It Never Gets Cold in Spain Iain Duncan Smith

a bit o snow and people think its cold

Yes it is cold and thoroughly unpleasant but come on folks, how long is it going to last...a week at most.. then hopefully back to spring like temperature..nothing to complain about from where I'm standing

frenchie wrote:Yes it is cold and thoroughly unpleasant but come on folks, how long is it going to last...a week at most.. then hopefully back to spring like temperature..nothing to complain about from where I'm standing

It was probably colder than Spain here in UK today. But come on folks, how long is it going to last .. 12 to 14 weeks or more and then back to Spring like temperatures if we are lucky..more to complain about from where I'm standing!

Some parts of Spain can be absolutely freezing in winter, particularly Northern Spain, which has a climate not unlike the UK, and you can understand retired expats who live in these parts feeling aggrieved that their WFA has been withdrawn. But here on the Costa Blanca there is no real need for it.

I agree, Terry. Some parts of Spain have much worse winters than many parts of the UK.
I find a nice brandy warms the old cockles though, how about you?

Mickey Braw wrote:

Jan wrote:I can't debate either way about the fuel payment as I don't live full time in Spain but what I will say is, in the UK we can have our heating on from end of Sept to end of April in some years which is very costly.(Depending on how cold it is, it can be 6 to 7 months)
In Spain most of our friends living there say they have two or three months where they need heating on constantly inside the house, mostly evenings and early mornings, as they say it is warmer outside most days in winter in the middle hours of the day. It is still expensive to heat a home in Spain but it's usually only around 3 months that constant heating may be needed. Dec to end of Feb. Although March evenings can be cool in the house too and then a bit of heating may be needed depending how hardy you are LOL (That's the earliest we've ever been during the year)

Jan

Jan, that more or less says it all. We were in the UK in June last year and had to use the heating in the apartment we rented, the weather was dreadful for a couple of weeks.
For quite a few months of the year here in Spain, we barely need to use hot water.
There is no justification for paying the WFA to Brits living on the Costa Blanca.

Maisiesdad, perhaps one day you will add something to a debate on this forum. I won´t hold my breath.

Just a misguided effort at humour on my part. Definitely should have known better given your forum nuggets. Never mind upward and onward.

It is not as warm in Spain as some people think its cold for us in winter we need heating on We chose to live here yes but we did get it here once He should come out and see how cold it is for himself before he assumes its hot all year IDS is an idiot anyway and a coward glad hes gone

Warmth is a relative thing some people feel the cold much more than others,me included now for my working life i paid into uk system i still pay into uk system i live in Spain my choice (think i earned the right)i use air con 6-8 weeks heating 12-14 weeks why should i not have the right to my measley allowance i,have earned that right ( by the way i did,nt actually claim it )please don,t get me started on the idiots in power paying foreigners heating bills because it happens it cropped up many times during my working life in the last 15 years

I've never heard so much cr*p from a load of griping moaners for a long time. I wonder how many of you making these ridiculous comments are retired Civil Servants/Council employees with undeserved and ridiculous large pensions supplementing the state pension, or possibly not retired at all with good salaried occupations living here part time in their 2nd home.
As far as I remember the WFA is/was paid to pensioners 65 years or over, AND was paid as a supplement to their pensions due mainly to the state pension being the LOWEST in the whole of the EU. Lets not forget that many of the persons it was aimed at served in the HM forces at a miserable rate of remuneration and paid into the tax system for most of their working lives AND quite probably Not drawing on the social security system during that period.
The WFA was granted rightly to PENSIONERS in France and Spain and WRONGLY withdrawn by another useless bigot who has done nothing to justify his salary and excessive expenses as an MP
I hope it makes your day when you realise the stupid, useless comments made justifying the removal of the WFA puts you on the side of Mr IDA

There are significant differences between Spain and the UK that also need to be taken into account when comparing heating costs.

* UK property is much better insulated than the average Spanish property. Modern homes have up to 12 inches of loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, floor insulation, double/triple glazing etc etc.

* UK homes have state of the art, very efficient gas central heating systems.

* Unit gas/electric costs in the UK can be less than they are in Spain.

* Every pensioner in the UK gets WFA of either £200 or £300 a year.

* If like me you also have a wood burning stove with a free or low cost supply of timber to burn.....heating costs virtually nothing.

* Many modern houses in the UK cost virtually nothing to heat because of insulation.

Yes it may be colder but it doesn't have to cost more.