Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

seven-day-weekend

Well.... just had a wonderful couple of hours.

It's our village Fiesta at the moment (2,3,4 January). The village celebrates our Patron, El Niño Bendito (The Blessed Child). Tonight was the main event,

It started with everyone gathering in the Church (Iglesia de la Encarnacion - Church of the Incarnation) and the effigy of the Christ Child, surrounded by flowers, was put on a dais and carried out of the church and round the village, folllowed by villagers. Loud fireworks were let off at frequent intervals and a brass band played.

An effigy of the Virgin was also carried round.

When the procession arrived back at the church, El Niño and the Virgin were stationed outside the church. Recorded music was played and there was a terrific firework display. Someone would shout 'El Niño Bendito!' followed by everyuone shouting 'Mira!' ('See!') Then the Child and the Virgin were carried back into the Church, but El Niño was held in the doorway whilst the band played the National Anthem. Then the whole procession followed the Child back into the Church, someone said a joyful Prayer, there was much applause and shouts of 'Mira!'

Awesome.

Then we went in Amador's Bar and drank Gin and Tonics. There's always one......:rotfl:

droopsnout

Sounds great fun, s-d-w!

And I do really like a gin and tonic, even if it does make me sound like a typical ex-pat.

donny-gal

It must be me who is the weirdo then, as I can only take Gin with Orange.
Head down working on family tree - someone tell me why I got interested in this adictive hobby.
DG

Francophile

Gin & Tonic, my favourite aperitif !!!

gfplux

I found this article on the Times Online.
Expats in euroland shouldn't get depresed


So, if they survived that hit to their standard of living, and before they take the estate agents' fire sale advice to knock 40 per cent or more off the asking price of those just-refurbished houses in the Dordogne, Chiantishire or Marbella and tail it homeward, my advice to my countrymen would be to think a bit about why the pound has slumped to near-parity with the euro, and how long it will stay down. They may not know the answer: who can, with confidence, say they do? But at least they will have asked the right question. If their answer to the first part of the question is the word “Brown”, maybe they will think twice about rushing back to the Blessed Plot.

see here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rosemary_righter/article5380038.ece

it is quite a long article but very interesting. Also the comments added by readers is well worth a read.

droopsnout

OK, just read it.

No-one likes a miserable old git, but at the great risk of losing buddies on here, I'm going to be negative.

The article is well-written and interesting. But it is also s-o-o-o smug. It's written from the point of view of someone who doesn't like her new heating oil bill (which, in any case, is almost half what it was back in May-July, though, thank goodness, we're probably not buying it then) but can still afford to pay it without too much difficulty.

For those whose incomes are not so comfortable, the collapse of the pound isn't so easy to dismiss. And I'm perpetually confused by the figures that are quoted for the depth of the collapse. In this article, 20% is mentioned. Where the **** does that figure come from?

When I moved here six years ago, a pound bought 1.62 euros. Today, it is 1.05. (Source: https://www.xe.com). I don't make that a 20% loss, I make that a depreciation of 57 cents, which is a loss of 35%. To put it another way, if your pension of £1000 in 2002 brought you 1620 euros, today it brings you only 1050 euros, a loss of 570 euros, and in the meantime prices have gone up considerably. I find it difficult to adopt a self-satisfied tone when confronted with such figures.

Of course, those who moved abroad years before that will probably be able to tell stories of how there used to be 16 French francs to a pound, and it fell at one stage to less than 8 ... Newer ex-pats will say that the rate when they moved was around 1,40€, and so yes, the loss is 25%. Yes - exchange rates go and down. So what?

But 20%??? That would imply a starting rate of £1=1.31€ - and IIRC, the pound didn't dally long at that rate. It was mid-plummet.

Given this basic error in a simple calculation, which simply hides the truth, the rest of the article has to be suspect.

Tourist leaflet language ("summer-deep blue sky", "snow-dusted Apennines", "the gold of the oak leaves", "the startling orange of the ripe persimmons") does not relieve the worry of the folk who are currently eating the last of the anonymous contents of their freezer. The suggestion that there are so many beautiful sights that anyone's mind could be taken off their financial woes is simply crass in the extreme.

Beauty does not feed, clothe and heat.

And since when do the beauties of the UK not have the same effect? Yet would the author speak in the same complacent way of UK families currently worried about their incomes?

"The softness of the mists in the valleys below contrasted sharply with the rugged beauty of the felltops as the sheep munched their way to producing England's finest and most succulent meat. So why be miserable that your job at Woolworths/Adams/MFI/Officers Club/Whittards/etc has just gone for a Burton?"

I resent her sneering attitude, too. I presume she doesn't herself live in "Chiantishire"? Ah no - she lives in the more exclusive Umbria.

"The time to fret about the cost of living in the eurozone is not now." Really??? To suggest that we should have known better in 2002, because that was when the Eurozone was created, is little short of plain stupid. If we'd known then what we know now, maybe even all the little-Englanders might have thought that joining the euro was a good idea!

Ah, but all becomes clear ... It's all the fault of one man: Brown. Of course. The political agenda. The entire global recession, the collapse of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, the failure of Lehman Brothers bank ... all down to that silly man Brown. No doubt he also advised Banco Santander to invest £5 billion in Madoff's scam, too.

So let's please have a touch of reality, a little empathy, a tiny whiff of compassion, for those who find themselves in real difficulty at this time.

Ms Righter (the article's author) would have commanded much more of my respect if she had simply said, "Yes, it is hellish painful. But our problems are as nothing compared to the folks in Zimbabwe, Gaza, and a number of other places around the world."

It is indeed important to keep a sense of perspective.

seven-day-weekend

Wish I could thank you more than once Droopsnout. I fel exactly the same as you.

In fact I said this to some people the other day who have a holiday home here (and secure jobs in the UK), when they were wittering on how beautiful the view from our terrace is and why were we even thinking of moving back to the cold grey UK - I told them that you can't live on a view (beautiful indeed though it is). You need to be able to eat and pay your bills as well.

You will notice the writer of the article calls herself a 'semi expat'. I find it is the people who don't live here full-time who always have the rose coloured glasses on.

Oh well, by 2010, and maybe even this year, I'll be one and can put mine on too.

droopsnout

Need any more be said?

http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2009/01/daughter-turns-to-facebook-after-suicide-of-father.html

Happychappy

I think the rather condescending article by Ms Righter in the Times needs to be put into perspective, she is an acclaimed semi ex pat (part time?) and would imagine earns well in excess of £100k per annum, so her little hobby or pastime of visiting the poor people abroad really has no relevance to the ex pat who retired abroad after many years graft in the Uk.

From her two or possibly three holiday homes wherever, to moving lock, stock and barrel, and all possibly on a pension of between 1000 to 2000 euro per month, bares no resemblance to her lifestyle, so to her an additional 20% more on the Chablis or for the maid and gardners tip is of no consequence, however, the slow and steady decline of the pound from around the 1.50 euro not that long ago, to 1.05 euro means so much more and causes real hardship and stress

I suppose in essence it is a horses for courses article and one to be hung in the toilette or El Bano or Kloset ? depending upon where you live ; )

droopsnout

Quite so.

I'm off to do some gardening now. I believe Madame has decided that part of the lawn has to be dug up in order to grow something edible!

"Lawn"??? Tiny mud-patch, more like. LOL.