nobody warned me about August

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laswalkirias
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nobody warned me about August

Postby laswalkirias » Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:27 pm

As a frequent visitor to Malaga City and tacky Torremolinos over the past two years I thought that I had found my "Shangri La" and I am at present arranging early retirement with my present UK employer with a view to emigrating soon.
However as my visits were every six weeks except July and August my visit last week was a bit of a shock!!!
The heat, the endless day and night scorching limb aching humidity was unbelievably uncomfortable, even the air conditioning was unable to cope at night and I always woke up with a dry throat after leaving the aircon at full blast all night.
The beaches were full of overweight Brits with their loud overweight and noisy children, it was a scene from "Dantes inferno" The place I have loved and dreamed about living in was absoloutely diabolical
What does the average expat do to escape this hell on earth
There is no way I could put up with what I witnessed in Torremolinos in August
Why did nobody warn me on this forum of the horror of Spain in August!!!!!
I feel let down
I was actually glad to arrive back in grey old england and ecstatic jumping into my cold bed in London
Please Please convince me that I will get used to it after a while because every time I have visited Malaga I have loved in until now
Dying to move to spain

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Julie
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uk

Postby Julie » Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:30 pm

You could always take your hols to UK in August :)

Valencia_Paul
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Postby Valencia_Paul » Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:37 pm

I think all of Spain is extremely busy in August. Where my flat is in the Valencia region the beaches are full of fat noisy Spanish kids with a few Brits/French and others thrown in. I have always tried to avoid August preferring July and my favourite month, September.

I think the climate of the Canary Islands is better - never so hot in Summer and never so cold in winter as mainland Spain - but island life is another matter to contend with.

Sounds like your A/C is not upto the job but they do say "be careful what you wish for". :wink:

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Miggy
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..

Postby Miggy » Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:41 pm

Maybe look for somewhere more inland :?: You will always get loads of tourists near the beaches...

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beach

Postby julian » Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:46 pm

I never go to the beach in august, I think that when you have lived here for a while the beach is not the centre of attraction that it used to be when you came as a tourist.

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Miggy
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..

Postby Miggy » Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:55 pm

I hardly ever go to the beach and if I do I make sure it's late when all the tourists have gone, can't stand crowds of people all sunbathing around me with noisy kids and that...but if they where all ladies then that could be a much different matter... :wink:

katy
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Postby katy » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:14 pm

Strange most of the coast is full of Northern spanish just now, very few Brits.

Paula
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Postby Paula » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:16 pm

You are likely to find that once living here that you will have a completely different routine than the one you have when just visiting every few weeks. (I tend to stay very much at home during August)

As already said you are unlikely to find any fulltime residents on the beaches in August, maybe just for the odd day accompanying visitors.
The tourist season is very short but it is a main source of income here!
Have a heart, those overweight people you talk about only get their two weeks in the sun, you will have plenty of weeks out of season to enjoy 8)

Steve&Yvonne
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Postby Steve&Yvonne » Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:29 pm

Surely you knew that it would be like you describe? It was thirty years ago and can only have got more crowded.

As the others have said spend the month going very slow
Living in the south west and moving to Andalucia in six weeks time

Marina
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Postby Marina » Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:54 pm

Where I live the area is full of Spanish tourists and I find it's lovely to be on the paseo during the evenings. There's a lovely party atmosphere, often with live music. We tend to walk the dogs then sit at a bar have a few sardines and soak up the atmosphere. It's so nice to see all ages from toddlers to OAP's enjoying themselves. Elderly couples wander along hand in hand, breaking into a shimmy as they pass the band and toddlers run around, just having fun. Teenagers pose as teenagers do and in general everyone just seems relaxed and happy.
We don't have air con because we are happy without it, but I find when it's particularly humid, it's nice to sleep wth a fan on and just feel the breeze.
It's too hot during the day to do much, but a nice pile of books from the second hand shop takes care of that and it helps of course if you have a pool to dip into. I wouldn't dream of going near the beach during the day.I get up early, walk the dogs, do any jobs that need to be done then I sit in the shade and read. Bliss!
You can invite friend for a BBQ and know that it won't rain. I would hate to have to go out to work in the heat, but luckily I don't need to and I just love the long, lazy days of August in Spain. :D

laswalkirias
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warning in august

Postby laswalkirias » Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:57 pm

Thanks for replies to my post. I did find that the worst part of my August visit was the heat and humidity.When I came in September it was hot during the day but bearable at night but this time I found that when I left my appartment at 2am because I couldnt sleep it was still hot and sticky,I feel that I will have to lock myself away in a dark room for the whole month as the amount of income I will have at my disposal will not cover a trip back to the uk
Am I the only person in the world who moans about the August weather, I wonder if it annoys the locals as much as the newly arrived Brits?
Dying to move to spain

masterob
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Postby masterob » Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:28 pm

That´s life in Southern Spain in August and that´s why so much of the country effectively closes down in August! When you visit as a tourist you are more likely to want to travel around in the time you have available, when you live here you stay out of the heat for as long as you can. That´s true the world over, even in London where the Tube can be unbearably hot in August the tourists insist in traveling on it!

Apologies in advance for being moralistic but the lesson for you, I guess, is to experience as much of real life in Malaga, good and bad, before you commit yourself to life in your idealistic "Shangri La". Unfortunately it isn´t like that! :(

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Dealer
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Postby Dealer » Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:41 am

katy wrote:Strange most of the coast is full of Northern spanish just now, very few Brits.
I noticed that and boy ain't they white! :shock:
"A soul afraid of dying will never live"

alaninspain
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Postby alaninspain » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:23 am

We live just above the coast on the borders of Benalmadena & Torremolinos. In August Benalmadena is full of noisy brits looking for cheap beer, chips, mirrors to see if their tattoos are affected by the sunshine, and complaining about the price of "The Sun". Second day is not so bad as they are all lobstered and in the farmacias buying aftersun, aloe vera etc. Fuengirola is full of noisy Spanish families, who have hit the town from Granada & Cordoba because it is even hotter there and the kids have 13 weeks summer holiday. I am going to take a decibel meter down to the two paseos to see who wins the noise contest. Evens bet I think. The saving grace living in Spain is that the noise from Spanish kids is generally a happy one. There are some quiet corners, even on the beach, when you live here wou can find them. l

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pigs-might-fly
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Postby pigs-might-fly » Thu Aug 23, 2007 10:46 am

To be fair, I think the coastal weather this August has been atypical.
It's been much cloudier and humid than usual and yesterday on a trip to Marbella, we drove through a near tropical rainstorm.

I have to admit I'll be glad when the holiday makers have gone and life in our mixed urbanisation can return to its peaceful norm.

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Chrissie
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nobody warned me about August

Postby Chrissie » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:07 am

I don't think anyone has mentioned the fact that you will, given more time in Spain, acclimatize. I remember when I first went to live there still wearing my t-shirt and shorts in October :oops: wondering why the locals were in sweaters :!: One year on and I had become used to the climate, including to some extent the August heat. You just have to adapt your life to it. I think Marina's post is true for me too :)
The past cannot be changed, but the present can be spoilt by worrying about the future

CaroleE
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Postby CaroleE » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:47 am

I agree with most if not all the comments of living permanently in Spain and experiencing the heat of August on the Costa. We live in rural Andalucia about half an hour drive north from Antequera. We came down to Calehonda for the first week of August to be close to relatives over from England. What a mistaka to maka! Staying for a week is a lot different to visiting for the day. Never again in August, we nicknamed it Costa del Essex, hope I dont offend anyone from Essex :oops: ,

Regarding the heat, up here its even hotter, this is our first full summer and it has been intolerable some days, its a case of getting any work round the casa done by 11am, then battening down the hatches until around 8pm when it starts to cool down, we have had temperatures over 100 degs some days and most have been in the 90's throughout July and August. This means our days are spent inside the casa, thank goodness for a supply of paperbacks and good old satellite TV!

However, even with all this to contend with, and living with the Spanish in a village, quite an eyeopener, we would not go back to England to live permanently, after every visit we cant wait to get back. Stick with it, you will adjust and realise that taking everything into account, Spain has a lot to offer you if you are prepared to give and take.

katy
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Postby katy » Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:04 pm

I wouldn't want to spend my summer days holed up in the casa :shock: Would prefer to take my chance with the essex people in Calahonda or even the UK. :roll:

frank
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Postby frank » Thu Aug 23, 2007 4:19 pm

No, nor me! I think that's one reason we haven't finally made the move to Spain. To spend two months holed up in the house, because it's too hot to go out, ain't my idea of fun! :D I spent 2 years in the Middle East, and 100 degrees, feels like 100 degrees, no matter how much you supposedly get used to it. When Spanish friends tell me it's "sofocante" "asfixiante", (and they have lived there all their lives) then I know it's hot. When we pop in to see our ex neighbours in Spain, they never seem to go out in the sun, they spend all day trying to avoid it.
Katy, is there a third alternative? I honestly don't fancy either of those two!!! :D
Regards, Frank

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Miro
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Postby Miro » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:59 pm

Nobody has mentioned yet that you can always cool off - with a quick dip in the carpark at the water park in Mijas :shock:
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

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