Moving to Ofena

[Barry]

Originally Posted by maisie21

Thanks Barry
We also have satellite(which is what I meant to say to you) we use Sky at the moment. I know with the satellite that if we point the dish in the right direction we can access the same proagrammes as we have in the UK but which would be the best one over there?
We also have to pay a TV tax in England, but it is only paid to the one channel the other channels get their funds through advertising. It costs nearly £200 per year as you can imagine this tax is not very popular with the English people.
We are taking my husabnds portable DVD player with us next time and will watch films on that untilwe get sorted out.
Judy.

I can't see why an english setup wouldn't work in Italy especially if the bill went to your english address. What we've seen of Italian TV is pretty awful. Mostly soap operas and game shows! I suppose you are like my daughter and need Coronation Street at least once a week? TV's and DVD players have become quite reasonable in Italy now but the price of the movies is still pretty high. They don't have the bargain bins like we do where you can pickup an older movie for 2 euro. I've been thinking I should send a bunch of movies to ourselves in Italy but don't know if they would charge us duty on them.

Barry

[maisie21]

Originally Posted by Barry

I can't see why an english setup wouldn't work in Italy especially if the bill went to your english address. What we've seen of Italian TV is pretty awful. Mostly soap operas and game shows! I suppose you are like my daughter and need Coronation Street at least once a week? TV's and DVD players have become quite reasonable in Italy now but the price of the movies is still pretty high. They don't have the bargain bins like we do where you can pickup an older movie for 2 euro. I've been thinking I should send a bunch of movies to ourselves in Italy but don't know if they would charge us duty on them.

Barry

We have also seen Italian TV and have obviuosly got the same opinion as you.
I am not a Coronation street fan I tend to watch Hallmark and FX we also watch quite a few programmes relating to expats buying and renovating abroad on the satellite channel(picking up tips and ideas).
Every time we visit Ofena I take something with me and leave it there, I put it in the hold luggage so there is no problem.I will take some DVD's next time. I had not thought of posting things to the address, I might give that a try as I suppose it all depends what you declare on the package.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by maisie21

We have also seen Italian TV and have obviuosly got the same opinion as you.
I am not a Coronation street fan I tend to watch Hallmark and FX we also watch quite a few programmes relating to expats buying and renovating abroad on the satellite channel(picking up tips and ideas).
Every time we visit Ofena I take something with me and leave it there, I put it in the hold luggage so there is no problem.I will take some DVD's next time. I had not thought of posting things to the address, I might give that a try as I suppose it all depends what you declare on the package.

We also get your english programs about buying abroad. I haven't watched in a while as most of them were about some poor couple investing their life savings in some place in Spain or Crete or whatever and losing everything. I'am getting a little concerned with all the cheap airlines going bankrupt. I see Ryan Air is cutting back their flights as well. We usually fly Thomas Cook to England. Have you heard anything on their financial condition?

[maisie21]

Originally Posted by Barry

We also get your english programs about buying abroad. I haven't watched in a while as most of them were about some poor couple investing their life savings in some place in Spain or Crete or whatever and losing everything. I'am getting a little concerned with all the cheap airlines going bankrupt. I see Ryan Air is cutting back their flights as well. We usually fly Thomas Cook to England. Have you heard anything on their financial condition?

As far as I am aware Thomas Cook is pretty secure and Ryannair has apparently got the most assets of any of the British companies.
Yes, Ryannair are cutting back on some of the flights but at the moment it is the flights to the Eatern European countries that do not generally get a lot of visitors.
At the moment the Ryannair flights to Rome and Pescara are pretty secure.
Although we have just been watching the news about the collapse of the Lehman brothers bank in America and the effect that it has had on the global economy the pound had just started gaining back its value on the euro but I think that it will probably plunge again now with all of this depressing news.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by maisie21

As far as I am aware Thomas Cook is pretty secure and Ryannair has apparently got the most assets of any of the British companies.
Yes, Ryannair are cutting back on some of the flights but at the moment it is the flights to the Eatern European countries that do not generally get a lot of visitors.
At the moment the Ryannair flights to Rome and Pescara are pretty secure.
Although we have just been watching the news about the collapse of the Lehman brothers bank in America and the effect that it has had on the global economy the pound had just started gaining back its value on the euro but I think that it will probably plunge again now with all of this depressing news.

I know what you mean about the pound. I just bailed out of my last British Offshore account and took a 13% loss just on the exchange rate from a year ago. I wonder what the Ofenesi do for there investments? I imagine the older ones keep their money close to home (under the mattress)

[maisie21]

Originally Posted by Barry

I know what you mean about the pound. I just bailed out of my last British Offshore account and took a 13% loss just on the exchange rate from a year ago. I wonder what the Ofenesi do for there investments? I imagine the older ones keep their money close to home (under the mattress)

It is a worry about the value of any currency at the moment isn't it.
My parents live in Spain and are finding it increasingly difficult to manage due to the poor exchange rate.
We will be leaving some of our savings in a high interest account here when we finally move, we will put our sons name on the account as well so that it can be managed over here.
I think you must be right about the mattress as I don't think that the Ofenesi venutre out to the bigger towns, I know that our neighbours in the village substitute their income by bartering their home grown produce. I traded some grapes for tomatoes, onions and garlic last time. I might go into business once I get my garden working for me!!!

[Barry]

Originally Posted by maisie21

It is a worry about the value of any currency at the moment isn't it.
My parents live in Spain and are finding it increasingly difficult to manage due to the poor exchange rate.
We will be leaving some of our savings in a high interest account here when we finally move, we will put our sons name on the account as well so that it can be managed over here.
I think you must be right about the mattress as I don't think that the Ofenesi venutre out to the bigger towns, I know that our neighbours in the village substitute their income by bartering their home grown produce. I traded some grapes for tomatoes, onions and garlic last time. I might go into business once I get my garden working for me!!!

I assume you can get your pension sent to Italy. I know we can once we are retired and luckily the Canadian dollar dosen't appear to flucuate against the euro like the pound does. Having said that one of the purposes of living in Italy is to simplify our lifestyle, so bartering sounds like a good idea. Also living in Calgary is very expensive so staying here after retirement isn't an option if we want some income left over for travelling.

[maisie21]

Originally Posted by Barry

I assume you can get your pension sent to Italy. I know we can once we are retired and luckily the Canadian dollar dosen't appear to flucuate against the euro like the pound does. Having said that one of the purposes of living in Italy is to simplify our lifestyle, so bartering sounds like a good idea. Also living in Calgary is very expensive so staying here after retirement isn't an option if we want some income left over for travelling.

This is the third time that I have tried to send this post.
We can either have our pension transferred to our Italian account or leave it in England and access it from Italy. I am not sure what to do yet but I will discuss this with the pensions agency when we visit the Overseas property show as they have got a stand there this year.
The economy here is the worst that it has been for over a decade they are predicting a recession.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by maisie21

This is the third time that I have tried to send this post.
We can either have our pension transferred to our Italian account or leave it in England and access it from Italy. I am not sure what to do yet but I will discuss this with the pensions agency when we visit the Overseas property show as they have got a stand there this year.
The economy here is the worst that it has been for over a decade they are predicting a recession.

Won't it be nice once you retire to Ofena not having to worry about the economy or the price of houses or jobs. I see the value of British real estate is dropping. Are you selling your house or renting it when you move? I've had a quick look here and we would do much better just renting rather than selling and investing the money.

[maisie21]

Originally Posted by Barry

Won't it be nice once you retire to Ofena not having to worry about the economy or the price of houses or jobs. I see the value of British real estate is dropping. Are you selling your house or renting it when you move? I've had a quick look here and we would do much better just renting rather than selling and investing the money.

You are right about the house prices here. They have dropped every month for the past ten months. We were planning to sell the house because we want to use some of the money for the renovations but it all depends whether the market picks up. We have still got about 18 months before we plan to move.
I have told my husband that I am going to buy him one of those dinky three wheeled vans and find a spot at the side of the road so that he can sell our crops to supplement our pension.