Life in Culebrón

Subsidising my holiday is one thing. I can see the justification. We poor old people need to get out of the house; we need a bit of social integration rather than a life shuffling around in worn slippers and worn out dressing gown among unwashed pots and smelly laundry. It may keep us active and, of course, it keeps people in work when those jobs might otherwise disappear with the ebb and flow of the tourist seasons. But subsidising my alcohol intake is quite another thing. True, the wine wasn’t good—in fact, bad may be the better adjective—but, acidic as it was, it had the inestimable quality of being, to all intents and purposes, free. A bottle with lunch, a bottle with dinner. Just what the doctor ordered—actually, I forget—was it two bottles or two glasses? Indeed, didn’t the spoilsports downgrade that to just two, or even one, glass, and was it only red? Never fear, it's still two bottles, any colour, for we oldies in Spain. It’s the third time we’ve done a holiday with the IM...

The food tasted horrid. It may really have been horrid but I think it was probably right enough given that it was mass catering. My recentish bouts of radio and chemotherapy have mashed up my taste buds and almost everything tastes odd. In fact until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't tried eating, by putting anything in my mouth, for a bit over three months but, when the oncologist said there was no sign of cancer, it seemed about time to stop messing around and get back to normal. I'm still taking most of my sustenance through a stomach tube though. Whether the food was foul or not it came as part of the package and so, come hell or high water, I was definitely going to force some of it down my gullet. Anyway I'd also promised the nutritionist I'd try.  Mealtimes, not eating much, I had the opportunity to look around at my fellow travellers. I felt for the few young people who had, mistakenly, booked into the hotel. It was full of holidaying pensioners. Most of us were ov...

I'm not sure why but I have trouble remembering the word IMSERSO - it doesn't flow off the tongue somehow. The word is a name, it's the initials, plus some vowels, of the Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales or The Institute for the Elderly and Social Services. It's a Spanish Government Agency that manages the extras behind the headline services of the Seguridad Social or Social Security System, namely free healthcare, disability care, unemployment payments and retirement pensions. Mention IMSERSO to a Spaniard and they will instantly think cheap holidays for old people. The idea is simple enough. IMSERSO negotiates rates with the tourist industry and then offers low-price package holidays to pensioners living in Spain. It has the twin advantages of keeping us oldies more active and less isolated while providing low-season business for the tourist industry. Our eight days in Cambrils in Cataluña, with coach travel from Alicante to Cambrils and back and with full bo...