The Spanish lifestyle attracts us as much as the mild climate. We often fancied living there, but.
We could not afford to spend a life sitting in bars and the recession there makes the UK look like it enjoyed a boom for the last 7 years. The summer heat is too much, air conditioning and shade essential - when we should be outdoors. We love the Spanish, but they don't always love us English as we swarm across the Bay of Biscay to invade Spain every year. And they respond to problems very directly - earlier this year we read a story of a politician in Malaga who upset her secretary who then shot her dead. Yes, the Spanish are lovely, but less so the Russians, the Costa Crime syndicates, the British holidaymakers, the Chinese beach masseurs, the endemic corruption of public officials, and local police on commission for the number of vehicle misdemeanours they can enforce.
But we keep coming back. The thought of dying like Cilla Black (RIP Chuck) collapsing on a sun terrace of your villa after a bit of sun and San Miguel appeals so much more than crippled and cowering in a cold room in England.