Lion in Winter

I expect, that since you have effectively grown up in Spain, that you are no longer English by culture but Spanish, which will make your experience of the UK very different. But that does not make other countries into dumps, and since you are on a forum consisting largely of British people you might want to measure your words before you use them.


If you really have never found one English person who had a good thing to say about the UK, all I can say is a) you need to get out more and b) now you have - a forum full of them, in fact.

And you are also telling people who grew up in the UK, and who go there still, that you know better than they do about the degree of safety there. As I said, my family lives there, I go there every year, and I have friends there, and I can assure you that not one of them (or me) has ever been on the receiving end of crime or violence. Does it happen? Of course it does like everywhere else. Does it colour everyday life? No.

You don't have to hate or denigrate the UK in order to want to live in Spain. If you want to live in Spain that's fine, but there is nothing to fight about. Just live there.

EmilyPenguin

But like I have said, I owned a Internet Cafe on the beach front of Estepona, were I would get mainly tourists and Expats.. I worked in a suvenir shop... Another one for english people ... Estate agents.. in Puerto Banus, another hotspot for English... You should hear the storys Im told... how unsafe it is.. Dont go out after dark.. and.. the Uk has that reputation in Spain, At least in my area...

Go to Puerto Banus, on a saturday night, in summer when its filled with tourists and the bar fights at 90% of the time started by British, and Im not just talking to talk, It was in a newspaper! ... Some British friends I had in my town made me feel ashamed to be British the way that they acted.

and the very cool way Spanish people have about explaning why English people are so misarable.. "no reciben suficiente sol que activa las neuronas felizes" I laughed my socks off when I was told that.

Lion in Winter

So you are saying that what I and other British people are telling you about living in the UK is untrue?

Why do you feel that a tourist spot in Spain is a reflection of life in the UK?

Why do you think the British are miserable? Based on an internet cafe in Spain? How odd.

EmilyPenguin

Hey, When I say its a dump of a place dosent mean Im saying that the people that live there are too...

Just... Compare it I guess...

Spain has its mayor faults too, like nothing ever gets done and there is always a darn holiday or its bloody siesta time.. the ammount I moan about that is unreal.. Dur,.. step into the 21 centruy!


But when your brain is filled with how unsafe the country is.. and how my life would of never been anywhere close to what it is now if I lived there becasue children arnt allowed out of their parents sight not go to resturants.. and its of a bad parent to have them in the street at 8pm... It baffels me when what I love most about this country is how family orrientated it is..... and I see it from family in the UK who tell me how they were robbed, My cousin stabbed by some random dude! ... Prehaps its just Thetford?! ...

But do you get all the old people sit outside at 3 in the morning, all chatting in the square with a chair and a pillow? Or whole familys that will go to dinner and chat and laugh and play?

EmilyPenguin

Im not saying that its untrue what you say..
Im just saying that its what goes around here...
Its what we all learn and see from others, ... Lets not even mention the news...

Ive has spanish friends make jokes, run around in hoodys with a knife going "im British muuahaha" .. Are most of you unawear of the impresion the UK gives to outsiders?..

I look like a typical English person, The whole, blonde, blue eye thing?... Yet when people get around to meeting me ... so many have told me I dont have an ouce of English in me accpet my terribly british posh accent!

EmilyPenguin

.....and yeah.. It is nice to hear someone say something nice about the country your born in....

Lion in Winter

You need to get some balance in your brain - or at least realize that it has been filled by sensationalist reports with no real experience to balance that out.

People you know might have had bad experiences - and that is all they are telling you about. This does not make the UK a dump - it makes your information unbalanced.

The UK has extreme physical beauty - it may not appear that way to you if what appeals to you is the Spanish landscape that you know. This does not make the UK a dump. There are over 60 million people there, with more seeking to arrive all the time - clearly they don't think it's a dump either.

And yes, where my family live you can wander around at night and go out for drinks and have children play outside.

Lion in Winter

Of course that stuff happens. And of course I know. You don't have to look far on this forum to find people who think that if you go outside in Bradford you will immediately die - mostly because it's full of "immigrants". However, it's just silliness. Your Spanish friends have been watching too much tv and reading too much of whatever the Spanish equivalent of the Daily Mail is.

Where I live, being British is viewed as highly desirable and our accents are equated with being intelligent and cultured. So you see it all depends what you are told. Try mixing with different people and get a fresh view.

EmilyPenguin

Im not saying your wrong here...

But Ive worked for LOTS.... we are talking hundreds of british Expats in Spain, my dad was a Sky instaler down here, My cafe was for English mostly becasue its the only place in my town there could go to get help with their mobile or bills or computer. Id translate free for them.. bla bla bla...

No one had a good word to say about the place,
and the people seeking to arrive there? Yeah.. the joke of the whole of the EU, Becasue the Gov gives out food coupons and free housing and cars and clothes to the forengers... But to its people... it dont give S**t, If I was to go back there, Ive been told I wouldnt be etiteld to a dime, Yet give up my british citizenship and my passport and Ill get the works.. how does that work?!....... Prehaps Ive been told wrong by so many?

Lion in Winter

If you think people like being in the UK because they get handouts, then you really have been relying on the Daily Mail.

And I'm sorry, but the whole "no one had a good word to say about the place" is a bit silly. If you wanted to test whether or not your information is true, you could try opening a thread in The Lounge and putting forward the idea that the UK is a dump and that no one has a good thing to say about it. Or perhaps better in Take It Outside. Then you will be able to assess the reaction for yourself.

EmilyPenguin

Hey, your hanging on the word "Dump" to much, Im 20 remember, Dump dont = rubbish bin, in young talk.... it just mean dull and ... not that great...

Domino

well there does seem to be a vein of truth running through those statements.

Born in UK, live there, work there, reach retirement at 65 and decide to go to a country which is generally a bit warmer and you lose most of your benefits. You fall ill and want to have treatment in a place you feel comfortable - but you can't because you don't live there any more.

Born outside the UK, you can go there to "look for work", because the EU says the UK must pay all EU citizens the same as its own people even though you haven't paid into the system you can get all the benefits on the list. Even child benefits when the children aren't even living with you in the UK.

but thats the way it is, alot of it caused by the "level playing field" of the EU, but also because when told not to discriminate the UK jumps to respond. Not quite so fast in most other EU countries.

Many people slag off the UK when visiting foreign countries, living in their "holiday euphoria" for a fortnight - but they go home and you never see them again.
Many people slag off the company they work for - but stay there for decades.
Many people slag off their relatives - but are always round their house, present at all the parties, even go on holiday together.
Many people are desperate to become British - but don't renounce their original nationality and keep their passports.

Its a funny world, you just have to make of it what you want, do what you want and get on with it.
Making sure you log on to the Daily Mail and Express to get a regular fix of what is happening back home

rugbymatt

I lived in Spain for a couple of years, it was some time ago now but its still valid and when I did it was widely known that Estepona was where many Spaniards went to see the freak show that was the money and gangsters, the Spanish I lived with hated it and most wouldn't have given a crap if it had slipped off the face of the map. The Spanish, in the UK press, are considered feckless and lazy, they are seen as black marketeers and thieves, even good ones are seen at best as dishonest. Most of those British twonks who you met while in the internet cafe or souvenir shop will happily slag the UK off, they have probably worked their arses off for the last 48 weeks and they get a couple of weeks a year to unwind but if you think they are slagging off the UK you should hear the contempt they hold for foreigners, holy crap! The air of superiority the British have over every other nation is based, in a large part, to the fact that they love their country, just because they slag it off for 10 days a year does not mean they hate it, it just means they have holiday fever.
As to the stabbings and violence I'll tell ya something, the only place I have only ever seen someone get killed, in front of my eyes, was in a mining town in Australia. Some years ago a friend of my girlfriend was stabbed in a fight in her home town, it was the first person to have been murdered in nearly 80 years and while I have been unfortunate enough to have known some truly unpleasant creatures in my life, thanks to a misspent youth, I still count my time in Spain as one of the most frightening, some of the stories about some of the people I used to kick about with in Spain would scare the crap out of most people...

My point is this, any country you live in, wherever you live, there is good and bad, as some have mentioned on here, with your Spanish you may well have a good chance to land a good job in somewhere like London so try and have an open mind, its a big world out there.

steviedeluxe

I agree with a lot of what RugbyMatt stated. But just be a little careful with London, it depends on location. I see less "aggro" here on a Friday or Saturday night, compared with the average Brit town, but there again I don't go to the really busy spots. It seems safe enough in the streets where I live (close to Marylebone and Baker Street stations) but there are parts of London where it's best to show some street awareness, and where street stabbings and shootings are unfortunately not unknown. My partner's sister works on occasion in Hackney as a pharmacist, and she has already been present when a murder took place close by. Come to think of it, there have been a couple of stabbing incidents this year 5 minutes from where I live, but because it was young lads trying to get "respect" it's not seen as making the streets more dangerous, shame really.
As for crime - yes the Brits are more prone to drunken brawls (even it seems on ferry trips coming back from ski-ing trips). But it does seem also that you are more likely to have your pocket picked or bag snatched in Spain. Swings and roundabouts.
I think the best advice is to realise, as pointed out already, that there are good and bad people wherever you go. Just make sure you remain true to your own values, work hard, and take opportunities when they arise.

agoreira

Nice to see your Spanish spelling matches your English spelling.