Originally Posted by JLFS (Post 9268225)

What a nice turn of phrase.....:)

Originally Posted by maggie54 (Post 9267684)

Hi! just joined, and I've already had very negative remarks about moving to spain! I regret joining now! It can't be that bad waking up to sunshine 8 months of the year?! What's so good about the UK anyway? maybe all the benefits everybody seems to abuse here. I have worked all my life, never afraid to 'get my hands dirty', but here as I watch all single girls with 3-4 babies with different fathers, people claiming benefits one day, and the next playing golf!! Spain is looking after itself by apploying spanish people first, nothing wrong with that! I work in a hotel at present, where polish and people
from other east european countries have or had more or less ' taken over'.
4 employees has been redundant or have had to cut their hours down because of the influx of east european workforce! No wonder Britain is in trouble- I could see this happening 10 years ago, and I was not wrong.
Anyway, if anybody has got something positive to say about moving to Spain, please replay to this message, so I can feel a bit happier in my decision to move. BE HAPPY :)

Originally Posted by JLFS (Post 9268138)

You do actually get dole when you lose your job, but only according to what you have paid into the SS.

Although I agree that there is a lot of scroungers and lay abouts in the UK, and quite honestly I did begrudge paying my taxes to help support the "professional" bums, I still find that I am still shocked when I hear some of the hard luck stories about people losing jobs in Spain.

I would have thought that you would have the same feelings as me, as you live in a mainly Spanish community, and would see lots of genuine cases of real need amonst the locals, who may have fallen on hard times due to crisis, ilness or whatever.

Originally Posted by Lynn R (Post 9268997)

My god, I sound like a Tory - which I'm not. I believe in the old maxim "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need".

Originally Posted by licinius (Post 9268806)

You hit the nail on the head Maggie, the only thing Britain has going for it is the benefits system. people will always moan but who cares, just look after number 1 & trust me you will love life in Spain.

Originally Posted by Lynn R (Post 9268997)

It's strange to read of someone wishing to leave the UK to make what they see as a better life for themselves in another country, whilst resenting those who have gone to the UK for exactly the same reasons.

Originally Posted by maggie54 (Post 9267741)

Hi! thanks for your replay, yes, maybe I have'grass is greener' syndrome, but if I don't try, I will never know. Life is short, and it's a lot nicer to wake up hungry to sunshine than to wind and rain. Most of the money Iam earning over the wintermonths (or nearly all year), seems to go to paying gas& el. bills. And what about waterrates!! I pay 46 pounds /month, and if I could use less than I do, I would have to stop washing myself and my clothes. I would not mind so much about the water, BUT IT IS RAINING 8 days out of ten here!! If the waterrates are higher in Spain I can understand that. At least I don't have to pay for single mothers there(I hope). I am sorry that you are so negative, but I am still trying to look positive to the future.
kind regards, Maggie54

Originally Posted by Lynn R (Post 9268997)

IMO it is the British education system which is failing our young people and not preparing them properly for the world of work - put this alongside the glorification of so-called celebrities and we end up with a lot of youngsters who are barely literate (in spite of the fact that some of them have been awarded degrees) and yet expect to be able to earn megabucks for very little effort. It grieves me to hear people saying they are not prepared to consider this or that job because "it's not what I really want to do". How many people do they think there are in the world who spend their lives doing what they really want to do, for heaven's sake? The ones who can are the lucky few, the rest of us recognise the need to earn a living and get on with it the best way we can.

Those of us who do not choose to live a life of idleness at the taxpayer's expense, that is. My god, I sound like a Tory - which I'm not. I believe in the old maxim "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". There are too many people around today who have forgotten the first part of the equation.

It's strange to read of someone wishing to leave the UK to make what they see as a better life for themselves in another country, whilst resenting those who have gone to the UK for exactly the same reasons.

Originally Posted by Mitzyboy (Post 9269041)

I do find that an amazing comment, and forgive me for saying .. maybe a little blinkered.

Originally Posted by agoreira (Post 9269077)

Is this not the man that still commutes back to a North Sea oil platform?:confused:

Originally Posted by jackytoo (Post 9269074)

The ones who settle in best are those who leave the UK because there is somewhere else they would prefer to live. Not leave because it's full if immigrants, benefit cheats or whatever.... If you do leave hating it and with the rose tints on then about 3 years down the line you will feel let down. Same shit different country. Infact for some there can even be more shit. When I read some posts about the UK I often wonder where they lived in the UK. Council flat in Bolton or somewhere:unsure: (apologies to Bolton, I don't know the place!)

There are some who have lived in Spain so long they don't see a way forward to get out. Instead they sit in bars whinging all the time and getting stressed out.

BTW sterling down again this morning, if on a UK income there is always a possibility it could reach parity.

Originally Posted by mikelincs (Post 9269057)

Don't forget, that unless you are employed or a pensioner you will have to pay for health services.

Originally Posted by bil (Post 9269062)

It's a hugely complex problem. For instance there's also this point. Why should you have to do a crap job for low wages when you see people getting huge bonuses for sod all.

Look at an average Joe, earning on average 25K per annum. He will have to work for 40 years to earn GROSS, the million pounds that was given to some of the banking class as a ******* bonus.

I remember the politicians telling nurses that they could only have a 6% rise, spread over 3, or was it more? years. The politicians then turned round and voted them selves a 30% rise effective immediately.

This kind of disparity does nothing to improve matters, and don't talk to me about the dignity of work, or the protestant work ethic. It's all claptrap and bullshit designed to keep the working man toeing the line and not complaining.

I've lived for a brief while 'at the state's expense' and it really wasn't a case of living in luxury, or anything approaching that, and I was damn glad that I had a job lined up, 'cos I'd hate to have to live on it, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by Mama_Carol (Post 9267877)

I never understand people who give the reason for coming to Spain as an immigrant that there are too many immigrants in the UK :frown:

At least most of the Polish immigrants in the UK speak or are learning English. Do you speak Spanish?

Originally Posted by maggie54 (Post 9269379)

:D

Si, habla espanol, and swedish, and norweigian, and german, and a little french!!
Saluda, maggie54:thumbsup:

Originally Posted by JLFS (Post 9269401)

Who speaks Spanish?:)

Originally Posted by Mataroni (Post 9269440)

When I first came over, my thoughts were, 'give it a try, if it doesn't work out you can always go back'.

As people said before there are positives and negatives about where ever you live.

I have to say though that the first 6 months can be very hard, especially if you don't know anyone in the area. My advice is to get out and about and speak to the locals, they'll be more than happy to help you. Ask them for advice and don't hide away in your home. If you have kids, they'll be a great help in getting involved with the community. You'll find that they don't mind helping you with the language, although you'll always find a few miserable 'beeps' who won't give you the time of day, but you find them everywhere.

Originally Posted by JLFS (Post 9269401)

Who speaks Spanish?:)

Originally Posted by Lynn R (Post 9269368)

Believe me, I have no time for greedy bankers, prima donna footballers or hypocritical politicians, either. But if we continue to think that it's OK for people to opt out of contributing to the upkeep of society because the alternative would be for them to have to endure an unfulfilling job, just who is going to be paying for them as more and more people start to think hang on, who is the idiot here, I'll have some of that as well.

I lost all patience with my stepson a few years ago when, after having studied music (great choice, how many people manage to make a career out of that) he refused to entertain the idea of applying for any job just to earn his own money for a change and actually said "I'm not going to work in a factory with all those brain dead people, it would do my head in". I told him I had a lot more respect for those brain dead people than I did for him, as it was the taxes they were paying that were subsidising his lifestyle. In his early '30s now he is working in a cinema whilst living with his mother and having his slacker lifestyle subsidised by her. More fool her.

Originally Posted by Leper (Post 9269677)

Today my calendar had a footnote "Talk is Cheap, until you talk to a Lawyer." Talk is cheap on here, but most gave their opinions honestly and hard earned. Maggie, you have the choice take the advice or leave it.

I dont say this in an untoward way because I have seen the results of ill-prepared emigration to Spain. You want to be fully positive forgetting any negativity, well then off you go. You have a lot going for you, use it to the best of your ability. And . . . best of luck to you, I hope you make it.

Originally Posted by celestine (Post 9267945)

I would agree that life is short and often to not take risks in life leads to regret, however to approach a new life with 'rose tinted specs' will only lead to heartache and disappointment. As people have previously posted the quality of life here will depend on many factors as will the cost of living and your lifestyle. The sun can be a wonderful thing to wake up to but the weather is not always favourable or pleasant and in the summer months you will spend most of your money trying to keep cool, whilst in the winter months attempting to keep warm. The cost of maintaining your home here is much higher as house maintenance is an annual event and much more time consuming due to the building materials used to construct the houses and the extremes in temperature. Living here is very different to venturing on to a plane to experience a relaxing holiday and the isolation can often be overpowering.

Your attitude to immigrants is stunning and as previous posts state you will become an immigrant once you leave the UK, not everyone here welcomes 'immigrants' here either!

Driving without due care and attention, speeding, drink driving, driving whilst disqualified or uninsured, using mobiles whilst in charge of a vehicle, drinking on the streets, drug use etc exist here too, they do not go away when the sun shines.

I hope that whatever choices you make turn out well for you and that life in the sun is all you expect, I think people who have attempted to live the dream are just trying to say that maybe a more realistic approach to your move is more advisable.

My final point refers to 'single mothers'. May I point out single mothers are not always single through choice and do not always exist on benefits, neither do they exist only in the UK. There are plenty of women raising children alone in Spain too!

Originally Posted by jackytoo (Post 9267747)

I think the Polish have been an asset to the UK. Many are working in hotels and catering and they are very hard working.

Originally Posted by maggie54 (Post 9267684)

Hi! just joined, and I've already had very negative remarks about moving to spain! I regret joining now! It can't be that bad waking up to sunshine 8 months of the year?! What's so good about the UK anyway? maybe all the benefits everybody seems to abuse here. I have worked all my life, never afraid to 'get my hands dirty', but here as I watch all single girls with 3-4 babies with different fathers, people claiming benefits one day, and the next playing golf!! Spain is looking after itself by apploying spanish people first, nothing wrong with that! I work in a hotel at present, where polish and people
from other east european countries have or had more or less ' taken over'.
4 employees has been redundant or have had to cut their hours down because of the influx of east european workforce! No wonder Britain is in trouble- I could see this happening 10 years ago, and I was not wrong.
Anyway, if anybody has got something positive to say about moving to Spain, please replay to this message, so I can feel a bit happier in my decision to move. BE HAPPY :)

Originally Posted by JLFS (Post 9269998)

Just a thought, are you 54 or were born in 1954, because if this is about your age, finding a jobe will be more difficult I should imagine, and if you go self employed you will be paying your self employed SS, but not get a pension at the end of it because you will not be able to clock up enough years, to get the Spanish pension in its own right, and it would have to be calculated in the British one, which might hurt your pocket in the future

Originally Posted by Sally Redux (Post 9270006)

Surely she would not consider becoming part of the British influx taking Spanish jobs, it would be slightly hypocritical.