Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

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BENIDORM
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Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Sep 24, 2016 12:49 pm

Not My Words !
The other day we were in Lidl and got chatting to a British couple ( as you do ! ), not really friends just casual acquaintances , and it was the words used by them.
And now to explain...The couple are retired and have lived in Spain for about 12 years and are in their early 70's.
They have moved 3 times during their time in Spain, first living in a 'campo' house ,then in a big town and now in a medium sized village house, and in their words 'We are very happy now, we don't even really need a car ,all the amenities are handy '
Now the last time we spoke to them, about 6 months ago, they told us that they were planning to move back to UK, mainly because they thought as they are 'old' they would have a more safe and secure lifestyle there.
So they have been back to UK for a month to organise things...and changed their minds about moving back to UK..!
He gave me a long list of reasons and from memory.. he mentioned that UK had changed a lot since they left, for instance prices of everything seemed much more expensive than the equivalent in Spain.
They had visited many houses for sale in UK and comparing what they have in Spain it didn't 'match up'.
And he went on to say how they were appalled at the household rubbish collections being only every 2 weeks or more and the amount of 'immigrants' and how dirty some place are and the condition of the roads and the general unfriendliness of the local people .
Wow..and he went on and on and generally really downgraded UK living.
OK, I can agree with some of his points and I know that when we tried to live back in UK we couldn't settle, but I do think that 'people' change when they have lived abroad and of course being older and not working it is a different lifestyle.

Anyway to 'cut a long story short' ,( I was starting to grow roots after standing so long ), they now really feel happy and content about staying in Spain, and have resolved some of the issues that were worrying them.

So ,mixed feelings from me, but what do you think ?...Have they made the correct decision .?
Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby costakid » Sat Sep 24, 2016 2:09 pm

We love our come and go lifestyle. Mainly because I need to work for my sanity and we are not ready to retire. One day Spain will call me once and for all but not yet.

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:30 pm

And I forgot to mention that 'our friends' although he wasn't in Favour of Brexit , considers that it won't make much difference to expats , especially people receiving State Pension , they are both former accountants, so perhaps know what they are talking about..?.( or maybe have plenty of cash under the bed :shh: )

Personally I don't think it even worth making predictions, I'll just go with the flow ... :D
Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:33 pm

Costakid,
Well you seem to be enjoying a great lifestyle, maybe things will be different when you decide to retire though ?
Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby elusive » Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:07 pm

I guess people need to go back every so often to get a reality check one way or the other.as both sides can become rose tinted when the novelty starts to wear off. I guess they got their reality check before they moved lucky for them.some good friends are moving back to the uk after being in spain the last ten years.they are in their mid 70's and are starting to feel as they get older they want to be in the uk.ontop of struggling with the summer heat.that opinon that has changed over the last few years from we will stay till one pegs it then go back. Opinions develope as you get older.they have a few bob so its not like for some,you go back and thats it. Highlight of the week being a trip to the local shopping centre to save on the gas bill.so if you are like them then why not. Best of both worlds

Unless you are rich and/or can split your time between a uk/es house them i dont see a huge amount of positives to be in the U.K if you are retired.its very much different if you need to work and are in spain interms of obviousy the unemployment situation and all the tax dodging and corruption that goes on that you dont get to see if you are retired and can stay away as much as poss from red tape

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Sep 24, 2016 6:43 pm

Elusive,
Thank you for your response and thoughts.
I'm sure that money or rather the lack of it does account for many people wanting to return, and of course if someone loses their partner they may feel happier to go back to family in the UK, however I've heard many stories over the years about people who do regret going back.
But I suppose it is up to the individual and of course everyone's needs are different.

I wonder, has anyone had the same experience as us...going back to UK on a planned permanent basis ..and then returning, quickly in our case ?

Regards, Gordon

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby costakid » Sat Sep 24, 2016 7:29 pm

BENIDORM wrote:Costakid,
Well you seem to be enjoying a great lifestyle, maybe things will be different when you decide to retire though ?
Regards,
Gordon
Thank you Gordon. We do enjoy our life but I still have to work as I need to keep earning. When I can afford to quit I will for sure. In the mean time we spend as much time as we can in Spain. At the moment we are in the UK and the weather is quite pleasant. October we are back in Malaga and I can’t wait.

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby Gasman » Sun Sep 25, 2016 11:20 am

We have lived in France for 15 years, then Spain, now, for 10 years nearly and cannot contemplate going back to the UK. Now that we are retired and live an easy life with enough to get by on comfortably, but by no means sitting on pots of money, we are taking stock again and getting itchy feet. However the thought of going to the UK does not appeal - on rare visits to the north of England and the Midlands we have found everything GREY, the clouds, the buildings, the people! Grey and Dismal. Lifestyle bears no comparison and so much is more expensive. We too are suffering from what seems to be longer and hotter summers - perhaps we will move to Galicia!!!!

Anybody on here thinking of Portugal as a next stop?

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby Wicksey » Sun Sep 25, 2016 11:32 am

We have been away from the UK for 16 years and apart from the inlaws, we have no other family ties there. I think that makes a difference as to your view of the UK as many of my friends here with family (and particularly grandchildren) feel a strong draw to return there. Some people we knew that have since returned to England had never really settled here anyway, and it wasn't a hard decision for them to go back.

For us we feel that England is the foreign country. Although we own a house there it is not in a town we ever lived in and we bought it purely as an investment/income. The town, however, is very pleasant and also very friendly (people talk you in the shops and just start conversations with you when waiting for a bus etc which is nice) but after a week there we feel that we've had enough.

I think everywhere is much busier than when we lived there (East Anglia) and the roads are always like rush hour. I don't like the Sunday shopping frenzy either. We notice how many people say they are too busy to do anything .... even open their laptop to check their emails, and as for sending a reply ... no time at all!

We certainly could not have this lifestyle over there. We are lucky to live in a campo house with very low overheads, so paying council tax and UK fuel bills would take a far bigger proportion of our small income. I don't really think we could afford to live there at all on our present income. Also we could not stand the winters with the dark days and long nights. I need my sunglasses all year round here! Our SAD symptoms were one reason for coming here in the first place.

Gasman, did you see how hot the summer was in Galicia this year? Often hotter than us! We thought we could drive up there for a couple of months respite, but maybe not!

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby BENIDORM » Sun Sep 25, 2016 11:37 am

Costakid,
I'm sure that there are plenty of other expats doing exactly the same as you, and from my experience some will eventually move 'lock,stock and barrel' to Spain to live permanently, others will be always 'part timers' and some will sell their holiday homes, maybe because they are bored with the experience ?
Personal circumstances are continually changing, for instance I know several expat families who have enjoyed many years of holidaying in Spain, but then as the children get older they don't want to holiday as a family, understandably they want to do there 'own thing', so this is the time when the holiday home is sold and they get a smaller property or no longer come for regular holidays in Spain.
Many years ago we seemed to have a constant flow of visiting family and friends but now quite infrequent, and it's mainly keeping in touch by phone and internet...not even normal letters anymore....expect Birthday & Christmas cards.

I'm sure many other expats will have had similar experiences.?

Gasman,
Interesting to read your story, and I know what you mean by 'itchy feet', and enduring longer and hotter summers, maybe you could have a holiday in Northern Spain or somewhere else in July/August.?
We looked at Galicia ,in depth, some years ago, a lovely place and people, but very cold,wet and bleak in the winter.
And Portugal, well I know more who have moved from Portugal to Spain ,and prefer Spain !
However always worth a visit... :wave:
Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby elusive » Sun Sep 25, 2016 1:28 pm

We visited portugal in april. It felt like a poor mans spain tbh and prices seemed expensive in the supermarkets etc. It was kinda like "nowt nor summut" interms of the feel of the places. The summers seemed more pleasant there from talking to hotel staff but when we went in april it was pretty unsettled and while if was nice for uk family members we met up and stayed with it felt abit cold to me. More like the uk.and for that time of year it was pretty dead.are the summer less intense say in the costa brava?

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby BENIDORM » Sun Sep 25, 2016 5:45 pm

Wicksey,
You and Gasman seem to have followed a similar route.

What you say makes a lot of sense, and I agree fully with your sentiments about UK feeling like a foreign country.
Anyway I'm pleased to hear that you are content with your life in Spain...and long may it continue... :thumbup:

Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby BENIDORM » Sun Sep 25, 2016 5:52 pm

Elusive,
I fully agree with your thoughts about Portugal, for us a nice place to visit for a week, we actually found the locals very friendly, but the Expat Brits.....well !!
I walked through Portugal in the early 1960's, the people were very poor but very kind and helpful and willing to share what little they had with me, I always remember those moments when I'm feeling low.

Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby Wicksey » Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:57 am

elusive wrote:are the summer less intense say in the costa brava?
We often watch the Spanish weather programme on Antena with Roberto Brasero at 4pm (ish) during the week. It is interesting to see how the weather pans out across the country throughout the year which is how we know how hot it's been in the north this summer. I do notice that the Catalunia area seems to get a lot of storms. They seem to 'fall off'' the Pyrenees and they often seem to have quite cool and very stormy weather. Ditto the Balearics. Much of the northern half of Spain seems to have quite severe winters with more snow than we ever got in the East of England.

It is quite interesting to watch it over a period to really see what is happening in the rest of the country .... if you like that sort of thing! I must admit that if we had had the internet and followed the weather regularly for France we probably would not have moved there, as the winters were so cold and the summers so extreme with high humidity and tropical-like thunder storms! Apart from the heat in the height of summer, I do think the climate around here is probably one of the best in Spain.

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby jhonie99 » Mon Sep 26, 2016 4:41 pm

"Cognitive Dissonance" best describes the views of the people met in LIDL.

Something I've noticed is that people will say whatever is necessary to re-enforce the view that they are right. Unfortunately, everyone's a liar. "I'm right, You're wrong."

If they'd moved to UK, they'd be rubbishing Spain. Now that they're staying in Spain, they're rubbishing UK.

So it's best to just say....yeah yeah yeah when speaking with these people and then just carry on as normal.

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby Gasman » Mon Sep 26, 2016 4:43 pm

Wicksey - agree with everything you said on the topic

Costa Brava - not only do they have the storms and cold weather in the winter, they have the Tramontana wind coming down from the mountains. That is one fierce wind! We spent two long summers, April to October, there and lingered a while one winter too.
Then we went to France and met the Mistral, moved away a bit further west to avoid it and found ourselves in the patch where the Mistral and the French Tramontane take turns!
We have decided that we do not like wind .... not sure if Atlantic turbulations on the west coast of Portugal would suit either.
We just have to admit to being too dam..ed fussy!!

Gordon - we did a bike tour all through Portugal in the early 80s (BMW 80RS nearly got rattled to bits on all those cobbled roads in the north) and found it much as you said - very friendly open people, but gosh still a third world country then - the EU has done a lot for them and from what we have seen on visits this year the communities have changed enormously - mostly for the better. Ex-pat areas to be avoided at all costs!!

Perhaps we will head for the Canaries - climate, sea-air, civilisation - but where can you go to avoid the tourist-crowds?

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby Wicksey » Mon Sep 26, 2016 5:22 pm

Gasman we sound very similar ...lol! Also very fussy about where we live and equally fussy about where we stay when we go away ... it's a nightmare! We go to the Canaries quite a bit and stay in campo houses in similar positions to where we live now. Have you been there and explored much? We put off going to Gran Canaria as we thought it was too touristy but it isn't. The inland areas and mountains are glorious and apart from the southern areas of Maspalomas and the resorts close to there, it is very quiet. It is our favourite island of the big four and would go there for longer periods if we could.

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby elusive » Mon Sep 26, 2016 7:07 pm

Thats interesting about the brava area. I will have to take a look at that weather programe. I watch the forecasts alot on the news and it is intresting to see the variations through the whole country.one thing we dont like is the wind. Unfortunatly where we are when it gets up its pretty bad but i guess you will be looking along time if you want somewhere that fits everything u want

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby Wicksey » Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:46 am

elusive wrote: I will have to take a look at that weather programe. I watch the forecasts alot on the news and it is intresting to see the variations through the whole country.
It is programmed to be on 4pm until 4.30pm but often doesn't start until well after 4 then it goes into adverts for about 6 mins .... but when it is on it is interesting! Watch mid winter to see all the snowy scenes from around the country.

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Re: Britains Going To The Dogs-I'm Staying In Spain !!

Postby Pamela1 » Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:34 am

Gordon,

Britain going to the dogs!! rubbish collections every 2 weeks, immigration problems and dirty areas, house prices much higher than in Spain and unfriendly people!! ..

I think everywhere has its problems and Spain as well as other Eu countries have dirty areas and immigration problems..but i also think it depends on where you are looking to live...having said that no matter where you reside, sun or no sun and friendly people or not, everyone is effected by each countries bureaucracy, tax system, health and benefits system...No where is perfect..

Gordon,I agree that when people are older and have lived abroad for a long time and do not work and live a different lifestyle they change ... perhaps the people you have mentioned have settled in Spain more than they realised...


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