In the misery of a cold, wet Manchester day, my daughter Lisa left a depressing message on Facebook this week.
‘‘What are we doing in this bloody miserable country?’’ she asked despairingly. ‘‘Can someone give me reasons not to move abroad, please.’’
Family, friends and making a living were the most popular responses she received – and when you have three children of school age, that is a BIG, BIG consideration.
Over the weekend, my local community here in Spain has been saying a tearful farewell to a family as they headed back to the UK after seven happy years on the Costa Blanca. The main reason they have returned to their roots is that their 15-year-old daughter pines for an English education and has understandably found it difficult to build a social life in the ageing expat community.
But even though Mum and Dad struggled to make a living while they were here, they loved the Spanish lifestyle so much that I reckon they will be back once junior has passed her A-levels – and leave her to her own devices at university.
When one looks at the pros and cons of moving from Britain to Spain, it is no contest until one gets down to the thorny question of employment. Spain wins on virtually every front – but if you are going to need a job, then my advice is to tread very carefully because there’s very little work available in these crisis-wrecked times.
As for family and friends, no problem there. They can always come out to visit. After all, it probably takes longer to drive from north London to Birmingham as to fly from Gatwick to Alicante or Malaga.
Personally, I reckon the best thing about modern-day Britain is that it is 1,500 miles away from where I live. But then I fortunately have sufficient pension income to keep going without a fulltime job,
But since there are two sides to every story, I took a straw poll of other exiles’ thoughts via the ExpatForum.com website. And, believe it or not, the UK more than held its own with some of my fellow expats.
Some of the areas which won a ‘Britain is best’ vote included jobs, mid-summer weather (in other words, Spain is too hot in July and August), home healthcare, keeping homes warm in winter, better tap water, no price rip-offs by utility companies, natural scenery, faster legal processes, broadband speed, TV, Sunday opening – and of course shopping.
Also, in the UK things actually work. It’s unusual to get a power cut, for instance, something that is all too common here in the Costa Blanca, with the attendant danger of losing all your freezer contents if you happen to be away when the switch trips.
Then there is a widely-publicised town-hall corruption that has blighted Spain in recent years. Not that it doesn’t exist in Britain, of course – it’ just not anywhere near as obvious. Not at local council level, anyway.
I can also confirm from personal experience that the service in UK shops, banks and other service outlets is vastly superior to the couldn’t-care-less attitude of so many workers out here.
As one ExpatForum member put it: ‘‘I hate waiting in a queue for an hour at a bank because the cashier is chatting to every Pablo, Pedro and Jose about their *abuelos/hermanos/gato/perro etc. Then it gets to your turn and. . . SIESTA TIME. Cashier is now shut!’’
Whereas banks and shops in the UK invariably put the customer first, prepare for a long wait if the clerk or shop assistant’s mobile rings while you’re being served. Because the chances of the caller being told curtly ‘I’ll ring you back’ is virtually nil.
My local vet Julien is a lovely young man who is unusually good at multi-tasking but suffers from acute ‘mobile attached to the ear’ syndrome. When I took one of my two cats to his surgery for a checkover recently, his phone rang just as he called me into the treatment room.
‘‘Un momento,’’ he said, taking the call from a pal. During the next 15 minutes, chatting throughout to his mate, he checked the cat, treated her, put her back into the cat box, ushered me out into the reception area and then signed some papers for a delivery man who walked in as I waited to discuss the bill.
Ultimately, seeing my face growing increasingly crimson, he mouthed the words ‘’14 euros’’, took my 20 euro note, rang it up on the till, gave me change and whispered a swift ‘’hasta luego’’.
As I closed the door of the surgery behind me, Julien was ushering in the next patient and its owner…still talking on the mobile that may one day need removing surgically from his ear. Because not everyone is going to be as patient as I was.
On that occasion, I had little choice but to wait – or to go to another vet. But I’ve walked out of a Spanish shop more than once when a staff member has put a phone call or chatting with a friend or colleague ahead of serving me. Unbelievably, it is as likely to be the boss as an assistant who snubs you – the person with most to gain. It simply could not happen in the UK but is so typical of the ‘mañana mañana’ Spanish mentality.
Having said all that – and factored in the menace of the myriad midsummer mosquitoes – Spain scores highly on so many fronts that it really is no contest which country has the most going for it. Particularly if you are looking to retire out here, rather than build a career.
The sunshine and healthy air obviously tops the lot. But then there are other aspects like the quality of life, cheap eating out (if you avoid the tourist rip-off joints), inexpensive housing, the third lowest crime rate in Europe (though you could fool me with all the handbag snatching and pickpocketing that goes on in the Costas), the fiestas, the family-orientated culture, the gentler pace of life and the golden beaches.
Oh, and pharmacies that sell prescription drugs without a prescription – something I have personally found very useful. (And no, I am not a junkie!)
ExpatForum members also gave Spain the thumbs-up for healthcare, public transport and less-congested roads. But sadly there was no mention anywhere of motorbikes.
Why motorbikes? Well, my Lisa’s fella Rob is a motorcycle training instructor and if they ever did come out here with the kids he’d be looking to open a training centre wherever they decided to settle.
And much as I would love to see them on my doorstep, I haven’t the faintest idea how he’d do that. Come to think of it, I don’t even know the Spanish word for motorcycle…
‘‘What are we doing in this bloody miserable country?’’ she asked despairingly. ‘‘Can someone give me reasons not to move abroad, please.’’
Family, friends and making a living were the most popular responses she received – and when you have three children of school age, that is a BIG, BIG consideration.
Over the weekend, my local community here in Spain has been saying a tearful farewell to a family as they headed back to the UK after seven happy years on the Costa Blanca. The main reason they have returned to their roots is that their 15-year-old daughter pines for an English education and has understandably found it difficult to build a social life in the ageing expat community.
But even though Mum and Dad struggled to make a living while they were here, they loved the Spanish lifestyle so much that I reckon they will be back once junior has passed her A-levels – and leave her to her own devices at university.
When one looks at the pros and cons of moving from Britain to Spain, it is no contest until one gets down to the thorny question of employment. Spain wins on virtually every front – but if you are going to need a job, then my advice is to tread very carefully because there’s very little work available in these crisis-wrecked times.
As for family and friends, no problem there. They can always come out to visit. After all, it probably takes longer to drive from north London to Birmingham as to fly from Gatwick to Alicante or Malaga.
Personally, I reckon the best thing about modern-day Britain is that it is 1,500 miles away from where I live. But then I fortunately have sufficient pension income to keep going without a fulltime job,
But since there are two sides to every story, I took a straw poll of other exiles’ thoughts via the ExpatForum.com website. And, believe it or not, the UK more than held its own with some of my fellow expats.
Some of the areas which won a ‘Britain is best’ vote included jobs, mid-summer weather (in other words, Spain is too hot in July and August), home healthcare, keeping homes warm in winter, better tap water, no price rip-offs by utility companies, natural scenery, faster legal processes, broadband speed, TV, Sunday opening – and of course shopping.
Also, in the UK things actually work. It’s unusual to get a power cut, for instance, something that is all too common here in the Costa Blanca, with the attendant danger of losing all your freezer contents if you happen to be away when the switch trips.
Then there is a widely-publicised town-hall corruption that has blighted Spain in recent years. Not that it doesn’t exist in Britain, of course – it’ just not anywhere near as obvious. Not at local council level, anyway.
I can also confirm from personal experience that the service in UK shops, banks and other service outlets is vastly superior to the couldn’t-care-less attitude of so many workers out here.
As one ExpatForum member put it: ‘‘I hate waiting in a queue for an hour at a bank because the cashier is chatting to every Pablo, Pedro and Jose about their *abuelos/hermanos/gato/perro etc. Then it gets to your turn and. . . SIESTA TIME. Cashier is now shut!’’
Whereas banks and shops in the UK invariably put the customer first, prepare for a long wait if the clerk or shop assistant’s mobile rings while you’re being served. Because the chances of the caller being told curtly ‘I’ll ring you back’ is virtually nil.
My local vet Julien is a lovely young man who is unusually good at multi-tasking but suffers from acute ‘mobile attached to the ear’ syndrome. When I took one of my two cats to his surgery for a checkover recently, his phone rang just as he called me into the treatment room.
‘‘Un momento,’’ he said, taking the call from a pal. During the next 15 minutes, chatting throughout to his mate, he checked the cat, treated her, put her back into the cat box, ushered me out into the reception area and then signed some papers for a delivery man who walked in as I waited to discuss the bill.
Ultimately, seeing my face growing increasingly crimson, he mouthed the words ‘’14 euros’’, took my 20 euro note, rang it up on the till, gave me change and whispered a swift ‘’hasta luego’’.
As I closed the door of the surgery behind me, Julien was ushering in the next patient and its owner…still talking on the mobile that may one day need removing surgically from his ear. Because not everyone is going to be as patient as I was.
On that occasion, I had little choice but to wait – or to go to another vet. But I’ve walked out of a Spanish shop more than once when a staff member has put a phone call or chatting with a friend or colleague ahead of serving me. Unbelievably, it is as likely to be the boss as an assistant who snubs you – the person with most to gain. It simply could not happen in the UK but is so typical of the ‘mañana mañana’ Spanish mentality.
Having said all that – and factored in the menace of the myriad midsummer mosquitoes – Spain scores highly on so many fronts that it really is no contest which country has the most going for it. Particularly if you are looking to retire out here, rather than build a career.
The sunshine and healthy air obviously tops the lot. But then there are other aspects like the quality of life, cheap eating out (if you avoid the tourist rip-off joints), inexpensive housing, the third lowest crime rate in Europe (though you could fool me with all the handbag snatching and pickpocketing that goes on in the Costas), the fiestas, the family-orientated culture, the gentler pace of life and the golden beaches.
Oh, and pharmacies that sell prescription drugs without a prescription – something I have personally found very useful. (And no, I am not a junkie!)
ExpatForum members also gave Spain the thumbs-up for healthcare, public transport and less-congested roads. But sadly there was no mention anywhere of motorbikes.
Why motorbikes? Well, my Lisa’s fella Rob is a motorcycle training instructor and if they ever did come out here with the kids he’d be looking to open a training centre wherever they decided to settle.
And much as I would love to see them on my doorstep, I haven’t the faintest idea how he’d do that. Come to think of it, I don’t even know the Spanish word for motorcycle…
