rugbymatt

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?

jdr

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.

rugbymatt

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.

jdr

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.

rugbymatt

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.

onlineamiga

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.

Rosemary

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

jdr

Perhaps she fancied him more ;-)

poollounger

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.

Big Pete

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 ..

Lionda

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

sunlover27

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

Big Pete

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 .

rugbymatt

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!

poollounger

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.