Expat whinge of the year award.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by mrypg9

Err....I think you misunderstood me, Jo...I was being sarcastic. I have encountered people here who have left the UK because they are basically racist - they don't like a certain kind of foreigner -you know what I mean. Not that many, thankfully.Those are the kind of people I despise.
And you are of course right - skin colour is not an indicator of character any more than money implies good manners. But not everyone sees it in that way, unforunately.
BTW, we came up to view the two Alheurins on Tuesday, didn't call on you as there were five of us plus Our Little Azor. We feel we need to take a longer, closer look - we just drove through, really - so we would appreciate your insider knowledge.

Well it would have been nice to have met you!! What did you think of the "Alhaurins" what do you want to know??

I can tell you that La Torre is the more Spanish of the two, with fewer Brits and possibly more upmarket ??????????, but is quite spread out, so you need a car! I've been into town this morning and its a trek from the bank to Mercadona and then to the Farmacia and to see my friends... my feet are killing me!!!

El Grande, is more "spanish looking" lots of white washed buildings and everythings pretty much within walking distance. But is full of Brits - is that good or bad??? There's British fish and chip shops, British bars, a British newsagents.... and every third person you walk passed is British

Jo xxxx

[jojo]

I know you werent being serious about skin colour BTW!! What I found before I left the UK, there was an influx of Polish and they came over and work their butts off! Suddenly al the car parks in our area had polish car cleaners and they did an amazing job for very little money! You wouldnt see many of the "indiginous" Brits coming off the dole to do that!!!!! There! You see I'm not racist either, I simply dont approve of anyone of any colour who expects the tax payer to pay them for doing nothing long term. SS should be for emergencies and genuine crisis, not a way of life!

jo xxx

[Hombre]

Originally Posted by jojo

Well it would have been nice to have met you!! What did you think of the "Alhaurins" what do you want to know??

I can tell you that La Torre is the more Spanish of the two, with fewer Brits and possibly more upmarket ??????????, but is quite spread out, so you need a car! I've been into town this morning and its a trek from the bank to Mercadona and then to the Farmacia and to see my friends... my feet are killing me!!!

El Grande, is more "spanish looking" lots of white washed buildings and everythings pretty much within walking distance. But is full of Brits - is that good or bad??? There's British fish and chip shops, British bars, a British newsagents.... and every third person you walk passed is British


Jo xxxx

This is developing into an interesting thread. Are recent comments really "racism" in reverse? All of us in here whinge frequently about Brits, or are we really objecting to the presence of the things we dislike about the UK....including the people? Mrs H and I were at a pavement cafe this morning and our tranquil mood was interrupted by a bus trip of elderly British pensioners .."Saga" trip as we later discovered...we were acutely embarrassed by their attitude towards the waiters...as though they were morons from another planet...eg..miming a cup of tea..Are we all escaping a previous life and all it entails ? Or is this another "racism in reverse " ?

[jojo]

Originally Posted by Hombre

This is developing into an interesting thread. Are recent comments really "racism" in reverse? All of us in here whinge frequently about Brits, or are we really objecting to the presence of the things we dislike about the UK....including the people? Mrs H and I were at a pavement cafe this morning and our tranquil mood was interrupted by a bus trip of elderly British pensioners .."Saga" trip as we later discovered...we were acutely embarrassed by their attitude towards the waiters...as though they were morons from another planet...eg..miming a cup of tea..Are we all escaping a previous life and all it entails ? Or is this another "racism in reverse " ?

Well if "racism" is disliking another race then I dont know what you'd call it!???? ... "Ageism" cos they were elderly? "Arrogantism" cos they appeared to feel they were better than the waiters????? "touristism" cos they were tourists....??? Unfortunately, humans tend to generalise and its that, that causes the reference to all these "isms"!!! Half the time its "awareness" rather than an "ism"!!!!!!

Jo xxx

[mrypg9]

Originally Posted by jojo

Well it would have been nice to have met you!! What did you think of the "Alhaurins" what do you want to know??

I can tell you that La Torre is the more Spanish of the two, with fewer Brits and possibly more upmarket ??????????, but is quite spread out, so you need a car! I've been into town this morning and its a trek from the bank to Mercadona and then to the Farmacia and to see my friends... my feet are killing me!!!

El Grande, is more "spanish looking" lots of white washed buildings and everythings pretty much within walking distance. But is full of Brits - is that good or bad??? There's British fish and chip shops, British bars, a British newsagents.... and every third person you walk passed is British

Jo xxxx

I prefer to feel that I'm in Spain so wouldn't like a heavily-Brit-populated area but would like a few around, if that makes sense! Alheurin el Grande: well, we drove our Discovery through some VERY narrow twisting streets so I was watching walls rather than scenery but I got the impression that it was, as you said, more 'Spanish looking'. La Torre: I don't think we got to the town centre. We were hungry and thirsty so stopped at a bar and then I realised how close the airport is. Do you get much aircraft noise?
A big concern would be places where we could take Our Little Azor and let him run off the lead. He needs a lot of exercise (so do I).
When it's cooled down a bit we'll come over again and meet up. Your agent friend sent some details of suitable villas/houses at half the price we're paying now.

[mrypg9]

Originally Posted by Hombre

This is developing into an interesting thread. Are recent comments really "racism" in reverse? All of us in here whinge frequently about Brits, or are we really objecting to the presence of the things we dislike about the UK....including the people? Mrs H and I were at a pavement cafe this morning and our tranquil mood was interrupted by a bus trip of elderly British pensioners .."Saga" trip as we later discovered...we were acutely embarrassed by their attitude towards the waiters...as though they were morons from another planet...eg..miming a cup of tea..Are we all escaping a previous life and all it entails ? Or is this another "racism in reverse " ?

No, it's not reverse racism. What you are objecting to is bad manners and I share your dislike. The behaviour of some Brits abroad makes me feel so ashamed.
The kind of people who leave the UK because of 'the foreigners' object to them regardless of how they behave. This is bad manners too, as well as stupidity.
The behaviour of those OAPs is a kind of mild racism of the 'all foreigners are dim, speak English to them slowly and loudly' type.
Your reactions show that you are well-mannered and those people were not - they offended against your concept of how decent people should behave. I would have felt exactly the same.

[mrypg9]

Originally Posted by jojo

I know you werent being serious about skin colour BTW!! What I found before I left the UK, there was an influx of Polish and they came over and work their butts off! Suddenly al the car parks in our area had polish car cleaners and they did an amazing job for very little money! You wouldnt see many of the "indiginous" Brits coming off the dole to do that!!!!! There! You see I'm not racist either, I simply dont approve of anyone of any colour who expects the tax payer to pay them for doing nothing long term. SS should be for emergencies and genuine crisis, not a way of life!

jo xxx

I wonder why Poles have cornered the car park auto-wash market It seems the same all over the UK. I spent some time in Poland and found that unlike Czechs Poles are extremely energetic and entrepreneurial.
WEll, off to take my guests back to Aeropuerto de Malaga. I've done the airport run so manmy times in the last few months I could do it in my sleep. It must be worse for you...

[jojo]

Originally Posted by mrypg9

I prefer to feel that I'm in Spain so wouldn't like a heavily-Brit-populated area but would like a few around, if that makes sense! Alheurin el Grande: well, we drove our Discovery through some VERY narrow twisting streets so I was watching walls rather than scenery but I got the impression that it was, as you said, more 'Spanish looking'. La Torre: I don't think we got to the town centre. We were hungry and thirsty so stopped at a bar and then I realised how close the airport is. Do you get much aircraft noise?
A big concern would be places where we could take Our Little Azor and let him run off the lead. He needs a lot of exercise (so do I).
When it's cooled down a bit we'll come over again and meet up. Your agent friend sent some details of suitable villas/houses at half the price we're paying now.

Well it sounds like you've seen the top road of La Torre and I presume some of the urbanizations, but obviously there are lots of places on the outskirts and in the surrounding villages. We live in a village which is actually between the two Alhaurins called "La Alqueria" and we're surrounded by dog walking type fields!! and our last village in "El Romeral" had plenty of dog walking places too!!

If you were driving along the top road, then you probably wouldnt have seen the town centre, which is down past the "Torre" and is lovely.

Aircraft noise, well I wont say you cant hear it at all ever, but if the wind is in the wrong direction you can sometimes hear a rumble in the distance, but its not intrusive, you have to listen for it as opposed to getting deafened by it and they dont fly overhead (much to my sons horror - he loves planes!!), so no its not noticeable. I certainly wouldnt know we're close to it. But for me doing an airport run to pick up and drop of OH a couple of times a week, its no bad thing!

My friend (Hayley, the agent actually), lives in a village close to La Torre, over the other side from me and from her house she can see the airport in the distance and right across to Málaga Bay - stunning views and you can see it all, but you cant hear it, its too far away!

You really must come over this way again and I'll give you a guided tour, then you can see for yourselves whether its suitable. Afterall, we're all different! Have a look on google earth to give you an idea???

Jo xxxx

[crookesey]

Originally Posted by owdoggy

This must have a chance of winning the first prize.
On another forum (yes, I do go on others) someone was whinging about the price of turnip here compared to the UK............ I kid you not.

You think you've heard it all & then someone comes along with something like this

What's next I wonder?


Doggy

OK, I'll give you a whinge, we reurned from our favoured part of Spain a few weeks ago. We had a wonderfully relaxed time, really cementing the thing that we already knew, we want to be there and not here.

We landed at East Midlands and then took 2 hours to drive 45 miles, when we got home we found that our drive gates had been nicked, the guy who had noticed it first had just had his TV ariel nicked.

On a lighter note, when I reported the theft to my insurance company the lady asked me if anyone had seen the thief stealing the gates. I told her that someone had but they didn't say anything incase they 'took a fence', I've always wanted to use that one, she didn't get it, bless her.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by crookesey

OK, I'll give you a whinge, we reurned from our favoured part of Spain a few weeks ago. We had a wonderfully relaxed time, really cementing the thing that we already knew, we want to be there and not here.

We landed at East Midlands and then took 2 hours to drive 45 miles, when we got home we found that our drive gates had been nicked, the guy who had noticed it first had just had his TV ariel nicked.

On a lighter note, when I reported the theft to my insurance company the lady asked me if anyone had seen the thief stealing the gates. I told her that someone had but they didn't say anything incase they 'took a fence', I've always wanted to use that one, she didn't get it, bless her.

Havent seen you for a while Crookesey, thought you'd given up on us

I guess its better that they had the gates rather than actually getting into your house tho??? England isnt getting any better is it!!

Jo xxx