General Chat

I could write some more about places my family have moved to and why. However it seems pointless at the moment as I am tho only one posting, maybe people will come back,

I hope sO

BRIDGET

Have had a busy weekend exchanging info with a 3rd cousin who is over here in Menorca for a few days.
She has recently retired & decided to treat herself to a short break. As luck would have it, she loves Menorca so took the opportunity to meet.
For those who doubt the usefulness of Hot Matches, that is how we originally discovered each other´s existence.

WiseChild,
You have made my day...you have posted a message.
What is going on in menorca at the moment, do you celebrate all the saints days, have parades, etc. It would be interesting to learn about the activities and the weather! It is very hot here I have just noted that it is 32c here and not even midday yet!
going out soon so have to say bye bye for now

Bridget

Hi Bridget.
It´s been very hot here too, but has now settled to a more comfortable 28c. On the downside, it´s triggered a few thunderstorms.
We have fiestas at the various towns & villages all through the summer, but the main one is San Juan on June 24th. San Juan is the patron saint of the island and also of Ciutadella so it´s a double celebration which gets bigger every year. People come from all over the islands & from the mainland. There are of course the religious celebrations, but also parades through the streets of the most beautiful & well trained horses I have ever seen. Then on the last night of the fiesta, there is jousting (& a lot of drunkenness & accidents, some quite serious). In spite of everything I have so far never seen a horse get injured. As far as I´m concerned it´s up to the humans to take care of themselves.
Tourist wise it has seemed busier than the last couple of years, mainly with French & Italians. It´s starting to tail off now & we are getting older English couples coming over for a quiet couple of weeks before winter sets in.
My previously unknown cousin left for England this morning, but it was so nice to talk to someone about the family without their eyes glazing over with boredom.
Marion

Yoo Hoo!!!!
Anybody out there, or have you all succumbed to the heat.
Or am I just talking to myself??? It´s a bad habit of mine.

So sorry Wisechild,
I meant to write a comment this morning but the time flew bye. Then I had to check the general knowledge questions and answers for my OH as we were going to a big party inland. OH always dose a session for these events.

Th party was in a really beautiful house owned by some Dutch friends, but it is in the middle of the Country side and the flies were a real nuisance.

We arrived home about an hour ago and learnt that we have won three items from the raffle including a bottle of wine that we provided.!!

The food was very good and our friends had a great time. We are now home where the temp is 34 outside so trying hard to cool down.

Time for a dip in the pool so bye bye for now

Bridget

I will write one more family story about moving abroad during the weekend...I also hope someone comes back on the three or someone new joins us.

Bridget

We have won €8 on the Primitiva 2 weeks running.
We´re trying not to let the unaccustomed wealth go to our heads.
Marion

Oh my goodness Marian, Have you decided how you are going to manage this wonderful wind fall!?

Which investment organisation do you trust??

Personally I believe that you should re invest the money for the third win..which just may be the Jackpot!!

The sun is shining, our visitors are packing their cases ready to go to the airport this afternoon. They have said they feel much more relaxed now, and look forward to seeing us in the UK hopefully in October.

I will not be going to the airport as I shall be getting ready for Army son and his wife arrive tomorrow, I am rather excited about seeing them especially as my DIL is expecting their first child in February....

I have been wondering how eldest son and his partner are getting along in India digging new wells for people who currently have no access to clean water.
He will be 40 on the 20th of this month soi wonder if he will have time to celebrate. I understand that he has a blog on FBbut I could not find it so will ask my son to show meow I access it.might let him have one day here first!

The sky is a pale blue, the trees are very still and the feeling of peace and quiet is quite delightful. Even Jet and Joe are laying in tne shade to laid back to chase the ball etc.

It will soon be time for breakfast so I must set the table etc so will have to say goodbye until my oh takes them to tne airport this afternoon.
I do hope that others find time to write on here sometime today.

Best wishes to you all

Bridget

If you could visit just one country in the world, all costs met for six months, where would you go and why?

Bridget :-D

Everybody lost interest?
Marion

Marian,

It certainly looks as if interest has gone into hiding which is why I stopped adding anything. I began to feel that I was talking to myself. !!
So a very big thank you for asking the question!

Any suggestions as how we resurrect or do we simply say bye bye
:-0 :-( :-0

Bridget

Bridget.
I posted an answer about 10 minutes ago which has disappeared.
Maybe all the ongoing problems with the site have put people off.
Hopefully if we can keep it going, some will come back as the winter progresses. It would be good to exchange Christmas customs from the various parts of the world.

evening peeps. have just read over this thread to see if anything new but alas no. i dont have anyone else that i know of who left togo abroad, so unfortunately have nothing new to add. if i did i would indeed carry on as its interesting hearing about other peoples stories.

Thanks bridget for starting this thread, i did enjoy all the stories so far. maybe someone else will come back at some stage to add so will have to be patient for a while i think.

take care
florence
in the hebrides

Wise child and Florence,

Your kind words have made me think again so I will post on here at least twice a week even if it becomes a chat room for a while.,

Also we have been thinking about moving back to the UK, to somewhere in or around Attleborough in Norfolk in about 18 to 24 months time.

Perhaps anyone knowing the area have some comments about the pros and cons

Bridget

Don´t know the area at all Bridget, but it rang a bell as soon as I saw it. Now I remember why.
My grandmother´s older brother emigrated to the USA in 1911 & eventually settled in Attleborough ,Massechusettes.
Just been shopping to our local polygono & I always walk back through town afterwards & pick up the newspaper.
It was like battling through a rugby scrum this morning. Haven´t seen so many tourists at one time for about 3 years.
The lady in the newsagents commented on it too & when I said that the supermarkets had been almost empty, she sait "they must all be on All Inclusive".
A friend had an e mail from Thomson yesterday advising him that in future they will only sell All Inclusive packages. I´m not sure about them. They mean that local businesses get very little trade & speaking to a couple of ladies last week who were on an all inclusive package, they said they hadn´t tasted decent food for 10 days
No wonder they seem cheap.

Marion

We are going to the UK at next Friday. I am looking forward to seeing my granddaughter and the rest of the family.
Will add more tomorrow.

Good night everyone

Bridget

I'm in the UK at the moment, on a trip 'home' , and thoroughly enjoying the fresh air and cooler weather (yay, I can breathe again)!! And of course it's great to catch up with family and friends.
I love wandering around Tesco or M&S food....just fantastic compared to my local supermarket, especially the freshness and variety of the fruit and veg!!
I find driving a joy, as other drivers are polite and obey the rules of the road - on the whole - which is far more than I can say for the way they are in the Middle East! The price of petrol is a killer though!!!


K

Good morning everyone.
Isn't it refreshing to read something positive about the UK. Thank you Karen, sometimes we forget just what a great place Engand is.
Politically of course it is in turmoil with so much written about the private lives of those chosen by the people of the UK.

One of the reasons we left was the number of people who where given permission to stay in the UK even though they had not gone through the correct procedures, OH was particularly affected by this as I have stated before.

However Spain is also suffering in much the same way, although they are stricter about how the illegal immigrants are managed.

Last night we went to the Moors and Christians Parade. This is an event we have enjoyed every year since we first arrived here.
Sadly it was not the same this year! For a start the parade started at the other end of town to the Castle and this meant that we only saw the last few hundred metres of the parade.also it was a much smaller in time, event, which was also disappointing.
Our daughter in law managed to take a few photos and I have promised to buy the book of pictures when it is made available.

The attendance of people has grown tremendously and we were pleased that we found a restaurant where we could sit outside to watch the parade.

We were home at about 20.30 hrs and we caught up with the various football, and Rugby.

We decided to go to bed when the fireworks had finished or so we thought!!

At about midnight Jet and Joe became very distressed when some fire works were let off, and in the end I had to lower all the shutters and let them crawl under our bed.........this event must have cost thousands of euros as it continued until 01.30, yes that is right, 01.30 hours and then the private fireworks started, so another 30 minutes of amazing fire works but by then all we wanted to do was go to sleep!

This morning it is quiet everywhere, I have not even heard the church bells and the only noise is from the TV because OH is catching up with the sports watching England v Georger.

A lazy day ahead for me I hope. We will book our tickets for the Tunnel crossing to the UK , will go shopping for milk, fres veg etc and then I am going to relax for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile I wish you all a very happy day

Bridget
However, this is where our grandchildren are and they are a big calling so

Just read through most of this thred again and all so very interesting...I wonder if anyone is interested in joining us and I am sure that circumstances have changed for some of us,

Best wishes to you all

Bridget :-)

Hi Bridget.
Well I,m still here at least.
Don´t know how things are on the mainland, but it´s been a pretty dire winter here & doesn´t look like it will improve any time soon.
We found a property near Tarragona just before Christmas which we were keen on & which was much cheaper, but when we told the landlord, he immediately said he would reduce the rent to match because we are good tenants & he didn´t want to lose us, so what could we say.
Obviously it´s helped a lot, but still doesn´t alter the fact that everything here is at least 50% dearer than on the mainland, so we are biding our time for now & will see how things are later in the year.
In any case, OH is waiting to have a hernia operation, so want to get that over first.
Hope you & the family are well.
Marion