New episode of DANA / GotaFría .

 Information from Meteo Orihuela

"This time, the most intense rains will be recorded in Catalonia and the IslasBaleares . Expected evolution of rainfall during the next hours and days, with cumulative estimates. .

In the peninsular southeast end, the most likely rain interval ranges from the late hours of Monday night 21 until noon or early hours of tomorrow afternoon Tuesday 22. In general, rainfall of moderate intensity, without locally discarding any "arreón" of strong intensity (more likely on the coast). No more Don't forget the umbrella and wrap up!"

Huge congratulations

 David Gomez Sanchez, from Bigastro Team Running, completed a 24 hour run in aid of “Contra el Cancer de Mama”.

His run started in Bigastro at 5pm on Friday and finished on Saturday at 5pm.

In all he completed two circuits of the course set including two ascents of the Sierra Orihuela. As you can see from the stats recorded, he ran 114.3kms and climber 3,880m.

Hopefully, he will have raised a lot of money from sponsorship to help this worthy cause.

PS Kudos goes to the secretary, Fonta Bigastro and other members of the club for their asistance.

That's David Gomez Sanchez on the left in the grey. 

More rain to come

Gota frias are a feature of Autumn/Winter in Southern Spain. Normally they spell a day or so of heavy rain but no more. The one in September was intense and caused a lot of damage but was not the norm.

The one forecast for Monday afternoon into Tuesday should be less intense and hopefully will not add significantly to the problems that some areas have already faced.

A message from Scout John

Hi folks, 

 Just to let you all know that the annual flu jabs will be available at the medical centre

at the end of October, beginning of November.

 Keep smiling,   John

Moving up in Style

 Saying farewell. I really enjoyed my Yeti. I liked the fact that it dared to be different to the other SUVs on the market.

My new car though is technically a lot more advanced than the Yeti with some very interesting technology to make the car safer and more interesting to drive.

Tonight's entertainment

Prepare for BREXIT

4 important things that the British citizens should do in relation to Brexit:

1. Register as residents requesting an appointment with the Police to obtain the green certificate. Registration at the Town Hall (‘empadronamiento’) is not enough. According to Royal Decree-Law 5/2019 of March 1 a grace period of 21 months will be enabled if the Brexit departure is without agreement or a transition period also of 21 months in case of departure with agreement, so that British citizens can register as residents in Spain. If they do it after the departure date (10/31/2019) they will have to justify that they were already residents before that date by means of receipt of supplies, etc.

2. Enrol correctly at the social security, that is, request the SIP card by applying for the S-1 form at the NHS in UK. You must remember that the European health card is only for holiday makers. Even so, until the end of 2020, the British citizens will continue to receive healthcare, thanks to an agreement between Spain and the UK.

3. Exchange the driving license into a Spanish one. If the exit from the EU is without agreement, there will be a grace period of 9 months to make this exchange. UK will continue to accept all European driving.

4. You must check the validity of your passport. If you only have about 6 months of validity left, you must request renewal. The process must be done online through the following website www.gov.uk

To find out more check these links:

https://www.gov.uk/world/spain, and click in the link about Brexit https://www.gov.uk/world/spain#/world/brexit-spain to register their e-mail to receive relevant information on this topic.
In the following link there is more information about living in Spain https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-spain 
You can also find information about Brexit in the British Embassy Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BritsInSpain/ 

Go David, go....

David Gomez Sanchez will run non stop for 24 hours for this wonderful cause.

He aims to start at 5pm on Friday in Bigastro and return at 5pm on Saturday.

You can donate by bank transfer to the account in the poster -

ES08 2100 4687 5102 9928 2746

In the pink

Bigastro was turned pink this morning when hundreds turned up to walk around the town in aid of the AECC "Day Against Breast Cancer".

An enormous amount of work on the part of the organisers lead to a bar stocked full with food and drink for those that had walked and a vast array of raffle prizes.

The importance of English

New courses of English have been announced.

The clean up continues

Local police ask us not to park in these streets so that a proper clean up operation can take place.

Fake news

There has been a lot of fake news about Brexit since 2016 when the referendum voted leave.

Both sides have tried to whip people up and polarise them against the opposing camp.

This though has to be amongst the worst I have seen and came from one of the Facebook extremist groups.

It relies upon the fact that most people are unaware of the Lisbon Treaty and what it entails.

Those people who read this stuff  need to stop, think and ask themselves, "would the 27 other countries in the EU ever sign up to these rules?"  because if they apply to Britain, then they must also apply to the rest of the EU.

And now in the UK

 Having just suffered a gota fria that devastated large parts of the Vega Baja, we know only too well what Britain is suffering as storms hit the country causing flooding in various parts.

We hope that our friends and family and indeed everyone are safe.

Going green

Saying farewell

The handover

Those of you were used to seeing Pam and I in the white Citigo will will now have to get used to the new green car.

The white car was a very basic spec and it showed in the interior. The new car is more upmarket and a much nicer space to be in.