Is it just me?
 

Right, I have noticed that there is a bit of, shall we say snobbery for the want of another word, about those in Spain, and those not yet there, or even those planning to go.
It isnt apparent at first but as people post more there is a swing towards people looking a bit down their nose at others.
I have lived abroad more years than I have lived in the UK, I dont consider myself British for this reason, and I have to say that when I lived in Spain I found there were lots of people who behaved like you were invading their space and you had virtually nothing to offer.
As a question, have any of you lot experienced the "Been there seen it, bought the T-shirt attitude", or is it just me?

Re: Is it just me?
 

Perhaps its not snobbery Matt, just proud they have already done it and are in the position to give advice of their experiences to the people thinking of moving over.

Re: Is it just me?
 

And that much I can fully understand, but there can be, and I really am generalising here, but there can be a bit of an arrogant attitude about the whole thing.

I'm not having a pop at anyone or suggesting that people are anything, but its something that I have noticed as a bit of a trend and I experienced a lot of it out there.

Re: Is it just me?
 

You may get a few people who dont divulge as much as they could cos they dont want their little bit of Spain overrun with Brits, but then that happens the world over.

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I can understand that.

Funny because one of the people who live in a very un british place in Spain, I have also found to be one of the most helpful people on here, but I do see where your coming from.

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I cant say ive noticed any people talking down their noses on this forum. However when i was in spain the general attitude of the ex pats was "yeah we're here now!" and i was somehow inferior because i was just visiting. On the plane on the way home we was talking to this girl, an ex pat who was visiting england again, and then towards the end of the flight she got talking to someone across the isle.. a guy who was also an ex pat... and she never said another word to us again.

Re: Is it just me?
 

To be fair there are Brits and Brits. When we decided to move to Spain we were very cautious because we had heard that in some areas Brits were not well thought of. We purposely chose an ordinary townhouse in a little working town. In our little town we are known as The English Couple and we quite like that (sad or what) they do not come anymore inoffensive than we are so therefore any ill conceived ideas that the locals had about the Brits have been knocked on the head.

Is this snobbery? I certain hope not because I have never been a snob in my life.
Rosemary

Re: Is it just me?
 

Perhaps she fancied him more ;-)

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Lol Matt.....I have to say that I am occasionally guilty of the above. Not because of snobbery...god forbid. Just that I deplore ghettos of any kind, and when I hear English voices in my local venta, I think..hell we are being overrun. I listen to their conversation carefully to make sure they are the sort of people I want to converse with...;) ;) I am sure there is a school of people who like the keeping up with the Joneses element, and want to have what others do not, but not me. I just want the place to stay Spanish and unspoiled and to feel I am in Spain when I sit in my Venta and not in some cafe in Brighton or Margate or whatever.:D :D :D

Re: Is it just me?
 

:rofl:

Unless your blind nobody on earth could confuse the places . Margate is like the aftermath of world war 2 and Brighton well been a while since i was there but doesnt grab me in any form ..

Re: Is it just me?
 

I haven't noticed any snobbery on this forum it is all very interesting. I have noticed when I am in Spain though that if ever we ask, for instance, someone working in a bar, what it is like in living in Spain then I get the impression there is a bit of a closed shop, if you can understand what I mean :unsure:

Re: Is it just me?
 

I haven't noticed it on here either, but I have when in Spain talking to people, even friends I find don't offer info, hence the reason I'm on here

Re: Is it just me?
 

Yep i have noticed a little bit of that with a few posters , rugbymat . But there again is that the british thing coming through maybe ?
Keeping up with the Jones and hate to see others better off sort of thing .

Re: Is it just me?
 

I am starting to realise that the word snobbery was a poor choice.

Interesting thoughts, I left the Urbanisation where my family lived within weeks and ended up living in a purely Spanish area, where I pretty much stayed until I left, but on the rare occasions we had to deal with any Brits some absolutely horrified me.
I'm not just talking about the usual paralytic, gangster wannabe, larger lout Brits, but also the way they treated new comers, the way SOME of them went out of their way to close up shop with anyone new and really make things difficult.
They were generally the ones who also complained that the Spanish were not as efficient, hard working, or whatever else as the British!

Re: Is it just me?
 

Touche to BigPete about Margate and Brighton. Just the first two seaside resorts that came to mind. Re Margate, well a friend of mine is a housing officer and covers Margate and Thanet and she assures me that they ARE a different world.
Matt I think for some it is a case of wanting to encourage fewer Brits to move to their part of Spain.
One of our posters wrote some while ago that she hoped that the new houses being buit behind her were sold to Spanish as she hadn't moved there to live in an expat community. Imagine if you moved to, say, an island in the Seychelles and then found large numbers of people from your hometown buying the houses around you ?? Some would welcome it, and others not.
We have a British and and a Spanish neighbour, and all the others are Spanish in our cul de sac. If the houses changed hands and more Brits moved in, I wouldn't be unfriendly and would possibly enjoy their company, but if I had the choice I would rather they were Spanish.

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I totally understand the point about more Brits into an area relatively free of them.
I'm starting to think that maybe the original point was made poorly now.

Re: Is it just me?
 

I understand your original point and agree, though I'd probably describe it as more of an intolerance of other people's situation, and a general unwillingness to see other's point of view or motives, or explain truthfully their own.
I think it is only a small minority, of posters that fall into this category, and on the whole you all seem a nice bunch:huh:
Obviously there is the odd "personality clash" but this just reflects life in the real world, and looking in on it (and at times being a "clashee") I find it quite amusing.

Re: Is it just me?
 

Is it just me? Or can you usually pick out some Brit ex-pats from the Brit tourists in a bar along the coast?
It's nothing to do with the way they may dress, or undress in the case of some tourists.:eek:
Some ex-pats just seem to have this smug We live here, therefore we are far better than you aura about them:huh:

Re: Is it just me?
 

Is it somethimg to do with the sandels and white socks of the tourists ? ;-)

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Just wanted to add my two penneth worth...my partner and I were visiting Denia last week and had booked into the Marriott Hotel but had (stupidly!) not brought the full address /phone number with us as we assumed (again stupidly!) that it would be easy to find/ well signposted. Anyway, after we had driven around Denia several times and got well and truly lost, a lovely British retired couple took pity on us and insisted on escorting us the 6 km or so to the hotel...dont think that would happen in the SE of England. If by any chance they read this, thanks again!!:thumbup:

Re: Is it just me?
 

Hi Chris

Are you from Brighton as your name suggests, if so, what area do you live in? We lived in Montpelier. How is Brighton these days. We moved to Costa de la Luz from Brighton almost 3 years ago. We lived in Brighton for 14 years and loved it but decided to leave, for various reasons.

JJ:)

Re: Is it just me?
 

Sounds like they were really really bored and this little excursion will be the highlight of their week!!

I find posts like this a little strange - why would this same couple act differently if they were in the UK? they are obviously just nice people. Nice people live everywhere - they are just few and far between.

Re: Is it just me?
 

Hi JJ,
Yes living in Brighton Kemptown just off the seafront. Its still one of the best places to live in the UK (in my humble opinion of course!). Have been toying with the idea of moving to Spain but now probably going to settle for a holiday home there for the time being..looking at the Denia/Oliva/Gandia area.:)

Re: Is it just me?
 

I agree with some of what you say. However, as a full time resident, I find there are various 'ghettos' here on the Costa de la Luz. And I don't mean that in a derogatory way. It's just the areas that the Brits, in this instance, tend to settle. Pago del Humo is one of them and parts of Marquesado are the same.

I don't mind having my fellow countrymen around me as sometimes it's nice to have a conversation in your mother tongue. We are the only foreigners in our Camino and like it like that. We are regarded as the English couple but that doesn't stop them from chatting to us and we are on extremely good terms with our immediate neighbours.

As for meeting ex-pats who look down on others with the 'I live here attitude' I haven't found that at all. Perhaps I'm not mixing with the right people:rofl:

JJ

Re: Is it just me?
 

well I can recommend Gandia :thumbup: been here 4 years now

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:D :thumbup:

Re: Is it just me?
 

Well we have a house in Pago, and if we had known what an expat ghetto it was to become then we might well have bought elsewhere. Not that we didn't look...we did comprehensively, but everything just came together in Chiclana. Places we tried to buy included Puerto Serano near Algondonales, and a cortijo in Moron de la Frontera. Part of the reason for these ghettos developing is that the estate agents seize on a particular area. The local builders realise they can get a better price from the expats..voila.
I think the follow on is that some Spanish are being canny and also buying in these areas, realising that they are growing and they can realise a better profit on their investment in the future. There can be wonderful cross fertilisation. Our Spanish friends who live in Seville/Barossa love the openness of our plot, the country feel of Pago (until it gets overdeveloped), and often say they would like somewhere similar, in spite of having a very smart house in a Barossa urbanisation. They are also re jigging their garden having seen what we have been doing with ours. Ditto the Spanish neighbours.
Surely this is what the world is about..sharing and inspiring without imposing.

We were laughing last night about the poster somewhile back who was mourning the lack of a bag of chips to munch while watching the Three Kings parades in January..surely they should have entered into the spirit of it and been scrambling for the sweets instead?? I am not averse to a bag or even a plate of chips, especially by the beach, but please enter into the spirit of the country ? Re acts of kindness and the Brighton couple, I think the crunch is that people have more time..everything in a British city takes longer, and we don't slow down enough. Even Brighton I suspect. I have to force myself to slow down when eating with my Spanish friends and not gobble everything down in case it gets cold!!!!! We had a similar experience in France in the Charente, got lost and a motorist drove out of his way to lead us back to the road we needed.

Re: Is it just me?
 

... and with Mitzyboy in Oliva and me in Denia - you will be able to get all your questions answered on this forum.

Re: Is it just me?
 

thanks guys, I really value the info on this forum....have learned so much from looking at it over the past few moths:thumbup: