george43

My experiences to date have only been from short trips,about 2 weeks at a time max, but I have found the Spanish to be very helpful and friendly. That is one reason why I will be living in Spain shortly.

Rosemary

Make an effort with the people and they will be fine with you, be standoffish and they will respect that and keep away from you. Like most things in this world you have to decide what you want and present yourself accordingly.

Saying that I tend to be a very private person and am very happy in my own little world. In UK I only knew the names of 2 or 3 neighbours whereas in our little town here I know almost all of the neighbours by name and lots around the town. We have been well and truly befriended and dragged out of our shells. In fact when 8 of us older ladies climbed around our castle walls one afternoon I was told that I am too quiet and that I had to become more Spanish and speak louder and shout when appropriate. So when we turned the next corner and could see my husband on our roof terrace I had to join in with them shouting to him as well as waving as I been doing previous to that.

Treat people with friendliness and a smile and it will pay dividends, learn the language and join in anything that is happening locally and you will be really welcomed with open arms. They will encourage you, praise your attempts, take the micky and they will look after you and stick up for you provided that you have given off the right signals.

Rosemary

Mitzyboy

That, I find hard to imagine

jackytoo

Spanish are very nice when they are earning money from you.

Just teasing, they are like people the world over good and bad.

bil

It all depends on how you present yourself. Learn the language, integrate and you will usually find people more helpful.

Rosemary

You know that I am really, really quiet

Rosemary

Robbie1973

It's happening everywhere. Hard working Poles are going home cos their country is on the up while the UK continues to suffer from the island mentality, i.e. why work when you can live off the state.

I think most EU countries are making it difficult for immigrants, and why not? If you have nothing to offer stay at home.

I wouldn't dream of moving to Spain unless I could support myself.

Cecelle

I would really like to correspond with an expat couple living in Mallorca ( from any country).
I intend moving there from South Africa, as soon as I can. It will be retirement, time to have fun in the sun in my old age! Many thanks in anticipation....

bil

Well, I agree with a lot you say. You should be able to support yourself/have a job if you move to another county, let alone country, then there wouldn't be a problem with immigrants.

Poles (not all) are going home, not just because Poland is on the up but because they get so screwed in the UK.

That is what is really wrong with the UK. Fine if you are rich, the authorities and government will on the whole get carpet burns as they throw themselves on the ground to kiss your *rse. The rest of us, especially those who work with our hands, will get well rogered. We work harder for less, have less public holidays, are taxed to the hilt, and then after that, we pay higher prices for most things.

When I ran a small building works firm, my then partner's son was on the social, and if he came to work for us he would have been worse off. The solution isn't to reduce social and punish everyone, because that would cause problems for some genuine people. Instead there should have been encouragement for those getting off their backsides.

IMO, the government (that's all of them) want an unemployed, broke underclass as that gives them someone to blame, a whipping boy, and it makes the rest of us less willing to complain about our working conditions and wages.

That's the real island mentality. You have a captive population so you can screw them as much as you please.