agoreira

I must admit I find it hard not to smile when I read these sort of posts, every time about this year we have the posts trotted out telling us about things like electric blankets, extra blankets, jumpers, hot water bottles,damp, et al. Even read one recently asking about paraffin heaters, I thought they went out about 50 years ago! I can understand people emigrating for a better life, but the thought of spending 6 months every year huddled under a blanket ain't my idea of fun. CH and A/C would be a must for me, Spanish houses are so bloody cold. My central heating here went off in May and has still not been switched back on, I'm sat here in a polo shirt, it's simply not needed yet. But when it is, a flick of a switch is all that's needed, none of this humping logs or bombonas about, that's so third world!

lynnxa

I have central heating & A/C -if you read an earlier post of mine in this thread you will see that I said we struggled to keep our duplex in a modern block at 21º last winter - and the bills were scary!!

whereas my dad's 40+ year old house in the UK was kept at a constant 27º with no problem at all - and the bills were lower

Lionda

Along with all the benefits given to newcomers to the Uk who haven't paid a penny into the system I presume (??) Get over yourself ..... most pensioners wherever they are in the world have paid into the system for many many years and most of them haven't had a penny back. Now they are pushing the pension age further and further away from us. A least lets have the comfort of a heating allowance, it's the least we deserve.

jdr

jdr

You must be one of the twats that goes to football matches topless in the winter then ?

Domino

If the UK cannot afford its Welfare State anymore then cutting previously legally qualified entitlement to WFP would be a drop in the ocean. Perhaps you should start investigating all those trailer trash expats that are being paid Disability Living Allowance when not entitled.
If all the retired expats were to return to the UK the welfare system would be swamped by claims of income support, council tax rebates, pension credit, housing benefit etc etc etc. None of which are paid to retired individuals who decide to live in another country rather than that of their birth. Individuals have worked hard to get the chance to retire in a sunny place, not living most of their lives off the state - which is where all the money is going...
The lastest estimate is approx 5.5m Brits now living outside the UK borders, so in the interest of equality I hope you are posting your spite and venom on all other expat country sites and not just this one.

Domino

still being sold and advertised in a number of outlets thru Spain.
next time you send the butler out to do the shopping get him to investigate further for you.

bil

Lessee.

Electric blankets? Nope.
Extra blankets? Nope.
Jumpers? Less than I used to wear in the uK.
Hot water bottles? Nope.
Damp? Nowhere near as bad since we fitted gutters and waterproofed the roof properly.
Paraffin heaters? Nope.
A/C Yep.
C/Heating? Nope.


I cook on bottled gas, but then I did that in the UK.
I heat with logs and a woodburner like I used to in the UK. The difference here is that my A/C and heating together are less than my heating alone was in the UK.

A half decent woodburner makes the living room nice and toasty, and bleeds enough heat around the house for comfort.

6 months huddled under a blanket? I think you are confusing us with the UK. We seldom if ever light the stove before December, and usually not much before xmas, and quit fires in March. That's half the length of time we used to run the heating in the UK, if not less. You turn yours off in May? Imagine that! and there's me out sunbathing in March.....

Burning logs is third world? My dear, you have obviously never been in any of the big country houses where it is de rigeur to burn wood.

megmet

Well you really must move in the wrong crowd if that is what you think!

Personally I'm choosy about my friends, the ones I have made here are honest upright citizens who I would trust with my life!
The expats I have no time for and will not associate with are much like yourself, full of bile and spite....they are the ones I would not have had for friends in the UK and here I would rather stick pins in my eyes than give them time of day.

As for the welfare state....
Most of us here on this forum (though not all) are retired, we have spent a lifetime paying into the welfare state without ever having taken from it!
We have not spent our lives idle and on benefits as many in the UK now do, we have worked hard to be able to afford to spend our retirement in a place of choice.
As I said before some of us have no choice in the fact that we are still paying taxes in the UK, while at the same time being denied the benefits and help that is a legal right to pensioners residing in the UK.....
But YOU would still deny us the WFP......get over yourself man, some day if you are very lucky you will be old too, and I hope then you find out just how cold it can and does get in Spain.

What I really can't understand is why on earth you are here on a British Expat site when you so obviously hate us as much as you do.

agoreira

I can believe that, our modest abode is all double glazed, cavity wall insulation, max loft insulation, it needs very little heating. Loads of grants about for cavity wall, loft insulation etc, costs next to nothing to install. We regularly used to stay for a month in April in Spain, and the accommodation had log burner, the electric heating/AC thingy, and put it all on, it was OK, wake up in the morning, it was like an igloo!

bil

Perhaps you should have chosen a warmer part of Spain?

licinius

So because I disagree with making cold weather payments to people who live in sunnier climbs I'm full of bile & spite am I? Read up a few posts & you'll see the bile & spite is actually from people who disagree with me.

As for me typifying expats, why do people think these individuals are my friends? I clearly don't associate with the majority of expats because the majority are slime (and you all know full well the sort of person I'm talking about). Thankfully I don't need them so only associate with a few.

Why is it I plough a substantial amount of money each month into my own person pension & also plough a substantial amount of money into the welfare state. Maybe I should just go underground like everyone else does in Spain & pay nothing..................... I'll still get my winter fuel allowance along with everybody else that blew their money on cars & getting drunk instead of contributing!

Mitzyboy

One more huge generalisation I guess

You are not getting stick because of your opinion on winter payments licinius, it's because of the general insults that you are throwing at expats, and at expats that have seen your posts on other forums I guess

Anyway, lets get on with the discussion without the insults shall we

Domino

and because of an "anomoly" don't get their pension uplifted, it being frozen at that when they left the uk\first retired.

my father died about 10yrs ago and his benefits inc pension were around £190 a week, he couldnt find anything to spend it on, except special offers from Readers Digest.

megmet

Well that's the thing about the UK, they throw money at some and deprive others.
I know for a fact because of my work there that many pensioners in the UK... if you include housing benefits and such like are getting £220 a week, and your right Dom they don't know what to spend it on so it usually goes on the grandchildren.