Lovely weather

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IreneD
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Lovely weather

Postby IreneD » Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:18 pm

We've had our last week here in our holiday home. The next time we come it will be our home, full stop. This has been an important week as we decided it would be the week we stopped shilly-shallying around and make a definite plan - either to put the house on the market or move in 'permanently'.

The weather has been gorgeous since we arrived late last Friday. It was wet and windy driving to the house but the sun was out Saturday morning and it's been beautiful - it was actually too hot to sit in the sun on our little terrace yesterday! I hope that hasn't swayed us - it's hard to be negative - or realistic? - coming from the cold and wet U.K. it's bound to put something of a slant on things I suppose. On the other hand, I could look upon it as a positive pointer - that we are doing the right thing.

The day after tomorrow we go back to the U.K. to resign from our jobs and do preparation and packing, not to mention selling our U.K. residence - our caravan. So, by the middle of January we should be just about ready.

Any last minute advice - or warnings?

masterob
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby masterob » Wed Dec 07, 2011 11:22 pm

"The only failure in life is the failure to try" - if your heart and head tell you to go for it then, I guess that is what you should do! That said, don't let the weather be your main reason! I'm sure you won't!

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knowal
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby knowal » Wed Dec 07, 2011 11:35 pm

Don't look back.

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anis
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby anis » Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:04 am

We always seem to have a lovely spell of weather at this time of year but when you return, we are heading into rainy February and March BUT don't let that put you off because just around the corner, all the wild flowers will be out in bloom and if you haven't seen Spain in Spring or seen the almond blossom in January you are in for a treat.

Seriously, Irene, it can be pretty wet and wild sometimes in the early months of the year, but so long as you are well prepared and ready with some log fires or heating, it is good walking weather which you can't do in summer time so take advantage of it, you will be fine. We only have two seasons -very hot 'n not hot.

Best of luck and Merry Christmas to you, hope all goes well.

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Julie
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby Julie » Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:14 am

Glad the decision is made, be a lot easier to sleep now :lol: all the best for your future :thumbup:
No soporto ver la casa sucia, ahora mismo me levanto y apago la luz.

Lyric
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby Lyric » Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:27 am

As others have posted you will return to probably the worst of the weather, don't let it depress you, the what have we done syndrome, it doesn't rain for very long and then improves.
I think Spring and autumn are the best seasons here, as already posted just wait for the spring flowers - glorious

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Re: Lovely weather

Postby swerve » Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:44 am

We've just got back and couldn't believe the weather. We got loads of jobs done and not many wasps.

Best of luck. :clap: :clap:
It always seems imposible until its done. Nelson Mandela

olive
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby olive » Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:53 pm

Best of luck with your move. Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

olive

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IreneD
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby IreneD » Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:12 pm

Thank you so much for the encouragement - I can't tell you what it means to me.

Knowing absolutely no-one here, it feels so nice to have cyber friends. I AM scared, no doubt about it, I'm going to miss my family so much although of course will get set up with Skype and will keep in close touch.

We've had a lovely week but I woke up in the night not feeling well at all - really swimmy head and giddy and then my hypochondria kicked in (I always imagine the worst!!) and I am only just feeling better. One of these days, we must check out the hospital in Torre, I have no idea what to do if one of us gets ill and that freaks me out too.

Sorry, I'm in a funny mood today, hardly any sleep, ignore me (or talk some sense into me lol) but - once again - it was so nice to log on and see the messages.

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Re: Lovely weather

Postby gerryh » Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:48 pm

I assume you have an European Health Card (was E111) ?
If so, just go to emergencies at the hospital.
When you are living here, assuming you or your husband are pensioners, then get your self registered with the Spanish health system and a local doctor.
Hope you enjoy living in Spain, we do.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

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IreneD
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby IreneD » Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:10 pm

Thanks, Gerry, I suppose it's the 'unknown' that worries me, plus my Spanish isn't great, though I am learning.

Good to hear you enjoy life in Spain, wish we could just magic ourselves here - the next few weeks are going to be stressful!

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Re: Lovely weather

Postby Free at Last » Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:53 pm

Best of luck with your move. I think it will help that, as we did, you are moving to a house you have already had as a holiday home for some time, so you know the area and your neighbours, at least, plus you will already have got a large part of the bureacracy aspect out of the way!

It is a stressful time leading up to your move, after waiting 7 months to sell our UK house we then had just 5 weeks between accepting an offer and completion date to sort everything out, but we've been here just over 5 years now and have no regrets. That isn't to say there are never any problems, of course there are as nowhere on earth is perfect, but you deal with them as and when they crop up just as you would when things go wrong if you were living in the UK. It certainly helps to learn the language, though, as you feel less helpless if you can sort things out for yourself (and it's cheaper than having to use an intermediary, too!).

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IreneD
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby IreneD » Thu Dec 08, 2011 6:47 pm

Thanks, Free at Last - yes, we should settle in O.K. I think. As you say, the bureaucracy is out of the way, when I look back, I can't believe how naive we were! We bought the house with no escritura, for a start - that took 6 months to arrive! We've mostly used a gestor to sort things out for us so far, will have to get properly clued up as to what else we need to do, if/when we become residents. We are 'burning our bridges' in as much as we won't have anywhere to go back to in the U.K. but I think we'll just settle in for a few weeks before we look into that side. I think that's O.K. for the first 3 months.

Good to hear from people like yourself who have no regrets :thumbup:

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Re: Lovely weather

Postby scotty » Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:04 am

My advice to you comes via my 92 year old mother....... It may be too late for you but here it is.....

Always keep a key to your own hall door. She insists that her & my dad kept a small home in Ireland for later in life. Now with my dad dead she lives in Ireland with family near her. It is advice we have taken. We will always keep a bolt hole in Ireland.

Footprint
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby Footprint » Fri Dec 09, 2011 6:19 am

Good luck to you both- I hope it all works out well. The weather here in South Lincolnshire is appalling and has been for a few days - so windy here on the fen. Hopefully it will remain warm and sunny in Andalucia as I'm heading there tomorrow for a few days. Going to view a couple of properties and generally get to know the area around Alora a bit better.

Despite all the doom and gloom one hears about living in Spain the economy here in the UK isn't anything to get excited about. Property prices have fallen here also - the days of over-inflated prices are long gone. I've worked my 3 months notice and officially finished end November though I'm still doing the odd bit for them. Other half is overseas working so I have the task of 'property hunting' and my search begins.............

What surprises me is the number of 'agents' I have emailed about specific properties and I haven't even had the courtesy of a reply. Are times still so good they can afford to ignore new purchasers? Ho hum.
You can spend, minutes, hours, days, weeks or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could've, would've happened - or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the f**k on.

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quebin
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby quebin » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:58 am

Scotty not everybody can afford the luxury of a bolt hole and just get on with living in Spain.Some times the bolt hole will hamper peoples ability to settle here permanently.
We burnt our bridges when we moved here 6 years ago and have no regrets.

BENIDORM
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby BENIDORM » Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:07 am

Irene,
I hope that everything goes to plan with your move....I'm sure that it will... :wave:


Footprint...
Welcome to the wonderful world of A.Com..... :lol:

If you have had difficulty contacting agents, then it's probably because they have 'packed up', the agents still surviving are probably the better one's to contact anyway...Good Luck.. :thumbup:

Regards,
Gordon..

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Re: Lovely weather

Postby Jool » Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:21 am

True - there are local Agent´s websites operational and I know they left Spain over 2 years ago and are not selling property anymore. Do check your spam and trash boxes as many e-mails I received from Agents came up with a spam warning probably due to the website links or images, who knows.....

Irene - you will be fine, don´t have any fixed ideas about how it will be just see it as an adventure with each day a new one....

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IreneD
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby IreneD » Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:17 pm

Scotty, thank you for the advice from your mother - a wise woman indeed. We would love to keep a bolt hole in the U.K. but it just isn't possible unfortunately. I have droned on at length in the past about our circumstances so I won't send anyone to sleep by repeating our sorry saga :yawn: but basically we have to sell our caravan. If things go horribly awry, we would have to put our house here on the market and would then be eligible for housing benefit etc in the U.K. but I think my OH would rather jump off a cliff then claim benefits! Lol! I'm not so proud, but I do see his point - he's got to 68 years old and never claimed anything. (I have claimed, in the past - many years ago, when I became a single parent with 3 teenage daughters to support, but it was only for a short period, thankfully.) Once we'd sold the house, we'd buy something small in the U.K. so - there's always an option isn't there, if things don't work out.

Quebin, an encouraging post, thank you :) and Gordon, always optimistic and supportive, bless ya :D

Footprint, good luck with your house search, hopefully there will be someone like you around if we do decide to sell up, but I'm not 'going there' right now - I feel incredibly optimistic right now (which isn't like me, I am a terrible worrier!) and can't wait. I did have a dip yesterday but that was because, for some reason, I felt ill, and panicked, stupid - as Gerry pointed out, if either of us get ill, go to the nearest hospital (we do have the health cards). Oh - and welcome to Andalucia.com, Footprint - as you can see, there are some brilliant people here - even the sarky ones are nice when you get to know them :thumbup: (sigh..........I do miss Julian............)

Thanks, Jool - you've always been very helpful to me, appreciated.

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Wicksey
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Re: Lovely weather

Postby Wicksey » Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:26 pm

Hi Irene. Glad to hear you have made your decision to come here full time. We gave up work at aged 42 and left the UK and everyone thought we were totally mad, but after moving around here and there we are coming back to settle here again and we don't have any regrets. As you say, you can at least Skype your family. It wasn't so long ago that it was difficult to get any sort of internet here and things have improved so much in recent years, so you can keep in regular contact with your family. The health side of things may seem daunting at first but I'm sure others on here will help you if you have any questions on where to go and how to register. Once you are living here full time, I'm sure you'll begin to get to know people in your area more and get a social circle of friends. Good luck!
Last edited by Wicksey on Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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