My heart goes out to these poor things

[Boiling a frog]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5375708.ece

 

They cannot even afford to go out to the restaurant twice a week now [8-)]

[Renaud]

Well it would be nice for them to know that their plight is affording you with such pleasure.

[Bannon]

A definite hint of scadenfreude I reckon Renaud.

[Russethouse]

Trevor Yorke founded Living France, didn't he ?

[Boiling a frog]

Some more sad tales

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/21/france-currencies-expats

 

Poor chap has lost 20000€ off  his salary because of the exchange rate [:(]

[Renaud]

Boiling a frog

What exactly are your circumstances that you can remain so smug?

[Boiling a frog]

[quote user="Renaud"]Boiling a frog What exactly are your circumstances that you can remain so smug?[/quote]

 

Well

Even before the decent of the pound I could not afford going out to restaurants twice a week, and I wish I could have a salary which ,when affected by the exchange rate, loses me 20000€ a year. 

I am therefore amazed that these people have the audacity to go bleating about how poor they are to the English press.

Is that me being smug? 

 

[woolybanana]

No, it is a blood y awful piece of journalism in which two writers came across on a weekend jaunt and did their Xmas shopping, then paid for it by interviewing a couple of local Brits, nice middle class sorts of families. Had they bothered to do some research they would have discovered people who are suffering real hardship such as not being able to heat their homes or go out socially, ever, and who cannot return to UK and who are going to have a miserable Xmas and next few months at least.

[Cendrillon]

"Well

Even before the decent of the pound I could not afford going out to

restaurants twice a week, and I wish I could have a salary which ,when

affected by the exchange rate, loses me 20000€ a year. 

I am therefore amazed that these people have the audacity to go bleating about how poor they are to the English press.

Is that me being smug? "

[I]

 BaF if you were to sell your story to the press then maybe you too could make a euro or two that way.

 

[mint]

IMO, it's not nice to kick someone when they're down.

So, I know of "city-types" whose income is down 70 per cent and at least 10 families who've had to withdraw their children from one small fee-paying school in Surrey.

I'm not in either of those categories, thank goodness.  Pain is pain, even if only relative and I think it's unkind to mock people who are suffering.

And, as my OH has pointed out to me:  Just watch the news from Zimbabwe!

One person's pain is another's comfort zone perhaps but, in one way or another, we're all suffering.  Is a bit of compassion in order?

[Cendrillon]

Quite right Sweet 17

It is all relative and as you say there are many, many people who are really suffering for one reason or another with little hope for improvement.

[Boiling a frog]

I have compassion for those who are really suffering , but not for those who are whinging about not being able to afford meals out , apperos or  even heaven above having to take their children out of private school.

Sorry Sweet 17 I cannot see how you can equate that with people dying in Zimbabwi or others here who have seen their meagre pension slashed.  

[woolybanana]

Sweet 16 is right of course; there is always someone worse off than you.

[mint]

BAF, all I'm trying to say is that "bad" has different meanings for different people.

What is that Shakespearian quote (why can't I ever remember when it's necessary?) where Shylock asks whether he does not bleed or feel pain as others do?  Shakespeare fans, please come to my rescue!

And no, of course, I can't equate people dying in Zimbabwe with our own relatively minor problems that are not life-threatening.

Nonetheless, many people will feel the pain and think their problems insurmountable.  Can't you see, BAF, that's my point?

People suffer to different degrees in the absolute but in a relative sense they can all feel as though their lifeblood is being drained away.

Overdramatic, maybe, but I don't want to be the arbiter of what is "real" pain and what is "imagined" pain.  For the sufferer, it's all real enough. 

[Turnip]

The good news is that more second homes will come onto the market as the recession bites which will result in greater bargains for the survivors or those about to move to FRance.

Thus some one's bad news is anothers opportunity[;-)]

[Dick Smith]

I've never thought that schadenfreude was a particularly attractive quality.

[Patmobile]

It's an attractive word, though.

I like "zeitgeist", too

Patrick

 

[Dick Smith]

I prefer 'weltenschauung'.

[Will]

Going back to 'schadenfreude', is it really true that German and Japanese are the only languages that have a word for taking pleasure from others' misfortunes?

 

[Cat]

Arabic, "shamateh"  شماتة  , seems to be the only other word that matches exactly.

[woolybanana]

The word "burpyuk" would be appropriate in Klingon.

[nectarine]

I have friends in Spain, who retired there seven years ago, and went primarily because the husband's arthritis was eased by being in warmer weather. They had a modest lifestyle then, living on their pensions, and got by fine. Now, however, they are really on the breadline, just about able to pay their local taxes, using the car just once a week to go to the shops (not within walking distance) and there is no room at all for more economies, none at all. They may be forced to come back to the UK but, at the moment can't even afford the flights, plus there's no-one out there to buy their house in Spain. And if they came back to the UK ... what's the outcome? Might they be eligible for council house accommodation (two pensioners but with Spanish (unsold) assets?

The future for them is frightening and they are worried silly, the wife is almost ill with worry and trying to make ends meet.

While many of us have little sympathy for those who are reported to take a 20,000euro pay 'cut' let's remember at the other end of the scale those who left Britain to find a cheaper lifestyle abroad and who are utterly on the breadline.

I wish the press would report on these real suffering Brits rather than gloating about those whom they consider to be on an extended five-star holiday!

[Frederick]

I believe many Brits living in Spain are also having a tough time and one guy with a bar who fell on hard times handed the keys over and fled back to the uk .I cant imagine what it must feel like to turn up on your kids doorstep and ask to be taken in as your planned retirement in the sun has ended up a disaster and you are homeless ...

[Chancer]

Either the person interviewed or the interviewer was at the kindest "economical with the truth" at worst lying.

Their electricity has gone up 45% in the last year? - EDF have raised their prices by only 5% over the last 5 years.

I should qualify "their French prices" as I get royally rogered by them in the UK [:)]

Even if they were talking of the real cost of electricity after the falling pound it would be 28% this year.

I used to enjoy eating out at €11 for a 4 course meal with wine, at the time it seemed a bargain and was costing me the equivalent of £7.43 the same bistros now charge €13 and with the pound near parity it is a s near as damn it £13 so I now only eat out rarely, as indeed I used to in the UK, it is a special treat as it was then, not a god given right and I certainly dont feel hard done by.

[Clair]

[quote user="Frederick"]I believe many Brits living in Spain are also having a tough time and one guy with a bar who fell on hard times handed the keys over and fled back to the uk .I cant imagine what it must feel like to turn up on your kids doorstep and ask to be taken in as your planned retirement in the sun has ended up a disaster and you are homeless ...[/quote]

There's a Sky News report on today about this:

Expats Face 'Costa Del Crunch' (video)

Ex-Pats Feel The Financial Heat

and from the Guardian/Observer:

Expats in Spain look to charity for basics

Retirement dream takes a pounding