tim hortons man

I find the fruit and veggies in spain to be absolute crap, tomatoes are almost unedible, and my local carrefour is the worst offender, when I have time I buy my tomatoes from the local market, imported from Holland of all things!

The bread and beer is crap as well, but that's only becuase I lived in Germany for 8 years before moving here.

As to the pound I'm paid in Euros and going home means going to Canada so that part of it doens't bother me.

Ray51

Oh , I thought that I was the only one , with such low opinion of food shopping in Spain ( granted , I only tried a few Costas , not Madrid ) ?
The bread and beer are , as you say : only because I'm used to standards of Belgium , France , Croatia , Slovenia , Austria etc...
Enjoy Canada ! Cheers !

steviedeluxe

I think you've answered yourself in the first paragraph regarding fruit and veg - go to the markets, not the supermarkets. If you think tomatoes in Spanish supermarkets aren't good, you've obviously not spent much time in the UK.

I can understand your feelings regarding bread. There are good places to buy bread in Madrid, but you need a local to tell you where. Unfortunately you will then need to queue (if you're based in the north of Madrid, there's a very good bakery just downhill from Penagrande metro - try their pan integral). As for German beer, this is available in quite a few places - even in some Irish pubs. There's at least one bar close to Metro Bilbao that specialises in beers from abroad. If you don't want to pay the high mark-up prices however, pop along to your closest Lidl supermarket.

Enjoy your trip back to Canada. I must admit I'm considering looking for work there - jobs in the UK are too unreliable and living costs too high - as I could easily stay in for 6 months and save enough for a good holiday in Spain.

EDIT: If you need German foodstuffs, Lidl can be your saviour, according to this:

lidl Madrid

torrebloke

We should have joinned the Euro when the rate was 1.5€ to the £.
I think the rate should ease slightly in Feb. may reach the dizzy heights of 1.25/1.28 but can not see it getting any higher than that.
A lot will depend on how soon the European bank drops it's interest rates!

bobd22

I would like to think you are right as it is getting very worrying now having a euro mortgage. There was an article in the paper an expat saying not realy a problem?? yeh I suppose if you don't have a euro mortgage.

encodeme

We are hoping it will be on the up early in the year. Barclays were punting it could go as high as 1.37 (if Gordon doesn't do something silly).
It would help if they lifted the base rate on Jan8th by .25%.
The banks aren't passing it on so the only improvement would be the currency

vox populia

Who told u that???

jdr

Papa Noel. ;-))

dunmovin

ohh yes and world peace and ET are real

shirley and anthony hide

BOE to lift base rate in Jan by a 1/4% after cutting by 2.5 % in last 2 months hmmm... dream on. Any move in Jan is down ,not up.They do not give a monkeys about weak Stg its good for exports and with deflation the big worry now,they are not worried about dearer imports.Thats a mess for someone else to clear up in the future.If Gordon was sensible(which he is not) He would stick VAT back to 17.5 % and increase personal allowance threshold instead so people that are still working can see it in their pay packet.He would also AT MOST only match any cut in Euro rates,to give Stg some stability.

bigglesworth

Although I agree with Anthony Hide about the path that the Government wish to take, and that the 90 percent probability is that they will continue to destroy sterling, print money and leave the next guy to clear up the mess, there is a 10 percent chance that the markets won't let them.
They still have to refinance existing Government debt, as well as persuade some poor sucker to lend them 100 odd billion a year at 2 percent or less that will instantly post a possible further 10/20 or even 30 per cent loss. (The big boys in the City are talking about parity but not with the Euro but the dollar as an increasing possibility).
Default is unlikely, but not impossible. IF the ratings agencies do cut UK debt below AAA then substantial increases in interest rates by the summer are NOT impossible. But that will not save sterling. There is no good way out of this heap of sh*t.

jurdyr

Euro setting new sterling records ,

The euro has again been hitting new record high points against sterling, touching 97.93p against the British currency this morning . The Association of British Travel Agents has revealed that due to the drop in value of the pound against the euro - more than 20% in a single year - the number of Britons who will take their holidays in the eurozone is expected to drop dramatically next year . This in turn is expected to have a knock-on effect for the Spanish economy, as last year 45% of all the foreign visitors to the region were British, but last November a 20% drop in British visitors was recorded . Due to hight price off hotels , drink , food and Car rently . when , according to several sources, the favorite holiday destinations are Turkey and Egypt due to cheap deals . Sterling has fallen over the past month on expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates after gloomy economic data from Britain. Lower interest rates make a country’s currency less attractive to investors . Sterling has lost around a third of its value against the euro and the dollar over the last year . Two weeks ago the pound crashed through the 90p level against the euro for the first time since the single European currency was launched in 1999 . The latest sterling drops came as a new report showed that as many as 600,000 people could lose their jobs in Britain next year, making 2009 the worst year for unemployment since 1991 .

Spanish Financial News by Jurdy

crispy

Our monthly money arrived in our bank this morning we brought £600 out and got...................................wait for it.......................618 euro lucky Mal and I have a sense of humour Thankfully we only have to cover bills this month as we shopped till we dropped when we went to Gib before Christmas and spent £'s.

bobd22

Intresting article here if only eh!
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/ar...9&in_page_id=2

bigglesworth

An old blog - and he has been a rather blinkered Europhile for some years, but nevertheless certainly called the collapse in Sterling right.
http://blogs.ft.com/maverecon/2008/1...vik-on-thames/