Rosemary

Hey you two beat me to it.

I did a very stressful job in the UK so our trips over to our house the first 2 years that we owned it were very important. OH took early retirement so I had to as well even though I really did not want to and we came here and renovated our town house. We worked quite slowly on the renovation because we did not want to spend all of our time working, this meant that we had lots of days out and about having fun. The people in our town are wonderful and include us in everything. Many hours are spent with our friends celebrating fiestas and we have also joined in by being in lots of the processions.

Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to be accepted and included in the way that we have been so we have been very pleasantly surprised.

Rosemary

bil

Yeah, we were very pleasantly surprised at how friendly and helpful our new neighbours were. Within a short time (weeks, not months) we had talked to more people here than we ever did in the uk in the street where we lived for three years.

betris

and you were comenting on the pervy thread.

Dxf

Hi

No Spain is not what I thought it would be like; how many people can really predict the future? But what i did was to give it a year, trying absolutely everything sensible, and then I went and sat on a mountain top to think about whether it was working for me.

As I am still here I have to say that I consider the life here to be better than a life I would have in the UK. Nothing is perfect; life IS what you make it, and I have made an interesting life here.

But I would say it doesn´t suit everyone, but it takes courage to admit you got it wrong and return - I always said that if I didn´t like it, I would not go back to where I lived, but would move "onwards and upwards"

Davexf

betris

its not an attack julian.its a joke.lucky bastard.

casablanca83

Probably becasue you don't live in Scotland. We had one bbq whole last year and that was really making an effort even though it wasn't a great day. We looked at a few otions, inlcuding Australia and California but for the next 4/5 years, Spain is a good option in that we can have those things, not too far from the UK and manage a business that operates in the UK and go back and forth. And we love Spain - got married in Frigiliana last September..

We used to live in Brighton and it was a bit better weather down there, like London and people generally more actve and outgoing than up here. So that's what we want, but even moreso if we can and better weather. It's just knowing you can plan things, havng friends round, trips to the park, beach etc that appeals to me.

I'm with you on the food!!

Rosemary

Without going into stuff that is too personal for you can you tell us what is different from what you expected.

Going to the mountain top to think sounds excellent. People return for many different reasons and it is not always what they want in their hearts but is necessary because of practicalities. I do not think that it is because they have got it wrong but that the experience was not what they thought it would be, or they could not make ends meet or they get sick of the sun or maybe ill heath. Trying something and returning is better than dreaming of trying and then not endeavouring to make changes in your life.

Rosemary

AdrianTO

The lifestyle that you will have in Spain will be very different from 95% of posters on this board. First off, the majority on here are retired. So, right away their objectives are different.

Second, of those that aren't retired, they are working, often not very succesfully. Nothing against them, but the lack of fluent Spanish, coupled with the dearth of of job opportunities makes Spain a very difficult place for Brits moving here.

Not being stuck in a full time job in Spain means that you almost have an ideal scenario where you can enjoy actually enjoy that vacation lifestyle that so many hope for when they move here.

Dxf

Hi

The costa de la luz is a lot more Spanish than I realised; yes I knew it was "more Spanish than the costa del sol" but not the percentage. I knew I would have to learn Spanish (I was already doing a course) but I did not realise just how slow progress would be. Yes I should have put in more effort, but hindsight is easy. After eight years I can get by, but am by no means fluent.

The there is the age thing; how can one predict what one will be like eight years down the line? I had not come across Spanish Bureaucracy - WOW and double WOW, was that an eye opener.

Living with a well and septic tank, with electricy but no telephone, (and in the early days no internet). Lots of small "niggles" none on their own amount to anything, but just make life "different" for me, but unbearable for others.

But one has to take life as it comes; I have had to accept many things - but I look at the overall life, but defintely not to everyone´s taste .

Davexf

dunmovin

We moved from Hong Kong to a place in the campo in Spain and after 13 years in HK and having to adjust was just about as big a shock as when we left Scotland to go to HK.... but you live with it, enjoy the good bits and try to be humourous about the bad bits, otherwise there is no place you can be happy.

It's not where you are, it's what you make of it.

fionamw

Ref social life - no-one seems to have mentioned socialising with Spanish people; our thoughts on that one are that there will be some you can invite or who will invite you but integration is a whole different thing which may (or may not) ever seriously be possible
Ref language - DO NOT ever underestimate the impact of not being able to communicate fluidly (as distinct from fluently - I mean the speed of the thought process before the mouth works!)
Ref bbqs & weather - yip it's the % chance of a decent day that makes a world of difference!
other than that, over to you bil:

Nowhere is perfect. I repeat NOWHERE IS PERFECT. The trick is to find a place that you really like, and then strive to iron out as many of the niggles as you can.

dunmovin

how very well put!

Rosemary

Please miss.....I did....we only socialise with Spanish people.

Rosemary

goaty

I imagine sitting with the locals will be difficult at first, if at all. I come from a different background, but I would say don't expect locals to come and show a real interest in you, especially if you don't have a real fluency in the language, as most ex-pats don't.

sensationalfrog

thing is,i have been lucky all my life to live in very nice places,then 12 years ago,i moved to fuengirola,to some its a kind of paradise,people from coventry love it,they can see the sea,to me its just a dump,cant wait to move back to north devon,over the 12 years i have seen thousands of brits come and go,all so keen and loving it when they move here,6 months later,skint,dream has gone,i have no sympathy any more as they wouldn't listen anyway,i have a 'bouncers' clicker that counts numbers,i click when i see a brit bar change hand in the fuengirola area when walking my dogs,in about 5 years i am at 952,thats just what i have seen,move here to retire,sure,to work,no!!