John WoodheadTHE webmaster at The Olive Press has asked me to become a blogger for the site. As a first post I thought it worth introducing myself.
In 2004 my wife, Jacqui, and myself moved to Spain for an initial period of six months to see whether we would like to live here long term. Now, six years later, I can’t see myself ever going back to the UK. I love living here too much.
Those who know me will probably, at best, call me a blunt northerner. This is because I was born in the north east of England where people are well known for speaking their mind.
I personally think I have become a bit of a southern softy as I left Middlesbrough for London to go to college in 1977. Once I had completed my studies I stayed in London and worked in the I.T. industry there for over 20 years.
Jacqui and I live in a small, modern seaside town called Almerimar in the western part of the province of Almería. We chose this area of Spain as it is one of the areas with the least rainfall (last winter was an exception to that rule that I don’t wish to see again).
What I didn’t realise for some time is that the bad weather in our province is normally wind. When the wind blows it really blows. We had winds of up to 115 km/h here a week or two ago. It was so bad we were not able to get out onto the golf course for a few days.
Jacqui and I work part time doing website development and general I.T. work. Most of the rest of our time is spent on the golf course. We took up the game not long after we got married and have been addicted to it ever since.
What I hope to do in the blog is provide some insight into what is happening in the Almería province of Andalucía. Hopefully this will be a mixture of news from the province plus some views on aspects of our life here in southern Spain.
I look forward to publishing articles here on a regular basis and hopefully what I publish might persuade some people to comment with their views on the subjects I cover.
