The Sunflower News

It's February the 21st here in UK. We are both on munchkin watch. Our different munchkins are fast asleep and we have just been on the phone for the past hour discussing the poor standard of care given by many live-in carers. I find it hard to believe that a carer could feed a munchkin on tinned baby food and Cadbury's Smash. What makes it even worse is that the baby food contains meat and munchkin is vegetarian. How callous is that?

Holistic therapies have to take a back seat at the moment. Due to the credit crunch and all the associated cutbacks, many people just can't afford to keep beauty treatments up to date - and even skimp on the more therapeutic treatments, such as reflexology and massage. These are hard times for lots of people, and we hope that things return to some semblance of normality as soon as possible. Not only for our benefit - we can care for munchkins - but for the general good. We hate to see people suffering.

We are sure that it will all turn out well in the end, no matter who is at the helm of the UK economy, but it will take time and will involve severe belt-tightening by everyone, (except Premiership footballers, of course). Let's all hope that we can weather this very long storm and come out at the other end with our dignity and integrity intact, as well as our family finances...

It is the middle of April and the weather here in Sierra De Yeguas the last few days as been cloudy with a cold wind and showers, very similar to UK spring weather. Even our Spanish friends are complaining that we have had too much winter. The good news is that I have been reliably informed by Juan that the summer will start in a few days’ time and gradually get warmer. Well thank goodness for that. I for one am fed up of getting my summer clothes out then having to exchange them for warmer ones.
Over the last few weeks we have meet up with several friends from the UK who have paid fleeting visits to their holiday homes over here. It was lovely to spend an evening with Melanie and her grandson. We also bumped into Louise, her husband and two daughters at our local restaurant where we had a pleasant chat between courses.
Lisa and her friend Barbara are back over after spending a few weeks in the UK. Lisa lives a couple of villages away and has become a great friend while Stuart was working in the UK.
On a sad note, Dave and Anne’s dog, Bella had to be put to sleep by the vet due to her suffering from cancer. Bella was a popular face in our village square, where she loved to sit with her ‘mom and dad’ and eat the occasional crisp or two. I know my two little yorkies will miss her.
At the moment Stuart is busy putting up leaflets in our village advertising English lessons for Spanish. We have already had a few enquiries about his computer lessons, so fingers crossed that they both take off and he can earn himself some money.
Our place in the UK is still unsold, even though we have dropped the price to almost giving it away. Like many others we keep holding on and waiting for things to improve.
I will be returning to the UK at the end of this month to meet our new grandchild who is due on the 27th. I am so excited about it and can't wait to see them. I will let you know all about it when I get back…

Semana Santa (Easter week) is a beautiful time to be in Spain with all the wonderful celebrations including nightly processions, marching bands, church services and the general merry making of the friendly people that live here. This is yet another good reason for choosing to live in inland Spain.

The recession seems to be hitting everyone hard and there is no signs of it getting easier.
With the Euro and the Pound almost the same value now, it is really affecting all those on English pensions.
With that in mind, Stuart and I have decided to do our bit to help our clients retain their life style.
Starting in April we will revise the salons price list and reduce the price of EVERY treatment we provide. We are hoping that our clients will still choose to have their regular treatments, as it is vitally important to maintain your health.
Would you like to give us feed back on this decision?

Since my last entry things have changed alot in the Wilson home. Stuart has lost his job due to the recession. We knew it could be on the cards, but was surprised it came so quickly and with only a weeks notice.

With our place back in the UK still un sold we have had to re think our future plans. Does this mean we will be returning to the UK? NO.

Stuart will be joining me here in Spain tomorrow and we will both try our hardest to encourage more customers to choose us for their beauty needs. We know we are the best, we just need to make sure they know it as well....

While Stuart was busy working in the UK he also managed to complete a course on 'teaching English as a second language' so we are hoping with the teaching skills he already had, he will be able to complete some work in this field as well as the salon....fingers crossed.

We have reduced the price of our UK propert again and have even considered trying to sell our beautiful place in Sierra De Yeguas. If we do that we still intend to stay in the area but look for something smaller and cheaper, so long as there is room for the salon.

During this time of recession I think it's important to realise that you can't bury your head in the sand and hope it will all blow over. You need to evaluate and re evaluate your circumstances and then be prepared to change things if you have to. That way you can keep ahead of the game.

Lets hope we have done enough to keep ahead. What do you think?
Wendy

Thank goodness the weather has started to warm up here in Sierra De Yeguas. It was lovely sitting out on the front terrace having lunch in the warm sunshine with my two dogs sitting either side of me. With so many money problems going on in the UK and also in Spain sometimes we just need to sit and take stock of the things we do have.
I have wonder many times if we should have waited a little longer before coming to live in Spain.
We thought our home was sold in th UK when we came over to put the deposit on our new casa in Spain. Then the buyers chain broke down so they pulled out and suddenly everything had gone wrong in the property market, prices fell rapidly, the banks wouldn't give mortgages and people stopped buying. It left us with two mortgages to pay for and our dreams fading fast....
But we sat and took stock of what we had and decided we had to forge ahead.
The only positive thing was setting up the Sunflower Therapies salon. Anyone who knows anything about business will tell you it takes at least two years to get established in a new business and it has been no different for us, but we have loved the challenge it has brought.
Our only regret is that Stuart has now moved back to the UK for full time work until we sell our UK home. We chat several times a day on the phone and internet, but if you hug a telephone or computer it doesn't hug you back...
We still have our dream. It's a little hazy at the moment, but it is still there, and as I sit watching the Spanish children plaing in the sunshine I know we made the best ever decision when we decided to live in Spain.
It is going to be tough for a while, we know that, but it will be worth it when we are both siting here, in the warm sunshine eating lunch....

Well I can't believe how time flies, whether you are enjoying yourself or not. It only seems like the other day that I was posting our Christmas greeting on here. Such a lot is happening.

In UK they are well and truly into the recession - the government may say it's not yet, but it is. It's so much more than a credit crunch. I think I would define credit crunch as being a general shortage of money in the public's pockets brought about solely by the governments insistence that debt is a good thing. I am so glad that our only debt is to pay for our house. We don't do cards and like to pay our own way in everything we do.

It's people who have saved money for a rainy day that are coming out of this the worst. It's OK if you have millions of pound worth of debt - the government will just nationalise you - they will call it something else so that they don't look too "old labour" but that's what it is, and it would be so much more honest to admit it and start being "labour" again, instead of the mushy, flabby machine that took over from them. If you have savings they are leaking value on a scale similar to that at which the titanic leaked water. All you can do is sit tight and watch and wait and hope. Never lose hope. Never lose sight of the reasons you do what you do. Always realise that in this life the only things that are real are your relationships with other people. Pull together. Whether you are in UK or in Spain (or any other country, for that matter) remember why you are where you are and why you are with whom you are with...

And Kaka is going to be paid half a million or more a week. How obscene is that? It's so easy for people to lose all touch with reality as the recession just widens the chasm between haves and have-nots.

Hello.

It's now almost Christmas.

Be good. Look after yourself.

See you in the new year.

Best Wishes from

Wendy, Poppy and Holly