CharlieYork

Hi everyone - it's so nice to read all your forums

I'm moving to Chiclana (El Marquesado - about a mile from Mcdonalds) in August. I just don't know where to start..... jobs, English tv and the dreaded internet connection....

Any advice would be really appreciated.....

Charlie

Mitzyboy

Hi & welcome
Have you bought a new build?

CharlieYork

Hi,

Thankyou, yes we have bought a new house - although we bought it in 2005 - mega mortage repayments now though!

Charlie

Chiclanagir

Welcome Charlie,

We live in Pago del Humo in Chiclana. Tell us a little more about yourselves. Also worth posting on www.mycadiz.biz. I am sure that is right but DXF or Crispy will correct me no doubt.

CharlieYork

Ooh I've heard of that! That's quite close isn't it?

I'm a Spanish teacher, from York and about to hand my notice in on Monday - scared of giving up the secure job and regular wage. Had the house since 2005 and a bit sick of paying for it and never living in it (we don't have a house in England). My boyfriend is Spanish, from Puerto Real, and we just thought it's now or never LET'S DO IT! Perhaps the recession was not the best time to choose to do it but nevermind!.....

Is it VERY hard to find a job/ get internet/ get whatever papers you need to work?

How about you? Do you like it? Is there still that English bar in Chiclana?

Cx

CharlieYork

Having read all that's said about internet connection on here - how worried should I be? I know I am going to miss my friends and family quite a bit and thought the internet (and British tv) would be a bit of a lifeline....

We have no landline - it's not urbanised.

Also does anyone have any information about the urbanisation costs/ fines?

crispy

Hi Charlie and welcome to BE, you will find me in Rana Verde near to the Florin roundabout. Will your OH be working here in Chiclana, if so what will he be doing, at least he won't have a language problem.

Not sure how much work there is in hyour line of work, do you hope to be taken on by one of the schools? There are some people here doing home teaching but I'm not sure if that would be enough to keep you going.

As Chiclanagorl says best to logon to www.mycadiz.biz and ask sosme of your questions there as well, there are a lot of peeps who post on there who don't come onto BE.

All the best to you and your OH, goodluck. Oh what Brit bar are you on about? The Lemon Tree is still going strong as is Nero's, The Matrix closed.

Dxf

Hi

The Fisherman's tavern closed several moons ago; There is now an English butchers near to where they were, and in Los Gallos there is "Mini Monopoly" a shop that sells English products.

There are many ex-pats in Chiclana - try your local venta and you will no doubt come across them.

You can have English TV via satellite, and there are two options for the internet, 3G from the mobile companies or a radio link from a local (British run) company. But it is not cheap, expect to pay 45 - 75 euros a month.

Urbanisation (if it EVER happens) could be in excess of 30 euros a square metre thats 45,000€ for my property! The original idea was that they could force an area to be urbanised after three years of legal haggling. Then you would take out a mortgage or similar to pay for it.

However in this climate of "crisis" !!! Urbanisation means whatever the council want to provide. There is insufficient water for Chiclana water to supply all 15,000 illegal houses with "town water" so your well will probably remain. The sewerage farms can not cope with the volume currently having received 4.5 Million euros to upgrade last year. (Hold your nose not your breath). so your septic tank will remain.
So you may get tarmaced roads, and maybe streetlighting. Oh and a much larger rates (IBI) demand. If you are lucky then Telefonica will have some spare lines but not enough for everyone!

Welcome to Chiclana

Davexf

Chiclanagir

I cannot help with the internet question but if you can speak fluent Spanish I would imagine you would get some sort of job. Anyway good luck.

Dxf

Hi

On re-reading the posts - the average wage is around 50 euros a day, but I know one Spanish guy, well known in the trade, that has just done 12 hours work for 36 euros, it was the only work this week he could pick up, therefore he said yes to it.

One in six people are unemployed (official statistics), and many people on the black that will do anything for cash in hand.

Reality check time - it takes a year to network, so have you sufficient cash in the bank to live for that amount of time?

I don't want to spoil your party, but more importantly, I want you to succeed, so be prepared

Davexf

bil

Damn but that is sound advice.

Mine would be similar for anyone in your shoes. Switch to survival mode. Cut spending to a minimum. Think before you spend anything, mend and make do. Think carefully before you throw anything away and eat frugally, shopping for food at the cheap end.

That will give you a far better chance of making it.

Best of luck.

crispy

Good post Bil, I have bought some dress pattern and intend to make some skirts to wear round the house out of old bed linen, so next time you see me I could be wearing a double quiltcover I make soup out of everything that is left over, I still have Christmas Dinner soup in the freezer mmmmmmmmmm might get that out for supper tomorrow

I would love to keep my well and septic tank if and when we get urbanised, we already have street lights and tarmac road that the communitity paid for about 8 years ago At the moment we pay 184 euros per year IBI, gone up from 124 euros in the last 6 years, expect it will be more this year. Posotive vibes only Charlie, nothing negative about Chiclana

bil

Thanks Chris,

We aerate our septic tank with a koi air pump I bought. The idea is to prevent a massive rancid crust forming which would interfere with our overflow system. Hopefully it will also mean that it will last longer between each cleaning out

Jan tells me that the plants are doing well. Hopefully that means I will have some interesting chilli plants for you.

Chiclanagir

Chilli plants - wayout. Can I have one too, pretty please?

bil

Sure. (Well, as long as Jan has remembered to water them!) You might need to jog my memory. I'll pm you my email addy. I'll be in Spain from the first of May to mid June. If you like to pop over, send me an email and I'll give you directions. It's pretty easy to find.

I'm trying out a range of types with an eye to selecting the more useful as well as the decorative. These are all seed grown, and should resemble what it says on the packet. Once I have a couple that I like, then I will propagate each year by cuttings, rather than seed so that I can keep them true. If they all survive there are possibly 40 types growing by now.