HMRC - Don't you just love them?

[Dan]

Rather ironic that I've just had to pack up painting outside because it's started raining!

My phone just packed in because it's too hot here. Lol

 

[andy8758]

Rather ironic that I've just had to pack up painting outside because it's started raining!

Lol! Rain in Spain is a little like standing under a warm shower in the UK! I have witnessed some very spectacular rain where the streets flood in minutes there. But it stops (in UK it tends to rain for weeks on end) and within an hour the ground is dry enough to sunbathe on again.

And we are just about to get the next wave of rain (well it is the school holidays here - rofl).

 

[WetSaw]

I did live in the UK for 46 years.... The rain here in the summer is quite welcome to be honest but in the winter it's a different story.

 

[WetSaw]

The trouble with summer rain is it brings the Sahara sand with it!

 

[andy8758]

The Spanish lifestyle attracts us as much as the mild climate. We often fancied living there, but.

We could not afford to spend a life sitting in bars and the recession there makes the UK look like it enjoyed a boom for the last 7 years. The summer heat is too much, air conditioning and shade essential - when we should be outdoors. We love the Spanish, but they don't always love us English as we swarm across the Bay of Biscay to invade Spain every year. And they respond to problems very directly - earlier this year we read a story of a politician in Malaga who upset her secretary who then shot her dead. Yes, the Spanish are lovely, but less so the Russians, the Costa Crime syndicates, the British holidaymakers, the Chinese beach masseurs, the endemic corruption of public officials, and local police on commission for the number of vehicle misdemeanours they can enforce.

But we keep coming back. The thought of dying like Cilla Black (RIP Chuck) collapsing on a sun terrace of your villa after a bit of sun and San Miguel appeals so much more than crippled and cowering in a cold room in England.

 

[WetSaw]

Crikey Andy, I thought I was a cynical bugger! I think you need to take off those rose tinted specs a bit more often as the UK also has more than it's share of wrong'uns
I'm not one of those expats who thinks everything is great here and s##t in the UK but,for me, it's nothing like you painted it.
I've been here nearly 7 years now and I'm busier than ever. I don't believe the urban myths about police being on commission,probably started by expats getting stopped in their illegal UK cars...
This summer has been hot I'll give you that but you do become accustomed to it, anything under 20°c and I'm reaching for a jumper.

Maybe we can meet up when you're next over and you can buy me a beer

 

[andy8758]

Maybe we can meet up when you're next over and you can buy me a beer

Now that sounds like a great plan!