Strike ends

At a packed meeting last night, the pharmacists in Alicante province voted to call off their strike. There were 409 votes for the decision, 36 against and 20 abstentions.

The move came after the Ministry of Finance paid 114 million euros directly to the chemists for the first period owed to them. As long as the regional government in Valencia continue with the payments, the pharmacies will now remain open.

On behalf of the pharmacists, the President offered his apologies to the public for the inconvenience that has been caused by their action.

A British Christmas Fayre in Bigastro

On Wednesday 5th December, Darren and Hazel will be hosting a Christmas Fayre at La Terraza bar in Bigastro between 1pm and 5 o clock.

Apart from twenty stalls offering cheap items and the chance to recycle your unwanted items, Darren and Hazel are offering everyone a free cup of tea sponsored by GT Autos.

There will be hand painted glassware and jewellery, homemade pickles and jams, wood turned gifts along with shoes bags and clothing on sale. There will also be a raffle with prizes including  a complete Christmas turkey dinner and a free hair appointment.

Since there are only few Brits living in Bigastro, Darren and Hazel are hoping to attract people from communities nearby where there are larger numbers of ex-pats e.g. Entre Naranjos. 

M&S on our doorstep

As I have said before, we are big fans of Marks and Spencer for clothes. Their products may not carry trendy labels but then neither do they come at designer label prices. Many people in Britain, from royalty down, rely on Marks for underwear if for nothing else.

On our trips to the UK, we usually make time to call in at Marks to top up on clothing and in between we have taken advantage of their delivery service to Spain which costs £7.50 per parcel.

Now it seems, they have seen a market for their products in Spain and have a website in Spanish. I haven’t explored the site fully but I expect they carry all the lines that are included on the English version.  As a huge bonus, delivery is free if you order over 35 euros worth of goods (that is not hard!). 

M&S in Spain.

Not good

It might be windy here today but at least it is dry. Looking at the pictures of widespread flooding in England and Wales makes you realise how fortunate we are. When it rains here, it comes down in buckets full but it rarely lasts for long. Then the sun comes back out and everywhere returns to normal. In Britain, when it rains it seems to go on for days, rivers burst their banks and low lying land is flooded. No sooner do people recover from one deluge, they get another and another. 

Forecasts say that the rain in Britain should ease but will be replaced by one of the harshest winters the country has experienced in 100 years. There is even talk of temperatures as low as 20 degrees below freezing in some parts of the country.

We might be facing a severe financial crisis in Spain but at least we are relatively warm and dry for the moment!

No good news for El Altet

The figures for passenger numbers at Alicante airport do not make good reading. Last month, there were 16% fewer passengers. Last year the airport received 9,913,731 passengers, the highest in its history. It looks like this year numbers will drop by 11%.

One of the main problems has been the long running dispute with Ryanair. The company promised to bring 600,000 new passengers to the airport next year but only if they could walk onto the aircraft rather than use the airbridges. Aena says that safety concerns make that impossible at the moment. They are in the process of setting out new parking areas where passengers can embark and disembark using footbridges but that is too late for Ryanair who say they will take their business elsewhere.

You know, I can’t help but feel that these issues should have been sorted out before the new terminal was constructed or at the latest, when construction was under way so that provision could be made for airlines that want to cut costs to the bone.

From a passenger point of view, it is preferable to use and airbridge than walk across the tarmac especially in winter when it is raining, or there is a strong wind blowing but are we prepared to pay for that?

Ryanair say that using airbridges costs them more in terms of turn around time, which along with the extra charges for the use of an airbridge, reduces their competitive edge.

Have you applied?

Changes in the rules concerning winter fuel allowances in the UK mean that, even if you did not qualify when you lived in Britain, you can still apply. Pam and I sent off our applications a couple of weeks ago and are now waiting for our replies.

There are those in government in the UK that think we should not be eligible for an allowance under any circumstances. They believe that living in Spain means we don’t need assistance with our heating bills, after all Spain is a Mediterranean country with a mild climate all year round.

Let me put them straight on that - in winter it gets cold.  Maybe it is not as cold as in the UK but for those of us acclimatised to Spanish summers, winters are harsh. For example, the forecast for this week shows temperatures in the low teens during the daytime dropping to 5,6 or even 3 degrees at night. That is bitter in my book and remember we are not into the depths of winter yet.

During the summer our gas bills are in the teens of euros but in the winter they can reach three hundred euros or more when we have the central heating on all day. We don’t have cavity wall insulation nor is there a thick blanket of fibre glass in the roof. Our house is not cold in the daytime when the sun is on it but on cloudy days and at night that is a different matter.

Just like any other pensioner who happens to live in the UK, we paid our dues for the period when we were working so we should be entitled to the same benefits in retirement.

A result at last

As I have reported before, the voltage of our electricity supply has been fluctuating wildly for some time now. It caused the lights to flicker and lower and my UPS to go mad as it tried to even out the fluctuations.

What puzzled us though was, other people on our estate did not seem to be suffering from the same problem. Was it just our house?

The answer came last night when the electricity went off altogether. We could see that other parts of Villas Andrea were still lit up but that our street lights were all out and none of the houses had lights on.

Pam and I went outside to investigate and could hear our neighbours chatting about the problem in the street. Some minutes later, the electricity came back on. One of our neighbours explained that there had been a breakdown in a transformer that was only affecting our street and that now it was fixed!

Touch wood, since then the lights have been stable and my UPS confirms a steady 23 volts – let’s hope it stays that way!  

About the concert

This year's concert for Santa Cecilia was described as ‘extraordinary’ because it was mainly a tribute to one of Bigastro’s favourite musicians, Don Manuel Moya Pomares.

Born in the town, Pomares grew up in a musical family. It was therefore inevitable that he would become a musician. His first instrument was the oboe but he later went on to play the tuba as well.

During a long and distinguished career, he directed several bands including the one in Bigastro and taught music at some of the illustrious academies in the region. He also composed many pieces and received many awards for his work including two gold medals.

During the concert, two of his sons, Fernando (euphonium) and German (oboe) played solos, his cousins in Mallorca sent a video greeting and there were tributes paid to him by his son Fernando, the President of the band and the lady mayor.

For the final piece, one of his own compositions -“a mi pueblo”, he took the baton to direct the band to rousing applause.

It was a glorious evening of music and a wonderful tribute to a very proud bigastrense.

Fernando	German	Manuel

More about it later

I’ll tell you later about the concert last night, in the meantime you can see my pictures here.

No end in sight

The strike by pharmacists is now in its fourth week and there is no sign of let up. In fact, on Wednesday, they voted 4 to 1 to continue with the strike.

Some pharmacies are just open to sell over-the-counter items and will only dispense low cost prescriptions. As they say, fulfilling prescriptions is like giving  someone a gift because they know they won’t be paid for them. These people might be caring but they can’t afford to be stupid, they have families to feed and mortgages to pay just like the rest of the country.

In desperation, some patients have decided to pay for their medication in full and of course, in those circumstances, the chemists are willing to provide the drugs. That is OK if your prescription is for a low cost item but not if it is expensive. 

The government say that drugs are freely available if you are prepared to visit the local clinic or hospital – not everyone can do that.

The fear is that it is only a matter of time before someone dies through lack of medication,what will be the reaction then?

Shopping by post

I have been a fan of this method of shopping for awhile now. Whilst it might not provide instant gratification, shopping by post does mean you can get the best deals and it saves a lot of leg work.

When we came to Spain, we were temporarily cut off from some of our favourite shops in Britain but not anymore. Many of them will now deliver to Spain for a nominal fee and in the case of Amazon, delivery is free for those items sold by them (as long as you spend more than £25).

The local couriers know where we live now and make regular trips to our gate with packages from Amazon (both in Britain and Spain), from Marks and Spencer and more recently from Argos. We’ve also had packages from countries as far afield as America. However, those have normally taken a little longer to arrive.

Of course, we prefer to shop locally when we can but to be honest there are some things that are simply not available or are cheaper sourced elsewhere. For example, we cannot wean ourselves off Marks and Spencer for clothes so we make room on our regular trips to the UK to bring back the items and in between we order online.

The latest items to arrive were floor standing cabinets for the bathrooms. We’ve looked in dozens of local shops for these and found nothing that took our fancy. Argos stocks a wide range in prices from cheap to expensive via reasonable so that is where we bought them from (in euros). They were delivered yesterday by the friendly man from DHL who I reckon will be coming again in the near future!

The threat of independence subsides

The threat made by Artur Mas’s party to seek independence for Catalonia seems to be weakening. Latest surveys show that his party may even lose seats in the forthcoming elections.

Even if they did win, a referendum seeking independence for the region would be deemed unconstitutional.

In fact, although Catalonia may be the wealthiest region of Spain, it is also the most indebted. Many business say that they would suffer by being outside of Spain but more importantly, Barcelona FC and Espanyol FC would not be eligible to play in the Spanish first division!

It seems that, although Catalans might consider themselves to be different to their Spanish neighbours, they may not be ready to break the ties that bind them. There might be something to gain from independence, however the price for that is too high for many to pay.

Introducing Pablo

This is the young student that Pamela teaches English to. His parents recognised the importance of learning English and asked Pamela if she would give him a couple of hours of tuition each week.

Since, the lessons began just over a year ago, Pablo’s confidence in English has grown, his marks in tests have improved and his parents are delighted with the progress he has made.

Pamela has been approached by others who would also like their children to progress in English but to be honest, she doesn’t have the time. After all, we didn’t retire to Spain to find work!

PS You can see Pablo in action with the junior band last night by following this link.

Open at last

There are now three Media Markt stores in Alicante province since the latest one opened its doors to the public.

With an area of 2,500 square metres and 45,000 different products on sale, the store promises to be a useful source for those looking to buy e.g.  consumer electrical goods, computers or photographic equipment.

The new shop is number 63 in Spain and the latest out of a total of 925 throughout Europe and Asia.

Just a reminder

St. Cecilia Concert 2012, dedicated to the great master D.Manuel Moya Pomares will be on Saturday, November 24th at 20:00 pm at the Municipal Auditorium Francisco Grau.

Traditionally, the band pulls out all the stops for this concert and provides us with an interesting and varied programme. I imagine that there will be one or two pieces by Manuel Moya Pomares included on this occasion.

PS My photos of Tomas (the director of the band) from the 2010 concert are still attracting attention – the three photos have had 954 visitors so far – most them in the last few weeks.

Your moment of fame

Whilst I was down at the Auditorium making my photos, this young lady spotted me and came over to ask if she could have a photograph taken. Of course I was happy to oblige and here is the result.

I don’t know her name but I think I have taken her picture before when she took part in the floral parade during the August Fiesta.

Teresa García Belmonte

For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to visit the Auditorium in Bigastro to see the work of this incredibly talented lady, I have posted an album of photos of her designs here.

Opening the doors to buyers

If you have income of  2,100 euros a month and you want to live in Spain, then you can apply for temporary residency.

To be a normal resident you should spend six months in Spain. However, if you are an investor your stays can be as little as one month in the first ear and two in the second year. There are three ways you can qualify for this exception; by purchasing property of over 500,000 euros, by making a capital transfer of over a million or by running a company with more than 30 employees.

The government now want to extend the benefit of residency to those who simply buy a property here.

Clearly, the government are keen to shift some of the houses that were built during the boom years and see this is a way to do that. The deal is that you buy a property at over 160,000 euros and you will be granted temporary residency to live here in Spain.

There will be provisos; anyone with a criminal record in Spain or the country they live in will not be granted residency and those that qualify must have private medical insurance.

Getting your meds

List of pharmacies open in Bigastro during the strike.

• MONDAY: Martinez Grau - C / Purisima 38.
• TUESDAY: Antonio Medina Lorenzo - C / Aureliano Diaz 25
• WEDNESDAY: Raquel Medina Manzano - C / Goya 7

NB They may be open other days as well.

And here is a link to the pharmacies that are open late night for emergencies.

It’s affecting my photography

All this rain and bad weather is keeping us indoors a lot more than normal. Those of you who check out my Flickr album will have noticed how many of my recent pictures were taken indoors.

I much prefer to be outside taking pictures especially street scenes – the last time I took one of those was in Norfolk when we visited our friends, Glenys and Peter and then in Manchester with my son-in-law Dave.

It looks like we will have a few pleasant days before the clouds roll back in on Thursday. I must make an effort to get out with my camera whilst I can!