Just got back from Spain on Monday night....17 glorious days, temperatures sometimes in the mid thirties, and even the strong Levante that blew for two and a half days couldn't spoil it... we just found a cove beneath some cliffs and were well protected.
The I logged on to BE and amidst all the useful info and discussion was all the usual moaning and groaning. Now we don't have a TV in Spain, never buy the English papers. Apart from our Spanish neighbout telling us about the controlled explosions in London and the very wet weather we ignore what's happening at home. Never even knew that GB was the new PM until the last day talking to some Swedes on the beach.
Can one sustain this long term if one is living over in Spain?? Would it make everyone happier and less moany ???

Its very easy not to get too involved, just don't care. It is in the British blood to be political and talk about the weather, but its the measure a person if they allow what goes on to effect them in any way.

Just don't buy any papers if you don't want, but I bet it wont last, we are a nosy breed and you will need to know eventually.

There's a big difference between being on holiday in a place and living there full time.

I wouldn't mind shutting the world off for a week, but wouldn't like to live 100% of the time in ignorance of what was happening in the world...

You can't avoid it ...... I was in Corfu when the twin towers went down. We walked into a coffee shop .... I looked up and I thought I was watching a film on the TV in there as there was no sound. It turned out not to be a film.

I agree, its noce to shut yourself off for a while, but you need to knwow ahts going on in the big bad world

But do we really ???? On a daily basis ?? I am not sure. If one is working, running a business etc then maybe.... Are we manipulated by the media into thinking we need to be kept informed, so they and the advertisers can manipulate us ??
Problem is that anyone who can offer us an opinion in support of my post is not likely to be logged into the BE forum, but is contemplating the sky and the sea as we sit in front of our PCs.

Its why we log on to this forum and the internet.

To see what's going on in your places of interest.

Having said that, I have been out of the country on many occassions and have been cut off from all contact with the UK for months at a time. You do get used to it.

No, we don’t absolutely NEED to be kept informed. You won’t stop breathing!!

But it’s part of being a fully rounded, educated adult that you want to understand the world around you. I personally don’t want to live in ignorance.

And it's not an either or question. I like to read the paper. I also like to look at the sea and sky!!

what he said

......and after a while you start to take an interest in in what is going on in the country you live in & the rest of the world...........

Well there is more than one way of taking an interest in the world around you.
Does not watching or caring about Big Brother denote a lack of interest in the world about you ?? Or the minutiae of the happenings in the various political parties ?? For two weeks I was mainly engrossed in the soil of my garden, the local food, the feeding habits of the owl who swooped on my neighbours gheckos. Do we really need to be continously updated with news reports ?? Leave ourselves open to the manipulation of advertisers??
I lived quite happily without the internet or television or radio or newspapers for a fortnight, and could have kept going for longer. I focused on different aspects of life. I am not proposing we all become total recluses and become hermits in a cave.. therein lies madness... but wonder how much we can do without. Weaning myself off BE forum, or rationing myself to dipping in once a week is my next objective...

[QUOTE=poollounger;5044227]Well there is more than one way of taking an interest in the world around you.
Does not watching or caring about Big Brother denote a lack of interest in the world about you ?? Or the minutiae of the happenings in the various political parties ?? For two weeks I was mainly engrossed in the soil of my garden, the local food, the feeding habits of the owl who swooped on my neighbours gheckos. Do we really need to be continously updated with news reports ?? Leave ourselves open to the manipulation of advertisers??
I lived quite happily without the internet or television or radio or newspapers for a fortnight, and could have kept going for longer. I focused on different aspects of life. I am not proposing we all become total recluses and become hermits in a cave.. therein lies madness... but wonder how much we can do without. Weaning myself off BE forum, or rationing myself to dipping in once a week is my next objective...[/QUOTE]


I think you should go cold turkey.

You know the next step is wearing sandals, smoking weed, selling all your worldly possessions and giving the money to the cat protection league and living in a dark cave eating grubs and berries.


It didn't work for Mitzy, wont work for you.

No, we don’t, you’re right. Even less so with the obsessive, quick, let’s get information out as soon as possible before we have any idea what is happening – indicative of internet news and 24 hour news stations. Breaking News, We’ve no idea, let’s speculate!

How would you find out about what’s happening in the world (outside the 20 metres around you!) though if you didn’t pick up a newspaper, watch tv, listen to the radio or log on? Sometimes it just seems a blur, but there’s important things happening out there and we should know about it.

The best thing about the terrible quality of Spanish tv, is that I now watch considerably less! Stuff like big brother turns me off. And I’d far rather be off looking at owls eating geckos just now, unfortunately I have to be at my computer for work reasons! So, you’re stuck with my comments for today I’m afraid!!

well I practically lived in isolation for 2 years, maybe went to the shop/beach once a week. My weekly treat was a trip to mercadona...I found it messed with my brain and messed up my mental health.


But cool others may like that life!

Think the OP was more talking about isolating oneself from the greater world, not just being isolated.