Prescribing the Spanish way of life
WE had our mid-winter break last week and flew back to the UK for a wedding.
As I might have hinted at before, we wouldn’t have missed it for the world but, inevitably, it came at a cost.
For a start, there were the flights, the hotel room, the present and all the residual expense that goes with a swanky do. I was hoping I could still get in my only suit, which I stored in a friend’s loft before we came away two years ago. Sadly, like the Picture of Dorian Gray in reverse, it now mysteriously only fits a thinner, younger man and I had to buy a new one from M&S.
Then, with our flights obliging us to stay in the UK for a week, we combined the nuptials with a tour of friends and family. Cue huge ‘welcome back’ meals, sometimes two a day, one lovely, boozy night at The Cock Inn at Mugginton and two lovely get-togethers with family at The Coopers Arms in Weston-onTrent and King’s Corner in Oakwood.
In the midst of all this unhinged, post-Christmas bingeing, we also had to deal with the news that two of those closest to us had been given devastating diagnoses by their doctors. another consultation and a blood test.
On none of these occasions have we had to wait more than 20 minutes to be seen and to my mind the health centre is an absolute paragon of efficiency with everything, except emergency and in-patient services, under one roof. Okay, it might not offer the warm, fuzzy feeling you get from seeing the same GP you’ve seen since you were a child and it might, at times, feel like a medical conveyor belt but, by crikey, it works and is funded principally through social security payments.
Spanish people have one of the longest life expectancies in the world and, of course, the weather plays some part in that but there are other factors, too, which we can all adopt.
As they sent my wife on her way, they reassured her that she would be fine if she adopted a “Spanish” way of life... “eat lots of fish, fruit and vegetables, cut down on your caffeine and alcohol, stop adding salt and sugar to your food, exercise more and learn to manage your stress.”
She might have simply said: “Come and live in Spain for the rest of your life... lots of your compatriots do!”