​We’ve had a few listy ones lately, so I thought maybe an update on Maddie was on the cards.  I’ll keep it brief.

I’ve moved!  The old place was somewhere I was fixed up with – blind date style – before I flew out here, and whilst the marina location was spot on, and the view was pretty awesome, the terrace didn’t get enough late afternoon sun, there were two rooms I barely ever used, and my neighbour since mid December has snored so badly that I’ve ended up on the sofa five nights a week……  New place is small but gorgeous, remains to be seen whether a three room apartment is sufficient for one almost grownup and two cats.

The cats!  Ruby has settled, and Izzy is a changed girl.  My wild cat has decided being pampered is a good thing – she disappeared for 24hrs a few weeks ago and returned quite literally with her tail between her legs and apologised for making a terrible decision.  They only like the food from Waitrose – obviously – so it’s an 8km round trip to top up the feeder, but I’m halfway to being a crazy cat lady so that’s okay, I think…..

Work!  Not yet.  I’m hoping to be a fully fledged Cruising Instructor in May, so if you’re planning an impromptu visit get those flights booked asap!  There is no guarantee of work, so I’m trying to eke my savings out as long as I can – fortunately this isn’t London, I estimate I’m spending 1/5th of what I’d be spending if I was still in the City – so if any of you are planning on taking a year off to experiment with a new life, take location seriously! 

Attire!  Wow, it’s amazing, I can’t imagine wearing tights or heels on a day to day basis.  I rock short shorts and double denim most days, and I was eying up a denim waistcoat in the Chinese shop earlier today.  And a denim cap – with diamanté.  And it literally just occurred to me that I actually bought a denim backpack.  I could quintuple denim.  Do New Look sell denim pumps?  Send immediately, size six wide.  My feet look shocking – that’s covering at least 8km most days in sweaty weather – but I still manage to keep my nails polished, caveat: I try.

Weather!  Most of the time it’s fantastic, mid twenties and being outside is addictive – as someone who spent ten years in the City, part of the generation who check Google when someone tells them it’s hot/hailing/snowing outside.  But then on occasion we get STORMS, and they are almighty.  Everything trips, doors and windows flood, freezers defrost, and because you aren’t equipped for this you can’t even leave the house….  I believe we have rain here less than 30 days a year, the rest of the time it’s a happy sunblessed place – and I have a pretty good tan, just in case you wondered. 

Food and wine!  Plentiful and gap year prices.  Vegetables aside, but how many more of your five a day do you need if you bask in wine?  As a pretend grownup, who spent a decade drinking City inflated wine, or hiding in a Wetherspoons, I find the cava prices insane, and there’s very little processed food – mmmmm, fresh tuna…. so I think it’s a reasonably healthy lifestyle choice, unless you get sucked into happy hour – one downside of island life: there’s no kebab shop! 

Adiós por ahora.