I see from a news item on the main euroresidentes website that there are now 7 million people in Spain who are over sixty five years of age; I wonder how many of them are of English origin. Seeking sunshine and simple living, reasonably cheap housing and a new way of life, it seems to be the place to retire for many British people. In the region where euroresidentes is based and which we know well, there are areas populated by immigrants from various parts of Northern European, national enclaves of people converting to a Mediterranean style of life.

…And death? Some years ago when we were thinking of buying a holiday home for ourselves we came across someone who wanted to sell her property. She was a widow and was stranded in a country that had once been a dream but, now, alone, felt more like a nightmare, and more than anything else she wanted to go to back to what had never stopped being home. For many others, still in the prime of life, the great decision has no doubt been successful, but it’ is a big decision.

There’s no doubt that if you maintain a healthy sort of life, southern Spain is a good place to live. I see the average life-expectancy for women in Spain is 83.8 years and for men 77.2 years, apparently the highest in Europe. The sunshine, the fruit, the olive oil and fresh fish and the culture of easy and relaxed meals favours good living, and when we are by the sea in Alicante’s San Juan there is a never-ending procession of earnest elderly people (younger people too of course) energetically walking along the beach.

According to the research quoted on the euroresidentes news item, those who are living until they are over a hundred, are healthier than their children now in their eighties! Would the possibility of a long life be equally true for present day migrants, or is this all part of the basic living skills that Spanish people of an older generation had to learn during years of political unrest and social deprivation? They managed without all the dietary and exercise regimes that feature in the U.

K. They just survived against the odds.

It interests me that living as we do in a violent world and surrounded by the most appalling injustices, we go on wanting to live as long as possible. Much of it I suppose is because of our families and friends, whom we never want to leave.

Meanwhile, may the seven million Spanish Wrinklies, prosper and live long!

B.R.