The relative cost of living

The first consideration in any analysis of lifestyle has to be how much money is in your pocket. In the UK the Government, national and local, just seems to be taking more and more money out of the pockets of its citizens.

Just to live in the house in which we lived in SW London we would now be paying around £2,500 a year in Council Tax. In addition we would be paying heavily for water, not to mention gas and electricity bills to heat the house during the winter months. Contrast this with the Spanish equivalent of council tax on our apartment of around £190 per year and an urbanization charge of £1,200 per year but this charge includes maintenance of the communal gardens, the swimming pool and all our domestic water together with maintenance and insurance of common areas.

The overall tax burden on the average UK citizen just seems to rise all the time. Yes, there are taxes in Spain but they do appear to be much lower and more of your own money actually stays in your pocket. You do have to pay more yourself for the services that you decide you need or can afford.

Services in the UK are rising in price all the time. In our new life we pay considerably less for electricity, telephone and heating than we did in the UK.

Transport

UK public transport appears to be deteriorating all the time. The London Underground is plagued with problems. Mainline and commuter trains do not run on time and the long suffering public are being asked to pay more and more for a deteriorating service. Spanish railways are modern, efficient and tickets are inexpensive. In addition, new services are being planned all the time. The highspeed rail link between Madrid and Malaga is being constructed now. There are plans to extend the current rail system all the way from Fuengirola to Estepona to ease the amount of traffic along the coast road. When it is built it will be efficient and the fares will be cheap so people will use it. The bus system is efficient and offers modern, air-conditioned coaches, which run to a timetable that can be trusted. In most areas there is an efficient school bus system, which collects children from designated pick-up points along the route thus resulting in the school run being virtually non-existent. Mothers only need to take their children to the nearest bus stop.

Driving

Whenever new roads are planned in the UK, there has to be a public enquiry and many local people will oppose the building of them. Opposition to any new building seems to be a British disease. The UK is plagued with NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard). On the Costa del Sol the authorities simply build the necessary roads when they are needed and where they are needed. The decisions are based on the needs of the community and not on the wishes of a few individuals. In one of our nearest towns a new road was built which divided the town and made it difficult for local people to get from one side of the town to the other. Almost immediately the road builders moved in again and put the new road into a tunnel. The building work only took six months and hardly inconvenienced the inhabitants at all. The result now is that through traffic goes into the tunnel and the town centre is quiet again.

When I now watch television coverage of the congestion on the motorways around major British cities, I wonder how I ever coped with it. The answer is, I knew nothing else. Traffic jams do occur here but never on the scale familiar to people back in the UK.

Car parking

In many British towns and cities, car parking is a nightmare and charges are very high. If you park in the wrong place you end up being clamped or towed away with an even higher charge to pay to retrieve your car. Yes, there are parking meters here. There are parking restrictions. However, once again, if the authorities believe there is a need for a new car park, they build it. We have never had problems parking in Spain and when we do use the car parks they are very cheap. The Spanish have realised that the car is here to stay so provision has to be made for it. There is also the pleasant fact that during siesta time – 2 till 5 in the afternoon – car parks are often free.

Keeping cars out of the city

The UK seems to be moving more and more towards various forms of congestion charging which to me seems to be totally anti-car in its aims and yet another way to take money out of the pocket of the motorist. In Spain the decision will be taken to build a bypass, even around very small towns, to take the cars away from the population and improve life for everyone.

Perhaps the reason why many services here are so much cheaper is that the companies providing the services are not being clobbered with more and more charges which, at the end of the day, have to be passed on to the customer in the form of higher costs.

Healthcare

Healthcare is another topic dealt with at greater length later in the book, but whenever we see TV or read newspaper articles about the state of the NHS in the UK we are appalled – and so pleased that we now live here. As everyone gets older, healthcare becomes more of an issue but I have to admit that I would hate to be really ill in the UK in the 21st century. Whatever money the Government throws at the NHS, it appears to make no difference. A total rethink is probably necessary but politically that would be very difficult to organise. The concept that the NHS should be free at the point of use just does not make sense – nothing is free. Someone, somewhere, somehow has to pay for it.

In Spain there are virtually no waiting lists for hospital admissions. Hospitals themselves are very modern and very well equipped. Hospital food is wonderful. Yes, in the public sector there are queues in the GP surgery just as there are in the UK but in the private GP sector there are no queues and your consultation can take as long as an hour. If you do not have health insurance this could cost you €40 – £28 at current exchange rates – but at least you know you are being treated as an individual and you are being listened to. In the UK if you phone up for an appointment with your GP you may be offered one a week later (perhaps even longer). In Spain you will often be offered an appointment later the same day. Compared to the situation in the UK this leads to a very positive attitude towards quality of life in the 21st century since we all need to see a doctor sometime.

The family

One major difference between lifestyle and quality of life here compared to that in the UK is the Spanish attitude towards family and family ties. The family as an entity has virtually disappeared in many urban areas in the old country. Spanish families still look after the family, whatever their ages. Children act the way British children did years ago and ultimately all the family look after their older relatives.

The Spanish state does not generally provide a lifeline for individuals who are not prepared to look after themselves. Yes, if people who cannot look after themselves find themselves in a retirement situation without any pension there is the possibility of a Pensione non contributaria but this is not the normal situation.

Social security

Like most modern democracies, Spain has a very good social security system but you receive nothing unless you have contributed. Unemployment benefit is only paid to people who have worked in the past – one year in six – and have found themselves unemployed. You have to work in Spain for 15 years before you can even start to contribute to a state pension scheme.

In terms of overall quality of life this is an important consideration since anyone who chooses to live here does need to be relatively self-sufficient. The state does not provide and, therefore, you will have to provide for yourself. But since the state is not paying out huge amounts looking after others, looking after yourself costs much less. Even if your total income is only your UK state pension, you should be able to live here comfortably if you can afford to buy a property. You will certainly live much better, with a better quality of life than that you would enjoy in the UK on a state pension.