Does having a certain amount of frustration with the English system make an emmigration more or less likely to succeed? One view may be that it takes a certain amount of frustration with the system to want to move anyway - why undergo the hassle of moving abroad if you're completely content with things in your home country? An alternative view might be that somebody with a propensity to rant at the system will do so wherever they settle - only time will tell.
With 34 days to go until we leave everything we do seems to be with an eye on moving. Unfortunately we learned near the start of last week that our tenant had pulled out and no longer wanted the house. Although slightly irritating, the agency is sure we still have plenty of time to find another tenant. What was most surprising though was their reason for pulling out. Apparently they have been allocated a council house. The family in question currently rent a property privately and were in a position to offer us 725 pounds per month. As a tax payer whose earnings subsidise local authority housing I was left considering how many other people are currently in the enviable position of having subsidised housing without any real financial need. I'm sure the quality of local authority housing could be improved if only the genuinely needy were given this housing support.
Whilst on the subject of political push factors to move abroad, am I the only person who doesn't understand how inflation figures are calculated? We're told that inflation is currently 3.3% and then in the same week learn that food has risen by 12%, petrol by 20% and home fuel by 18% with a winter rise of possibly as much as 40% still to come! Okay- even taking the fact that some of these rises are caused by global issues our own government is enjoying huge rises in the amount they pull in taxation from these products and totally failing to pass any of this money back to the general population. The cost of living in the United Kingdom is disproportionately high when compared to the quality of life that we receive from our relatively high levels of income.
And so to Spain. It is would be nieve to assume that everything will seem better in the Spanish System but first impressions are that it is possible to earn substantially less and yet enjoy an increased standard of living. This weekend then will be spent in further preparation for our moving day of 31st July. More goods to be boxed up, more items to be disposed of and more days to be crossed off the calendar as moving day moves ever nearer.
