I'm Happy in Spain !!!

[Nimrod]

I think the idea should be to show both sides of the coin.
My experience would crush you and it has scarred my opinion.
I review the forum because it has useful info even though I can't sell my house and my experience has been awful.
However I am really happy for those people whose experience of living in Spain is far superior to mine,I don't knock them or mock them,I am envious that my experience doesn't equal theirs.

[Ancient-Briton]

That was a nice sensible reply Nimrod, i'm all for sharing the experiences good or bad, i've always said that.
I just don't think that it's necessary to make fun of expats who are still in spain, many are having a hard time but trying their best to keep soldiering on,but by all means keep telling the problems, it might help some.
I've been reading some of the recent posts and there is an awful sense of resentment from some who have had to leave,and i guess that they would be back to spain like a shot if their circumstances changed.
Nimrod you have been really unlucky and maybe a different place in spain and you also could have a different view of spanish living, but don't give up mate, if you sell your place can i suggest that you go to a different area and rent and give it another go.

[ValL]

Glad I'm not alone at being happy here, i don't understand why so many people get so shirty about us stating this, and i really don't mind reading about the problems expats have had, sad to read, but a fact of life, i just think it's a shame that some try to make others feel stupid because they've made a good life in Spain.
I don't want to start an argument, but katy why are you so anti ?, perhaps it would be a good idea to have a private area for the doom and gloomers ?.I resent being called a happy clapper just because i've been successful in making a reasonable life here.
I thought the idea of this forum was to help people settle in spain, not throw stones at them for being happy..

I applaud your post and agree.

[Chunky Monky]

[katy]

Just refreshed my memory re. the Ancient mariner. Your first few posts set off confrontational and had a pop at Frank and I even though we hadn't posted. Read page one folks and test your knowledge to the poster....I think I know who it is, quite a few regulars made comments

by Mowser on Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:26 pm

Methinks someone has changed moniker again .....

And another

I find it very, very strange that a "newbie" with 12 posts appears to be very confident when referring to some of our older, ie long serving posters, with 12 posts, how could you possible be familiar with their style

Anyway Franks gone and I have a thick skin Grandad

[Ancient-Briton]

Miss marple strikes again !
just cos i didn't post much before doesn't mean that i don't follow some of the more interesting items here without commenting, like many other people.I do know plenty of the posters on here and their real monikers.
But for the last couple of years i've been busy and not had time to come along and rattle your cage, and to be honest dont use computers much as you probably noticed.
Back to the real subject, i'm happy but you obviously aren't, shame that .
can i remind you that this is a forum open to most kinds of people, its not an exclusive club for peeps who pretend to be posh

[Mowser]

Ancient-Briton

Just to refresh your memory ...

by Mowser on Sat Apr 03, 2010 2:40 pm

Ancient-Briton

I'm not referring to you!

[gerryh]

I doubt if there is anybody on here who lives in Spain, or any other country, who has not encountered problems/ frustrations where they live.
But, for some of us, we have accepted the problems, learnt to live with them and, on balance, are Happy in Spain.
I know there are some, like Nimrod whose problems far outweigh the benefits and aren't happy in Spain.
We try to advice/ help people who have problems on how to overcome their problems or how to avoid getting problems in the first place.
Just because we are Happy in Spain does not mean that we go around wearing rose tinted spectacles, bury our heads in the sand, live in la la or cloud cuckoo land or are happy clappers.
Cheers
Gerry

[katy]

We try to advice/ help people who have problems on how to overcome their problems or how to avoid getting problems in the first place.

...and so do I and everyone else It is not he job of the vulture clique on here to decide what posts they want on. I recall others who have been hounded off being helpful and informative too! I was happy in Spain at one time but it didn't stop me having a rant about it on here now and then. This forum is not here for half a dozen happy clappers it's for the average 30 or so guests at anytime who want a balance of views and read the rest of the A.com website which many forum users never do

For those of you who are hanging on to the coat-tails of a troll what are you afraid of...the truth. If someone posts a sweeping statement such as there are no long waiting lists in Spain why shouldn't someone post to report something that contradicts in the paper just a few days before. Some of you are getting quite obsessive about cleansing the forum, even to the point of spilling it onto the word thread

[Ancient-Briton]

thanks Gerry for a good balanced answer and view.

I started this thread 3 years ago and there has been getting on for 7000 views ,so obviously it is of interest to loads of people.i think that the majority of members and viewers who visit this site are looking for a balanced view of good and bad things that do happen, nothing to do with personality clashes.I just don't understand why some members have to pour scorn and try to humiliate fellow members who are trying to be helpful and give the real facts as they happen, not press and google releases as some continually refer to.If you've left the country then you soon lose the insight into the real goings on, as i did with uk, but after spending some time back there i soon realised why i came to spain in the first place.Today is too hot to sit around messing about on my computer so i'm off out for a ride in the countryside and a visit to a nice bar for some tapas,and yes i'm easily pleased ,i've found that the really good things in life are the simplest ones.

[janda_grant2]

This has brought back some happy/sad memories for me. When this thread started I was happy living in Spain with no intention of going back, sadly OH's health was suffering and he wanted to go back to the UK, so with a heavy heart we put the property on the market expecting to still be there now, and blow me down we sold it within 6 months! So now I'm resident in the UK again and enjoying life here. (Although there were a few tears at the airport that last day - not that I let him see!)

Spain for me was an adventure with good and bad times, it was never my dream (OH wanted to move there) but like a lot of things in life I embraced it and enjoyed it. We agreed when we went that if one of us wanted to come back we would - and that is what happened. So, it was the right discision for us and I regret nothing.

And yes, there were some names to remember on that first page! Wonder what they are all doing now!

[Lavanda]

I get muddled up sometimes. It must be all my happy endorphins making me light-headed and dizzy but I'm happy in SPAIN yet I wasn't happy in Andalucia, which was why we moved up to Extremadura. Spain's huge and I'll bet there are many more happy ex-pats than not BUT I don't know. No doubt someone will help in a moment with a DM statistic.

Katy, you begin to intrigue me (after 8000+ posts). Were you some sort of master spy or detective in your earlier years? Do you have an interactive chart where you tick off who says what about themselves or someone else on a certain date and cross-reference this years later? I'm full of admiration. I can't work out trolls, identities, conflicting statements or anything like that. I just read, think and post but clearly, I'm not thinking that well. So ... who do you think the OP was in another life?

[katy]

what's happened, must have held down my finger too long

[katy]

Doesn't anyone think it strange that an anti Katy and Frank post has just popped up. I don't see myself posting any abuse (except to answer abusers). This poster doesn't want to discuss being happy in Spain they just want to bring the Katy, Frank krap back. I was in Spain a few weeks back and I was going to post a resumé, good and bad (petrol €1.53 phew!!) however, what's the point Even when I hardly post my name or Franks comes up....FFS move on and stop bearing old grudges! I actually come on this forum to read about Spain items but there is less and less Spain just personal stuff. When I mentioned what we did for San Juan (in Spain) there was no comment

A little story. We were thinking of buying a business in Florida around 2004, not that we really wanted one but it would have given us the magical visa and we intended to put a manager in. Joined a Florida forum to ask some questions. Got a lot more info' than we had from immigration lawyers and Agents. The threads developed pretty much the same as on here with some posters being accused of being negative and lots of personal stuff which wasn't any use to me as a newbie, I wanted to hear both sides and make up my own mind. Well we decided not to go ahead and there are many who lived to regret it having realised that the visas were not permanent and only as good as the business. So, it's not just this forum, they all have the same pattern, they aren't for sensitive people who can't debate or allow any points of view than their own clique!

As I said, ask Chris for your very own section and work out the criteria which will exclude myself and anyone else who you decide is not singing from the same hymn sheet.

[katy]

*beep*

[Lavanda]

"Doesn't anyone think it strange that an anti Katy and Frank post has just popped up."

Well that's can't be me as I wrote I was full of admiration for you! Phew!

[katy]

Not a woman Lavanda, we women call a spade a spade...under our own nicks

[Mowser]

"Doesn't anyone think it strange that an anti Katy and Frank post has just popped up."
Where is that? 2010?

[Ancient-Briton]

Just got back in after having a couple of nice tapas, and connected my new key-board, the other was sticking, probably because I spilled coffee on it .That's much better.!

It's nice to read the different stories from members who live here and those who have moved on,but I don't understand the 'Katy' attacks, I hadn't even mentioned Katy or Frank..who the F. is Frank anyway, I can't remember.
Katy I think that you are really getting too paranoid and need to calm down, you spend too much time reading old postings .
Now please move on and talk about all of the exciting things that's happening in Spain and UK ?

I have to be really honest and say that never a day goes by when I don't think of something that I miss about living in UK, but I've learned to compensate and change and relax and life is good.
I do miss some of my family and friends, but we keep in touch regularly and visit as often as possible.

Janda, I just read your post and was sorry to hear that you've had to leave Spain, but of course I'm sure that it was the right decision, and it's nice to know that you did enjoy your time here in Spain, I hope that you get to come here on holiday and keep in touch through the forum.

I'm going to have a siesta now ,to prepare myself for tonight's weekly evening out at one of our local bars.

[IreneD]

Katy is a brilliant detective (or prosecuting counsel as Maria Cristina recently described her ) Like Lavanda, I haven't a clue who Ancient Briton's other persona might be - I just read his posts and take what he says at face value.

My OH and I are also happy in Spain but with reservations which I've talked about many times so won't drone on I don't think anywhere is perfect and I'm sure most people retain a fondness for their 'homeland' . At the moment I'm lying on my bed, window open with a fabulous mountain view - beats the view from my old Victorian terrace in England where pretty much all I could see from my window was the house of the neighbour opposite's Vera Duckworth stone cladding on her perfectly nice red brick house (why do people do that? Oh dear......that's going to offend someone - each to their own, I suppose) Admittedly the view from our caravan was amazing, fields and lakes.........yes, I do miss that (but not the caravan!)

Anyway - there are lots more reasons I'm happy in Spain and lots of things and people I miss about the U.K. but like Lavanda, am curious as to who Katy thinks AB might be