Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Brilliantly funny! And so true

Attachment 67422 Why bother with Sky Sports when you can have this

Money no object.

It never is, if we want to do something or move some where we make it happen
We moved from the UK on our yacht, sold the yacht & now rent a house.
We work hard & play sometimes we will be moving on from here to another country when we are ready for a change ( about now )
Nothing for us in the UK, parents are all dead, kids & family that are to lazy to get off their arses & visit.

I think everyone misses work when they first finish ,just as you miss retiring from a hobby like running a club of some sort.I suppose what I am saying is whatever the change there will be something about it you miss.In our case we have decided we need a new challenge and that will most probaly be moving to Spain.

Never in a million years would I go back to that shitty horrible place they call the Uk.

Your perception of the UK might be that but the reality is a lot of people are very happy in the UK and many would dearly like to live there (and I mean people from other developed countries, not just E.Europeans, Kurds etc).

Why do you perceive the UK to be so shitty?

She will be along soon I think she is too busy hijacking other Threads

I totally agree with . The UK has had some of the stuffing knocked out of it by terrible government policies but it is still a great country. When the going gets tough here a lot of expats head back there, because they will be looked after better than in Spain where there is no help. One thing I have noticed is that when foreigners living in the UK lose their jobs, they stay and get income support and housing benefit in UK, they dont head back home to their own countries. Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, at least in blighty, there is help for the less fortunate. Here in Spain you get ZILCH, even if you have children. Some say they would rather be skint in the sun here than in the UK (yeah) I am talking about REALLY SKINT, no job , no home, nowhere to go. If I were in that position, I would walk back to England if I had to. Some folks here in Spain live on LDA or suppliment their income with it. Can you imagine the Spanish government sending money to its expats "living their dream· in another country. (no chance) They dont even support their own disabled who live here. All I want to say is dont knock the UK. I am UK born but both of Spanish parents, I have examples of my own (distant)family living in the brown stuff, because of lack of money. Be thankful that we all have a plan B, (return to blighty) you never know what the future holds.

I meant to say that I totally agree with joggerfan.

I guess unfortunately they lived in a shitty horrible place! I've lived in quite a few countries and if I did a pro's and con's list UK, (South Wales for us) ticks more boxes than any other. Excellent schools, healthcare, lower cost of living, outdoor life, friendly people. More life, more things to do, especially in the winter. Without factoring in friends and family, if you take just our family unit, we had a better quality of life there.

Quite right Pugsy, I have never lived in a shitty horrible place either, not here or the UK. I know they exist everywhere, and for all the talk about the good life here, I think the main factor in this is the weather. If you took that away, the lack of things to do would be more evident. Dont get me wrong I am equally at home in both countries, but to deny the obvious does not help. When I talk about things to do, I dont mean a painting class or such set up by expats for expats. I mean decent concerts and such. Some will say that there are concerts put on by the town halls, but a barbershop quartet does not compare with Barbra Streisand, who was in Manchester last summer. The activities here are to help people kill time, that is how I see it. If you see one flamenco show, you have seen them all. My son would never dream of living here. The future is bleak for the youngsters, for the retired with income it is a different matter. I do think that a lot of us have the Emperors new clothes syndrome. My parents would rather have died than return to live in Spain, I never understood that, as it was their homeland, but for some people in other situations I can see why. Dont get me wrong I am happy here but we travel a lot.

Very well put

I agree Li, I don't and won't knock the UK, it has its troubles but then so does everywhere else. Mal and I didn't leave the UK because we had some burning ambition to live the life as it is known, it was quite simple really we came together late in life and we wanted to take early retirement so we could spend as much time together as we possible could. There was no way we could do it in Blighty, we did some research (not a lot I admit) did our sums and here we are, very contented enjoying each others company even hoping to move onto Portugal and experience life there. In my heart I know that I will grow old and see my days out in the UK because that is where my family is and that is where I would want to be to say goodbye.

Quite often it is the people who knock the UK the most and say that they would hate to return that are the very people who when the chips are down go running back for what they can get.

There are always places in any country that we would prefer not to live and places that we would love to live, regardless of whether we were born there or not.

At the moment we are totally content with the life that we have here in Spain and are not planning to return. This is not due to finances, our housing etc but just the fact that we have a gentle, quiet life that we enjoy, in the UK we could probably have the same life. If and when we return to the UK we will not face it with dread because we happen to like the country.

Negative views voiced very strongly are often stated either in order to start an arguement or to cover up a persons true feelings on a subject.

All of us living in Spain have moved here for a variety of reasons and may or may not return for a further variety of reasons.

Rosemary