General Chat

Well Berona

I am delighted with your response , so no changing name of the thread!

Thanks

Today is a beautiful typical Canarian day with blue skies and sunshine and a light breeze. So far not too hot but that will change as the day goes on

I agree. It´s fine as it is.
If you want to change it, how about something like "Expat chat"

wisechild,

I have said that I will leave it as it is, but thanks for your suggestion which I rather like.

Today it is very warm indeed, and I am using the " I am making sure that my 9 month old granddaughter is in the shade, with plenty of attention from all of us. The temp is about quite hot around 32 this afternoon.

I had a little thought whilst writing this........I wonder if we could move forward by talking about moving to places which previously we did not know which could include moving for example from place to place rather then just abroad?

Or else we leave it as it is.

:-)

Hello expats all! Good thread. I think you just need to Bump it now and again.

I've lived in Salou, near Tarragona for thirty years. I came here to work in the small offshore oil industry in 1981. My options were to return to Aberdeen so you don't need to ask why I decided to stay in Spain. I learned Spanish in 18 months using linguaphone tapes (remember those?).

I bought out my employers business in Spain in 1986 along with a co-worker, Victor from Chile. We ran a successful Oceanographic consultancy until 1992 when he moved with his wife to Tenerife and I continued to work alone, buying a small boat and doing survey work all over Spain.

My favourite jobs were for Fibre Optic cable installations on the beaches of Nortb Spain, the Balearics, Andalucia, Portugal, Morocco the Canary Isles and even Madeira and south of France. Geological surveys, photography and other research on beaches, expenses and travel all paid....can't be beat! I've also positioned more oil platforms than I could count.

Ten years ago I bought some toy and sweetie machines so my wife could make some pin money in the tourist pubs. We expanded into Pool Tables, Vending machines and games machines and when she was making more than me, I went to work for her and sold the boat!

Now we're ready to go back to the U.K. We've owned our apartment here for ages and it's on the front line (coast) see our view on www.salou-spotlight.com my website webcam is there.

My wife, who is Dutch and I've become tired of the intense humidity in the summer and i'm tired of living in a tourist town. It is pleasant in winter and there's some lovely country around us where I go walking but the summer is just awful. I have to say that now most expats instal SKY, socialise in expat pubs and just don't learn any Spanish which strikes me as a narrow way to live.

We're gradually winding down the business and will be visiting Scotland this year to look at potential areas to settle.

Hello Malcolm. What an interesting post. I wouldn't mind being a swallow and Doing part of the year here and the rest in the UK. To do this I would have to sell my house and downsize quite a bit to allow me to have two homes plus all the overheads that would go with them. I can.'t imagine leaving here just yet. I do totally agree with you about the humidity espeically if you are going out somewhere nice and decide to walk. I prefer to wait till the sun goes down.

Yeah, me too! We might just do that and keep our place here for a few more years. What I really miss is being able to have a garden. The soil here is just sand and very dry. Even my pot grown tomatoes are a disaster!

I loved working in the Canaries...telephone cables between Gran Canaria (La Sardina) and Tenerife (El Medano), Gomera and my favourite La Palma. Very sad that much of the Gomera and La Palma forest has been destroyed by fire. Here in Catalunya about a third of the forest has been lost to fire since I came here. As an ecologist it makes me very sad to see what happens because of carelessness.

I also need some quality Museums, Libraries and enthusiastic local culture - even just a good enthusiastic amateur Panto. Outside of Barcelona you're starved of quality culture and after 30 years I need to pig out on good art and intelligent people.

Malcoim

Thank you for joining us, I found your comments very interesting.

Maybe my need to go back to the UK is not just because of family. I did not choose to live in Spain, I wanted to live in the France / Spain area. However I have enjoyed much of my time here and will have good memories to write about.
However I have learnt that England is my home, no good moaning about it from a distance.......go there. See more of family and friends anf get involved with the community, politics etc.....

Any way I still have to sell the house first,no other house the same as we are not on a modern site and is not a new build. We have wonderful views across the sea and much history.

Meanwhile I will enjoy life where I am

Good night to you all

:-)

As I sit in my chair having been woken by loud loud music, singing, etc I know this is another reason to add to my desire to return to the UK.

We are now almost at the end of the summer season and next Sunday it will be the festival of the Moors and Christians. I have written about this previously and how magnificent it is. BUT why is it necessary to have every night, the loudest music you could imagine from about 22.00 hrs to 07.06 in the morning for seven days!!!

Apparently most people who attend this do not work this week, so no worries for them.
Fortunately my granddaughter aged 7 months sleeps through the noise!


Malcolm, I also long to visit art galleries, museums, the theatre, music festivals, etc etc. I want to be involved in the local community,politically and in general. No chance here especially because there is not just one language to use but several.

I have enjoyed the weather, living in an area which bans using pesticides sprayed everywhere, all fruits etc are organic...as a result the fruit must be bought every few days but the taste is just so good we do not mind shopping every other day.
Not many coughs and colds but when they are a nuisance they are very nasty indeed.
The beautiful view from my house is the sea and the Castle which I have written about in my daily Diary on one of the many threads. Watching the sun rise has been amazing. Hardly ever does the sky look the same as yesterday.
The clean air...now that will also be missed but I believe that clean air has also improved in the UK in the last few years.

Well the music and the singing has stopped. Wonder of wonders,,,,so I am going back to have some sleep~~~~~




:-)

Bridget.
We have the same problem here in Menorca with San Juan in June when people from all over flood into Ciutadella & for 3 days they are sleeping everywhere , making as much noise as they can & drinking (& taking drugs) anything they can get their hands on.
The rest of the year it´s a peaceful little town, but suffering very badly from the recession, as is the whole island.
Our flat has been on the market now for 5 years without even 1 serious offer & for that reason we are reluctant to leave it & move elsewhere.
I would love to have a good source of reading material & reasonably priced internet access. At the moment I use dial up because the only provider of broadband, Telefonica, charge over €40 per month on top of line rental & calls. The WIFI connections aren´t much cheaper & they are all slow. Generally they promise 3 meg but we´re lucky if we get 1meg, so the cheap option isn´t that much slower.
I´ve been here now for 7 years & have been with my husband for 5. I´m reasonably content with life here. Just hope the economic situation starts to improve soon.

wisechild

I must say that if we did not have the Internet at our hands I know that we would have been back in the UK .
OH uses this for his music, writing Quiz night info, following his beloved West Ham United, Cricket and ay others that attract his attention.
And helps others if they cannot manage their comps for one reason or another.
Without Skyp I would not have seen my newest granddaughter just less than an hour after she was born or be in regular contact with the rest of the family and my friends, all this covers Holland, Ireland, many different places in mainland UK. Australia. Germany, and a few others.
Can you use Amazon for buying books etc. they are very efficient. We do not use them very frequently but the service has never let us down.

Well the workmen have started drilling somewhere not to far away and the chatter between a couple of them is setting Jet & Joe barking. It not for long as they are now sitting with me.

Best wishes to everyone
:-D :-) :-) :-)

Nudge

Noise here in Salou is not as much of a problem as it was, say ten years ago. In those days drink driving was a huge problem with kids driving around all night, heavy metal music playing and the "botellon" (a drunken party or youths) taking place on the beach below. There has been a massive clampdown and now you rarely see any cars after midnight. Those that do are pounced upon and breathlysed. We stil get the occasional noisy crowd on the beach at 5 a.m. after the disco's come out and theres a 90 horsepower tractor which tows the clattering beach cleaner at 5.30 for an hour so I tend to get up and have a cup of tea and read a book. Madam sleeps through it all! Double glazing has helped a lot!

Now that the August holidays are over it's time for the locals to party. Last week it was a celebration of Jaume 1 with parades (yes, drums, trumpets and fireworks at all hours) This week it the "Diada" Catalunyas national day with strikes, parades and protests accompanied by drums and trumpets. Next week it's Santa Tecla, one of TWO patron saints of Tarragona. Soon be Christmas, then New Year, then 3 Kings. As someone pointed out a long time ago - every day is a holiday somewhere in Spain.

There's actually quite an advantage for the foreigner here. If you don't take all these holidays your business is much more effcient than the local competitor. It's worked that way for me.

My internet connection is also Telefonica and is awful. I'm contracted for 1 Meg but my monitor shows it is usually running at half that. I pay extra for my webcam so the total is around €70 a month. No point in changing to another supplier as they'd have to use the same line. No way is anyone going to run fibre into a six month tourist resort. Our Town Hall have jsut installed free wi-fi on the beaches (Yes, people do take their I-pads to the beach!) but we don't have coverage at this end of town.

As for languages, I speak Spanish fairly fluently and I can also write it (usually better than many locals) I can speak a good deal of Catalan and understand all of it written and spoken, however I am rarely in a situation where I need to speak Catalan. As I commented before, although i'd enjoy seeing some good television I have never reinstalled satellite since we sold our last house ten years ago and moved here. I watch Catalan and Spanish news and weather, and that's it. If I want to see the Footy (I'm not a massive fan) I go to Shankly's sports pub and have a pint with the lads!

Malcolm
I am enjoying your well written information.
My eldest son has lived in Spain for many years and worked in the Univercity if Barcalona and also had several businesses. He sold the shops just in time and now is in a regular employment with a major money company connected to the government.

He is very artistic and paints and also dabbles in ancient motor bikes. Revamping them to there original state and sells them on. Last week he married a German Lady who also has similar employment. Wedding on the beach in Masou ( spelling may be wrong)!

The languages being spoken occasionally reminded me of the Tower of Babble!
Actually it was an excellent day. His step son aged 7 speaks German, French, English and of course Spanish...

Hope a few others add today

It was a wonderful day.

Hello to you all, yesterday at 6 pm the thermometer on the terrace said it was 48.5 C. It was in full sunlight but even so it has been too hot lately. We have got a constant breeze that makes it a lot more comfortable. I tend to do housework, ironing etc early and then read and use the Internet during the day. Our winters are mild during the day and cold at night I would not like to give up my electric blanket. Tenerife is known as 'The Island Of The Eternal Spring" and I think the name suits it well.

I too would be totally lost without the Internet. Our service provider is Movistar which is part of Telefonica. My bill arrived today, it is for one month, so I can tell you that my total bill is 62.25 euros this is for ADSL (Broadband) line rental, maintenance and calls, all local calls are free on the tariff that I have. Here it pays to have maintenance cover as we lose the connection on a regular basis and with the cover they give you a refund for every day you are off, it also means they get you reconnected as quick as they can so that they don' have to pay you whilst others can wait for days. Out of my 62.25 euros my calls were only I.56 !! We also use Spantel which uses the same Telefonica line and gives us very cheap calls to UK and I have a mobile also with Movistar. We pay for 3 mb but it just isn't available here but it does usually run at about 2 to 2.5 so not bad for a small island.

Our water and our rates are both very reasonable and cheaper than in the UK and bearing in mind that it hasn't rained since April 27th we have not had any water shortages and are still able to water the garden every day.

Food has gone up in leaps and bounds both in the supermarkets and in the restaurants but wine remains cheap to buy espeically local wines of which there are many!! So if ever really broke I could always give up food and just stick to drink, just joking.

I am not disturbed by noise as I live 10 - 15 minutes downhill into town but sometimes hear the fiesta music as it rises up on the wind. Our road is quiet, not much traffic, and the house has a wall around which sound proofs it a bit.

I too miss the theatre and when I lived in the UK I went to London two or three times a year to do a bit of shopping, see the sites and a show. We often went on organised coach trips and I loved them. I have a Kindle and so I download most of my books, some are free, and I swap paperbacks with other English people here. In the north of the island where I live, Puerto de la Cruz, there isn't a very big English population and many of them having arrived here in their later years don't, and won't even try,to learn the language. I appreciate that it isn't easy to learn as you get older but I still think that an effort should be made. I see so many people battling on in English to a Canarian and then getting annoyed because they are not understood.

I have downloaded FilmOn and can watch all the English television programmes including some from Sky on the PC or iPad. It is free to download, good quality sound and picture and I recommend it to anyone wanting to watch English TV. We also have English channels on our television but only 1, 2, 3 and 4 for this we pay 90 euros a year. There is no television license to pay here so the 90 euros is not so bad.

I'm pleased that I came across this thread and hope it continues to run for a long time.

Wendy x

I use Arrakis for my phone /internet. they are franchised to BT & although they have to use the Telefonica lines, it´s much cheaper than Telefonica. At the moment I pay €42.50 per month which gives me line rental, 400 minutes calls within Spain, 800 minutes calls to England & 24/7 dial up access to the internet. Broadband has recently become available for €20 per month more, so I shall probably change for the winter when I use the PC more.
On Monday we had the first forest fires of the year. luckily they were caught quickly so not too much damage done. Like the Canaries, we´ve had vitually no rain since May, but no water shortages & water is cheap. The Council tax, electricity & food prices have almost doubled in the 7 years I have been here, but there are still so many reasons for wanting to stay in Spain. The people are generally so nice & although the winters can be pretty awful, at least they are shorter than in England.
I hope that people will keep the thread going too.

Wendy, I think we should get a mention for 'enjoying' your last shower!!!

I have to say folks Tenerife Sun is a lovely 'landlady'!!

15 minutes down hill and a heart attack up! :-D

I can forecast rain for Tenerife in October :-D

Hi Ann...yes it's true Ann and her OH arrived on 26th April and I told them that apart from the odd light shower we had not had any rain since October.
The next day, the first of their months holiday, it absolutely poured non stop all day and all night!!! Worried that they had not even had time to shop for food I was emailing them with a list of what food I had to offer Luckily the apartment has english television and wifi and as Ann and her OH both bring their lap tops they were able to find something to do until the rain stopped. It hasn't rained since but as they are back in Tenerife in October maybe I should have my umbrella ready!

Thank you Ann for the lovely compliments on my landlady skills. You two are also lovely guests/clients who over the years of coming here have become friends.

Wendy x

I'm picking up on an interestng point by SpanishEyes where she says that a 7 year old living here speaks several languages.

One thing that tends to worry people "taking theplunge" and moving abroad is "How will it affect the children"? Well the truth is that young children - the younger the better are wee sponges for language. Stick an Englsh speaking three year old in a kindergarten of Catalan kids (who speak both Catalan and Spanish) and i'll guarantee you within a month that child will be orally competent in all three languages.

It gets better when the parents are from different countries. Example, our nephew whose parents are Dutch and English. He was speaking five languages - Dutch, Englsh, Catalan, Spanish and German by the time he was five. (The German came as he spent a lot of time with other cousins) He is now thirty and chief receptionist in a major hotel chain here and has learned Russian as well.

It's the parents who need to worry. SKY T.V. and British pubs. Not a word of Spanish in their heads after twenty years! Finally, when my ex boss was returning to the U.K. I recommended him to have his two kids take exams in Spanish as soon as possible. They passed the A Level at the ages of 9 and 14!

Should be a thumbs up emoticon but they're not working!

Couldn´t agree more Malcolm. I have English friends who have lived here for nearly 20 years who hardly speak a word. If they want something, they write the word on a piece of paper & wave it under the shop assisstant´s nose.
I´ve been here 7 years now & although I can´t claim to speak the language like a native, I can hold a conversation, crack jokes, explain myself etc. It was hard work learning a new language at 60, but in my view, needs must.