I’m very proud of getting my first book published, so proud in fact that I’d like to share an excerpt with you today.

 

Sol Searching, A Fun-Filled Tale of a Modern Girl’s Move to the Costa del Sol, was published in October 2009 by Native Spain, much to my delight!

 

Just in case you fancy a little bit of sun in your life, or if you’re considering moving abroad yourself, I thought I’d take the liberty to share some of Sol Searching with you.

 

It’s quite an apt read for writers as much of the book describes my life as a magazine editor!

 

But here’s something a little more entertaining:

 

 

Snowboarding in the Sierra Nevada mountain range was something which had sat on my ‘list of things to do in Spain‘ since my arrival ten months beforehand.

 

The day finally arrived. Nick, a man I had fancied for months, called me out the blue to see if I could go snowboarding the next morning.

 

“Uhm. Err. Yeah, why not?” I said.

 

“Great!” said Nick. “Meet me at Lake Viñuela at seven in the morning.”

 

Sierra Nevada translates as Snowy Mountains. The fascinating and most popular mountain range for skiing in Spain is situated in the Granada province, in the Alpujarras. It contains the highest point of mainland Spain, Mulhacen, which stands at three-thousand, four-hundred and seventy nine metres. As we left the car I was almost blinded by the brightness. 

 

Nick helped me tie my ski-boots and step into the body-suit, before we caught a chairlift to the snow area. On the way up I gulped, as through the glass I could see lots of skiers and snowboarders toppling over.

 

“Wow! That looks cool,” I said, pointing at a rapid sledge pulled along by dogs. I want a go on one of them.” Nick laughed.

 

“They’re only for people who are injured on the slopes” he said. “That’s like the ambulance. It takes people to the medical centre for treatment.”

 

At the top I stepped out on to thick snow. I liked the crunching sound it made as we trudged through. Nick took me to the nursery slopes to await my lesson.

 

“Right, I’ll leave you here then” he said. “I’m going to do a red run.”

 

With that he whisked off, before I could call after him to stop. I was a little annoyed that he had left me. He could have at least waited until I was called for my lesson. As I waited I realised how uncomfortable I felt. I was weighed down with heavy clothes, snow-boots and board, plus I was freezing and my cheeks stung with the cold. Ten minutes later a foreign lady in the official Sierra Nevada uniform approached me.

 

“Hi. I’m your instructor” she said in bad, broken English. “Follow me pleaz.”

 

The lesson was useful but I didn’t feel like I learnt a great deal. All I remember was the instructor screaming “back on your heelz, back on your heelz,” as I slid along the snow, usually ending up on my bum.

 

“You must stay on your heelz” she reiterated. “This iz what helps you balance, you understand?”

 

“Yes” I said, hauling myself up again. “Just a little difficult, you know, first time and all that.”

 

After thirty minutes practising balancing by shifting my weight “back on my heelz” the lesson was over.

 

“I hope it was useful” said the instructor before leaving for her next candidate.

 

“No” I thought. “Actually, not.” I stood on the sidelines and waited for Bloody Nick to return. Twenty minutes later he turned up.

 

“How did it go?” he asked. “You feel ready to hit the slopes yet? We can start with a yellow run, that’s the easiest.”

 

“OK” I said, like a lost little girl.  We took a chairlift even higher into the mountains, but we had to board this one as it moved.

 

“It’s easy” Nick said. “Just watch me and do the same, but try to be quick.”

 

My leg jammed into a funny position and my arms locked awkwardly around my board.  The other end was the hard part.

 

“We have to jump off when I say go” said Nick. “Just stay on your feet.” Easy for him to say, Mr Expert Snowboarder of the Century.

 

“Go!” he yelled. Nick landed on the snow perfectly, while I froze in my seat.

 

“Keidi? You’re meant to follow me. Quick, now!”

 

I panicked and lunged off the chairlift, landing in an uncompromising position, with one leg bent at a one-hundred and eighty degree angle under my body and the other splayed out at the side.  Bloody Nick was in hysterics.

 

“Ow! Help. My leg is stuck. I can’t move.” He helped me up and I felt stupid for the second time that day.

 

“Right now watch and learn” he said, as he sped off down the slope. “Look how I move my body to turn.”

 

I wasn’t interested in how he moved his body, I just wanted to reach the bottom and it seemed a long way down. After landing in the bushes on the sidelines a couple of times and almost flooring a little boy, I finally grasped the skill.

 

“This is easy” I screamed as I reeled down the slope. “Who said snowboarding was hard?”

 

At the bottom we stopped for a baguette and drink. I chose wine. I had almost finished it when Nick piped up.

 

 “The altitude up here makes people get drunk quicker you know? I’m going to do a couple of black runs now, you practise the yellow, then we can meet again in half an hour and try a green together. How does that sound?”

 

“See you in half hour” I said as I approached the moving chair lift once more. I stood for a while simply watching it move, my head fuzzy after the wine.

 

‘Ah, the fresh air, the blinding snow, the…’ Bang! A chair from behind collided with the side of my head, just above my eye. I fell to the ice, only just managing to slither out the way of the next one. The chair lift operator dashed over to see if I was OK.

 

He helped me into the next chair and I set off on my journey to the top. I kept a close look out for the point where Nick had jumped off before. This time I leapt just on time and despite my head spinning from a glass of wine and a knock, I didn’t even fall over. At the bottom of the slope I hung around for Nick.

 

“Fancy trying a green one now?” He asked.

 

“Yeah, sure” I said. At the top I couldn’t see that it looked much different from the yellow run.

 

“It’s a lot steeper” Nick said. “So you’ll go faster.”

 

“Well that’s OK” I said. “I like going fast.”

 

He was right, too. When we set off I raced along like a tiger chasing a deer. I had no idea what I was doing. It was just pure fluke that I managed to stay on two feet for more than ten seconds at a time.

 

“Wow! Go girl” shouted Nick as he performed a show-off spin in mid-air to remind me that he was better.

 

I deliberately upped the pace, gathering even more speed. Then disaster struck. I lost my balance and landed with my left arm twisted behind my back a few hundred metres further towards the bottom of the run. Nick dashed over.

 

“My God, are you OK? That was some fall.” I lay face down in the snow, not moving a muscle.

 

“No actually. Not OK” I said. “I think I’ve broken my arm. It really hurts. I can’t move it.” Nick helped me to my feet.

 

“Owwww,” I screamed as my arm moved with my body.

 

“I think it’s sprained” said Nick. “Often that hurts more than a breakage. Can you make it the rest of the way down the slope?”

 

“No” I said, in agony. My whole body was shaking from the shock.

 

“OK, wait here” he said. “I’m going to fetch help.” He returned with the sledge ambulance, which I had my eye on earlier in the day.

 

 

“Sign your name here please” one said, handing me a pen and gesturing to a form. My hand was shaking so much that I couldn’t even hold the pen properly.

 

The doctors X-rayed my arm and confirmed it was badly sprained. They wrapped it in a bandage and hung it in a sling. Nick appeared and said we would head back.

 

The next day I expected a phone call from Nick to see how I was, but I heard not a peep. In fact I didn’t hear from him until a week later when he sent a text. ‘I’ve fallen in love with a girl and it feels amazing, just thought I should let you know.’  I couldn’t believe Nick’s audacity. He didn’t even ask how my arm was!.

 

He turned up in a bar at Lake Viñuela, a week later, to rub salt into the wound.

 

“It was love at first sight you know?” he told me, looking thoroughly smitten. I wondered why he went out of his way to make me feel stupid.

 

As it transpired, the relationship with ‘the love of his life’ lasted just one month, which made me feel better. He received his comeuppance from the powers of the universe. I was beginning to realise how the world worked, and it interested me.

 

There, I hope you’ve enjoyed this excerpt….If you’d like to read the full book then just click here.

 

Love & Light,

The Word Queen xx