Facts and figures

In the year 2000 there were just 392 foreigners living in Bigastro. You can see from the latest table below how that number has grown. 

The numbers have remained reasonably steady since 2007. The largest figure was in 2011 when there were 1,253 foreigners here. The group that has grown most is that from Africa. 

Población según nacionalidad (principales nacionalidades), 2022 (Unidad: personas)
Nacionalidad	Total	Hombres	Mujeres
TOTAL POBLACIÓN	7.130	3.591	3.539
Españoles	5.873	2.937	2.936
Total Extranjeros	1.257	654	603
Total Europa	518	267	251
Total Unión Europea	245	130	115
Alemania	11	5	6
Bulgaria	89	45	44
Francia	9	6	3
Italia	6	6	0
Polonia	14	8	6
Portugal	6	4	2
Rumanía	29	13	16
Total Europa No Comunitaria	273	137	136
Reino Unido	174	90	84
Rusia	29	12	17
Ucrania	52	26	26
Total África	592	321	271
Argelia	93	56	37
Marruecos	481	249	232
Nigeria	0	0	0
Senegal	16	14	2
Total América	117	49	68
Argentina	8	4	4
Bolivia	13	7	6
Brasil	8	3	5
Chile	1	1	0
Colombia	48	14	34
Cuba	6	2	4
Ecuador	22	14	8
Paraguay	0	0	0
Perú	1	1	0
República Dominicana	4	1	3
Uruguay	1	0	1
Venezuela	3	1	2
Total Asia	30	17	13
China	11	6	5
Pakistán	9	7	2
Oceanía y Apátridas	0	0	0
Fuente: Instituto Nacional de Estadística. Revisión Padrón 2022. Fecha de consulta: 26/01/2023

Save 20 Euros

To encourage people to spend locally, the Town Hall have started a campaign they call Bono Consumo. In essence you can claim two vouchers of 10 Euros to spend in a selection of local businesses.

 

 Application form

Give yourself a treat

 Geoff Durkin kindly alerted me to the Butterflies Cafeteria in Jacarilla where he regularly visits after going to the gym. 

Pam and I went there this morning to see for ourselves and we were not disappointed.

The ambience is smart tea room and the food ranges from savouries to cakes all of which are home made on the premises.  Just don't ask for a hamburger and chips because they don't do them!

What they do make are the most delicious pastries (sweet and savoury) and cakes to die for. 

Here is the fruit scone that I enjoyed this morning. 

 You will find other items to tempt you into visiting Butterflies in the album I've posted in the side bar.

A word of warning though - you may just go in for a coffee but you won't be able to resist a treat - or two! to accompany it. 

Saturday night sorted-

Each year the Alicante Province allocates money to musical societies to encourage and promote concerts along with training of young musicians. The grants are between 1,200 and 2,500 Euros per musical society. The programme is called Música Als Pobles (Valenciano).

Oh dear

 With all the things that are going on in the world, it is unbelievable that so much attention should be given to Gary Lineker's remarks on Twitter. 

He was outspoken and his reference to Germany in the 30s have offended some - particularly right wing members of the Government. 

Let's face it, Braverman has some form on using offensive language to refer to migrants - she previously described them as "invaders". I also do not care for her veiled threat that millions could try to enter the UK if the Government did not take a strong stance. It reminded me of the threat that millions of Turks would come to Britain if the country stayed in the EU. That was not true and neither is it true what Braverman now says. All she is doing is whipping up support amongst  people who believe her populist garbage. 

Of course, the country needs to stop the rubber dingies for the sake of safety to those who use them as a means to get to Britain. Of course there needs to be limits on the numbers that any country can take.. Except of course when Britain needed more workers, they were not only allowed to enter the country, they were encouraged and given a cheap passage. 

Ultimately, Lineker was expressing his own opinion - not the opinion of the BBC. The remarks were made on his personal Twitter account. In the same way Clarkson made comments about Meghan Markle on his own Twitter account. Neither were reflecting the views of the organisations they worked for. A statement  from the BBC to say that Lineker's views were his own and not necessarily those of the Corporation was all that was required. 

No, no and no!

 It comes as no surprise that Boris Johnson has produced a list of 100 nominations in his resignation honours list, more than any other retiring PM. 

It is inevitable, given Johnson's reputation,  that some of the names on his list will raise eyebrows. None more so than his father, Stanley Johnson who is listed for a knighthood. 

It is not unusual for relatives to be given honours. For example, Margaret Thatcher put her husband Denis forward for a knighthood. 

However, there is a difference between Denis and Stanley. Denis was the rock who stood behind Thatcher. Stanley's sole contribution to his country was siring possibly the worst Prime Minister the country has known. That, along with the allegations that Johnson's father was violent to his former wife, should preclude him from any honour. 

Never mind "f*** business" and "f*** Americans",  let's f*** Johnson's honours list instead.

By comparison

Latest weather updates in the UK show temperatures are expected to plunge as low as -15C and yellow warnings will be issued for large swathes of the UK - with roads, trains and bus services likely to be affected.

In the meantime, looking at the graph, Spring is arriving with a vengeance here on the Costa Blanca. 

Would we prefer to live here or back in the UK?

This is where the squatters were

This is the house in the Altas de la Pedrera development where the squatters have been.

One neighbour reports that there is a speaker, a sofa, a mattress, a pillow, a toaster, coke bottles and a blanket inside. 

The local police have been around and have left the door open. 

Apparently there have been no confirmed sightings of people entering or leaving the house. However, it is clear from the photo and the evidence of the neighbour that squatters have been there and nothing to suggest that they won't return. 

How difficult is it for the bank, that own the property, to seal it off  securely - making sure nobody is inside of course?

The house is on the corner of  Calle Escocia and Canada Andrea. If I remember correctly it was bought by a lady in a wheelchair who had the steps around the outside of the property replaced with sloping ramps. 

Squatters

 Pam has had a message tonight from our neighbours to say that squatters have been spotted in one of the derelict houses on our estate. I presume it it one of the Altas de la Pedrera houses. 

A WhatsApp group has already been formed to discuss the problem. 

One of the three policemen on the estate has pointed out that, although squatting is illegal, it is the responsibility of the owners of the property to sort the issue out. In this case it is the bank that own the houses. 

From the comments so far, it seems that the squatters are still there but have not gained access to either water or electricity. 

Although, it is clearly undesirable to have squatters in those houses, we should perhaps concede that they must be pretty desperate to be there without electricity and water in this cold weather. Let's  hope that there is some local organisation that can find them more suitable accommodation. 

Oh the bright light!

 After the pause caused by Covid, the Medio Ano Festival returned to Bigastro yesterday 

Instead of starting at the far end of town, the procession this year started at the Plaza Constitución. The turnout was brilliant and the inventiveness of the participants was unbelievable.

You could argue that the weather was perfect for the occasion. It was after all warm and sunny not dull and drizzly as predicted days ago. 

However, strong, bright sunlight poses a real problem for photographers. If the subjects are looking into it, they squint, if they turn away they are in deep shadow. Light cloud cover is what we hope for. 

One solution to the problem on a bright day is to use fill in flash to bring light into the shadow areas. You can tell from his pictures that the local professional uses fill in flash most of the time for his outdoor work. Obviously, this only works when you are relatively close to the subject,

In the days of film, dynamic range was a real issue. You could not record strong highlights and deep shadows on film. The usual advice was to expose for the highlights and let the shadows take care of themselves. 

Digital sensors are different. The best are capable of recording detail in both shadows and highlights. You just have to work a little magic in a program like Lightroom to bring them out. Even still, it is a challenge if you have a lot of photos to process. 

My friend Fonta has published his excellent photos from the event and you can see the struggle he and I had in some of our photos to bring the highlights under control and at the same time show detail in the shadows. Que sera, sera!

Let them eat turnips!

 Newspapers in the UK are showing empty supermarket shelves again. This time, it isn't panic buying that is causing the problem, it is the shortage of salad products. The government are blaming the bad weather in Southern Europe for shortages 

However,  people have posted pictures of markets, supermarkets and  shops in Spain, Italy and Southern France with an abundance of items such as lettuce and tomatoes. So, why does the problem seem to be confined to the UK?

Therese Coffrey says that the situation will remedy itself in two to four weeks time. In the meantime, people in Britain should turn to locally grown seasonal products like turnips to feed themselves. She specifically mentioned turnips.

In a sense she is right. Britain relies far too much on importing food and people do not eat seasonally. They expect everything they want to be available all year round. However, even during the summer months, Britain still has to import the majority of what the people eat so seasonality is not necessarily the root of the problem (please excuse the pun!).

Unfortunately Britain is not giving the support that is needed to its farmers. I watch Countryfile on Sundays. On the program we regularly get items highlighting the difficulties farmers face. For example, the greenhouses in the South of England used to produce more than enough tomatoes during the winter.. That was until gas prices hit the roof making it too expensive to heat them. 

The plain truth is that it would be impossible for Britain to be self sufficient for food. Let's face it, Britain isn't self sufficient for many things. Damn it, the country even imports coal!

If people did try to follow Coffrey's advice, they would soon have problems buying the root vegetables she suggests they eat.  Ms Coffrey, when the turnips run out, what should they turn to next?

But where is it?

 

I've driven around looking for a sign, checked the map of the town but still can't find it.

The English corner

 

It will apparently have something for both children and adults.

https://www.facebook.com/blablaenglishbigastro/

Join in the party

 

Proud of her

 Yesterday, my daughter Jemma went on strike. She was the only teacher from her school to do so even though there were other staff in the NEU at her school. 

Why did it come to this?

The Institute for Fiscal Studies have calculated that long-serving and senior teachers – accounting for nearly a third of those working in England – would have earned the equivalent of £50,300 in 2010. But below-inflation wage increases over the past 12 years has meant their pay in 2022 was just £43,700.

Experienced teachers have experienced similar real-terms cuts across the national pay scale, meaning that half of the teaching workforce has had the value of their annual earnings fall by thousands of pounds compared with what they would have earned in 2010, when the Conservative party came into government.

By contrast, average earnings across the whole economy are thought to have increased by about 2% in real terms during the same period. MPs, for example, earn £18,306 more per year than they did in 2010. 

Dwindling pay is one of the main reasons for the government is missing recruitment targets, and why it faces shortages in specialist subjects such as physics, which are forcing schools to rely on non-specialists to plug gaps in classrooms.

It is a fact that nearly a third of teachers  leave the profession within five years of qualifying.

So the issues the government faces are recruitment and retention. 

Did they want to go on strike? Definitely not! My daughter has already lost a day's pay and stands to lose three more days pay if the impasse is not resolved. 

PS She is right behind the bloke in the brown jacket and the one with a bald head - centre right of the photo. 

A date for the diary

 

More work in the town

On Thursday works began at the Centro Social Integrado.

These include, improvement works on the energy efficiency of the building, work on the whole of the roof, laying new waterproofing and insulation as well as improvements to the skylight woodwork. 

With an investment of more than €60,000 thanks to the Deputation of Alicante, the work will last approximately 1 month and will not effect the activities that take place inside.

However, it will  mean there will be limitations on parking in the surroundings, due to the need for the use of cranes.

Helpful advice

In a country and an area where temperatures rarely get so low, the Town Hall has seen fit to post some helpful tips on how to survive the current freeze.

 

My humble suggestions

Local elections are scheduled for May. In preparation for them, political parties will be drawing up manifestos designed to attract voters.  

I have the greatest admiration for the achievements of our current Town Council who have worked hard to improve the town for its citizens. They will surely get my vote in May.   

Many of the latest projects of the current administration have been aimed at making Bigastro attractive to visitors. In a conversation Pam and I had with the Mayor, she expressed a wish to develop the town as a tourist destination. I therefore assume that tourism will feature as part of the Partido Populares manifesto for the upcoming election. 

I understand that it is difficult to achieve a balance between preserving the traditional nature of the town with the 21st Century needs of the people because the two aims are not necessarily compatible.

However, in my experience, towns that are attractive to tourists manage to combine modern facilities with places of historic interest.  

There are, in my opinion, several issues that Bigastro could perhaps address to move it forward make it more attractive to both locals and visitors alike. 

1. The main shopping street currently has at least 12 vacant premises. My impression is that, in the eighteen years I have lived here, there has been a steady decline. I do feel that the commercial hub is now in need of urgent regeneration. 

2. As far as I can tell, there are no places of historic interest nor any places that celebrate the culture of the town. As an example, nearby Rojales has several museums such as the Museo de la Huerta to attract visitors. I believe that Bigastro would benefit from something similar. 

3. Although there are plenty of bars, most of which sell food, there are few places that could be regarded as restaurants celebrating local produce and serving traditional local dishes. 

4. Parts of the town are run down and untidy. For example, the billboards at the top of the Plaza de la Constitucion are an eyesore. The town squares in e.g. Benejuzar and even Jacarilla are more attractive and perhaps set an example for Bigastro to follow.   

5. Facilities that have been developed need to be maintained. As an example, I  notice that some of the information boards for the Ruta Alquibla are now in a state of disrepair. Whilst it is important to develop new projects, it is also necessary to consolidate existing ones. 

It could snow

In England, a forecast for snow brings the prospect of misery to most adults. Children may get excited but their parents view the likelihood of chaos on roads, delays or cancellations in public transport and even the closure of airports as not something to look forward to. 

Here in the Vega Baja, few have seen snow in any quantity. They go out for day trips inland or to the Sierra Nevada to play and have fun in the snow. To local Spaniards it is a novelty not to be missed.

The weather at the moment here is cold, very cold, especially at night. There is also the possibility of some rain which might mean it could snow. This is getting forecasters and elements of the public excited. 

Of course snow does transform the landscape and blankets out the imperfections of run down buildings. Too much though and those that are looking forward to a white blanket covering everywhere will soon change their minds. There are no snow ploughs nor depots stocked with grit. Admittedly there is plenty of salt but that is earmarked for Northern Europe.

Those who have endured hazardous journeys on snow covered roads, who have been cut of for days from essential supplies, trudged for hours through ankle deep snow to get to work or waited hours for a bus that doesn't arrive would prefer a return to normal Spanish weather.

Brace yourselves

Who on earth said that we don't need the winter fuel allowance here in Spain? Just look at the temperatures for next week. Twenty degrees in the daytime is bad enough. When it drops to 13 and 0 at night, then it is damn cold. 

 

Flying the flag

 Was it really way back in February 2019, almost four years ago,  that the Lady Mayor first lead a party of bigastrense around the Ruta Alquibla? This was a major project designed to attract tourists to the town. 

There are three sections to the route; the “El Casco” section which takes you around the historic centre of the town, the “Huerta” route which takes you around the market garden and “La Pedrera” which takes you around the recreational area of the old stone quarry. 

All along the routes there are information boards that describe the significance of your location.  Upon completion of the walk, you will have learnt an awful lot about the history of the town, the ecology of the area, the agricultural significance of the Vega Baja  and some of the traditions of Bigastro. 

The Mayor, her second in command and the Councillor for Culture are currently at the FITUR exhibition in Madrid continuing to promote the town as a tourist destination. 

For this year, the theme is the traditional crafts of the town which they explain are in danger of being forgotten. 

In order to keep them alive, at least in people's memories, they are presenting the  new cultural and sports tourism project - the first "outdoor museum of traditional trades in the region of the Vega Baja"

It will be a 2 km long urban route that that will have 20 murals, designed by the local painter Olga Navarro, depicting trades that were local to the region. Here is a taster to whet your appetite.

The last straw

During my 34 year career as a teacher I only went on strike twice, once whilst I was a member of the NAS/UWT and once as a member of the NUT.

For teachers, strike action is very much a last resort – not something that they take lightly. 

Now though, fed up with being fobbed off year after year, teachers have voted to take action this year. This is not just about pay, it is about funding for education that has been eroded over the years.  Schools increasingly have to depend upon PTAs to pay for essential resources. That's fine in areas where parents are well off but not so good in deprived areas. 

In the NEU 90.44% out of 53.27% of its members voted to strike. Over 90% of NAS/UWT members also voted to strike but unfortunately they failed to reach the required 50% of  members voting.

Although NEU members will be striking for 7 days during February and March, individual schools will only be affected on 4 of them. 

• Action will start on the 1st February when 23,400 schools in England and Wales will be affected. 
• On the 14th February just schools in Wales will be affected.
• The 28th February it will be the turn of schools in Northern, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber regions.
• On 1st March it will be schools in East Midlands, West Midlands and Eastern regions turn. 
• The 2nd March schools in London, South East, and South West regions that will be targeted. 
• Finally, on the 15th and 16th March, all schools in England and Wales will see strike action.

Unsurprisingly, Downing Street have called on the unions to call off any strike.

No 10 said that teachers should not strike and inflict "substantial damage" to children's education, especially after so many missed out on schooling during the pandemic. 

Schools have been told they can use volunteers to stay open. I sincerely hope no headteacher is foolish enough to try and replace teachers with untrained and unvetted members of the public. I also hope that members of other unions do not volunteer to cover for their absent colleagues. 

Acronyms:

NUT = National Union of Teachers

NAS/UWT = National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers. 

PTA = Parent Teacher Association

NEU = National Education Union

On a positive note

 As I have said, the majority of projects in the town brought huge benefits. 

It is great news that schoolchildren at the Infant School La Paz now have their own  dining room. 

Antonio Meseguer says "they have been works that have involved a great effort, since the administrative procedures external to the City Council were lengthened, and that together with the school management and the parents, the objective set for Bigastro has been achieved".

The dining room which will serve 50 children and cost more than 300,000 euros to build. is now a reality. No longer do children have to transfer to other centres for their lunchtime meals. 

The mayor of Education also says that they will improve the state of the patio and the roofs, mainly to improve the air conditioning and the general well-being of the schoolchildren.

Well done Antonio for all the work you have done to secure funding for this worthwhile project and for the many others that have made great improvements to our town. 

Not done yet

The Councilor for Urban Planning and the Environment of Bigastro has detailed plans for four more cycle lanes in the town:

• 1,005 meters of bike lane on the access route to the La Pedrera area.
• 650 meters of bike path on Avenida Europa to the Colegio San José de Calasanz.
• 785 meters of bike lane from the Auditorium to the municipal sports centre.
• 465 meters of bike lane from the Health Centre to Vereda Lo Guardamuro, to connect the urban area with the orchard

Let's  hope that the cycle path to La Pedrera does not cause more problems to add to those caused by the roundabout which connects the road into town with the road up to the Pantano.  Goodness knows how many times those green bollards on the roundabout have been squashed by vans and lorries trying to get through. 

Your right to vote

 As you probably all know, in order to vote in the municipal elections here you have to be on the electoral register. Note that, as foreigners, we do not have the right to vote in either Regional or General elections in Spain. 

Every four years you should get a form to complete which you then post back. The Town Hall phoned Pam to check that we had received our forms and most important, we had returned them. They also asked me to check with others on our estate that they had received theirs. 

Of course, who you vote for is up to you.  The important thing is to exercise your franchise otherwise you could end up with a Council that you do not want. 

Whether there will be a special meeting for us this time, I cannot say. There are fewer British residents on our estate now. So a meeting for the Spanish residents might be more appropriate. We shall see.   

A good idea?

 As someone who cycled for many years, I know the dangers facing cyclists on the open road. One of them is cars, vans or worst still lorries passing close by.  The draft can be unsettling  and put you at risk of falling off. The problem is most acute on fast busy roads or in congested town centres.

I have to say that the majority of Spanish drivers are very good when passing cyclists. They give a wide berth  - crossing into the opposite lane if necessary. 

The most recent measure introduced to protect vulnerable cyclists from passing vehicles is the cycle lane. 

Towns and cities have embraced the idea of cycle lanes with gusto, often to the ire of motorists. It must be very frustrating to lose a passing lane on a busy road to cyclists only to find they are nowhere to be seen. 

THE NEW CYCLE LANE IN BIGASTRO

I assume that money, targeted to the construction of cycle lanes, was available from the regional government. Bigastro made a bid for a share of it and they were successful. 

The plan was to build the lane on the right hand side of Calle Joaquin Moya Martinez, one of the routes out of the town that takes you to the CV-95 in the direction of Torrevieja. 

There is already a short cycle lane on Calle Apatel that was built whist the Socialists were in power using Plan E money from the Government. Its usefulness though was negated by the fact that it only reached as far as Calle Andalucia. I can't say that I have seen anyone actually use that cycle lane. 

The new cycle lane was to be a more ambitious project. It was going to be wider, separated from the road with kerb stones and painted blue to make its presence clear. A similar cycle lane was constructed running alongside the CV-945 from just outside Los Montesionos to the CV-905 Crevillente-Torrevieja road. 

There are differences though between these two projects:

1. The CV-945 is a busy road with heavy traffic in both directions particularly at peak times. At those times it was impossible to pass cyclists giving them a wide berth.

2. There are a number of cyclists who use the route on a regular basis. In fact, you often see groups of cyclists riding together in a mini peloton. 

On the other hand:

1. Calle Joaquin Moya Martinez is only relatively busy at peak times. Without carrying out a traffic survey I can't say for sure but I'd guess the volume of traffic at any time is much less than that on the CV-945. 

2. Although there are a fair number of cyclists in Bigastro, I rarely see them in numbers on the roads into and out of the town. 

Of course none of this would matter if  Calle Joaquin Moya Martinez was a wide road in the first place. Following the construction of the cycle lane it is now much narrower. If you have to face a lorry coming in the opposite direction, it will be a tight squeeze. Two lorries going opposite ways would be practically impossible.  

The vast majority  of the projects that this Council have carried out have brought great improvements to the town. However, I'm not altogether sure that this is one of them. 

The big plan

WORK ON THE URBAN DYNAMIZATION AND REGENERATION PROJECT OF  BIGASTRO COMMERCE STARTS

This week, work has commenced on this great project that we started 5 years ago. A project that, as we indicated a few days ago, has been the best rated in the Valencian Community and eighth in Spain. With a grant obtained from European Next Generation funds and the Alicante Provincial Council of almost 1,250,000 euros.

The works will last about 4 months and will cover Calles Moreal, Antonio Gálvez, La Acequia, Retirees, 1º de Mayo and San Pascual as well as the entire Huerto del Cura park, which is going to undergo a great change.

The objective set is to improve road safety, accessibility, increase the children's play area, increase the shadow area, improve areas for parking, loading and unloading for commerce, and turning the Huerto del Cura park into a large square where the passage of vehicles will be reduced, achieving a low emission zone.

These works are going to mean an important change, also in the entire street network of the urban area, where, together with the mobility plan, we will see changes in the directions of the streets, beginning with traffic tests in the coming months.

The project will also include the placement of intelligent parcel collection areas for the citizen, reducing the impact of the passage of courier vehicles. Placement of re-vending machines to motivate citizens to recycle and  promote local business with coupons and the creation of a free digital platform for citizens and businesses that will serve as a virtual showcase.

The Council are aware that the works will involve a lot of inconvenience, in addition to continuous street closures. Any urgent need such as removals, the City Council will process all the steps so that they can be carried out.

In the same way, everyone interested in knowing about this project is invited to approach the City Hall to be informed.

PS I do hope we have a re-vending machine at the entrance to La Pedrera. After all, we do seem to fill the bottle bank on a regular basis which might say something about the drinking habits of the residents here!

On their way

 

We start with hope

After the Covid years, we'd hoped that 2022 would be much better. 

In many ways it was. We got to see our family at the wedding of Andrew and Farah in Chester, our family came over in August and then our friends Hugh and Angela visited us in September. 

There were however some low points. Pamela was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis which meant we had to cancel our family holiday to Funchal. She then had a week in hospital with pancreatitis which turned out to be caused by a cyst on her pancreas (thankfully benign). 

Tragically, our wonderful neighbour, Eladia, passed away suddenly in November. We miss her dearly especially at times when we would normally be together. 

However, we start the New Year with hope in our hearts that 2023 will bring joy, good health and peace to us and to you all.

 

At their very best

 The concert last night by the Senior Band was magnificent. The main solo performance was by a young man on classical guitar.  I just wish he had played some more. 

Listen to them here.

Visitors

Look who came to visit us last night. 

The Mayor, Teresa María Belmonte Sánchez, phoned Pam to ask if she could come to our house. 

What we did not expect was that she would bring with her the rest of the Council team and a present for us. That was a wonderful surprise - such kind hearted people.

 

Another correction

 Note the change of time from the original poster.

The Junior Band and children's choir herald in Christmas

 Last night the Junior Band played their concert for Christmas. The concert began with a choir of children singing villancicos. 

You can see my photos from the link in the sidebar and listen by clicking on this link. 

More investment in the town

The latest project to stimulate local commerce presented by the municipality of Bigastro has received a subsidy of 1.2 million euros from the Next Generation Funds. 

The investment will allow the town to produce a web page where all the Bigastro businesses, free of charge through an application, will be able to have their own digital showcase. As well, the project seeks to reduce the impact of delivery vehicles, establishing strategic points*. Also included are "reverse vending" machines to encourage recycling and, in exchange, obtain purchase tickets to invest in local commerce.

Intrigued by the concept of a "reverse vending machine", I looked it up and this what Wikipedia says:

A reverse vending machine allows a person to insert a used or empty glass bottle, plastic bottle or aluminum can in exchange for a reward. After inserting the recyclable item, it is then compacted, sorted, and analyzed according to the number of ounces, materials, and brand using the universal product code on the bottle.

Once the item has been scanned and approved, it is then crushed and sorted into the proper storage space for the classified material.

Upon processing the item, the machine rewards people with incentives, such as coupons. In the case of Bigastro, these coupons are to be used in local shops. 

It sounds like a modern version of what happened when we were children. We collected pop bottles and took them back to the shops to get some spending money. 

* Companies like Amazon already use strategic delivery points notably the lottery shop on Calle Purisima and the Post Office where you can elect to collect parcels rather than have them delivered to your house. You can also drop off returned parcels at those venues. 

This strategy cuts down on the time taken by delivery vehicles to deliver parcels especially if they have to return a second or third tine. It is also convenient for those who are not at home during the day to receive goods at the door. 

In England they also have unmanned collection points where you can collect Amazon parcels. These are even more convenient because you can retrieve your purchases from the lockers any time of day or night. 

On the negative side, it partially moves the onus from the delivery company to the purchaser to collect goods.

PS I am currently waiting for Correos Express to deliver a Christmas present for my wife and we need to go out shopping:-( Hopefully, they will put it through the gate if we have gone out by the time they arrive. 

Music in the streets

 

A necessary reminder

It seems that too many drivers here do not know how to negotiate a two lane roundabout safely. Of course, it would help if drivers signaled their intentions but most don't.

The driver in the car marked "muy mal" is one of those impatient ones keen to overtake drivers on the outside lane. 

 

Note the correction

The Junior Band Concert will be at 8pm not 7pm as in the original poster of events for Christmas in Bigastro.

 

Highly recommended

 I have mentioned Caminsat before on this blog. The technician, Jose Maria has serviced our central heating boilers for a number of years now. We have a contract with him that costs us 108 Euros per year. 

When the original boiler was 11 years old, we decided to have it replaced and Jose Maria suggested the Fondital Delphis as an option. 

We have had the new boiler since 2014. It came with a six year guarantee which expired in 2020. That means that we now have to pay for parts but the labour costs are covered by our annual contract. 

Recently, the boiler was intermittently coming up with error code E78 which indicated that the pump was blocked. When Jose Maria came out, the boiler was working perfectly so he suggested that I waited and called him again when the fault returned. 

When the fault returned, I called Jose Maria. He came out and suggested that we may need a new pump. 

Yesterday, he returned for a third time and fitted a new pump but unfortunately, that did not cure the problem. 

So this morning (Saturday), he returned and diagnosed the problem to be actually with a sensor. Having replaced the sensor, he changed the pump back to the original. 

I would guess that most technicians would had left the new pump in place and charged for it along with the other parts required. We would have ended up paying for a part we did not need. 

In all, not including his travelling time, Jose Maria has worked on our boiler for over five hours - all at a cost of 108 Euros. 

Hopefully, next year he will only need to service the boiler!

UPDATE

Spoke too soon. 

After Jose Maria left, I noticed that the cold water inlet to the boiler was leaking a little water. The next morning (Sunday), the pressure had dropped and the boiler would not come on. Rather than re-pressurise the system and risk more water leaking, I sent a message. 

This morning (Monday) Jose Maria came out again and sorted the problem out. 

I did apologise to him for all the trouble we had caused. He insisted that it wasn't our fault and that is what we have a contract for. 

We gave him a box of chocolates and wished him a Merry Christmas. 

For the 3 Kings

Jab time

 

You don't need to make an appointment, just call in at the Medical Centre and ask for your flu and Covid injections (one in each arm).

Voting in Spain

Those of you who are eligible to vote in next May’s municipal elections should now have received a letter from the Electoral Office (OCE). As a reminder, anyone who has been resident in Spain for more than three years is entitled to vote even if you have not received a letter, provided that you are registered on the padron and confirm your registration on the electoral roll between 1 December 2022 and 15 January 2023. 

The OCE letter tells you what you need to do to confirm your registration on the electoral roll with instructions in English and Spanish. In general, you can register online (using your cl@ve pin if you have one or the code provided in the letter) or you can fill in the form and send it back by post. 

If have not yet received the letter or have any other questions, please contact your town hall or call 900 343 232.

The recent power cuts

The explanation from the Town Hall:-

Since the 2nd December, in our municipality like in neighboring municipalities, we have been suffering power cuts. These cuts and probably more that we will suffer, originate from the "Jacarilleta" electric substation located between Jacarilla and Benejuzar. It is the one that supplies a large percentage of the electricity to Bigastro. 

Repair actions for network failure are being carried out by the responsible company.

The grids and facilities in our municipality are in perfect condition and are not the cause of the blackouts.

Hopefully everything will return to normal soon.

In the case of our house, there was also an issue with the supply cable  which caused the voltage to fluctuate. I am pleased to say that seems to have been resolved. 

Every time the power goes off, the clock on the oven needs to be reset and the connection to our Voip phone provider needs to be re-registered - minor inconveniences compared to those experienced by people in Ukraine.

Christmas in Bigastro

Two dates for me to note: 

 23rd December at 7pm - the Christmas Concert by the Junior Band in the Auditorium. 

 30th December at 7pm - the Christmas Concert by the Symphonic band in the Auditorium. 

 Two that I will be giving a miss to! 

 24th December at midnight - Disco in the Park. 

 31st December at half past midnight - Disco in the Park. 

 On the 5th January, the Three Kings will process starting at 6pm from the fish shop el Roque.

 

Be aware

Pam and I were considering flying to Manchester to spend Christmas with the family. That was until Pam was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in her left leg and advised not to fly 

It seems that made for a good decision in light of this news:-

Border Force officers in England, Scotland and Wales are to take strike action for eight days over Christmas, the PCS union has announced.

PCS members on passport control will take action at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow airports on December 23, 24, 25, 26 28, 29 and 30 and 31.

The measure is likely to affect Britons living in Spain travelling to the UK for Christmas on those dates, with the UK Home Office saying passengers should be prepared for potential disruption.

For potential disruption read, long delays. 

Getting presents from the UK

As a general rule, to send a parcel from the UK to Spain, the sender must complete a customs declaration as fully as possible. If it has a value of less than €45 and is sent from an individual (rather than a business), there should be no IVA, import or service charges. Receiving gifts with a value of over €45 may incur import charges and some specific items, including food and drink, and cosmetics may also incur a charge. There should be no charge to receive greetings cards. 

And this is what Correos say:

Import into Spain of postal items originating in the United Kingdom, except for the territory of Northern Ireland.

As of January 1, 2021, in order for Correos to proceed with the delivery to recipients in Spain of shipments containing merchandise from the United Kingdom, except for the territory of Northern Ireland, it will be necessary to present them for clearance before Spanish Customs.

The recipient must bear the expenses corresponding to customs processing as well as the payment of taxes that are accrued in accordance with current customs regulations (VAT or IGIC in the Canary Islands) and Special Taxes. However, it may be exempted from paying tariffs when it is documented that the merchandise contained in the shipment originates from the United Kingdom, except for the territory of Northern Ireland.

Beware the bridge

 Most of you will be aware that Tuesday the 6th of December is Constitution Day, a national holiday in Spain. You will also be aware that Thursday, the 8th December is Feast of the Immaculate Conception, another national holiday in Spain. What you need to be remember is that many businesses will also be closed on the Wednesday in between these two dates in what is called a "puente" or bridge. 

Please note that, although supermarkets like Mercadona do not  close during puentes, some local shops might.

 

Major fault

 This morning the electricity was going mad. It would go off and then come back on but with the fluctuations we’d experienced before. Then it went off altogether. 

When we checked the box in the street, our connection was off but my neighbour’s was on. Pepe called the electricity company who said a technician would come out to check the problem.

Later, Pepe called me to say that actually there was a problem for the whole of Bigastro. At that point nobody had electricity. Both mine and my neighbours connections were dead. In fact the whole estate was without supply. 

When the electricity came back on, everyone but us had a stable supply - damn!!

UPDATE

The technician arrived and it seems that the supply to our house was the issue for us. He managed to resolve it and (touch wood) we have a stable supply at last. 

Turn on the lights

 

Thanks to Johnson et al

Brexit added almost £6bn to UK food bills in the two years to the end of 2021, affecting poorest households the most.

London School of Economics (LSE) researchers say the cost of food imported from the EU shot up because of extra red tape, adding £210 to the average household food bills over 2020 and 2021, 

Since low-income families spend a greater share of their income on food, the impact of Brexit on their purchases was disproportionately greater, they said.

Lord Frost’s Brexit trade deal signed at the end of the transition period in December 2020 ensures trade is tariff-free with the EU but created trade barriers in the form of customs, rules of original paperwork and regulatory standards checks for agri-food products.

In 2015, the year before the referendum, 77% of food imports were from the EU.