I usually pinpoint a few factors.

I was ready to quit Britain; I had my own language tuition business there -www.talklanguages.net (still going strong!) – and it had reached the point of needing expansion, or sale… one day I sat at my desk and a rippling wave of stress passed through my body. That was it as far as I was concerned. I knew I wanted to take the Sell It option. The process took around a year, and in the end the ideal buyer came along – an entrepreneur with money to invest, lots of enthusiasm, fluent Spanish, and the desire to make the business grow. One of the gratifying aspects for me was that the teachers I had recruited all kept their jobs (-;

By this time house prices had rocketed. In truth they were also gaining great value in Spain, but the rate per square metre in a place like Arcos de la Frontera, deep into Andalucia, was never going to rival that in the east of London, England. And so it proved… we sold a two-bed property and bought a seven-bed mansion house for the same price.

And I had two children. I knew they would be at an advantage if they were bilingual, and bilingual they now are. The way they switch from Spanish to English is a marvel to behold (-: (-;

Oh, have I mentioned the 300 days of sunshine per year?