Chalet Retreat

"You don't live at the chalet, do you, James?"

"No, Joan, I'm usually only there in the day when people are passing. In the evenings I go back to my house."

I explained about Pablo and Inez looking after me.

"You don't really need them, do you?"

"Until I took them in, I thought I didn't. Although I see a physiotherapist once a month my disabilities are getting slightly worse. My family were concerned that I was living alone so far from them. But now Pablo and Inez have been with me, my life is so much better. I'd find it difficult to go back to as I was."

"Can I see your house?"

"Of course, Joan. I could make tea for us..."

"Or I could. What about Pablo and Inez?"

They're being chefs this evening and they will leave about 5 pm to start preparations. Tonight I would eat where they are working."

"Could I come with you? I haven't had a proper Spanish meal for over five years."

"Why not? Their meals are authentically Spanish and very popular. I'd have to book a table. The pub restaurant gets crowded."

I booked a meal for 7 pm. After lunch at the stately home we resumed our trip around the gardens. I couldn't visit the house. The tour was too long with several flights of stairs and no lifts. It was much longer than my walking ability

Pablo and Inez were pleased to see me with Joan. They knew I saw many people at my chalet but rarely had visitors. George with a lady seemed an improvement. Joan liked them too and now their English was fluent they could talk to her, when the restaurant had finished serving meals. We stayed chatting until about 1 am when I drove Joan back to my house for a night together in my bed.

The next morning Inez brought us breakfast in bed.

Over the next few weeks Joan and I spent many days and nights together. As well as exercising me at night, Joan would massage my legs daily and I could feel an improvement. Since Joan could load my mobility scooter into my people carrier we could go to places I couldn't have managed on my own. At least three nights a week Joan was either at my house, or I was at hers.

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One evening at home without Joan, Pablo and Inez obviously wanted to ask me something but were reluctant to start.

"What is it?" I asked. "You want something? What?"

It took some persuading but they admitted that their uncle, aunt, and Pedro's mother wanted to come to England to see them. The uncle wanted to discuss opening a restaurant in the Costa Del Sol, serving genuine Spanish food, and run by Pablo and Inez.

"And you want them to stay here?"

They nodded.

"Why not?" I said. "There is room."

Pablo shook my hand. Inez kissed me.

The Gomez family were due into Gatwick about 3 in the afternoon. It was probably too far for me to drive. Pablo and Inez were working in a restaurant that evening. If the plane was delayed they would be late for work. So I arranged for a local private hire company to collect the Gomez family from Gatwick in one of their wedding cars, an extended 1960s Rolls-Royce.

The plane was only ten minutes late. The Gomez family appreciated the comfort of the Rolls-Royce after economy class airline seats. They arrived about half an hour before Pablo and Inez had to leave. They unpacked and had coffee. I took them to the restaurant where Pablo and Inez were working.

During the next week I took Joan and the Gomez family to all the restaurants where Pablo and Inez were working. The uncle was delighted with the standard and authentic Spanish feel of the meals. On the nights they weren't working the whole family and I went to a variety of good restaurants in Brighton.

That led to an animated family discussion that taxed my Spanish to the limit. Apparently the uncle was very pleased with the standard of meals that the youngsters were producing and the diners' reaction. He was disappointed with the restaurant offerings in Brighton. He thought that instead of opening a restaurant on the Costa Del Sol it might be more profitable to open a Spanish restaurant in Brighton.

There was a problem. The uncle owned a building on the Costa Del Sol that could be a restaurant when the current lease expired, but Pablo and Inez would need a suitable location in Brighton.

We all went hunting a suitable place in Brighton. Eventually we found one. It had been an Indian Restaurant but had been shut down for failing hygiene standards and many of the staff had been found to be illegal immigrants. There was a large staff flat above and an attached car park with space in a public car park thirty yards away if the restaurant car park was full. The owner had leased it and hadn't been paid for the previous six months. He was prepared to sell, but NOT lease.

The family had enough capital for half the purchase price but it would need updating as well,. The amount needed was about 60% of the sale value. I financed it and became a sleeping director of the catering company. Five months later the new restaurant opened. Within a month it was trading very profitably and had received glowing reviews on social media, the local press and even the national catering media. My investment was secure

As the proposal developed I was happy for Pablo and Inez but regretting the loss of their work as au-pairs. My family had been right. I needed someone to look after me. Since Pablo and Inez started work I had very few tasks that needed doing. My meals were provided. My house was kept clean and tidy, more than the visiting cleaners could do. I had no laundry, no washing up. I could spend much longer in my chalet, either with a packed lunch or a meal cooked there. I didn't even have to drive there and back. It was bliss. But it could be ending, soon.

But they found a solution. At their classes for English as a Foreign Language they had met another young Spanish couple who were working for a builder's company in Brighton. Carlos and Conchita were facing unemployment as the company's work for a development company ended when the developer went bust owing the building company millions.

They had been living on a mobile home on the house building site but had been evicted by the creditors. Once they were unemployed they shared a squat in Brighton but there were too many drug users in the squat.

They had helped, and been paid, for adapting the restaurant building for Pablo and Inez but one that was finished they were unemployed again. They would be happy to replace Pablo and Inez as my resident au-pairs. I met them and was happy for them to move in while they did the work for Pablo and Inez's restaurant.

For a few weeks I had four au-pairs each only part time as restaurant work progressed but the new ones gradually took over. The eventual transition was seamless.

I could spend more time, again, at my chalet, often with Joan.

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Gradually Carlos and Conchita got more and more building work, mainly by word of mouth recommendations. I had to buy a truck for them and use one of my outbuildings for storing their tools and materials. I had to get planning permission for my outbuildings, and those near the tenant farmer's house to be used as workshops as a small industrial estate.. That was surprisingly quick as apart from my tenant farmer, I had no near neighbours and dedicated access off the roundabout. Carlos and Conchita were spending less time as au-pairs and much more as better paid builders. But I didn't suffer. As their au-pair work reduced, Joan took more responsibility for me.

I protested that she wasn't an employee but she told me to shut up, to relax and enjoy being looked after.

"I love you George. Doing things for you, even if you claim I shouldn't, makes me happy," Joan said.

"And me too. I enjoy Joan's company during the day, and at night."

Joan blushed.

"At night? So do I. You can do far more in bed than I expected.,"

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Over the next year more and more Spaniards started working from the outbuildings, some of them living in my house. I had a saddler and his wife making leather handbags etc, a blacksmith and his potter wife. My Spanish, and Joan's, was now very fluent.

My house and outbuildings had become a Spanish enclave. Apart from the residents, their families visited as well. My house was bustling with activity but there was always someone around to look out for me, and to help Joan.

Pablo and Inez, Carlos and Conchita, and the other young Spaniards were amused at us oldies being very much in love.

My income from investing in their various commercial activities was growing even though I didn't need the money. I used it to develop more craft industries in both farms outbuildings. One of Pablo's younger relations opened a café to serve all the workers and those walking or riding the South Downs Way. From spring until early autumn he was very busy. In the winter he did warming meals for those hardy walkers who braved the weather.

But I was very aware that Joan was my principal carer. With the various au-pairs and Joan, my disabilities had improved. I could now walk three hundred yards with my stick. I could have done more around the house or chalet but I didn't need to. There were always able-bodied people around, and sometimes I didn't even need to ask. My life was very comfortable and I was eating well, perhaps too well. I wasn't putting on weight because of the strenuous bedroom activities with Joan almost every night and the frequent days out with her..

Apart from my improved mobility because of massage and bedtime activities with Joan I now had a purpose in life as the manager of a growing industrial estate. The money I was gaining was unnecessary, but the work was giving me a purpose in life which I had lacked,

Twelve months after Emily had needed help at my chalet, I proposed to Joan. She accepted me.

Our wedding was attended by the walking group, all my Spanish workers and Emily, now fully recovered, was Joan's maid of honour. The reception was in Pablo and Inez's restaurant.