Music to your ears

 

Show some respect

 I've taken this from an article in the Independent  about the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi's white paper. 

Given the lack of money, Mr Zahawi should show some public acknowledgement of the sheer number of hours teachers put in these days, and how they kept things going during the Covid crisis. He should stand up for a profession that is so often lazily attacked by those who wouldn’t last a term in a modern school.

For far too long, the goodwill and professionalism of teachers have been exploited, and their pay and conditions have fallen further behind comparable groups. This year, with inflation at a 40-year high, Mr Zahawi proposes another large real-terms pay cut, with a further reduction planned for next year.

Rightly, teachers – including those involved in vocational and technical training – will not accept such treatment, simply because they cannot afford to do so. Many will be forced to scale back their commitments or leave the profession; those who stay need incentives to help Mr Zahawi and the nation meet exacting targets. He can harbour as much ambition and produce as many white papers as he wishes, but without teachers, Mr Zahawi will find he can get nothing done.

Far too many of the public think that teaching children is not really that difficult, that teachers work few hours and have excessively  long holiday. They really should do a stint at an inner city school like Anfield where I taught. Whilst some classes were a delight to teach, many were a real challenge in terms of behaviour, aptitude and attitude. 

Add to that, the false notion that a teacher's work ends when the bell rings. Pupils work does not mark itself nor do those lessons prepare themselves and regular reports to parents take many long hours to compile. It is no wonder that,  many who enter the profession, leave after a short time. 

Praise deserved

 Gradually, I am getting there replacing the items stolen from my bag. 

The first step was of course to cancel the bank cards and request replacements. Then I needed a new phone with a replacement SIM card so I could check on any movements in by bank accounts. 

With those jobs done, I needed to replace the spare glasses that were in my bag. This is when Specsavers shone. Not only did they discount the replacement glasses by 50%, they also delivered them within four days. 

My residency card (TIE) was stolen and this is where Consulting Services Bureau, Torrevieja came to my rescue. They organised the appointments at Alicante for me and again gave me a large discount on their services. They have been brilliant. 

Our insurance company AXA did organise for a locksmith to come to our house the day after the robbery. Unfortunately, they would only pay for him to replace the locks on the front and back doors leaving the security grill on the back door with the original locks and the garden gates the same. I am not so worried about the garden gates but the security grill protects a vulnerable aluminum door that just has a simple one bolt lock. 

This is part where Rafa Lorente helped out. He replaced the lock on our post box so that we could recover the letters in it. He then sent someone out to replace the locks on the security gate. 

Of course, top of my list is my neighbour Pepe who accompanied me to the Guardia Civil to make my denuncia not once but twice. 

One for your diary

 

Local talent

 

A dire warning

 Over the years I have read sorry stories of people who have been robbed from their cars at the airport. added to which, my neighbour had items stolen from his car when he was outside the ferreteria in Los Montesinos.  

The modus operandi is similar in every case - one person distracts you sufficient to make you get out of your car and whilst you are out of the car, an accomplice steals the goods from inside your car.

Yesterday, after Pam and I had been shopping at Food Co in Quesada, I loaded the bags into the boot, put my man bag on the back seat and sat in the car whilst Pam returned the trolley. 

As I sat waiting, a man approached the front of my car and was pointing towards the front wheel. He said there was a problem. Without thinking, I got out to investigate what he was talking about leaving the car unlocked. 

Whilst I was distracted, his accomplice stole my man bag from the back seat. In the bag were my wallet with all my cards (bank cards, TIE residencia card, SIP health card, driving licence etc,),  mobile phone, keys to the house, spare glasses and the documents for the car. 

It was only when Pam returned and we drove off that I realised what had happened.  

I've cancelled the bank cards and locked my phone remotely which hopefully will prevent its use. It was protected by a six digit pin in any case. Before I managed to block the cards, they had already tried and failed to use my La Caixa credit card. Using the location app. I can see that my phone is in Alicante where it has been taken to three different addresses. 

So, for their efforts, the scumbags will hopefully end up with the 50 euro note that was in my wallet and nothing else that is of use to them.  In the meantime, I have to make a denuncia to the Civil Guard, get the insurance company to change the locks on my house and then proceed to replace all those missing items. 

Just to make things more complicated, my mobile phone number is used as secondary identification for online banking etc etc. I can't even have a telephone consultation with the doctor without it. 

That was weird

 We've had dirty skies before when sand from the Sahara has been brought across by the wind. 

Yesterday though was exceptional as the colour changed to orange. There are loads of pictures on social media - this is the one I took from our porch. 

As I explained on my Flickr account, I have not deliberately altered the image in any way. 

Every little helps

Grin and bear it

Whilst we might not like the rain much, we do need it at this time of year. The reservoir at La Pedrera is less than 25% full. If we don't get sufficient rain in the next month or so, we will be struggling for water during the summer. From the data, it looks like it rained heavily during the early hours of this morning but then eased off. We'll have to see what happens during the rest of the day.

It could rain!

When just one source of information about the weather tells you it will rain, it could be proved wrong. When three different sources tell you to expect rain, then maybe we should make sure we have our umbrellas to hand. To be fair, we have had so little rain lately we can't complain. We will be complaining though that the rain to come will be mucky rain. In fact, if you visit the reservoir at La Pedrera you will see how dangerously low the reserve of water is.

 

Change to Spain's entry requirements for visitors from the UK

If you have friends or family coming to visit from the UK, please note that Spain's entry requirements have changed to allow travellers aged 12 years and above to enter Spain by presenting documentation that certifies they have recovered from COVID-19 in the last six months. 

That means that if you are travelling to Spain for tourism purposes, you need to either be fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 in the last 6 months and use your  medical certificate or recovery record to enter Spain.