Drew Launay first went to Spain in 1969 and did not understand the Spanish way of life at all. He went again in 1972 and understood it even less. In 1975 he married a fiery, foot-stamping, mad-as-a-sombrero Andalusian and had to understand it or die.

Born in London of French parents, given an English education, finished in France, living in Spain and speaking three languages, he is the consummate European: one who finds no difficulty driving on either the left or right side of the road. Author of several stage plays, numerous BBC broadcasts on Spain and more than a dozen novels written under various pseudonyms and published in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Czechoslovakia (that was), he goes to Rickmansworth for his holidays.

Drew Launay now lives permanently in Nerja, East of Malaga, where he enjoys long siestas during the few empty days between official festivals. His favourite is on 16th June when the statue of the Virgin is taken to sea on a pleasure boat to bless the fish, and a giant papier maché sardine is paraded round the town on a hearse followed by a brass band playing a funeral march and mourners dressed in black. At sunset, the sardine is taken to the beach and burned along with the roasting of real sardines consumed by the happy crowd. He claims that no-one has yet come up with a reason for this other than that it¿s a great excuse for a fiesta.

'Anyone attempting to understand the Spanish must first of all recognize the fact that they do not consider anything important except total enjoyment. If it is not enjoyable it will be ignored.'
Xenophobia is an irrational fear of foreigners, probably justified, always understandable.
Xenophobe's Guides - an irreverent look at the beliefs and foibles of nations, almost guaranteed to cure Xenophobia.

Fun in the sun
Anyone attempting to understand the Spanish must first of all recognise the fact that they do not consider anything important except total enjoyment. If it is not enjoyable it will be ignored.

You can't buy happiness
The happiness of the individual is considered to be much more important than money. The goatherd who strolls the countryside with his animals breathing in the fresh air and loving his problem-less life is much more admired than the wealthy industrialist who hasn't time to enjoy life and spends quite a lot of his earnings on medicines to calm his peptic ulcers.

Sexplicit
In Spain lust is ever in the air. There is nothing about the Spanish appreciation of sex that is inhibited or restrained. It is accepted that both men and women love making love, which is why there are very few sexual crimes in the country.

Everything in triplicate
It is impossible to reside in Spain without spending part of your life applying to an authority for some sort of permit, either to be allowed to go on existing once you are born, to be allowed to stay if you have come from abroad, to be allowed to start a business, drive a car, build a house, pull one down or be buried in reasonable comfort.