Can you help near Bordeaux?

A request for help from one of our members:

"Are there two fit men near Bordeaux able to help us with a once-only problem? Our 21-year-old son was knocked down in a hit-and-run incident 6 weeks ago and has been in the Pellegrin Hospital since. His bones are mending and he is out of a coma, but weakened and unable to walk. We need to get him home and expect the doctors to sign him off as fit to fly on or soon after 6 November. We just need to get him to Bordeaux Airport, where ground attendants will take over. So it is just a question of lifting him, all 6 ft-plus of him, from a wheelchair at the hospital, into a car or people carrier, and driving him with my wife, who has been with him all this time, to the airport. We'll gladly refund fuel costs. We'd use a private ambulance but the lad had inadvertently let his travel insurance expire. Please ring me, James Darley, on 020 7939 7979 (office), 01494 484414 (home) or my wife Crissy on 07906 218783."

Interview with Simon Hilton, foreign exchange consultant

Simon Hilton is a senior foreign exchange consultant at World First specialising in assisting private clients and companies with their foreign exchange transactions. Simon is authorised by the FSA to offer foreign currency options.

To contact Simon directly for currency transfer information or a no-obligation quote please click here.

Expat Focus: Simon, can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to work for World First?

I have a BA hons degree from the University of Reading in History and Politics and joined the company in 2006. I have since undertaken regulatory exams and obtained FSA approval to advise our clients on hedging their foreign exchange risk.

Expat Focus: What services does World First offer and what is your own role?

World First offers a foreign exchange service for currency transfers as well as a range of foreign exchange products. Clients can purchase currency at ‘spot’ (for an immediate transfer) as well as being able to fix the exchange rate for up to 2 years in advance with a forward contract.

Our regular payment plans can be quite useful for those with commitments back home such as mortgage payments or if you receive a monthly pension which you would like to convert and receive in the country where you are an expat. You may also like to send part of your salary back to the UK on a regular basis.

World First has recently launched a new range of Currency Options. These products are suitable for transfers over £100,000 and allow you to fix your rate in advance but benefit if the rate subsequently improves.

I am responsible for assisting individuals with their currency transfers. I will take clients through the process from start (first contact) to finish (receiving the brought currency) and I will explain the different products and services we offer. I am also in charge of managing currency options and offering them to our private clients. As these are specialised products we have had to undertake regulatory exams and are authorised by the Financial Services Authority in the UK...

Read more at http://www.expatfocus.com/simon-hilton-271009

Expat Experiences: Netherlands - Anna Gilhespy

My name is Anna Gilhespy, I am 29 and I run my own business (www.thehouseofmouse.co.uk) making handmade ornaments which I sell mostly online.

Where, when and why did you move abroad?

I moved to Hoofddorp (just outside Amsterdam) with my husband in 2003 when he was offered a good job over here. There was little work where we were living in the UK and opportunity was too good for us to pass up.

What challenges did you face during the move?

Our move to Holland was extremely smooth, mostly thanks to my husbands company arranging a relocation agent for us. She helped us find a house to rent and took us through all the paperwork we needed to fill out. The hardest part for me was that I still had one year left to complete before receiving my Fine Art Degree; it was a struggle to find a university that would accept me at such short notice. Fortunately I managed to get my UK university headmaster to pull some strings with a Dutch university that they had links to and secured a place. I did not enjoy the transition between universities; the differences in education approach were more extreme than I had anticipated. They were also not explained to me well, which led to several stressful misunderstandings. My husband slid into Dutch culture with much more ease than I did...

Read more at http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-netherlands-holland-experiences-anna-gilhespy

Thai Haiku

THAI HAIKU

by Sean Lawlor Nelson

The sun was flaming
but I was young and hopeful:
was best and worst times

the butterflies
colored the campus neon:
soon lime-green was grey

The giant geckos
were noisy problems for Thais;
I looked up in awe

A stout old woman
cooked for me, was courteous:
I can see her face

I bloodily fixed
my toe, which was ingrown bad:
bathed it in Thai rum

bought ugliest fruit
from old Thai women, didn't know
lichii came so gnarled


Sean is an American who taught for a year in Phetchaburi Province. He lived in Thailand one year, and left 3 years ago. His article, "The Sparrows of Thailand", can be read here.

An end to the recession?

Perhaps it is my imagination but I seem to be seeing a few more British visitors around at the moment. Yes, I know it’s the time of year when people start popping over for ‘quick trips’ and long-weekends but even so, there seem to be quite a few around. Some of my regular contacts in various countries are also reporting the same thing and saying that at least some of these people seem to be checking-out property.

It’s very risky to comment on what may or may not happen with the recession, but it’s been about 15 months or so since the news started to peak on banking collapses and the like. People have been in their bunkers for well over a year and many economic indicators still look gloomy BUT there are perhaps a few odd glimmers of hope around.

Now I’m not saying that what expats in Spain, France or Australia think is necessarily a very meaningful economic indicator but there may be some signs of less gloom around. Contacts in France tell me that the property market there has been largely dead for the best part of 18 months or even more but suddenly a few tentative buyers have appeared ‘looking around’ though not at the moment actually buying much.

Vast areas of Spain continue to be a disaster for many expat property owners in financial terms but in one or two areas potential buyers are reported to be sniffing around again.

OK, it’s very tentative stuff but it seems to coincide with some slightly more neutral news reporting on economic indicators. A friend of mine still lays much of the blame for the current global economic position at the door of the media who, he believes, started desperately looking for a financial crisis in January 2007 and managed to talk one into existence by the end of that year. Perhaps he’s just a cynic but who knows?! Maybe if the news channels are now getting bored with reporting bad news and gloomy indicators, perhaps they’ll search for a few half-optimistic signs and start reporting those. That in turn could generate increasing confidence and so on etc etc.

We could all do with it.

Still, it’s good to see that for some folk the recession remains an abstract concept. One UK family I know that are considering buying in Portugal just happened to say that the decline in Sterling against the Euro over the past couple of years or so was not a serious factor in their plans to buy and move. It must be great to be in that sort of position!

As always though, I’m interested in members thoughts on things and in that context, the recession. Does anyone else out there see cause for hope yet?