WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,356
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Post by WDB on Jun 26, 2020 15:18:07 GMT
Nor would I. But I’d want to spend some time in whatever place outside the holiday season. Last summer in the Rhône Valley was blissful (except when it was 40°C and too hot to move) but how would it be in February when the cutesy tourist markets have all packed up and there’s nothing to do but hunker down indoors?
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Post by dixinormus on Jun 26, 2020 21:38:37 GMT
Very valid point WdB. I lived in an ancient village in rural France for a few years. Spectacular location at the foot of a Cathar castle near the Pyrenees. Boy was it dead in winter. Cold and wet too. The economy in rural France is pretty stuffed too. All a tiny bit bleak.
A lot of the French do seem to have a bit of a grumpy outlook on life too!
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Post by Alanović on Jun 29, 2020 8:04:35 GMT
I'm a big fan of hunkering down indoors with nothing to do. Fire up the Kindle, Blackadder. Stick the kettle on. Pop some bread in the oven.
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Post by dixinormus on Jun 30, 2020 0:51:02 GMT
Me too, Al, and have been doing a fair bit of hunkering down these past few weeks with the onset of what passes for winter here. But rural France was borderline depressing - whole towns almost entirely shut down and shuttered out of season.
One October night about 10 years ago I found myself driving through a reasonably-sized southern French town famous for its local fare: cassoulet. I had expectations of finding a rustic inn and getting a good feed. Everything was closed, had to make do with takeaway pizza from a caravan...
Melbourne is full of hipsters, spivs and look-at-me wannabees in shiny suits and cars Humph... Ugh! 4.5 million population and all the ensuing congestion. Overrated!
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Post by Alanović on Jun 30, 2020 8:29:05 GMT
Me too, Al, and have been doing a fair bit of hunkering down these past few weeks with the onset of what passes for winter here. But rural France was borderline depressing - whole towns almost entirely shut down and shuttered out of season. One October night about 10 years ago I found myself driving through a reasonably-sized southern French town famous for its local fare: cassoulet. I had expectations of finding a rustic inn and getting a good feed. Everything was closed, had to make do with takeaway pizza from a caravan... Melbourne is full of hipsters, spivs and look-at-me wannabees in shiny suits and cars Humph... Ugh! 4.5 million population and all the ensuing congestion. Overrated! This is why there will be a motorhome at my retirement property, for sodding off to southern Spain/Portugal/Italy/Malta/Montenegro/Greece in the mid winter when the mood takes me.
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Avant
Full Member
Posts: 691
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Post by Avant on Jun 30, 2020 14:26:56 GMT
If you retire to Malta, and the mood takes you often, then we should all buy shares in the ferry company, hopefully not run by the Mafia.
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Post by Alanović on Jun 30, 2020 14:30:43 GMT
I'm intending to retire to France, with trips out to other destinations in a motorhome when the mood takes me. I certainly won't be going tooooo frequently to Malta.
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Post by dixinormus on Jul 1, 2020 3:34:13 GMT
Nice idea Al. And I found Spain to be totally different to the drabness of France in winter. Quick autoroute dash over the border and the weather was warmer, the people more cheerful and the food & drink cheaper! And you could buy duty free at the border town too 😄
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Post by Alanović on Jul 1, 2020 8:04:23 GMT
I am very fond of one part of Spain - the area around Almeria/Murcia/Cartagena. It is very pleasant there in the winter. I'm less fond of other areas and particularly dislike the Costa del Sol, which I have had the misfortune to spend lots of time in. Overcrowded, overpriced, too many Brits, too damn hot. My Mum lived there a while, and she hankers to go back. She's considering buying an apartment there in the not too distant future, seeing as she is an EU citizenship holder still, like me. I've started to see adverts for distress sale properties like this, "HEAVILY REDUCED FOR URGENT SALE", I wonder why...... overseasdreams.com/propdetailspics-TOP25224
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Post by dixinormus on Jul 2, 2020 1:57:25 GMT
Before Brexit was even a thing there was a glut of holiday properties on the market anyway.
Just before the advent of the Euro notes and coins a lot of suitcases of money stored under beds in local currencies needed to be spent because it couldn’t be exchanged at the bank, <cough>.
Added to that, in the early noughties plenty of semi-affluent middle-aged Northern Europeans were eager to spend money buying up ridiculously cheap properties to live the Peter Mayle lifestyle.
The 2009 market crash hurt a lot of them, and many of those people who stuck it out are now in their 60s and want to sell-up and return home for their free(er), cheap(er) healthcare and retirement looking after the grandkids...
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