¡Esto es jauja!

Something for the weekend

2012-01-31T10:14:00.001+01:00

I can’t find a web site dedicated to the Medieval Market this year, what I can tell you is the it runs from this Friday to Sunday.

From past experience, Saturday and Sunday are the most popular days so, if you want to look around without the crowds, perhaps Friday is the best day to go.

No doubt there will be all sorts of events taking place but as I say, without a programme, I can’t tell you what or when these will be.

The thing I am most looking forward to is one of those roast pork sandwiches – naughty but very tasty.

The Russian takeover

2012-01-31T10:03:00.002+01:00

According to the newspaper Laverdad, the Texas Oil Company Ltd is owned by Russian capitalists and investors and has its headquarters in one of the luxury villas built by the Jesus Quesda family in Ciudad Quesada.

Apart from marketing fuel, oils and lubricants for cars, they also market food and beverages; sell, service and rent all types of vehicles and run hotels and restaurants.

The paper goes on to explain that Texas Oil SL are currently in the business of acquiring petrol stations in the Southern Costa Blanca region, particularly those that are showing low profits. They have just bought a station in Mutxamel and are looking at one in Los Montesinos along with further stations in the industrial area of Babel and Apollo Street in Torrevieja.

These petrol stations were previously owned by Tamoil, a company linked to the family of Muammar Gaddafi.

The good news for consumers is that the newly acquired Texas oil stations offer the lowest prices for fuel in the province; for example their biodiesel is priced at 1.229 Euros per litre. Just a pity that Skoda warns you not to use this fuel in their diesel engines because it can cause damage.

A neat product

2012-01-30T10:11:00.003+01:00

Whilst writing this blog, I often find pictures that I want to incorporate into my stories. If they are my own photos, then I simply insert them into Windows Live Writer (the best blogging tool out there) but when the pictures are screen grabs, the process used to be a lot more tedious. When I had Vista, I used to grab the whole page and then edit it using Photoshop to crop out the unwanted parts. It was the same problem when I wanted to use a screen grab for my Flickr 365 project. For those who still use earlier versions of Windows, there is a better solution that comes in the form of a program called SnapIt.

Read the description of what this program does and see whether it could help save you time.

Capture anything you see on your PC screen with SnapIt. It is convenient tool for graphic designers, bloggers who capture and crop images for their posts, for tech writers who need to describe menus and interfaces of applications, web designers and those who work with graphics every day. It captures and auto saves images with one click. * Supports hotkeys, auto-saving, clipboard * Automatically copies screenshots to the clipboard * Tracks capture history, auto-saves captured images * Saves files in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF formats * Auto-names captured images

You can find out more about this product by following this link.

PS If you have Windows 7 on your computer, you will already have a similar program called Snipping Tool which does much the same thing. SnapIt is really for those with older versions of Windows up to Vista.

Romance is not dead

2012-01-30T08:20:00.001+01:00

For Valentine’s Day, the Department of Commerce and Hotel in Torrevieja will be installing a giant screen in the Plaza de la Constitución.

Anyone who wishes, can make a video declaring their love which will then be shown on the screen between the 10th and 14th February.

Tell me a story

2012-01-30T08:12:00.001+01:00

These are the winners of the competition for Christmas Stories:

INFANT CATEGORY:

Two first prizes:

Carmen Navarro Andréu Dunia "The First Christmas"

Monica Torres Belmonte "Christmas Lucia"

Second Prize:

Rosa Maria Moya Anton "Christmas cakes"

Special Mention:

James Van Ravenstein Grau "Santa's Dream"

JUNIOR CATEGORY:

First Prize:

Pablo Perales Andreu "It happened at Christmas"

ADULT CATEGORY:

First Prize:

Marina Medina Esquiva "Man of the Park"

Special Mentions:

Belén Antolín Rodriguez "The Miracle of Three Kings Day"

Evaristo Moya Moya "Cludy and the Snowman"

SENIOR CATEGORY:

First Prize:

María Esquiva Belmonte "Migratory Birds"

Special Mention:

Teresa Garcia Gracia "The Miracle of Christmas"

I recognise one name in particular there – Evaristo Moya Moya who got a special mention in the Adult Category. I know he reads this blog so to him I offer my congratulations.

Close to home

2012-01-29T10:25:00.003+01:00

Included in the documents published by Aurelio Murcia are those related to the sale of municipal land by our house. The project was to build a hotel complex along with golf practice courses at La Predrera. As it turned out, this was deemed to be illegal and so the company concerned, Proyectos e Inversiones Patrimoniales Rambla SL, sent a document to the Ayuntamiento on the 7th April last year claiming 7,405,283.01 Euros in damages for the losses they have suffered.

This is, you will recall, the subject of one of the cases against the former mayor, José Joaquín Moya Esquiva, yet to be examined by the courts.

Figures rarely tell lies

2012-01-29T09:48:00.001+01:00

Monday at 8pm, there is a Council Meeting scheduled at the Ayuntamiento in Bigastro and so with perfect timing Aurelio Murcia has published on the town’s web site the audit report that was commissioned by the PP just after they were elected. The sorry picture of the town’s situation is there in black and white for all to see.

What the new government team asked Aplem Consulting to do was to provide an accurate picture of the state of finances for the town as of the 31st May 2011.

In the report, the auditors highlighted the difficulty they had in obtaining accounting data from the people responsible because normal accounting procedures had not been strictly followed.

Still Aplem Consulting came up with figures which show that 7,770,888 Euros was owed to creditors – that debt is pending legal action. The financial debt was calculated at 4,924,174.30 Euros; which when interest for late payment is added on rises to 5.7 million Euros. The total of debt for Bigastro is a staggering 31 million Euros.

You can find the report, along with other relevant documents by following this link.

PS Now I understand why there are no budget figures on the web site for the town after 2008. I think it is fair to say that there could be some red faces at the meeting on Monday!

For the literary types

2012-01-29T08:26:00.001+01:00

Calling all bookworms!

For the benefit of those of you who like a good read, Maxine and Carol have agreed to take over running the “La Pedrera Book Club”. This club, which was started by Allan White, has quite a lot of books to choose from to suit all tastes.

The important thing though is to know when and where you go to borrow or return your books:

Sunday once a month between 3 and 4pm in the bar up at La Pedrera starting today.

Que frio

2012-01-28T09:29:00.001+01:00

The main topic of conversation in Bigastro is how cold it is at the moment.

If the forecasts are correct, it will get a whole lot colder towards the end of next week. One forecast shows temperatures at night plummeting to –1 on Thursday night. I’d rather go with AEMET’s forecast which says it will drop to 2 degrees on Tuesday night and then pick up slightly to 3 the days afterwards. Temperatures in the daytime will not be what we would regard as mild – 14 degrees is not good.

The only crumb of comfort for us is to look at weather conditions for England which is in the middle of a cold snap. According to forecasts, temperatures will barely rise above freezing in the daytime and will drop to minus 3 or 4 at night in Manchester where our youngest daughter lives. If it is any comfort to her, things will be worse for our eldest daughter who lives in the Midlands. The forecast for Wolverhampton is for daytime temperatures of minus 4 in the daytime and minus 8 at night by the end of next week.

Cheeky buggers

2012-01-28T08:56:00.003+01:00

Trying to fiddle the electricity is something that has been going on for years. I remember hearing of people in Britain who used magnets and other devices to stop the wheel in the meter from turning. I also heard of people trying to connect to the supply before the meter and even hooking up to street lights to get themselves free electricity.

Where the cables are underground, it is very difficult to get yourself free electricity but of course, in many parts of Spain, the cables are still carried on poles especially in areas where there would not have been a supply before the houses were built. Making a connection to a pole is obviously a whole lot easier.

I read in the papers this morning that engineers from Iberdrola, accompanied by officers from the Guardia Civil, visited houses in Orihuela, Bigastro and Benejúzar where the owners had connected up to the poles that carry overhead cables to get themselves free electricity. The houses were apparently in the poorer areas of the towns.

In some cases Iberdrola suspect the fraud may well have been going on undetected for years. The neighbours knew what was happening but were afraid to report the cases for fear of reprisals.

The company say that it will be very difficult to work out exactly how much electricity was consumed without payment because they have no no way to meter an illegal connection to the poles that carry the cables.

The engineers from Iberdrola dismantled the connections and warned the individuals of criminal proceedings but they know it will only be a matter of days before new connections are made. They now need to find a way to prevent these people from making a connection to the overhead cables.

The importance of the bar

2012-01-27T09:04:00.006+01:00

We learnt yesterday that there is no such thing as a Spanish town, no matter how small, that doesn’t have at least one bar. The directory of companies on the Bigastro web site lists 30 bars, cafeterias and restaurants in a town of 7,000 people.

The bar is the centre of social activity in the town, it is the place where Spaniards go for breakfast, for an aperitif before lunch, for tapas during the evening and at the weekends it is the place to meet up with friends.

There are bars that open at 7am to serve breakfast to workers, there are those that open just in the evenings to serve tapas and drinks and yet others which are open during the daytime to serve people around lunchtime. A few are open both during the day and also at night.

It isn’t all about alcohol though, visit any bar to observe the locals and you will find many of them drinking water or soft drinks. When they do drink beer, it is usually in a small glass or cana. Pint glasses are normally reserved for foreigners - notably Brits. The other thing you will notice are the families, children are just as welcome in a bar as adults but usually only during fiestas or at the weekends. Where do you go after mass on Sunday – to the bar of course!

Most bars serve food in the form of snacks and sandwiches, some though will have an area where you can enjoy a cheap but cheerful menu of the day. Remember that the main meal for Spaniards is taken between 2pm and 4pm. La cena, in the evening is usually just a snack of some sort. All that is changing though in cosmopolitan areas where tourists want a main meal during the evening and just a snack at lunchtime.

Back to square one

2012-01-27T08:34:00.001+01:00

After closing the market at the Recinto Ferial and looking to move it to the area by Ociopia, it now seems that Orihuela’s market will located back in the Recinto Ferial. Plots for the stalls are being marked out in readiness for January 31st.

There are also plans for Orihuela to hold a Saturday market in the city centre. This would only have 150 stalls so it will not compete with the regular Tuesday market which has 295 stalls.

Every little helps

2012-01-27T08:20:00.004+01:00

I read this morning in the Costa Blanca News about a scheme that Carrefour are running to help pensioners during the economic crisis. The hypermarket chain are offering over 65s a card which they call Plan 65+ which you can apply for in store. The paper does not explain just how you apply or what documents you will need to prove you are a pensioner.

Using the new card at the check out will apparently take off the tax (IVA) from all fresh products. The reduction applies to meat, fish, bread, pastries, fruit and vegetables, cheeses and eggs.

The standard rate of IVA in Spain is 18%, 8% for most foods and 4% for essential items like bread, milk, eggs, fruit, vegetables, cereals and cheeses.

Apparently the card can be used for online purchases as well as those made in store and can also be used by someone who is doing the shopping on your behalf.

You know the tax saved may not be much per item but every little helps.

Step 2

2012-01-26T11:13:00.003+01:00

Having got myself a flash brolly kit, I needed to work out how to use it.

The first thing I had to do was to make sure that the flash filled the brolly (not much point having a large brolly and only using part of it). That meant using the zoom facility on my flashgun to set the widest angle (smallest number) possible.

Since the flashgun was off the camera, I had to set the exposure manually.

Flash on my reflex camera will only work properly if the shutter speed is set at 1/200th of a second or slower so I set it to about 1/150th. Since the duration of the flash is much less than that, the speed set will not affect exposure. The exposre will be determined in this case by setting the aperture and the film speed (ISO).

Apart from controlling exposure, I use the aperture to control depth of field so I will want to set that accordingly. A smaller aperture (higher number) gives greater depth of field i.e. more of the subject will be in focus and a larger aperture (smaller number) will give less. Sometimes I want more and sometimes less. So I set the aperture first.

That leaves the film speed as the means to control exposure. A lower ISO number will give less exposure and a higher number more. I could calculate the correct ISO number to use by using the guide number of the flashgun and the distance of the flashgun from the subject but to be honest, with a digital camera it is just as easy to use trial and error and examine the results on the screen at the back of the camera. Start with a rough estimate and then fine tune it is the way to go.

Ah but surely, having to use a high ISO will create a lot of horrible digital noise. That is true, anything less than about 1600 ISO is going to be OK on my camera. However, in those cases where I am going to use a small aperture which will mean setting a high ISO to compensate there is another trick I can employ. My flashgun can be set to different power levels ranging from full power to 1/128th power so, when I use a large aperture I can still use a low ISO speed by turning the power down.

You know this all sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is in practice. As I said, it is all a matter of trial and error.

Step 3 Using the brolly as a reflector or as a diffuser.

That is some title!

2012-01-26T09:44:00.002+01:00

A Classroom/Workshop Recital, "Ars Musicandum." will take place on Saturday 28th of January 28th at 5pm in the Auditorium Francisco Grau

Cost 2 Euros to cover the expenses of the Recital.

Let me explain; my late mother-in-law used to describe certain forms of classical music as “arsey”. To her ear, music by e.g Shostakovich was like, “rubbing your arse (backside) with a brick”. It was a colourful expression which summed up beautifully the pain she felt when listening to certain contemporary composers.

I feel sure that Ars Musicanbum will not inflict the same sort of pain!

Orange and lemon trees can be fickle

2012-01-26T09:29:00.001+01:00

For those who want to learn how to control pests and diseases that affect citrus trees, Bigastro is organising a 12 hour course.

The course for 25 students will be run by professionals from the Valencian Institute of Agricultural Research and will take place between the 23rd and 26th April in the Municipal Auditorium Francisco Grau - 7pm until 10 o’clock.

I would like to know why my lemon trees have yellow leaves in winter and why they only produce a small crop of fruit. However with only two trees and with insufficient Spanish to understand all that is being said, I’ll probably have to look elsewhere for an answer.

Actually, a friend of mine did point me in the right direction last year. He noticed that my trees were surrounded by limestone chippings and explained that lemon trees are not lime tolerant.

His solution was to remove the chippings and to feed the trees with some acidic material. He suggested collecting vegetable waste and old tea bags, let them rot well down and then spread the mix around the base of the trees.

A further suggestion was to add sulphur to the soil because that will loosen it and reduce the ph level.

A noisy protest outside the town hall

2012-01-26T09:09:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, a group of parents, students and teachers from IES Miguel Hernandez and the Colegio San José de Calasanz protested outside the Town Hall in Bigastro.

The headteacher at IES Miguel Hernandez, Paul Perales, said that the protest was about the cuts in spending by the council. He explained that his school has not received any money since May and that meant he could not even plug a heater in because there was no money for the diesel which runs the generator and added that his school is short of vital supplies like copier paper, chalk and even toilet paper. Inevitably, companies are reluctant to keep supplies to the schools without payment of arrears.

The headteacher at San José de Calasanz, Solomon Rivera, painted a similar picture at his school. In his view, the two vital services in any town are health and education and these should not be affected by cuts in local council spending. The cuts, he says will lead to a decline in the quality of education provided.

It is all in a flash

2012-01-25T10:12:00.011+01:00

Like a lot of photographers, I prefer to use available light when I can. However, there are times when the available light is either insufficient or is in the wrong direction for the effect you want to create; that is when you need a flashgun to provide light.

Many cameras have built in flash which you can use on these occasions but of course these have their limitations. The first is the power which is usually quite low meaning that they will only work within a relatively short distance. The second is the position, which is by definition close to the lens. Apart from the red eye effect this creates, this means the light produced is harsh, flat and unforgiving. My compact camera has built in flash and no alternative so when I need extra light, I have to put up with the unnatural effect it produces.

The obvious solution, with a camera which has a hot shoe or flash socket, is to buy an external flashgun which will have a lot more power. Mounting it on the top of the camera though still gives that unforgiving light and at the same time creates ugly black shadows especially if you use your camera in the vertical position. In a sense, moving the flash a little further way is worse than having it close.

To soften the effect you need to make the flash appear to be larger which you can do with various clip on attachments. The simplest and cheapest of these is the Stofen which is made from translucent plastic. Pop it over the flash and point the flashgun head upwards at about 45 degrees and bingo, the light is a lot softer and the shadows a lot less harsh. I use one of these a lot when I am out and about.

Even better though is to move the flashgun off the camera. Of course you then need a way to communicate between the flash and the camera. This can be in the form of an extension cord which fires the gun and transmits the data at the same time. You also need long arms, an assistant or a light stand/tripod to mount the flashgun on. If your camera is heavy like mine, holding it with one hand and a flashgun with the other is a no no.

Taking this all a step further, you can eliminate the trailing wire by using wireless flash triggers. The market leaders in this field are Pocket Wizards but these cost a fortune to buy. Fortunately, there are cheaper alternatives which may not be as durable but do the job equally well. The downside of most wireless triggers is that the flashgun no longer works in automatic mode meaning that you have to set the exposure manually. This is what we used to do anyway before TTL and then ETTL flash became the norm so it is no big deal. In any case, with digital cameras it is a lot easier than it was with film because at least with digital you see the results immediately and can make adjustments as necessary.

So, now that you have the flash off the camera, it is time to consider other forms of light modifiers. The cheapest and simplest to set up is a brolly. Just like the kind of brolly you use in the rain but this time made of white, silver or gold material, these are used as a reflector to give a broader spread of light. You can also use a white translucent brolly the other way round i.e. you shoot the light through it to give an even softer, broader effect. Those professionals who have expensive soft boxes and beauty dishes may scorn them but the truth is the flash brolly is a very versatile tool.

That is where I am up to now, experimenting with ways to improve my flash pictures and capture better portraits of my granddaughter Molly. My next step is to consider a second flashgun either to be placed behind the subject to give a rim light or on the opposite side to the main light for cross light effects. That is very much for the future though, I need to master using one light and a reflector first!

For those who are interested, the Strobist blog explains all this a lot better than I do.

That is so cool

2012-01-24T09:45:00.001+01:00

This picture taken from the Daily Telegraph shows the Northern Lights as seen by specialist photographer Reed Ingram Weir from the A1 near Anick, Northumberland.

The aurora borealis normally appear above Iceland and Norway but were seen further south this weekend due to unusual solar activity.

To quote the Telegraph:

“The sun is in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle and is therefore becoming more unstable.

A powerful flare erupted from the sun last Thursday, unleashing a plasma wave that supercharged the Northern Lights into high latitudes.

Auroras occur when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, releasing visible light in the process.

The particles are funnelled toward Earth's polar regions by the planet's magnetic field. The glow is caused by high-energy electrons colliding with oxygen atoms and nitrogen molecules.”

Apparently, it is possible that the phenomena will be visible throughout Britain by the end of the week.

I do hope my friend Pete and his wife Laura are able to capture a picture or two in Liverpool for their Project 365s.

Signs of a revival

2012-01-24T09:06:00.001+01:00

The good news is that 9,290 houses were sold last year bringing 65 million Euros of revenue to regional and national government by way of taxes. The bad news is that only 500 new houses were sold.

Most of the sales were in Orihuela and Torrevieja. In fact these two, along with Guardamar, Pilar de la Horadada and Rojales, accounted for 81% of the sales with a further 510 houses selling in Ciudad Quesada.

It is in therefore in the coastal strip and tourist areas where the sales were generated presumably by people mopping up on low prices to obtain a holiday home.

So, whilst these figure are not encouraging for the construction industry, they do show an improvement over the situation of the last two years.

Surveying our needs

2012-01-23T17:53:00.003+01:00

I have received an email from Maria José López Robles, the Councillor for Third Age in Bigastro, telling me that she will be bringing copies of a questionnaire to Villas Andrea for us to complete. The idea is that we provide the information required to allow the council to give us the services we deserve.

Maria José would like many returns as possible so that she can form a complete picture of our needs.

Thank you

PS Knowing that the council in Bigastro faces a huge black hole in its finances, we may need to be creative and circumspect with our responses.

Spaniards do not know fear

2012-01-23T09:23:00.004+01:00

In the east and north east of Spain, towns celebrate their fiestas with "toros embolados," or "flaming bulls,".

Basically, large balls of flaming wax or fireworks are attached to the bulls horns and then they are set loose to rampage around the streets. Although the crowds at these events taunt the animals, in the end the bulls' lives are spared.

Such a festival took place in the small town of Navajas on Saturday but it all went horribly wrong when a 45 year old man tripped just as the bull was released. The bull gored him and then trampled on his head causing irreversible injuries.

The mayor of the town offered condolences to the family and arranged for black bows to be tied to the town hall flags. What he did not do was cancel the similar event scheduled for Sunday.

Why would he? If you choose to chase angry bulls in narrow streets, then you have to know that there is a risk involved. The man in question had travelled 70km to the event, it wasn’t like he was an innocent bystander who just got caught up in what was going on. Some would say he was brave, I would just say he was stupid but that is just my opinion.

Vueling offer more flights from Alicante

2012-01-23T08:50:00.002+01:00

The airline Vueling will be operating three daily flights to Paris Orly airport between June and September. They are also offering new flights to Cardiff, Palma de Mallorca, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Ibiza.

At the moment, Vueling have a promotion going on with tickets selling from 19.99 Euros each way for flights between 23rd January and 28th March. The tickets, which are on sale until next Tuesday, include destinations such as Marrakech, Moscow, Nantes, Naples, Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, Lisbon, Malaga, Sevilla and Tenerife (some with connections via Barcelona).

You can buy tickets for Vueling from travel agencies, by calling Customer Services (807 200 100) or online at www.vueling.com. For iPhone and Android users the portal is m.vueling.com.

I was an early victim

2012-01-22T10:12:00.001+01:00

Because the school I taught in had a no smoking policy, I had to go out onto the pavement to have a puff on my pipe.

I was out there one afternoon with a colleague enjoying a pipe of my favourite tobacco when three youths on bikes came along the pavement. As they passed us, one of the cheeky beggars snatched the pipe from my mouth. Within seconds the hooded thieves were gone leaving my colleague and I standing in disbelief. All we could do was watch them disappear down the road.

Figuring that they had just stolen the pipe for a laugh, we followed their tracks in the hope that they may have simply tossed it away but we never did find it.

Unbeknown to the thieves, that was a hand made pipe worth quite a lot of money – I don’t go in for cheap machine made jobs that smoke harsh and bitter. In any case, pipes are like cherished friends – each with its own characteristics – they give a lifetime of pleasure to the smoker. None of my current pipes are less that twenty years old and each has got better as the years have progressed except of course that one!

Moving on many years from that sorry incident, people in the streets of London and for all I know other cities as well are suffering the same problem that I did but this time it is mobile phones that are being stolen. In particular it is smart phones that cost several hundred pounds that the thieves on bikes are targeting. The modus operandi is the same though; the thieves spot a victim and then ride past snatching the phone as they go. The phones are quickly switched off and the SIM cards are removed preventing services like “track my iPhone” from working.

Eventually, the phones are shipped to countries where the phone barring service won’t block the operation of these handsets. The price of a stolen iPhone in India is high so that is where many end up.

It may look cool and impress people to walk along the street with your iPhone pressed to your ear but it is risky. Far better to use one of those geeky handsfree cables and keep the phone in your pocket. You may look as if you are talking to yourself but at least your phone will be in a safe place. Alternatively, get yourself a ten quid Tesco phone like Pam did – no self respecting thief would dream of snatching one of those.

As for using a flashy 3G iPad in the street, well that would simply be asking for trouble.

Lemons sell for next to nothing

2012-01-22T08:55:00.001+01:00

Lemon growers in the Vega Baja are having a hard time of it. They are having to compete with crops from Morocco and Algeria where labour is much cheaper and from Turkey where the growers receive financial support which allows them to sell their crops at below the cost of production.

At six cents per kilo, the current market price, farmers in Alicante province are loosing money. Their only hope is that there is a frost in those other countries because that always pushes prices up or that there is a frost here in Alicante because then the local growers can claim on their insurance. In the meantime some farmers are allowing people to pick the crop for nothing as long as they leave the trees clean – at least then they don’t have to pay pickers to collect the fruit.

Olympic tickets for sale

2012-01-21T08:53:00.001+01:00

Tickets for the 2012 Olympics are hard to come by in Britain. If you find any on the Internet then it is likely that you will pay well over the odds for them.

However, here in Spain, things are different because the Spanish Olympic Committee decided to sell its allocation of tickets through 20 Fnac music and book stores. Even though they have been on sale since December, very few have sold and so tickets for premium events are still available.

I suppose the nearest Fnac shop to here is in Barcelona.

David who?

2012-01-21T08:22:00.001+01:00

Unless you are young, Spanish and female it is possible that you have never heard of him.

David Brisbal is a Grammy winning pop star from Almeria. He first appeared as runner up in a reality TV show called Opercion Triunfo.

Since then he has released four albums, toured Europe and Latin America and has sold more than 5 million records gaining 30 platinum albums, 15 gold and two diamond.

Brisbal will be performing in Torrevieja on Saturday, 25th February but don’t expect to get a ticket because the 1,100 available for the show at the International Music Auditorium were sold out within an hour of release.

As luck would have it, the town hall in Torrevieja have managed to persuade BrIsbal to perform on Friday the 24th as well so that more of his local fans can see their star.

You want to know more about him? Go to http://www.davidbisbal.com/es_ES

My reputation goes before me

2012-01-20T10:57:00.001+01:00

At yesterday afternoon’s Spanish class, our new teacher clearly knew exactly who I was without me telling him. He explained how I was well known for taking photographs for the town which were well liked by bigastrense. He went on to say that my contribution to local affairs was much appreciated.

I have already received praise for my work by councillors for example in this email:

Soy María José, concejala del Ayuntamiento de Bigastro, y en nombre de la Sra.Charo Bañuls y la Nueva Corporación quiero agradecerle todo el trabajo que está haciendo por este municipio, porque es un gran fotógrafo y una excelente persona. Su colaboración es primordial y esencial para nosotros, puesto que ahora más que nunca necesitamos la ayuda de las personas que como usted se prestan a colaborar, por ello quiero expresar mi más sincero agradecimiento por su gran ayuda y espero que siga colaborando con nosotros.
También me gustaría que pudiéramos ponernos en contacto y conocernos mejor, porque, la verdad no nos han presentado y me encantaría conocerle, porque hace un ¡excelente trabajo!

Those were very kind words which made me blush!

Down at the market yesterday, Pam and I were talking with some of our neighbours. Our discussion centred around what we found attractive about Bigastro and we came to the conclusion that it was the people. We all agreed that we have never lived anywhere before where we were made to feel so welcome and where people, who you hardly knew, went out of their way to help you. In the end, it is not smart buildings and beautifully manicured parks that count, it is the welcome you feel that is most important in the place you choose to live.

The PP in Orihuela fight back

2012-01-20T10:28:00.001+01:00

You might have guessed that the party who are now in opposition in Orihuela would come back with their own spin on the accusation that the Medieval Fair last year cost the city 300,000 Euros – a figure which they deny is true.

They go on to accuse the present government team of having already chosen a company to organise this year’s fair in spite of the fact that there are five days left for tenders to be submitted. They say that the proof of this lies in three web sites which lead to the same company “Fusion Medieval” who are inviting merchants to apply for stalls.

The PP also say that it is nonsense to say that the market this year will be held at no cost to the city, pointing out that there are bound to be expenses for water, electricity and security services.

Although all politicians will deny this, it seems almost to be a prerequisite for the job to be colourful with the truth.

Judge seeks High Court trial for Moya

2012-01-20T10:01:00.001+01:00

In 2005, the ex-mayor of Bigastro, José Joaquín Moya approved the plan for Sector D6 which included a plot of 1,170 square metres designated as parkland. A year later, Moya signed an agreement with Repsol Butano which allowed them to install two gas tanks holding 46,500 litres of propane on the same land. Moya went ahead with the order and the tanks were installed in October 2007 in spite of the fact that he knew that the work was not covered by a licence. Also implicated are the council technician and the secretary who also signed the paperwork.

The case against José Joaquín Moya has been examined in the District Court No 3 in Orihuela. The judge has now concluded that the case should be tried before the High Court and has set bail at 75,000 Euros to cover the costs of demolition should the defendants be found guilty. The anti corruption prosecutor has asked for two terms of prison of one year and ten months and four years for the alleged crimes.

Still to come are two further cases against the ex-mayor; one for accepting the gift of a Volkswagen Toureg which was allegedly paid for out of public money and the irregular auction of protected land at La Pedrera to allow the building of a residential complex and a golf practice course.

Lack of money could affect the Medieval Market

2012-01-19T08:34:00.001+01:00

The Medieval Market in Orihuela cost the city council 300,000 Euros last year; 150,000 was paid to the company that organised the market and a further 150,000 was spent on the various shows that took place during the three day event. This year the council say that the market will be run at no cost to the city and in fact they expect revenue from the company to cover labour costs incurred by them. They also say that the Moors and Christian groups taking part will not have to pay for their stands.

That decision leaves the cost of staging the market in the hands of the organisers who will either have to pass that on to stall holders or charge for entrance to the market. Apart from the stalls selling food and drink who no doubt will see a good return for their money, I imagine this may well hit those selling specialised products who probably earn very little.

The market has become a very popular event that attracts a lot of tourists to the city. Each year it has grown in size and popularity. Let us hope that the lack of money on the part of the council does not adversely affect this trend.

Look out for the blossom

2012-01-19T08:09:00.001+01:00

My Flickr picture for Tuesday was the toasted almonds that Ana and Marisu brought us as a gift for taking photos of their children. As I explained, the almond is an important local crop here in the Vega Baja. Before the transfers of water from the Tajo to the Segura it would have been the principal crop because the almond tree only requires rainwater to survive. The citrus trees that took over require irrigation and of course the fields of broccoli and artichokes need regular watering.

The biggest nail in the coffin for almond growing though was cheap imports of Californian almonds.

In this area you find most of the almond trees in San Miguel de Salinas, Pilar de la Horadada and to a greater extent in Orihuela on the northern slopes of the Sierra Escalona, port Rebate, Torremendo, near the dam of La Pedrera and the valleys between the mountains of Pujálvarez and the Cristo on the border with Murcia. You can also find almond trees in Benferri, La Murada and on the path of the Albatera a los Hondones.

They are easy to spot at this time of year because the bare trees of winter are becoming loaded with white and pink blossom as the warm weather of Spring arrives. In fact you may find that the trees are flowering early this year brought on by the unusually warm weather of the last few weeks.

Let us hope that we don’t experience the same cold snap we did last year because that badly affected the artichokes which were blackened by the frost. Broccoli is hardier and those survived. The citrus trees were slowed down but ultimately came into flower a little later.

Internet sites blacked out

2012-01-18T09:57:00.001+01:00

If you visit Google today or Wikipedia, you’ll find messages that warn about the dangers of two bills that are going thought the US Senate. Many other sites on the internet will be blacked out for the day. The bills aim to curb online piracy but say many, they will also severely restrict freedom of expression on the web.

As you might expect, the bills have received broad support from the entertainment industry who loose millions to online piracy every year. However opponents of the bills say that they will restrict freedom of expression and increase the risks to cyber security.

The controversial clause contained in the bills requires internet service providers in the US to block access to foreign sites that infringe copyright. Giving ISPs these sort of powers would allow them to censor the internet and that would be bad.

A big thank you

2012-01-18T08:53:00.001+01:00

After the problems we had with the first teacher that Aurelio found for our Spanish class, we thought that was it – no more lessons. We hadn’t counted on the resourcefulness of the councillor for education though because he has found another ex-teacher who just happens to have the same name as the first.

Pam and I missed the first meeting with the new teacher because we were in England at the time. Apparently, he pitched the lesson too high for the students in the class and so vowed to prepare something more suitable for this week.

Yesterday was our first lesson. The new teacher came well prepared with suitable material; he had plenty of exercises for us to complete which involved listening carefully to his instructions. Listening skills are possibly the hardest to achieve so this was the kind of excellent practice we needed.

So now we can look forward to lessons again knowing that our Spanish will continue to improve.

A big thank you goes to Aurelio Murcia for finding us such a good teacher and of course to Antonio for volunteering to work with us.

It doesn’t always pay

2012-01-17T12:00:00.001+01:00

Once you have sold a house and moved away, it isn’t always a good idea to go back and see what the new owners have done. In the case of our old house in England we have no choice because we regularly visit our friends who live opposite. In fact, most of what the new owners have done have been improvements we would have made ourselves if we had continued to live there.

Our ex neighbours here in Spain may not feel the same about their old house if they ever return.

The new neighbours are not keen gardeners so most of the plants have gone including those in the front garden and those on the fence between the properties. The railings at the front have all gone and the wall has been built up to about 3m high. It is the same for the wall the other side which is also 3m high. We are going to have the wire netting removed between the two houses to be replaced with the same fence panelling that we have on three sides. Then there are plans to build a barbecue area in the corner at the front left corner and of course there is some remodelling going on inside the house.

At some time in the future they plan to build a pool but have not yet decided where exactly that will be. I’m not sure what their plans are for the small pool at the front but certainly the waterfall has gone as have the stones that laid out the garden.

As I said, the old neighbours may not like what has been done. It is perhaps best if they don’t see the house now, after all they did spend a lot of money on the work that has now been demolished.

Where does Britain get them from?

2012-01-16T09:33:00.001+01:00

It is almost a tradition that teachers (and ex teachers) do not see eye to eye with Parliamentary Education Secretaries in Britain.

The latest one is Michael Gove who has thrown fuel on the fire by recently suggesting that teachers should work longer hours and should put up with having parents in the classroom observing how well their children are being taught. He says that because teachers enjoy their work so much, they would not mind being at school for longer. Clearly the man is at best misguided and more probably barking mad!

Not wanting to confine his lunacy to thoughts about teaching and education, Mr Gove now says that the British public should donate a new royal yacht to the Queen as a mark of respect during the jubilee year. He reckons that large scale celebrations are just what the country needs during this period of austerity. However, accepting that finding public funds might prove difficult, he suggests that private donations should be sought to help foot the bill.

Apart from the cost, which was estimated at 60 million pounds in 1997, does Gove really believe that the Queen, who is pushing 86, would like a new yacht to play with? If the Queen wants a yacht, then I would suggest one made by the Star company in Birkenhead.

The previous royal yacht Britannia was decommissioned in December 1997 and is now a visitor attraction in Edinburgh.

A cold snap hits Spain

2012-01-16T08:58:00.001+01:00

For those British politicians who question why ex-pats in Spain still need to be paid the winter fuel allowance, let me point out the following:

Alicante is one of seven provinces on orange alert for heavy snow today. The others are; Jaén, Granada, Almeria, Murcia, Valencia and Castellón. The coast of Galicia and Asturias is on yellow alert for coastal phenomena.

In a statement by the Interior Ministry's department they ask citizens to avoid travelling by car in the most affected areas which are expected to be the central and southeast quadrant of the peninsula and on access roads to large cities where there may be delays.

If you must travel by road, then be alert to the possibility of ice, keep an eye on information about the weather situation and road conditions, check your vehicle before starting out, follow the recommendations of Trafico, fill your tank with fuel and carry chains. Civil Protection also advise people to take warm clothing and a mobile phone with spare battery and or car charger.

As reported by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET); the snow is affecting mostly the centre and the southeast of the peninsula, especially the Valencian Community, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Madrid, the area of the mountains, and Andalusia, where the heaviest snow is expected in Almeria, Jaen and Granada.

I know this sounds like sour grapes but Pamela and I do not receive the winter fuel allowance. However, we still face hefty bills for gas during the winter months like everyone else.

A virgin runway

2012-01-15T10:03:00.001+01:00

During the boom years, Spain embarked on many adventurous projects that they believed would enhance the economy. One such project was the building of new airports to serve the tourist trade. In spite of the fact that there was already an airport at Valencia, another at Barcelona and one at Alicante, they went ahead and built yet another one at Castellón at a cost of 150 million Euros.

Possibly because of political differences between the then Socialist government and the Conservative run region, the airport was not granted a licence. However, gaining a licence was not the only problem for Castellón because the low cost airlines showed no interest in it. As a result the airport, which was inaugurated last March, has never had an aircraft land on its runway, there are weeds growing in the tarmac and the car park stands as empty as the day it was built.

According to El Pais, 30 million Euros was spent on advertising the new airport at tourist fairs and more recently a 25 metre high sculpture costing 300,000 Euros has been erected in front of the terminal building. They even spent 2.35 million Euros sponsoring Villareal CF to wear the airports logo on their shirts for three seasons.

Out of the 48 airports that serve Spain, only 11 are profitable and yet still they build more. For example, the new airport at Covera is due to open this year. This is meant to replace the existing airport at San Javier which will remain open solely for military purposes. In the meantime, a lot of money has been spent at San Javier covering the car park and upgrading the terminal building. And of course, you do wonder what they will make of the not so old terminal at Alicante

The latest scam hits the coast

2012-01-14T09:56:00.001+01:00

The problem with computers is that we mostly all have one but don’t know sufficient about them to avoid the pitfalls they bring to us. I regularly get emails from well meaning neighbours warning me of a virus that apparently neither Microsoft nor Norton know how to cure. In every case so far, the virus has turned out to be a hoax. I also receive emails telling me that my online banking with a bank I have never used will shut down if I don’t reactivate it and of course I get emails from Nigerian gentlemen who want to give me a fortune for helping them release a trust fund for them.

The latest wheeze is to access people’s Hotmail accounts and send out emails from them to the whole address book. Ha, ha that is a fun thing to do isn’t it?

The latest scam to hit Orihuela Costa takes things even further. Apparently you get a phone call from a number with a UK prefix, the caller speaks in English and tells you that your computer is sending a huge number of emails that are collapsing the system. The kind person offers to solve the problem for you by taking remote control of your computer and then guides you through the process of giving them that access.

What the caller actually does is install malware which both infects your system and at the same time gives them access to all the personal details including bank numbers via a keylog tracker or by looking at your cookies.To add insult to injury, they charge you 350 Euros for doing this!

There are legitimate times when you would want to give someone remote access to your computer for example if you had a software fault and called the manufacturer's helpline. As soon as the fault was rectified you would close the access down (it is closed by default of course). Like with opening .exe files from people we don’t know, we now understand that we should never allow remote access to our computers for people just over the phone.

A shaky place to live

2012-01-13T08:17:00.002+01:00

One of the things that I neglected to tell Pam before we moved here was that this is a region of regular seismic activity. In the last year alone there were 12 shocks in this area that could be felt at some place or other.
The one at 6:07 yesterday morning was a mere 1.7 quake with an epicentre out to sea. It would have been likely felt by those living in Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa and Pilar de la Horadada.

A glimmer of light

2012-01-13T07:59:00.001+01:00

The new delegate of the Consell in Alicante province, Juan de Dios Navarro, yesterday gave a major boost to help Bigastro’s out of its unsustainable financial situation.

Madrid will now pay the money it withheld to Bigastro which will enable to town to make it short term payments.

In addition, Sr Navarro will help Bigastro finally legalise Sector D-6 bringing great relief to the people living there.

Moving house

2012-01-11T14:28:00.001+01:00

Not Pam and I, we have no intention of moving house for the foreseeable future. We are talking here about Laura and Dave who would now like more living space.

Whilst buying your first house might seem difficult, moving up the ladder is a whole different game. Apart from finding the house you want, there is the added problem of selling your existing home. I can't imagine that will be difficult but with the present state of the market it is hard to say.

Once you have bought your first house, you do have a clearer idea of what you want for a second property and thus become perhaps a little more picky. Laura and Dave know exactly what their needs are and thus what features to look for in their second home.

Location is top of the list for Laura and Dave. They need an easy commute to work, be within reach of facilities like doctors, shops etc and of course the network of friends they have built up. Although that narrows the search somewhat, it does mean that they should be happy with their new location.

Then of course there is the question of size. Ideally they would like two separate reception rooms, definitely they want three bedrooms and a garden for Molly to play in. From there, the permutations are endless and the have an open mind about some of the options available.

Laura and Dave have viewed a fair number of properties and found one early on which ticked all the boxes. Unfortunately, that is now under offer and so they need to look elsewhere. That is where it has become tricky because they inevitably compare what they see now to the one they liked in the first place.

Like with all house purchases, there will be probably be compromises to be made. Just where those will be is up to Laura and Dave. Pam and I can only offer our advice, in the end the decision is there's to make.

Bless the animals

2012-01-11T13:57:00.001+01:00

Sunday the 15th January marks the Fiesta of San Anton, the day when you can take your animals to the Plaza de la Constitucion at 1pm to be blessed.

Although, as you might expect, there will be lots of dogs and cats, there could also be some unusual pet animals as well.

There will also an opportunity to win yourself a pig in a raffle. Before you get carried away with the idea of a pig as a pet, let me remind you that these things grow to a fair old size and produce a lot of waste!

A further tribute

2012-01-10T22:30:00.001+01:00

Usually neighbors remain just that. As good as they might be, they rarelybecome friends. That has not been the case with Hugh and Angela. As time passed by we became more involved in each other's lives. Our children grew up together and are also good friends.

There was a time when Hugh and Angela considered moving house but thankfully they didn't. When, eventually, Pam and I did move to Spain following our retirement from teaching, we still remained the best of friends. They regularly visit us in Spain and we try to make time on our visits to England to call in on them.

This trip, Hugh, Angela and their son Andrew came to the funeral of Pam's father just as they did to the funeral of Pam's mother. Their presence was a great comfort to Pam and I and we thank them for that.

Yesterday, we were invited over to spend time with them and stay for a dinner prepared specially for us by their youngest son Andrew. At the same time we were able to check out their newly refurbished kitchen and utility room.

Over the last year Hugh and Angela have refurbished the family bathroom, the master bedroom along with en suite facilities and the downstairs toilet. The year before, the lounge and dining room was reformed following problems with the ceiling caused by a leak from the old en suite bathroom

The process must have caused major disruption to their lives but you have to say the end result was worth every penny spent and the problems caused. There are no adjectives sufficient to explain how superb the house now looks.

Now we move on to the meal that Andrew prepared. The main course was paella, a brave dish to produce for visitors from Spain. However, the result would have easily graced the best restaurant in Valencia, the home of authentic paella. Following, was a superb dessert which was an exciting twist on cheesecake without the cheese and with a ginger cake base.

A token of appreciation

2012-01-08T13:58:00.002+01:00

They say that you know who your true friends are when it comes to time of adversity. At the funeral on Friday we had the support of close friends like Hugh, Angela and Andrew – more about them later. For now I want to tell you about Glenys and Peter.

Pamela and Glenys have been friends since they were 11 years old. In comparison, I have known Glenys for a mere 45 years and we have known Peter for about 40. It is true to say that Glenys and Pam are more like sisters than friends. There is very little that has happened in our lives that we hasn't been shared with Glenys and Peter.

It was therefore natural, when Pamela's father died, that Glenys and Peter wanted to be at the funeral even though it meant a 14 hour round trip in the car and a few nights stay in a Premier Lodge. As Glenys remarked, Arthur was the last of our parents to pass away. His passing therefore marked the end of an era for all of us. Glenys and Peter also knew that it was important to be there to support us.

It is very hard to put into words how much we appreciated Peter and Glenys being there for us at this trying time. Actually it was unnecessary to tell them because of the empathy that exists between us.

This tribute is therefore not being expressed for their benefit but rather to tell others we have support that means so much to us.

Arthur Campbell Fenton RIP

2012-01-07T16:51:00.000+01:00

There is no such thing as a good funeral but as they go, the one yesterday for Pamela's father went well. The funeral director provided an excellent service, discreet and dignified. The Chaplain from the care home delivered a fitting eulogy which summoned up the man that Arthur was. In fact the way she conducted the whole ceremony was exemplary.

On the way to the crematorium, as the hearse drove slowly through the village, it was both unusual and rewarding to see that a pedestrian en route removed his cap whilst the cortege passed by. Such traditional values of respect are sadly lacking these days.

We were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who took the trouble to attend the funeral, which we took as a clear sign that Arthur was a popular and well respected member of the community.

Now, Pam and I face the reality that we are the oldest generation of our family and as such the weight of responsibility lies on our shoulders.

Not the best of journeys

2012-01-05T18:17:00.001+01:00

After a lovely day on Tuesday for my birthday, Wednesday did not go as smoothly as we would have liked.

We arrived at Alicante airport in good time which was just as well because we queued for nearly an hour to check in. The only reward for that long wait was that we were given extra legroom seats at no extra charge.

The flight was fine, longer than scheduled because we were flying into a headwind and touchdown in Manchester was smooth especially considering the windy conditions.

Normally we hit lucky on the luggage carousel but not this time. One case came through pretty quickly but the other was the last on the belt. Still, we had our luggage safe and sound.

We'd arranged to hire a car from a company called Enterprise who have offices at both Manchester T1 and T2. The office at T2, where we landed closes at 5pm and so you are directed to the office at T1. What I neglected to tell Pamela was how far on the overhead walkway it was between the two terminals.

After dragging our cases for nearly half an hour we arrived at the Enterprise office which is on the very top floor of the car park only to be told that if we'd phoned them from the T2 office, they would have picked us up. Pamela nearly hit the bloke when he told us that.

Then we were shown to the car which just happened to be as far away from the office as possible. After our marathon walk across Manchester Airport, that was all we needed, a further ten minutes trek with our cases facing into a howling gale. Just to aggravate matters worse, our cases would not fit into the boot so I had to manhandle a heavy case through the front door of an Opel Corsa to get it onto the back seat.

Talk about exhausted, we were well ready for bed by the time we reached out hotel. Still we are here safe and sound loving the wonderful English weather:-(

That looks rough

2012-01-03T12:36:00.001+01:00

Pam and I will be flying to England to attend the funeral of Pam’s father who sadly passed away just before Christmas. Originally, the date offered was today but I really did not want to attend such an occasion on my birthday so it will take place on Friday.

The forecast for the rest of the week shows the storm force winds abating so our landing at Manchester should be reasonable.

We really don’t like the British weather at this time of year!

Another milestone reached

2012-01-03T08:30:00.001+01:00

Those of you who follow my Project 365 on Flickr will have seen this picture yesterday announcing my 65th birthday today.

I hope that at least some of you are thinking, “he doesn’t look 65” but I have to tell you there are days when I definitely feel it!

Apart from raised blood pressure brought about by a sedentary lifestyle and smoking, I get pain in my left leg which a doctor once told me was caused by a trapped nerve, my left heel is almost constantly sore, I get a dull ache sometimes in my right hip, the occasional bout of back pain, my right knee suffered when I fell down a step in the Auditorium and I now have a set of dentures to replace my front upper teeth.

All in all, not a lot to complain about really, there are many in a worse state than me. I’m told that if I can get through the next five years without anything major happening to me, then I should be in for a good innings. I have my fingers crossed.

Although I love my retirement and living here in Bigastro, if you were to ask me which were the best years of my life so far I would have to say when I was in my thirties. That was a age when I had just enough responsibility in my job to pay the bills but not so much that it ate into my leisure time. The children were just growing up and were fascinating to be with and life seemed good.

PS My friend Pete asked me what I was going to do with those giant numbers, I told him “I've already passed them on to someone whose 56th birthday is coming up and he's going to pass them on to a neighbour who will be 59. Finally they are going down to the village to a Spaniard whose pushing 95.”

A quick comparison

2012-01-02T10:57:00.002+01:00

If you are not at all interested in computers then stop reading here! Otherwise you can read on and find out about my latest toy.

When I upgraded my desktop computer to one with Windows 7 and the latest Sandy Bridge processor, my netbook started to frustrate me. With its Atom processor and Windows XP it just felt so slow. Accomplishing simple tasks seemed to take forever and of course some applications wouln’t run under the native resolution of the 10.1 inch screen.

It was time for a change but what to buy? Another netbook would have been the cheapest option but then that would have brought no improvement so I started to look at notebooks instead. I certainly did not need a desktop replacement with a 15inch or even 17inch screen, something around the 11inch to 13inch screen size would fit the bill just nicely.

The logical choice would have been a Windows 7 machine because then I could have then utilised all of the programs from my desktop on it. I therefore looked at offerings from all the reputable manufacturers including Dell, Samsung, Acer, HP and Sony. There were one or two models that caught my eye including those with a similar processor to my desktop.

Then I started to look at what Apple had to offer. When I bought my new desktop I was sorely tempted to buy an iMac. I love the form factor of that machine and the fact that it runs silently. I also like the Mac OS system which I’ve used on my son in laws iMac.

Having owned four desktop Macs and two Mac laptops, I’d already enjoyed a long acquaintance with Mac OS going back to System 7. The only reasons I changed over to Windows were because in comparison, Macs became so expensive and I had ready access to Windows software at that time.

Macs, of similar specification, are now at about the same price as their Windows counterparts so it seemed a good time to consider a Mac notebook. To make the deal even sweeter Apple were offering worthwhile discounts on “Black Friday”, the 25th November.

There were two choices; the ultra thin and light MacBook Air and the more powerful MacBook Pro; both have sleek aluminium cases and look just fantastic switched on or off. I went for the MacBook Pro with its faster processor, larger hard drive, increased memory and 2inch larger screen. If you haven’t seen one of these in the flesh, pop into Carrefour or an Apple store nearby and you will experience the same lust as i did on my first encounter. Macs are just gorgeous machines full stop. Compare them with other machines in the shop to see what I mean – sleek aluminium versus cheap shiny plastic – no contest!

So what do I think of my new machine?

The system starts up really quickly (instantly if I just close the lid and put it to sleep) and the machine feels very nimble, maybe not as nimble as my desktop but then that has the next processor up and twice the RAM to play with. The screen is just incredible, perhaps not quite as sharp as the Dell IPS screen I use with my desktop. The operating system is a joy to behold and the iLife software which came with it is very comprehensive and well featured. Not having access to all the inner workings of the system and not getting those indecipherable error messages is a real boon. I doubt that I will have to spend the same amount of time tuning and repairing Mac OS X as I do with Windows 7.

The bottom line is that I would not be without my desktop for those times when I have a lot of photos to process or a video to put together but for everything else the MacBook is just perfect. Apart from anything else, it is more sociable to sit in the lounge with my wife that lock myself away in the spare room. Mrs W. sits on one sofa with her iPad and I on the other with my MacBook. Every now and then we can send each other messages – how sad is that!

Let’s try and put a positive spin on it

2012-01-01T09:24:00.002+01:00

Every new year brings renewed hope for something better than before. Amidst all the doom and gloom of the economic crisis, the possibility of a breakup of the Eurozone and the Pope’s criticism about moral relativism (whatever that means) we must try to find a tiny glimmer, a minute spark which could point to 2012 being a better year for us all and for the world.

I must admit it is difficult to find any indications in the news that 2012 might bring improvements. I remember at the time of the Millennium, apart from all the hubris about the bug that would cause IT systems to crash, there was a lot of optimism about the future. Sadly, that all seems to have evaporated now, gone up in smoke like the New Year fireworks that heralded the new century in.

On a personal note. this year will bring a lot of joy and happiness to our family. First of all, I will get my state pension sometime after my 65th birthday on the 3rd January. That should help to offset the decline in our income caused by the exchange rate. Then in June, my youngest daughter Laura will be married to the love of her life. I’m sure there will be many other occasions throughout the year to bring us further happiness.

My sincere wish is that 2012 will bring similar highlights to all of the readers of this blog and in that spirit of hope, I wish you all a Very Happy New Year.

The year of the Olympics

2012-01-01T08:14:00.001+01:00

Britain was not going to be outdone again. These pictures, taken from the Daily Mail, show the amazing firework display that London put on to mark the New Year. 2012 is Olympic year for the capital so Boris Johnston was prepared to make a show of it with a display that lasted 15 minutes. Well done London!

A period of great austerity

2011-12-31T08:49:00.001+01:00

It isn’t just Bigastro that faces austerity, the country as a whole faces a period of economic gloom as highlighted in this report which appears in today’s Guardian newspaper.

Spain's new government said on Friday that the country's budget deficit is higher than previously thought as it announced a new package of spending cuts and tax increases designed to conform to the eurozone's austerity pact and fend off attack by international financial markets.

"We are forced to take extraordinary decisions and adopt unexpected measures," the Spanish vice-president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said as the new government opened the first chapter of what looks like being a long tale of austerity. Sáenz de Santamaría said the measures were necessary because the public deficit is running at 8%, not the 6% they were led to believe by the outgoing administration, a difference of about €20bn.

The principal measure comes in the form of an €8.9bn budget cut spread across all government departments. There are also across-the-board income tax increases and for home-owners, a one-year freeze on public sector salaries, a freeze on the minimum wage of €641.40 a month and cuts in subsidies to trade unions and political parties. Pensions, as promised, will rise by 1% next month, and the cut-off point for unemployment benefit is to be extended for a further six months.

"These measures are the beginning of the beginning of a package of structural reforms designed to cut the deficit and stimulate the economy," Sáenz de Santamaría said. Financial and employment law reform are being held back until later in January. It is rumoured that Mariano Rajoy's government may delay the really unpopular measures until the end of March, after the regional elections in Andalusia which his Partido Popular hopes to win for the first time in its history. The full budget, designed to meet Rajoy's target of €16.5bn in cuts, will not be presented to parliament until 31 March.

As well as freezing public sector wages, Spanish civil servants will find their working week extended from 35 to 37.5 hours. Vacancies will not be filled except in health, education, state security and the armed forces for an unspecified time. Cuts in subsidies to political parties are expected to save €29.7m while the reduction in trade union and other representative bodies' funding will save €55m.

Income tax on salaries of €9,500 will rise 0.75% and by up to 7% on incomes above €300,000. Property tax, roughly equivalent to the UK council tax, is also going up on all properties that are "above average value," which in reality means 50% of urban property. Sáenz de Santamaría said the increases, which "are temporary and only for the next two years," would raise €6.2bn. Rajoy's party enjoys an absolute majority so it can be taken as given that these measures will become law.

Rajoy, who won the election without promising anything at all, still seems to be holding back on deep reform. The cuts are more slash and burn than structural and the government is still ducking the issue of employment reform. Spain's employment laws have created a two-tier system of virtually unsackable employees with cast-iron contracts – doggedly defended by the trade unions – and a much larger group of workers with no job security. Employers are reluctant to offer full-time contracts because of the cost of making people redundant. Rajoy was not present at the press conference. Sáenz de Santamaría was accompanied by Luis de Guindos, the finance minister; Cristóbal Montoro the inland revenue minister and Fátima Báñez, employment.

No ministry escapes unscathed, with budget cuts of €485m at employment, €439m at the inland revenue, €409m at the health ministry, €401m at agriculture, €340m at defence, €163m at the interior ministry and €48m at the justice department. However, the biggest cuts are reserved for the ministry of works, €1.6bn, and 1bn each for the foreign, industry and finance ministries.

Amid all the austerity, there were no measures that appeared to be designed to boost productivity or dent Spain's crippling 23% unemployment rate. Indeed, the spending cuts seem certain to lead to job losses. Sáenz de Santamaría, who gave birth to her first child six weeks ago, also announced the suspension of plans to extend paternity leave to one month until 2013.

These measures will affect all of our lives. I can’t help feeling that until they make the labour reforms, unemployment will remain at a high level.

Where did the money go?

2011-12-31T08:35:00.001+01:00

The PP and Liberal Centrist parties have now put further figures on the debt for the town by saying it amounts to 5,000 Euros per person. They say the possibility of having to go to administration like the towns of Moiá in Barcelona or Alcorcón in Madrid, looms high.

In his defense, the ex mayor says that the socialists acted legally when they were in power. He says that the debt has been over estimated and does not appear on the documents they have been given and adds that the new government team will have to prove the accusations that they have made about him and his government team.

Like all bigastrense, we are at a loss to understand how a small town like ours could be in so much debt. When you look around, it is very hard to see just where that money has been spent. As I have said before, Bigastro is not the smartest place you could find to live; many of the roads are in bad condition, there are derelict plots scattered throughout the town and even the parks and other public places look in need of improvement. The only real evidence of spending is in the public buildings like the Auditorium, the Social Centre, the Sports Centre and a multi story car park that has only opened for one week since it was built. Is it in those buildings where the 31 million was spent?

When we moved here, we were lead to believe that our urbanisation would be a “smart” place to live. Instead we have graffiti, half finished houses, vacant plots and weeds growing in the park areas. The palm trees in the park where the office used to be have not been “cleaned” since we first arrived. For sure, very little of that massive debt has been spent at Villas Andrea!

The Royal Letterbox

2011-12-30T09:39:00.001+01:00

Santa has elves to help him, the Three Kings have pages. These two were at the market yesterday with their Royal Post-box ready to collect letters to the Reyes Magos from the children of Bigastro.

Once collected, the letters are passed on to the Three Kings who will then deliver presents to the children on the 6th January.

I explained to the two pages that I did not have a letter but they said that did not matter because they had paper on pens at hand for me to write my wishes.

This year I have already been indulgent having bought a new desktop computer followed by a new laptop so I must not be greedy. All I want really for next year is good health and happiness.

Kudos goes to these two volunteers for dressing up and taking time out yesterday to sit in the market for two hours.

PS The guy on the right pops up everywhere, I’ve seen him in church parades, carrying the paso of San Joaquin during the fiestas, serving behind the bar at fairs and of course parading with his comparsa during Fiesta week. A true citizen, he gives a lot back to Bigastro.

A very bleak picture

2011-12-30T09:15:00.001+01:00

The lady mayor of Bigastro, Charo Bañuls along with Aurelio Murcia held a meeting last night in the Auditorium to explain the financial situation.The headline news was that the council face debts of 31 million Euros. The audience of 200 were told that the council could not rule out the need to request intervention by Central administration to sort the problem out.

At the meeting, the blame for this was put squarely on the shoulders of the previous socialist administration and in particular the two previous mayors, José Joaquín Moya and Raúl Valerio Medina. The audit, commissioned when the Coalition took over control, highlights areas where accounts had been falsified and irregularities had been committed. The report showed a debt of 23,312,000 Euros added to which there were non payments of 8 million Euros - an example of which was 900,000 Euros for the construction of the indoor pool in 2007. The mayor said the final figure could be even higher because the council are still receiving bills for goods and services ordered before they took control.

Amongst the problems unearthed were unpaid promissory notes issued by the previous administration which are attracting interest. There were even lists of people, paid for out of public funds but who did not work for the council and two societies for which IVA (VAT) had not been paid.

Just as in the case of Orihuela, the audit has found items that were not budgeted for and totals for income that were simply not tenable. The council have also found also plans for construction that had not been granted approval at regional level but for which council land was sold. In the last four years, 10 million of local patrimony was sold and IVA was received but the taxes on these land sales have not been paid.

The mayor says that they will denounce the irregularities in court and will present the case to the Sindicatura de Cuentas. They will also approach the Diputación about retaining 100% of their funding because they cannot possibly face loosing money to pay their debts to Seguridad Social and Hacienda.

This year’s budget will be very austere

Anything that can be privatised will be. The swimming pool has already been shut and the adult education classes terminated. During this year we can expect more of these non essential services to be cut. In addition, those clubs and associations that previously received money from the council will have to become self funding. Most important, the council will be rigorous in its control of the collection of taxes.

PS Just to remind you, in April the Council awarded themselves the Isignia de Oro (the highest award the town can give) for their hard work in getting through a difficult period of administration.

Better get writing

2011-12-29T08:11:00.001+01:00

Today, pages to the three kings will be at the weekly market in Bigastro ready to collect letters from the children. Once collected, the Reyes Magos will be preparing the presents to be delivered on the 6th January.

The travelling market

2011-12-28T09:53:00.001+01:00

I’m not a fan of markets - especially large ones like that held on Tuesdays in Orihuela. However, I did prefer it in its previous location.

Now, the market needs to be moved again because work on the high speed train line would cause major traffic congestion in the area of the Recinto Ferial if it was to stay there.

The favoured location is on the streets near to the Ociopia Shopping Mall. However, the Council need permission from the Generalit in Valencia to move there. Several market traders have complained that the area around Ociopia is prone to flooding which maybe why a decision is still forthcoming.

The last authorised date for the market to take place in its present location is the 3rd January. If a decision is not made before the 10th then there will be no market on that day nor in the following weeks until permission is granted.

So far, 300 traders (almost all of the ones who trade at present) have reserved licences for the market in its new location.

Let me tell you a story

2011-12-27T09:06:00.001+01:00

On Thursday, December 29th at 5:30 pm the Municipal Library will be hosting a Christmas storytelling by the Carmen Theatre Company

The stories will be told using puppets on a small stage.

The council points out that young children must be accompanied by adults.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.…’

A not so happy New Year for Orihuela

2011-12-27T08:52:00.001+01:00

We are all aware of the financial problems that the socialist government left for the PP in Bigastro, in Orihuela it is the reverse.

In Orihuela, the new Council face huge debts left by the conservatives which they say amount to 7,665 million Euros. The daily interest on bank loans alone amounts to 21,000 Euros. The new councillor for finance calculates that each citizen will have to pay 100 Euros per year for the next ten years just to clear the debt.

The problem, he says, was created by a government team that worked with fictitious budgets, a team that would place orders for work for which no budget had been set. They would set a budget for say 60, claim to have spent 50 but actually would have spent 80. I imagine a large part of Orihuela’s budget would have come from work licences for building on the coast. When that source of revenue dried up, the city would have felt the pinch more than towns like Bigastro.

To make matter worse, Councillor Bas reckons that the budget for this next year will be ten million Euros less than last year which means that average cuts of 15% will have to be made across all areas of spending. Since there are areas where cuts cannot be made, that means that even greater pressure will be placed on those where cuts are possible.

The angel’s choir

2011-12-26T09:51:00.001+01:00

What a great treat that was. Better than watching the umpteenth rerun of The Sound of Music, the Adult and Children’s Choirs treated us to a real Christmas special. Plenty of traditional Spanish villancicos combined with classics like White Christmas, Silent Night and Jingle Bell Rock which for some reason they call Navidad Rock.

Many thanks to all those taking part for providing such a wonderful Christmas present and to Susana Vardayan for her hard work rehearsing the choir.

PS We even had a brilliant rendering of the Mariah Carey version of All I Want For Christmas Is You in perfect English.

I don't want a lot for Christmas
There's just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is...
You

Why do I still get excited?

2011-12-25T08:50:00.001+01:00

As a child, Christmas was the most wonderfully exciting time and even as a young adult it was great fun. When we had our children, it became exciting again but now the children are all grown up and somehow it still feels exciting.

There are only two presents under the tree for me of which one of them I already know the contents and yet I still can’t wait to rip that paper off and see what is inside.

Pam and I have a lovely lunch to look forward to and a choral concert tonight but best of all will be chatting with our family and especially Miss Molly on Skype this afternoon. She is not yet two but already knows that ho, ho, ho brings presents to good children. I bet she is downstairs now ripping away at all that paper. I almost wish I was there to see her.

Anyway, enough of this, you’ve probably all got enough to do without reading anymore. I hope Santa ha been kind to you and that you are enjoying your Christmas.

Best wishes

Keith

A Christmas message from France

2011-12-24T09:36:00.001+01:00

Many here in Bigastro will remember John and Gladys Reid. John used to clean pools and then got into the business of selling novelty items. They now live in France where they run a successful online business.

They still keep in touch and I know John reads my blog.

Hello Keith and Pam
I trust you are well and prepared for Santa's visit this weekend.
May I take this opportunity to wish you both and all residents that remember me at Villas Andrea a Very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous 2012.
With fond memories and best wishes
John Reid
France
PS. We finally sold our house in Bigastro !

That is good news, I know that John and Gladys are well settled in France and so it made sense to sell their house here. They were a very popular couple, still are, and we do miss them. I will send them best wishes on all our behalves.

What will you be doing Christmas Day?

2011-12-24T09:00:00.001+01:00

Will you be dining with friends and family or enjoying a quiet Christmas at home? Pam and I will be here in Bigastro, out for lunch at La Herradura, carol concert in the evening and hopefully catching up with our granddaughter and family online via Skype.

One thing Pam and I will not be doing is shopping online but according to the Sun newspaper we could well be in the minority. The paper claims that bargain hunters will spend £410 million on Christmas Day and that after the £2 billion they spent yesterday in the shops and a further £2 billion they will be spending today.

The prediction is that 12.5 million people in Britain will log on to the Internet on Christmas Day as many shops start their online sales. Amazingly, 2.6 million are expected to be at their computers between midnight tonight and 6am tomorrow morning hoping to get the first pick of what is on offer. However, the busiest period is predicted to be between 7pm and 8pm when the children have gone to bed.

Apparently Boxing Day will see even more spending: predictions show that £800 million could be spent on that day online and a further £2.8 billion in the shops.

I well remember photos of queues outside Next in Liverpool at 5am on Boxing Day and thinking those people must be mad. I also remember going to B&Q one Boxing Day hoping to pick up a bargain. I didn’t get there until 10:30am by which time all the shoppers and the bargains had gone!

At 5am on Boxing Day, I will still be sleeping off the special brandy and cigars I’ve bought for Christmas!

A merry Christmas to you all

2011-12-24T08:01:00.001+01:00

	Pam and I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. My your hearts be filled with peace and love and your homes with joy and happiness. Have a wonderful day tomorrow and if you live in Bigastro, we will see you at the Carol Concert at 6:30pm in the Auditorium.
	For all the children that maybe read this blog, we hope that Santa Claus brings you all that you wish for. Please remember to leave him something to drink though and don’t forget the carrots for his reindeer. PS Santa always seemed to like the brandy that I left him and drank it all up. You may leave him something different but please not orange squash because he doesn’t care for that.

How can that be possible?

2011-12-23T09:53:00.001+01:00

It may come as a shock to many of our friends and relatives in the UK to read that this last 12 months has been the driest on record in England and Wales. The situation is apparently so bad that South East Water has sent out letters asking people to take showers rather than baths and not to wash their cars over the Christmas period. One of the reasons for this ban is because South West water miscalculated the amount of water in one its reservoirs – DOH!.

The last time that a ban was imposed in winter was 2003 in the North West. Unless there is substantial rain in the next few months, Britain could face severe water restrictions in spring and summer.

Many of the younger generation will not remember stand pipes in the streets but Pam and I do. Having to go out in your dressing gown to get a jerry can of water for your breakfast cup of tea was not good.

Stop ripping us off

2011-12-23T09:19:00.001+01:00

Pam and I regularly book flights to the UK using budget airlines and have got used to the “extra charges” we have to pay. The charge that irritates us most is the one levied for using a card to pay. How on earth can they justify charging to use a card when that is the only means of payment?

It isn’t just low cost airlines that charge to use a card, the practice has become widespread on the Internet. Annoyingly, it is only when you are about to click on the final button on the screen that the amount you will be charged to use a card pops up. In some cases, the charge is more than the item you are buying which is a nonsense.

These days it costs buttons to process debit card payments and not a lot more to process credit cards so why do the likes of Ryanair charge £12 and why do some ticket vendors charge a fee per ticket when they only pay a fee per transaction?

The answer is simple, they are ripping us off but no more because the UK Government have decided to stop the practice by imposing a ban. You can bet that low cost airlines will be smarting at that idea because charging for the “extras” is how they make huge profits. It would not surprise me to find that they shift the levy to some other item of “extras” that you can’t avoid.

Oh dear

2011-12-23T08:49:00.001+01:00

I got that wrong yesterday. Pam and I had agreed that the best hours for our class would be between 4pm and 6pm and not 5pm to 7pm as I stated. I do hope those hours suit others as well, I will email them today to let them know. The days that Aurelio mentioned were Mondays and Wednesdays which again I hope suits others in the class.

The biggest winner was the State

2011-12-23T08:43:00.001+01:00

To Spaniards the chance to win a small fortune on the Christmas lottery is just too much of a temptation. They spent 2.7bn Euros, an average of 57 Euros each on tickets this year in the hope of winning one of the prizes which totalled almost 2bn Euros.

There was one first prize of 4m, a second prize of 1.25m a third prize of 500,000, two fourth prizes of 200,000 and eight fifth prizes of 60,000 Euros. In all, including the minor prizes, 27 million people would have benefited from Thursday’s draw.

Most people do not buy a whole ticket which is divided into ten parts costing 20 Euros each. In fact many share the cost of a 20 Euro decimo so that they can have a range of numbers. If you had one 20 Euro decimo with the winning number on Thursday, you would have won 400,000 Euros.

The biggest winner though was the state which kept 30% of the money spent on El Gordo. One billion Euros represents 0.1% of GDP or 1% of this year’s budget deficit target.

Still that would not have concerned the residents of Grañén in the Huesca province where the decimos of the winning number were sold. Apparently, one lucky person bought 4 decimos just hours before the lottery shop closed. Eighty Euros is a lot to spend on such a risk but it paid off this time with a prize of 1.6m Euros.

For the unscrupulous ones, there is even a chance to make more. Because Spaniards don’t pay tax on the winnings, the lucky ones are often offered extra by those wanting to use the tickets as a way of laundering money earned in the underground economy. “Black money” is thought to account for 17% of Spain's GDP.

Made it

2011-12-22T10:28:00.001+01:00

One of our Spanish friends, Evaristo, asked me when my photos of the book presentation that I took last night would be posted to my blog. I told him they would be there this morning, he said, “before 8:30am?” and I replied, “I hope so”.

News is only news when it is fresh so I do try and get my photos published as soon as possible.

For concerts and fiestas, when there are a lot of photos, this is not always possible because I take my pictures in what is called RAW format. That means that they have not been processed in the camera. Taking pictures in RAW format allows me to make adjustments to colour and brightness that I simply could not make if I took them in the usual Jpeg format. However, processing each RAW image takes time which is why there is sometimes a delay.

This morning though I was up early and at my computer by about 7am. That meant that I could post my story by 8:01 beating my deadline by 29 minutes.

As well as publishing a selection of photos on my blog, I have also sent the full set to my friend Germán at the Ayuntamiento for inclusion in their web album. When he has the opportunity, he will probably publish them for all to see. I have also burnt a set of photos for Lola onto a CD and I have printed her and the family a montage of photos from the event.

So job done and now I can have my breakfast!

Aurelio has come up trumps

2011-12-22T09:38:00.001+01:00

I had spoken to Aurelio Murcia, Councillor for Education in Bigastro, about our Spanish class and the issues we were having. He fully understood the situation and said he would endeavour to find another teacher who was perhaps more suited to our needs.

Aurelio has now fulfilled that promise and has found someone prepared to teach us for 2 x 2 hour sessions each week starting on Monday the 9th January. What Aurelio needs to know is what times would suit us best. From Pam and my point of view, 5pm to 7pm would be perfect but of course others may feel different.

I should be grateful if people would contact me to let me know what their preferences are so that we can find times that would suit us all.

Lola Lorente

2011-12-22T08:01:00.001+01:00

Last night, Pam and I attended the presentation of Lola Lorente’s book, “Sangre de mi Sangre” in Bigastro.

First we had a résumé of Lola’s credentials as a comic artist including the various prizes that she has been awarded and the work she has accomplished.This was followed by an explanation in the form of questions and answers about what motivated her to produce the book and the underlying theme. Lola also explained what influences she drew from and the techniques that she used in drawing her cartoons.

There were then a number of questions from the audience to be answered and finally she sat down to sign copies of the book. Being an artist, Lola did not simply inscribe a brief greeting and her signature, she carefully drew a cartoon on the fly page of each book. That was a very personal touch that I am sure was much appreciated.

Car sharing

2011-12-21T09:57:00.001+01:00

When I lived in Moreton, a neighbour and I shared our cars with two other teachers who lived in Liscard. The four of us would go together into Liverpool dropping off at the three schools involved. My neighbour and I would take turns each week for two or three days to drive our cars.

Mostly it worked well but there were times when it broke down and I was left stranded waiting for my lift to arrive (remember we did not have mobile phones in those days). As my commitments grew it also became difficult for me to fit in with the timings and so, reluctantly I opted out and travelled on my own each day.

There was always the thorny issue of insurance because in the case of an accident, insurance companies then would not pay out if it could be shown that you were operating as a taxi – i.e. charging passengers for a lift.

Now I read that Orihuela has set up a car sharing scheme using an Internet database as a means of contact. The idea is that you simply enter your details i.e. the days, times you travel, the route, the number of available seats and the cost. Then people can choose to share with you and reduce both the cost of your journeys (most seem to be charging 1 or 2 Euros so that is not really significant) and perhaps more important, the environmental cost in terms of CO2 emissions.

From music and films to books

2011-12-21T08:34:00.001+01:00

The market for illegal downloads of music and films has been saturated as the programs to make the downloads possible are openly available on the internet. Legislation to stop downloading has failed miserably as the pirates have found ways and means to continue. On the plus side, this activity has driven down the prices of legal downloads via e.g. iTunes but on the negative side has reduced the sales of CDs and DVDs to a trickle. To be fair, many would argue that the artists, like footballers, are vastly overpaid and that the prices of CDs and DVDs were exorbitant. There is a big difference though between paying an inflated price for your entertainment and paying nothing.

Now it is the turn of ebooks which can be read on a computer or with an ebook reader to suffer. Once reading books in this way started to become popular, it was inevitable that people would find ways to avoid paying for them. Although there are many free books available to download legally, recent works have to be paid for and in some cases these are as expensive as the printed copies.

Some would argue that the cost of production and distribution of ebooks is less than printed versions and point to the fact that there is no surplus to pay for i.e. there are no copies left on bookshop shelves to gather dust. However, writers have to make a living and naturally expect a reward for their years of effort. Writing might be a passion but it is also the sole source of income for most authors. Sales of books in any form hit a peak in the first few years and then tail off.

The situation of illegal downloading has become so bad that I read today, in the Guardian paper that the Spanish novelist, Lucia Etxebarria has now decided not to write any more novels until the situation is sorted out. She says that Spain ranks at the top in terms of per capita illegal downloads of ebooks. Her latest book is not available as a legal download but can be found in pdf form widely on the Internet. The print edition costs 20 Euros which some say is too expensive for them to afford. They cite that as their justification for getting an e copy for next to nothing.

The author claims that people are making millions out of online piracy by setting up in places like Belize. She says that the Spanish government have been too scared to pass laws banning illegal downloads and that in future she will only publish in French and German because in those countries the laws offer greater protection for writers.

Apparently, it is not just Spanish authors whose books are subject to illegal downloading in Spain; best selling British authors suffer as as well. The only countries with a larger problem world wide are China and Russia.

I can hold my hand on heart and say that I have never downloaded illegal music, films or books. Actually, I did once try to download a film using file sharing software but the process was taking so long on the slow connection I had in those days that I gave up and have never bothered since.

PS My wife, who is an avid reader, prefers an actual book in her hand. Although she has an iPad and can download books to it, she still prefers a printed copy. However, she does read the online version of newspapers because a) it is convenient and b) the cost of English papers here is Spain is very high.

Racing for charity

2011-12-21T07:23:00.001+01:00

Today at 11:00am, the IES Miguel Hernandez, Miguel Hernandez Parent's’ Association and the Department of Education and Sports are hosting a race for the benefit of the Red Cross Organisation.

Dance the night away in Bigastro this Christmas

2011-12-21T07:16:00.001+01:00

Christmas Eve, New Year and Twelfth Night, starting at 1am, enjoy music by DJ. Chato and DJ. Sergio Arques in the marquee installed in the car park on C / Gabriel Miró and on New Year's Eve, Dj. Billy will delight us with the music of the 60s, 70s and 80s in the Municipal Auditorium.

Gymnastics display

2011-12-20T11:38:00.001+01:00

The Department of Sports have organized an exhibition of gymnastics for the 23rd December at 8:00pm in the Municipal Pavilion (that is probably the marquee in the park).

He means business

2011-12-20T09:38:00.001+01:00

Ahead of his inauguration today, Spain's new prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, told parliament that he does not expect to be popular because the measures he has to take to reduce public spending by at least 16.5 bn Euros will be harsh.

The only people who will see rises are pensioners, all other areas of public spending will face cuts. Rajoy was not specific about exactly where these cuts would come or the extent of them.

He went on to say that he will force the countries banks to own up to the scale of losses they have on bad property loans. They will be required to reveal the full extent of their toxic debt at realistic prices. They would then be encouraged to sell off their property portfolios which of course would flood the market with more cheap housing driving prices down even further.

He also mentioned the notion of a “bad bank” which would soak up the debt but was not specific about how this would work. He also proposed a major reform of the financial sector with a second wave of mergers to maintain solvency.

Unions and employers will have to agree on labour reforms that will make collective bargaining more flexible and reduce the cost of hiring and firing. The “bridging”* of holidays will largely go and there will be measures taken to reduce absenteeism. People will be encouraged to work for longer thus reducing the pension bill.

There will be 3,000 Euros of aid given to companies prepared to offer young people their first job and rebates on social security payments for them.

He also promised reforms of the education system which would mean that all schools would be required to teach both Spanish and English and the Bachillerato will be for three years.

* In cases where there are two public holidays separated by a work day, the holiday is bridged giving workers three days.

Scaremongering

2011-12-20T08:34:00.001+01:00

You can’t believe all that you read in the press, even the “serious” newspapers are guilty of scaremongering. Yesterday I picked up the story about plans for the evacuation of ex pats from Spain and Portugal in the Daily Telegraph. The same story had been apparently run in the Sunday Times.

One of our neighbours, who is out of the country at the moment, has pointed me in the direction of a web site called Typically Spanish. On that site they tell us that a British Embassy spokesperson in Madrid said:

“All British Embassies regularly update contingency planning for all sorts of scenarios, including natural disasters and internal political unrest.
“There is no Spain (or Portugal) contingency plan for a euro-based evacuation, nor do we have any intention of preparing one. It is fanciful to imagine that a major evacuation of British nationals would either be necessary or feasible.”

That makes more sense than the notion that the British Government are considering chartering ships, planes and coaches to evacuate the whole ex pat population of Spain. If the banks were allowed to collapse then it would not just be the accounts of ex pats that were frozen, all accounts of Spaniards and other nationalities would be frozen as well. The whole country would need to be evacuated or at least given assistance.

I’m not sure what the motives of the stories in the Sunday Times and Telegraph are but if people gave them credibility there would be a panic run on banks with people withdrawing their funds just as they did with Northern Rock Building Society. If that were to happen it would cause a collapse of the banks in Spain.

This from the Daily Telegraph

2011-12-19T16:30:00.001+01:00

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Treasury are putting measures in place to help evacuate thousands of expatriates living in Spain and Portugal in case they are stranded no access to their savings.

The two countries, which both have sizeable British populations, were among those made vulnerable by the "sustained deterioration" in funding.

Spain was warned by credit rating agency Fitch that it was facing a debt downgrade along with Italy, while Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus were also given the warning.

Meanwhile, around one million Britons live in Spain with around 50,000 in Portugal.

The Foreign Office said it was concerned they could be cut off from their accounts if the countries' banks called in loans.

A source told the Sunday Times the Government was considering chartering planes, ships and coaches to bring expats back to the UK.

“The nuclear scenario would be having thousands of Brits stranded at the airports in Spain and Portugal with no way to get money from the cash dispenser and no way to get home. Who would be blamed for this? The Foreign Office," an official said.

“We are looking at how we can help evacuate them if the banks in Spain and Portugal collapse, getting people cash, things like that, sending planes. We did similar things in Lebanon in 2006. We are coordinating with the Treasury.”

Financial aid could also be sent to expats, many of whom are retired and living on small incomes.

A Treasury spokesman said: "Of course we plan for a range of contingencies. We are not going into the specifics of what we are planning for."

Last month, it was reported that the Foreign Office had asked embassies and consulates for contingency plans for rioting and social unrest in countries most affected by the eurozone crisis.

Diplomats were told to prepare for an evacuation of tens for/of thousands of British citizens as a banking collapse could mean they would be unable to withdraw cash.

An FCO spokesperson said: "Officials continue to contingency plan for a range of possible scenarios"

Let us just hope that it doesn’t come to this.

Some pictures from last night

2011-12-19T13:02:00.001+01:00

I’ve sent all of my photos to the Ayuntamiento who might publish them later.

Christmas started last night

2011-12-19T12:45:00.001+01:00

Last night we had the pleasure of attending the Christmas concert at the Auditorium.

The programme cover included this wonderful picture by Teah Kayla Collins, winner of the competition for Christmas card designs organised by the School of Music.

As you can see, Teah’s theme was Santa’s sleigh loaded with gifts. The musical references on the sleigh and the instruments as presents were obviously what caught the judge’s eyes.

Those of you in the know will recognise the challenging pieces that the band chose to play in the first part of the concert. Jazz suite number 2 by Shostakovitch in particular stretched the musicians. and the soloists.

The second part of the concert started with three villancicos (popular Spanish songs for Christmas), none of which we have heard before. The children from the school of music joined the band to form a choir.

The final number on the programme was the delightful medley of Christmas tunes arranged by Leroy Anderson which did in fact include ‘Jingle Bells’. The children joined in with the Spanish version of ‘Silent Night’ which to our ears sounded strange because you didn’t get the rhymes e.g. night and bright; child and mild.

Start your Christmas well

2011-12-18T08:53:00.001+01:00

I can find no mention of it on the Bigastro web site but I can tell you, from the programme for Santa Cecilia, that there will be a concert tonight at the Auditorium. It is, of course, a special concert for Christmas so we can expect a festive theme to it. I doubt they will be playing ‘Jingle Bells’ or ‘Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer’ but you never know. The concert starts at 6:30pm.

On Christmas Day there will be a choral concert at night and I think we can expect the odd villancico or two to be included in that programme.

Talking of singing, it is sad that this year Pam and I will not be joining with the ladies from the other Adult Education classes to sing a few carols to the children at Bigastrin. It had become a bit of a tradition that we enjoyed which, due to the collapse of our Spanish class, has now gone by the wayside.

Sick people

2011-12-18T08:32:00.001+01:00

When Pam’s father was Station Officer at Hoylake, they had a volunteer fireman who would go out onto nearby Caldy Hill and start fires deliberately in order to earn himself the callout fee. Strictly speaking, the fireman was not an arsonist but rather an opportunist. However, I have no doubt though that Pam’s father came across a number of true arsonists during his long career in the service.

In Torrevieja there is an arsonist or arsonists who have been responsible for lighting fires in the area of the salt lakes of Torrevieja and La Mata. The fire brigade reckon they are responsible for 40 fires over the last three years and may have been responsible for the fire there yesterday because it seems that the blaze started in three different locations.

In all 8,000 square metres of bush and cane were destroyed by the fire which was first detected at 11am and was brought under control by 1pm. The operation involved crews from Orihuela, Torrevieja and Almoradi along with the helicopter from the Provincial Fire Consortium in Alicante.

I have no idea what motivates people to start fires deliberately. However, I can imagine the cost of dousing the fire yesterday and although there was no risk to housing, there is always a risk factor for fire crews putting out a blaze.

Better stock up

2011-12-17T10:13:00.001+01:00

We know that the Valencia region is cash strapped and has huge debts that it can’t pay. One of those is to the chemists in the three provinces who are owed 60 million Euros for prescriptions they have already dispensed. This has put the whole system into jeopardy because the chemists owe that money to the drug companies that supply them and without payment, the drug companies will no longer supply the chemists.

In November, Valencia promised to make the payment on December 10th but now say that will have to be at the end of this month. The chemists have said that is unacceptable and have decided to go on strike for three days (December19th to December 21st). They have also said that they will have to ration medicines to patients who have chronic conditions in order to reduce their debt to the drug companies.

Am I glad?

2011-12-16T10:32:00.000+01:00

We escaped the British weather on Tuesday, a day that was supposed to be stormy but turned out to be sunny with just a light wind to cool things down.

Since then, things have got worse for Britain and this morning there are heavy snowfalls throughout much of the country. I just got an email from Dave (my daughter's fiancee) with a picture of the tram station. You can see the snow drifting down onto the tracks - not enough to stop the tram to work running but enough to make the journey miserable.

Last year, we visited the UK for Molly's first Christmas and faced some very cold wintery weather with roads covered in snow and ice. We did not want to repeat that experience again this year which is why we chose to visit a little earlier. As it was, we had a mix of sunshine, heavy rain, sleet and a cold biting wind. That was bad enough - snow would have just about seen us off. We don't do snow anymore!

Smell the coffee

2011-12-16T09:33:00.003+01:00

How on earth are we going to get out of this crisis when our politicians can’t even talk to each other.

I know that many Brits joke about not liking the French but this is no time for the leaders of both countries to engage in a war of words. Britain has decided to veto the new EU treaty and France does not like that. It is likely that France will be downgraded from its tripe A credit status which will affect the countries ability to borrow money. The French say that is not fair and that Britain should be downgraded first: Britain naturally thinks otherwise.

In the meantime The United States and China are engaged in a tit-for-tat trade battle. China has decided to put a tariff on high performance US cars and in retaliation the US says that China ignores trade rules, subsidises its own companies, discriminates against foreign companies and has poor intellectual property protection. Interestingly, most of the things Pam and I have bought recently from clothes to It equipment have come from China. It seems that nowhere else in the world is either capable of making anything or, more to the point, everywhere else the cost of production is too expensive. I bet a lot of the things Yankees buy come from China as well!

The reason we got into this crisis is because we all became too greedy. We wanted more than anyone else, paid ourselves more, borrowed more, bought more and now we are licking our wounds. That is the reason why China is doing so well, they didn’t get greedy but that might not last.

Unless countries work together in agreement, the economic crisis will just get worse for all of us. Those countries that think they are immune and don’t need to contribute to the solution will go down with the rest. As my wife would say, “wake up world and smell the coffee”.

Back in Bigastro

2011-12-14T10:27:00.001+01:00

Pam and I had a wonderful eight day trip to England. The weather might have been mostly rubbish but the company was brilliant.

First off we visited the Wirral and stayed in Heswall. That allowed us to do some shopping for presents and clothes in Chester. Whilst the shopping in Liverpool might have been more varied, Chester is compact and is just a magical place to be at Christmas. Sods law though, two days after I bought myself some new togs, Marks & Spencer had a 25% off men’s clothing day!

Whilst on the Wirral, Pam and I took the opportunity to catch up with some of the people that she worked with and got to know in her years as an infant teacher at Pensby. We also met up with our ex neighbours - Hugh, Angela and Andrew to see how their new kitchen was coming on.

Hugh and Angela’s new kitchen is fabulous and will make cooking for them that much easier and more pleasant. Both Andrew and Hugh are keen chefs and so had a very clear idea of what they wanted in the new layout. I’d say they got it just perfect. Andrew writes “the Redline Kitchen” blog about the food they prepare which has been in abeyance for a few weeks. I eagerly await reading about the first dish from their new kitchen. After checking out the work in the kitchen we all went for a wonderful meal at the Manor Farm in Greasby.

We visited Pam’s father a couple of times, to take him some new clothes and of course chocolates. It was good to see him looking well and he did remember who we were. He even remembered who Jemma was after a little prompting and remarked that her hair was a different colour (she was blonde when he knew her). The home where he is staying is just so good, they care for him better than we could hope for.

Having done all we wanted to do on the Wirral, Pam and I then moved on to Sale. This time we stayed at the Premier Inn near Manchester airport because that was where the best deal was. It is only twenty minutes away from Laura and Dave’s house and so was reasonably convenient.

Our eldest daughter, Jemma came up from Wolverhampton to spend the weekend with us and cooked us a special pre- Christmas meal on the Saturday. It was good to spend some time with her. Since Molly has been born we have spent very little time at Jemma’s house and we do feel guilty about that. Having a granddaughter is obviously a distraction but it does not alter the love we share with both of our daughters.

However, the highlight of the trip was seeing Molly. Pam and I were held up on the way over to Sale and so Molly had to be patient and look at the large box wrapped in Christmas paper, which stood before her for two hours - she knew it was a present for her! As we walked into the house, there was Molly bouncing with joy, her arms wide open, waiting to give me a great big hug and a kiss. Even the hardest man’s heat would melt at such a greeting.

The formalities of greetings over, Molly got on with tearing the paper off that big box to find her present inside. We are pleased to say that she loved the kitchen we’d bought her and played with it for hours making us cups of tea, cooking pasta and baking cakes.

All too soon, it was time for us to fly back home. It is good to be back in the sun in our own home but we will miss being with our family at least for awhile that is. Hopefully, we will get to chat with Molly and Dave this afternoon on Skype. And as for Jemma – we must make more of an effort to Skype you as well.

Lola Lorente

2011-12-14T09:20:00.001+01:00

Lola Lorente will be presenting her book of cartoon drawings, Blood of my blood at the Auditorium on December 21st at 8:30pm.

At the presentation she will explain the theme of the book and how it came about. I will be there with my camera of course.

Pam and I were delighted to be given a copy of the book by Lola’s brother Rafa. It is a delightful book of the most carefully crafted drawings which tell a fascinating story. To say that it is a true work of art is the least, many hours of work have one into producing this book which we hope will sell thousands of copies and make Lola fabulously wealthy as a result.

Enough already

2011-12-10T12:11:00.001+01:00

The break in the appalling weather was short lived. The wind has dropped but the rain keeps coming and going and it is darned cold. Worse though is forecast as the storm that battered Scotland is set to return at the start at next week. That is not good news because we are due to fly back home on Tuesday. At best we will have a bumpy take off from Manchester.

Good old British weather

2011-12-09T17:32:00.001+01:00

As I said, it rained hard the day we arrived. Then the wind picked up to gale force but fortunately the rain stopped. Now the wind has calmed, the rain and sleet has returned.

The weather on the Wirral was bad enough, on the way over to Manchester it was worse. It is hard to get used to darkness falling at 3pm in the afternoon!

Good old Ronald

2011-12-07T15:53:00.001+01:00

I am not prepared to pay the £5 per hour that Premier Inn charges for a wifi connection. That is just robbery! Instead I’ve taken advantage of a shopping trip to Chester to call in at McDonalds where you get a wifi connection free of charge.

I could have been dead cheeky and just sat down but no, I have bought a Big Mac and a coffee to pay for the service.

By the way, in case you were wondering about the weather here; when we arrived on Monday, it poured with rain and the journey over to the Wirral was just awful. The gritters were out on the motorway and it was sleeting. On the WIrral though, things were much better. It has been mainly dry since if a touch windy! Good old Briish winters are a constant reminder of one of the reasons why we moved to Spain.

Lo siento

2011-12-06T10:48:00.001+01:00

As some of you will know, we are in the UK at the moment making a pre-Christmas visit to family and friends.

We are staying in a Premier Inn where I have two choices for an internet connection; either I pay £5 for 60 minutes of wifi or I use my Vodafone dongle. The only issue with the dongle is that it is picking up a GRPS signal rather than a 3G. FOr the benefit of those who don’t know, GPRS is slow, very slow.

More on Clarkson

2011-12-04T10:28:00.001+01:00

Humour takes many different forms; some of which could be described as offensive. What some find downright funny, others find sickening and distasteful. Personally, I don’t particularly care for those types of humour that make fun of minorities, disabilities, and people in unfortunate circumstances. However there are those that do.

As I said the other day, I enjoy watching Clarkson, May and Hammond on Top Gear and take a lot of what they say with a huge pinch of salt. For me, they are at their best when they are making fun of themselves. However, there have been many times when their humour has been directed elsewhere.

Jeremy Clarkson and his co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May have a history of making comments and causing offence.

Clarkson and James May got into hot water when they parked their electric cars in disabled parking bays.
On a show broadcast in January 2011 Hammond joked that Mexican cars reflected national characteristics, saying they were "just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat". May chipped in by describing Mexican food as "like sick with cheese on it" and Clarkson predicted they would not get any complaints about the show because "at the Mexican embassy, the ambassador is going to be sitting there with a remote control like this (snores). They won't complain, it's fine". In fact they did complain.
Then it was the turn of Albanians: Clarkson said, "Apparently, what happens is Albanians go to England, get a job, buy a car and then bring it back with them," In the programme he and co-presenters May and Richard Hammond went to the east European country ostensibly to road-test cars for a mafia boss. One prerequisite was that the boot should be large enough to hold a dead body.
Clarkson described the Ferrari F430 Speciale as "a bit wrong ... that smiling front end ... it looked like a simpleton ... [it] should have been called the 430 Speciale Needs".
Clarkson told Top Gear magazine that TV bosses were obsessed with having "black Muslim lesbians" on shows to balance out the numbers of white heterosexual men. "The problem is that television executives have got it into their heads that if one presenter on a show is a blond-haired, blue-eyed heterosexual boy, the other must be a black Muslim lesbian. Chalk and cheese, they reckon, works. But here we have Top Gear setting new records after six years using cheese and cheese. It confuses them."
At the Edinburgh TV festival, Clarkson told an audience of media types that women were often pushed to the front of the Top Gear studio audience so they were seen behind the presenters. "We get 500 people coming to the show each week and most of them are oafs," he said. "Who would you rather have in our shots?" But he added it would be a "disaster" to have a female presenter on the show. "I think a girl would be a disaster, seeing the chemistry we have now," he said. "You bring a girl in and you start taking the piss out of her, that would look like bullying.
Clarkson made a rare personal apology after comparing Gordon Brown to Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd during a tour of the country. "It's the first time I've ever seen a world leader [Rudd] admit we really are in deep shit," Clarkson was reported as saying, of a speech by the then Australian PM about the depth of global financial crisis in 2009. "He genuinely looked terrified. Poor man, he's actually seen the books. We have this one-eyed Scottish idiot who keeps telling us everything's fine and he's saved the world and we know he's lying, but he's smooth at telling us."
In an item about lorries on Top Gear, Clarkson said to the other presenters: "What matters to lorry drivers? Murdering prostitutes? Fuel economy?" A few minutes later Clarkson added: "This is a hard job [driving a lorry] and I'm not just saying this to win favour with lorry drivers: change gear; change gear; change gear; check your mirrors; murder a prostitute … "
The BBC2 show was actually told off by the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee for showing Clarkson and May drinking gin and tonics while driving during a Polar special.
And he insulted the Germans by saying; for a picnic you’d want the Germans to make the hamper and the Italians to prepare the food adding that you would not want the Germans to make the food.

When Oxford Brookes University wanted to offer Clarkson an honorary degree, there was a massive protest. He was described as a moron who spouts ignorant and antisocial rubbish, a dangerous philistine who displays and alarming lack of intelligence. They cited comments from him e.g. describing ramblers as ‘urban communists’ and cyclists as ‘Lycra Nazis’. In spite of all the protest, the university awarded Clarkson the degree.

Just to prove his eccentricity, he has apparently questioned why Britain has so many hills, proposed that great white sharks should be eaten to distinction, got excited at the thought of Birmingham covered in a glacier, he rammed a car into a tree and drove up Ben Togue in a 4x4.

About global warming, Clarkson said, "What's wrong with global warming? We might lose Holland but there are other places to go on holiday."

Clarkson did apologise for the comments he made about striking workers on Wednesday.

However, in the same show, he also made comments about people who commit suicide by throwing themselves in front of trains and has now reiterated those comments in his column in the Sun newspaper. He says they are being selfish because they cause delays to passengers and adds that they could scar the poor train driver for life. The article then moves into the realms of extreme bad taste when Clarkson says that ‘foxy woxy and the birds’ should be left to ‘nibble’ at the ‘gooey parts’ of people who die by jumping in front of trains. Understandably, that has caused a lot of complaints from Mental Health groups who are baying for his blood.

Of course, none of Clarkson's comments would matter if they were not widely publicised both on television and in the newspapers. Whilst we might complain about the remarks that he makes, without the media, nobody would care what he said. The truth is, we like someone like Clarkson to rant about. It does us good to vent our spleen about his latest outrageous comments - he knows that and so does the media which is why they pay him so much to write such rubbish.

As for Clarkson; he should have the intelligence to know that, “once you have been shot, you keep your head below the parapet - at least until you know that it is safe to show your face again.”

A legacy of problems

2011-12-03T11:43:00.001+01:00

In an article published in the newspaper Laverdad, the mayor of Bigastro Charo Bañuls says that the method of payment used by the previous council for the work on Avenida Apatel was illegal. The money was coming from the Government under the Feil Plan E scheme and so they should not have issued promissory notes. The lady mayor explains that promissory notes are normally only used for transactions between individuals. From my understanding, the company involved, Pastor Medina were only paid 30% of the cost of the work.

The article goes on to say that one of the notes to Pastor Medina was signed on the 11th April due to be paid on the 11th May. In spite of the fact that the council would have received the money from the Government on the 5th May, no payment was made. The lady mayor says that this signals deceit on the part of the previous administration to the government ministry involved.

The current council are also in difficulty because the previous council left them with promissory notes to suppliers dated from June to December which amount to 1,527,187 Euros -again an amount which they say cannot legally be paid.

I confess that my limited Spanish makes it difficult for me to understand completely the issues raised in the article. However, I get the impression from what I have read that none of this is good. Whether the present administration would have been able to act differently in the circumstances is a question that I am sure the previous mayor will ask. In fairness, the Socialists, who were in power, stood between a rock and a hard place.

I’ll take a look at that

2011-12-03T10:14:00.001+01:00

The Department of Culture and the University Miguel Hernández in Elche, invites us to visit an exhibition of paintings entitled “Look” in the multipurpose room of the Municipal Auditorium. The exhibition will run from the 5th to the 21st of December 21. Hours of opening are from 16:30 to 20:30.

Sweet justice

2011-12-02T09:24:00.004+01:00

There is a tradition of throwing sweets to children from floats during the various parades that take place in Spain; it happens during fiestas and also when the Three Kings parade on the 6th January. There is of course always the potential for a badly aimed sweet, especially a hard one, to hit someone and cause injury. No doubt it has happened many times over the years.

In fact, I read in the Telegraph newspaper this morning about a lady who was hit in the eye during such a parade in the Huelva province of southern Spain. The lady subsequently made a complaint about Balthazar, who threw the sweet, and the case went to court.

The magistrate was very clever, he ruled that it was not possible to prosecute a foreign dignitary of unknown origin. He went on to say that the court would need to establish the true nationality of Balthazar before the rules of international law could be applied. All that is known is that the three wise men came from the east which of course covers quite a few countries and states.

Although everyone knows that the Three Kings are in fact local people dressed up, the case was brought specifically against Balthazar because the lady obviously did not know the true identity of the person in the costume.

Here in Spain, people seem to be made accountable for their own actions much more so than they are in Britain. If you trip on a pavement here it is because you were not looking where you were going rather than an act of negligence on the council’s part. By the same token, if you go to watch the Three Kings parade, you expect them to throw sweets so you either apply a bit of caution or you stay well back out of harms way.

The magistrate was right, it would be sad if the practice of throwing sweets to children during parades was banned. Actually, I doubt that there will be much sweet throwing this year in cash strapped municipalities like Bigastro.

Keeping you up to date

2011-12-01T10:28:00.002+01:00

I contacted Aurelio Murcia, the councillor for education, last Wednesday regarding the issues that we were having with the Spanish class he had organised for us. He is fully aware of the problems and has asked me to tell all members of the class that there will be no class today.
Aurelio told me this morning that he will try and find a more suitable person to teach us and let me know when that happens.

Since I have heard nothing from our classmate regarding alternative Spanish lessons with Eduardo, I am assuming those will not happen.

I will, of course keep you informed of developments.

UPDATE ON THAT

It seems I was wrong, the classes with Eduardo will go ahead on Tuesdays and Fridays and the cost for two hours will be 5 Euros per person. As far as I can gather, three people have already signed up for the classes which will take place in the apartment of one of the members who lives in Jacarilla. As I have said before, Pamela and I will not be taking part.

Engage brain before mouth

2011-12-01T07:57:00.001+01:00

I regularly watch back episodes of the BBC programme,Top Gear on the Discovery channel and whilst I enjoy most of the antics of Clarkson, May and Hammond, I do get irritated by some of the comments they make about cars. To tell viewers that an Alfa Romeo will fall to bits and is not even good to drive but then suggest that none of this matters and we should all buy one because of its looks seems crazy. It is alright for people who have more money than sense to waste it on cars that are totally impracticable but for the rest of us, we need something reliable, comfortable and sensible – the very cars that the three presenters enjoy deriding.

I cannot for the life of me see the point in cars that are capable of jaw breaking acceleration and top speeds three times the legal limit on roads, especially when they offer little by the way of comfort to the driver and worse still any passengers that can be squeezed in. If they were just meant for use on the track, that would at least make some sense but they are not. Many of these cars are supposedly intended for people to use as everyday transport on the road.

Leaving aside the business of car, there are also times when the three presenters overstep the mark with their comments about other matters as well. For example, I recall Clarkson getting into deep water over his remarks about Mexicans.

Not one to learn from his mistakes, it now seems that Clarkson has made comments about striking public sector workers. On the “One Show”, he apparently said that he would have them all shot and went to explain that he would take them outside and execute them in front of their families. As if that wasn’t enough, he later complained about the fact that the train to London regularly stopped at Reading because someone had jumped on the line. His suggestion was that the train should just carry on because stopping would not help the person dead on the track.

Jeremy Clarkson, who enjoys a £1m salary from the public sector, clearly thought he was being funny but unfortunately many have not seen it that way. To disagree with strike action is one thing but in the present mood of Britain, Clarkson’s remarks were at the very least insensitive. There may come a time when he needs the assistance of one of those striking nurses. If that happens, I hope they don’t remember what he said about them yesterday.

Try again

2011-11-30T12:17:00.001+01:00

Weather permitting, the stargazing session which was due to take place on the 3rd November has been re scheduled for Thursday 1st December.

Gale force winds and a very cloudy sky with a strong possibility of rain forced the postponement, hopefully the weather will be a lot kinder this Thursday.