I'm trying to decide if I'm leaning more to total apathy or not giving a ****.

I have been unable to settle, such is my concern at giving you the quality of answer your enquiry deserves. I have therefore just taken tea, and had a shit - it was whilst doing the latter of these two that further to my previous reply I realised that that is precisely what I don't give about foreigners who come to England either out of choice or desperation.
I don't feel the need to question their motives, nor worry about what they might be missing out on.
I accept that their beliefs are different to mine, that they may feel more comfortable living in an area that is marjoritively populaced by people similar to themselves. I do get a little pissed off when I hear about the handouts etc that they receive and the help they are given because they do not speak the language - but I get pissed off at lots of things - only the other day I found myself getting in quite a state after speaking to someone who sounded like he was from southern Europe who was so far up his own arse he could see yesterdays dinner, and so full of contradictions, I didn't know whether to believe a word he said, I doubt he could lie straight in bed to be honest......... but I digress.
Also I never mentioned in any of my posts, nor would I, that I feel "distain" for anything about Spain, why you chose to use such an emotive word I don't know?

I hope this fully satisfies your curious bent - but should you continue to be concerned about my feelings about anything, please do feel free to ask - I'd like to think people considering moving to Spain have alot to learn from me.

'Vissenc diifers greatly from Catala in so much as the difference between mainstream Catala and Valenciano, Mallorquin and Menorquin. Having lived on Eivissa for only 6 years I can tell the difference between the distinct dialects of Menorca and Eivissa. Coincidentally, Corsican is also quite similar.

All regional differences aside, I would suggest to anyone moving to Spain to try and learn a little Castellano beforehand as it is the most widely spoken language in Spain.

Everyone speaks Castellano, but some..mostly Separatists, will refuse to speak it (until they have to deal with Madrid). Buy a book and some language tapes or go on a language course. Be aware however that I was told by a girl in our office that if i wanted to improve my Castellano I should never live in Andalucia!!!!!!! Needless to say the young lady in question was from Madrid!!!

Not really concerned about your feelings on anything just curious,looks to me like usual hypocrisy.With regard to learning anything,dont think I've ever seen a post of yours that I though was even halfway usefull.

Also If you going to post on an English speaking forum please use correct spelling and punctuation

Is this sniping pertinent to the thread?

I agree with many of the posts.
Having been here for about a year now we have learnt a lot which we would have been grateful if someone had told us before we came.
Yes, speaking enough Spanish to get by is important.
Yes, have enough money and then some for the unexpected, like our septic tank collapsing and needing replacement and the infestation of termites.
Getting work is very hard and people seem to have to work harder here for less money, if you are not on pensions as we are get used to the idea of hard work.
We purchased out house without an NIE number and have now been fined 1100 euros by the land registry for the late registration.
DO NOT follow the route of under declaring the value of your house to try to save tax, even if you seem to get away with it they will probably catch up with you and fine you some time in the future.
Buy your car in Spain - we thought we were being clever buying LHD in England and then had to remove the tow bar to get a brand new car through the MOT and then paid 900 euros for Spanish registration.
The weather and the lifestyle are great, but we do feel that we have been taken for a ride and fleeced over some things; if you cannot take this don't come.

The underdeclaring is still prevalent in some areas, but it is being tightened up. The down side of it is if you later sell the property and have to declare full value, you could then be hit hard for capital gains.

There are ways to legally minimise C Gains, wealth tax and so on, but as always the best bet is stay legal and use a qualified professional advisor.

There are a lot of people who buck the system, work undeclared, do everything in cash, and get away with it.

HOWEVER, get caught and the costs could be very high indeed.

To Janet West - once again one can see how different Catalunia is to the rest of Spain. Here, you cannot buy a house without having first obtained an NIE number - the banks involved will demand it; the Notary is bound by law to make sure you understand what's going on so he will provide a translator in your own language; the declared sale price of a house is always twice the Cadastral value (shown in your IBI receipt for last year) and not the full price; and if importing a car made in the EU (and you have the documentation) it would NEVER cost you anything like €900 ! But why import it anyway ? Many German, French and Dutch business here on Catalunia all keep their vehicles on their foreign registrations.

From reading many posts from the rest of Spain, it is so different it looks like a foreign country to me !

All driving illegally.

Why illegally ? If you're an EU citizen in Spain there's no Residencia any more...... No Residencia, no "legally being here" or "not legally being here".

He was talking more of the fact they are probably driving foreign registered cars.

Not really understanding you?
There is residencia, by law now since the beginning of last year

There is a residencia still that everyone has to apply for, although it is a sheet of paper now rather than a card.
It is also illegal for a European host country resident to own and drive a foreign plated car unless it is in the process of matriculation.
There is also a time limit on how long a foreign car can be in Spain without being matriculated.
Just letting you know so that you don`t whinge if you get your car cubed.

As I am in the middle of rematriculating a vehicle to Spanish plates, I assure you that it is illegal to keep a non-Spanish plated vehicle on the roads in Spain for more than 6 months in any one year. It is also illegal for an UK insurance company, to cover the risks of a UK plated car in Spain for more than 6 months. However, a lot of people have got away with it for years and still get away with, at least for the time being. How does anybody else know for sure how long your vehicle has been in Spain? With the new penal code to be enforced from 1 May this year, we can expect a general tightening of enforcement in this direction. It is true that the old residencia card for non-Spanish EU citizens no longer exists but you are obliged to get a NIE after only 3 months in Spain and it is this certificate which is being used as equivalent to residencia although strictly they are quite different things. Beware also that whilst your non-Spanish EU driving licence must be recognised in Spain even if you are fully resident in Spain, they cannot insist that you change to a Spanish licence but you do have to follow the same rules as if you had a Spanish licence. I posted elsewhere on my experience of that one. Did you know that under the old Spanish law, driving without a licence was a minor misdemeanour but under the new penal code it is a criminal offence. It is reported that thousands of Spanish nationals are driving around without licences and you can bet your last euro-cent that come 1 May the Guardia will step up their checks on vehicle and driver papers.

A good quality kettle trust me you will rule the day you did not include it because a good quality kettle is as rare as rocking horse doo doos in Spain