My Passion with Simon Stell: Spain proves to be a winner – in football and in family life

SPAIN, its people and its culture have fascinated me since my first trip there on a package tour with my parents in the late 1960s.

Over the years, it has become my preferred destination for any break, and I had often wondered about spending more time on the Iberian Peninsula. In 2007, my partner, Sue, suggested that we ‘give it a go’, so we packed our bags and decided to make the move.

We picked the Murcia region as our new home because we had holidayed there several times. The first priority was to locate a school for our 10-year-old daughter.

Sue and her sister went on a fact-finding mission both of schools and accommodation. She located a new international school in which pupils were taught some lessons in Spanish and some lessons in English. We found a property to purchase and, in July 2007, we drove out to Spain, followed by our furniture.

I commute between Leeds and Murcia. Living close to the airport at both ends makes life relatively easy and Jet2 staff have become familiar faces. It has been a great adventure with many highs and some lows.

The schooling is great with classes of around 15 pupils. Within three months, my daughter was being taught maths in Spanish with her new classmates who were Spanish nationals or from other European countries. The Spanish culture is very children – and family – focused.

We have also had our lows, including Spanish builders and workmen not turning up when promised. The culture is “I’ll tell you what you want to hear, rather than the reality”.

Then there are the extremes of weather. While I was in my office in Bradford one evening, I got a frantic call from Spain to say that because of the heavy rain, the police and Army were evacuating the village because it was feared that the river above the village was about to burst its banks.

I worried for my family’s safety and they worried for our home until the river level subsided and they were able to return.

I was also stopped by the police for failing to have the car registration transferred to Spanish plates after two years, and I experienced the frustrations of the Spanish bureaucratic government system.

I have also struggled by with my Spanish. I lazily relied on my daughter but I am now undertaking a great course at the Instituto Cervantes, in Leeds, and thoroughly enjoying learning more about the Spanish culture and language.

There have been many highs, including sharing the excitement of the Spanish football team first winning the European Championship and then, last year, the World Cup, with my Spanish neighbours.

Spain has, and always will be, a passion of mine.