#(this is what one year of dutch duolingo has given me)

[sisterdivinium]

(x)

[daryljdugdale]

THREE WEEKS IN !

We have been in our new cortija for three weeks. It has gone so quickly and TC and I are beginning to realise the amount of work we have given ourselves. This doesn’t scare us, there is nothing better in our eyes than a project that has no end and demands a daily effort of physical and emotional energy. The challenge as always is to guauge the pace and intensity of what we do and ensuring we have appropriate down time.

With a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer you might think I’m struggling with the physicality of the work but not at all. We aim to do a five to six kilometres walk every day. Some days we extend this. Then we plan tasks which might include work on the land or house. There is lots to do and we have to constantly remind ourselves everything doesn’t have to happen all at once. We have already had guests in addition to two visits from Mum and Dad our friends Nicole and Roman visited us for three nights last week. It has been great showing people our plans and introducing them to the joys of Orgiva and the surrounding villages and towns.

I have spoken about the natural beauty of the place and the friendliness of the people, but it is much bigger and much more complicated than this. It is only by walking around the countryside and meeting people, stopping to talk and share thoughts that the true complexity of peoples political and cultural positioning becomes visible. This is perfect for a sociologist like me.

I did a walk last week which sums up the multi layered context of living here. I walked from our place on the campo alongside the Rio Sucio ( dirty river) down to the Rio Guadalfeo. It’s about a 45 minute walk. As you wonder down the stony pot holed track which demands vehicles with high suspension, you come across a rich array of trucks, vans, benders, stone houses, wooden huts most surrounded by home made privet type fencing. There is a whole community living on the lane and behind it most of whom are off grid. The area is called El Morreon and is made up of a number of nationalities British, Dutch, German, Spanish, Swedish to name but a few. Some of the trucks look particularly old and may well date back to the new age travelling days and the time of battle of the bean field in the 80s. It is truly fascinating to see alternative living in such abundance and so well settled. As I approached a junction and unsure which way to go to the river I asked a guy who was walking towards me. His name was Jim and he was British, he very kindly offered to show me the way to the river. We walked across a shale ridge where the rocks were so loose I was in danger of slipping down the bank about 40 feet to the land below. Undeterred with the potential danger of the route we were taking Jim filled me in with the social history of the place. He himself had been living in the community for over 20 years and had seen some changes. He explained the tensions between the indigenous Spanish farmers, the German psycho punks, the off grid purists, and what we might ordinarily call New Age travellers. There were blaggers and good people as with any mix. His insight was fascinating and certainly gave me additional understanding of my neighbours. Just a few days later I did the walk again this time I met three people a young woman who had recently arrived at the community and was considering where to park her caravan, Stuart a Scottish guy who was staying at the local campsite but was looking for a ruin with some land he could begin to build his own place. Finally right by the river we met Oood, a German woman I would guess was in her sixties who had built her own bender close to the river. It was a fascinating structure totally off grid, she gathered water from the river and wood from the floor of the river bed and surrounding scrub land. She very kindly allowed me to take a closer look at her house. It was small but beautifully built standing literally in the middle of no where. She had simply sought the permission of the land owner who agreed for her to build her house, I understand no money exchanged hands and her choice of lifestyle is very cheap. All she has for immediate company is the beauty of the Sierra Lugar rising steeply in front of her, the sound of the river and of course the multitude of wild life that co exist on the land including wild boar, rabbits, snakes, weasels, foxes and of course the constant herds of goats that seem to prevail all along the campo.

The attraction of the alternative lifestyle culture alongside peoples friendliness and the beauty of the environment continues to astound the both of us. Alongside becoming familiar with our house and the land we are beginning to make friends and contacts. These are really important ways of getting to know the best providers of labour, skills and include people like gardeners, wood suppliers, builders in addition to those who might provide alternative therapies. Each person we meet and each conversation we have adds to our understanding of the communities we find ourselves living alongside. Our intention to become more fluent in Spanish is a goal we set ourselves as part of our plan to move here. We have organised lessons with Eduardo who comes highly recommended and offers small group or one to one intensive lessons. Ours are due to begin in December and will last for four to five weeks. Between now and then TC and I continue to use Duolingo and practice our Spanish when ever we have the chance.

As November begins we are making plans for the next two months. Lists of things we want to achieve have been made and include reconditioning the yurt, clearing the land, preparing the organic vegetable patch and organising the olive harvest. It promises to be a busy time and a rich and steep learning curve. In amongst this we have a visit from our daughter Ede and we need to fly back to the UK for my latest CT scan and the results. This is always a tense and challenging time as we both attempt to respond to what is called “scanxiety”. One thing though is for sure, with all the things we have to do on and around the land and the house, our minds will be plenty distracted!!

[fromthefishbowl]

Same anon from before about brachycephalic breeds... Ran out of room. Same anon, ran out of room. There are shitty breeders who just want money & don't care about health, & good breeders who work to improve the health, quality, and conformation of every generation of dogs they breed. They spend thousands on hip/knee x-rays, echocardiograms, ophthalmologists, dog show entries to prove their dog's conformation is sound & in standard, etc & if the dog fails health tests it isn't bred. (more sorry)

Last one I swear. I hope I haven't come off too preachy, I just am a dog enthusiast involved in dog sports and breeding and don't want people to continue spreading the myths that all Boston Terriers or French Bulldogs are unhealthy because they've seen ones from puppy mills or backyard breeders that can't breathe. I'm just trying to educate people on responsible breeders. Any questions on this just respond to the ask and I can DM you or something. Again, love the story & can't wait to read more!

I was about to answer that I didn't think these anons were for me, but then I remembered what I wrote and they are definitely for me lmao.

Anyways, thank you for these! I think the first one got lost in the ether, though, because I only have these in my inbox...? Is that possible? Tumblr is shitty like that, so I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. Anyways, my chatbox is open, so if you want to pop in, don't worry about bothering or anything!

Joe's dad being into that kind of activity is not something I made up, though: Dutch breeders have really been working on these kind of operations, and Holland has been putting up rules regarding the breeding of brachycephalic breeds - has been happening in Norway too, apparently. All sources are in English, of course, because ya girl doesn't speak Dutch despite having been working on it with Duolingo. If I spoke Dutch I could probably find some academic sources or something... even by searching on JSTOR, the best I get are eight articles that have nothing to do with it.

But... yeah, Seraj's job was based on these activities that seem to have been taking speed in the Netherlands in the past years. I have absolutely no doubts that there are shitty breeders and puppy mills and a lot of inbreeding - all three of my dogs are rescues and one of them was given to us after a local puppy mill had been... disbanded, I guess, and he is a little out of sorts - and that there are also good ones, but I am also aware that some things can't be helped, even if they have the best breeder in the world?

My childhood dog had a spit of shepherd blood in her, and when she got old her hind legs began giving out because of that extremely tiny connection with dogs bred to basically develop hip dysplasia for ✨aesthetic✨ reasons.

Anyways... sorry for the long answer, but that's what Joe's dad career is based on! It was not meant to be a jab at people who like those breeds of dogs, but kinda based on what is actually happening in the Netherlands with them, current regulations and interests of actual vets, etcetera.