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What strange items do you take away

What strange items do you take away

Old Aug 9th 2017, 5:55 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

Originally Posted by MikeJ
I thought your duck had died?
I wondered how long it would be before someone noticed, well done you.

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Old Aug 9th 2017, 5:58 pm
  #17  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

Originally Posted by Retired in Euskadi
"You can easily get most of those items from our local supermarket along with the Iceland shop. Most of our Spanish supermarkets sell Cadbury choc, marmite, Oxo,Melton Mowbray pork pie from Iceland etc.
Where do you live, on the moon??� ����"

No, a bit nearer; Euskadi, aka Euskal Herria, aka The Basque country.
There are none of those products listed to be found here, nor an Iceland. And I'm quite happy that there isn't! After all, the longer you do without them, the better they taste when you purchase them!

It's great here; we have mountains covered in trees, green fields, hot weather in summer, water in abundance, excellent food & wine, fresh fish from the Atlantic, a weird language (Basque, not Spanish), pintxos that put the tapas of the south in the shade, an hour's drive from France,and plenty of employment (tho' I'm retired).
But no Branston pickle.

And the Costas? Iceland/similar shops, corruption, too much sun, too many tourists, sky rise hotels, parched countryside, half-full reservoirs, air conditioning, unemployment, umpteen restaurants catering for tourists with predictable menus.

I rest my case!!

PS: you ought to visit this area; if nothing else, it'll make you long for an English breakfast when you return home.

PPS: many Basques go to Benidorm in the winter and in a certain street (known as calle de 'coño' because they say "coño, que haces tu aqui) there are several Basque bars & restaurants.
Sounds like a very nice part of the world where you live and would make a nice quiet holiday destination for us that are blessed with living where we do here in Benidorm as we feel the same about our area as you do yours.
I don't fully agree with your summing up of the Costas. We live on the outskirts of town and it can be unusually quiet at times even the high season. Believe it or not it's very unusual for the permanent residents to go to the club area or indeed have full English breakfast on any regular basis.

Apologies for the comment about the moon but as you point out, you are closer to it than we are 😁

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Old Aug 9th 2017, 6:03 pm
  #18  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

Originally Posted by bobd22
I wonder what spanish people would make of Marmite on toast?
Yuk...
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Old Aug 9th 2017, 7:12 pm
  #19  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

No problems Tebo.
Vive la difference.
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Old Aug 9th 2017, 8:52 pm
  #20  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

The only thing I take over with me is extra strong tea bags to last my stay. Although I can get some British tea bags from likes of Eroski , Mercado a but I do like Sainsbury's extra strong fair trade ones. I can't get away with spainsh tea too weak .
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Old Aug 10th 2017, 12:37 pm
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

We're still at the stage of a month in UK, a month in Spain. So when we're in Spain it's not too hard to do without Marmite or Coleman's Mustard or Branston for a few weeks. But we do have to take our own tea (Yorkshire), the stuff available in Spain doesn't compare even when it claims to be Best of British.
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Old Aug 10th 2017, 6:50 pm
  #22  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

We take bottles of cook-sauces eg dolmio, currys, chilli etc. There don't seem to be the same variety in Spanish shops, I guess they mostly cook from scratch. . Good mince and chicken is easy to get and so we can have quick tasty meals without interfering too much with the drinking time.
And from the OH's perspective even I can turn out nice meals

Mind you we usually drive over so have plenty of room
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Old Aug 13th 2017, 12:09 pm
  #23  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

600 Senior Service ciggies. Cant find em down here.
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Old Aug 13th 2017, 12:41 pm
  #24  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

To be honest I take more things back home from Spain than I take to Spain. The spare suitcase is full of foods, bits and pieces find hard to get in UK, and if can find them either not as good or twice the price.
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Old Aug 13th 2017, 1:09 pm
  #25  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

Originally Posted by casa del sol
To be honest I take more things back home from Spain than I take to Spain. The spare suitcase is full of foods, bits and pieces find hard to get in UK, and if can find them either not as good or twice the price.
I know I take half of Mercadona back; olive oil with the 'popup' spout, tomato jam, runny honey MacDonald's tomato sauce for my grandson, the whole range of their Stylius hair products. Husband insists on bringing bars of the Heno Pravia bath soap as he likes the 'proper' size, not to mention the wine and spirits.... in fact the car is always full to bursting.
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Old Aug 13th 2017, 3:19 pm
  #26  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

Originally Posted by Bridie55
I know I take half of Mercadona back; olive oil with the 'popup' spout, tomato jam, runny honey MacDonald's tomato sauce for my grandson, the whole range of their Stylius hair products. Husband insists on bringing bars of the Heno Pravia bath soap as he likes the 'proper' size, not to mention the wine and spirits.... in fact the car is always full to bursting.
True, we generally stop at Carrefour in Santander to fill any remaining spaces in the car. My preference is for Kaz Bitter
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Old Aug 16th 2017, 4:52 pm
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

Ryvita - Original!
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Old Aug 17th 2017, 4:01 pm
  #28  
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

Originally Posted by Bridie55
I know I take half of Mercadona back; olive oil with the 'popup' spout, tomato jam, runny honey MacDonald's tomato sauce for my grandson, the whole range of their Stylius hair products. Husband insists on bringing bars of the Heno Pravia bath soap as he likes the 'proper' size, not to mention the wine and spirits.... in fact the car is always full to bursting.
....good point so much lately is shrinking in the UK.....would love to be able to buy the large size bath soaps of imperial leather, they are no longer available for some reason....at the moment can still get to buy the large 1 or 2 litre bath soak/foam bath in Spain everything now in uk comes in 750 ml or less, often only 500ml, packets getting smaller, a kind of hidden form of inflation.

Generally will take back old sheeps cheese, black pudding and chorizo, fresh garlic, olives and olive oil, spanish ham the proper stuff, paella rice which can be used to make an excellent risotto, some of the stock cubes can also be very good, their raw nuts, almonds and walnuts etc are good value for money.
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Old Aug 17th 2017, 4:13 pm
  #29  
 
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

I used to usually take a few tools away with me - plain and Phillips screwdrivers, watchmakers screwdriver, locking pliers, utility knife, maybe a couple of other things. ..... I have left a number of hotel rooms, mostly in Italy, in a better state of repair than when I arrived.

I also lent tools to a coach driver to fix something on the coach, such as releasing the VCR from its bracket to get to the wiring connections, on a couple of occasions.

Last edited by Pulaski; Aug 17th 2017 at 4:16 pm.
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Old Aug 17th 2017, 4:23 pm
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Default Re: What strange items do you take away

Originally Posted by Pulaski
I used to usually take a few tools away with me - plain and Phillips screwdrivers, watchmakers screwdriver, locking pliers, utility knife, maybe a couple of other things. ..... I have left a number of hotel rooms, mostly in Italy, in a better state of repair than when I arrived.

I also lent tools to a coach driver to fix something on the coach, such as releasing the VCR from its bracket to get to the wiring connections, on a couple of occasions.
Likewise- mainly "re calibrating" ill fitting bath / sink plugs!
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