The Sun God
Well-Known Member
do you shit in your colleagues' leaving cards too?
it's my last day
- Thread starter stephen
- Start date
do you shit in your colleagues' leaving cards too?
craig72
No longer active
Not if I write on it...
Padster
Active Member
I think you're being really unfair. Stephen did an awful lot of work behind the scenes on these forums which made a huge contribution to preventing every thread becoming a sh1t show like they do on Facebook
MrHullMysterious
Well-Known Member
I suspect Craig forgot his /sarcasm tag. He is old, he doesn't quite get this internet thing ??
Padster
Active Member
You're probably right. He's still a git though
Buckley
Well-Known Member
I hope Stephen is enjoying is lovely new home. For those interested there's a few more photos on this Instagram link now
Here’s a bit of a catch up on what I've been up to over the last couple of years. As you probably know we were bored to tears in ibiza and had been for about 10 years as there wasn’t really much to do apart from visit the same old places time after time and to actually find anything stimulating meant trips on planes or ferries which is limiting in cost terms but also free time when you have work commitments!
we’d been wanting to leave ibiza for years but were held back by finances. Our main income came from renting our villa so we needed the money from that, and to sell it meant paying 23% capital gains tax. So we were trapped in paradise for all that time whilst we saved and saved and saved for our retirement and until I turned 65 which meant I was exempt on paying cgt!
We sold the villa in january 2020, a month after my 65th and headed back to the uk with our 2 remaining cats. We rented a house near our parents in st helens whilst we looked for somewhere to buy – we still needed to spend half a million on the house so my wife could avoid paying cgt on her half of the profits of the villa.
We found a small builder who had permission to build 3 houses on an off-road plot here in the dales, who would build us the house to order and to our specifications as long as the exterior was the same as on the planning permission. Then came covid!
The delays to supplies, construction, and paperwork caused by brexit, covid and the stamp duty holiday compounded to put back completion from october 20 to march 21 and we still moved into the house for two months before it was legally hours. In the meantime the owners of the house we rented wanted it back so we had to move out and lived at my mother in law’s on st helens’ biggest council estate.
That's water under the bridge now, we’re in the house built for us, ditto our neighbours who like us are retired, quiet, respectful and respectable and everybody’s quite content.
So, now we have the same as in ibiza – a house we like in a small friendly village and beautiful views across miles of fields, hills and copses. However we have so much more as we are now able to jump in the car anytime we like with the dales, the lakes and the trough of bowland on the doorstep and we visit country houses, gardens, stately homes, castles and the like.
I can’t tell you the joy when we went for a holiday in suffolk last month and we didn’t have to get up at daft o’clock to go to the airport! The best bit about the uk – particularly when you don’t work – is the amount of entertainment available. We actually now have a diary to keep track of where we’re going and what we’re doing. Theatre, shows, concerts, cinema, events (and all usually cheaper for pensioners) from our little village hall to the surrounding towns and the big cities.
We're on the settle carlisle railway line so in addition to me watching steam trains take on water here, we can get to leeds for shopping, shows (carmen last week) and eating out. Life is now interesting and satisfying for us both.
Do I miss work? No, we were hands on villa owners and were just getting a bit fed up of the hard work toiling in the heat during the season and preparing the villa for rental in the off season whilst we moved out and into the house’s apartment. In addition the house never feels like it’s your own as the way it’s furnished and styled is always a compromise between your own taste and those who you want to rent it.
So there we have it. We don’t miss ibiza at all but with the caveat that we’d like the food and bars to be as good here. Having said that, because our days and evenings are full of so many things we like doing, the urge to go out to eat and drink has lessened significantly. We like sitting in our lovely house and looking out over the fields whilst we eat....
Btw my wife still posts on our fox cottage instagram page with a girlie view of construction and interior design.
El ste
we’d been wanting to leave ibiza for years but were held back by finances. Our main income came from renting our villa so we needed the money from that, and to sell it meant paying 23% capital gains tax. So we were trapped in paradise for all that time whilst we saved and saved and saved for our retirement and until I turned 65 which meant I was exempt on paying cgt!
We sold the villa in january 2020, a month after my 65th and headed back to the uk with our 2 remaining cats. We rented a house near our parents in st helens whilst we looked for somewhere to buy – we still needed to spend half a million on the house so my wife could avoid paying cgt on her half of the profits of the villa.
We found a small builder who had permission to build 3 houses on an off-road plot here in the dales, who would build us the house to order and to our specifications as long as the exterior was the same as on the planning permission. Then came covid!
The delays to supplies, construction, and paperwork caused by brexit, covid and the stamp duty holiday compounded to put back completion from october 20 to march 21 and we still moved into the house for two months before it was legally hours. In the meantime the owners of the house we rented wanted it back so we had to move out and lived at my mother in law’s on st helens’ biggest council estate.
That's water under the bridge now, we’re in the house built for us, ditto our neighbours who like us are retired, quiet, respectful and respectable and everybody’s quite content.
So, now we have the same as in ibiza – a house we like in a small friendly village and beautiful views across miles of fields, hills and copses. However we have so much more as we are now able to jump in the car anytime we like with the dales, the lakes and the trough of bowland on the doorstep and we visit country houses, gardens, stately homes, castles and the like.
I can’t tell you the joy when we went for a holiday in suffolk last month and we didn’t have to get up at daft o’clock to go to the airport! The best bit about the uk – particularly when you don’t work – is the amount of entertainment available. We actually now have a diary to keep track of where we’re going and what we’re doing. Theatre, shows, concerts, cinema, events (and all usually cheaper for pensioners) from our little village hall to the surrounding towns and the big cities.
We're on the settle carlisle railway line so in addition to me watching steam trains take on water here, we can get to leeds for shopping, shows (carmen last week) and eating out. Life is now interesting and satisfying for us both.
Do I miss work? No, we were hands on villa owners and were just getting a bit fed up of the hard work toiling in the heat during the season and preparing the villa for rental in the off season whilst we moved out and into the house’s apartment. In addition the house never feels like it’s your own as the way it’s furnished and styled is always a compromise between your own taste and those who you want to rent it.
So there we have it. We don’t miss ibiza at all but with the caveat that we’d like the food and bars to be as good here. Having said that, because our days and evenings are full of so many things we like doing, the urge to go out to eat and drink has lessened significantly. We like sitting in our lovely house and looking out over the fields whilst we eat....
Btw my wife still posts on our fox cottage instagram page with a girlie view of construction and interior design.
El ste
Good to hear : Everything is fine. Some day , you will visit Ibz for a couple of days , to see what happens and to visit some people ?
The Sun God
Well-Known Member
I miss the pubs and parks and music options but that's about it. You can get the rest on the internet. Part of me will always be London but it feels a lifetime ago. If I was to move back, my missus wouldn't come, I wouldn't be able to afford anything, many pals have moved away to the coast, the 'scene' as I lived it no longer really exists. I do miss Shreddies, pies and sausages though. Am not a botifarra fan and empanadas are just glorified pasties! My only food complaints though.
Buckley
Well-Known Member
I have it on good authority that the Rat and Parrot in the West End have El Ste's favourite Only Fools and Horses episode ready for his triumphant return
tclubber
Active Member
Thanks for the update, glad you are enjoying your new life.
I personally never considered moving to Ibiza because I know very well I would be bored to death after a few months, despite all the beaches, parties, restaurants and hiking trails and despite having enjoyed every single day on the island so far. My biggest fear on Ibiza is to get used to being on the island one day - because it would mean boredom getting dangerously close. So although your language about being bored to death on Ibiza may appear shocking to some, I can very well relate to it.
I just hope your case was an exception and most Ibiza residents are there out of their own free will and not because they are prisoners of the taxman
Snowy
Active Member
For a few years I lived in a mountain village which also has the highest rated ski resort and most awesome partying anywhere in Norway. It's basically the Ibiza of the Norwegian mountains.
I understand what Stephen is saying. There's a time and place for everything and for everyone. Living in Ibiza, or in a mountain village in Norway, isn't for everyone. For some (or most?) people the magic is best preserved if rationed out by only going there on holiday.
I understand what Stephen is saying. There's a time and place for everything and for everyone. Living in Ibiza, or in a mountain village in Norway, isn't for everyone. For some (or most?) people the magic is best preserved if rationed out by only going there on holiday.
The Sun God
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the update, glad you are enjoying your new life.
I personally never considered moving to Ibiza because I know very well I would be bored to death after a few months, despite all the beaches, parties, restaurants and hiking trails and despite having enjoyed every single day on the island so far. My biggest fear on Ibiza is to get used to being on the island one day - because it would mean boredom getting dangerously close. So although your language about being bored to death on Ibiza may appear shocking to some, I can very well relate to it.
I just hope your case was an exception and most Ibiza residents are there out of their own free will and not because they are prisoners of the taxman
I think you would get bored if you wanted to treat it like a holiday all the time. If you wanted to be creative though, it's a different story. If I had the cash, I would move there immediately, make music, paint, write, live the dream
G.W.
Active Member
I totally agree!
Yeah
But you can tell anything after the first winter. People told me the winters are sometimes a little quiet. Depends what you have to do there. If you work every day its normal and you have the advantages of the nice months.
Ask Stivi
