Sunday 2 September 2012

Farewell Sedella

The view of Maroma from my house of which I never tired.

After two years of living in the campo of Sedella I have bade it farewell and moved to the coast. The move is only temporary (well I say that now) but it offers me more opportunities for work though I will have to swallow the higher living costs. Imagine my horror when I had to pay é4 for a glass of wine! I am resolved to stay in even more than I did before, which has its benefits. Clutching my bottle of red from Lidl I can be creative in the comfort of my home albeit surrounded by the noise of neighbours.
The first day in Sedella



Sunset in Sedella campo



Sedella is a lovely place to live for seclusion and being close to nature. I will miss the cry of the eagles as they glide over the valley. I will miss the vultures as they rise from the pen and circle into the sky. My traffic jams will no longer be a Berlingo van stuffed to the gunnels with sheep that winds slowly up the mountain roads, and road-blocks now come in the shape of the Guardia with guns rather than 50 goats and a wizened man with a stick and scrawny dog. The beautiful sunsets will have to be viewed over the rooftops rather than from my verendah through the bamboo, though I have promised myself to try and be high up in the campo behind Calahonda for at least some of them.

Snow on Maroma
The boys waiting for their walk
There are benefits to moving to Calahonda. I no longer have to drop everything to meet the postman at 11.30 as I can wander to the Buzon at the end of the drive and pick up my post at my leisure. Shopping trips will only take a minimum of 2 1/2 hours if I spend the time lost in a bookshop or hunting for shoes, not because it takes 1 1/2 hours to get there and back without thinking about whether to splash out on a tub of hummus or make it myself. And I can get a takeaway (of which I have had only one in the two years) without it needing to be re-heated once I get home - though whether that is a benefit for my waistline is another matter. And then there is the sea. The sea, a fifteen minute walk away, with the cooling breeze, the fresh invigorating air and the opportunity in the winter months for the boys to swim to their hearts' content.

Still, it was with a heavy heart that I said goodbye to Sedella and the friends I made there. It was a wonderful two years during which I achieved my dream of writing and publishing not one, but two books.

 Hasta Proxima, Sedella!