Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

donny-gal

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

You wouldn't think I used to be a Sunday School teacher, would you???:o

Me too. Though I don't think he will be that easily embarrassed TBH.
DG

droopsnout

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Ladies, we'd better shut up, we are embarrassing droopsnout!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

You'll have to try harder. Please be aware that I have spent my entire career working with women, although with some, their femininity wasn't always so evident. :eek:

Savvy_Sue

Since DS used to be a 'proper' teacher, I'm sure he heard far worse from his pupils. And no-one seems to be worried about my DH's potential embarrassment, probably rightly so! :rotfl:

You did have a virus checker on your old laptop, didn't you DS?

droopsnout

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

You did have a virus checker on your old laptop, didn't you DS?

Well, personally, I think your DH should show it to as many people as may enjoy it.

Yes, I had loads of virus protection on my lappy, but I still think it's possible that it was caused by a virus. Leading up to the failure, I had unwanted ads loading spontaneously. I ran goodness knows how many virus detectors, and used my resident programs like AVG, Norton, Avast, AdAware, and SpyBot S&D to try to stop it. Nothing worked.

The program which caused the ads to load had the name of wumqu.com (IIRC), and when I used the Task Manager to stop it running, the problem ceased.

seven-day-weekend

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Since DS used to be a 'proper' teacher, I'm sure he heard far worse from his pupils. And no-one seems to be worried about my DH's potential embarrassment, probably rightly so! :rotfl:

You did have a virus checker on your old laptop, didn't you DS?

:rotfl: My husband was a 'proper' teacher too!

All good fun!

LesD

donny-gal wrote: »

So maybe you would be have been better waiting to get to the US and just getting dollars out of a cash machine with your Nationwide card?

DG

It was only a small amount to tide us over - our son was collecting us in Washington and I didn't want to hold him up while we found an ATM there.

However, in hindsight............!!!

LesD

Just thought I'd point out to all regular readers (and other newbies too!) that MSE is considering realigning forums/boards and looking for suggestive (!)input. This might be the time to push for more prominence of our 'overseas' contributions.....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=18564185&posted=1#post18564185

donny-gal

Hi All

I am now in the main ex-pat part of Spain, and though I would just feed back on what a difference the £-€ has made that is obvious quite quickly.

Many bars/restaurants which rent their places have at the end of the lease closed, with no obvious new takers, hence many workers now out of work. Many restaurants/bars are closing earlier mid-week due to more people eating differently. There are menu del dias available in many places for less than 4€.

The market yesterday which was always quieter in February was even more so, with many stalls advertising sales, half price, 3 for 2, gaps with no stalls (unheard of) etc. Food prices in the supermarkets had not increased obviously since November, which is unusual as Spain does tends to realign prices at the start of the year.

Many people who normally come out over the winter have not, maybe the more expensive flights these days relate to that too. Will have to see what half term next week brings.

Many more larger, detached homes seem to be for sale, that may not be a reflection on the UK owners but probably more German ones from the area we were looking.

I do not think it is a good time for anyone to up sticks and move out here, if they want employment!

DG

Merrywidow

Lets see if I can't bring this thread back from the dead. Donny-Gal, can you remember our chat about the hotel in Calpe back in September last year- well I rang Madrid or where ever and requested a brochure - guess what, it arrived this week!!!!!!!! That has got to be a record.

donny-gal

Hi M-W - Yes do remember but I think I was told the hotel was at Javier, but they are very close I think. Sounds like a real Spanish Hotel, mañana!

What do you think, if you want a little sun/warmth, find a ticket and fly out, it is really beautiful at the moment, better than anticipated to be sure, and Yahoo is showing similar for the next 10 days!

After a week of eating in and "chilling" after our journey, we went out to the local bar/restaurant with a guy singing/guitar playing and had a meal and a dance with a couple of the neighbours who are out for a week. Tonight, meal and a quiz, and Saturday a Chinese.

DS is trying to get out here for a long weekend so we see him, courtesy of us of course, but it's all part of the ski-ing.

DG