When I moved to Spain, like a great many people, there were many aspects, with hindsight, that I could have thought through a little better. One such thing was the heat! I spent the first 40 years of my life in that tropical oasis called Manchester where summer in a good year consists of four or five days in July where it doesn’t rain (Or doesn’t rain too much). Mancunians are born with webbed feet and new cars sold in this area arrive with the windscreen wiper switch super glued in the ON position! Without labelling this point for humorous effect, I´m sure the casual reader who is unfamiliar with my home town, will get the picture, Manchester is not akin to the Bahamas!

I am not going to insult myself, I am not a stupid man, I knew it was going to be warm and I timed my emigration from my birthplace so that I wouldn’t arrive in the middle of summer, to give me time to acclimatise in my new home. And using the familiar words of doom from a certain Mr Jeremy Clarkson, I set off to Spain thinking, ‘How hard can it be?’

I arrived in Fuengirola in Early April and set to work in my new bar. Within 48 hours I was quite prepared to send all long trousers and anything with long sleeves to the local charity shop as I was convinced that I would never need them again. My leather jacket would be an item of my past, a relic to tell my grandchildren about!

Also with the heat came dehydration, sunburn, headaches, lack of sleep, mosquito bites (with a newly discovered allergy to them) and a generally miserable person, and if it hadn´t been for some good advice from a local, my tenure in Spain may have been dramatically cut short.

First and foremost, drink a minimum of five pints of water a day in the height of summer. Beer is also a fluid but alcohol can also dehydrate you and have a reverse effect. The simple test for whether you need more fluids is simple. How many times have you peed today??? You should be going the same as you were in your home country. If you find yourself going only once a day, you are in serious danger of being dehydrated. Another telltale sign is increased frequency of hangover style headaches. The water in Spain has improved greatly over the last ten years or so and despite the many urban myths, it is absolutely fine to drink. In some areas it can taste quite metallic, but even then, bottled water is cheap and plentiful (some shops sell a five litre bottle for as little as 23 cents).

Nowadays, there is no excuse for sunburn. There are so many suntan lotions available and you should introduce yourself gradually to the tanning rays. Don’t sit out too long, wear the right factor and if you are swimming as well, remember to re-apply regularly. Sunburn is painful, and so easily avoided.

Nothing will ruin your time in the summer more than a lack of sleep. The simplest solution will cost you from 30€ at the local ferreteria (DIY shop) and will take the most amateur of DIY enthusiasts about 30 minutes to install. A ceiling fan. If you go to bed with it set onto its lowest setting, the sensation of that circulation of air, will be the equivalent of dropping the air temperature by about ten centigrade. This was one of the biggest improvements in my life here. After this was fitted, I slept like a baby.

I was horrified to find my left arm swollen like a balloon as I awoke one morning and a swift visit to the hospital revealed that I had an allergy to mosquitoes. Not very good news! However, another simple piece of advice was to take an antihistamine tablet each day as a precaution. I was still being bitten but the redness and swelling was at a minimum. A secondary snippet from a local was to buy some citronella patches from the supermarket which are applied to pulse points and repel the mosquitoes. Nowadays, I suffer very few bites.

Another good bit of advice to repel all flies, especially when dining ‘al fresco’ is to spray the table with insect repellent.

As we get older, whether we admit it or not, our bodies are more resilient to change and a dramatic change in climate is difficult to say the least. August on the Costa Del Sol is bloody hot and even people who have lived here all their lives can find it an uncomfortable heat and keep themselves in the shade wherever possible. This aside, I am happy to confirm that this 43 year old has found that with each passing year, the heat has become, not only bearable, but more than a little enjoyable.

Our winter here now feels cold. My jeans, sweaters and everything warm gets worn plenty at that time and I still get to wear my favourite leather jacket!

As I write this, it is July, the sun is shining and beloved is just taking an ice filled jug of Sangria down to the pool edge. I must apologise for ending early on this piece but I think the best piece of advice I can give is to come and try it for yourself, Spain that is, not my Sangria!

Cheers!