Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Well done for getting us all back on topic :thumbup:

Unfortunately there are too many people like you say who are - well gullible is not the best word, eager to believe is probably the best way. They hear what they want to hear, and I'm afraid not everyone will have asked those mental questions as you did, instead they are already mentally decorating their new home and planning their first barbie!

My original point is that these types of programmes showed that you didn't necessarily have to be on a high income to be able to afford property in Spain. This is true, and with the favourable exchange rates at the time, it was relatively easy to do and very enticing for many I'm sure. However, the ability to buy is only one component of the story. Living here and having to find a sustainable income is a lot different, and I'm afraid to say that I've seen too many who didn't make that mental leap - or at least didn't give too much thought to it - when watching those shows.

So we saw here a massive influx of Brits, and now we are seeing them peel away (no pun intended).

Interesting footnote: the couple who appeared in one of the earlier Place in the Sun shows and feature in the book who moved to the Costa de la Luz are now back in Blighty

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

All very true. A lot of people forget that there is a lot more to do with moving abroad than a damn good deal on a nice property in the sun.

All the 'stuff' you illustrate, job, security, health cover etc, yep, that too, plus a lot think they can do it without learning the language or integrating worth a damn.

There is tho one other thing to consider. Brits on the whole do not transplant well. The figure I see most often quoted is that within 3 years 70% of us return home. What is really interesting is that this figure also applies to people who move out of their area but stay within the UK.

Friend of mine went up to Sky, he always wanted to, and on his retirement he did just that. Two years later he was back. Said he missed East Anglia, specifically the are N of Cambridge, which frankly has never struck me as being amongst the most scenic in Britain.

(For those of you unfamiliar with the area the following words might help. Flat. Wet. Grey. )

So, in short, I think that homesickness also plays a bigger part than any of us realise. Even for East Anglia.

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Is it really as high as 70%? That's quite a lot. Read an article this morning that over 40,000 left Britain in 2006. So we should see a good 28,000 disappear in the next 12 months!!! Good news for Tee Times!

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Well, like I say, that's the figure I see most quoted. I have heard that the single largest group of 'immigrants' entering Britain are expats, which would lend support to that view.

One article I read did say that 1 Brit in every 3 has actually given it some serious thought.

WRTo the homesickness, look how often when Brits went abroad they immediately tried to create a little Britain wherever they went. I'm thinking of the pictures of English 'villages' in the tea areas of India. They look as if they were simply shifted from the UK and dropped into place.

Plus look at the scorn with which anyone was treated if they dared to 'go native'.

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Good point.

Those bloody english even did that to Wales. Came in with their bloody Welsh Nots, changing village names because they couldn't pronounce them - Tylerstown, Wattstown etc - beat the language out of us and what did they give us??? Bloody tea. At least the Italians who settled in South Wales gave us ice cream and good pasta, the Asians good food and the Afro Carribeans gave us Shirly Bassey.

What did we get? TEA and they even had to rob that

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

WRTo the homesickness, look how often when Brits went abroad they immediately tried to create a little Britain wherever they went. I'm thinking of the pictures of English 'villages' in the tea areas of India. They look as if they were simply shifted from the UK and dropped into place.

Plus look at the scorn with which anyone was treated if they dared to 'go native'.[/QUOTE]

Its also interesting that a large number of Indians are moving bact to India for a better quality of life and better child education!!

Rgds

Rotor

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Ditto Poles, a lot are all off home.

The British/English Empire was not particularly nice, and we did a lot of morally reprehensible things out there. Just like all the other empire builders.

Mind you, I think that very few people can have such power and not exploit it. It truly does corrupt, and I bet that if there had been a Welsh empire, they too would have done some very nasty things in its wake.

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

The sheep would be even more nervous than they are now. ;-))

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Bitchy, bitchy!

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

No, Ewey, Ewey ;)

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Well I want to put in a vote for 'Place in the Sun' It may be unrealistic but for me its pure escapism. Nothing better than curling up and dreaming of sunny skies and picking your favorite property, and choosing what colour cushions you would have.

Without dreams life would be very miserable.

Although we are planning to make the move to Spain next year, we are doing as much as possible to be sensible, ensure we have a regular income, trying to learn Spanish before we get there and research our region of choice, I feel that everyone has to make their own choices. Yes its a risk but so is life.

I am going to be shouted at now, (honest advice and opinion on here is much appreciated) but there are some people who appear to have made it (from their locations) but who are very critical of those who tried and failed or intend to try. Clearly they must have risked it themselves at some point (there are never guarantees that it will work)

I'd rather try and possibly fail than spend the rest of my life wishing I'd been braver.

I fully support the advice that preparation and being realistic is essential but you can't always forsee every eventuality and perhaps a little more praise for trying, rather than the chorus of 'we told you so' might be nice.

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Not totally fair. I don't think anyone on here would dream of saying 'I told you so', in fact the comments to people who try and fail are almost entirely supportive.

You will get people giving advice that verges on the 'don't do it' when someones ideas seem unresearched or unrealistic, but that's about as far as it goes.

I would think that everyone on here would take the attitude that you have to pursue your dreams, and we would certainly say better to have tried and lost, we would just like to see people plan properly so that less end up failing.

As for P.I.S., I certainly watch it, if only to see blue skies and warm my hands on the screen.

Sad, innit?

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Ok well perhaps I was a bit harsh (or I am a bit sensitive). I suppose I am a bit of a dreamer but we are trying hard to get to Spain, as are many others. The UK really is in a bad way at the moment, never known it to be so bad.

Maybe Its also because I just read this thread from the beginning in one go and there seems to be an opinion (pages 1 and 2) that everyone is failing because they are being completely unrealistic, don't want to learn Spanish and are all either spending all day by their pools pickled in rum and cokes or glued to Eastenders in ghettos of englishness and expecting to walk into a well paid job.

We are not all like that.....
OK rant over.....sorry, don't mean to offend.

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

Well, to be fair, I bet there are more 'Benidorm' Brits, than integrated Spanish speaking ones......

Look at how many people go there and never get a grip on the language. :blink:

Re: Place in the Sun has a lot to answer for
 

I'm happy actually. I do wish I knew one or two expats, but I find my Spanish friends make up for that. Myself and my Spanish partner were wondering the other day why the people in our building were not more friendly towards us. I mean they say 'hello' but they seem a bit surpised when ever they see us. As it turns out, the rented flat belonged to a wife beater which lead to un-rental payment and ended with the police knocking down the door at 4am one morning. So it might take a while for the people in our building to forgive!. Your right the Spanish are a funny lot. We spent Sunday in Montanejos, my partner's sister took her small dog who was quite happy just to splash around in the shallows of the river despite a big sign warning, no dogs, no tables, no chairs, no food, no naked flames.

Anyway after an hour of splashing a policemen came over and told us to tie the dog up or he would fine us 100 euros, what annoyed me is he walked past a family, who had reported the dog as loose who were sitting on their chairs, resting aganist their table, eating their own food which had been cooked over a gas cooker and he didnt say anything and he completely ignored the man sitting next us smoking pot.

My first thought was to to complain, after watching the same policemen finishing a larger and then getting back on his bike. But I was told not to because that kind of thing is not done in Spain. I suppose its a case of 'do as I do' But I'm glad I live in a small community, it might just take peopel a bit longer to expect us.