It Matter To Me

“It matters to me ------as I have had an incurable but treatable cancer for the last 9 years and am
only still here due to the treatment developed by the EU and UK including a Stem Cell Transplant 6
years ago. My present health is attributable to having our house in the Axarquia where I can escape
as often as we are able to to enjoy wide open spaces, listen to the birds and enjoy the Spanish way
of life. It matters to me ------that due to the hostile climate in the UK at the moment qualified Doctors
and Consultants are being denied entry to the UK and as a result I am without a named Consultant
after mine retired over a year ago, as my hospital cannot recruit a replacement. It should matter to
everyone who cares that people like me are frightened for the future with Brexit and the damage that
is being caused to the NHS.”
“It matters to me ..... because in 1985, I came to live in La Linea de la Conception and work in
Gibraltar, since being here I have met my lovely English husband (I am Scottish) and in 1995 we had
our son, who is 23 and has never lived anywhere else in his young life. My husband has a business in
Gibraltar and we have both lived here longer than we ever lived in the UK, but now because of our
birth counties, and being denied a vote, all of this could disappear, everything we have worked for
and everything that my son has ever known. To me this is criminal.”
“It matters to me because...for the longest time in modern history we have had sustained peace,
because of Europe wide cooperation. It matters that for most of my life I have had the privilege of
free, unrestricted movement. It matters because I want my children to enjoy peace, cooperation and
the ability to move where they want, to explore without borders, and accept others without condition.
It matters to me, because it matters to us all.”
“It matters to me because when I chose to move to Spain in 1983, Spain had not yet become a
member of the EEC. Those first few years were not easy as we were often treated as "illegal"
immigrants with regular police raids on the place where I was working, even though most of us had
jumped through all the necessary hoops of having to leave the country every 90 days to get a new
stamp in our passports and apply for yet another 90 day work visa from the Spanish consulate in
London. The staff working on the Extranjeros desk of our local police station in Puerto de la Cruz
often refused to attend to people who wouldn't or couldn't speak Spanish. Lots of old people leaving
in tears because they couldn't understand what was going on! Learning to speak the language was
therefore a priority and I'm thankful that the pressure of having to learn it helped me persevere! Even
when Spain did join the EEC, paperwork was still complicated and tedious and after lots of short term
work permits/residencias that were dependent on my being legally employed and paying tax and
social security, I finally got my mauve Tarjeta de Residencia card in January 1997, which was
superseded by the credit card photo ID card 5 years later and on 10th September 2007, the photo ID
card was replaced by the green A4 sheet that had the magic words “La persona que a continuación
se indica, ha solicitado y obtenido su inscripción en el Registro Central de Extranjeros de la Dirección
General de la Policía y de la Guardia Civil , como residente con caracter permanente en España desde
el veinticuatro de junio de mil novocientos ochenta y nueve”! Yay! I fought hard and long to win the
battles and hopefully have now won the war too! Although somewhat battered and bruised, I feel
happy that I have made it this far and I am now a fully paid up Spanish pensioner and hopefully will
have a long and happy future in my chosen country. ¡Viva España! My husband Geoff (who still has
about a year to go before he can retire here) and I, are looking forward to starting a new adventure
as soon as we can and moving from the Canaries to the mainland of Spain sometime next year. So
much to see and so much to do and not so much time left for us to do it!”