and many forget the other part that goes with young families, relationships.

living the dream is fine to get a large house on a large property up an unmade track, sometimes at 45degs slope, when you light the fire and send smoke signals to your nearest neighbour. But when you have to get the kids to the main road to be picked up by the bus, meet them when the bus drops them off, get the 4x4 out everytime they want to go anywhere, meet up with their friends, pick them up in the evening. Then there is the 2hrs plus to the airport to catch a flight, or pick up from.
this leads to strained relationships all round, something I have seen a number of times in the short time I have lived here.

come on folks whose dream and whose nightmare ??

Then live in the middle of a city like we do. We love it!

Loads to see and do, can walk 15 minutes to anywhere, huge park next door

And five years in Spain and we both have lots of work and earning well!

If I walk for 15 minutes I will have left the country

We live in the campo ( no mud track ) and really enjoy it.

I guess every body has their own idea of where they would like to live.

Tony

That is why its so important to think everything through and the implications of where you live and the future when you move anywhere but more so when you move to another country far away from your family! Yes you can become mums taxi service for a few years, but equally when you are getting old and develop a health problem living in another country is also no fun, or if you have to have an operation and your family are far away its scary for you but terrifying for them this is happening with my niece at the moment her dad is here and needs surgery but she cannot get the time off, she is worried sick, he feels guilty.

Well thats us here in the UK But when we move want to be closure to village but for us that will be a big change
need new neighbours!!!!!
yep my idea of hell is a flat/apartment no outside space no views i could go on

yep this is what we have to give the biggest consideration to even though i have said i love rural/views etc we need to be thinking long term


Whats good for one is not good for another.

Why do you have no views or outdoor space in a city?

We have five balconies and 20,000m2 of park straight out of our door. And a couple of square kms of pedestrain only city with every shop and restaurant you could ever need!

Anyone wanting to enjoy the sun in a rural idyll is welcome to come round here and get a taste of reality!

It has rained almost incessantly for 48 hours, we've had at least four thunderstorms, the power is going on and off all the time, half the vegetable plot has been washed away or buried under mud, three of my hens have disappeared presumed drowned, I've run out of clean clothes, and its forecast to keep raining for another day at least.

I am not a happy bunny! Thank god for the cheap booze ...

this is how bad it is...... if you don't believe us, perhaps you'll believe facts & figures from the International Press

it's still a lovely place to live if you have a decent income

but for the young there isn't much future - & if you don't have work there's little chance of finding any

my 16 year old daughter is considering returning to the UK next year to continue her education - something we never thought would happen, but the education system here is in crisis

my Spanish landlord's son (who has 3 degrees) is working as a gardener............ in Germany - after being unemployed here for 3 years

I could tell you of so many more like that

but as I said earlier - Spain is our home & we still love it

A point that I've never seen made on here, is that an incredible one in three Spanish children go to fee paying schools - compare that to only 7% in the UK

Basically, anyone who can afford to pay for their children's education do so

There are some good completely free schools but the PP is completely squeezing the life out of them financially. I never thought I would pay for education (it is against my principals), but we are getting to the point where it would be irresponsible of us not to

As for the long term future. I dont worry about my chidrens' future at all. There are opportunities in every country, and time changes everything. The important thing is that stand out from the crowd

yours are much younger than mine though - mine are both teenagers

atm we're happy for my 13 year old to stay at the IES she currently attends - the teaching team is very dedicated (most of them, anyway) & she is happy & doing well there - but if it came to it then I would consider private education too

for my 16 year old though, the issue is much more immediate - yes, she could stay here & do bachi, then on to uni either here or in the UK - but she can't do the course she wants at uni here, so it sort of makes sense to do A levels in the UK (the International schools nearby don't do the A levels she wants either ) & start working towards what she wants to do sooner rather than later


which doesn't mean that she wouldn't return to Spain eventually

I have no plans to return to the UK either - but I have spent several years building my business here, to the point that it's doing well - it wouldn't makes sense on any level to leave our home

Very good point........i stand corrected

I Dont need a taste of rural idle as i have lived all my life in rural areas. My chooks think they are ducks, we loose power on a regular basis
Rural life anywhere takes a certain type of person to live the country life, As it takes all sorts to live in all sorts of locations

Yes, at least you can get hammered cheaply and forget about it. Well, for a short while. Even touring around Andalucia over many years, yes we've certainly had some good weather, and we've had some awful weather. Rain of biblical proportions, having to drive miles around because whole roads are washed away. It was only a few weeks ago 10 people died because of the floods. I can remember a few years ago in Almuñecar, guy was trapped and drowned in his garage, whole bridges washed away. At least you tell it like it is, most seem to be in denial, they are convinced it´s sunshine 365 days a year. And most Spanish houses are like friggin´fridges!

Who are all these people who are convinced that it is sunny 365 days a year in Spain or anywhere...... Do they come on these boards, are these people you meet when you are out and about. I have the intelligence to realise that it can rains in Spain, it can get cold in Spain that the summers can be unbearable, that horrendous flooding/landslides etc can happen. All these people that you know in denial must be very odd.......can they not read etc. Where do they live in a parallel universe.........are they in denial in spain or elsewhere... in denial

I remember a poster here a few years ago who accused us of lying when we told him that we get 'biblical proportion rains' as agoreira called them............. & even snow

photos from the national govt. weather website eventually convinced him.................... I think