How long have you lived in Marbella?
I moved here in August 2000 when Ester and I married.

What prompted you to move to Marbella?
Well, Ester has been holidaying here in Marbella since her childhood. I came down to Marbella for my first holiday during 1999 and was taken aback by how beautiful Marbella is.

Initially we were going to get married in Marbella, have small honeymoon, then go back to London but my job in London was quite stressful working in the centre of London as a Management Accountant and I got fed up with with the daily rigmorol of travelling to work on trains and tubes in nasty weather and I wanted a change so Ester and I decided that Marbella was perfect for us and for our future family to be.

How is your Spanish?
My Spanish is terrible even after 6 years AND having a Spanish wife. 

All my my clients are English speaking so I am generally speaking English most of the day.

When I first moved to Marbella, I undertook a 3 month intensive Spanish course which gave me the basics, but I could not grapple very well with the difficult spanish grammar, so I am saddened to say my patience ran out and I gave up.

Ester and I speak English to each other at home...and yes we did try speaking Spanish but it did not work out. (that patience thing again)

What advice would you give to someone moving to Spain to live?
There are some really good books you can buy about living in Spain, buy all of them.

Make sure all your paperwork is order. The Spaniards love red tape. Get yourself a good english speaking "Gestor" (someone whos job it is to do all your paperwork) and  if you can speak Spanish you are one step ahead of the rest, if not try and learn as much as you can.

If you are going to run a business, find a decent laywer who is fluent in English and Spanish becasue you cannot afford to screw up over here.

Again, try to learn Spanish. For some reason, Spanish people will respect you more if you try and speak their lingo even if your spanish is really bad. They like it when you try.

What would you change about Marbella?
Mostly, the "Customer Service" in restaurants and bars, although I do have a list of gripes and I have a web site planned to tell everyone about them. 

When you go to a restaurant, pretty much any restaurant, just expect to get bad service, and accept straight away that the waiter (and waitresses) are not there to serve you and you have simply gone to the restaurant to inconvenience them.  

Nearly 99% of the restaurants and bars I have visited in Marbella have given me below average service. I would like to say though, I have NEVER received bad service at Da Brunos.

Whats the worst mistake you ever made?
I cant say I regret much of what I have done in my life so far and believe that we learn from our mistakes.

One thing I do regret is not taking care of myself better in terms of eating properly and exercise.

I am 35 this year and have had diabetes since I was 28/29 due to eating badly and not exercising enough and now I am suffering becasue of that.

My job now requires me to sit at my computer for a minimum of 12 to 14 hours per day so things are getting worse. 

I Do try and take some exercise in the form of a walk around the Old Town but I could do better.

Name one other business you would recommend on the Costa del Sol and why?
It would be Mercadona. I tend to go through quite a few cans of of Diet Coke when I am working and they have made a great web site in English where I can order our shopping and they deliver to the front door the next day.

Gone are the days where we have to queue in the supermarkets!

What is your idea of bliss?
Being happy and having a happy family. Ester and I have had our first baby girl, Olivia, back in October 2005 and I am enjoying being a father.

Its probably a bit cliche but children do make you look at your life differently.

Describe yourself in 3 words
Hard working, generous, honest.

What scares you?
My web servers crashing in the middle of the night.

What do you never leave home without?
My baseball cap and Nokia E61 smartphone which is the best phone I have ever had by the way.