Internet Explorer unsafe (again!)

Remember my neighbour who tried uninstalling Internet Explorer? Well he could have had good reason according to latest reports.

Microsoft have admitted that a serious flaw in security has left the majority of the world’s internet users exposed to attacks from hackers hoping to steal personal data and passwords.

A loophole in Internet Explorer (IE) allows criminals to commandeer victims’ PCs by tricking them into visiting unsafe websites.

It is thought that two million computers have already been affected as Microsoft conceded that 1 in 500 internet users may have been exposed.

Computer users are advised by some security experts to switch to an alternative internet browser, such as Firefox or Google Chrome, to avoid the hackers who have so far corrupted an estimated 10,000 websites.

Microsoft’s advice for Internet Explorer users

1. Keep your anti-virus up-to-date. Microsoft has circulated the definitions of these vulnerabilities to all the major anti-virus providers.

2. Reset Internet Explorer to run in protected mode. This is the default mode in Windows Vista but not XP or the earlier versions.

3. Set zone security to high.

4. Ensure Windows is updated. You can do this manually through Windows updater or set it to automatic updates.

Christmas has arrived

You can tell it is Christmas here in Bigastro.

• A lot of the shops have their windows decorated - there is normally a competition for the best dressed window but I haven't seen a notice about this. Still, you can see the enormous efforts that have been made even without the chance of a prize.
• There are lights all the way down the main street - this year's are particularly good (reminder to myself: must get down and take a few photos).
• The belen is set up in the Church Hall - well worth going to see.
• Father Christmases are climbing up walls throughout the town. Soon I imagine we will have him (along with a tiger and a basket of sweets)  sat outside the barbers on the road up from Purisima.
• There is a competition organised for the best Christmas reposteria.
• The students from the School of Music are presenting a Festival of Christmas in the Auditorium on Sunday 21st at 6pm.
• The children from the local primary schools will be presenting their nativity performances in the Auditorium.

Finally, students from the Adult Education classes (including our class) visited La Paz and Bigastrin schools to sing carols. This is now the third year that we have visited the schools to entertain the children in this way.

We normally sing a couple of Spanish "villancicos" followed by an English carol to each class in turn. This year, one of the Ukrainian students in our class finished our performance by singing a traditional song from the old country much to the delight of pupils, students, teachers and parents.

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve in Bigastro

Once again, the the Council of Celebrations, the Council of Youth and the Council of Culture are organising celebrations in the Parque Huerto de Cura on Christmas Eve and New Year's  Eve. The purpose is to save local youth from having to travel in their cars to neighbouring towns for their entertainment.

 

Christmas Eve- the party starts at 1am Christmas morning with local djs providing the music.

On New Year's Eve the party starts at midnight.

Bigastro Belen

The belen in Bigastro  was officially opened last Saturday, 13th of December with the help of a a group of students form the School of Music who sang carols.

This year's nativity scene, which  has taken two months to  construct, can be seen in the Parochial Hall (Plaza de la Constitución).

 

Not such a tall tale after all

Maybe Eduardo's story about the plague of rats in Bigastro wasn't too far fetched.

The economic crisis and the demise of the construction industry has brought about an increase in the rat population.  In  Alicante, for example, it is estimated that there are now 231,000 rats (roughly 0.7  of a rat per head of population).

It isn't just rats though that are a problem; there are mosquitoes, processional caterpillars and even bees to control.

At the school where I taught, we had a problem with rabbits that were breeding under the mobile classrooms. You wouldn't see them during the day when the children were in school but in the evenings and at the weekends they'd come out into the yard.

Our solution was to buy a gun. Of course we didn't tell the staff; nor did we tell the Headteacher and the Chair of Governors.

At the weekends, the site managers and the CDT technician would sit in wait for the little perishers to hop out from under the portacabins and then pop them off. Mondays they would let me know the score.

Maybe, instead of using all the gunpowder for Moors and Christian celebrations, they could use some of it to exterminate the rats.  

The surprise is saved

This week a new community directive on security of  toys will be approved by the European Parliament. It will prohibit placing incorrectly packaged toys  in nutritional products.

The aim of the directive is to prevent children from inadvertently swallowing and choking on the toys that are included in some food products.

The Spanish "roscón de Reyes" traditionally contains a surprise and a bean. The inclusion of the model of one of the three kings  could have fallen foul of the new directive.

The story behind the cake is that whoever gets the king in their piece wears the crown for the day and whoever gets the bean pays for the roscon. Spanish children know this and chew carefully on their slice of the cake '

So the traditional surprise  in  "roscón de Reyes"  has been  saved because it is not considered to be a toy. Just as well, we haven't got a full set of all three kings yet.

Help for the most needy

Local charities and the Eroski chain of supermarkets have developed a campaign to take care of the demands of most underprivileged over Christmas. 

In Orihuela, it is the Charity of the parish of Santiago who will be supplying the many families who seek aid with packages to cover their basic needs.

This venture will bring a little Christmas cheer to deserving cases.

To remain in prison

José Joaquín Moya has been deemed unfit to declare in court this morning. The ex-mayor of Bigastro was due to appear at the court of First Instance and Instruction number 3 in Orihuela to make his declaration on the investigation into the irregular hiring of workers by the City Council of Bigastro. This is a new investigations which is in addition to the other five crimes which he has already been accused of.

The ex-mayor is now suffering from bronchitis which adds to the medical problems that he had when he entered prison.

A nation driven by luck

You may have noticed that the Spanish are obsessed with lotteries. Apart from the blue shops that specialise in lotteries (Loterias y Apuestas del Estado), sellers roam the streets and bars offering tickets.

There are four different games to play throughout the week: La Loteria Nacional is played every Thursday and Saturday; the Bonoloto, is drawn every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; la Primitiva, is drawn every Thursday and Saturday and the large jackpot, El Gordo de la Primitiva, is drawn every Sunday.

Then there is the ONCE (Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos Españoles) lottery. Tickets for this are sold in the green kiosks. This is drawn daily with a larger jackpot on Fridays and Sundays. There are also special tickets for a monthly draw. The good thing about this lottery is that sale of the tickets provides useful income for thousands of disabled Spaniards.

Of all the different lotteries though, the best known is 'El Gordo' - the fat one at Christmas. El Gordo is a national obsession - with an incredible 98% of the population taking part in the draw which takes place on December 22nd. Numbers for El Gordo are prized, even reserved and passed down through generations.

Part of the reason so many play El Gordo , and the reason for it being one of the most famous lotteries in the world is due to the massive prize fund. Normally this is well over a billion Euros, with a jackpot of 20 million Euros. And you do have around 1-in-3 chance of picking up a prize as there are so many smaller prizes paid out, 30 to 40 thousand of them!

El Gordo tickets are confusing to those used to e.g. the National Lottery in England. You don't pick numbers in the traditional way, instead you buy ready printed tickets with numbers already on them.

Each ticket number is available in 10 'series' - that is, 10 lots of the same ticket number. El Gordo tickets are roughly the size of a sheet of paper, and are also split into 10 smaller tickets called 'decimas'. You can buy either the whole ticket of 10 decimas, or you can buy just part of the ticket. The amount of the prize you win obviously depends on how many decimas you bought. To win the entire prize allocated to any particular number you would need to have bought the whole 100 decimas. At 20 Euros for a decima this would not be cheap. It is therefore common for families and friends, even entire Spanish villages to pool their lottery money together to buy up their decimas and then share the prize money. Each person may have a one or two euro stake in the tickets.

It's also common to spread purchases buying a single decima across multiple different lottery ticket numbers which gives a better chances of winning in exchange for a smaller piece of the prize.

The draw, when it take place, is a very elaborate affair; broadcast on TV and watched by millions in homes and bars. Balls for all the numbers are placed in a huge machine and are drawn one by one with children singing the numbers as they come out. A second machine is used to allocate the prizes. With thousands of prizes to be won and about 85,000 numbers to be drawn from, this is a long process. When the big prizes keep people waiting until late in the draw, the suspense becomes electrifying.

For those who don't "touch" on El Gordo, there is a smaller second draw, El Niño, held on 6th January with a top prize in each series of 2 million €.

Wake up Britain and smell the coffee

The British government is facing a growing backlash over its rescue package for the economy after the pound slumped to below parity with the euro on British high streets and at airports for the first time since the single European currency was launched a decade ago.

Sterling's decline to a value of less than a euro, after commission charges, is seen by economists and opposition politicians as evidence of declining faith in the British economy on global currency markets. It is an important psychological moment.

Britain first doubted the euro would be launched, then whether it would survive, then whether it would ever become a serious currency. Today the euro is  the world's second currency after the dollar. The question is not if Britain will join, but when - and how many working lives and businesses will be wrecked by ideological opposition before it does

The Treasury last night refused to comment on the problems that sterling faces and said there was no prospect of entering the euro in the near future.

Official rates showed the pound was worth €1.11 yesterday. At its high point against the euro in May 2000, a pound was worth €1.746.

Finally completed

One of the tasks which we needed to complete whilst we were in the UK the Power of Attorney over Pam's father's financial affairs.

The solicitor, who dealt with Pam's mother's will,  recognised her father's failing memory and diminished capacity to handle his affairs and recommended him to appoint the pair of us to act as attorneys. 

That was in February 2007. In July of this year we decided to register the PoA with the Court of Protection and thus start the process off. It has taken us until now to complete that process. 

Along the way we have experienced the very best and worst examples of customer service from the various banks and building societies we have had to deal with. Possible the worst example was a letter asking for confirmation of identity; addressed to Pam's father and his departed wife and sent to our address in Spain. That was a crass error for which we still haven't received an apology.

Finally we have control over Pam's father's current account and can manage it online from here in Spain. We also have access to his various savings accounts so we can monitor those as well.

For those of you who have ageing parents, taking out Power of Attorney is a sensible course of action.  From our experience it is better taken out sooner rather than later because the process can be long and protracted.

Our trip to England

We usually visit England in December to see the girls and Pam's father and maybe (if time permits) catch up with some friends.

So that is where we have been for the last week.We stayed at Laura and Dave's house in Sale.

Laura and Dave only moved in last week so there were plenty of jobs for me to do. One job, which was down to BT, was to establish their ADSL connection. The fact that it wasn't done is why there haven't been any postings to this blog since last Friday.

The company in England was warm.

We had a fabulous time with Laura and Dave who looked after us very well. We were also pleased to see Pam's father who we are glad to say is well.

Whilst we were over visiting Pam's father, we took the opportunity to visit our great friends, Hugh, Angela and Andrew. We all went out to the local restaurant for a pre-Christmas meal which Hugh very naughtily paid for.

We also had a chance to catch up with our other daughter Jemma and her boyfriend Jamie.

Whilst the company was warm, that is more than you could say for the weather. When it was dry it was frosty but pleasant, when it rained it was just wet and miserable.

The worst thing we noticed was how few hours of daylight there were. That was something we had forgotten about . It wasn't light until about 8am and then started to go dark at 3pm - some days it was just dark all day. On those occasions we had the lights on in the house from the moment we got up to when we went to bed.

By the time it had got to Thursday, my joints were aching and I was coming down with a cold. I spent most of Friday daytime asleep getting over the awful night's sleep I'd just had which meant I missed an exhausting shopping trip into Manchester with Pam, Laura, Jemma and Jamie.

After that chilling experience, I won't be rushing back to England during Winter. Forget White Christmas - give me sunshine any day.

keithwilliamson.es

The eagle eyed ones amongst you may have noticed that two of my albums of photographs have new addresses. 2008 Fiesta for San Joaquin and Moors and Christians Orihuela.

That is because they are now located on the Bigastro digital web server. Thanks to a lot of hard work and patience from Germán Martín at the Ayuntamiento, I got it all working at last.

I had to register a another new domain though because BritishNIC were just not answering my requests for help and keithwilliamson.me.uk was just not working.

So I signed up with Loading , A Spanish company based in Orihuela.  Not only were they cheaper than BritishNIC , they set up the DNS redirections straight away. In less than 24 hours I was up and running.

For those of you who want a smart .es domain, I can highly recommend them. Sign up and you can have your own personalised email address along with your own web site address. You can forget hard to remember email addresses like  gazzab_304@hotmail.com and move onto something more memorable and personal.

PS In answer to your question - no I do not get commission from Loading. I just appreciate good service when I receive it.

Call for the pied piper

I think Eduardo is now well tuned into our sense of humour. In the early lessons he was quite formal,  perhaps even a little nervous. Now though he is quite relaxed and at ease with our banter.

Eduardo told us that a technician from the town hall was coming to the the school where we have our Spanish classes to see if it was possible to get the heating working again.

A man did arrive early on during yesterday's lesson and Eduardo went to meet with him. When Eduardo returned he told us it was not the heating technician he'd met. Our teacher went on to explain that the town was suffering from a plague of rats - millions was the number he quoted. The man that Eduardo had met was in fact putting new bait into the traps to try and catch some of them. 

We do know there are rats along with rabbits, snakes, pheasants etc in the countryside by our estate but I don't think there are millions of them.

It isn't just Eduardo that has a sense of humour. Saturday 6th is a national holiday -el Día de la Constitución. You will find posters in the bars in Bigastro advertising a Royal Wedding for that day (Boda Real). We understand there is to be a wedding in the church but the couple are not royalty - that part is just a joke.

Saviours of my car's suspension

As we drove down to the town this morning we slowed down to a crawl to negotiate the ridge across the road only to find that it had been filled in.

I'm told that David, Manni and George were the community minded trio who saved us all from serious damage to our cars.

Many thanks to the three of you. You've each earned a gold star.

 

Rubbing shoulders with the rich

If the lowest class of hotel in Spain is a hostal, then possibly the highest are the Paradors.

There are 81 of these hotels scattered throughout the country. Some are in major cities, others in places of natural  beauty or historical interest. Perhaps the most interesting are located in castles, palaces and  monasteries. They all offer a high standard of accommodation.

You might imagine that they are expensive and they are. However, the Paradors offer special deals which can make them affordable. For example:-

For 2009, guests 55 years and older can enjoy a 30% discount on the official rate on stays including room and breakfast. The discount is applied to all rooms with exception of suites and superior in certain Paradores.

Promotion dates
Valid from Jan 2nd to Dec 29th 2009, with the exception:
- Easter Week: April, 8th to 12th (both inclusive)
- May, 1st and 2nd (b.i.)
- October, 9th - 11th (b.i.)
- December, 4th - 7th (b.i.)

Conditions of use
A limited number of rooms are available for this promotion. This promotion may not be used in conjunction with other discounts or special prices, and is subject to availability. Nor is it valid for groups.

Even if you are not contemplating a visit to one of these hotels, it is well worth having a look a them - just Google "Paradors" to find several sites.

They must be optimists

The Partido Popular (PP)  in Orihuela voted in favour of allowing 2,570 new homes to be built in the PAU7 area of Villamartin at last week’s full council meeting. Some 650 of these homes will be ‘protected’ social homes.

The move to develop this area of Villamartin was mooted shortly after last year’s municipal elections, despite promises from the Mayor, Monica Lorente, that no further development would take place in Orihuela Costa. The plans have now been formally adopted into the Partial Plan by the 14 PP councillors in Orihuela.

The opposition councillors, voted against the plan, stating that there is no market demand for additional housing, and that there is insufficient water supply to service this new development.

It is all well and good approving plans for more houses but who in their right mind would build them and who would buy them? When you see existing building sites deserted and existing houses that have been on the market for nearly two years, you realise that there is no longer the demand in this area that there was.

With unemployment at record levels, local buyers are thin on the ground. Other nationals are facing the same gloomy prospect.

In any case, with the euro at 1.162 to the pound, British buyers for example, would be insane to even contemplate buying a house in Spain at the moment. Just to illustrate the point; if we were buying our house at the current rates, it would cost us £47,000 more than it did in 2004.

Sob sob

The pound plunged yesterday, with its overall value tumbling to its lowest for 13 years, as another spate of dire economic news left markets convinced that the Bank of England will order a further, drastic cut in interest rates today.

A further one-point drop in official base rates would take them to 2 per cent, the same  level that it was in 1951. A  more radical cut of 1.5 points, for the second month in a row, would put the Bank into uncharted territory, taking rates to their lowest in its history which stretches back to 1694.

The fall in the pound has caused the exchange rate to drop to 1.162 euros to the pound. This just had to happen on the very day when my pension was transferred to our Spanish bank account. I now have almost 270€ less to spend per month than I had last year in spite of  an increase in my pension.

What is desperately needed is for the European bank to cut its rate to bring the stronger euro in line with the pound. That would make my New Year brighter!

Cheapest ever music

The price of music just got cheaper with the introduction of Amazon's online download service which was launched yesterday.

Singles from Amazon are 20p cheaper than on Apple’s iTunes website.

There are other bargains to be had for example,  Take That’s new album, The Circus, is reduced to just £3, despite only being released on Monday.

The US shopping giant obviously wants to take a bite out of Apple’s dominance of online song sales.

Better still, the three million MP3s on Amazon’s UK website also have no Digital Rights Management. This means the tunes will work on any MP3 player — including Apple iPods and iPhones — and can be copied to CDs.

To download complete albums you need to first install the Amazon MP3 Downloader which queues up all songs from an album for download, saves them all to a specific folder on your computer, and can import them automatically to your iTunes or Windows Media Player library.

There are those who still prefer to go out and buy a CD in the belief that the sound quality will be much better. I suppose if you have a few grands worth of Hi-FI equipment that might be true. After all, there are people who still prefer their music on vinyl because they feel that the analogue format is truer to the original source of the music.

Buying online is certainly a lot more convenient than trudging out to the shops only to find that the CD you want is sold out.

The files are on mp3.amazon.co.uk.

Is nothing sacred?

Those of you who are intent on saving a few bob by sending ecards rather than the real thing beware. It might cost you more than the price of a stamp.

Websense Labs claims to have detected the first piece of seasonal malware.

The campaign masquerades as an electronic Christmas greetings card from postcards.org. The email shows an animated Christmas scene, but links through to a file called postcard.exe that leads to a Trojan backdoor that's been used in previous malicious spam campaigns.

If executed, the file could grant hackers access to resources on the infected machine, via an IRC session.

Victims are shown a picture of a Christmas tree during the installation process in an almost laughable attempt to distract their attention.

The malware writers clearly have their fingers on the economic pulse, with e-card sites aggressively promoting their services as a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional Christmas cards this year.

Any ecards that you get from me will have come from the excellent Jacquie Lawson collection. I can guarantee that you will not risk any virus, trojan horse or any other malware infection by opening one of my cards.

Smile the dentist

Who would have thought that a visit to the dentist could be enjoyable - even fun?

Whenever we go to Smile we are greeted by our first names and a welcome. It is more like a relationship between friends than client and dentist. 

We visited Tor, our dentist, in Torrevieja this morning. On the counter at reception was a candle burning alongside a Christmas tree. There were also Smile chocolates and on the other side of reception was a bowl of mulled wine along with biscuits.

Whilst I was waiting to see Tor, one of their other clients was called in to see the lady dentist. She greeted her client with a hug and a kiss and they went off to the surgery holding hands. From our past experience that is not unusual - she always greets clients who she knows well in the same way.

Thankfully Tor didn't greet me with a kiss but he did make me feel welcome. After my consultation, Tor shook my hand, wished me Merry Christmas and gave me more chocolates.

If only the dental clinic in the UK had shown the same attitude, Tor would have had a lot less work to do putting right years of neglect.

I know this sounds weird but we genuinely look forward to our visits to the aptly named Smile clinic.

To all our readers

Thank you for reading our blog and for your support during the year.

We hope you have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo

Gala

The Asociación de Familiares de Enfermos de Alzheimer in  Bigastro and  the Concejalía de Bienestar Social have organised a gala.

The Beatriz Arce School of Dance will be performing  next Sunday, the 7th of December at 7pm in the Auditorio Municipal "Francisco Grau".

Those of you who attend are asked to donate 5€ to the cause.

Feedback

I met one of our neighbours this morning who told me he'd subscribed to the Bigastel wi-fi system I wrote about on the 24th October.

My neighbour was very pleased so far: he said that the speed of connection is very consistent - something that you cannot say for all Internet providers.

My neighbour had opted for the telephone package and is very pleased with the phone service so far. He told me that call quality is good and clear with none of the delays that you sometimes experience with VoIP telephony.

I hate poor service

Germán at the Ayuntamiento in Bigastro kindly offered me web space on the town's web server to host my photograph albums.

I already have  a limited amount of free web space on a server based in India but in this case Germán is offering me access to their Plesk control panel which would allow me to set up separate addresses for each album. All I had to do was register a domain name and point that to the addresses of the Plesk panel.

I registered a new domain with the company I used to register thewilliamsons.me.uk, got the DNS addresses from Germán to redirect the account to and placed a request with British NIC to redirect the domain.

That is where I am stuck. British NIC claim to answer requests within 24 hours but four days later my domain is still not directing to the Plesk control panel. I've made two requests o their support team which I'm waiting for a reply to.

It isn't life and death of course but don't you find it frustrating when companies don't deliver what they promise to do?

I would have been better off using a Spanish company I found on the net who would have redirected the DNS addresses straight away. Not only that but it would have cost me 6€ less for the two year's registration.

Traps for the unwary

There are one or two (well quite a few actually) potholes in the roads around Bigastro - some quite deep. When you remember, it is easy to avoid them. When you don't, you risk a nasty jolt and the possibility of damaging your suspension!

There is one which is impossible to avoid. It is where the workmen cut across the road down into the village by the finca San Raphael.

When the workmen  finished the job it was filled in with gravel and soil  but with rain etc it is now a deep rut across the road which you have to negotiate with care.

It would only take a few barrow loads of large gravel to fill it and make it safe to cross.  Hopefully someone will take the initiative to do that before it gets any worse.

Weather watch

Eight provinces in Spain are on alert for snow and wind until Wednesday.  For today, the State Agency of Meteorología (AEMET) is predicting light snow on land over 400-600 metres in the north and over 500-800 metres in the rest of the country with  strong winds in the Balearics and the Eastern Cantabrian coast.

There is a high risk of snow in Pontevedra, Asturias, Cantabria, in the three provinces of the Basque Country, Jaén and Granada and weak showers are predicted for the coasts of Galicia and Cantabrian, the north  of Navarre, Estrecho, Ceuta and Melilla.

The temperatures will stay stay the same with  moderate frosts in the mountain zones of the North.

Overwhelming support

Over a thousand people braved the rain and the cold yesterday in Bigastro to pay tribute to the ex-mayor, José Joaquín Moya. Members of Moya's family were there along with present councillors and the others who had been imputed with him.

The organisers of the rally were keen to stress that this wasn't about his innocence or guilt but rather about a recognition of the 25 years of work and the dedication that Moya had shown in building Bigastro into the town that it is.

There were several placards including the one in the one in the photograph which reads, "Moya, we recognise your work for Bigastro".

The speakers said many who criticised Moya had received help from him and now repaid that with ingratitude. They complained that some people have condemned him without waiting for a judgment. The speakers pointed out that in his 25 years as mayor, Moya had placed Bigastro at the forefront of towns in the Vega Baja with its superb services and infrastructure. Whether he is guilty of the crimes that are being investigated does not negate all that hard work, effort and dedication.

In conclusion the crowd shouted "¡Viva Moya!".

Interesting conversations

There is not much point in learning a new language if you are not going to  use it. It's all very well using the Spanish you know to get you by in shops, bars and restaurants; the real challenge comes when you engage with native speakers in a conversation.

On those occasions you don't have the time to compose what you want to say in your head beforehand, you have to think on your feet. The trick of course is to think in the language you are using. Thinking in English and then trying to make a translation just doesn't work.

Of course it helps if the person you are talking to is sympathetic to the fact that you are still at the learning stage.  If they understand this,  then they will speak slowly using words that you should be familiar with.

Two recent occasions come to mind:

Last week we took Pamela's wool coat to the dry cleaners in Bigastro. We've take a few items there before so the lady in the shop recognised us. The shop attendant is keen to expand her English and was more than happy to have a conversation with us.

I can't say we understood everything she said but we got most of it. To help us out, our new friend was gracious enough to speak slowly and  re-phrase anything we didn't understand. She was particularly keen to know about our lives in Bigastro and wanted to know why we had chosen to live here rather than the more usual destinations for English immigrants.

Then, whilst we were waiting outside Hiperber last Tuesday, I had a conversation with Eduardo our teacher. The pair of us covered quite a few different topics ranging from a comparison of shopping in Bigastro with shopping in England to the problems we face with the poor exchange rate. I'd like to think that we both understood each other even if my use of Spanish grammar was a little incorrect.

I think we can fairly say, without appearing immodest, that we are making good progress. We still have a long way to go though!

Santa Cecilia

Last night, La Sociedad Unión Musical de Bigastro presented its concert in honour of the patron saint of musicians, Santa Cecilia who they describe as their "employer".

Before the concert began there was a series of photographs and video clips of musical activities in the town projected onto the stage curtain. It was a graphic reminder of the number of musicians there are in Bigastro and the importance that music plays in their lives.

As if to demonstrate the point further; 16 new musicians were welcomed into the band, each receiving their lapel pin and certificate. Included in the sixteen were two young English men Christopher Riley (tenor sax) and Jake McFarlane (trumpet).

Once the new musicians had found their places; the concert then began with "A Festival Prelude" by Alfred Reed. This was followed by "Concerto d'Amore " by Jacob de Haan.

The band then moved on to three compositions by Spanish authors:

"Katuska" by Pablo Sorazabal, "Un noche en Calatayud" by Pablo Luna and the pasadoble "Vuelta al Ruedo" by Eloy Garcia.

As an encore they played one of Francisco Grau's pasadobles.

Although Pam and I are no great lovers of classical music, we do enjoy the concerts by La Sociedad Unión Musical de Bigastro. For the most part they play compositions designed to appeal to a wide audience.

Last night was no exception. The music the band chose was good to listen to especially when it was being performed by such an accomplished group of musicians.

Thank you once again Bigastro for a great evening's entertainment.

PS You can find out about the band and its activities by following the link in the left hand sidebar of by clicking here.

British TV on a smaller dish

Digital Satellite Systems are advertising the availability of high definition TV in Torrevieja and surrounding areas on a 1.4m size dish. The company say they can do this because of advanced antenna technology.

Digital Satellite Systems claims, that with this system, you can pick up BBC, ITV, CH4, CH5, SKY, Movie channels, Entertainment channels, News channels, Children's channels plus over 200 TV and radio channels without subscription.

The cost installed is 995€. For more information call Paul on 96 585 2251.

A sorry tale

Stanley Chinman and his partner's story could become all too familiar.

They sold their property in the UK and moved to Spain to find their new home in 2007, deciding to take their time in order to buy the right house. They used the services of a real estate agent and after visiting several sites decided to buy a detached villa off-plan, which should have been completed by December 31, 2007.

The Urbanización Paola IV near VillasMaría II in San Miguel de Salinas was promoted by Costa Blanca Baleares, built by the local Unión Promotora Torrevieja SL and sold through Atlas International.

They rented an apartment in Orihuela Costa until their home was finished and bought most of the furniture and white goods for their new home. However, the first problems turned up very quickly. They had to replace their villa for another more expensive design when they discovered a two-storey property would be built in front of theirs and they would miss out on their views.

In June, six months late,  they were informed by Atlas International that the property was finished and they could move in after completing. However when  they visited the site, the house had no windows, the walls had not been fully plastered and the kitchen was not in.

Their solicitor advised them not to complete until the habitation certificates had been issued by the town hall. Only four owners have moved onto the urbanisation and they are living on the builder's supply of power and water.

In a further blow Mr Chinman and his partner have now been informed that the builder, Unión Promotora Torrevieja, has applied for voluntary suspension of payments, which has now been accepted by the mercantile court. Creditors had been given a month to apply.

The couple are afraid that if they pay the builder, they will have to live on a building site for many years, as has happened on several urbanisations in Orihuela Costa. Mr Chinman's partner is also worried the water and the electricity could be cut off anytime as the company is in suspension of payments.

It looks like the Los Altos de la Pedrera development here at Villas Andrea is in the same situation. Some of the houses are occupied whilst others stand awaiting completion. There has been no sign of work on the site since July.

The crackdown continues

All illegal properties in Valencia province will have to be listed according to a tough new measure launched by the environment prosecutor's office. The aim is to clamp down on houses built outside the law and to end the immunity they have enjoyed until now.

Local councils in the 265 towns will be required to audit and draw up a list of all properties built within protected areas or sites classed as not suitable for construction. If the owners of these properties have paid any of the bills demanded for legal buildings, such as the IBI, or property tax, that would prove that the town hall was aware of the building, and hence would place the council in a guilty light.

The environment prosecutor's office currently numbers 4,000 homes built on rustic land throughout Valencia province, although with this new investigation the figure is expected to increase dramatically. Once all the illegal properties have been pinpointed, the department will zero in on the town halls and the hands behind the projects.

"We will not let a single property that is infringing the law slip by," warned the department, promising an arduous but thorough task that could see many more councillors and town hall officials in the dock.

No gain without pain

When we had our Spanish classes at the secondary school, I.E.S. Miguel Hernández it was cold in the winter. The heating, that had been on all day for the pupils, was turned off when they left. However, the residual heat and a cup of coffee half way through the lesson kept us going.

Now we are in the old building of the C.P. San José Calasanz. The heating system in this building has been disconnected. Where the radiators should be there are just blanked off pipes. It wasn't too bad in October when the classes started but now, in November, it is freezing cold.

The other adult classes are held elsewhere, presumably somewhere warmer, otherwise the older ladies that attend them would walk out in protest.

If the weather doesn't improve we will have to resort to wearing thick coats, scarves, gloves and boots for our lessons.

The pot man in Bigastro

During a routine vehicle check in Bigastro, Guardia Civil officers observed a man in a vehicle who braked suddenly and then stepped on the accelerator, speeding past them.

Five hundred metres down the road, the driver got out of the car and ran off on foot. When officers searched the vehicle, they discovered plastic bags containing 900 grams of hashish.

Once the driver heard he had been identified, the 31-year-old Moroccan handed himself in to the police in Jacarilla.

If the local police had been involved - would it have been described as a "joint operation"?

Another confused driver

Confusion seems to be commonplace in San Vicente del Raspeig .

In another incident, a 70 year old man was spotted by the Guardia Civil driving down the wrong lane of the AP-77 near the San Vicente del Raspeig  exit close to Alicante airport.

The man claimed he had become confused at the Busot junction and had turned down the wrong lane. That meant he'd travelled in the wrong direction for 10 kilometres passing through two tunnels on the way.

Luckily there was very little traffic about at 10pm on Tuesday night.

It is what we all do when we are lost

Local Police officers were routinely monitoring pupils arriving at Principe de España Primary School in Rojales when they noticed a man in a white van who appeared to be watching the children.

Suspecting something was wrong, the police officers approached the van and were astonished to see the driver, a 32-year-old man, naked from the waist down. Upon seeing the officers, he immediately began putting on his clothes.

When the officers demanded an explanation, the man, who was a travelling salesman from San Vicente del Raspeig, nervously answered that he was making deliveries in the Bigastro and Benejuzar area when he lost his way.

The man was arrested and taken to Almoradi police station. It remains unclear why the man decided to undress just because he got lost. You can draw your own conclusions - I already have.

Helping others

Blood

The Valencian Community Centre for Transfusions along with the Council of Health in Bigastro have organised another day when you can donate blood.

Those of you who can spare a pint (or is it half a litre) need to call down to the Centro de Salud (C/ Tomás Villanueva) on Friday, 12th of December between 5pm and 8:30.

and bingo

The Council of Social welfare along with with the Association of Progressive Women of Bigastro have organised a Beneficial Bingo session in aid of the Association of Disabled "La Pedrera".

It will be "eyes down and look in" on Sunday, 14th of December at 5pm in the Sala Polivalente at the Auditorium Francisco Grau.

I wonder if the call "dos señoras gordas".

Protest

Townspeople in Bigastro have been asked to sign a petition for the release of José Joaquín Moya , the ex-mayor of the town, who was sent to prison on the 31st October. So far they have over 900 signatures.

On Sunday at 1pm people are asked to gather in front of the town hall in recognition of the 25 years of work that  José Joaquín Moya put in to develop the town. Once assembled, the gathering will then process along the  streets.

So far the present members of the council have not been asked join in because the protest is meant to be non political.

In the meantime the Guardia Civil are still collecting evidence related to the crimes that Moya has been accused of.

A weighty problem

The Mediterranean diet has long been hailed as one of the most healthy. It still is but unfortunately it seems that not everyone in the Mediterranean region follows it. In a recent study in Murcia, 20% of he people were found to be obese and 39% overweight which means that 60% of the population are above their ideal weight.

To fight the problem, people are advised to walk for at least an hour each day, to spend less time in sedentary activities and to eat more fruit and vegetables.

We regularly see ladies from the village walking up to the Pedrera. They do it each and every day. Perhaps we should join them on their way back.

Music for the weekend

SATURDAY, 29th NOVEMBER at 8pm

CONCERT IN HONOUR OF SANTA CECILIA

The annual concert to honour the patron saint of music, Santa Cecilia, by the Sociedad Unión Musical de Bigastro.

SUNDAY, 30th  NOVEMBER at 6:30pm

CONCERT BY THE BIG BAND ADLIBITUM

The members of Adlibitum, whose average is 21, play a wide repertoire of big band music.

The long cut

There are some weird and wacky entries in the Guinness Book of Records.

If you look in future editions you will find one for the longest continuous slice of "jamón ibérico" which was cut yesterday by Nico Jiménez in front of a crowd of a hundred people in Torrevieja.

Jiménez started to cut the ten kilogramme Guijuelo (Salamanca) ham at midday and by the time he had finished, one hour fifteen minutes later, he had a piece 19m 25cms long weighing just over 6 kilogrammes. This beat his previous record, which was set in Tarragona, by 5cms.

There were a few tense moments.

Jiménez said that it was the most difficult ham he had ever cut. When the slice was just two metres long he had to alter the technique making the slice a little thicker than normal. There were also moments when it looked like the cut would divide itself but in the end it all worked out and the crowd cheered.

As if not to be outdone, the people who make turron in Jijona have produced a world record piece of the nougat that measures 23 metres in diameter.

An early White Christmas

The first snowfalls of  autumn made for difficult driving conditions in the regions of l'Alcoià , El Comtat, Marina Alta and Marina Baixa yesterday morning. Drivers had to use snow chains on seven of the region's motorways and access to the Font Roja nature park was cut off. Six schools were forced to close because of the weather. By the afternoon it turned to rain and the snow on the ground melted.

The forecast was for snow at 800m but by morning that was reduced to 500m. The last time that there was snow in November at 500m was in 2001.  El Altet airport registered a maximum temperature of 10 degrees which made it  the coldest November  day for41 years.

In  spite of the cold rainy weather, we saw people in Torrevieja wearing flip flops, shorts and cut-offs. Some folks will obviously not concede to the fact that it does get cold here in Southern Spain

The Catalan Autonomous Government is maintaining a state  of pre-emergency for snow in the Alicante province. The meteorological forecasts indicate that the sky will continue to be cloudy with moderate precipitations, locally more frequent on the coast, with snow on land over  700 metres.

They'd steal the shirt of your back

As if the local farmers don't have enough problems with the low prices they get for their produce at market, the lack of water and the plagues of rabbits, they now have to contend with thieves stealing their machinery.

The agriculturists in the campo at Guardamar del Segura have suffered a wave of thefts - 30 in the last two months. Although the main targets have been the cultivators or mechanical mules as they are called, the thieves have taken anything that can be sold on - pedal cycles, motorbikes, toolboxes, solar panels and batteries etc. Added to which they have caused untold damage to fences, doors and windows. Six houses were targeted last Friday presumably by the same gang.

Quite how these thieves steal the cultivators is a mystery because they are very heavy. You'd need a crane or at least a gang of strong men to lift one and a large vehicle to carry it away.

The only solace is that none of the farmers has been injured during the raids.

Were they telling us something?

Last year we went on couple of trips with our Spanish class. The first was a cultural tour of Orihuela for the afternoon. The second was a day trip to Murcia which included lunch.

So when Eduardo told his we were going on an "excursión" we were quite looking forward to it . When he added we would be given a "regalo" at the end of the trip we were more than interested. Then Eduardo explained that the trip was to the new Hiperber supermarket in Bigastro. Not quite what we were expecting but still; nothing ventured - nothing gained.

As it turned out, it was most interesting. We were offered a drink and a cake which was welcome on a chilly day. The lady who talked to us explained in very clear Spanish the concept of Hiberber which is to sell good quality products at cheap prices. She went on to explain that they specialised in "productos blancos" which are own brand products.

As an illustration Hiperber had assembled two baskets with similar products - one famous makes and the other own brand. The basket of own brand products was half the price of the other. That was music to our ears. The abysmal exchange rate (1.18€ to the £) means we all have to be conscious of what we spend these days.

Hiperber in Bigastro has an aisle which specialises in British products so they had an Englishman Paul there to explain the concept. He was keen for people to let him know what products they would like to see in the shop. So far, the only suggestion he's had is for ginger cake. I'm sure we can do better than that.

Now to the present. At the shop entrance were two trolleys filled with carrier bags. We thought we'd get one bag from either trolley but no - we were to take a bag from each. So between Pam and I, we came out with four bags full of cleaning products; enough to keep us going for a month of Sundays. Casa Willo will never have looked so clean.

Now Eduardo, your next challenge is to arrange a trip to a bodega!

Be warned

A neighbour of mine came round yesterday with a tale of woe regarding his computer. He'd decided to remove some of the programs that he no longer uses and having done so found that some of those that he did use would no longer function.

Now of course it is perfectly possible to remove programs from Windows as long as you follow the correct route using the appropriate installer/uninstaller program.

Those that are correctly configured, will clean up all traces including any entries in the registry. Some will leave bits and pieces that you have to remove manually. That often requires digging into the registry which is not recommended. In time, those bits and pieces will slow your system down. At that point you have to consider biting the bullet - re-format your drive and start again with a "clean" version of Windows.

One program which you are advised not to remove is Internet Explorer which is what my neighbour did. Like me, he uses Firefox and so felt no need to keep the redundant browser on his system. Microsoft only include an uninstaller program to comply with the anti-trust ruling against them- they don't expect you to use it!

The advice from Mozilla who supply Firefox

Although uninstalling Internet Explorer from Windows is possible, you are strongly advised not to remove it, for a number of reasons.

1. Many web sites are programmed to work only with Internet Explorer. For example, webmasters authoring a site may have not tested with other web browsers. The majority of websites on the Internet should work with Mozilla browsers, but there are some sites that appear distorted or inaccessible unless IE is used as a browser.
2. Windows Update requires Internet Explorer. As an alternative, you may be able to manually download security updates, but it will require more monitoring and work than letting Windows Update handle this for you.
3. Some applications depend on libraries installed by Internet Explorer. These applications may no longer work or they may behave unexpectedly if IE is removed.
4. Some anti-virus products require IE for updates. Live updates or automatic DAT updates used by both Norton and McAfee are built on Internet Explorer's foundation. You may be able to manually update your virus signature files but it could require more work.
5. Both removing and restoring IE is risky and difficult. IE is complex with extensive hooks built into Windows, for efficiency and functionality. Thus unplugging it from your system may impact Internet connectivity, Windows functionality, and break functionality in Microsoft Office and non-MS products.
6. IE is more than a browser, it is the foundation for Internet functionality in Windows.

My neighbour came across most of these issues. Once he had uninstalled IE, he could no longer get onto the Internet using Firefox added to which MS Word no longer functioned.

By re-installing MS Works he managed to get Word back but not the Internet. As he found, trying to re-install Internet Explorer doesn't work. Once the hooks are broken, and the libraries are removed they are not so easily restored. As my neighbour also found, System Restore won't do the trick.

Trying to get a working system back from this sort of situation without a complete re-format is something I've never attempted so unfortunately I couldn't really help him. My neighbour has had to resort to taking the laptop down to PC Doctor to see if they can sort it out - I'm sure they will.

December 1st - Christmas starts

You can tell when Christmas is coming here in Spain. The shops are filled with all the delights of the festive season. It used to happen at the beginning of December but we've noticed it has crept forward each year.

Although as you would expect, the toy shelves are crammed full, it is in the food section that Christmas really appears.

Along with a proliferation of cooked hams, you find all manner of sweet delights that are special for Christmas. Among these, the wide selection of polvorones and turrones are the most noticeable.

This year, the Regulating Council of Jijona and Turrón of Alicante are concerned that the economic crisis will hit the sales of the traditional favourite - turrón. Last year 8.4 million kilos of the nougat along with 6 million kilos of associate products were sold.

Forecasts show a drop in sales of between 5 and 7% of the confection, so the Council are launching a 700,000€ advertising campaign to try and promote sales. There will be adverts on the TVE channels, on Antenna and Tele 5.

The campaign is being funded by the companies who form the regulatory council and the Conselleria de Agricultura. Alongside this, the major producers: Antiu-Xixona, La Fama, 1880 y El Lobo, and Turrones Picó will be mounting their own campaigns.

For those of you who have never tried polvaron and turron:-

Polvorones are "dust biscuits". When you first try one and bite into it, you end up covered in fine sugary almond flavoured dust. Eating them brings the same problems you have with cream crackers - more than a couple and your mouth ends up as dry as a bone.

Turrón is nougat with a tradition which goes back 500 years. It comes in an assortment of styles in either soft or hard varieties. The hard stuff is jaw breaking - not good if you have loose fillings, false teeth or a bridge. The soft varieties are more manageable but are only palatable for those of you with a sweet tooth.

Our favourites are the honey coated toñas. These biscuits, which are very traditional in this area, are made with flour, oil, sugar and Anis Paloma (a bit like Pernod). Hmm que rico.

Commercial greed

The agricultural organisation, La Unió conducted a study into the price markup on citrus fruits. They compared the price that growers were paid with the average price in four supermarket chains.

What they found was an extreme commercial margin between the price the growers received and the price in the supermarkets.

Take lemons, which the survey found were bought for 0.18€ per kilogramme from the growers and subsequently sold at 1.6€ per kilogramme in shops. That represent a whopping 911% markup in the price.

Oranges were bought for 0.12€ in the field and sold at 1.22€ - a markup of 917% . La Unió  found similar story applied to  mandarins which were bought at 0.15€ and sold at 1.41€ - a markup of 840%.

As La Unió says, "everyone wins in the distribution chain with the exception of the grower". They will take their case to the Conselleria de Agricultura on Monday 1st December in the hope that can win a better deal for the growers.

Actually we know exactly what would happen if the growers achieved a better deal.  Everyone else in the chain would put their prices up and blame the growers who would be made to look greedy.

Bulletin on Ken

Apparently our neighbour Ken had a rough night on Sunday in the Vega Baja.

The doctors did several blood tests during the night; the first was good but subsequent ones highlighted the problem.

It seems that Ken is suffering from a clogged artery. So today he has been taken to Alicante to have an operation where the surgeon will insert a stent.

stents used to open clogged arteries and increase blood flow

The doctor, who has been attending Ken, has assured him that he will feel much better when they have finished with him - Ken has not been well for awhile now and has been a cause of concern for Kay.

Following the operation, it is likely that Ken will remain in hospital for two weeks.

Both brother and sister are pleased with the level of care and attention that Ken is receiving.

 

Heh ho the wind doth blow

Don't bother telling us about the bad weather in Britain because it isn't too good in Spain at the moment.

In Cantabria they have snow and temperatures of zero centigrade. In Bigastro it's blowing a hoolie!

The last time it blew like this, we had plastic cane fencing along the back and the side of the garden. In spite of the galvanised wire I'd used to fasten it on, the wind was ripping the fencing off the wire meshing. The same type of fencing on the house below was was hardly moving whilst ours was billowing dangerously towards the car.

Once one of the steel poles started bending , we decided enough was enough. So at 9pm, in the tooth of a gale,  we had to go out with a torch and take it all down. That was no mean feat I can tell you. I had to unclip the remaining fastenings and hold the fence at the same time while Pamela directed the torch.

By the morning, when the wind had calmed down, we had hundreds of euros worth of fencing that was only fit for the bin. The houses that were sheltered below us had faired much better -their fences were intact.  I suppose it's the price of living on top of a hill

Ten out of ten for the Vega Baja hospital

We'd just settled down to eat our roast chicken, which I'd cooked on the BBQ yesterday morning, when we heard the door buzzer.

Our reaction was like the Peter Kay gag, "whose that calling on a Sunday night?" It was Kay from next door. Her brother Ken, had taken a funny turn complaining that he'd suddenly felt very unwell.

Kay used to be a nurse so she knows when someone has a serious health problem that needs immediate attention. Ken wanted to wait until the morning to go down to the doctors but Kay insisted he should be taken to the hospital straight away. She'd already called and arranged for an interpreter to meet us at the Vega Baja hospital.

So Pam quickly bundled our plates into the oven and I got the car out. On the way there, I joked with Ken that his turn for the worse was the result of Arsenal's defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Saturday. That raised a slight smile on his face and lightened the mood for a few seconds.

Ten minutes later we were in the Emergency Department at Vega Baja. The triage nurse had Ken bundled into a wheelchair before we got through the door. Seconds later he was taken through to see the doctor. Within a quarter of an hour the doctor had completed all manner of tests which were displayed on a computer screen. None of these tests revealed anything untoward so he was sent for x-rays which offered no further explanation for his condition.

There being no obvious cause for his symptoms, the doctor decided to keep Ken in overnight for observation. The interpreter who came to explain this to us said that Ken been "put in a box". Pam and I imagined the worst but of course a box is the Spanish equivalent of a cubicle.

I'm pleased to say that Ken looked very comfortable when we called to see him before bringing Kay home. He was sat up smiling, the colour back in his cheeks.; he'd regained his normal quick wit and humour. Ken even complained that he'd missed his dinner.

Before leaving, Pam and I gave him a couple of phrases he might need; "donde está el aseo" and "necesito una bebida". Hopefully this morning he'll be able to return home with at least some explanation of what had happened.

We've been told by others that the health service here is excellent. Last night, Pam and I were able to observe this for ourselves. The speed and thoroughness of the doctor really impressed us and gave us comfort to realise that, if we ever have an emergency, it should be dealt with quickly and thoroughly.

Pam and I both hope that Ken is alright. I imagine he will be short of a few hours sleep but if that is all we'll be happy.

The esoteric word of computer gamers

Enter the YoYotech Fi7epower MLK1610 a desktop supercomputer built by a small British company. The oddly named computer is nearly twice as fast as the next most powerful PC in the world.

The Fi7epower is the first computer to be built around a new Intel microprocessor, the Core i7 - hence the ridiculous name.

The i7 chip consists of four central processing units, or cores, working together. But it also supports “hyperthreading”: each core can, in effect, do two things at once, creating a virtual eight-core processor. Add a number of other advanced facilities, such as the ability to access the fastest type of memory directly rather than being routed through the motherboard, and you have a lump of silicon with the potential to shatter PC performance records.

On the motherboard sits 9GB of the fastest type of Ram and a powerful graphics card, the Radeon HD4870 X2. The Fi7epower comes with a terabyte (1,000GB) of hard-disk memory, but the operating software — the optimised, 64-bit version of Windows Vista — lives on a second, 80GB solid-state drive. This consists purely of electronic memory, so it doesn’t need to be spun up to speed or read by clumsy drive-heads. The result is a start-up time of mere seconds.

No satisfied with its native speed, YoYotech then “overclocked" the i7. By varying the voltage of the processor’s power they managed to coax the operating speed from the Intel-recommended 3.2GHz to 3.73GHz — any higher and the computer crashed. The team also housed the components in a Cooler Master case with three huge fans feeding in cold air.

So who is all this processing power aimed at? Gamers - who else. These people will pay big money for the ability to increase frame rates by even a fraction, which means the gaming market is bucking the prevailing trend in business computing, where the emphasis is on light, mobile machines. They are also bucking the trend of many consumers who want a full working PC for less that £400.

“We’ve taken dozens of orders,” says Charanjit Kohli, YoYotech’s managing director who will start shipping the machines in a few weeks’ time. “Amazingly, customers are asking us to add even more memory and a second graphics card.”

Will I be ordering one? I don't think so - it wouldn't match the decor of my room.

An offer that is hard to refuse

Since the fall of sterling everyone seems to be gloomy.
So Restaurant El Flamenco in Alicante to counter this, is running a promotion of FREE BEER for our clients, this week from the 24th of November till Saturday ...

You want to drink one free glass - be our guest. Want to drink a litre - be our guest. Want to drink more ... hmm no problem for us, we'll call you a taxi for later   :-)

Spanish food, just a minute walk away from the British Consulate in Alicante:   www.alicantetimes.com

Mark
Restaurante El Flamenco
C/. San Francisco 12
03001 Alicante
mail: tapasbar@mac.com
phone:  615 824 428
web:  www.alicantetimes.com

Buying locally

As far as we can, Pam and I try to buy things locally. Apart from the savings in delivery costs, we are helping to support the local economy which I'm sure you will agree is a good thing.

However, some things are difficult to find and in the odd cases it can prove cheaper to buy from England; even if you have to pay the delivery charges.

A case in point was my new DSLR camera. It was cheaper in the UK and came with a £50 cashback offer from certain British retailers. We had friends coming over who could deliver it for me so I avoided paying shipping costs. I saved close to £100 on that purchase.

When we came to Spain, we brought a battery operated carpet sweeper with us which has lasted 4 years. Pam only used it on the rugs so it didn't get hammered. However, the battery now refuses to charge up so the sweeper is effectively kaput. I suppose we could have tried to source a replacement battery but it seemed more sensible to replace the whole sweeper.

We've looked in all the local shops, even tried El Corte inglés. Although we've found plenty of portable vacuums cleaners, we only found one battery operated sweeper which was very expensive. In a country where most houses have tiled floors, I don't suppose there is a lot of demand for carpet sweepers of any sort let alone battery operated ones.

We finally resorted to ordering one from Lakeland Plastics in the UK. Lakeland will deliver to Europe so that was no problem. We ordered the sweeper online and waited for it to arrive.

After a month of waiting I contacted Lakeland who agreed that the delivery must have gone missing and so they agreed to send a second sweeper.

Nearly three weeks later and still no sweeper; I contacted them again. This time they phoned me to say that the two sweepers had been returned to them- the courier in Spain apparently could not find our address.

Undeterred, Lakeland sent a third sweeper which this time did arrive. So after over two months of waiting, we finally got our sweeper.

Yesterday, Mel, whose wife Lillian runs a Betterware concession on our estate, brought their latest catalogue around. Inside the booklet, on page 52, was a battery operated sweeper which we could have bought for less money and with a lot less aggravation. To add to which, Lillian, one of the nicest people we have met here, would have got a little bit of commission.

This is not the first time we've been caught out in this way. A while back we bought luggage scales - this time from a company based in Alicante so there was no problem with delivery. However, after we'd ordered them Mel told me that Betterware sell a similar product (you'll find them on page 95 of the current catalogue).

I'm sure there is a lesson here for us: check with Mel first before buying anything like this!

For those of you who don't want to repeat our long running saga with the carpet sweeper, you can find Mel and Lillian on Calle Inglaterra (or is it Calle Escocia !). You could save yourselves a lot of hassle and might also save a few euros as well.

PS Mel, if you are reading this, Pam would like one of the replacement grill pans on page 31 (item 17669) at 17.49€. The one that came with our oven is too big and too difficult to clean. Again we've looked in all sorts of places for one - we should have come to you!

Lower taxes for the UK

Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer in England, is poised to announce a temporary cut (for one year) in VAT from 17.5% to 15%.  This will be the first time such a measure has ever been taken in Britain, in an attempt to boost consumer spending. Estimates suggest that the move could save the average family as much as £10 a week.

The rate of VAT was last changed in 1991, when Norman Lamont, the Tory chancellor at that time, increased it from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent.

The package of proposed measures will largely be funded by increased government borrowing which could soar to £150 billion in three years. Of course there will come a time when this has to be paid back but that is for the future.

VAT is the only British tax to be regulated by the EU, although its receipts go to the government.  Last night there were clear signals that Downing Street was hoping Britain's move would see other European countries following suit. Strong hint to Sr.Zapatero.

The Spanish equivalent of VAT is IVA (Impuesto sobre el valor añadido) and is currently set at three rates:-

• The  standard rate of 16% for most goods and services.
• A reduced rate of 7% for certain goods and services, e.g. if you buy a newly built property from a developer, travellers transport services, etc.
• A super-reduced rate of 4% is applicable for goods and services considered as basic necessities; e.g. bread, eggs, cheese (essential food), newspapers and magazines, etc.

There are  certain exceptions which are free of tax:-

• Medical services.
• Education.
• Cultural and sportive associations.
• Financial and insurance transactions.
• Renting rural or urban properties (except the rental of business premises)

New TV channel to watch

For those of you want to keep in touch with what is going on in the area, there is a new TV channel on TDT (digital terrestrial TV).

Informaciontv will be broadcast on channel 21 starting tomorrow at 9:30 pm. To receive this you need either a TV with a TDT decoder built in or a TDT box and of course a suitable aerial.

Although the main thrust of the new program will be news, they will also broadcast a mix of sport, children's programmes, films, entertainment and documentaries.

Informaciontv will also be available as a virtual service at the weekends on the newspapers' website.

An alternative to the big dish

Watching television programmes over the internet has taken off in the past year since the introduction of the BBC's catchup service, the iPlayer

The corporation, which already makes digital channels such as BBC Three and BBC Four available online, announced yesterday that it would complete the picture by making BBC One and BBC Two available from next Thursday.

Critics said that although viewers would still need to buy a licence to watch programmes on their computers, it would become harder to ensure payment. There are also questions over whether the telephone network could cope with the expected rise in internet traffic.

A television licence is required “irrespective of what device you are using – television, computer, laptop, mobile phone or any other – and how you receive programmes, whether by satellite, cable, via the internet or any other way,” according to TV Licensing, the body that collects the fee. It also pays for BBC radio. However, existing rules mean that any website can transmit the two BBC channels, plus ITV1, Channel 4 and Five, if they have the right technology.

Online broadcasting is likely to be a boon for technologically sophisticated expatriates and other viewers who do not pay the licence fee. Although the BBC, like other broadcasters, tries to ensure that its content can be watched only in the United Kingdom, it is possible to buy software that covers up your location, making it appear that you are in Britain even when you are not.

Far be it for me to suggest that you should do something illegal; however, a quick search of the local English press will find companies here on the Costa Blanca that offer access to a proxy servers with a British IP address. Or alternatively, a quick search on Google will find you the software to change your IP address to a UK proxy.

The Daily Depressor

Looking through the posts of the last week or so, they mostly seem to be about doom and gloom; councillors arrested, flooding, the poor exchange rate, drunken Brits, Spanish drivers etc etc.

I'm not normally a down in the mouth sort of person. I'd like to think that people generally find me cheerful and jovial - "Always look on the bright side of life" , as they sang in Monty Python's Life of Brian. You wouldn't think so though after reading this blog.

I will obviously have to try harder and find some good news to pass on otherwise reading this blog will become a bit like picking up some of the  daily English papers. By the time you've got to the back page, you feel like slitting your throat. I don't want anybody to suffer depression after reading my blog. God forbid that you should have to reach for the bottle of pills -I couldn't forgive myself for that.

Now, where can I go to find some good news?

No end to the weak exchange rate

Couples who receive the basic state pension of £628 a month saw its value when converted into euros fall from €961 in January 2007 to €766 last month, according to HIFX, the currency exchange specialists. This is because the exchange rate weakened from 1.53 euros to the pound to 1.22 over the period (currently 1.18).

The continued volatility in the exchange rate means that the value of our pensions in October varied according to when in the month the money was converted into euros. The average couple's monthly state pension of £628 was worth anywhere between €766 and €816 last month, depending on when the funds were transferred, HIFX said.

Mark Bodega of HiFX said: "Britons living in Europe and receiving a fixed income in sterling are being hit particularly hard. In the last month we have seen unprecedented volatility in the currency markets, with the value of the sterling fluctuating by over 6pc against the euro, the largest monthly range in percentage terms since May 2000."

The Costa Blanca is being hit hard by the poor exchange rate. Bookings for holidays in 2009 are down and of course ex-pats living here have less money to spend each month.

To add to the misery, there are fears in some quarters that ex-pats may become the target for abuse by locals in the same way that Poles and other immigrants in the UK have. Spain, which was well known to be the most welcoming country in Europe for immigrants, may change as the economic crisis bites harder.

More go to prison

It seems that this part of Spain has entered into a new era where the "old ways" will no longer be tolerated. The days when corruption in local councils was well known and accepted are on their way out as town after town comes under the scrutiny of the Guardia Civil.

You read almost daily about new arrests; all are related to town planning irregularities. The recurrent theme seems to be of companies being awarded concessions to build in return for bribes to council officials - the infamous passing of "brown envelopes".

The latest victim is Librilla, a sleepy little agricultural municipality of about 4,000 inhabitants located on the edge of the Sierra Espuña in the region of Murcia.

The town council, which only had 11 members - six PP and five PSOE, is now without its mayor and councillor for Urbanism. Both were sent to prison on Friday by judge Andrés Carrillo in court no 6 , Murcia.

The pair of them, along with others, were arrested on Tuesday and Thursday by members the Guardia Civil in Murcia. The crimes they are accused of relate to the town's PGOU. In this case the people involved are suspected of benefiting by about 7,000,000€.

Looking at all this as an outsider, you can't help but conclude that a system for local government that allows these sort of swindles to take place must be flawed. Catching these people after the event is all well and good; surely it would have been better to have control mechanisms in place to prevent these swindles from happening (this is just my opinion you understand).

One instance of this sort of crime is a problem, this many becomes a major embarrassment.

Brit behaving badly

It was 9:30pm in Rojales and the local police were called out to a serious incident in Ciudad Quesada where a 70 year old man had been found under a car with a bloody wound on his head. The front wheel of the car was stuck in the curb so it was impossible to move the man without assistance.

Firemen were called to remove the vehicle. They sent for a crane and an ambulance was called for to take the man to hospital.

The man was transferred to the hospital in Torrevieja where he received emergency treatment. When his wife was questioned by the police, she claimed to know nothing about what had happened.

When the man was questioned the following day, he admitted that he had been drinking heavily and that was the cause of the accident.

So at least six policemen, as many firemen, a crane driver, the ambulance driver, a nurse and doctor in the ambulance along with all the personnel at the hospital were all put out to deal with a drunken Brit. Enough said!

A growing band of users (and abusers)

According to a new report, there are now 400 million broadband subscribers worldwide. Broadband subscription increased almost six-fold from 57,200 worldwide users in 1998 to more than 280,890 the following year.

Of the total, some 45 million have fibre-optic connections, up from 18,000 in 2002.

According to Point Topic senior analyst Oliver Johnson, when his company began studying the technology it was "still mostly in the technical trial stage". "Getting to 400 million subscribers in the ten years since then has been one of the fastest rollouts of a major new technology the world has ever seen," he said.

"Now we're in the early days of a new era, which is going to be much more about quality than quantity." As I commented in a previous post, this quality is there to be used not abused by the perpetrators of spam emails.

A worthy successor

Following 20 days of media silence, Raúl Valerio Medina, who will become mayor of Bigastro this afternoon, has spoken to the local newspaper, Información.

Medina says that becoming mayor will be a challenge which brings "much responsibility and hope for the future". He accepts that to take the post at this time, in these circumstances, will not be easy for him.

Medina's hope is that there will now be a greater level of unity in the Council. He hopes that there will be an end to the obstructive era which was characterised by the personal battles between the previous mayor, José Joaquín Moya and the spokesperson for the PP, Aurelio Murcia.

To this end, Medina would like to see a change in attitude from both the PP and his own party. He intends to make changes that will improve both the image and the management of the Council. Medina has already said that he will continue to be responsible for Property and Urbanism and that he will count on the support of Inmaculada Martínez as his first lieutenant who he says has an incredible ability for work.

At 30 year of age, Raúl Valerio Medina will be one of the youngest mayors in the Vega Baja. He was first elected to be a councillor in 2007 having worked previously for his family's transport company. This afternoon will therefore be a proud moment for him.

Most of the socialist mayors from the Vega Baja will attend the meeting to show their support for him.

Then on Monday Raúl Valerio Medina will chair his first proper council meeting as Alcalde.

Yet more flooding

The intense rain that fell yesterday on the Orihuela costa meant that, once again, the students at IES Playa Flamenca had to be evacuated from the centre.

The prefabricated classrooms have walls and ceilings that leak whenever it rain. According to the councillor for Education at the City council of Orihuela, the technician, who examined the buildings concluded that “it is not necessary to realise any action, since there are no structural damages, only leaks”.

The school will remain closed today.

The rain also flooded the nearby road with up to four metres of water. Drivers had to be rescued from their vehicles.

I am no expert on these matters but it seems to me that, if you cover the land with houses and roads, then the water has nowhere to drain to when it rains. If you take away the natural drainage systems then you have to replace them with a system of pipes otherwise there will always be the risk of flooding. It's no good arguing that this only happens when there is a heavy downpour. Heavy downpours seem to be the norm at this time of year.

Please stop spreading viruses

I seem to be getting more and more emails that finish off by telling me to send the message on.

I used to get dire warnings of some virus or other that was supposedly wildfire on the Internet. These virus would apparently destroy hard drives and worst of all nobody had a cure for them. The punch line was always "send this to everyone in your address book straight away". In every case the virus was the email itself.

The virus warning mails seem to have died down only to be replaced by ones which claim that passing the message on will bring me good luck or that something amazing will happen on my computer screen. They mostly end up with the emphatic statement, "don't break the chain".

These emails are usually composed in HTML using large brightly coloured lettering and often include animated pictures. Some contain sweet pictures of children or animals in an attempt to increase their appeal. A recent one had twenty eight embedded JPEG images in it.

Many of these emails are heartfelt messages of hope for a better world; an end to war and suffering. A few are fabricated tales of woe. They all have the same aim though which is to appeal to my better self.

More often than not the senders of these messages simply forward them on to me without any editing and so they include all the details of the people who have passed the message on - a bit like an audit trail. It is fascinating to see how many company mail servers each message has passed through!

People used to send chain letters through the post. They had to go to the trouble of copying the letter several times, addressing the envelopes and taking them to the Post Office to buy the stamps. Sending chain letters via email is a much simpler process and best of all cost you nothing. That is why there is such a proliferation of them.

If I followed the instructions and sent each message on to 10 people within the next fifteen minutes and then those people did the same and so on; in one hour I would have generated 1,000 emails. In a day that could become millions - all in pretty colours with little dancing pictures taking up massive amounts of bandwidth.

This may sound callous but I rarely, if ever pass these messages on. Why not, surely they do no harm? Well yes they do actually - they clog up an already heavily congested Internet.

By all means send me the emails if it makes you feel better, just don't expect me to pass them on. What I will pass on though are the brilliant jokes that you post to me but before I do, I'll remove the text formatting, the animated GIFs and most important: the audit trail of how it came to you.

Barrera comes out fighting

San Fulgencio councillor, Manuel Barrera Garcia came out fighting last week when he accused the local police in of corruption suggesting the ‘possibility’ that businesses in the area have got councillors in their pockets.

The press conference follows Barrera’s arrest and subsequent release after video footage of him allegedly showed him taking a bribe in a restaurant from two detectives., apparently employed by the Mayoress, Trinidad Martinez.

Barrera had been caught allegedly accepting a bribe in the restaurant in Valencia and was secretly filmed pocketing the cash – after counting it – by Spanish national newspaper La Verdad. The money, 5,000€, was described by police as a ‘sweetener’ for Barrera who had apparently agreed to ‘help along’ certain building projects in the area including one for a golf course and several thousand houses. Barrera admitted accepting the money, part of a total of 240,000€ that was discussed, but said that he had been accepting ‘on behalf of his party (AIM) but a spokesman for the party denied any knowledge of both the incident and the money

Red Rag
The focus of Barrera’s anger seems to be pretty much every one in the town hall, and the local police who he accused of being a ‘mafia,’ with chief Bernado Cortijo at the head. Barrera expressed his astonishment at how Cortijo and his ‘mafia associates’ were allowed to continue in their work, implying that that in itself was reason enough to suspect them of bending the laws to suit themselves. Ex-colleagues, and mayor for a day, Mark Lewis and Mick Blake did not escape Barrera’s wrath as he tore into their character, stating that they were not fit to hold the posts they were currently in. Lewis he claimed, had driven an English registered car for 25 years (the maximum allowed is 6 months) and had never paid any taxes in Spain even though he was earning a living as a musician and singer. Blake, he claimed, was not clean either and had been stopped for being drunk in the past by the police with Barrera adding that Blake had only one hobby and that was drinking. He has denounced them both as liars following accusations by the British pair that they were threatened with their lives by Barrera after their withdrawal of support when he was arrested in October.

Local Business
He accused several local businesses of ‘possibly’ being the driving force behind several councillors for their own economic interests. Something which Barrera claimed had been going on for a ‘long time.’ He went on to say that he and his fellow AIM members were ‘risking everything’ at the moment but he was confident in the outcome because he is ‘clean and transparent’ and that he follows the laws, not getting involved in corruption or the local ‘mafia.’

The current town hall, he said was ‘using everyone to get what they want’ and not taking into account the interests of the vast majority of residents who live on the Urbanisation but listening to the minority in San Fulgencio - who make up just 18% of the voting public. He suggested that the time had come for La Marina to separate from San Fulgencio in a move that he claimed would ‘solve the problems of the last 25 years.’ He said that the Urb represented the New Europe and that San Fulgencio town was something from the past that refused to recognise when change was needed. ‘the residents of the Urbanisation are a mixture of nationalities and need to be treated differently to the mainly Spanish population of San Fulgencio. On the urbanisation now we have no lights at night, no music, a police force that disappears when it gets dark, and hardly any facilities for an area with this amount of inhabitants. Just look at San Fulgencio, they have a health centre, a theatre, sports facilities, schools, and more. All the money that is collected goes to the town hall in San Fulgencio and that is where most of it stays.’

He also denounced claims in an English language newspaper that had declared, during the 2007 election, that Barrera was ‘dangerous ’ and went on to show his clean police record and other documents to support his good character.

It seems as if this is a story that is going to run and run whether Barrera is innocent, as he claims, or not there is more, a lot more, to come from this story. Whether it comes from Barrera, who implies that he has a lot more things to say about the situation, or another source, only time will tell.

This extract was taken from the Leader newspaper.

Less can be more

A total of 8.8% less grapes were harvested in Alicante this year compared with 2007. As a result fewer bottles of denomination of origin wine will be produced in the province.

However, denomination president Francisco Amorós says the wine will be of excellent vintage. The high quality of the grapes this year is down to the maturity they were able to reach due to favourable weather conditions. Also the average alcohol content of the wines has increased slightly this year to 13.10%.

In the previous four years there had been a continual increase in grape production and this had now levelled off. Viticulturists in different areas have seen large fluctuations. For example, in the Marina Alta area some cooperatives saw their production of moscatel grapes fall by nearly half compared with last year. The vineyards in the Vinalopó Medio area, which includes municipalities such as Hondón de las Nieves and Aspe, have also seen a reduction in their production of red wine.

A good time to buy

Promoters are offering discounts of up to 58 per cent at Valencia’s Urbe property trade fair this weekend.

The record 58% discount on new completed apartments by Bancaja Habitat is the biggest but other promoters are also trying to entice the few buyers that are still about.

Company Metrovacesa are using the same aggressive sales campaign they used at the Barcelona Meeting Point fair earlier this month. They are offering 25% (which could climb to 30%) discounts because of contract cancellations – passing on the money lost by buyers who put down deposits but then couldn’t get mortgages.

Meanwhile, another company, Edival is offering a straight deal of 15,000 euros discount per apartment.

Small government sponsored and low mortgage apartments for first-time buyers will be a major attraction at the show because of their low cost.

A sign of the times is that last year Urbe took up four exhibition halls and had 223 exhibitors but this year’s edition – open until Sunday – fits into one hall with its 70 exhibitors.

The new Mayor of Bigastro

Raúl Valerio, the present councillor for Urbanism, will be appointed mayor of the municipality of Bigastro at 2pm on Friday.

After weeks of internal debate in the socialist municipal group, the successor to José Joaquín Moya will be Valerio who has been chosen in favour of Inmaculada Martínez, the ex first lieutenant and acting mayoress at the moment.

 

Raúl Valerio has said that he wants to bring back normality to the municipality.

Both Valerio and Martínez have been imputed for their involvement in the crimes that Moya has been accused of which are being investigated at the moment.

Reaction in the local press ranges from those who think that Valerio is the best choice to surprise that the Councillor for Urbanism should be chosen in light of the ongoing investigations surrounding the previous mayor.

We shall see.