I think we don't have a very good reputation 'elsewhere' because we haven't much to show. A couple of famous expat sportsmen, or writers, or musicians.. identified as Expats. A sort of 'ExPat Pride' kind of thing... (maybe they'll let us do a march!)

The question was posed "Do other expat groups act the same as the Brits when abroad". I would suggest the Germans do. They have their own bars, their own shops (Lidl and Aldi) and from my own experience use their own countryman for trade purposes. Do they socialise with the Spanish - probably the opposite that the Spanish won't socialise with them?

I gather from my Spanish friends that they can't really tell them apart, the Brits and the Germans, nor the French and Italians, the only ones they can usually tell apart are the incredibly tall Scandinavians, who are no trouble to anyone unless they start on the Vodka.

The act of moving to a new country means nearly everything in your life is starting with a clean sheet, including your circle of friends. The problem with this is that we tend, naturally, to compare new aquaintances with our long standing friends from our previous lives.
When you consider how many years it takes to find the real friends and how many people we encounter in our lives, why are we so surprised when we have such difficulty finding replacements? Since we moved to Spain, neither my wife nor myself have worked and that immediately limits our contact to neighbours and people met by chance. Small wonder then that we have found very few people we would class as friends but have many people with whom we are 'friendly'.

If a Spanish person I don't know starts up a conversation with me, they invariably ask me if I'm German - I assume it's because I'm tall and blonde (but obviously not good looking enough to be taken for Scandinavian!).

Jeremy K. Peasmold.

211 feet 6 inches - Balcony to Pool record. (Benidorm 2012).

His 194 days, to date, in Alicante General, qualifies him as an expat.

the Little Hitler in me has moved you up a grade


although i have fair hair, fair skin, don't bronze well the locals here know me as being BRIT before I open my mouth.
either I am too well known or I have forgotten to take my Kiss Me Quick headband off

only because he touched the other side does that record count and the date is based on the number of days he has spent in Intensive Care in Vegetative State.

I have the opposite problem.

I am so Catala looking, that when I'm in the Mercadona lift, the local Catala will always take me for one of their own, and tell me their life stories, to which I always uncomprehendingly nod knowingly, and grin.

God help me if a Barcelona lad tells me his gay lover has just left him and "Would I like to come back to his place?".

The stick to to your formula; nod,grin and bear it.

When we first arrived here and I spoke almost no Spanish, I was waiting for a bus one morning and a Spanish guy who looked to be about 70-odd started talking to me. I thought he was telling me that he was going to his daughter's house for lunch and stood there nodding and smiling for all I was worth. It wasn't until much later than it dawned on me that he'd been kissing his fingers and saying "guapa, guapa"!

I'm not fit to be let out, honestly.

So you are a real good looker after all.
I always thought you were being too modest.

Of course that's providing the old gadgie hadn't missed his last specsaver appointment,of course.

Tip.

Never, ever, insult a Lancashire woman's looks.

I now live in Spain, and only display what's left of my [/undercarriage] in a jar, under perspex.

And there are at least two of us Lancashire lasses on here.