We are in the UK for five days, about 4 days too long apart from seeing family. The thing i have missed about Spain is surprisingly Tapas with a coffee. The thing I have missed about the UK I now realise is a real ale, HSB actually. In Spain it's lager or lager. You can find gassed beers but no real hand drawn ale, at least not where we are!

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This is my opinion but I'm flexible and have others

Nope, it just doesn't exist apart from Guiness which I don't like that much. I can buy bottled Pedigree and once saw some Timothy Taylor Landlord which I didn't even know you can get in bottles. The Pedigree is €2.99 a bottle which I guess isn't too bad so I have one around once a month (the shope that sells it never has much). I can also get John Smiths extra smooth which I really don't like so that doesn't help. However, when it is really hot, there seems to me to be nothing like the first few swigs from the can of a really cold lager (doesn't matter too much which one since I can buy nearly all of the canned lagers I could ever buy in UK so stick to San Miguel etc). But it is only those first few swigs that hit the spot; after that, you might as well throw the rest away....

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Before facebook nobody cared what you had for breakfast; they still don't.

i love boasting to friends and family about the weather, the ridiculously cheap prices of alcohol and spending 2 hours a day in a swimming pool.

i miss Guinness, friends and family, going to the football every saturday.

Just a question from reading some of these posts: don't people in the UK eat fresh produce any more??
We lived in a semi-rural area with no shortage of farm shops but my son and dil who live in Surrey have no problems having fresh fruit meat and vegetables delivered.

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'The Owl of Minerva spreads her wings only at the onset of dusk'.

Mary tis odd this justification thing. My Spanish wife will tell anyone that fruit and veg are superior in England. We have village shops with fresh local produce, the organic box services compete for your trade, the supermarkets fly it in from all over the world (personally I wish they wouldn't), even Basingstoke market can be a happy hunting ground esp. when the french market drops by, and allotments are coming back into vogue.

There are some good fruit and veg in Spain of course but try buying celery hearts, baby courgette, parsnip, baby mushrooms, salsify, ....

As for raw meat spain has a long way to go but for cooked and cured meats leaves the UK for dust. And UK cheese but Spanish fish.

I'm just enjoying myself with a glass of wine waiting for my loaf to rise. It is made with Wessex mill full seed flour. Later a slice dripping in butter Cheers Mary

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Los españoles están enfermos porque pasan de todo. Su enfermedad es gravísima, y su cura limitada y perentoria. Para sanarse sólo necesitan reconocerse. Xoán Leiro

Nice with Badger too, Nigel....

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'The Owl of Minerva spreads her wings only at the onset of dusk'.

The Swan (150 yards away) is currently offering Loddon, Ringwood Best, and something very bitter and light in colour (5.3%) which is not my favourite. There is always Youngs Bitter and Theakstons XB of course. And oddly San Mig if I get withdrawal but that doesn't happen often

The only thing I eat in the Swan is a bag of crisps and that has to be shared with Jake (big black lab) who can hear a sack of spuds being open at a 100 yards.

But I'm sure a g&t goes down well beside your pool Mary, enjoy

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Los españoles están enfermos porque pasan de todo. Su enfermedad es gravísima, y su cura limitada y perentoria. Para sanarse sólo necesitan reconocerse. Xoán Leiro

It's starting to get cool in the evenings, Nigel, am sitting watching Arsenal play Marseille with a glass of wine.
I saw the weather forecast...you have frost
Now not having frost or snow where we live at least is a very good thing about Spain.
Especially after the minus twenty-five and a metre of snow we experienced in the Czech Republic from end of October to end of March...
And as for Ontario winters...

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'The Owl of Minerva spreads her wings only at the onset of dusk'.

As per usual all depends...
The good fresh veg I get in the UK comes from my dad's garden. The other stuff is OK, but not wonderful. Here, as I'm sooo trendy and sooo PC I belong to a group that gets stuff delivered from an organic farmer.
We also get great meat from an organic farmer in Segovia, but good quality meat (beef) is easy to get around here from Avila and Segovia and even Madrid. Lamb is good the further north you go as well.
As for weather, we park our car on the street and in the winter I usually start my mornings scraping the ice off. However this year I'm still wearing summer clothes and have put a thin spring jacket on once in the morning. I think it's slowly getting cooler though. I've never known an October like this in the 25 years I've been here

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“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

Theakstons!!!!!!!!!!!

Blast from the past.

Thanks for reminding me about Theakstons Nigel

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“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”