# Any advice



## peepers (Jun 22, 2010)

As stated before we will be moving to Malaga area and as for some really good advice we will be fact finding on a sort of busmans holiday to see if there is a life rather than just running to the sun.
What are the openings for fitness instructors be it private or in the hotels to teach classes , i am also considering a creche or nursery to get away from the relying on the holiday season, any advice ?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

peepers said:


> As stated before we will be moving to Malaga area and as for some really good advice we will be fact finding on a sort of busmans holiday to see if there is a life rather than just running to the sun.
> What are the openings for fitness instructors be it private or in the hotels to teach classes , i am also considering a creche or nursery to get away from the relying on the holiday season, any advice ?



I dont know about the hotels, but there are gyms and leisure centres in most towns in the Málaga area, could be worth asking, altho you probably need to be fluent in spanish. Sadly I know of a chap who's a fitness instructor and couldnt get any work so he's fallen back on his other profession and is doing bits and pieces of carpentry. I dont know about nurserys/nursery schools, altho there are a few in our local town and a few of them do boast that they are bilingual???!

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

peepers said:


> As stated before we will be moving to Malaga area and as for some really good advice we will be fact finding on a sort of busmans holiday to see if there is a life rather than just running to the sun.
> What are the openings for fitness instructors be it private or in the hotels to teach classes , i am also considering a creche or nursery to get away from the relying on the holiday season, any advice ?


I seem to remember reading somewhere -on this site?? - that many hotels in Spain aren't opening for the summer season. Times are extremely hard here. 
You really do have to come and see for yourselves.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

That must explain why it said on the news yesterday that hotel bookings were up 5,7% last month.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

gus-lopez said:


> That must explain why it said on the news yesterday that hotel bookings were up 5,7% last month.


Well, I suppose if some have closed then those open will get more clients.
I'm not really sure if visitor numbers are down on this time last year. It does seem a lot less crowded in the local supermarkets and on Sunday we had dinner in an almost empty restaurant - normally at this time it would be full of locals and tourists.
Have you any idea if the rise in bookings is due to increased demand in Spain or from elsewhere in Europe?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

What I cant understand is that "they" keep saying tourism is down, but Málaga airport has just completed a major expansion programme and is now taking in three times as many planes - and it is running at full capacity. So where are all these extra passengers going?? Admittedly, most of the new planes are from russia, scandanavia, belgium, but they're tourists nonetheless

Jo xx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jojo said:


> What I cant understand is that "they" keep saying tourism is down, but Málaga airport has just completed a major expansion programme and is now taking in three times as many planes - and it is running at full capacity. So where are all these extra passengers going?? Admittedly, most of the new planes are from russia, scandanavia, belgium, but they're tourists nonetheless
> 
> Jo xx



I've been to and from Malaga Airport several times in the last six weeks and I've been surprised at how quiet it is there. The expansion scheme was originated when the tourist boom was in full swing, remember. 
My son and dil flew in last Saturday on a half-full BA flight. Budget airline flights aren't always full either, it seems.
After all, if you were thinking you may not have a job in six months, you may think twice about taking a holiday and that goes for most of Europe at this time.
I'm off to London on Tuesday next so I'll observe carefully the volume of traffic at both Malaga and Heathrow.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> I've been to and from Malaga Airport several times in the last six weeks and I've been surprised at how quiet it is there. The expansion scheme was originated when the tourist boom was in full swing, remember.
> My son and dil flew in last Saturday on a half-full BA flight. Budget airline flights aren't always full either, it seems.
> After all, if you were thinking you may not have a job in six months, you may think twice about taking a holiday and that goes for most of Europe at this time.
> I'm off to London on Tuesday next so I'll observe carefully the volume of traffic at both Malaga and Heathrow.


Hhhmmm, everytime I've been there and in the last couple of weeks its been alot cos I've had visitors coming and going, its been heaving. My visitors have all said that their flights have been full or nearly full! The volume of planes flying in and out has increased drastically. My son loves to plane spot and has commented on it!

That said, most of the planes seem to be from Scandinavia, russia, belgium

Jo xxxx


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## country boy (Mar 10, 2010)

jojo said:


> What I cant understand is that "they" keep saying tourism is down, but Málaga airport has just completed a major expansion programme and is now taking in three times as many planes - and it is running at full capacity. So where are all these extra passengers going?? Admittedly, most of the new planes are from russia, scandanavia, belgium, but they're tourists nonetheless
> 
> Jo xx


I don't know where you got those facts Jo but they are patently wrong. We live under the flightpath to AGP and the amount of comings and goings is pitiful compared to a couple of years ago. There's lies, damned lies and statistics. I think all three are in abundance where the airport is concerned. They have to justify the unnecessary spending of all that money.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

country boy said:


> I don't know where you got those facts Jo but they are patently wrong. We live under the flightpath to AGP and the amount of comings and goings is pitiful compared to a couple of years ago. There's lies, damned lies and statistics. I think all three are in abundance where the airport is concerned. They have to justify the unnecessary spending of all that money.



I got the facts cos I live on the flight path too, my son is an avid plane spotter, my husband commutes twice a week and I've had a string of visitors over the last few weeks all using "a heaving" Málaga!!! Maybe therein lies our difference views - maybe they've moved the damn flight path and we've got it LOL????????


Jo xxxx


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

Peepers, excellent honest post and I will try to answer honestly. To move to Spain and walk the talk is not easy. Even when everything is considered, you need a lot of luck if you are to succeed in living the dream.

If I had a pound of every Fitness Instructor, Beautician, Hairdresser, Creche Organizer, Pool Attendant, Brickie, Van Driver, Site Clearer, Newspaper Writer etc etc I met looking for work, I would have made a good living. Also, if you don't speak good Spanish your customer base reduces drastically.

Think carefully, weigh up each situation and be honest with yourself, can you really make it work. If the answer is 'No' don't do anything stupid.

I have seen people succeed, but each one had to graft, slog, beat down doors, beg, creep and somehow carry on until eventually they 'arrived.' If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.

But, if you can come up with some formula, best of luck.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Leper said:


> Peepers, excellent honest post and I will try to answer honestly. To move to Spain and walk the talk is not easy. Even when everything is considered, you need a lot of luck if you are to succeed in living the dream.
> 
> If I had a pound of every Fitness Instructor, Beautician, Hairdresser, Creche Organizer, Pool Attendant, Brickie, Van Driver, Site Clearer, Newspaper Writer etc etc I met looking for work, I would have made a good living. Also, if you don't speak good Spanish your customer base reduces drastically.
> 
> ...


Everything you write is very sensible. There are jobs here, as Shiny Andy posted on another thread, but they seem to be in the main of the highly skilled professional/managerial kind. Not much available for the kind you list. 
Fact is, most of Europe is about to experience a prolonged period of austerity and high unemployment. If you are having a tough time in the UK, odds are you'll struggle here. No benefit entitlement either.
The more I ponder it, the more I wonder exactly what is in some people's minds if they consider working for long hours and low pay at some Macjob to be a 'dream'.
Does six months or so of sunshine really seem so attractive that people are prepared to throw up everything and move their families to a country of which they know little and whose language they cannot speak to find themselves cleaning pools or painting walls for 800 euros or so a month?
Sorry to sound sour but it's something that really baffles me.
Yes, as you say, some people make a go of it....eventually.
Ironically, as I write I'm hearing on the news that the UK is considering a cap on non-EU immigration. With the Government's own forecasts of huge rises in unemployment, one really has to ask whether it should be extended to EU workers.
In times of austerity, British jobs should be for British workers.
Same could perhaps be true for Spain until the economy picks up again.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> Everything you write is very sensible. There are jobs here, as Shiny Andy posted on another thread, but they seem to be in the main of the highly skilled professional/managerial kind. Not much available for the kind you list.
> Fact is, most of Europe is about to experience a prolonged period of austerity and high unemployment. If you are having a tough time in the UK, odds are you'll struggle here. No benefit entitlement either.
> The more I ponder it, the more I wonder exactly what is in some people's minds if they consider working for long hours and low pay at some Macjob to be a 'dream'.
> Does six months or so of sunshine really seem so attractive that people are prepared to throw up everything and move their families to a country of which they know little and whose language they cannot speak to find themselves cleaning pools or painting walls for 800 euros or so a month?
> ...



I love your "thought provoking" posts Mary!!! In fact what you've said here is going thru my mind too! I guess people think that everything is easier in Spain cos the sunshines and cos most people come here for a holiday and yes, obviously thats relaxing. But actually living here is not easy at all. To give up a home, family, jobs, lifestyle, security and come to Spain to do horrendously boring and low paid jobs (if they're lucky enough to find any) doesnt make sense at all - its not like that is it!

As for the immigration cap, maybe those other than highly skilled and needed professionals should all stay in their own countries for now, if only to show some patriotism, rather than leave a country you dont like, stay and make it a country that you do like?? Even the UK has the sunshine at the moment???

Hhhmmm, my last paragraph makes me a bit of a hypocrite LOL 

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jojo said:


> I love your "thought provoking" posts Mary!!! In fact what you've said here is going thru my mind too! I guess people think that everything is easier in Spain cos the sunshines and cos most people come here for a holiday and yes, obviously thats relaxing. But actually living here is not easy at all. To give up a home, family, jobs, lifestyle, security and come to Spain to do horrendously boring and low paid jobs (if they're lucky enough to find any) doesnt make sense at all - its not like that is it!
> 
> As for the immigration cap, maybe those other than highly skilled and needed professionals should all stay in their own countries for now, if only to show some patriotism, rather than leave a country you dont like, stay and make it a country that you do like?? Even the UK has the sunshine at the moment???
> 
> ...


I don't know about 'thought-provoking', Jo Sometimes I feel I should audition for one of those 'grumpy old women' shows you see on tv.  You know, the ones where people like Germaine Greer and Sheila Hancock moan about life in general.
But you also post things that make me ponder - for example what you said about people running the UK down but being quick to take any benefits on offer.
Mind you, I've got reason to be peeved this weekend - we had a quarterly water bill of almost 700 ...yes, 700...euros yesterday. For weeks I've been telling our gardener/handyman that the small lake in our garden cannot be 'natural' and there must be a leak or burst pipe. Having seen the bill and my normal colour restored I phoned our Austrian landlord who told the gardener to sort it ASAP. 
So this morning he did and yes, there was a fractured pipe with water steadily oozing. 
I estimate that it's cost us at least 700 euros more than it should have as it's clearly been leaking quietly away for several months now, maybe since October last - we didn't notice it because of the rain.
Grr!!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Incidentally, Jo........will you be here for the foreseeable future? Hope so.


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## nigele2 (Dec 25, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> I estimate that it's cost us at least 700 euros more than it should have as it's clearly been leaking quietly away for several months now, maybe since October last - we didn't notice it because of the rain.
> Grr!!!


I remember my mother having water seeping from the ground. She convinced herself it was a natural spring. The stream ran through her garden for 30 metres before terminating in a pond. She planted it with bog plants. It even had a bridge.

I mean there near Ringwood (UK) there had been springs - a few centuries before 

The water board came a year later, dug a hole, fixed the leak, and ................

But here in Britland at least it cost here nothing. A couple of years later she opted to go on water meter and as my brother who lives with her is water butt mad they have a very small bill.

Sorry Mary that little story doesn't do you any good . But at least you knew what it was. Think what the bill would have been if you had created the water gardens of Maryville 

Carry on writing all you want. Don't always agree but it is always intelligent and stimulating  And I'll own up, I one of I'm sure many men who watch and enjoy 'Loose Women'


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

nigele2 said:


> Carry on writing all you want. Don't always agree but it is always intelligent and stimulating  And I'll own up, I one of I'm sure many men who watch and enjoy 'Loose Women'



Are you implying I'm a loose woman!!!!!:boxing:

But I loved your 'water' story.  I'm enjoying watching the sun dry up our little water feature.....


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> Incidentally, Jo........will you be here for the foreseeable future? Hope so.



I need a crystal ball for that one Mary!!!!! We had all but decided to go back, it was all becoming too stressful. It was like something was telling us we shouldnt stay here. But we decided to wait until the kids broke up for the summer and then have a major think!!! - that'll be now then  

We are going back to the UK next week for a "holiday", my lot are into "goodwood" which is a car festival thing, so we'll see how we feel then.

TBH, with so much that has happened in the last 6 months, I know longer feel quite so desperate to stay. I cant work out anymore why I want to stay, altho I do love it here???!!! Very confused :confused2:

Jo xxx


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

jojo said:


> TBH, with so much that has happened in the last 6 months, I know longer feel quite so desperate to stay. I cant work out anymore why I want to stay, altho I do love it here???!!! Very confused :confused2:
> 
> Jo xxx


I think everyone goes through periods like that Jo ..... I certainly do from time to time. However I worked out that as long as I can get back home when I want to, to see friends and family, then its fine for the moment.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> I think everyone goes through periods like that Jo ..... I certainly do from time to time. However I worked out that as long as I can get back home when I want to, to see friends and family, then its fine for the moment.


I've never felt any desire to go back to the UK since I left but that could be due to the fact that I loathed the area we lived in. 
But I think you are right in that the feeling of being 'free' to go there is really important, even if you rarely go.
I used to go to the UK and elsewhere in Europe several times a month until about a year ago and I've been back only twice since then. Can't say I feel deprived.
I'm going next week too and I'm looking forward to meeting up with lots of friends but I don't plan any trips after that this year or early next.
But as you say, it's the freedom to do so if you want to that's important.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jojo said:


> TBH, with so much that has happened in the last 6 months, I know longer feel quite so desperate to stay. I cant work out anymore why I want to stay, altho I do love it here???!!! Very confused :confused2:
> 
> Jo xxx



Most of the unpleasant stuff could have happened anywhere, tho'.
Sometimes just liking where you are without knowing quite why is reason enough to stay.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

nigele2 said:


> I remember my mother having water seeping from the ground. She convinced herself it was a natural spring. The stream ran through her garden for 30 metres before terminating in a pond. She planted it with bog plants. It even had a bridge.


Loved the water story (with little bridge included), and Mary, I also love Grumpy Old Women!!
Perhaps we could send off our CVs and do an "outside broadcast"!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Loved the water story (with little bridge included), and Mary, I also love Grumpy Old Women!!
> Perhaps we could send off our CVs and do an "outside broadcast"!!



Well, after listening to Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross last year, I sent an e-mail to the BBC offering my services saying that if, as it seemed, 'cutting edge' comedy involved a lot of swearing and talking about sex then I would be much more 'controversial' doing that than those two as people expected middle-aged men to swear and talk about sex but it would be much more 'cutting edge' coming from a 'respectable', conventional looking older woman.
Sadly I had no reply


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