We made the move 12 years ago and when asked if he has any regrets OH always says 'Yes...... we ought to have done it years before'. It wasn't possible because our children were spaced out in age, so although the older one was nearly 30, the 'baby' was only 20, so big sister has always 'kept an eye on her' in our absence.
Now the 'baby' has a little boy ...my only GC, and it is almost a year since we last saw him, but we talk (well I talk, he giggles a lot and pulls silly faces) on Skype.
OH is several years older than me so of course I think about being on my own.... we don't all rush to the sun like silly children, NanKate. I live in a French village with 'commerces' and I have good neighbours and a few young British friends with young famillies in the village and surrounding area so I wouldn't be a poor old biddie stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Why did we move?... well not for sun, sand and sangria that's for sure. The last Christmas we were in the Uk I witnessed the most appalling trolley rage in my local supermarket over a loaf of bread... and that did it for me. Bye,bye stressed out, consumer-driven, self-serving Britain!
Everytime I return to the Uk(and no I don't expect to be welcomed back with open arms... why should I be??) I enjoy seeing a few (a very few) friends and my small family circle, but I love getting on the plane that I know will take me back to my little house (no swimming pool, just a pretty little garden with a 'potager')l.Once home (for that's what it is now) I feel as if I can breathe again. You refer to a 'foreign' country , but England feels foreign to me now.
Today we drove 30 miles into Spain as we often do for a little trip out. We had lunch, the sun shone, it was pleasantly warm, the woods have never looked lovelier in their autumn glory, and the mountains never more majestic. If I needed a justification to live here, today was it