[Anonymous]

Bearing in mind the 27% unemployment (55% youth) it is a wonder there is not more social unrest in Spain. In the Canaries there is a lot of winter tourism and in this climate it iseasier to be happy. To start with coming back to UK you need so much more food to keep warm. But despite the cheapness of cigarettes the youngsters look fit healthy and those who really want jobs get them -if sometimes only ‘black’ ones that at least keeps them going and out of trouble. Indeed a sunny climate and the availability of reasonably priced foodstuffs particularly fruit and veg and no heating costs is a great help. Indeed it makes people happier when the sun rarely not shines in a day . Compare that with UK -when I came back on 30th April it felt more like the 1st March – the quality of life is so much better when you start the day with blue sky and the sun with some power even in mid December.

[DBMarcos99]

Well it’s sunny now in London town, even if much of the previous 12 months has been gloomy. Tbh most people even here scrape by without full time jobs; just they are either claiming invalidity or self-employed and making up for little work with tax credits, instead of swelling the unemploment figures. But the few who do have permanent jobs are working long hours, I expect that’s true inSpain. Plenty of tourist opportunities here too. A lot of local pubs had closed, but the pubs in 1 street started providing backpacker accommodation upstairs, and they all seem to have thrived. It’s a big city so no one can claim it can compete with the scenery of the Canaries. But there are nice parks to enjoy a stroll next to the lake, and days out to various seaside resorts are available too. So quality of life isn’t that bad here with time on your hands, and we have all the shops, shows , museums etc that you can cope with.

[Anonymous]

I live close to the beach in UK and its sunny with blue sky today but the sea is very cold wheras I have been sea bathing all winter -it was a very mild winter ie non existent and last weekend in a tidal pool in the late afternoon the water temperature 29C. My brother presently in Murcia with a nice white sandy beach -if only a few days but finds the water temperature at his younger age at 18/19 very pleasant. It all depends what you want and I can only say that the Canaries is the best place within reasonable travelling distance- one thing I do know England is not the right place to spend winter when you are older and winter lasts a long time in England. I needed no heating all winter -here the first thing I did was light the gas fire but its warmer today . Sharm-el -Sheik was a promising option until Arab spring but thats all now in doubt. Canaries are in the EU -will UK be in the EU soon and will it affect our options as existing or potential property owners? I am off to my english beach for a paddle!

[katy]

Yes the Canaries has decent winter weather unlike mainland Spain. Problem for me is that I have been to 3 of the Islands and find them quite barren overall, also Tenerife and Lanzarote are characterless, full of ugly developments.

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