Madrid Teacher

Living abroad had many advantages, and living in Spain many more (obviously civil service, politicians and drivers not included in this brief appraisal of the pursuit of happiness), however not being near my English family is at times very very difficult, although I am lucky with my Spanish family. I have a family visit next week so our pre-visit conversations revolve around what I want bringing over from the UK. My usual list includes:

• OXOs ( I went wild last year and asked for Lamb OXOs)
• Private Eye magazine (makes me realise that Spanish politicos have their English Cousins - have you noticed that it is always the English MPs who are dodgy) A good blog for this is guido fawkes
• Spectator (for balance and Linda Ross´s restaurant reviews)
• A copy of the Daily Telegraph ( I need to know what to think for the next few weeks especially because it winds up one of my colleagues)
• A bottle of English Wine ( Three Choirs - so I can pretend that the UK can have good weather in which grapes can thrive and we are civilised enough to make wine plus its always good for presents) However in the morning you do pay the price.
• Sweet and Sour sauce mixes ( I know... but I still adore Uncle bens, and R and our Spanish friends always believe that I have made it my self)
• Curry sauce for my colleague I try to wind up ( this is my penance)
• Midget gems (these are ostensibly for R but I usually eat half)
• the latest Rebus episode (which my mum invariably forgets to tape)
• free DVDs from the newspapers ( a major tick on the plus side for Rupert Murdoch)

If the truth be known the best thing they bring is themselves ( but I do love my OXOs)