Got that wrong

Yesterday, I said that La Terraza bar in Bigastro would more than likely be closed last night. I was wrong, the bar was in fact open for business as usual. The problem I mentioned has been resolved.

For the benefit of those planning to go there today I repeat, THE BAR IS FULLY OPEN.

I apologise for the misunderstanding and hope I did not cause unnecessary inconvenience to all parties concerned.

This may spoil your night out

If you live in Bigastro and were planning to go to La Terraza bar tonight to enjoy the live music, you will likely be disappointed. Apparently, Iberdrola cut off the electricity to the bar on Thursday and have so far failed to reconnect it.

Hopefully, there is something good on the television to keep you happy instead!

Plenty of “red faces” in Buñol

The annual tomato festival at Buñol took place on Wednesday. Since last year, the town has had to restrict the number of people taking part as they were growing out of hand. Even still, an estimated 20,000 joined the 9,000 inhabitants to throw 100 tonnes of tomatoes at each other.

In the afternoon, the fire brigade moved in to clean up the town. Apparently, the acidic juice of the tomatoes leaves the place spick and span.

Cash buyers

Although Spanish banks have eased up on lending money for house purchases, many are finding it better to either pay cash or borrow the money elsewhere.

Whilst some banks advertise a rate of 2% for mortgages, the average is 3.88%, well above the Euribor rate of 0.50%, which means they are being very greedy. The other issues for borrowers are the terms of mortgages in Spain which are far from favourable and the fact that they will only lend a fraction of the amount required.

Statistics show that, out of 12,273 house purchases in Alicante, only 4,483 were financed by a mortgage. Many of the cash purchases were made by foreigners at bargain basement prices but there are also an increasing number of Spaniards who have saved sufficiently to buy their own home at current values. 

As I have said before on this blog, I believe that one of the main reasons for the crash in the housing market here in Spain was greed. The builders and promoters got greedy when they thought that people would pay any price for a home and the banks got greedy when they thought that huge profits could be made by lending money for mortgages. Both got their fingers burnt when people would no longer pay the spiralling prices and those that had were unable to keep up with their loan payments.

Under the Spanish mortgage system, even if you hand over the keys to your property, you still owe the outstanding debt (plus interest). Only if the banks are able to sell your property is the debt cleared. That punitive system did not help the banks though because, without a source of income, many could not pay even one cent of the debt they owed.

To make matters worse, many banks had also over lent to constructors who they believed would sell all of the properties they could build and more. As the constructors went out of business, the banks were left with unpaid loans to them as well. Lending to both the builders and the buyers cost the banks dearly. 

Is it any wonder then that people are happier to buy their homes with cash and avoid using the unscrupulous banks for the purchase.

It was hot!

	In case you were wondering just how hot it got yesterday, here are the maximum temperatures recorded for towns in the nearby region.
	And the evolution of the maximum temperature for Orihuela. Today should be cooler than that.

Hold fast on that bottle

Spain produces 50% of the olive oil for the world market and 73% of that comes from Andalusia in the south. Over the last 20 years, the demand for olive oil has increased by 60%, driven by the markets in China, the US, Canada and Australia. Britain lags well behind other countries with the average household only consuming 1 litre per year of the liquid gold.

Last year there was a bumper crop of 1.77 million tonnes in Spain. This year, predictions show that figure will be down by 40%. The reason is twofold; the trees are exhausted after last year’s record harvest and there has been too little rain this year for a decent crop.

Prices of oil will inevitably rise but therein lies a problem for the growers because supermarkets here sell olive oil as a loss leader and so will be reluctant to pay more per litre. When there is a glut of oil on the market, the prices drop sharply but when there is a shortage the prices only rise by a small amount. It is a no win situation for growers.

In a bid to capitalise on a  shortage, some growers are hanging on to their supplies in the hope of selling at a higher price later in the year. In addition,  speculators are betting on a price hike. Both of these factors are driving market values up now.

For those British who only buy the occasional bottle this is not an issue but here in Spain, where households buy oil in 5 litre bottles, it is akin to a price rise for bread in France. 

Some like it hot

As the comedian, Peter Kay said, “ I like it hot but not this hot”.

Weeks ago we had a heat wave right at the start of the fiesta and it was draining. The night of the coronation, Pam and I were down in the park to take photographs and by the end my shirt collar was wringing wet.

Since then the temperatures have been more moderate, still too hot to spend much time outside working but bearable if you engage in light activity.

 

	That is due to change today as the area is on yellow alert for high temperatures between midnight and 6pm
	Some parts of the coast will see temperatures of 38 and inland that could easily rise to 39. The advice is to stay in well ventilated areas, minimise exposure to the sun, wear light coloured clothing, drink lots of water and only eat light food.

  Not a good day to take up jogging or decide to do major work in the garden!

The daily ritual

When we lived on the Wirral, Pam and I rarely went down to the beach - even on those odd days when the weather was good. Now we live on the Costa Blanca, it is the same. Within 20 minutes or so, we have some of the finest beaches that you would ever want to lay a towel on but we seldom visit them.

In August we have good reason. During this month, it seems that the whole of Spain, along with several other northern European countries descends on the coastal towns for their annual summer holidays. Parking near a beach becomes near impossible and when you eventually find somewhere to leave your car, it is a long trail to claim an area of sand much larger than your sun umbrella. It hardly seems worth it so we choose to stay by our pool instead.

For those summer visitors from Madrid, there is a ritual to be followed. Each morning, at dawn, the men take their brollies and chairs down to the beach and claim a place as near to the sea as possible in spite of the city ordinance designed to prevent people from reserving places. By 9am each day, the most popular beaches are covered with unmanned umbrellas in preparation for the day to come.

By 11am the families arrive with their cool boxes, beach bags and children in tow to take up the spots that the men have so carefully reserved. Any late arrivals have to either cheekily pitch themselves between the regulars or put up with a longish walk through a sea of umbrellas to bathe. Suffice it to say, if you go to the beach at Torrevieja during August, it pays to have a distinctive sun shade or you may never find your way back to your family.

At lunchtime, the exodus to the beach repeats itself in reverse. Some leave their “campsites” and retire to a restaurant for lunch, others pack up completely and return to their apartments to prepare lunch there. Following lunch they all take a siesta, either under the shade of their brolly or back in their apartments. By about 4pm, some of those who left will return for an late afternoon session on the beach. For a large number though, their day on the beach is over and the ritual will not be repeated until the next morning.

For the physically disabled, the beach would be a no no but for the kind services of the Red Cross. Each day they visit the homes of those who call for them, take them down to a specially adapted part of the shore to bathe and when they have finished, take them home again.

Next weekend there will be a grand exodus as the holiday makers return home crowding out the roads between here and Madrid. By the end of the first weekend of September, locals will be able to claim their beaches back. Peace will be restored until next year when the ritual will start all over again.

You might ask, why do Spaniards travel from Madrid to the Costa Blanca when they could equally holiday on the more fashionable Costa del Sol or Almeria. For one thing it is a shorter journey to the Costa Blanca and even shorter to the coast north of Valencia but more importantly, the cost of an apartment in Torrevieja is much cheaper. In fact, during the 80s and 90s apartments in Torrevieja were so cheap that many from Bigastro bought them just too spend a few weeks during the summer on the coast. At that time, a smart three bedroom apartment, close to the beach, cost less than a beach hut on the south coast of Britain. No wonder so many bought a second home near the sea.

During the boom years prices rose steeply making the proposition of a holiday home much less viable. Since then, prices have plummeted but unfortunately mortgages are no longer available and in any case many are concerned about the security of their employment.

Deserted cities

We have all seen photos of the deserted cities outside Madrid that were built during the boom years and now lie vacant. Here, on the Costa Blanca, we do not have whole cites but there are plenty of developments that have just been abandoned. Places where nobody lives and the rats have taken over.

In many cases, the houses or flats were completed ready for buyers to move in but of course that did not happen. As the companies ran out of money, so the banks took over the properties but even they could not sell them.

In some cases, the house prices were reduced down to bargain basement levels and they did sell but in many others the banks could not afford to give away their investments. The vandals soon stepped in and stripped whatever they could leaving the sites looking like the war zones of the Middle East. Now the banks stand no chance of recouping their money and we are faced with looking at eyesores until someone either decides to knock them down or renovate them.

It is all a huge Catch 22 situation. Young people, out of work cannot afford mortgages. Even if they could, the banks have no money to lend them because of the losses they made during the boom. The only hope is for foreign buyers but of course they do not want to buy a derelict property and neither do they want a property in a deserted development.

In a handful of cases, common sense has prevailed and the empty houses have been rented out cheap just to prevent damage occurring. That is a win win situation because the people get a house at a price they can afford and the banks see some return on their investment. Sadly though, that is not common place and so the image of Beirut prevails over many parts of the Vega Baja.

We could pay for this

Apart from being uncomfortable, the high temperatures and humidity we have suffered will provide the perfect conditions for a ‘gota fria’. A warm sea may be good for bathers now but we could end up paying for it at the end of the month into early September.

As in Britain last winter, the drainage systems here are not built to cope with heavy downpours. Roads flood, underpasses block and basements fill up with water. We all know the areas that are most vulnerable and try to avoid them. That doesn’t help the people who live in those places though who complain every time they are flooded.

Our main problem used to be the pool box which part filled with water every time we had heavy rain. It is impossible to understand why that should happen. My answer eventually was to tape over the holes in the bottom of the box to stop the ingress of water. Of course that also prevents any water in the box getting back out as I have fond out to my cost.

The outlet joint to the pool pump started leaking a little whilst we were in Portugal so I tried to tighten it back up when we returned. I thought I had it solved until three days later when Pam found water gushing into the box. I quickly turned it off but too late the damage was done.

I had the failing joint replaced but alas the water had got into the pump and the bearings were shot. Although the pump still worked, it was very noisy and so had to be replaced. I would not have minded so much if it had been the original ten year old pump but it was a replacement from only 15 months ago.

Over the last couple of years we have spent quite a bit on that pool. First the pipe from the skimmer had to be replaced, then we had the sand in the filter changed for glass. The cover on the filter exploded dramatically one day and it took me three attempts to get the new one to seal properly. Just as we were about to have the pool re-grouted, the original pump seized up and so that had to be changed. Now, as I said, we had one of the pipes in the box renewed and another new pump.

You could say our pool is like money down the drain.

The town has gone to sleep

Following a week of hard partying, Bigastro has gone to sleep. Pam and I went down yesterday afternoon to pick up my prescription. It seemed that the pharmacy on Purisima was about the only place open, that and the lottery shop. I wanted some tobacco but that shop was closed for the afternoons, only open mornings until 2:30pm.

We also wanted some paint to touch up the garden walls and so drove on towards Orihuela and TKrom which was also closed. The sign in the window told us they were only open mornings for the whole of August.

To be fair, I don’t blame them. By afternoon, it is really too hot to be working and in any case, there are very few customers about. Mostly they are all down on the coast enjoying a day on the beach as you will find if you try and park nearby. The beaches are covered in umbrellas with barely a space between them.  This is August and Spain is on holiday!

The ugly mess returns

Last November a squad went out with pressure washers and chemicals to clean up the graffiti along the banks of the Segura river in Orihuela. They needn’t have bothered because the so called artists have returned to reclaim their canvases and made the area worse than before.

It isn’t just by the river, telephone boxes, the fronts of private buildings, information panels, park benches etc are all targets for this mindless scrawling. Even the Orihuela shield in the river has been a target.

The problem is that it is almost impossible to catch the vandals at work. People complain about the graffiti and the broken bottles that litter the banks of the river but it seems that little can be done to stop it happening time and again.

Spaniards speak of pride in their traditions, in their culture and of their towns and yet there is a minority who just seem to want to trash anything and everything that this pride stands for. They seem to delight in making their own environment ugly and distasteful. I just don’t understand that mentality.  

PS the picture is not mine, it was taken from Laverdad newspaper.

A sigh of relief

A young Nigerian man was suffering from symptoms that indicated he might have the Ebola virus. He was quickly rushed to Sant Joan hospital in Alicante by a convoy of two ambulances escorted by a car from the National Police. A second convoy carried his wife who was also ill but not suffering from the same symptoms.

Samples from the man were sent to the  Carlos III Health Institute of Health in Madrid for analysis. Fortunately the results of the tests conducted were negative and the patient has now been taken out of isolation.

The chances of Ebola reaching Spain are slim but nether the less, all precautions have to be taken when anyone shows symptoms of the disease that is spreading like wildfire in Africa. 

All done and dusted

It hardly seems possible that the Fiesta for this year is almost over. For those of you who can understand Spanish better than me, there is an event today with political satire that I know the townspeople will find very amusing.

For Pam and I though, it is done. All my photos are processed and uploaded.

We would like to thank all those who made the fiesta so special. In particular, we would like to thank the Fiesta Commission who have put in some long hours to prepare all the events that have taken place.

I hope that my photos provide good memories of these special days we have all enjoyed.

And now, if you don’t mind, I am going to enjoy some breakfast.

Accessing my photos

My dropbox page is at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xl3scp4wu3ydqw8/AADKVqwVC_slSUXMlkRf3YFRa.

There you will find folders for the different events that I took photos of. If you want to download a whole folder, right mouse click will bring up a menu to allow you to do this.

Otherwise open the folder you want with the left mouse button to find individual photos.

	When you open a folder, you should see the photos from that event. Select the photo you would like and double click your left mouse button to open it. You will have to do this for each photo.
	To download a picture, click on the menu at the bottom right (four dots) and select Download. You should then be able to open the downloaded file on your computer to print off or send to friends. The only thing I ask is that you do not try to remove my name.

The photos in Dropbox are reduced from the originals to make uploading and downloading faster. They should still print to a reasonable size though.

The cockroaches filled the street

In all, I counted five comparsas taking part in last night’s parade. They were dressed as everything from The Wizard of Oz to cockroaches that brought up the rear.

The comparsas were aided by three professional troupes of dancers (actually one troupe were majorettes twirling batons).

It was a splendid effort but I can’t help but recall the times when the town had lots of money to spend. Do any of you remember the giant dragon that came trundling down the road or the genie carrying a young lady on his hand? Best of all though for me was the human palm tree that opened and closed – that was unbelievable.
Need I mention that there is an album of photos that you can access from the left hand sidebar?

Damn, missed it!

Pam and I are regular followers of the band and so we were looking forward to last night's concert for San Joaquin.

We set off down to the town in time to grab some good seats but it was raining and we knew the concert would not take place in the rain. Just to be sure, we circled the town square twice and sure enough the seats were empty with a handful of people sheltering from the rain along with the band members.

Perhaps the concert would be postponed or maybe cancelled altogether, there was no way of knowing which and no sign of the rain abating. We therefore took the decision to go for supper to the house of the fiesta queen instead. We were intending to go there after the concert anyway, this way we would be earlier than expected.

When we got to the house, they were hurriedly dismantling the tables set out in the street and re-assembling inside.

At about 12pm, those that had braved the weather and stayed for the concert arrived. That meant the concert was postponed after all and we missed it.

I do apologise to the band committee for the fact I have no photos to show them. Hopefully someone will have taken some shots to show for the splendid work of the musicians.

The rain kept off

The sky was foreboding for the Ofrenda Floral or floral offering to the patron saint, San Joaquin. Still, not a drop of rain fell until after the mass.

More pictures in my album which you can find in the left hand sidebar.

Photos for you

For those of you who would like copies of my photos from the fiesta, I am uploading them to my Dropbox account. When they are all there, I will post instructions about how to access them and copy those you want to your computer.

An eye on the weather

It is most unusual for us to have any rain during August. It seems though like we might have a drop or two over the next few days. It will likely be a short shower but even still it is probably best to carry an umbrella if you are going down to the parades and concerts.

As much as we don’t want to get wet before, it is important that there is no rain on Saturday night. The brotherhood of San Joaquin will not risk bringing out the precious statue if there is a chance of rain. Apart from the damage rain could do to it, carrying the heavy throne on the shoulders on wet roads would be too dangerous.