This weekend the poor French will try to bend old Gordon's arm up his back for over 300 billion . Anyway the pound appears to be making a little headway against the Euro you can check it daily below. Sorry to mini hijack I didn't want to start another thread. Ohhhhh and how God strikes in mysterious ways after thirteen years.................... OJ Simpson guilty and will be going away for life..............



http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/f.../one_month.stm

In Barcelona it seems the locals are spend, spend, spending!!! Crisis or no crisis - they certainly don't seem to want to save for a rainy day. They are much like the majority of Brits really... running up credit bills left, right and centre...

I think the Brits are slowly begining to learn their lesson. I think last Christmas in the UK they gave it the we will pay in Jan routine but now I think belts have been tightened and people are really concerned about their financial wellbeing
I hear there is a sale a DFS now that shows you things are bad Their sales remind me of the gerbils tread mill will it ever end.

I am not sure Brits are so much learning a lesson as finding credit has dried up. As soon as credit becomes more readily available, I suspect people will revert to their normal behaviours.

Although as a nation we may need to re-establish a savings culture, as an individual it makes no sense at all, with interest rates held below the rate of inflation. So long as the Government is intent upon sucking more people into the housing market at any price, it is difficult to see how that can change.

My point was more that from what I observe of the local people in Barcelona, (and the discussion I had with one of the directors of a large bank here in Barcelona) that people here dont save - they just wait for the good times to roll in and then they spend, spend, spend!

It's definetely worse than in England when it comes to saving for a rainy day. In fact, his point of view was that this is one of the reasons why the Spanish economy grows so fast, but also deflates like an unrisen cake in the oven when things turn bad!

But they have no rent to pay they live with mummy until they are 45 and living in the capital wages tend to be higher. I live close to a small fishing village and notice the boats are going out less because of diesel costs. I think Spain will have problems in the coming months as the credit here is restricted as in the UK. But here property is not the be all and end all of life as it is in the UK

You can tell me if you think I am talking utter drivel but....

There does seem to be a ratio of wealth:happiness in the world.

The poorer a country is, the happier its people seem to be! My husband is from Colombia, and his people were recently voted the happiest in the world!

Maybe it`s all the smoke drifting about. ;-))

Must be the cocaine blocking out the reality of it also being one of the most dangerous country`s in the world!! Was the survey taken amongst one of the cartels employee`s

That would be a plausible explanation - if only the locals took the stuff!!!!!!

They don't... the teenagers in Spain, Uk and America do.

I think they suck on coca leaves dont they?
Colombia's per capita murder rate is 55 murders per 100,000 inhabitants—this is almost nine times higher than that of the United States
Still, murder is not the only concern one should have when in Colombia, ransom kidnappings occur more often in Colombia than in any other country in the world—around 3,000 per year
Great place if you want to be body guard but not for family holidays

Es verdad...looking distinctly 'British' and 'wealthy' could get you into all kinds of trouble if you strayed too far from the well trodden path...

Maybe we could test my theory.....hmmmmm....i wonder.....fancy a two week holiday to the mountainous/jungle areas of Colombia, Rotor????

My guess i that you fit the bill quite well!!!!

If you want a chaperone I`m up for it but it will cost you $US500 per day plus expenses each and you will need four of us