my biceps are becoming alarming. As we are now working on the upstairs levels, my leg muscles are becoming steel springs. As you can imagine, after reading that, #1 CS buddy is not a romantic entanglement My Spanish-speaking CS buddies have also been worth their weight in gold.

I’m not quoting any names - against blog rules, for one thing. They can identify themselves, if they see this blog. However, this whole change in my life is pretty much a direct result of joining CS a few years ago and being lucky enough to make some quality quirky friends here. Funny how life works out.



It has been an interesting year. 2018 promises to be even more interesting. I use that word deliberately - I’m told there is a Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times”

Feliz año nuevo to all and may 2018 bring you happiness in the things that really matter.

I'm leaving comments open, would be great if you talked about your 2017 if you do comment or that this will spark other blogs about the year gone.