"I'll just come out with it. I think most of them are just too idle to do it and don't consider it important enough to justify the effort." I think this is unfair. Some people left school with few qualifications even if they included a language and have had no further education since then. It then comes a bit hard with all the influences of age to do something that you have never done before (or at least a long time ago). How many expats do you know who come into the further educated category?

Of course that is the issue

British expats tend to be uneducated and ignorant compared to immigrants from other countries, and compared to the Spanish population

That is exactly what a headteacher at an international school on the CDS told me. She said that British students do worse than those of other nationalities because their parents are uneducated but "living the dream" in Spain.

Something to do with the council house sell off and incessant property increases in the UK that have funded these Spanish adventures

I think you need to be more precise before you categorise all British expats as uneducated and ignorant.

A very large number of expats are retired and had very good jobs and a university education. In fact 90% of my friends are university graduates.

If you are referring to the many younger people who come to Spain because they fancy working in the sun and who never had a decent job in the UK then that is an entirely different case.

From my experience, it is the latter group who are "going home" in droves rather than the former group who usually only go "home" in a box.

Thats me then.. Every where i go they speak English to me.. I give up learning Spanish.. The wife is learning it and its hard for her to do.. If we need anything important we would get someone to come with us..

I take it you do not put yourself in that category.

Exactly- what a supercilious, arrogant remark from Cricketman, particularly his comment regarding those who had Council houses in UK.

He's a plastic Spaniard who used to live in Benalmadena so that'll be where he got his views of expats - presumably the ones he used to hang with.

Treat him as a source of amusement.

Even with his nasty hat on, Cman has something to say which is relevant to us expats. He is disappointed because after committing himself totally to his new country, he is severely upset that it seems to be languishing in negative practices of many years ago, without any sign of improvement whatsoever.

I've lived in Spain much longer than he has and I'm just as disappointed with many developments, or lack of them,

Here's an example, about four hours old. My wife ordered something from Amazon and while we were out shopping today, the Spanish delivery service, the biggest one I think, MRW, tried to deliver our parcel while we were out.

She phoned them when we returned, she is totally fluent in Spanish having lived here for most of her life, and I listened to the conversation on talk through, a conversation with a totally rude Spanish employee of MRW, rudeness which we have come to expect from Spanish companies over the years.

The silly Spanish woman said that we would have to collect the parcel from their depot, a hundred miles away. After one failed attempt to deliver it without notice.

That kind of thing has happened many, many times during our many years in Spain. You learn to avoid such situations, laugh at bureaucratic Spanish rudeness, but eventually it gets to you.

Who the **** do they think they are?

On the specific point of language education I would have thought he was correct. So very few British people with English as a first language have even a basic knowledge of a foreign language.

Whatever side you are on, this is like a breath of fresh air!

People that are are having a proper go at each other again.

There's me thinking that BE was becoming sedated!

I agree with you HBG.
In the UK it has become 'the norm' to promote equal rights for immigrants.
If a person working for a UK government agency (or even a private Co) was seen to be obstructive or unhelpful to a 'non Brit' they would be severely reprimanded. The UK takes these matters very seriously (or stupidly).

Generally, Spain couldn't give a toss.
Not to say that there aren't people who care, but it's not the norm.

Similar story here, no attempt at delivery by MRW, instead I was told to collect from the local depot. I did, swearing constantly at the top of my voice in English (I don't know any swear words in Spanish(thank God)).

At home I emailed the original supplier about my dissatisfaction with their delivery service and copied it to Amazon.

I got profuse apologies from both and my delivery charge refunded.

From then on they deliver to the door, or explain why not to Amazon.

We have discussed this before on here so some will have read that my personal experience with MRW is vastly different. When Graham was ill and in an out of hospital he could not go out to the shops so would order loads of things from Amazon, all delivered by MRW. Many, many times we were in the hospital when the delivery arrived and all of the delivery men gave the parcels to my neighbour across the road. One parcel was delivered a couple of days after Graham died and the delivery man did not ring my bell but went straight to my neighbour to ask whether we were home or in hospital. The neighbour told him what had happened and said that he would take the parcel in but the guy refused as he wanted to give me his condolences. I think that I am one of the lucky ones with this company in so far as the workers seem to be really human.

Rosemary

Rosemary, I share your positive views on MRW. We have had a very large number of deliveries over the last few years and their service is 100%.

We live in the Campo and are happy to jump in the car to meet them 5 minutes away at the local service station. We always get a call from them and if we are out they leave a message and we call back to arrange another delivery.

That said, almost all these delivery companies rely on small local people to manage the last step of the process on a franchise basis. Basically any "man with a van" can apply. As a result the service you get is entirely dependant on the local man.

If you are not getting the service you expect, a complaint to the supplier will probably have a profound effect as there is no shortage of other people to take up the franchise.

Also I find their site very user friendly so I always look to see when a parcel is due to arrive and can then plan my day around it as they seem to come between 9.30 and 10.30. Saying that a couple of times when a parcel has come a day earlier than expected I have had a delivery in the afternoon and been told that they had tried in the morning but I was out so they returned. This is probably why I have never had to ring the office so not had that difficulty.

Rosemary