talbot

Building a snowman are we?

ladyofthelake

Jeez......I just don't get people like that. What a moron.

Londonuck

Mar 10 he posted about every 5 mins.

bil

Good points. However, property prices vary in both countries, so no real comparison there. Both countries have various taxes, all of which are difficult to correlate. How do you compare stamp tax to Spanish and so on.

Wrto wealth tax, as with the UK get a financial advisor and listen to what he says. We did that in the UK and it saved us a fortune when my mother died.

There are investments that are legal and screen your money from wealth taxes.

Get professional advice!

Agree, you do drive more in Spain, and yes, attitudes are different. The other side to the negative attitudes you post are that the people seem to be more opening and welcoming. They smail more and are predisposed to have a friendly chat. I have chatted more to the neighbours in Spain, been invited in more, and had more give and take than I ever get in the UK.

Here, apart from the nice lady next door who take parcels for us when we are out, and vice versa, the only person I have spoken to in the whole damn street, in two years is the guy opposite who backed his car into mt stationary one, and then had the temerity to blame me for having the insolence to park on the road outside my house. He refused at first to pay, and the one thing he has never said to me is the word 'sorry'.

Remind me again about the people who come back to the UK because they couldn't integrate!

Pugsy

You're right the people here seem very laid back and casual which I like having grown up in Africa and experienced the same there. But for us, with kids in the international school, their spanish is never going to be good enough for mainstream spanish uni. or business, so their future will be back in the UK in years to come. Plus, could buy them a house with the money we'd save off school fees! Hopefully we'll be onto warmer pastures in the future again as retirees. Maybe Spain maybe not, see if we miss it when we're gone! But for now it's fun and even when it's not hot, the strong winds on the CDS are paradise for windsports and kites.

bil

Go where you are happy, is always the best thing. I'm just amused by people who are obviously homesick then coming up with a raft of excuses, blaming everything on the country.

If you are homesick, that's fine. No shame there.

Saying Spain is too hot just makes me laugh as there are so many places in Spain that are far milder than the south and the costas.

Pugsy

I agree. I think the most fantastic thing about Spain is the climate. For me it is perfect, it hardly ever rains. Winters are mild and sunny, although inside the house can be a bit chilly, but most houses have heating now. I think the summers are fantastic, I don't find them toooo hot, just right, but then I'm in the pool from 11 til about 6!! Not homesick just yet, but hubby's job and kids education are the driving factors.

bil

Now that's more like it.

Spain has the 'problem' that it can get quite hot. So, do what the locals do, work around the heat, with the heat but never against the heat.

Don't try and have an English lifestyle (doors and windows BIG and open all day, sun shining in, and so on.)

First summer we were out there we learned that the hard way. The doors etc were open all day, but come the night, the bedrooms were like an oven with hot air trapped against the ceiling.

Now, we shut all the windows as soon as we get up, and open them as night falls. The result is that the house is far cooler, and the need for air conditioning reduced.

wordfool

I've nothing against British weather in general... balmy summer nights, crisp winter days, summer storms are all good to me. However, there are two major problems IMO.

One is the sheer unpredictability. You cannot plan a BBQ a week in advance in the summer, for example, because you have no idea how warm/cold/dry/wet it will be and how fast it'll change (might have all four in one day). Global warming-induced Mediterranean climate my arse! Last summer was the pits.

The second is grey, more specifically those stretches of pure, grey, gloomy "non-weather" that can settle over parts of the country any time of year. In winter they are energy sappers. In summer they are just depressing.

That's why I love and hate Californian weather... utter predictability (just two distinct seasons, dry/warm and cooler/slightly wet) but utterly boring, too!

bil

"The second is grey, more specifically those stretches of pure, grey, gloomy "non-weather" that can settle over parts of the country any time of year. In winter they are energy sappers. In summer they are just depressing."

Yep. It slays me, and I cannot for the life of me see why more people don't feel that way.

Especially when we have been thru the last 11 months with damn all sun?