The first days...

I love my sleep (let us call her Senora Sleep as we are in Spain). Senora Sleep I have come to know is a beautiful, elusive phenomena that now only decides to grace me when she see fit. The older I get the more grateful I am for her when she benevolently smothers me with her slumber stuff. As a child and young adult I do not remember her being so precious. I went to bed and went to sleep until whatever time I was woken up or drifted to a conscious state (which I now know is the privilege of unresponsible youth).

Since the uncomfortable sleeplessness of pregnancy (I swear it is Mother Nature getting you into training for the time ahead!) and the arrival of new babies I have never really enjoyed the quality of sleep I once did! Now, the children are of school age and I am not in a constant state of nocturnal alert. Nevertheless, I feel I am especially punished for eating too late, having one too many drinks, too much caffiene and stress which does not endear me to our flighty Senora.

I just hate the way I she cajoles me to bed as I nearly nod off on the sofa with no regard for marital relations and I collapse in an exhausted, grateful stupor. Senora Sleep quickly carries me, very willingly down to carefree, comatose place only to pop me up to the surface of awareness within a couple of hours (just like a deep sea diver out of air) to face a long, wide awake but tired night ahead. I guess I am going to take some time to settle into a new routine.

Senora Sleep did actually came through for us all in our first days in Girona, but my sleep bank was very depleted so I felt like I could not quite catch up in those first, few days. Children and men sleep on demand, the cares and worries of the day seem to leave them as soon as their heads hit the pillow. My family were not so much on the drag as I was.

A friend, Karen, arrived for a holiday a few days after we did. Being in the teaching profession this suited her best as it was the start of the Summer holidays. We were still a bit zombified and reeling from the experience but we tried to not let is show (after all moving house is stressful enough let alone a completely new country as well). She very kindly and generously turned up with a hire car knowing that this was something we had not yet sorted out. Unfortunately, as Peter and I were still climatizing and a bit dozy so we couldn't quite remember our way in and out of Girona which was very frustating for her whenever we tried to help her with directions!

It was important and reassuring for the kids to see an a familiar face and as the girls both have an August birthday Karen was as thoughtful as always turning up with presents despite the current embargo on hand luggage.

One trip to the beach with me, Karen and kids (plus Gisela's little girl) resulted in me falling into a much needed sleep on the sunbed and a sunburnt back. Fortunately Karen had loads of energy to keep the kids occupied in the sea - didn't know she had it in her!

So, unpacking began. Realised I didn't have my bag which contained my support kit of medicines, vitamins, aromatherapy oils, expensive cosmetics and jewellery pieces that I had collected. Blamed Peter - because he managed not to lose his special things like computer bits, camaras, shaver, the kettle etc. I was just annoyed and jealous because he had all his precious goodies and somehow had not managed to watch out for mine! Boys always look after their own toys and I was just as cross with myself as with him for not taking enough care of my stuff but I had to take it out on someone!

Karen drove us to the house of the Davies family so we could catch up with them. Here is a lovely family who we came to know when we stayed in Girona last year. Jonathan and Yolanda have four great kids and they are all making a life in Girona. Of course, they are a mine of information and have proved to be incredibly helpful. The children all have very English accents (it is the language spoken at home even though Mum & Dad are fluent in Spanish). We came away with loads of useful advice that should help us become citizens of Girona!

Jordi invited us all to the sports centre in Banyoles where people can sunbathe by the lake and take a dip. This place was developed for part of the Barcelona Olympics (rowing etc.). It is the lake district of Catalonia and incredibly beautiful. A near perfect place to live. So we were all very privileged to go his house in the hills above Banyoles for Sunday lunch afterwards.

The Sanjuan family have the most wonderful house that they designed themselves. Simple and discreet from the front but built to accommodate the hill and spectacular views from the rear. Very Scandinavian influenced (like something out of an Ikea brochure but with the sun). Cool, light and quite sublime.

The children loved the plunge pool and the seated hammock that ran across the whole sun terrace on a track. Us grown-ups admired the well-kept vegetable garden! Things we could only hope to grow in a green-house back in the UK flourished in the back garden. Produce like little oranges and fat figs were ripe for picking. The herbs, juicy tomatoes and green salads had us drooling with anticipation as some had already been picked for our lunch.

Neus and Jordi have two smashing, happy, well-adjusted teenage daughters, Clara (who came to stay with us in Suffolk) and Julia who is completely devoted to horseriding. They were just so funny and entertaining and our two little girls fell madly in love with them. Clara and Julia were both so kind and had so much time for the little kids. I am sure they would have been happier doing much more interesting things but didn't seem to mind!

At this time there had been a terrible drought in the area. From the Jordi and Neus's house we which watched the amazing site of tiny bi-planes dropping bombs of water over the forest fires in the hills beyond. The pilots had scooped the water from the lakes and bravely flown over dangerous areas where the flames had gone out of control.

While everyone relaxed after lunch in the garden, I gave Neus a relaxing, reflexology treatment. She works very hard as a social worker and had looked after us all so well I wanted to give something back by way of a thank you. I had to rustle up my best physical Spanish to describe my findings but mostly did this by pointing to the parts of my own body to explain!

So, Karen said goodbye as she was going back to the UK but on to Switzerland to see some other friends.

The Foremski Family started to look forward to their new life in Girona.