# More questions



## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

Are there any restrictions on the amount of cash we transfer to spain, is a uk bank account neccesary are there any problems with pension payments from uk and germany, is it worth the bother to ship all our furniture from australia. Is falconry legal in spain?? when we are settled I plan importing my hawks and eagle from germany!the most important question her who must be obeyed would like to know if if good oldfashioned Pork pies are available in spain??at the moment I drive 500kms once every 12 weeks to stock up on gammon, cumberland sausage and porkpies, hope you can help in your replies


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Every so often I get a longing for a good old British pork pie so I drive 35km to Gibraltar! All the typically British products are available there but I believe there are supermartkets all over Spain which stock such items.
A Spanish friend trains falcons etc. so I presume it's legal as he is a 'respectable' person.
I can't see why there should be a problem with pension payments. 
Bank accounts: why not open an offshore account, perhaps one owned by a well-known bank such as RBS, Barclays etc. Offshore accounts aren't just for the filthy rich and mafiosi. Most can be opened with as little as £100 and you can hold accounts in several currencies. It's easier to manage your money in Spain if you open a local account too.
As for importing your furniture...it's a matter of personal preference and cost. We have shipped our furniture and all our other belongings from the UK to the Czech Republic (moved once while we were there) and then to Spain (moved twice after arrival here). This prompted a friend to remark that our furniture had travelled around Europe more often than he had.....
This has cost us around £10k all in all which is a lot of money but although our furniture isn't antique or extremely valuable it is 'good' and it's familiar. IMO that helps you settle in when you relocate to a foreign country. Personal items such as books, CDs, photos, pictures etc. are priceless, really.
And if you like quality items around you rather than pleasant, stylish but essentially vfm stuff from IKEA etc. you can easily spend an awful lot replacing sofas, beds, tables, chairs, dining room furniture etc......not to mention linen, tableware, cutlery,crockery/china and so on.
It comes down to what is more important to you....having familiar things around you and paying for the privilege or having the fun (some might say hassle) of refitting your home.


----------



## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

*thanks*



mrypg9 said:


> Every so often I get a longing for a good old British pork pie so I drive 35km to Gibraltar! All the typically British products are available there but I believe there are supermartkets all over Spain which stock such items.
> A Spanish friend trains falcons etc. so I presume it's legal as he is a 'respectable' person.
> I can't see why there should be a problem with pension payments.
> Bank accounts: why not open an offshore account, perhaps one owned by a well-known bank such as RBS, Barclays etc. Offshore accounts aren't just for the filthy rich and mafiosi. Most can be opened with as little as £100 and you can hold accounts in several currencies. It's easier to manage your money in Spain if you open a local account too.
> ...


:ranger:we have just bought our dream home in aus moved in last september, just got everything how we want it and then a bombshell from uk, we have 2 choices move to slippery Surrey:spitr look for somewhere warm but not near enough for the outlaws popping in every 10 minutes to borrow is a cup of moneyI guess we will ship everything when the time is right ta very much!!


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Nignoy said:


> her who must be obeyed would like to know if if good oldfashioned Pork pies are available in spain??at the moment I drive 500kms once every 12 weeks to stock up on gammon, cumberland sausage and porkpies, hope you can help in your replies


In Fuengirola there is an Iceland/Waitrose supermarket that stocks all of that stuff!! I think there are these supermarkets in other Spanish towns - dunno?? But there are certainly a lot of "British supplies" shops in most high density expat towns!! Its also possible that Carrefour stocks them, I'm not a great lover of pork pies etc

jo xxx


----------



## Andy Capp (Oct 5, 2008)

Is it just me or does anyone else wonder why the OP chose their name?


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

On your question about amounts of cash you can bring in....since 99% of all legal transactions are done electronically I can't see a problem. We took enough money when we left the UK to be able to live for a few years and banked it in Prague. Then I got sick of the high charges and inefficiency of Czech banks so opened an offshore account.
The only thing is....it costs so much to transfer money or indeed to undertake any currency transaction. I decided to buy a quantity of euros on Thursday via my daughter-in-law and a London broker. As she works in 'wealth management' in the City she can do these transactions without any fee being charged which is really great as otherwise charges for money transfers are exorbitant imo.
Once, about five years ago, at the point of boarding a flight from H/row to Amsterdam we were stopped on the skybridge by plain-clothes HMRC officers and asked if we were carrying currency and what we were planning to do in Amsterdam. (I resisted the temptation to reply that I had a purse of uncut diamonds which I intended to sell in order to open a brothel in the redlight district).
I suppose that if airport security Xrays showed that you were carrying a large quantity of cash you might be asked to prove that you weren't an Al Quaeda bag man or drugs mule.
It seems the surveillance kit is so good they can read the labels on your knickers.....


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Andy Capp said:


> Is it just me or does anyone else wonder why the OP chose their name?



No Andy, just you! 

Jo xxx


----------



## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

Sorry my name is causing andy to scratch his bald patch,I have spent many years in asia especially thailand my name in thai is Nidnoi my son could not say id he always said ig so 40years ago my name became nignoy my thai and laos friends thought it was funny so it has been my nick ever since.


----------



## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

even supervalue stocks all that stuff


----------



## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

cumberland sausage..... layer of onion topped with mashed potatoe and grated cheddar........................ then baked.......... bliss in a dish:clap2::clap2:


----------



## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> she can do these transactions without any fee being charged which is really great as otherwise charges for money transfers are exorbitant imo.


Why are you experiencing exorbitant charges?

I don't pay any charges on my regular euro transfers either by the company who make them in the UK or the Spanish bank, and they are made at decent commercial rates

When I transferred large funds in three or four separate transactions when we bought our villa, we didn't get any charges either, and competitive rates. (Apart from the first one when we were caught out by the Spanish Bank


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> Why are you experiencing exorbitant charges?
> 
> I don't pay any charges on my regular euro transfers either by the company who make them in the UK or the Spanish bank, and they are made at decent commercial rates
> 
> When I transferred large funds in three or four separate transactions when we bought our villa, we didn't get any charges either, and competitive rates. (Apart from the first one when we were caught out by the Spanish Bank


Dunno!  I assume someone somewhere will be charging for the service, even if it's well hidden....After all, you are buying stuff. My offshore bank charges a set amount for £/euro transfers to third party accounts, the more you transfer the more you pay. My Czech bank charged a huge amount for a) buying euros with CZK and b) for transferring to my offshore account. Then my offshore bank charged me for transferring euros to my Spanish euro account.....
But I've now got a Solbank account where I can make free transfers to any account in any EU state which is great as I transfer money into an Austrian account several times a year. But I pay a yearly fee for this account...
One of my Czech banks charged £15 flat fee for processing a UK cheque so I got pennies when I paid in cheques for say £30..
I've got accounts in four countries and the only bank that doesn't charge for transfers is Solbank. You will pay at some point, even if it's well hidden, as all transactions involve 'work done' on someone's part.
And of course you always pay when buying money in a different currency. My friend who came to help translate at the Czech bank when I bought euros with Czech crowns nearly fainted when she heard what it had cost - OK it was a huge amount, I'm still living on it two years on! - but it made a big dent in the 'profit' I hoped to make on the transaction.
With the seemingly ongoing concern about the status and value of the euro I don't want to make any unnecessary transfers for a while. £ deposits _might_ be safer!!


----------



## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> Dunno!  I assume someone somewhere will be charging for the service, even if it's well hidden....After all, you are buying stuff. My offshore bank charges a set amount for £/euro transfers to third party accounts, the more you transfer the more you pay. My Czech bank charged a huge amount for a) buying euros with CZK and b) for transferring to my offshore account. Then my offshore bank charged me for transferring euros to my Spanish euro account.....
> But I've now got a Solbank account where I can make free transfers to any account in any EU state which is great as I transfer money into an Austrian account several times a year. But I pay a yearly fee for this account...
> One of my Czech banks charged £15 flat fee for processing a UK cheque so I got pennies when I paid in cheques for say £30..
> I've got accounts in four countries and the only bank that doesn't charge for transfers is Solbank. You will pay at some point, even if it's well hidden, as all transactions involve 'work done' on someone's part.
> ...


Mmmmm ... well I used to use people like ITT Moneycorp who at the time made no charge, but of course make their money on the rate of exchange. It was quite transparent, so you knew where they were making it.

I am with SOL also. I made an arrangement with Currencies Direct. Their rates are not so hot if you do one off transactions, but if you do a regular monthly transfer then they are not so bad. Again, no charge, but they will be making a bit on the rate of exchange.

I've no experience of course of transferring from CZ


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> Mmmmm ... well I used to use people like ITT Moneycorp who at the time made no charge, but of course make their money on the rate of exchange. It was quite transparent, so you knew where they were making it.
> 
> I am with SOL also. I made an arrangement with Currencies Direct. Their rates are not so hot if you do one off transactions, but if you do a regular monthly transfer then they are not so bad. Again, no charge, but they will be making a bit on the rate of exchange.
> 
> I've no experience of course of transferring from CZ


Thankfully I won't be buying czk again...I've got enough money left to buy beers and dinners when I visit! The Czech crown appreciately hugely against the £ in 2007. Then in 2008 it appreciatedly equally hugely against the euro. But those days are probably over....
At the end of the day,though, someone has to pay fr bankers' bonuses


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Andy Capp said:


> Is it just me or does anyone else wonder why the OP chose their name?


Actually I wonder about a lot of people's names like mrypg9 (it's the 9 that does it!), halydia, owdoggy, joppa etc etc...


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Actually I wonder about a lot of people's names like mrypg9 (it's the 9 that does it!), halydia, owdoggy, joppa etc etc...


No mystery....I took the vowels out of my name (two four-letter words!!) and applied to Yahoo....but they already had eight other mrypg's.
Once I was shopping with my Aunt in Loblaws, a big supermarket in Ottawa and a call asking for 'me' to report to the customer services desk came over the PA. I went out of curiosity to see what my namesake looked like and she was younger, slimmer, better-dressed and all-round better-looking than me...
I often wish I had chosen something more exotic as a sign-in. Sometimes I post as praguepix...not very imaginative either, though.
As I'm often a miserable old sod, maybe 'Cassandra' or 'Schopenhauer' or something equally gloomy and doom-laden would have been more fitting and in character.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> No mystery....I took the vowels out of my name (two four-letter words!!) and applied to Yahoo....but they already had eight other mrypg's.
> Once I was shopping with my Aunt in Loblaws, a big supermarket in Ottawa and a call asking for 'me' to report to the customer services desk came over the PA. I went out of curiosity to see what my namesake looked like and she was younger, slimmer, better-dressed and all-round better-looking than me...
> I often wish I had chosen something more exotic as a sign-in. Sometimes I post as praguepix...not very imaginative either, though.
> As I'm often a miserable old sod, maybe 'Cassandra' or 'Schopenhauer' or something equally gloomy and doom-laden would have been more fitting and in character.


Hahaha
As Harry Potter is on my brain how about that horrible individual Snape, or you could try humbug...


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Actually I wonder about a lot of people's names like mrypg9 (it's the 9 that does it!), halydia, owdoggy, joppa etc etc...


So why "Pesky Wesky"????

Jo xxx


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

jojo said:


> So why "Pesky Wesky"????
> 
> Jo xxx


OOOPPPs, time to do some work!!


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Pesky Wesky said:


> OOOPPPs, time to do some work!!



...... that bad eh?????? :eyebrows:

Jo xxx


----------



## Tallulah (Feb 16, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> I often wish I had chosen something more exotic as a sign-in. Sometimes I post as praguepix...


I've seen that before!! I thought it might be you


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Tallulah said:


> I've seen that before!! I thought it might be you



Yes, 'tis I
I use it when I post on pieces in the Daily Mail disagreeing with the right-wing tosh posted on blogs there and when I post in 'The Guardian' disagreeing with the left-wing tosh....
I'm just disagreeable
I once got into a demeaning and silly verbal contretemps with a silly old b**** on another forum but I can't help responding in kind when people write offensive and untrue posts about Spain, Spaniards ...you know the kind, where foolish people present themselves as hapless victims of Spanish greed and corruption.
If bitten, I bite back. Got into the habit when actively involved in politics. You'd be amazed at how much resentment of women lingers on....even among supposedly progressive people.
For that reason alone imo Mrs Thatcher deserves respect for her career, regardless of what you might think of her politics.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

jojo said:


> So why "Pesky Wesky"????
> 
> Jo xxx


It's nothing exciting really - just that Wesky comes from my surname and Pesky rhymes and kind of describes my annoying/ irritating (according to some!) nature


----------



## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

I've often been asked about my nick Thrax. A lot of people think its from Anthrax but it ain't. It's from a character in a novel I wrote years ago but never tried to publish due to it's bizarre plot. The character was called Thraxamategue and was a chicken. So there.


----------

