It goes without saying that people are anxious to leave the less-than-sunny shores (in more ways than just the weather) of Great Britain lately. This blog has often pointed out the record stats of those flocking Down Under or departing for Dubai.
Close To Europe?!
Now though, it seems some countries might be feeling left out of the population jumps and are advertising the pros of becoming a resident within them. A Brazilian tourist representative, keen to attract those moving abroad, has said of the Rio Grande Du Norte Francisco Cipriano de Paulo Segundo area (try getting that on your envelope) as having “a lot of good wonderful beaches, 410 km of beach with warm water and we are very close to Europe. The Natal district is closer to Europe than all of Brazil.”
Given that the heart of Brazil is some 6,000 plus miles from the middle of Europe, even going edge-to-edge is still only going to carve a fraction off that. I don’t really think it’s fair to say that it’s close to Europe. It’s like saying the BNP are close to being the next government. Both a long way off.
Still, they’re pretty up there in the beach catergory though.
Meanwhile, there’s been an interesting claim recently that the Eurostar – a wonderful service, don’t get me wrong – has made international removals easier. The Times, infact, has noted that now it’s so easy to travel to areas of France, Germany and the Low Countries – thanks to connections with the TGV – has encouraged property buyers to look further afield.
In fact, Assetz Martin, an international property firm, even said that “Eurostar’s connection to the TGV has opened up areas of the south-west of France, which previously had been hard to get to.”
Of course it has, for holidaying. In fact, if you’re looking to visit Paris there really is no better, easier or cheaper way. However, connecting to the TGV and then trawling across France isn’t so cost-friendly as, say, a flight from Heathrow.
However, for international removals, unless you’re looking to move your entire life in the confines of a couple of suitcase, I really fail to see how the Eurostar is going to help. I recently assisted in an international move, from Paris to the UK. In a van, along the highways and across in a ferry. There’s no way the Eurostar could really have helped with that let alone if it were to Germany or the South.
And, trust me, having endured a hell-like weekend in doing so, I would thoroughly recommend getting the professionals in instead.
When you’re giving way to oncoming traffic, there is an unwritten rule that is polite for all drivers and that is the thank you ‘wave.’
I was giving way to a loooong line of traffic at rush hour thisy morning – this is how nice I am – or how little of a hurry I’m in to get to work. The people behind me weren’t so sure but the feeling any we get for doing a good deed is quite pleasurable, and if someone doesn’t say thank you it makes you feel quite bitter (well it does me) – I will always wave ‘thank you’ to traffic letting me pass.
When letting this long queue go past of approximately 10 cars, all but but two said thank you, and in all different ways. Some flashed their headlights – so frustrating to be blinded though, some even gave me an entire palm of wave, some lifted a finger or two off the steering wheel, some bared all 4 fingers and some even nodded, but given all those little ways of saying thank you, you realise that no one was taught this during their driving lessons, this little habit has just caught on.
This isn’t something I’ve observed driving on the continent. Certainly not while pulling of a do-it-yourself international removal last month from France to England. If anything I’ve rarely been so angered by both traffic and lack of common courtesy. Given I was driving a giant of a Citroen van I could’ve quite easily thrown my weight around on the road.
Is this unwritten but widely observed driving practice just a sign of our general, good English manners?
The two moody cars this morning that refrained from saying thank you were, shockingly both Hondas. One a new CR-V. Obviously enjoying the extra amount of condescending allowed by the driving position or had recently read my less-than-positive comments about their looks. I’ve seen increasing amounts of the new Honda CRV in Kent lately. Still not too keen on them and this morning’s experience has just added to that.
It’s strange how fast some places can develop, almost scary. Take Dubai: I’d never heard of it as a kid, even into the nineties I don’t recall it being mentioned that much, certainly not in terms of ”wow, have you seen what they’re building out there?”
Now though, the emirate’s constantly changing skyline and rapid development is famous and barely a week goes by without one of those emails showing some stupidly ambitious development or building arriving. Accordingly, it’s attracting a lot of foreigners and not just on holiday terms.
Not so long ago I took a TEFL course and there were some pretty impressive salaries available over in Dubai but I’m not one for high temperatures. But that’s just me. Of all the people moving overseas, 25,000 of them move to Dubai every month. Staggering, but the tax advantages, heat and way of life mean the population there is expected to go from 1.6 million now to 4 million by 2020.
25,000 a month… that equates to 800 a day. Or 33 every hour! No wonder it’s changing so fast – is it a case of meeting demand for property or people going because there’s so much available property. While it’s not quite a chicken / egg case it’s a quandry. I would say “won’t they run out of room?” but that doesn’t seem to be a concern as fast as they’re building outwards they’re building upwards too.
It’s one of those places that’s so remarkable I’d really like to visit it, though I’m still pretty sure I wouldn’t want to live there.
Wow, moving and home removals are hard graft. Even before I’ve looked at properly boxing things up I feel like I’m going mad.
There’s a gradually growing pile of boxes in the corner of my lounge, a notebook filling with letting agent phone numbers, fees and requirements. There’s an even longer list of people that I need to notify of my fast approaching move. Electric company, phone company, internet provider, bank, credit card company. Am I missing anyone? I have a sneaky feeling I’ve forgotten everything.
Then there’s the sensible things to consider: I’m going to need to find a new doctor and dentist – like the NHS didn’t make that hard enough to begin with. Familiarise myself with new roads and supermarkets.
Oh, I’ll need to change my car insurance and registration. And my driver’s license. This list is going to get bigger faster than the box pile.
With the temptation to pull my hair out over this growing already I can pretty much guarantee that I won’t be doing the move myself this time. Every time I’ve done it in the past I’ve said “next time I’m getting the professionals to do it” and as lives become more serious and the moves that go with them just as much, I can’t imagine not finding some removal services to take the stress out of it for me.
Having spent the last week waking up in the middle of the night worrying about what I may be forgetting, the last thing I want to do right now is load then unload a housefull of boxes on a van.
There’s something about Alfa Romeos that inspire a strange sense of pride in their owners. While the Italian manufacturer was once a bit of a marmite-like quality amongst dealers it’s really climbing in terms of popularity and car sales lately. Especially with the likes of the new MiTo taking it to a previously un-tapped market.
It’s a shame then, for us owners of Alfas, to find that two of the company’s models feature in Glass’s list of cars retaining the least of their original list value after 3 years. Top offender on the list was the executive contender that never really was, the doomed 166. Sadly, despite this vehicles many qualities it never really sold and dropped off forecorts in 2007. Which goes some way toward explaining why it’s top of the list, retaining just 14.4% of its original value. Given that this one used to go for around £30k… ouch.
For Just 15% of Original Price?
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