The Final Move

Excellent stuff! 

You certainly seem to have your head screwed on and i wish you all the best in your new venture.

You are financially sorted and this must make the transition that much easier.

I am somewhat jealous as i should have moved over back in September but my other half was not as keen as me  (worried about the kids and what they would do in Spain ... surely cannot be any worse than staying in the UK!).  And she would be bored without a job!  OMG .. with all that Sun, Sea .... and Sangria ... maybe i need a new woman!

So i am with you in spirit, but unfortunately it may take me a few years to actually be there in body

Hey, but cashed my private pensions in in readiness (commission grabbing b4stards).  They have been doing so badly that i thought to hell with it and take the money and run ... so now i am going to get £70 per month for the rest of my life .. and i gonna Spend, Spend, Spend! ... Lucky i get other provisions in place!

Good stuff.  I think people could use this thread for their own planning.

I'm getting really excited for you after reading this.

Keep us posted.

Justin

Good luck Bob & hope everything goes well for you.

Exciting times!

"was always getting a pay packet at the end of the month" - trust me Bob, what you'll be receiving in pensions, even at the p1ss poor x-rate, equates to far more than most people here get in their pay packet at month's end, so just kick back and relax - you'll have more than enough for a few good books, some sun lotion & a bottle or two of Rioja. What more could you want?

Oh, by the way, if you're looking for a good place to invest your nest egg, I'm thinking of launching a Chim-ponzi scheme soon. Let me know if you're interested.

Well, had a few people round to see the house but no offers yet.  Mind you, we have packing boxes all over the place so not particularly seeing it in the best light.  Still arguing with the good lady on what to take and what not to take.  I'm all for being ruthless but she keeps saying how this or that will come in useful (even though these things have just been gathering dust here for the last couple of years).   HIP and solicitors paid for (that's a thousand quid I won't see again). 

Got a skip arranged for next week to clear out the stuff in the garage.  Best I get it all in and the skip taken away before everyone gets their old mattresses in it. 

Completed the pension forms and am awaiting how much I'll get.  Next job is to get on to the tax robbers people to check that my current pension will not be taxed at 40% like it is now.  They took an extra 9 grand off me last year and then decided to tax my pension at 40% but didn't give me the overpayment back as they are keeping to offset any underpayments in January.  Don't want to continue paying extra and then trying to sort it out from Spain and would rather sort it out before then.  

Work is now getting a pain.  I continue doing my job but have to stop myself saying "It won't be my problem for much longer".  I have a "minder" in work.  Bosses decided to call someone in to see how to replace me.  He's called a "business analysis advisor" and gets more for a week than I've been getting in a month.  He wonders how they'll get anyone to take on the workload after I've gone with all the &61t they dish out.  Still, won't be my problem for much longer.

Got round to telling my Mum we're moving.  She took it surprisingly well I'm glad to say.  Will still have to visit on a regular basis as my Dad can't travel any more so I'll be a bit worried about that. 

Not so nervous now about moving.  Now it's all settled we're really looking forward to it.  I don't know whether it's me or the weather in UK but everyone seems so miserable and hangdog now.  Really Christmassy, I don't think and whatever happened to good manners?

Roll on February when I finally stop work.  I'm going to open the wardrobe, take out all the white shirts hanging row on row and burn the bloody lot of them.  Will keep one suit for weddings and funerals and take a pair of scissors to the rest of those dark, pinstriped symbols of slavery! 

Good luck Bob..Hope it all works out...

Its def important to have an income / pension or other while living / retiring in spain.

Its a great shame that the ages of  30 to 45 cant survive with working in spain , and are having to return to UK   just seems the autonomo takes  everything, leaves not enough to live on....let alone paying a mortgage / bills...

Would be nice if the Spanish government would relax the Autonomo law till business make a certain figure...or

pay as you earn ....simililar to the UK..

Fireblade.

Well, that was an interesting Christmas.  Weaving through the packing boxes to get to the table for Christmas dinner, eating off the last two (cracked) plates that we kept behind and sharing the Christmas pud from the bowl it came packed in.

However, furniture and boxes get collected on Wednesday this week.  Have been given a good quote by a removals company (won't mention the name just yet) and they store it for 2 weeks (included in the price) in Spain.  We then contact them when we get over there and they promise to deliver the same day we phone them.  I will let you know how that all works out and will pass on a recommendation if they do what it says on the tin.

Felt really good on Saturday when I went to the building society (actually, it's a bank now but I still refer to it as a building society) and paid off the mortgage.  Whoooo, that did feel good. 

We'll be able to show people round the house after the furniture has gone, bit awkward climbing over boxes and saying "and that's where the conservatory would be if you could see under all the junk!"  SWMBO hit the sales between Christmas and New Year to buy the stuff that's a bit expensive in Spain.  Got some very nice rugs (well, one is rather like a massive carpet, to be honest) and, would you believe it, one of them easy put up pagoda thingies which was reduced to half price.  Should fit just nicely in the front garden with the table and chairs underneath it.

One thing I won't miss is the UK weather.  Still commuting to work and the car temp never went up from -5C this morning.  Although I gave the bosses 3 months notice to get a replacement, they haven't done much about it except to leave me to recruit a replacement.  They want to interview on 30th Jan (a Saturday) and asked if I'd be there to brief potential candidates.  Yeah, right.  They can stick that idea where the sun don't shine!  Now they've suddenly realised that candidates may have to give a month notice in their current jobs and have asked if I'll stay on to train up a replacement.  Guess which dark spot I confined that suggestion to!  Mind you, some of the applicants CVs show the changing life of UK at the moment.  Several ex (now redundant) bank managers, 2 senior police officers and even an ex-priest.  Many, many ex-store managers and virtually all with MBAs, BSc, etc.  Makes my one Spanish O level pale into the distance.

The grandkids appear to be taking our move quite well and simply asked if they could come with us.  Yeah, right.  However, will be looking forward to them visiting.  Mum and Dad also took it quite well.  Mum wants to come out on the next plane and we have set up a computer for them (quite interesting watching my 87 year old Dad and 85 year old Mum getting to grips with Windows Vista) and connected a webcam and Skype facility for them so we can have video calls.  (My brother doesn't live far from them and he can set it all up the first time we use it).

Eldest daughter is taking moggy so that should ruin her life for a while. 

Of course , the biggest work will be telling everyone our new address.  Banks/Insurances/Utilities etc plus all friends and families. 

Now, fingers crossed, house will sell fairly quickly (and not at a stupidly undercut price) and we can arrange ferry crossings for the final move.  Still a little nervous and hope everything goes well.  They say that, when you lose your job (or, in my case, pack it in) you're just 3 months away from the bankruptcy courts.  I have worked out I will have enough for about 18 months if the house doesn't sell so, hopefully, the house will go long before that.

Will update when something happens.

Regards all.

wow, you have been busy!

Here on the Costa del Sol the weather has been pretty horrific too for the past 3 weeks.  Rain, rain and more rain.  It hasn't stopped, apart from a couple of days.

I'm getting all excited reading your updates, they bring back some great memories of us doing the same.

Keep them coming and best of luck.

Justin

Really enjoying reading about your preparations. Keep them coming and the best of luck!

And the furniture made it to Spain.  Only two little hiccoughs.  Remember I said you phone them and they deliver the same day?  Well, the bl&**y phone packed in.  I rang three numbers for the removal company and got "This action cannot be performed right now, please contact customer services".  Panic job thinking the removal company had done a bunk.  But, no.  The UK mobile wouldn't connect.  Quick dash to nearest phone box but only got an engaged tone.  Back to house and, phew, removal van is waiting for me.  "Couldn't get you on the phone, guv."  Ah, well, the stuff was here.  Now hitch number 2.  Gets out my UK cheque book.  "Oh, no guv.  The balance has to be in cash".  What about credit card?  "Sorry, guv, cash only at this end" .  Like I carry 1100 euros round with me.  Quick dash to bank and draw out 500 euros from my bill paying account.  UK card in ATM (of course, limit is now 200) swiftly followed by another card and scour my wallet and SWMBOs purse and, phew just over 1200 euros.  Start unloading, boys. Company was Move it removals.  Can highly recommend (except for the bit about not telling me it was cash only at the Spanish end) and was very reasonable.  Almost full 3 bed house move at 1700 quid and the only thing broken was one champagne flute crystal glass (which I'd packed myself) but everything else fine.  Took the packing off most of the stuff and took it away with them.  Good, reliable company and very reasonable.  Would have cost a small fortune to replace all the stuff in Spain.  I reckon the big TV, the bed, the wall units and the microwave alone would have cost me more than that to replace, let alone the rest of the stuff.  Of course, trying to fit it all in in the Spanish house took a bit of ingenuity, what with the lack of storage space (no "glory holes" in Spanish houses).  Must admit, it certainly makes the place more homely with the personal stuff around and pictures on the wall etc.  And an update on TDT (the Spanish digital TV).  My UK bought Plasma TV picks up 64 channels (of which about 25 are digital radio) and, in contrast to the cheapo TDT box from Carrefour, gets a perfect picture all day and night with no pixellating.  Loads more channels with English dual broadcast and some very good programmes on (OK, mainly American but that's what we get in UK nowadays).  At least 12 channels in the south Costa Blanca have dual languages with programmes like Early Edition, NCIS, CSI, Cold Case and loads of comedies and films.  

Lovely weather all week but, must admit, quite chilly in the evenings.  No heating fitted yet but a paraffin heater downstairs and a convector heater upstairs really warmed the place up.  Thank heavens for having picked a decent builder.  My previous flat was absolutely freezing regardless of how many fan heaters, oil-filled radiators, gas fires  etc we had dotted round the place. 

Flight back with Ryanair was a nightmare.  Well, to be fair, not exactly the flight but the farce at Alicante.  I'm sure some of you may have been on a Ryanair flight on Saturday evening.  Board says Gate 10.  All troop up to gate 10 where people are queuing an hour before the flight time.  Whoops, gate change.  All down to Gate 1B (which some people had read as Gate 18).  Even longer queue at Gate 1B.  10 minutes later, board changes and gate change, back to Gate 10.  Few people, especially some of the less mobile, getting a bit irate now.  10 minutes later, yep, you've guessed it, Gate Change, up to Gate 21 (at least it wasn't 1B).  By now, a little bit of chaos creeping in.  Some people in the queue were for other airports (whilst our gate had changed, so had theirs) so they were in the East Midlands queue going to Leeds, or Bournemouth or some place else.  Finally on the plane (but not until we had to queue on the stairs whilst they were unloading the incoming passengers, no wonder Ryanairs seats are so warm, they haven't got time to cool down).  Not quite the end of the farce.  Too many people on board.  Apparently the good old gate staff had taken the boarding cards, made sure the hand luggage fitted in those little cages and checked they weren't overweight but hadn't actually checked the destination on the boarding cards.  Don't know if someone on the plane was actually on the wrong one due to confusion or if they'd simply forgotten to check the number of boarding cards but, half an hour later, we were off.  And not one word of apology from the staff over any confusion on boarding, either.  "Sit back and relax," says the pilot.  Not when they are selling "smokeless" cigarettes, scratch cards, "duty frees", drinks, snacks and (another new one) fortune cookie lottery boxes.  Still, only half an hour late landing after all that.

So, back to empty UK house (weather actually up to plus 4C in UK).  Back to work tomorrow (2 weeks and a bit to go) and I'll see if they managed to recruit a replacement for me.  Hopefully the estate agents will have a list of people wanting to view (I should be so lucky) and awaiting the pension information plus discovered the tax man owes me money (there's a first, hope that nice Mr Darling doesn't find out). 

First things first, check out the e-mail, get rid of the 48 spams trying to flog me Viagra (do they know something I don't), see the rest is junk and so check out the new posts on EOS.  Oh, dear.  Same old threads being done to death.  9 euros for a cooked chicken?  You're going to the wrong place, mate.  6 euros at our local market or 2 for 10 euros.  Looks like a few people made the same mistake as me with my flat, crap agent, developer, solicitor and builder.  It really does make a difference to have a good, well built house.  My neighbours are all very friendly (at least 6 different nationalities) and many are there permanent.  (They got a bit excited when the furniture van turned up as they thought we were moving in ourselves - well, a couple of months, maybe).  Also, on that other thread, talking about "English" supermarkets and "English" butchers.  Well ,we went to our local Gama which specialises in other European foods, mainly British and German.  We decided on a joint of beef for dinner which was quite expensive at 12.50 a kilo and got a joint at about 10 euros.  Expensive, I thinks.  Imagine my surprise when I got home to find it was sirloin.  Cut two lovely steaks off and had the rest for Sunday dinner so not that expensive after all (footnote:  sirloin joints in Tescos today were £17.99 a kilo - plus Pilgrims Choice cheddar in Consum at 8 euros a kilo and Tescos £7.87 - not so bad, after all).

One final point.  Many posters on "that" thread seem to be under the impression these illegal builds and bad developments only affect the Brits (and other north Europeans) and the Spanish don't give two hoots about it all.  Well, read some Spanish papers (I do to try and keep up my language skills) and they are full of Spanish losing their homes, blocks of flats on the coast with no utilities and no rentable use whatsoever (affecting the Spanish). In fact, on La Sexta tonight (which I unfortunately will miss as I'm back in UK) there is a TV programme exposing this and, of course, looking at it from the Spanish point of view and calling it a disgrace (got this from the TV adverts throughout the week).  If anyone sees this programme, I'd be interested in having a synopsis.  La Sexta at (IIRC) 9 pm tonight.  

Well, back to the rubbish tips this week (and, no, I don't mean work) to get rid of the stuff in our garage and garden shed (no point in taking the lawnmower over as I fitted astro turf in the back). 

Really, really looking forward to the move now and was, frankly, a bit sad to get back.  Hopefully (must stop using that word) all will go well and we will be "living OUR dream" in a few short months. 

Hi

I'm new to all this, but it sounds like you've got it all sussed out, which is way further down the line than we are!  We are at the opposite end of the journey, just looking at an apartement in Porto Fino in Almeria Mar, and wanting to hear any tips you might have for absolute beginners! 

Thanks

Dee

 Good luck! Please keep us posted.

Its all a bit worrying, and everyone keeps telling us that the price of property in Spain has fallen, its hard to know who to listen to, but we dipping our toes in the water and having a look at Porto Fino to see if its what we want.

dee999

Porto Fino is great but check air travel, Easyjet is just about the only that flys into Almeria airport all year and thus dictates the price!!

Malaga this 3hrs away and Murcia a minimum of 2hrs

Thats why we decided against Forto Fino and bought on Valle del Este it's just by Mojacar and Almeria 40 mins, Murcia an hour and Alicante 1hr 45mins It gives a good choice of flights and times

If you need any further info please ask

Good Luck

David W

Hi Bob

Just read this thread for the first time. Good luck with the final move, and keep us updated with where you're up to.

Regards, Carol

Well, retired from work today.  Bosses kept asking me to have a going away do but I refused as I have lost all faith and confidence in them.  Went for a meal with the ladies at work last week and had a fine night.  However, the bosses gave me a rather expensive sat nav as a leaving gift today which made me feel a little guilty. Still, they've taken on my replacement at 15K a year less than they were paying me so I suppose they can afford it.  I do feel a bit weird as I have worked without a break since I was 15 (I was 60 last week).  I will not, however, miss that commute to work every morning as I feel the driving standards in UK are severely deteriorating,  Have indicators been removed from modern cars or has my crystal ball stopped working?

The weather here has been so bad that people haven't been coming round to view the house.  All the roads and pavements in the area were covered in snow but had 3 come round in the week we had a thaw, then the snow came again.  Cleared now so I hope the viewing picks up again.  I have the option of just handing the keys to the estate agents and booking a ferry but a bit unsure about just leaving the house empty. (Mind you, I leave the one in Spain empty all the time so it might be something to seriously think about).

Pension payments kick in on Monday along with the lump sum so that'll be all the debts paid off.  SWMBO is still working (hee hee) but only has to give a weeks notice.  Am in proud possession of an E106 and an E121 so hope to get all that sorted out when we get over there.  Cancelled all non-essential payments and have informed at least 100 different people of my new address so only about 200 more to go!  At least I'm getting there and won't be long now.

"I feel the driving standards in UK are severely deteriorating,  Have indicators been removed from modern cars"

Uh-oh....could this be the first glimpse of the not-so green grass on the other side? Hate to be the one to inform you Bob, but indicators have still not been discovered here, and there never have been any driving standards to speak of to deteriorate. Still, you probably won't be pounding the highways & byways to the same extent, so it shouldn't spoil things too much for you. Anyway, that 15 grand sat-naff should see you out of most fixes!

No, not a greener grass syndrome, just observing that, whilst the Spanish may not use their indicators either, there aren't thousands of them on the roads at the same time not using them.  UK standards have dropped significantly.  Squeezing up the A46 or M1 and getting cut up by a boy racer (actually, more like a middle aged rep) who leaves at the next exit is something I won't miss. Lane discipline in UK is another lost art and, again I agree the Spanish are rubbish at this, it is far worse in UK due to the volume of traffic. I currently commute (or did, up to today) 14 miles there and 14 miles back, every bloody day of the week!  That, I definitely will not miss. 

Plus, I'm going to open the wardrobe, pull out the rows of white shirts and racks of ties (the symbol of the downtrodden managerial class) and cut them all up with the sharpest pair of scissors I can find. 

Oh please give them to charity shops --you will feel better honest

After nearly a dozen trips to the charity shops already and even having two collections from the house, the white shirts and ties are mine, all mine I tell you!!!

A symbol of being tied to a desk for the last 14 years, being polite to the rude and demanding people who make up the great British public and putting on a clean white shirt every darn day!!!

My final act of rebellion until I slip into the slopping round, bit of gardening, reading the books and, of course, I will now have the company of SWMBO every hour, every day.  And, of course, she will have the dubious pleasure of me slopping round and getting under her feet 24/7.

If you see a slightly greying (but still full head of hair) ex-pat with a fleece jacket and shorts on (de rigeur winter dress) or shorts and polo shirt (what the best dressed ex-pat dresses in for the summer) shuffling up the street and talking to himself, please treat him kindly as it may be me after being kicked out by the missus for refusing to lift my feet up whilst she hoovers.  I promise you, however, I will not be wearing a white shirt with a tie nor grey socks with sandals.