Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

donny-gal

Morning All

Yes I am here and fine :wave:, now have a 24-7 dial up via Telefonica, 22€ a month and includes all calls inside Spain, and they tell me I can switch it off with 2-3 days notice, so will be fine, does seem a little quicker too. They recommend that even with the 24-7 you disconnect and re-connect after 2 hours, why I don't know but will give it a go. Trouble is make very few calls internally in Spain, may need to find one or two to get my monies worth :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Water and blood tests done, together with a ultrasound of my ticker, which to DH's surprise they found and not a swinging brick (sorry one of my Mum's old phrases):D . Working on the assumption they didn't throw their arms up in a major panic, and rush me off to the nearest ICU, and they haven't telephoned me, I am fine so far;) :T , more tests on Friday, and the following Tuesday before seeing the Dr again next Wednesday:rolleyes: will keep you posted, hopefully they will be as they were supposed to be for assurance there is no underlying cause.

Am I sad at staying out here, NO! The weather has been gorgeous, it spoilt itself last night by raining, we have only had rain 3 times since we got here and they have all been at night, it is cloudy today, but still 16C, so cannot really complain, TBH relieved at not coming back to the cold. Just had an email from a Yorkshire pal to say she is off to a car boot and it is -3C at home:eek: :eek:.

We have got some more jobs done, and are planning some more, considering a face lift to the kitchen which is the one thing they didn't really think of, if it were really oldie worldy or pine to match the other wood or ultra modern it would be fine, but to me it is back in the 60-70's Teak and annoys me greatly, plus a man must have designed it . . . .

Love your AR SE 7DW, trying to think what we fit in with.:rotfl: :rotfl: .

Take care folks
DG

seven-day-weekend

Sloan, just add 'SKI-ers Club #10' or some other variation to your signature and join in!

We have not sold up either, but our house is in the Midlands near Birmingham -not quite as picturesque as the North York Moors NP -our house is lived in by our son and his lodger and we visit it for a couple of months every year to stop it fallling down. Probably next year we are going to do half and half.

Our vilage is Spain though is on the edge of the Sierra Nevada Parque Nacional, so we have the beautiful scenery here and the city in the UK, so best of both worlds!

We started off as SKI-ers, but are now definitely a pair of AR SEs! (Have to split the word up otherwise the swear filter edits it out!

Welcome anyway to both this and the SKI-ers board!

seven-day-weekend

DG, glad you have the Telefonica deal, that is the one we are on.

I didn't know you had to disconnect after two hours though. Although we usually do because it ties the phone up. Do you know the reason for this?

So if we wish to disconnect/reconnect, this can be done quickly? Just thinking of when we are in the UK for six months.

donny-gal

7DW
Well I dialled 1004 their help line, and after the Spanish voicemail it then says if you wish to speak to us in English press 1. I explained what I was after and they said it could be switched off with 2 or 3 days notice, and it takes 24-48 hours to switch on, I think trying to link it to full months could be the best idea, and giving them more notice. You have to keep paying the phone line rental but not the dialup/calls, or that is what they told me, maybe you give them a call and get a second opinion. They also tried to get me to convert to BB, and they said that could be suspended for 6 months! Let me know how you get on.

He also said you could re-dial immediately after the 2 hours, but he didn't say why.

DG

sloan

Hopefully, have joined skiers!

Another 'quaint' quirk of North Cyprus i sthat you have to apply to the government for permission to purchase (PTP). Our took nearly three years to come through, so we paid our final taxes when we were last there in February and hopefully we will have our deeds when we return at Easter .... but nothing is certain!

seven-day-weekend

Hey! Welcome to SKI-ers, Sloan!

Have you introduced yourself on the SKI-ers Thread?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=832433


We found, looked at, agreed to buy and completed the sale of our Spanish house within a week. Sometimes things CAN happen fast in Spain! Our Estate agent was Spanish so I think that helped.

seven-day-weekend

Thanks DG, that is very useful information.

One of the reasons we went with Telefonica for our internet is that you can speak to someone in English.

I'll ring them up sometime and ask, see if they say the same as they did to you.

Hope your BP is controlled soon.

seven-day-weekend

Sloan, I noticed that you mentioned the 'end of term' in one of your former posts. Are you a teacher? If so, you will find several retired teachers (or in my case a retired teacher's wife!) on this board.

What age group/subject do you teach? My husband was an 11-18 Geography /Geology teacher for twenty years, mainly in two (very good) schools. He took early retirement in 2004 when he was 55.

droopsnout

Nice sunny morning this morning. Over 25 already. Must go outside - it's much warmer than inside!!

Carrots, I heard on France Info this morning that it was -4 in the Sologne at dawn. Hope you're warm and cosy.

Some people might say I've always been an AR SE! Not sure if you can be a skier and an AR SE at the same time, as if your kids anticipate an inheritance, you can't be "Sterling Extinct"!

Do skiers take out one of these equity loan things, where you spend the money that your house is worth and die with the house belonging to some insurance company? Or are there different kinds of skiers, like cross-country (struggle through and will heroically reach destination with head held high) and slalom (wriggle through any gap so long as it's the quickest way to the finish line)?

Sloan, we have and we haven't sold up. We sold our own house in the UK to fund the purchase of our house here ("here" being an hour's drive NW of Toulouse) but have another house in South Yorkshire, which is lived in and maintained by my mum. The NYNP is one of the most wonderful places, but I can understand your view of it in winter!

Glad you're sorted net-wise, d-g. Is the ADSL contract more expensive, then? We've only had ADSL in the village for two years now, but before that I remember people were always complaining that they could never ring us as the line was always engaged.

MW, that is an extraordinary coincidence. I have a similar strange thing, though not as startling as yours. When doing my family tree, I found that my lot moved to Yorkshire from the Wednesbury/Wolverhampton area in the mid 1800s. A century later, and without knowing this background, my aunt decided to be a teacher, and did her qualification in ... Birmingham. Twenty years later, I wanted to teach, too, and, without knowing where my aunt qualified, decided that I, too, would go to Brum.

Was there some genetic magnetism attracting us back to the old family hunting grounds?

Have a peaceful Sunday, everyone.

sloan

My first degree is in geography with geology, although I have not used my geology for a long time. I am currently teaching geography at a key stage 3 school in Whitby. Although I enjoy it, I am finding at 59 that I have done my bit and am looking forward to other challenges ... not including chidren!