I moved to Spain 4 years ago & will never be bored of it – I don't work & pick my kids up from school & go to the pool
LIFE'S A BEACH I moved to Spain 4 years ago & will never be bored of it – I don't work & pick my kids up from school & go to the pool
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A MUM has shared how her family ditched the UK to live in Spain four years ago and will 'never be bored' of her new life.
Jodie Marlow, who shares clips of her new sunny lifestyle online, shared how she doesn't miss the rainy weather at all, and spends her days enjoying the sun.
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UK mum Jodie Marlow has 17,000 followers who follow her new life in Spain
Credit: Tiktok/JodieMarlow
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Jodie picks her kids up from school at 1.30pm in summer and takes them straight to the pool
Credit: Tiktok/JodieMarlow
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Jodie said she will never get bored of her life in Spain
Credit: Getty
Jodie, who is a stay-at-home mum, said her two boys finish school at 1.30pm in summer and they spend afternoons playing in the pool.
In a clip on her @jodiemar1ow account, which has over 1,790 likes, she said: 'Four years in & don't think I'll ever get bored of this.'
She added that the weather is perfect for her, with temperatures in the top 20s or 30s every day.
Jodie said: 'It's not too hot, not too cold. Like, I can wear my nice summer dresses, which I love.'
When her kids are at school, she spends her time picking up fruit and veg at the local market, or going for a pamper, including laser hair surgery.
She then does housework before picking up the boys and having some lunch with them.
Meanwhile, weekends are spent exploring gorgeous nearby beaches and dining out in local restaurants.
MOVING TO
SPAIN
Finally, Jodie advised people on how they can also make the move to Spain.
She shared: 'If you hold a UK British passport, you can't just move to Spain like you could pre-Brexit, you do need a visa.
'The working visa you could look into getting dependent on if you've got a specialised job.
I quit my job and did a complete 180 moving to Spain - beer is just $3 a pint and my life is so much better
'The self-employed visa, basically they said to us it's just impossible to get, so we didn't even try with that.
'But the digital nomad visa allows anyone that is working online, as long as you are earning a set amount of money that provides for if there's four of you for the family, you can pay for all four of you, and they set out exactly how much that would be.'
Since Brexit, UK citizens, and non-EU citizens require a visa to stay longer than 90 days.
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Jodie said the weather is usually perfect for her
Credit: Getty
SOCIAL REACTION
Many people were quick to chime in and comment on her new life in Spain, and praise her for making the move.
One said: 'It's beautiful there, my sister moved there 26 yrs ago, no regrets.'
A second added: 'I don't think you could ever get bored of that lifestyle.'
Meanwhile, and a third joked: 'You sure you wouldn't rather be stuck indoors looking out at the rain?'
Jodie replied: 'deffo don't miss that side of the uk.'
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Jodie advised getting a digital nomad visa if you want to make the move
Credit: Alamy
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Inspired by subtle orchestrations on Leonard Cohen's debut album, Boyd had drafted in arranger Richard Hewson but it didn't work out. 'It was nice, but it wasn't Nick,' he affirms. When Drake suggested his Cambridge friend Robert Kirby, a Baroque music scholar, everything fell into place. Boyd says: 'Nick had already been engaging with Robert about using a string quartet but had been hesitant about putting his ideas forward.' SUBTLE ORCHESTRATIONS The producer also recalls being 'fascinated by the lyrics — the work of a literate guy'. 'I don't want to sound elitist but Nick was well educated. British public school [Marlborough College] and he got into Cambridge. 'Gabrielle told me he didn't like the romantic poets much. But you feel that he's very aware of British poetry history.' This is evident in the first lines of the opening song on Five Leaves Left — 'Time has told me/You're a rare, rare find/A troubled cure for a troubled mind.' 'When I think about Nick, I think about the painting, The Death Of Chatterton,' says Boyd. 'Chatterton was a young romantic British poet who died, I think, by suicide. You see him sprawled out across a bed.' I ask Boyd how aware he was of Drake's struggles with his mental health. 'It's a tricky question because I was aware that he was very shy,' he answers. 'Who knew what was going on with him and girls?' Boyd believes there was a time when Drake was better able to enjoy life's pleasures. 'When you read of his adventures in the south of France and in Morocco, it seems he was more relaxed and joyful. 5 Drake at home with mother Molly and sister Gabrielle 'And when I went up to Cambridge to meet Nick and Robert Kirby before we did the first session, he was in a dorm. 'There were friends walking in and out of the room. There was a lot of life around him.' Boyd says things changed when 'Nick told me he wanted to leave Cambridge and move to London. 'I agreed to give him a monthly stipend to help him survive. He rented a bedsit in Hampstead — you could do that in those days. 'Nick started smoking a lot of hashish and didn't seem to see many people. I definitely noticed a difference. 'He'd been at Marlborough, he'd been at Cambridge and suddenly he's on his own, smoking dope, practising the guitar, going out for a curry, coming back to the guitar some more. He became more and more isolated and closed off'. Boyd describes how Drake found live performance an almost unbearable challenge. He says: 'He had different tunings for every song, which took a long time. He didn't have jokes. So he'd lose his audience and get discouraged.' 'It still haunts me that I left the UK' For Drake's next album, Bryter Layter, recorded in 1970 and released in 1971, Boyd remained in charge of production. Despite all the albums he's worked on, including REM's Fables Of The Reconstruction and Kate and Anna McGarrigle's classic debut, he lists Bryter Layter as a clear favourite. It bears the poetic masterpiece Northern Sky with its heartrending opening line – 'I never felt magic crazy as this.' Boyd says: 'I can drop the needle and relax, knowing that John Wood and I did the best we could.' However, he adds that it still 'haunts me that I left for a job with Warner Bros in California after that. I was very burnt out and didn't appreciate how much Nick may have been affected by my leaving'. Drake responded to Boyd's departure by saying, 'The next record is just for guitar and voice, anyway'. Boyd continues: 'So I said, 'Well, you don't need me any more. You can do that with John Wood'.' When he was sent a test pressing of 1972's stripped-back Pink Moon, he recalls being 'slightly horrified'. 'I thought it would end Nick's chances of commercial success. It's ironic that it now sells more than his other two.' Then, roughly a year after leaving the UK, Boyd got a worried call from Drake's mum. 'Molly said she had urged Nick to see a psychiatrist because he had been struggling,' he says, with sadness, 'and that he had been prescribed antidepressants. 'I know Nick was hesitant to take them. He felt people would judge him as crazy — a typically British response.' Boyd again uses the word 'haunting' when recalling the transatlantic phone call he made to Drake. 'I said, 'There's nothing shameful about taking medicine when you've got a problem'. I know Nick was hesitant to take them [antidepressants]. He felt people would judge him as crazy — a typically British response Joe Boyd 'But I think antidepressant dosages were way higher in those days than they became. 'Doctors didn't appreciate the rollercoaster effect — how you could get to a peak of elation and freedom, then suddenly plunge back into depression. 'Who knows but it might have contributed to the feeling of despair Nick felt the night he took all those extra pills.' 5 Boyd says of Drake: 'He's unclassifiable and that's one of the reasons he endures' Drake died at home in Warwickshire during the early hours of November 25, 1974. As for Boyd, he made a lasting commitment to the singer who had such a profound effect on him. He says: 'When I left, I gave my company to Chris Blackwell because there were more debts than assets — and he agreed to take on the debts. 'But I said, 'I want it written in the contract that you cannot delete Nick Drake. Those records have to stay. 'I just knew that one day people would get him.'
