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18 Feb 2008 12:00 AM by sands Star rating in Aberdeen X-San Pedro. 11 posts Send private message

Hello peeps

I have been reading this since about last September and today I have been reading some of the threads about ants in your pants etc below and would like to say hello.  I have not been quite brave enough so far although everyone seems really freindly and helpful. Me and mine arrived early in December having done the usual sold everything and now replacing everything!  We have done the internet cafe bit and rented a villa for two months (I'm not doing 'rustic' again)and are now renting long term in San Pedro, Marbella.  Like it seems with everyone else we have had some complete nightmares!  But are still here!  Starting Spanish lessons this week - this would have helped to have done beforehand but hindsight is wonderful of course.  I have to say that we have no children to worry about though so can't even contemplate the added stress!!

Most wanted a the moment is advice on meeting others - are there any expat socialising events in this area - it would be great to meet some others who are starting on the adventure and share experiences?  Or is there anyone reading this in the area who are like minded  and new to the area?  I have seen lots of clubs in the very brit areas but not much around here?

Also right at this minute I am wondering why none of the phones i have seen on sale have answerphone facilities - we have not worked this one out yet?  We are set up with telefonica and just bought a cheapie to start with.  I have looked at a few phone threads but not picked up anything yet and its driving me mad....I wait with baited breath any advice on this latest mystery.

Anyway ttfn

 



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SandS



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18 Feb 2008 4:20 PM by semijubilada Star rating in London/Torrevieja. 1052 posts Send private message

I can't help you with your first question as I don't live in the same area,

As to phones, the DOMO phones, I think that's the right spelling, which Telefonica install do have an answer phone facility.  I think it's similar to BT phones here in that you dial a number? 

When I had my line re-connected I was advised to buy my own phone and not rent one from Telefonica.  I too bought a cheap one from Carrefour and later bought a cordless from Lidl.  This did have an answer phone facility but I couldn't get an extra handset to go upstairs.  Later I bought one in Eroski which had two handsets but no answer phone.

Decided to take one out from UK, works fine, I just replaced the UK telephone lead with a spanish one.  Had to use an adapter as electric leads were different.

Incidently one trip I found the phone wasn't working and it took a couple of days to get an engineer out, they wanted to make sure that I understood that if the problem was with my equipment and not their line then I would be liable for a charge. 

Three calls from three separate engineers and one finally arrived to find that the fault was in Madrid 





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18 Feb 2008 4:35 PM by EOS Team Star rating in In Spain of course!. 4015 posts Send private message

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With regards to meeting friends, you say that you are starting Spanish lessons soon. People usually make friends with other expats on the same spanish courses.If you live on an urbanisation, you might want to start by getting to know your neighbours. On the urbanisation where we live the expats neighbours all tend to be quite friendly and socialise together.

Susan

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19 Feb 2008 9:05 AM by sands Star rating in Aberdeen X-San Pedro. 11 posts Send private message

Hi guys

Thanks for the info.  yes we are on an urb. but it appears mostly empty.  We have met a Spanish neighbout from below - lives in Madrid who promptly  objected to us putting up a satellite dish and has not been here since! But am off to Spanish today so that will be cool.  We'll give it a go with a UK phone so thanks for that.   Gotta dash now.

Sue



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19 Feb 2008 10:43 AM by morerosado Star rating. 6927 posts Send private message

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Hi Sue

 

Susan, looks as if you've taken over from Justin as you've retained the posts but we've lost Justin's link to his blog  as now your siggie is the logo.



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21 Feb 2008 7:16 PM by Smiley Star rating in San Pedro de Alcanta.... 2502 posts Send private message

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Hi Sue live in San Ped ourselves (and work too) - regarding ansafones - really difficult to get them here although Telephone Tinas in Fuengirola do occasionally stock a Siemens model that can be hooked up with about 4 slaves .  As Semi says Telefonica do run their own voicemail like BT in the UK . As he also says to use UK phones here you need to get different plug put on the cable but i have found that not all appliances work here in personal experience so you need to be sure what you are getting - presumably some of them are set up differently in the workings to others

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22 Feb 2008 7:04 AM by jane b Star rating in Bedar, Almeria. 222 posts Send private message

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The Domo phones which you rent from Telefonica do indeed have the message facility - there is a button you press to retrieve them.  The cost about €4/month, which is a lot over a long period if all you need is the answerphone and it is almost impossible to return them - you have to take them to their offices in Almeria.  We ended up buying a BT answerphone in UK (one with no phone) which I think cost less than a year's rental and a Spanish phone with a slave for upstairs.   I think I got the answerphone from Amazon but not sure - it was a bit of a struggle finding an 'independent' answerphone - I suppose because most people use BT's system.  The bad news is that we have had 3 of these Spanish phones of various kinds in 6 years as they all seem to die - one admittedly because it had a serious accident....   The latest one is a Thomson and seems to be ok so far and we have had it 3 years - hope I haven't jinxed it by saying that.

Happy shopping

Jane



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22 Feb 2008 8:28 AM by semijubilada Star rating in London/Torrevieja. 1052 posts Send private message

I've never heard of the extra handset being called a slave, is it a Spanish term.  Perhaps that's why my search for a extra handset for the Lidl's phone didn't work.

Oops message sent before I'd finished posting the most important thing.

Smiley, I's female not male.  Thought I'd given a clue by the a at the end of my description of myself.  I'm thought it meant that I've retired early from work but if I've lost my gender then I've failed miserably

Must restart my Spanish lessons again, wonder what else I'm saying wrong



This message was last edited by semijubilada on 2/22/2008.



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22 Feb 2008 10:01 AM by Smiley Star rating in San Pedro de Alcanta.... 2502 posts Send private message

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Apollyloggies Semi - I was using the generic for mankind as opposed to taking your gender in vain. I thought members of the fair sex never retired (semi or otherwise) - to much Washing, Ironing, Vacuuming Etc

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22 Feb 2008 10:05 AM by Smiley Star rating in San Pedro de Alcanta.... 2502 posts Send private message

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Oh and I think the term slave refers to males - no seriously it is a term that is used by Telecoms firms for a cordless phone (at least that was how they were referred to in a BT shop in the UK) and then you can programme a number of other handsets to the main base unit and have them dotted around the house without need for a telephone socket (otherwise known as additional handsets in Spain)

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Smiley - patrick@marbellamortgages.com  www.marbellamortgages.com   www.comparetravelcash.co.uk




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22 Feb 2008 7:00 PM by sands Star rating in Aberdeen X-San Pedro. 11 posts Send private message

thanks all

I'll have to consult with my male slave as this is getting too techie for me but he's good with connections and stuff - we used to do a lot of tinkering with appliances when we were in germany but you forget what a hassle it is.   

Semi  - what phone did you get from the UK and where did you get the lead?  We could start from there and see if it works for us..  adaptor???   is this a Spanish/english phone connection adaptor.  I guess that was probably a dim question?  I'm in such a hurry to get my life here started.  I have millions of questions but will search the threads but as an example why do the cookers have ony one tray and no grill tray and why is all the meat sold in thin slices to name but a few!  i need some cookery lessons!! (partly being busy in UK got used to 'ding' meals- I've forgotten what I used to cook- how awful)

Smiley - Is there a cookery group in SP? Any womens groups who get together to dicuss such technicalities? Are there any expat interest groups here?  I'm seriously thinking about starting a jam and jerusalem group!! I love the area...



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22 Feb 2008 7:30 PM by Smiley Star rating in San Pedro de Alcanta.... 2502 posts Send private message

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Sorry cant help with the cookery group but you can get Jamie Oliver at the English Bookshop in San Ped or Guadalmina

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Smiley - patrick@marbellamortgages.com  www.marbellamortgages.com   www.comparetravelcash.co.uk




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22 Feb 2008 7:47 PM by Smiley Star rating in San Pedro de Alcanta.... 2502 posts Send private message

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If you want bigger meat then try one of the many independent (British) butchers or try the butcher counter at Supersol - lamb can be a bit unpredictable - sometimes tough and bone splinters in chops etc - or if really desperate take the trek to Morrisons in Gib but to be honest meat that you can get here is fine - personally (depends what it is of course) the pre packed meat at Mercadona seems pretty good but as i say there is always the butcher  counter at Supersol or Hipercor in Corte Ingles in Banus.

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22 Feb 2008 10:23 PM by semijubilada Star rating in London/Torrevieja. 1052 posts Send private message

Sands - I got the phone from Aldi's, I can't remember the make I'm sure it's the brand that they normally sell in there called Medion?

I'd previously bought a Binatone twin set from Eroski and arrived at house about a year later to find phone line dead.  Eventually fixed by Telefonica but the fault had killed the base station.

We'd just changed over our house phone in UK from Binatone so we had a spare base which my husband brought over with him. 

On the base stations there are two leads, one's a power lead which has a female/male connector point at the other end, the other's the lead which connects into the telefonica point.  This lead has a telephone connector at each end, I'm sure the cheap phone I originally bought both connectors were identical.    The Binatone from Eroski was a universal make so the telephone lead had an English connection at one end and a Spanish connection at the other.  English BT points are fractionally bigger.

I knew then that I could buy an answer phone here as long as it had the same lead system.  Unfortunately when I set it up in Spain I was unable to use the Binatone power lead in the new phone as the connection was different hence the need for the English to Spanish connector.

So unless the phone you buy in Spain is a universal then you're still going to have a problem.  I'm sure I read that someone was able to get an adaptor from Telefonica for his laptop, perhaps they sell the connection leads.

Ovens  Cooking in ovens is an English thing, a builder told someone on another forum that his wife had never used hers since it was installed and did all her cooking on the hob.  I only had one shelf in mine plus two shallow trays which fitted into the side runners.  I bought a couple of adjustable shelves from Kleeneezy and took them over on the last trip.

I think also a lot of people use those tiny oven/grills, the ones that are smaller than a microwave.

As to the cuts of meat in Mercadonna perhaps it's done that way for quickness, doesn't take that long to cook?  How much meat do Spanish people eat?

Whenever we are over we eat mainly fish as we love to try the different varieties and chicken.  Did get a book from the English bookshop explaining the types of meat and fish available.  Handy when you want a particular cut of meat from the butcher.

 





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22 Feb 2008 10:38 PM by jane b Star rating in Bedar, Almeria. 222 posts Send private message

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We find that the meat from the local butchers is generally cheaper and of superior quality to Mercadona.  In particular Mercadona's beef is never well enough hung - particularly the steak - and as already said the steaks are very thin.  If you can find a butcher who does Argentinian cuts you will usually get very good steak.  Also if you want decent mince without too much fat, be it beef or pork, you can choose the meat and then have them mince it for you - they will mix the two if you want, as the Spanish often do.  Our local Intermarché also has a very good butcher - not part of the shop but operating within it.  Don't know if that is a regular Intermarché thing.   One thing Mercadona are scoring on now however is corn-fed chicken at a reasonable price.  They call them Rustico and I am not sure if they are actually free range but they certainly taste quite different.




This message was last edited by jane b on 2/22/2008.

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