SKI-er or Sk-ater. We know how to enjoy ourselves

[Deleted User]

I think the best thing about ski-ing or skating is that we have the choice and can be impulsive

Ooh seeing the posts about hardships in the past did take my mind back, starting with my parents only being able to afford half a pigs head, the upside is that I became a dab hand at making brawn all those years ago. Having a honeymoon in a hired vw campervan in scotland :cool: and second hand furniture and a trunk with a cloth on it for a table. Lol. Many youngsters today don`t know what hardship is. We have absolutely earned what we have now :beer:

Francophile

My DH is generally very careful with money and I have to work hard to get him to spend it but the current economic climate means we're seeing the value of our savings and investments plummet. Tonight whilst out for dinner he says he reckons we should just spend, spend, spend as it's losing value by the day and we might as well enjoy it while we can. I'm all up for that.

Merrywidow

7DW - you are really confusing me. Only really because I am struggling with myself where I really want to be when I sell up here in England. Spain has always been high on my list, and yet I still love this area of Kent. Holland is drawing me because of family and friends, Devon too and even Yorkshire. I suppose I just have to wait for devine intervention to show me the way. If only this country didn't have such long cold winters, which forces us all inside such a lot and when you live alone the evenings are very long and lonesome. No I am not sad I am just looking for an alternative. But where is it?

seven-day-weekend

All I'm saying Merry Widow is that although |I do like living in Spain, I am not one of those expats who feels it necessary to hate my own country and run it down. I like different things about Spain than I do about the UK and vice versa,.

And, scenery-wise,if not weather-wise, Cardigan Bay DOES knock the Costa del Sol into a cocked hat!

[Deleted User]

I was talking to my son (37) last night and his nr fixed rate mortgage is due to finish next year. he is with his long term partner ( a lovely woman about 38) and they both picked themselves up by their boot straps last year and moved out of her council flat into their very first (Tiny) house. They both work but I know that they will have been finding things a struggle and particularly now. He never asks for anything. He works 14 hours a day at the moment (no overtime pay) and has funded himself to doing a masters degree. He is always lovely, kind and helpful

My dh and I have decided that we will do what we can to quietly help him, starting by putting £6000 into his bank account on the strict understanding that it goes to pay off his morgage capital and we will try and do it again 2009. The two girls are doing fine and are nicely solvent, their husbands both had grans who left them a good sum of money, which they used towards their mortgages.

That is how we will be ski-ing this year and this is what we want to do and feel so grateful that we can

EdInvestor

Merrywidow wrote: »

If only this country didn't have such long cold winters, which forces us all inside such a lot and when you live alone the evenings are very long and lonesome.

As a fairly recent returnee to the UK after many years as an expat, I've been surprised at the changes in the weather. First, it seems quite a lot warmer, though I do live right down on the south coast in an area which seems to be sheltered from the cold, so perhaps this isn't so general.

But second, is the huge improvement in the winters - the dank drizzly gloom (particularly in the pre Xmas winter time period) appears now to alternate with dry days of bright sunshine and blue skies. These bright days tend to be colder, but the crisp air is a small price to pay for the sunshine.

Autumn has replaced Spring as the best season IMHO (this may have something to do with change in gardening fashions), but again the beautiful crisp but sunny weather in autumn along with the falling leaves and smell of woodsmoke can be quite exhilarating - and time to buy some new season's clothes, of course! .

Although the media is constantly going on about rain in the UK - and parts of the north and Scotland do seem to get a lot - in London and the SE there are now annual water shortages, just like Spain.

I still plan to make a getaway somewhere warmer in February for a few weeks, but overall - at least in the South- the UK weather is now quite manageable IMHO.It even seems to be predictable - wonders will never cease - have the weathermen got some new technology or something?;)

Merrywidow

Dear EdInvestor - last winter was really good I must admit. I think my biggest gripe is the fact that as I now live alone, the winter evenings close in by 3.30 and life is nothing like the social life I enjoy in the summer i.e. contact with people, BBQ's and long evenings in the garden. I suppose "stir crazy" would best describe how I get in winter" For this reason I want to escape to a different way of life - just don't know which one yet.

[Deleted User]

someone nearby started a local dinner club and wrote a letter to the local rag. She had 50 relies within a few days and it is going from strength to strength

donny-gal

The biggest difference is usually the cost of going out at home/in Spain. 7 of us went out last night to the local Chinese, meal for 6 = 54€ and a menu of the day 5.95€. Included welcome glass of Sangria, prawn crackers, 3 courses, half a bottle of wine, or soft drink or beer each, and small glass of brandy or peach liqueur. Large range of dishes. Not sure but dont think you can get a take away at home for that. without the drinks.

Personally though, what I would love to see someone do is a quiet disco for over 50's so that we can go and have a dance, and/or sit and talk, dining is fine, but not good fo the waistline, and dancing is more me than the gym.

DG

Merrywidow

Hi donny-gal - considering the time difference what the heck are you doing talking to us at 6am? or even 7am for that matter.

A quiet disco sounds like a contradiction in terms. However, the evening get together idea is fantastic. I love social contact and since moving back to England and the death of my husband this has just about dried up. I know there are clubs out there but in this area is all a bit serious. Just sitting for a chat and laugh would be heaven. I have lovely neighbours but they are not friend material, I think they think I am a bit way out for their dull lives. Wish I had my Dutch neighbours back - now that is another story. I have to shop this afternoon, and I am going to make myself a paella and some sangria for this evening - you have set me off. (Just bought a cook book from Amazon with just Paella and Sangria and tapas recipes as served in Spanish bars and resturants.) I can smell it now. talk soon.