My coffee shop companions (aka “The Macchiato Mafia”) are all of the Silver generation, so our morning conversations have lately been dominated by the loss of the Winter Fuel Allowance.
There’s been no weeping and wailing because, to be honest, we can manage without it. Indeed, it was generally regarded as a Winter Wine Allowance – the argument being that using it to buy a case of full-bodied Burgundy, or a couple of bottles of single malt, would keep out the cold just as efficiently as turning up the radiators.
But we are not happy, fearing that the council tax reduction for pensioners living alone may be next to go. The jury is still out as far as the Bus Pass is concerned, though the general opinion is that we will fight on the beaches, in the hedgerows and, if necessary, at the bus stops and railway stations.
“I’d love to be able to go somewhere warm for the winter,” said Maureen. “Then, it wouldn’t matter if the heating was on or off. And it would do my arthritis a power of good.”
There was a murmur of agreement, and we all sat contemplating where that “somewhere warm” might be. The islands of the Caribbean are an obvious choice, but you need serious money to be able to spend a few months in that part of the world, and, though we may not be on the breadline, we are none of us millionaires.
However, that coffee shop conversation set me thinking about long-stay winter holidays to the sun, but in the context of “Then” rather than “Now”.
It was once very big business, with major tour companies like Thomson and Clarkson, Fiesta, Intasun, and others offering such holidays for relatively modest sums. The idea was to fly off in early or mid-October, and return some time in March.
I could never get my head round the economics of those immensely popular deals, but interviewed scores of sun-seekers in various locations and, without exception, they were well satisfied. To keep costs down, they tended to stay in self-catering apartments.
One block I visited, in Malta, typical of most, had a supermarket on the ground floor, and a restaurant to provide a break from the “self-catering” part of the deal. People used local buses to get around, and tended to go out once a week to a favoured restaurant to give themselves a treat. “Nothing fancy”, I was told. “But just something a little bit special.”
One company – I think it might have been Clarksons – included in the cost of the package a return flight between the resort and the UK for people who wanted to spend a few days over Christmas with their families.
And, in those pre-internet days, it was common practice for the companies to fly out video cassettes of “Coronation Street”, so addicts wouldn’t miss an episode!
I mentioned Malta, which was a popular choice, along with Cyprus and many Spanish resorts. There was interest, too, in Moroccan and Tunisian destinations, where the sunshine was more reliable, though most clients of the mass-market tour firms preferred the familiarity of Europe.
Spain was by far the most popular destination, with the Canary Islands making particularly strong efforts to attract long-stay winter customers. This took the form of extensive villa and apartment developments, which eventually saturated the market.
Digressing, for a moment, from my winter break theme, I recall that, on that visit to Malta, I stayed in a large hotel which boasted a health centre and spa. The hotel had every reason to boast, for the facilities were absolutely excellent, and well used by guests.
Several of them were recuperating from minor surgery – knee and hip replacements for the most part. The local hospital had a contract with the hotel to provide exercise and convalescence for a week or two as a sort of half-way house before patients were discharged home. It freed up hospital beds, and seemed to me to be a very sensible arrangement.
One evening, we (I was there with three other journalists) were approached by the hotel’s public relations officer, who wanted us to meet a group who had flown in from Heathrow that morning. They were managers of half a dozen NHS trusts, there to study the system and find out if it would work in the UK. I saw no reason why it shouldn’t, but, as far as I know, was never adopted. (Perhaps it is something the Government might like to include in its recently announced overhaul of the NHS. It could shave enough millions off the budget to re-instate our fuel allowance.)
Getting back to the theme of the elderly going abroad to avoid the British winter, one couple I interviewed during a November trip to Cyprus gave me details of how much they were saving. (I have to say it made a refreshing change from details of how little people were spending.)
The first, obvious, advantage was that gas, electricity and water bills would be zero for the duration of their absence. There would be no expense as far as the family car was concerned. It was locked in the garage and, being “off road”, need not be taxed or insured. (Nowadays, of course, you can also cancel whatever television “package” you subscribe to.)
I recall that the couple giving me this information were very happy at what they were saving, and the fact that, when they returned home, their accumulated pensions would be waiting, untouched, in their bank account.
At the height of their popularity – and, remember, this was when Spanish hotels, in particular, were desperate to fill their rooms outside the summer months, so offered unbelievably low prices – one London borough considered a scheme to send abroad the elderly residents of its care homes – or as many as were able to make the journey.
Bulk buying meant extremely favourable rates, and, having studied the figures, a working party recommended that the council should adopt the plan and send several hundred old folk to a resort on the Costa del Sol for the winter months.
It never happened. Not because of cost, but because of politics.
The London borough was Labour controlled, and hard-liners refused to contemplate doing business with Spain which was, back then, still run by the Fascist dictator General Franco.
Having trawled through half a dozen websites, I’ve been unable to establish if 2024/25 versions of those long-stay deals are available. However, as I’m not what they call “tech-savvy”, they may be out there somewhere. If not, the answer might be to get someone (guess who?) to create one for you.
