Moving abroad can turn expats into accidental landlords and property speculators. If you own your home, what do you do with it if you leave the country? Hanging on to our flat in Edinburgh was a mixture of maths, cowardice and indecision. Only time will tell if it was the right thing to do.
When Barbara and I moved to Ibiza we hadn't planned on a long stay. Letting our UK home was part of the deal. The rent was supposed to cover our Spanish accommodation costs -which it did. Almost.
Everything became more permanent when we decided to buy a place in the sun. The obvious thing to do was sell up in Edinburgh, but that meant stepping permanently off the UK property ladder. Instead we took out the biggest interest-only mortgage we could and put the cash towards our Ibiza house.
Read the full article on my website A Desk In The Sun
Friday, January 26, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Could you live and work overseas?
I put this quiz together for people who are thinking of leaving Britain to live and work abroad in countries such as: Australia, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, USA, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Germany, Cyprus, Ireland, South Africa, Austria and China.
What I hope is that these questions will make you think about the challenges of living and working abroad. Some of the answers aren’t obvious, but there’s no right and wrong.
So you know what to expect, here are the questions:
1. How do you generally feel at the end of a two-week holiday?
2. How concerned are you about job security?
3. How is your health?
4. How do you feel about your present job?
5. How is your relationship with your family?
6. What is your favourite restaurant?
7. Some friends invite you to meet up for a meal. What sort of restaurant would you suggest?
8. What is your ideal Christmas?
9. When did you last give somebody your home phone number?
10. What’s your favourite way of spending an evening?
11. How do you react when bureaucrats make your life difficult?
12. Where do most of your friends come from?
13. If you moved abroad what sort of friends would you hope to make?
14. Have you ever been to a social event in Britain with somebody who’d be classed as from an “ethnic minority”?
15. What would you normally find in your shopping basket?
16. When on holiday abroad do you hire a car and go off exploring?
17. What do you think of credit cards?
18. How do you and your partner get on?
19. How long have you and your partner been together?
20. As you come to the end of this quiz what do you think now?
Click here for the link to my "A Desk In The Sun" website where you can try the the quiz.
What I hope is that these questions will make you think about the challenges of living and working abroad. Some of the answers aren’t obvious, but there’s no right and wrong.
So you know what to expect, here are the questions:
1. How do you generally feel at the end of a two-week holiday?
2. How concerned are you about job security?
3. How is your health?
4. How do you feel about your present job?
5. How is your relationship with your family?
6. What is your favourite restaurant?
7. Some friends invite you to meet up for a meal. What sort of restaurant would you suggest?
8. What is your ideal Christmas?
9. When did you last give somebody your home phone number?
10. What’s your favourite way of spending an evening?
11. How do you react when bureaucrats make your life difficult?
12. Where do most of your friends come from?
13. If you moved abroad what sort of friends would you hope to make?
14. Have you ever been to a social event in Britain with somebody who’d be classed as from an “ethnic minority”?
15. What would you normally find in your shopping basket?
16. When on holiday abroad do you hire a car and go off exploring?
17. What do you think of credit cards?
18. How do you and your partner get on?
19. How long have you and your partner been together?
20. As you come to the end of this quiz what do you think now?
Click here for the link to my "A Desk In The Sun" website where you can try the the quiz.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Ibiza's E-conomy
Drugs are central to a large part of Ibiza’s economy. The island is wholly dependent on tourism and what sets it apart from other Mediterranean destinations are the clubs.
I know that the island is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but that’s a subjective view. Places such as Pacha, Space, Amnesia, El Divino and Privilege are what draw the holidaymakers. Not everybody comes to Ibiza to dance, but enough do to make the difference between wealth and poverty for the people who own the island.
Anything which drove the clubbers away from Ibiza would have a disastrous impact. As a result many people believe that there’s a conspiracy involving club owners and the police which leads to them turning a blind eye to drugs. I’m not so sure.
I have seen the heavy handed way the Guardia Civil - the national police set up originally by the dictator Franco – set up road blocks to search people and their cars. Outside DC10 or Space it’s not uncommon to see clubbers being searched in intimate ways that would have civil liberties groups up in arms in other countries. Both sexes are liable to find rough hands inside their underwear as they look for contraband. Those that are caught face hefty sentences. Jail in Ibiza is not paradise.
The problem is that drugs are so ingrained in the tourist culture that it would require a real police state to eradicate it. I tend to think the solution would be worse than the problem.
As far as I know there have been no deaths directly from ecstasy, cannabis or cocaine consumption on the island. Indirectly, of course, they may have been factors in the unacceptably high number of road accidents on the island. But alcohol was far more likely to have been to blame.
Equally, people who are high on drugs are much less likely to be violent than those who are drunk. Turf wars between dealers are a threat to Ibiza’s general tranquillity. There was one highly-publicised shoot-out between gangs in San Antonio earlier in the summer, but, despite hysterical warnings in the British press, this has been an isolated incident. If it turns out to be more than that I’ll revise my opinions.
I cannot see a way of removing drugs from Ibiza without doing a lot more harm than good. In theory I’d be in favour of legalisation to take the trade out of the hands of criminals. I’m just not totally sure about how well the state would manage it.
I know that the island is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but that’s a subjective view. Places such as Pacha, Space, Amnesia, El Divino and Privilege are what draw the holidaymakers. Not everybody comes to Ibiza to dance, but enough do to make the difference between wealth and poverty for the people who own the island.
Anything which drove the clubbers away from Ibiza would have a disastrous impact. As a result many people believe that there’s a conspiracy involving club owners and the police which leads to them turning a blind eye to drugs. I’m not so sure.
I have seen the heavy handed way the Guardia Civil - the national police set up originally by the dictator Franco – set up road blocks to search people and their cars. Outside DC10 or Space it’s not uncommon to see clubbers being searched in intimate ways that would have civil liberties groups up in arms in other countries. Both sexes are liable to find rough hands inside their underwear as they look for contraband. Those that are caught face hefty sentences. Jail in Ibiza is not paradise.
The problem is that drugs are so ingrained in the tourist culture that it would require a real police state to eradicate it. I tend to think the solution would be worse than the problem.
As far as I know there have been no deaths directly from ecstasy, cannabis or cocaine consumption on the island. Indirectly, of course, they may have been factors in the unacceptably high number of road accidents on the island. But alcohol was far more likely to have been to blame.
Equally, people who are high on drugs are much less likely to be violent than those who are drunk. Turf wars between dealers are a threat to Ibiza’s general tranquillity. There was one highly-publicised shoot-out between gangs in San Antonio earlier in the summer, but, despite hysterical warnings in the British press, this has been an isolated incident. If it turns out to be more than that I’ll revise my opinions.
I cannot see a way of removing drugs from Ibiza without doing a lot more harm than good. In theory I’d be in favour of legalisation to take the trade out of the hands of criminals. I’m just not totally sure about how well the state would manage it.
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