Here for 4 weeks - are we still on holiday or do we live here now?

After all the hard work in packing up a house, planning the move and getting here, we always intended to have a couple of weeks where we were technically on holiday. It seemed like a good idea, 2 weeks or so to chill. But, at what point do you stop chilling because you are on holiday and start to live a new life of retirement in a coastal town?

We play golf here, but we used to play golf on holiday. We have nice lunches at sea-side bars here but we used to do that on holiday as well, infact it was a requirement of being on holiday, we have a pool here that I don't swim in but I never swam on holiday either, so what event acknowledges the transition from being on holiday to starting a new life.

Well, today I realised I'd crossed the line - I got the iron out and started to iron a pile of clothes. Normally on holiday I would iron the odd item that hadn't travelled well, but when you stand for an hour or so doing all sorts of stuff, some of which you may not be wearing for a few weeks - well, that's not being on holiday.

So, having got the iron warming up, when temperatures outside were in the 70's - the key factor that marked the difference between my old life and the new? - I took the ironing board outside! I don't remember ever ironing outside back in Sheffield, it would never have occurred to me but it seemed perfectly normal here, considering that we already enjoy much more outside living, and especially as there are sockets on the external walls so no need for extension cables.

We still had lunch at a local bar, Thursday we had found out, was Paella day at Meson Pepa's - so off we went for our plate of genuine Spanish Paella. I am fine eating Octopus if it doesn't look like an Octopus, but today someone had left me a leg - and it was just too much for me to handle - it remained on the side of my plate. The rest of it was lovely.