Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Oh yes, no such place as the perfect destination. A colombian guy used to tell me about his home city. Apparently it had the perfect climate and rarely rained; moreover it never really got cold. But then I had to shatter the dream and ask him why he no longer lived there: "The murder rate and gang influence was too severe".

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

In all honesty, I don't remember other years quite like 76.

However as you say, the good ones stand out for their rarity.

I'm a summer person. I love sunshine, and for all my life up to moving to Spain, I have felt short changed. I've taken great care to check if it wasn't my personal bias, by keeping weather recodrs where we were, and the records bear me out.

I always remember the geraniums I used to grow in the UK. Every day I had to go out and pick off all the shed petals where they fell on the leaves, as if I didn't, the humidity (in summer) was so bad that the petals would start to rot, and that would spread to the leaf it lay on if I didn't pick them off.

Don't kid me that the UK has the 'perfick' climate. In the words of someone on this board, 'Don't piss up my back and tell me it's raining. ;)

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Oh yeah, nowhere's perfect. Spain still has some clouds and rain..... Oh yeah, and it gets dark at night too.....

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

If my main motive for moving was for the weather then I could find better places than the UK or Spain. It is nice to get about 2 hours extra daylight in Spain in the dead of winter, great to have roses out in December. I dislike July and August in Spain, far too hot and crowded. you never get used to it. Perfect weather for me would be somewhere like San Diego, california or parts of South Africa. I wouldn't choose a lifestyle based solely on the weather though as you are bound to be disappointed one day:)

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Perhaps that´s why I feel differently to you, I have spent several years in various places in the Middle East since I was 20 years old, I have also spent time in Malta, Cyprus, LIbya, Spain etc. and tbh, in the Middle East especially, the same old wall to wall sunshine day in day out, bored me sh1tless. I´m a ""seasons" man, I like them all for different reasons. I´ve also probably had connections with Vejer for longer than you, and I can´t say I´ve always enjoyed the near perfect weather you speak of. We´ve experienced the whole range of weathers there, from rain like I´ve never seen before, roads swept away, to being sand blasted on the coast (not for nothing is the coast full of thousands of wind turbines and wind surfers) and yes, also enjoying great sunshine.

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Been watching quite a lot of nasty floods in your region on the Spanish news of late, seems they must all have passed you by.

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

So I have lived here now around 24 years. 5 years ago this week I married a Filipino who is 32 years younger than me. .
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Was considering moving to spain from South America. My family circumtances are similar. We have never lived in the UK as a couple but as a Brit I can easily imagine how we would be treated. I am hoping there will be a less judgemental and a more live and let live attitude in Spain like there is in the Latin countries. Has anyone experienced serious predjudice or hostility on moving to Spain?

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

I think you'd be fine in a larger UK city to be honest; London especially is very cosmoplitan. I suspect you'd get gossip and backchat in smaller places wherever you went to be honest (and I'm a big admirer of Spain). End of the day you have to ignore the folk who spread bile - they're just not worth it. Good and bad people wherever you go I'm afraid. I've known mixed couples (with one partner substantially older than the other) get on fine in a couple of English towns, so it can be done

Good luck with wherever you move!

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Totally agree with Steviedeluxe. If you go to any small town in any country you are more likely to be looked at, talked about and maybe isolated. Larger places tend to be more accepting but this can also be isolating because they can also be more impersonal, which then seems less friendly and not inclusive. Spanish people do seem to have a very inclusive nature in general and appear to accept that people are all different but I do not know what they are like with huge age differences.

Rosemary

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Nothing like that here. There have been some floods, there are every year. Look at the floods they have so often in the UK.

This has been overal a very dry winter in this region.

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

According to others it is very windy.
Not many people could put up with that for long.

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Very true, and not just to do with the weather. It works on other levels too. For example, we know a couple. He, like me was born in London, and loves the countryside. His wife, who is a campo girl was born there and lived for a while in London. She loves the city.

I notice a lot of Spanish that hate the solid sunshine and prefer it when it's cooler.

The comarca of Vejer has a variety of places/weather. Go to Tarifa on a day that is a bit windy in Vejer, and you will be shotblasted raw on Bolonia or Tarifa beach. The rain can be torrential, and can wash away ground very easily. The whole area is a poster child for erosion.

However, it has its clear seasons. I used to joke (with some merit) that the way to tell what season you were in in the UK wasn't to look at the sky/weather, but to look at the trees.

Grey sky no leaves = winter
Grey sky small green leaves = spring
Grey sky full green leaves = summer
Grey sky brown leaves = autumn.

It did start to appear as tho the seasons were starting to even out and become more homologous and less defined. Winters were becoming less cold with much fewer frosts and blurring into spring, and the summers were wetter and colder, blurring into autumn.

Perhaps to a certain extent we become dissatisfied with what we are accustomed to, and crave something different. Maybe in 20 years I will, like you become bored with constant sunshine. i'm willing to take that risk.

I'd also like to win the lottery and risk getting bored with money.....

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Every part of Spain has clear defined seasons.

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

It can be. Tarifa is the wind sports capital for sure, but I don't go there. We have had a lot of wind here for the last 4 days, not a hurricane, but damn annoying when you have just transplanted your parsnips.

It's a pain to have to keep picking stuff up that has blown around, but it will be gone soon, and while teh area is breezy on and off a lot of the time, that's no hardship when it starts to heat up.

The locals say the Levante drives you mad, but then they say that of the Mistral too.

I can live with the wind, I love the heat, and the cold and rain in the winter? Well that just gives us the excuse to light the stove early, snuggle round and watch DVDs and daytime TV.

Re: Are you living the life you moved for?
 

Well its hardly fit for the dog to go out here, and after a couple of days of it I'm already getting cheesed off, as I much prefer to be outdoors whenever possible.
I spent most of the last Winter in the UK and despite the low temperatures and occasional snow, there was never a day without a clear or comfortable spell to get out and about.
As if the rain wasn't enough the water supply system here seems to have given up the ghost, with fountains of water gushing up from mains and smaller pipes in all directions.
I looked at some of them a couple of days ago and it appears to be down to shoddy workmanship with large grade gravel and stones in direct contact with the pipes which are barely below the road surface.