GUARDIA CIVIL OFFICERS TO ISSUE MORE FINES

Traffic police in Spain are starting to be evaluated based on the number of tickets they issue. According to the Civil Guard’s transit security division, traffic cops will be given points for each infraction they cite. For example, issuing speeding tickets could earn the officer two points while four points will be given if the officer issues the driver a citation for transporting prohibited materials or too many passengers.

All alcohol-related infractions will be worth nine points, the Civil Guard said in a statement. If they don’t reach a set number of points they will have their salary reduced further!

Happy retirement- but at what age?

The British Government have announced that they would end the “discrimination” of the Default Retirement Age, which allows companies to force staff out as soon as they turn 65.  
However, is in not true that older workers who do stay in their posts beyond 65 may also find themselves facing claims that they are not up to the job any more. It could lead to more employment tribunal claims from staff who believe they were sacked for being too old.
The Default Retirement Age has been challenged repeatedly in the courts by campaigners who believe it is unfair to experienced workers who may have no problems carrying out their jobs and may want to keep earning.
Government said the move is one of several being taken to help people stay in work as they live longer lives. Separately, the state pension age is due to rise to 66 as soon as 2016.
A default retirement age helps people think and plan about when it is right to retire. In certain jobs, especially physically demanding ones, working beyond 65 is not going to be possible for everyone.
We retired “early”, because we planned it that way and we enjoy our life in retirement. Some people, the minority in my opinion want to carry on regardless of age, thinking that they are immortal and their decision processes are infallible. They are causing the problem and the government are jumping on the bandwagon to help reduce their pension burden.
Can you really see Social workers at 70 helping teenagers? Could the teenagers relate to them? No way.
70 year old police on the beat? You have to take your test again at 70!
Heavy lifting jobs at 70? Laughable to most. Collecting Job seekers allowance at 65? A joke.
Its all about baby boomers, we paid for our mums and dads government pensions, there is no one to pay ours, so lets abandon it. Work until you die then they dont have to pay!

Dangerous on the Road

This is a Spanish taxi. The most dangerous thing on the road in  Spain today. They are always white with lots of advertisements on the paintwork.

The cars themselves are usually well maintained and clean with the drivers taking great care of the interior and exterior, with the local councils doing there bit to ensure that they are safe on the road and fully insured.

But beware, the drivers have no need to pass any test other than the normal driving test. Once they get in the taxi they become Alonso, not Xabi Alonso the footballer but Alonso the Formula 1 driver, you know the one that does not look in the mirror and thinks he is the only one on the track.

They only know one speed, how fast can this cab go! Signals – no chance.  

Schumacher

Michael Schumacher was handed a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday at the Hungarian Grand Prix after almost pushing Rubens Barrichello into the pit wall. In my opinion he was lucky not to be on a murder charge.
I never did like him, there was always something of the night about him. Not just ruthless but uncaring, single minded winning at any and I mean any cost. Second to him was nowhere.
He crashed into competitors deliberately to win races and championships. Cared nothing about team spirit and although adored by Ferrari and retired joined Mercedes for the money as there is no glory and there will never be, for him.
He nearly killed another driver for one championship point. A point that did not help him or his team up any “ladder”. He was in a poorer car everyone knew that, nobody would blame him if he got passed. But no he had to show his ‘night side”.
This year I have seen another “night side” driver, Vettel. He is in the same mould as Schumacher. Watch him, he is going to kill someone. He crashed into his team mate Webber and took his equipment. Nearly pushed Alonso into the wall at the start of the German Grand Prix. It’s one step beyond ruthless.

Alcohol Limits

I don’t usually get up early at the weekends, however, we got up early on a Saturday to go on a coach trip. Being first on we were asked to sit right at the front, behind the driver. We were on  one of the modern coaches with a huge window at the front easily 6 feet by 10 feet, so we had a good view of the road ahead.
After picking up some more trippers and going down the equivalent of an A road, ahead we noticed some police cars slowing traffic down and stopping at random some cars. As we approached we slowed down and so a sign in Spanish which translated said “Alcohol Check”.
The police we breathalysing the stopped motorists. I had only seen this done in Australia. Now its starting in Spain. The Spanish coach driver told us that its been this way for years but the police were using it more and more especially after holidays and football matches!

Correos – Registered Letter for Speeding

I have stated in this blog that the Spanish Correos deliver to post boxes outside of the urbanisation. However, I have now discovered that they call to the home with registered letters.
Having signed for the letter, I opened it, low and behold, it was a fine for speeding. A nice picture of the Rover 75 doing 124kph in a 100kph zone. The wording translated we found that we were being fined 100 Euros for excessive speeding. But who was the culprit.
After discovering the date and time the defaulter owned up, it was the Lady of the Villa (smug smile on while I type this). She had taken the youngest daughter out shopping when she was over in May and in their haste to shop, or return with the goods had ignored the speedometer and the road signs.
1-0 I think!

Driving in Spain

What is it like to drive here?
With about 12,000 kilometres (7,456 miles) of highways across Spain and another 1,500 kilometres (932 miles) of new motorways commissioned this year, it should be a driver’s dream, but the impatience of Spanish drivers when they get behind the wheel brings frequent horn blowing and light flashing, and can seem threatening.
Outside the main exodus from the cities at the beginning and end of Spain’s frequent holidays, the roads between cities are largely traffic-free with a maximum speed of 120kph on the autopistas and toll roads.
Spain has the third largest network of toll roads in Europe after Italy and France, and they can prove expensive, especially along the Costas when the price increases during the holiday season. The one near us goes up from 1.75 euro to 3.25 euro
Despite recent campaigns to curb speeding Spanish drivers only no one speed “what will this car do today!” It is not unusual to be overtaken by small cars  with 4 passengers. As for indicating forget it even the ex-pats don’t indicate now.
Road deaths have consistently dropped in recent years, falling last year by 13 per cent with a total of 1,897 mortalities. Road tax, set by individual municipalities depending on the size of the vehicle, has increased over the past decade, much to the disgust of Spaniards, but still remains among the lowest in western Europe, averaging between €80 and €150 for a mid-size family car.
The most serious offences, driving more than 30kph over the speed limit, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, dangerous driving, or exceeding the number of passengers permitted to ride in a vehicle, are all punished with the highest fines, which are between €300 and €1,500.
There is no concept of Traffic Wardens it is all policed by the Local Policia so offences for parking in dangerous places may result in fines between €90 and €300 and suspension of the licence for up to one month, but only if the Police can be bothered. Minor infractions, such as using mobile phones while driving, failing to wear a seat belt (both of which I see every day) - hold a penalty of up to €90.
Licence holders start with 12 points. Deductions include six points for drunk driving or driving more than 50 per cent over the designated speed limit, to three points for using a mobile phone.
Driving infractions can result in temporary suspension of licence for up to three months in the most serious cases. A driver who is fined three times for the most serious infractions within a period of two years could have their licence revoked and have to undertake a course covering traffic awareness and driver re-education.
Police are empowered to collect fines of up to €300 on the spot and radar controls are in place along the highways to monitor speeding and they will take you to a cash machine for the money if in a town!.

Granada Trip – Day 3

After another sound sleep and another excellent breakfast we headed off to the Cathedral. Once we had paid our entrance fee and entered we were astounded by the size not just the height but the ground space. You could easily get a football field in the inside.

This is 6 stories up!

 This picture shortens the depth, its longer in real life.

 The Church organ!

The number of entrance doors and the size of them was another astounding feature.






We had enough time to do another bus tour as the tickets we purchased lasted 48 hours. After lunch we headed back to the hotel were our bus was waiting and soon we were off back home.

All in all we enjoyed the trip and will no doubt do another. Granada, apart from the Alhambra Palaces and the Cathedral was, for me, a bit of a disappointment, but the Lady of the Villa enjoyed every minute.

Granada Trip – Day 2

Having had a good nights sleep, an excellent breakfast at the hotel we headed off on a mini bus to the Alhambra Palace, the reason we were making the trip.

 Arriving at 11:15 and joining the queue for entrance tickets we found after a twenty minute queue that we could not enter until 14:00 and that our entry into the main palace was 18:00!

We headed back to town and decided to take the tourist bus around the city to see the rest of the sites.
I was stunned at the traffic in the city it was dog eat dog or mans inhumanity to man. No quarter was given any gap was big enough and the car horns were in use good style!

The motor scooters were the worst elbowing their way to the front and roaring off like demons to try and beat the next set of lights!
After the your we ended up at 14:15 in the Alhambra Palace gardens. The actual area contains many palaces, some in ruins some being restored and one the Kings Place the jewel in the Crown. The whole place was surrounded by thick walls and keeps. It really gave an idea of how big the Palaces (or mini town) was in the 9th Centaury.

The Lady of the Villa was well enamoured with the Wisteria that abounded around the Palaces.

We actually exhausted all the Palaces and grounds by 16:30 but we still had a 1:30 hour wait to gain entry to the Kings Palace so we waited outside and chatted to the other visitors. Eventually we got in at our elected time (you could not get in before as each ticket was electronically timed).




Here are some of the pictures I took. A really fabulous place now never mind in the 9th Centaury!

This last photo is a view over the city of Granada from the highest Keep in the Palace. The city has grown a bit since the 9th Centaury. 







We returned to our hotel, showered and changed and went off to the Moorish part of the town. We had found three restaurants that had been recommended in the tour books, but it was soon whittled down to one, the others did not serve alcohol! It was called the Kasbah and the food was excellent as was the service.
Back to the hotel were we swapped tourist stories with our fellow tourist in the hotel bar.

Granada Trip – Day 1

“I want to see the Alhambra Palace’s” said the Lady of the Villa. Brilliant I thought a Curry Trip around all The Alhambra Palace’s in the UK. Reaching over for “Curry Houses in the UK I felt a slap around my head.
“Not those  Alhambra Palaces, but the ones in Granada, in Spain” OK I thought I reached over for the PC to get the Tom Tom up to date and get maps from www.multimap.com. SLAP!
“Don’t bother with those, I have organised the whole thing. We are going by coach!” Is she mad I thought, I haven’t been on a coach trip since I was at Secondary School and I did not think I was that old I needed a driver.
Anyway that is why I am standing at 7;30 am (yes am!) waiting at a pickup point for the coach. Nice coach, nice reclining seats, air conditioning, and only a third full and complete with driver and tour guide. And off we go stopping twice for “driver breaks” to arrive in Granada at 13:15. Once there the coach took us on a bus tour of the city centre to give us a flavour of Granada. Once at the hotel and unpacked we were off to the town to have a look around for the afternoon.

We walked around the outside of the Cathedral and walked around the Christian area and identified places that we could eat at in the evening. Then it was off to the Moorish part of the town about 5 minutes away. This was very interesting with very narrow streets and it had a bazaar and very Arabic atmosphere.
Arrived back at the hotel at 16:00 and had one of the great Spanish traditions, a siesta. Later we then went out for an evening meal. We had decided on Spanish meal that night with a Moorish meal the next night. So we ended up, after a few aperitifs, in the main square at installed ourselves in the Centro restaurant.
A really nice Spanish meal with a lovely red wine unfortunately accompanied by very poor service. We had finished our mains and were asked straight away if we wanted a sweet. We asked for a 5 minute break. Twenty minutes later we managed to find a waiter and asked for the bill (la quinta) having gone passed waiting for a sweet. Another 10 minutes went by before we stood over a waiter and insisted we paid the bill. I was all in favour of leaving no tip but was over ruled by the Lady of the Villa.
Off we went to the hotel bar only to find even worse service and it was only 23:30. After a drink we left for bed.

Exchange Plates Part 2 - Forms and Taxes

Having got through the first part of the exchange of license plates ourselves we bottled it on the subsequent parts. The amount of forms and the number of separtments together with our basic Spanish was too much for us and we had a company do it for us.
It only took ten days for them to do it and the cost was as follows:

• Trafico (1st Registration Fee) - 115.38    
• Plates                                    -   24.00
• Import Tax                            - 383.50
• Suma (Road Fund Tax)         -    79.65
• Company Charge                  -    96.00

Total 698.53. This together with the ITV (MOT) charges (206.35) brought the whole cost to 907.88 euros. Not bad.           

Petrol Prices

After major complaints, which lead to a drop in fuel prices last year, prices have jumped sharply in 2010 with weekly increases for the entire month of March recorded on Diesel and over the past weeks for Petrol. Currently, filling a 50-litre tank of a diesel engine car will cost about 20 per cent more than last year, about 53.60 euros for the privilege, almost nine euros more than in the Easter holidays last year.
It’s the same situation for petrol. For a few weeks last year, for the first time ever in Spain, petrol was actually cheaper than diesel! That didn’t last too long and today that 50-litre tank will cost around 59.20 euros; about eleven euros more. According to data collected by the Ministry of Industry and Energy, expect to pay an average of 1.05 euros for diesel and 1.16 for gasoline, although by the time you read this, it’s probably risen further.
And over in the UK the AA has reported that Petrol was selling at 110p a litre on 4^th January but is now 111.25 while Diesel sells for just above 113p, a rise for Petrol of 25p and 14.5p for diesel over the last 12-months. The UK now has the twelfth highest unleaded price in Europe and the second highest diesel price. With today’s exchange rate, Spain can’t be too far behind.
According to www.whatprice.co.uk, from what you pay at the pump, over 60 per cent of that goes directly into the government’s pocket, so when you next complain about the profits that the oil industry are making, remember who really is raking in the euros and pounds and euros, no matter how much they might preach about going green. If we all went green, from where would the government then find their tax revenue? That’s a quandary that they still have to answer to. In the meantime, you’ll just have to dig deeper if you are travelling by car.

Exchange Plates Part One – The ITV station

We need to change the Rover 75 that we brought from the UK to Spanish plates.
Having researched the process, off we went bright and early, to the first  stop, the ITV station.

ITV stands for “Inspeccion Technica de Vehiculos” or MOT to UK readers. We got there with all our technical details on the car, proof of ownership and our money. We were sent home! I also needed my NIE (Spanish National Insurance Number) and my Padron (Registration for my Spanish Region).  Arriving home  at the time we thought we would but without the ITV document we decided to go later on in the day with all of my Spanish documents and all the cars documents, oh, and our money.
Arriving after the siesta we found a queue of 10 cars in front of us, which did not matter as we had to go into the office with all our documents. After much photo copying, transfer of numbers and 200 euros we had completed the office part. We now had the ITV to do.
It was a bit like a production line but with one inspector doing the car. The car was first checked for all the lights working, emissions, wipers, horn and a cross check on all the documents to the vehicles VIN plates in the engine compartment to ensure that everything matched.
Moving on to the next station the brakes front, rear and hand were checked and at the third and last station the steering, suspension and tracking.
All was well, it passed. At no time were the tyres checked!
We went into the office and were given a pass certificate and a sticker for the windscreen indicating a pass! The whole thing took just over an hour but we had to return the next day for the main documentation and the all important equivalent of a Spanish Log Book for the car.
After this it is on  to the Traffico Department to have the car registered in my name and licence plates allocated and finally to the SUMA (Tax) Department to pay the import tax and the road tax.

A booming Spanish Industry

As the weather warms up a phenomenon occurs in Spain. As you know Spain is a Catholic country, however, they do turn a ‘blind eye’ to the oldest profession in the world.
The phenomenon of the roundabout girls appears. Certain roundabouts and on other parts of the main roads girls appear under umbrellas happily displaying their wares. Here is an article from the local English press.
Prostitution Boom
The Andalucian Association of Human Rights (APDHA) in Almeria has reported that more woman are becoming prostitutes due to the economic crisis.
The association attends more than 500 woman with their health initiative. They have seen more and more woman entering prostitution for the first time, and more of them are locals, as well as Nigerians, Romanians, Moroccans, and Senegalese, most of them between the ages of 20 and 30. They are earning two euros less per ‘job’ than before, at eight euros.
There are also more woman arriving from such cities as Madrid and Barcelona where police are cracking down on the trade and banning it from certain areas.

You Could not make it up – Lorry on A1(M)

Dramatic footage has emerged of a lorry apparently pushing a car sideways along  a motorway in Yorkshire. The footage, which was posted on YouTube, shows the truck travelling along the A1(M) near Wetherby with the Clio trapped in front.
The scene was filmed on a mobile phone by another motorist.
It is believed that the female driver of the Clio had not been injured in the incident that happened on 13 January and police had investigated, but to date no action had been taken against the lorry driver.
West Yorkshire Police said officers attended the scene after receiving reports of a collision. A spokesman said: "At the time of our attendance there were no injuries and both vehicles were on the hard shoulder of the motorway.

Notes on the Journey

This is the last posting on the Journey. I thought I would give some ramblings, thoughts and facts on the journey.

• Total distance driven 1960 miles
• Average mpg was 32.6
• Motorways in general were better than the UK with hardly any construction work
• Never saw a police car throughout the journey
• Did not see an accident
• Saw lots of snow on the ground in the South of France and it was very cold aT Night (-4C) and not above 0C during the day
• Did not rain or snow once on the journey
• Lowest temperature recorded -4C, the highest 10.5C
• Tolls were not excessive and worth the money in time saved
• Petrol was much dearer in France. 30 cents a litre more
• Much more traffic on the motorways in England than France of Spain
• No border guards on France-Spain crossing. Much more security at Folkstone than anywhere else
• Never saw any bakers on the high street in France. All bread now sold in Supermarkets. Never saw a french person eating freshly bought bread in the street as I used to years ago

The Millau Bridge

The Millau Bridge (officially Millau Viaduct) is a road-bridge spanning the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. It was designed by the British architect Norman Foster, working with French engineer Michel Virlogeux. It is the tallest vehicle bridge in the world. The highest pier has a height falling between that of the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State  Building. The viaduct is nearly twice as tall as the previous tallest vehicular bridge in Europe, the Europabrücke in Austria.

The  bridge was opened to traffic on 16 December 2004 and was built to relieve heavy congestion on the roads in the town of Millau (left) during the summer holiday season - it is the last section of the A75 motorway that leads to the Mediterranean coastal resorts.

In addition to being a major improvement to the road system in the region, the bridge has also received critical acclaim and become an immediate tourist attraction in its own right.

 Crossing it you don’t get much of a view because of the barriers and you are not allowed to stop on the bridge.  There is an information site on the north side of the bridge, that was closed when I crossed it but I believe you can get a historical perspective of the build. There is a viewing point high near the Information Centre where I took the pictures of the bridge itself  but the best views must be from the side or the town of Millau.

I did not get the time to travel to the town but I understand that you can have an easy ride by parking in the town centre and taking the tourist bus from the Tourist Information Office.  This will enable you to get the best possible views, photo opportunities and of course a running commentary on the construction from infancy to completion. I also understand that there is an official information site underneath the bridge where there is a little museum with photographs of the build, a film to show the progression of the site and various souvenirs to buy. Again I did not go to this site.

Statistics

Length: 2,460 metres

Width: 4 lanes, each 3.5 metres wide (2 in each direction)

Slope: About 3% (north to south)

Technical features:

The pylons are 343 metres (just over 1,000 feet) tall.

The deck lies 270 metres ( 800 feet) above the Tarn river.

The tallest pillar (concrete) holds the deck 245 metres above ground
85,000 cubic metres (or 205,000 tonnes) of concrete were used to make the pillars and abutments.
The steel deck weighs 36,000 tonnes (or five Eiffel towers).

Journey Over

Day 5

This ended up being our longest drive in one day 800 miles for Aix-en-Provence all the way to our villa,
We started at 9’oclock after a good breakfast at the hotel, no problems with the food or staff. We did get caught in the rush hour traffic but once on the motorway it was really plain sailing or should I say driving. No real issues just the cost of petrol on the French Motorways. We sailed through what was or seemed to be an unmanned border post between Spain and France but it could have been that they were sheltering from the cold!
Got onto the Spanish motorways and the petrol prices dropped to 1.16 a litre but the speed limit was 120kph down from 130kph. WE had stocked up with plenty of water, fruit and sweets and with Alan Bennett’s talking heads on the CD player we arrived home at 19:00. Ten hours at an average speed of 80 miles per hour and 32 miles to the gallon.  

On with the journey

Day 4

As we had had a long drive we decided a late morning was called for and we entered the restaurant for breakfast. No staff. No clean tables. We were behind a french couple also waiting for staff to serve them. In the end I cleared a table and found plates and cutlery, and so did the french couple. When the only staff member we saw all breakfast appeared, the lady of the french couple laid in good style and got some action. She then pointed at us and we got some service action too.
Up for the buffet food, Christ it was poor! The bacon what was left of it had been there since 6:30 and was dry and stiff, the scrambled eggs were green and rock solid, hardly any bread. When the staff member returned with our coffee, she told us, no more hot food was available!!! So we made do with cold stuff and left.
On checking out we refused to pay for breakfast as they wanted 16 euros each. No way!
We only had a short hp of 75Ks to our next destination Aix-en-Provence so we did a bit of shopping, we were going to sight see but as it was cold (-4C overnight) and not much more during the day we left for Aix. On the way I realised I had left my one and only good shirt in the wardrobe at the hotel. Luckily I had bought another on the shopping expedition! Lose one buy one.
We arrived at the hotel, guided by tom-tom, through very narrow streets and booked in. On the way The Lady of the Villa had succumbed to a cold and we thought lets stay in in the afternoon, in the bar, have a few, then a sleep, get ready and go out. Good plan. However, no bar was open in the hotel, despite its claim of a 24 hour bar (one of its attractions when I booked). We went off to the local square were the bars were located and found, eventually, one that was open for food and drink. a quick purchase of English papers, some good food and wine and the world was put right… at last.
Back to the hotel for a sleep, up and ready and walk around the town sampling the bars. Shock, horror, the lager was 6.50 a pint. Helly Bud. Still it was a good night and we both slept well.

The Journey Continues

Day 3

Off to Avignon, via the Millau Bridge. Not the most direct route but I wanted to see this bridge. Travelled down the motorways and at times we were the only car on them for miles in front and miles behind,
The cost of fuel on the motorways was1.43 euros a Litre but in the towns was 1.33 a litre - a big difference and we tried to avoid the motorway petrol stations s as much as possible. We arrived at the bridge about 2:30 and it is a beautiful piece of design. I need to write a blog just on the bridge alone and its details.
We left the bridge and decided to avoid the motorway and take a D road. This D road the D999 was a road the cut off a large corner on our journey, so we took it. Boy was that a mistake, it was shorter but no way near a good a road. The D road clung to the mountain side and twisted and turned with huge drops on the right hand side of the car. That with snow lying around did not make for a good drive.
We arrived at Avignon and found our hotel, The St Louis. We had stayed there at least 3 times and found it comfortable and warm. We had recommended this hotel to many a friend who was passing through, but not any more. It has been modernised, updated and lacks staff.
The rooms were very nice and comfortable and the bathroom was all black tiles with brilliant white bath sink and stand alone shower, all the taps were bright chrome. However the toilet was not situated in the bathroom it had its own “closet”. The room did in no way match the bathroom. The toilet seat was wonky, the toilet stand had seen better days and the walls had not been painted in years! Dear oh dear.
We went off into the town to find a restaurant to eat and found one that was very nice and the plat de jour was most acceptable as was the wine and cost.
When we got back to the hotel we headed to the bar, no bar staff, so we hung around looking like we needed a drink and eventually the maitre ‘d turned up and served us, well I would not call it served. He left us a list of drinks available and left for 10 minutes, we were about to go when he returned. On his drinks list we had seen “Les Anis” so we asked for that, he returned 2 minutes later and asked were we had seen this item. Pointing him to the item on the menu he left and returned 5 minutes later with 2 pastis. We drank them and left as no other staff appeared to serve us more. Off we went to bed.