Let it rain

It may not rain as often here in southern Spain as it does in northern Europe but when it does, boy does it rain!

There is not a lot that can wake me up in the middle of the night (apart from Pam poking me because I am snoring) but the rain last night did. At 2am I could hear it lashing down outside the house.

Of course, not having guttering does not help because the rain runs off the roof and hammers on to the paving especially at the inside corners of the roof where there are gullies to take the rain. At those points, the rain rushes down in torrents and shoots out like a waterfall onto the ground below.

Our English neighbours had guttering installed but without surface water drains around the house all the water from their roof races down the downspouts onto their terracing. I’m not sure whether that is better or worse that having it pour off the roof.

One thing I am happy to report is that there is less than half an inch of water in the pool box this morning. Having sealed the two holes that were drilled into the base of the box to drain it, I seem to have stopped most of the rain water from filling up every time we have a downpour. There is obviously still some small point of entry but that is minimal and should not cause a problem with the electrics in the box.

The important thing now is for the weather to settle back to normal before the weekend. Our eldest daughter is coming out to visit us next Monday for eight days. Whilst she does not expect to sunbathe too much and certainly won’t be trying out the pool, she would like to get about during her stay without the need for an umbrella and a waterproof coat.

Did you loose a Picasso?

Spanish police have published a catalogue of recovered stolen art and precious objects in the hope of reuniting them with their rightful owners. Among the items retrieved during raids are six Picasso pieces from 1933 titled Cardinal Sins, each in its own silver frame. Other pieces featured in the catalogue include an Etruscan bronze sculpture estimated by police to be 2,000 years old, jewellery made of gold, diamonds and emeralds, Roman coins, and a 17th-century tapestry depicting the Battle of the Granicus, at which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire.

If I owned even one Picasso, I would be more than eager to have it returned. The police would not have to come looking for me, I would be looking for them!

Will it last?

	The weather was glorious at the weekend. The question is, “will it last?” Sadly the answer to that question is, “NO”. We will almost certainly get rain on Wednesday which could well last into Thursday.
	It should then get brighter again towards next weekend but there could still be a spot of drizzle around.

Phew

A very good friend of Pamela told her that, now we are retired we should aim to do just one thing each day. Well that rule was broken yesterday because there was so much going on.

First off we went down to the town to see the classic cars which stretched along both Calle Purisima and in the area around. There were lots of Seats as you might expect but there were plenty of other marques as well: German, American, French, British and Italian along with some interesting motor bikes.

You can see my photos here.

Having snapped away at the cars, we then sauntered down to the flea market in the park. This had been organised by the Association that helps families with Alzheimer suffers in the town. It is an excellent cause well worthy of support. I was pleased to be asked to take photos for them which I shall pass onto my neighbour Eladia (she is the lady on the left in the group photo).

Having returned home for a meal, we headed back down to watch the concert which featured the Juvenile Band from Bigastro and the band from the Conservatory in Orihuela.

Technically, the band from Orihuela were excellent but the music was brash and loud with a heavy reliance on percussion. The Bigastro band, on the other hand played a selection which was easier on the ear.

Adrian, the Bigastro band’s director, was more relaxed than he was on Saturday which transmitted to the band who therefore played with more confidence. When you look at the ages of many of the musicians, it is truly remarkable that they are so accomplished.

And what did Pam and I do when we got home? We watched that classic film, “The Third Man” which had been recorded from the other night.

This should be interesting

With local elections on the horizon, we can expect to receive details of the policies from the parties involved real soon.

Now, as everyone in the town understands, Bigastro is undergoing a financial crisis and so we should not be expecting any wild promises about increases to services. What I  expect most voters in the town will be looking for is that the parties make sound and concrete suggestions as to how Bigastro can move back towards solvency. That is going to be tough for them because inevitably it will mean talking of cuts and nobody really wants to hear about those. However that is the reality of the situation and none of the parties in the election can escape from the truth.

Making bad news sound palatable is not easy. It will be interesting to see which, if any,  of the parties can pull this off. I imagine their manifestos will talk about what the Americans call, “a damage limitation exercise”. I will keep you posted.

Que supresa

	Yesterday was Father’s Day here in Spain. To celebrate, the Unión Musical and the Banda Juvenil de Bigastro put on a special concert for us. First off we had the junior band who were just wonderful. It was a difficult programme for them to play but Adrian, their new director took them through it flawlessly.
	Then we had the main band from the town who played to their usual magnificent standard. As a delightful touch, the members of the band went into the audience to give their respective father’s a gift before going onto the stage to play.

Now for the surprise: Emilio Saez, the President of the Unión Musical de Bigastro made a speech prior to his retirement from the post in which he thanked those people who had contributed to the success of the band and in that speech he included yours truly for my work taking photographs.

I was both surprised and delighted in equal measure. Many thanks Emilio, you made my Father’s Day very special.

Spend now–pay later

You might wonder why Bigastro is so much in debt that it cannot pay for electricity and other essential services.

Like many towns in this region and in some other parts of Spain, Bigastro grew exponentially during the boom years of construction.  With the growth came wealth the likes of which had not been experienced before. Bigastro used that new found wealth to greatly improve services for the people of the town. The council also used the money to  build new facilities that before the boom years could only have been dreamed of. Life was good.

However, the rapid growth of the town would have posed a problem because there would have been a time gap between the demand for extra services, the cost of building new facilities and the  income coming in from the new residents.

New residents do not pay local taxes for at least a couple of years and neither would the town hall have received support from the government for the expanding population. The answer to that problem in Bigastro was to sell of municipal land to pay for the extra services required but of course you can only sell land off once. When all the land is sold, there is nothing left in reserve. Balancing the town’s budget by disposing of assets was a short term fix that only worked for one year or so.

When the boom years ended, the money dried up and Bigastro, like other towns, ran up mounting debts which it can no longer meet.

Applying foresight, the council at that time should have realised that the boom years could not last and  that growth at those levels was  not sustainable. They should have planned for that and been more prudent in their spending, providing only what was affordable without resorting to using the extra income that was coming in from construction. In my opinion, the spend now and pay later model that Bigastro adopted in those boom years caused the grave problems that the town now faces.

Bigastro is not alone in facing these issues, the average debt for councils in this region is double the national average. The amount per inhabitant in the province rose from 435.7 Euros in 2008 to 530.7 Euros in 2009. By the end of 2009, Alicante town halls owed 998 million Euros to the banks. I don’t know what the figures for Bigastro are but I would guess that they are at the high end of the scale.

The only possible solution to all this is to cut the services back to a level which the town can afford but of course with an election in May, councils like Bigastro are unlikely to do much in that direction – being prudent  does not win you votes.   Sadly, there will soon come a time when they have no choice.

Looking to the future with a brave face

In a time of financial crisis, it is a bold company that looks to the future and makes an investment in a new shopping centre but that is what Immochan España are doing on the Orihuela coast.

The new Zenia Boulevard shopping centre they are building is due to open its doors next November with leading brands such as Alcampo, Leroy Merlin, Decathalon, Norauto. Worten, Primark, Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Oysho, Bershka, Zara Home, C & A etc. taking up spaces; in all they expect 150 companies to show interest.

Immochan España have created similar facilities in eleven countries and currently have developed 312 shopping malls, 30 in Spain.

Occupying an area of 180,000 square metres, there will be parking spaces for 5,000 cars and 80,000 square metres of shopping at Zenia Boulevard.

The best news of all is that this new project will create 1,800 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs for people in the area.

PS Forget the Habaneras, Thader and Ociopia, you can bet that Mrs W and our girls will want to visit this new centre regularly once it takes off. I just hope there will be a decent photography shop for me to browse in.

Borrowed time

The recent earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan serves as a reminder to people here of the quakes that have devastated this region in the past.

The earthquake of 1748 destroyed the church of Our Lady of Monserrate in Orihuela. The one in 1755 shook buildings in Guardamar and a further quake in 1823 added to the damage. However, it was the quake on the 21st and 23rd of March 1829 that did the most damage to the towns of Almoradi, Benjúzar, Rafal, Formentera, Rojales Torrevieja. Over a thousand people lost their lives during that disaster and between three and four thousand houses were ruined.

Nobody knows whether or when another quake will occur or indeed how powerful it will be. In that sense those of us in seismic regions are all living on borrowed time.

Iberdrola cuts the electricity supply to public buildings in Bigastro

November last year, the local council agreed a payment plan with the electricity company to pay off the 280,000 Euros that it owed for 12 months supply. An initial payment of 150,000 was made followed by an agreement to pay the normal bill plus 50,000 Euros on the 18th of each month. However the payments were not made and ten days ago the mayor tried to re-negotiate a reduced amount of 20,000 with Iberdrola which they turned down.

Yesterday, things came to a head when the company cut the supply to four of the town’s public buildings including the town hall. Everything went dead, lights, computers, photocopiers – the lot. With no other choice, the town hall has started to install generators to provide electricity to the affected buildings.

The mayor, Raúl Medina Valero doubts that Bigastro is the only town to be in debt to Iberdrola and yet it seems that ours is only town where the supply has been cut to public buildings, schools and health centres.

The town council also owes 20,000 Euros to Telefonica for six months of bills. It seems that a payment plan has been agreed with the company and measures have been put in place to curb costs.

Almost day-by-day the council are having to juggle between who they can afford to pay and who can be put off. In the end though, companies will not continue to supply and council workers will not continue to work without payment. It would be reassuring to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. At the moment, that must seem a long way off. No matter what your political allegiances are, you can't help but feel sympathy for a council who find themselves in this situation.

A cookery lesson

Yesterday we got a lesson in cooking simple Spanish desserts from the ladies in the other adult classes. They made buñuelos and eggy bread.

No sense of responsibility

EU Regulations set the age at which children can handle fireworks at 16, the Spanish government sets the age at 12. The Regional Government of Valencia has lowered that to 8 years of age for certain fireworks on certain occasions. They are referring of course to the Fallas, the Bonfires San Juan fiestas, the fiestas de la Magdalena de Castellón and the festivals of Moros y Cristianos.

What this means is that, at those festivals, young children on the streets can continue throwing fireworks at pedestrians and passing cars without parental supervision or police intervention – madness! To them it is just a game but to the innocent victims it can inflict serious injury.

Pick up a bargain

The Association of Relatives of Alzheimer Suffers in collaboration with the Council of Social Welfare have organized a flea market for this Sunday the 20th of March from 9am to 2pm in the park.

This is a great cause which deserves our support. I have been asked to take photographs so will be there.

PS Don't forget that there will also be the classic cars on Calle Purisima and tapas in the street on Sunday not to mention the concert at 6:30pm.

What are they doing?

The house below us, which has been on the market for some time, was sold recently. Now normally you would expect the new owners to move in and spend some time arranging their furniture, getting to know the neighbours and generally settling in to their new environment.

But no, the people who bought this house are engaged in some major changes to the structure. For most of the weekend all we heard was banging and shovelling, clearly they were knocking down some walls inside; lorries came to take the rubble away.

Since then there has been a lot more banging and drilling going on, so much so that it is hard to believe there is much left of the house inside. Pam and I are not nosy people (well I am not!) but we do wonder just what is going on.

PS I am leaving this in the hands of our friends who live opposite the "House of the three eagles" to find out!

Double booking for the young ones

	Thursday, March 17th at 9pm Cineforum: "Up in the Air" Organized by Department of Culture and the University of Alicante (Secretariat of Culture. Aula de Cine) At the end of the show, Cinforum will discuss relevant aspects of the film with the audience.
	Saturday, March 19th at 6:30pm Concert for "Father's Day" Musical Union and the Youth Band of Bigastro, will celebrate this special day with a magnificent concert dedicated to all fathers. Sunday, March 20th at 6:30pm A Joint Concert with the Youth Band of Bigastro and the Conservatory of Orihuela.

Stupendous, magnificent, amazing….

On Sunday we had one of those rare treats because in the evening, the Compañía Murciana de Danza performed at the Auditorium Francisco Grau in Bigastro and boy were they good.

You can see my album of photos from this occasion here.

A getting better week

	Well, well, it seems that it was supposed to rain today. hat hasn’t happened yet but there is still time. For tomorrow, there is either a 90% or a 30% chance of rain -  I think I’ll go with 30% and see what happens.
	By all accounts, it will be one of those “getting better” weeks with the best weather at the end of the week.

Welcome back

It seems like ages since we last saw the sun in the house. All those dull days and heavy rain were so depressing, it is good to feel the warmth back in the old bones. I am even inspired to go out and do some work in the garden if I can tear myself away from this computer.

 

Trip to Salamanca

I received this message today.

Hola, Keith:
¿Cómo estáis? He estado estas últimas semanas leyendo tu blog, después de un tiempo sin poder entrar debido a estudios. Imagino que todavía seguís asistiendo a las clases de español del Ayuntamiento y me preguntaba si podías pasar la siguiente información a algún compañero de clase o vecino que pudiera estar interesado. Se trata del viaje que organizo todos los años. Esta año vamos a visitar Aranjuez y su Palacio Real, Ávila, Salamanca y un poco de Madrid. En total 3 Patrimonios de la Humanidad (World Heritage Sites) y todavía quedan algunos asientos libres en el autobús. Faltan 4 personas para que podamos ser el número mínimo.
De momento, Wendy e Ian Sharpe viene de nuevo al viaje y dos amigos más. No sé si de Villa Andrea también o no. Te agradecería mucho que comentases mi viaje en tu blog o en clase de español, para que mis estudiantes puedan viajar a estos lugares, que son preciosos y merecen la pena visitarlos. Yo hace dos años que estuve allí y estoy encantada con la idea de poder volver.
Espero que las clases te vayan bien y que algún día tenga ocasión de hablar contigo.
Un saludo y mil gracias por anticipado.
María

ITINERARY SALAMANCA – AVILA

3 NOCHES/4 DIAS del 28 de Abril al 1 de Mayo

DIA 1 – LUGAR DE ORIGEN – SALAMANCA

Salida desde el punto de origen dirección Salamanca. Parada en Aranjuez para visitar el palacio real (Patrimonio de la Humanidad) y comer por cuenta de los clientes. Llegada al hotel cena y alojamiento.

DIA 2 – AVILA

Desayuno, salida para visitar la población de Ávila. Ciudad amurallada declarada Patrimonio de la Humanidad. Murallas, casas, palacios, templos, conventos… configuran el rico patrimonio artístico de la ciudad de las tres culturas. Guía por la ciudad durante medio día. Almuerzo por cuenta de los clientes. Regreso al hotel cena y alojamiento.

DIA 3 – SALAMANCA

Desayuno y excursión a la emblemática ciudad de Salamanca, declarada toda ella Patrimonio de la Humanidad, ciudad plateresca, monumental y universitaria, llena de iglesias, palacios, colegios y casa Nobles. Destacamos su Plaza Mayor de estilo barroco, donde confluye el Ayuntamiento, el conjunto catedrático y la Universidad, con su famosa fachada del siglo XVI y la Catedral Vieja. Visita de medio día con guía donde visitaremos:

- Puente Romano

- Catedral Nueva

- Catedral Vieja (entrada incluida)

- Universidad Civil (entrada incluida)

- Casa de las Conchas (visita del patio)

- Clerecía

- Plaza Mayor

DIA 4 – SALAMANCA –LUGAR DE ORIGEN

Desayuno temprano para emprender el regreso al lugar de origen. Parada en Madrid. Almuerzo por cuenta del cliente. Después del almuerzo regreso al punto de origen. Fin de nuestros servicios.

Precio por persona (habitación doble) ………………………295€

El precio incluye:

· Autobús para el circuito

· 3 noches en Hotel Regio en Salamanca con régimen de media pensión.

· Guía en Ávila

· Guía en Salamanca

· Entrada en el Palacio de Aranjuez

· Seguro de viaje.

I know that several people form Villas Andrea have enjoyed these trips which represent remarkable value for money. This one, as you can see is to Aranjuez and the Royal Palace, Avila, Salamanca and a short trip to Madrid and there are four remaining places. If you are interested, contact Maria at maenvega@gmail.com.

A virtual tour for free

As the Royal Wedding looms close, you can now follow a 3D version of the route to be taken without having to set foot out of the comfort of your home all thanks to Google Earth.

Starting at Westminster Abbey, the 3D route takes in the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Number 10 Downing Street, Horse Guards Parade, the Royal Mall (with 3D trees lining the route), before finally reaching Buckingham Palace.

To see all the landmarks and greenery in Google Earth, tick the '3D buildings box' in the left-hand panel under “Layers,” then type “London” into the search bar on the top left and use the navigation controls on the upper right to zoom in, spin around and tilt the view. Or users can access the shot via visiting ‘Earth View’ on Google Maps in the browser.

For my Spanish friends who may have never visited London, there are thousands of 3D aerial images of other historic buildings in the capital now available via Google Earth. You can see Britain’s capital city without having to pend a penny (or should I say a centimo).

That is some fine

What do you do if you get lost in the mountains? Bear Gryles might suggest lighting a fire with some rubber or polystyrene to create black smoke but only on open ground and certainly not in a forest during summer when everything is tinder dry.

In 2005, Michael Hanks from Colchester got lost when he went for a walk with his girlfriend in the Sierra Nevada national park near his holiday home in the village of Acequias. He called emergency services and then lit a small fire within a circle of stones to send up a smoke signal so they could locate him. Unfortunately the fire got out of control and it took 227 fire-fighters using 12 planes and 20 helicopters eight days to extinguish the flames.

Now a court in southern Spain has imposed a fine of 10.6 million Euros on the man – 1.3 million Euros to cover the cost of putting out the fire and 9.1 million Euros for the cost of restoration and restocking the area.

I doubt that the 66 year old man will be able to pay that amount so it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Calling all pooches

As part of the Trade Fair on the 3rd April, Bigastro will be hosting its first ever Beautiful Dog show in the Parque Huerto del Cura.

From 10am there will be a variety of activities: obedience training, the competition itself for pedigree and non-pedigree dogs and advice on breed recognition.

If you are interested in participating then sign up for the competition on the 1st floor of the Town Hall in Bigastro, in "The Pet Boutique (Calle Goya) or Tel 968 386 244

Organizers: the City of Bigastro, Alicante Canine Association, Canine Association Community of Murcia, La Boutique for Pet and Arion.

PS I hope the council have someone on hand to clear up all the dog dirt left behind!

More misery on the cards

The right to strike is a fundamental right as far as trade unions are concerned. However, as many groups of workers have discovered, striking can be counter productive when it it looses your cause public support.  This phenomena is most evident in the travel sector where the ensuing chaos caused by strikes creates untold misery for passengers.

Airline strikes affect not only the carriers, they affect the whole tourist industry and in a country like Spain which is heavily dependant on tourism, that is bad news.

Now we read that a dispute involving Aena, the state-owned firm that runs the country's key airports, could mean a total of 22 days of stoppages beginning on the 20th April this year. The workers have earmarked dates in May, June, July and August for further industrial action involving airport runway staff. The planned stoppages are being held to protest against the government's plans to sell off parts of the company.

Although Aena says baggage handlers and air traffic controllers will not be affected, budget airline Ryanair has demanded EU action to prevent a repeat of the misery that blighted flights across Europe last year.

A wet week ahead

	Having left mild and sunny Manchester we arrive back to a blustery Vega Baja.
	Looks like we could be in for a spot of the wet stuff later this week. Friday and Saturday are forecast worst and then it is back to norm for Sunday. The good news I have found the hole that lets water into my pool box. It was originally covered with tape which has now gone. I’ll be resealing the hole before Friday when it looks like it will get a fair testing.

That sounds interesting

This weekend at the Auditorium, witness the work of the Murcia Dance Company. 

Support local tradespeople

On the 2nd and 3rd of April, there will be the second Fair Trade exhibition in  City Park Huerto del Cura.

There will be a wide range of displays including a catwalk show of fashion and accessories, footwear, optics, decoration, food, beauty treatments, hairdressing etc.

The aim of course is to encourage people to shop locally rather than going “out of town”.

Back in business

Is it really only five days since I last posted on my blog, it seems like a lot longer.

Those of you who have followed this blog may remember that this time last year we were in Manchester celebrating the birth of our granddaughter Molly. So this time it we have been over to England for her first birthday.

It was a whirlwind trip with a lot going to pack in to a few days including a trip to the Wirral to see Pam’s father and to catch up with our friends Hugh, Angela and Andrew.  The main event though was the birthday parties (yes there were two). The first was a teddy bear’s picnic with all Molly’s friends from nursery and her swimming class. The second was a grown up do in a restaurant for Laura and Dave’s friends.  Both were equally enjoyable for all concerned and especially for Molly who beamed her way through it all.

Did I forget to mention….

…that it was going to pour down last night? Well neither did either of the weather sites I visit.

It was bright yesterday morning but then started to cloud over in the afternoon. You knew it was going to rain and boy did it. We could hear it gushing down from the roof and looking out at the pool, I have saved topping it up for at least three weeks. There is a good couple of inches of water in there that wasn’t yesterday.

It is not raining at the moment but the skies are very heavy and I can hear thunder in the distance.

Correction: - It is raining now!

The new iPad might be for me

As if to demonstrate  that my faith in Apple is still not unfounded, Steve Jobs revealed the new iPad 2 at the Yerba Buena centre in San Francisco. The new version, which will sell at the same price as the old, is thinner, lighter, faster and has cameras both back and front.

That is all good stuff but the really clever part comes with the Smart Cover which attaches magnetically to the iPad. Not only does it protect the screen but it turns the iPad on and off and folds over to produce a stand to hold the iPad vertically or horizontally. Now that is what I call innovation.

You know, when the iPad was announced, I said it was not necessarily for me – well I might have to rethink that strategy now.

This weekend in Bigastro

	Saturday March 5th at 8pm GALA OF THE WORKING WOMAN The Department of Women along with the Association of Progressive Women Bigastro celebrates the International Day of Working Women, with a gala featuring the jazz  of M ª José García Soler along with a tribute to women in 2011.
	Sunday 6th March at 6:30pm THEATRE: LA COMEDIA DE LA OLLA DE PLAUTO, by the Theatre Group UMH Orihuela(Dramatic Adaptation by Adam Smith)

The poetry of everyday objects

There will be an exhibition of works by students from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Altea in the Auditorium from today until the 31st March.

That is good news

Although there was perhaps more space at the temporary location of the Bigastro weekly market, it somehow did not have the same atmosphere.

Now that the work on Calle Purisima is complete, the market is going to return there as of today.

A new initiative for the town

On Sunday 20th March Calle Purisima will be host to the first Classic Car show in Bigastro.

As if that was not enough, the bars, cafes and restaurants will be offering tapas in the street.

Altogether it sounds like a good way to spend a Sunday morning.

Many happy returns birthday boy!

You do need good weather and a decent size garden to have an outdoor party in early March.

Today we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine and Dave’s neighbours were kind enough to let the birthday boy use their garden.

When we first moved here, there were regular events like this when people got together. These days, such occasions are few and far between. This was one not to be missed though – a seventieth birthday party for one of the most popular residents on the estate.

We had a great time, especially Dave who won’t forget being 70 in a hurry! Many thanks to all the people who brought this together.

PS Dave got a new computer for his birthday (lucky bugger) which may take a little while to set up. By the time he reads this, I imagine the cake will have all gone!

Gordon Brown had a lot to answer for

I have been an admirer of all things Apple since I bought an Apple Classic II many years ago.

At that time, I was swimming against the tide because most of my colleagues had PCs and the school I worked in had PCs. The current Windows system then was v 3.1 which I thought was a dog’s dinner in comparison with Mac OS 7.1. It seemed to me to be far less intuitive and worse still was bolted on top off MS-DOS, the unfathomable command line interface that the PC faithful struggled to cope with.

The key figure in Apple at that time was the charismatic Steve Jobs who was hailed as a hero and a messiah; he had come to save the world from Microsoft. Since those heady days, Jobs has been the front man for the company on and off and is still the one that the Apple pundits look to for his inspiration.

Now I read that Jobs was denied an honorary knighthood in 2009 because of then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, according to a former senior Labour MP.

The proposal to knight Mr Jobs had apparently reached final stages in London but it was blocked by Downing Street after Mr Jobs snubbed an appearance at Labour’s annual conference. Quite why he rejected the invitation is unclear but he did and Gordon Brown retaliated by blocking the knighthood. Remember that Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft was given a honorary knighthood in 2005.

These days Steve Jobs is not a well man. Concerns over the 55-year-old’ health have resurfaced since he stepped away from overseeing Apple’s day-to-day operations to take medical leave last month. This marked the third time in seven years he had taken time out because of health concerns.

So thank you Mr Brown, yet another thing that you got badly wrong.

Will motorists take any notice?

In an attempt to save fuel in the light of soaring oil prices, the Spanish government have decided to cut the speed limit on motorways from 120km per hour to 110km per hour. The claim is that this will enable drivers to slash 15 per cent of their fuel costs amounting to a 1.48 billion Euro saving in oil imports.

Spain also intends to cut the price of commuter and short-distance rail tickets by 5 per cent in a bid to encourage drivers to leave their cars at home.

Driver’s associations fear that the measure may actually increase road accidents pointing out that a similar drop in speed limits during the 1976 oil crisis did just that.  

The new limits will come into affect on March 7th, the question is “will drivers take any notice?” From what I have seen on the motorways, there are many  drivers  who ignore the present limit of 120Kph let alone a reduced limit of 110kmph.  

Down but hopefully not out

Those of you who visit the Bigastro web site or who use Bigastro email will have noticed that the service has been down since yesterday morning. Hopefully that does not include the Bigastrel service that provides Internet access to people in the town.

The state of the economy for the town means that this is probably not a high priority except for the fact that, like most organisations these days, Bigastro relies on its IT services to run smoothly. The problem could be simple or complex, cheap or expensive to solve. I sincerely hope it is both simple and cheap otherwise we could be faced with blank screens for some time.

Once the dictator is gone

The question of what to do with the family of a dictator after the fall of the regime is still a sore point in Spain, where Gen Franco's heirs enjoy privileges and wealth despite the nation's transition to democracy on his death in 1975.

I am sure it will be a problem for those countries in the Middle East when and if they manage to topple the regimes that have plagued them for years. There is an all too familiar commonality about all these countries : whilst the people are impoverished they are ruled by and ultra rich dictator and their fat cat families. It was the same in Spain.

In the case of Gen Franco, the family assets are estimated at somewhere between £244 million and £406 million but there are no official records. They still own a 2,000-square-metre palace outside Madrid, the 18th-century palace of Cornilde in Corunna and the Plazo de Meiras, a vast country palace in Galicia.

After the death of Franco, the transitional government judged it better to encourage forgiveness than to stir antagonism that could engulf the fledgling democracy. As a result a tacit "pact of silence" was introduced to avoid recriminations over want went on before.

It was only in 2007 in an initiative led by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Socialist prime minister and grandson of a republican executed by Franco's soldiers, that the state cut funding for the Franco Foundation run by Carmen Franco Polo, 83 year-old daughter of the dictator.

More debt woes for Bigastro

According to today’s papers, Bigastro owes over 300,000 Euros to Residuos Sólidos Álvarez(RSA) for waste collection. Although other towns owe money to the company including; San Miguel de Salinas, Los Montesinos, Benijófar, Benejúzar, Benferri, the debt for a small town like Bigastro is said to be very high in comparison. The Vega Baja Regional Hospital also owes twelve instalments to the company which is understandably in danger of facing administration itself.

When asked to comment, the mayor, Raúl Valerio Medina, played down the debt adding that the council had a good relationship with the company. He said that arrangements had already been made to pay the 90,000 Euro bill for the last quarter of 2010. Of course, you will recall that Bigastro was in a similar situation with Iberdrola but has now overcome that problem by means of staged payments.

In moves to reduce the council spending, five workers have already been given early retirement. There are further plans to cut the workface from 90 to 75. The revenue stream for the council dried up when money for licences for construction stopped.

The best laid plans

We had intended to go down to Torrevieja yesterday afternoon to watch the Carnaval parade but the weather forecast was decidedly glum so we changed our plans and went to the concert in Bigastro instead.

Even though the weather improved by midday, we did not regret our decision for one minute because it was by anybody's standards a fantastic performance. You can see my photos from the concert by clicking on this link.

NB Normally I take my tripod to these events and set up somewhere near the back. The problem is that I then only get one perspective of the stage so last night I moved further down the auditorium and moved around to get different angles.

That meant hand holding my camera in poor light conditions. Even though my lenses have stabilisation, I didn't want to risk exposures of 1/30th of a second so I upped the ASA for some shots to 5,000 and for others to 3,200. Even though my camera is very good at handling low light, there is bound to be some signs of digital noise at those speeds. I apologise for that before you look at the pictures.

Did I mention…

	…that is was going to be very windy today? Well neither did either of the sites I use to find out about the weather but it is!  Both sites say that it will be calmer this afternoon so we will see.
	Not a lot of chance of rain until the end of the week when the wind looks set to blow up again. We have to remember that it is still only February. Although we might have odd days or even weeks of good weather, it doesn’t really settle until after Easter.

How cool is this?

Those of you who are using Google Chrome browser can now get this amazing application which shows you a window on the weather for your location.

Each week, I post you information from a site called Weather Bug. Now the site has produced this app. which gives detailed information (including maps) of the weather.

That makes more sense

In spite of rumours to the contrary, It seems that Britain will not be changing to Berlin time after all. The notion that the change would boost tourism has been rejected.

On the other hand, Spain is seriously considering changing to GMT and British Summer Time. The country naturally falls into the same zone as the UK as most of its territory is west of the Greenwich Meridian, but it has been on Berlin Time since dictator General Franco forced it into line with the Axis powers of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in 1940.

Berlin Time – officially known as Continental Time – is blamed by many Spanish businessmen for the country’s economic woes and long working hours. Joseph Collin, a Barcelona-based businessman who is an expert on the time-zone controversy, said: ‘Our days are governed by the hours of the sun. Spain gets up at an unnaturally early hour because our clocks are set to Eastern European time.

‘People don’t eat breakfast before they go to work because it’s too early for them to be hungry. We don’t eat lunch until 2pm and we keep working late partly because our bodies are working to the natural time of the sun. The first step towards improvement has to be switching to our natural time zone.’

A recent poll by newspaper 20 Minutos found 43 per cent of Spaniards believed their lives would improve under GMT and BST, while only 12 per cent thought it would have a negative impact.

Portugal, moved to Berlin Time in 1992 but the unpopular change was reversed in 1996 after it led to poorer exam results as children could not get to sleep because of the lighter evenings and were tired at school.There was also an increase in stress levels, insomnia and consumption of sleeping pills. More road accidents occurred during the darker winter mornings and energy bills rose.

Keeping yourself mentally agile

They say, “if you don’t use it then you will loose it”. The best way to stave off dementia and the onset of Alzheimer's disease is to keep your brain active.

Learning Spanish therefore does more than just equip you for every day life in the country, it helps to put back the first signs of dementia by at least five years.

Of course, once you have learnt the language, you then need to use it. Living on a largely British urbanisation means you have to go out of your way to engage in Spanish conversations. Pam and I have Spanish neighbours and friends which helps but we also talk to each other in Spanish on a daily basis.

Whilst crosswords, sudokus and other 'thinking' puzzles have long been lauded as a tool for fighting off memory loss and confusion in old age, experts believe that those who speak two or more languages have even more chance of retaining their mental faculties.

Ask me in twenty years time and I will tell you if it works.