Matt of the Telegraph – On traitor Prescott

Spanish Will

Living in Spain as an ex-pat we obviously have assets in that country, a villa, a car, bank accounts etc.
So it came to pass that we needed to explore what happens if either of us dies or we both die. This came a more serious problem after my uncle died recently and I was the executor of his will. It sparked us into life. The question was, what happens in Spain?
We did not need to see a solicitor in Spain, we had to see an accountant who helped us draw up the wills and help avoid taxes (an absolute must for the Lady of the Villa who hates paying anymore taxes than she has too!).
Once the will was drawn up it had to be notarised by a Spanish Notary, then legally filled with us and the accountant holding copies. All very straight forward, except any beneficiary of the will has to have a Spanish NIE number. This is the equivalent of our National Insurance Number (the one you get at birth but can never remember).
So our children will have to apply for one if they ever want a share of our Spanish assets.

Matt of the Telegraph – Well Said

Come Dine with Me

I don’t know if you have seen this program it is on Channel 4 in the UK.
The concept is that they get 4 people, strangers, from the same town and they each have hold a dinner party for the others (some eating if its in the same week!). The others then give marks out of 10. The winner takes home £1,000.
The dinners are hilarious and the channel 4 website has all the recipes. However, they some times have a vegetarian in the group. So the other meat eaters have to produce two menus. One meat one veggie.But when the veggie cooks they just do one, a vegetarian.
Surely that’s not fair! They should be made to cook a meat/fish meal. That will teach them. LOL

The most annoying thing is the sneering narration. Not nice and not needed.

Gadgets and Me – The iPad

When the iPad was first announced, I was really excited, but a little bit wary of all the hype. I expected that I wouldn’t need to carry around my small notebook, instead I would have a device that provided almost the same features as my laptop. I nearly began to believe that this cool new device would reduce the number of electronic gadgets people carried around. Nearly. But my years in IT held me back and I looked very hard at the specification of the hardware and software and decided, NO, it did not do the business. Why?

• You can’t easily load Microsoft Office documents on the iPad 
• No access any data via a USB drive.  The iPad has no USB port, and its means of transferring documents—through iTunes—is pathetic.  Apple’s cloud strategy seems to be centered on iTunes. Which I have found to be wanting.
• Apple’s Microsoft Office-like products on the iPad are just cheap imitations. Apple’s Pages looks like a decent word processor, as does Numbers a spreadsheet manager, but these don’t hold a candle to Microsoft Word and Excel.
• You can’t use the excellent cloud-based word processing tools that other people offer like Google Docs. The iPad doesn’t recognize the rich-text format that these applications use, so it doesn’t display a keyboard when you try to type.
• You cant view different applications in multiple screens when using the iPad. I want to have my web browser appear in a split screen next to my text editor, and I want to be able to jump between applications—just as I do on my Mac and in Windows. The IPad allows you to listen to music as you work, but doesn’t do much more.
• You can’t watch Flash presentations that are used on many news sites
• there is no camera. The iPad lets you make Skype calls over Wi-Fi, but there is no chance of a face-to-face call, that’s because there is no camera. 
• Difficult to read in Sunlight
• Shuts down when temp gets to around 35C

I am sure that the iPad 2 will rectify all of the above, if not I will wait until they do.

Villa Next Door

The Villa next door to ours has been purchased, it was actually the one we wanted, by a Danish speculator. It has never been lived in and is no looking very sad.

The pool has been vadalised and the filters and pumps stolen as no securty wall was built. We had to empty the pool as the water became stagnant. The water in it is from rain water. We will have to empty that soon.
The Danish guy pays his community fees and we presume his mortgage. I will send these photos and others to him and hope he will sort it out.

Books Read in August 2010

Let it Bleed. Ian Rankin. A true winters tale set in Edinburgh and Rebus finds himself sucked into a web of intrigue involving Scottish civil servants. Was the Lord Provost's daughter kidnapped or just another runaway? Why is a city councillor shredding documents that should have been waste paper years ago? And why on earth is Rebus invited to a clay pigeon shoot at the home of the Scottish Office's Permanent Secretary? Sucked into the machine that is modern Scotland, Rebus confronts the fact that some of his enemies may be beyond justice but battles on to what….. 4 Stars.
An Army of Convicts. Cliff Roehr. This is a free e-book from a website were authors post their novels and downloads are free. Initially found it a very interesting plot but not that well written, the timeline was disjointed. Also when the hero needed something to happen, it happened. So much so that that side of the plot became to surreal and unbelievable. Near the end the plot got bad that I had to skip over the last 20 pages, nearly missing the fact that the hero was dreaming it. Not a good book even free. 0.5 Stars.
The Perfect Murder. Peter James. Victor Smiley and his wife Joan have been married for nearly twenty years, but each barely recognises the person they wake up with every morning. They both decide to kill each other. Victor plans the perfect murder, Joan just murder. Nice twist and the end but you could see it coming. What I did not see was that it was just a short story, there should be some indication of the number of pages in this eBook (42 pages in all). Not a great tale. Waste of money and time, not necessarily in that order. 0.5 Stars.
Black and Blue. Ian Rankin. This is the best one so far as well as being the longest Rebus novel. At times I could not put it down. Multiple crimes, some old, some new, intermingle and cross each others paths. Two serial killers, one hunting the other, Rebus as a crime suspect, then in a fit up inquiry, drugs on oil rigs and clubs in Aberdeen, trips on helicopters to oil rigs, this story has it all and a plausible ending. 5 Stars.
Captain Blood. Rafael Sabatini. While Blood is a fictional character, much of the historical background of the novel is based on fact. The Monmouth rebels were sold into slavery as described in the book; and the shifting political alliances of the of 1688 are used in the novel as a plot device to allow Blood's return to respectability. Written in an old romantic style this book, difficult to get into, soon got my interest and I enjoyed the book. 3 Stars.

Spanish Unemployment

Spain's unemployment rate has hit 20% for the first time in nearly 13 years, official figures have shown. There were 4,612,700 people unemployed in the country at the end of March, the national statistics agency INE said.
Spain's jobless rate has risen sharply during the economic downturn and is the highest in the eurozone.
Meanwhile, official European Union (EU) figures showed that the eurozone unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10% in March.
The unemployment figures could be higher if it were not for the unemployment laws which give workers a minimum of 25 weeks pay for every year worked up to a maximum of 52 weeks. This may explain why more companies are going into bankruptcy.

Weather in Spain 23rd August – 29th August 2010

Monday: Hot and Sunny with a temp of 33C. Warm overnight with a temp of 27C.
Tuesday: Very hot and sunny with a temp of 39C, this years high. Warm overnight with a temp of 25C.
Wednesday: Very hot. Temp of 35C. Warm overnight with a temp of 27C.
Thursday: Another sunny and hot day. Temp of 34C. Warm overnight with a temp of 25C.
Friday: Very hot with a temp of 42C. Hottest Day this year. Overnight warm with a temp of 28C.
Saturday: Sunny, hot with a strong wind keeping the temp to 34C. Warm overnight with a temp of 26C.
Sunday: Hot and sunny with a light wind all day. Daily temp of 32C. Warm overnight with a temp of 25C.

The Garden

We have a pool in our villa grounds and around it we have some tiles. The rest of the area was just left covered in stones. 18 months ago we had the garden landscaped by a local (Spanish) gardener. We felt hat he would know more about the best plants to use. I put in some automatic irrigation and left it all to the Lady of the Villa having no interest in plants.
The garden is now a credit both to the gardener and her Ladyship. The plants have been well chosen and the Lady has nurtured, feed and loved them.
  The garden is looking better and better, the Bougainville is blooming and considering that they started as twigs 18 months ago its growth is amazing as are the flowers.


Fruit tees are bearing, lemons and oranges, the lime tree is lagging behind, Funny story, when we came back from a trip last year The Lady of the Villa  picked all the lemons came to about 5 kilos, however, they went off within two weeks and we had to buy lemons! Better to leave them on the tree and pick them as needed! The tree is only now recovering its fruit load.





The Olive Tree











The Yucca Trees around the pool. 18 months ago they were 2ft high now they a 6ft and growing.







                                                                                 Were we have Lunch











The Cactus Area




Side of the Villa

Card Trick

We went out recently with some friends to a nice restaurant we go to on a regular basis. This evening some live entertainment was provided. Not a singer, not a group but a magician who went from table to table doing card tricks.
He got to our table and I was ‘selected’. I was asked to select a card show the others (but not the magician) and sign it. I was then asked to put the card in the pack. The magician then placed the cards on my hand. He then took from his pocket a wallet and placed the wallet on top of the cards and then asked me to put my finger on top of the wallet.
He then chatted for a minute and then asked me to remove my finger. He then opened the wallet and there was a zipped compartment that he opened and inside was my card with my signature on it…. amazing. However he then removed the wallet and the pack of cards that should have been there had been replaced by a plastic block!
It was absolutely amazing!

Mine’s a double!

According to the Weather Channel, this is the country's largest hail stone. It's 8 inches in diameter and weights approximately 2 pounds. It fell in Vivian, South Dakota.
According to other reports the finder wanted to make a cocktail with it.
It would have to be a large glass and a lrge amount of alcohol!

Correos – Spanish Postal Service

In previous posts I have explained and complained about the Correos, the Spanish Postal Service.
As we reside in Spain, it only seems right and proper that we have all our mail delivered to our address where we live. The Lady of the Villa thought I was mad, but, I insisted and she insisted that I solve any delivery problems.
We moved all our UK type post, Bank Statements, Accountants mail, Government mail (tax, VAT, Pensions etc.) to the Spanish address. All Spanish mail was changed also (we used a PO Box until we received our address and a regular postal service).
Recently we ordered a part for our Jacuzzi from the USA and our private pensions people moved H.O. to Jersey. I waited and lo and behold the parcel arrived as did the documents from Jersey.
Played for and won!

Spanish Council Business

As part of the duties of being on the committee of the urbanisation we live on, is making sure that the council know about problems in and around the urbanisation.
This mostly covers, lighting, road maintenance, rubbish collection etc. In the recent past all this has taken is a trip down to the Town Hall and a chat in part Spanish, part English with the appropriate department and usually, after two trips, the work is completed.
Now things have changed. As part of the Spanish austerity measures the council staff have had a 5% reduction in salary. Harsh but…. Now the staff are fighting back, instead of talking and getting things done a form has too be completed in Spanish for every work item. Even if the work is to be done on a regular basis.
Ok if you are Spanish but not if you are English, German, French etc. It is costing the urbanisation each time to have the form completed in Spanish. We keep a copy each time as the work at the moment is never ever done!
W have a season ticket for each department at the minute!

McMillan Nurse’s Coffee Morning

The urbanisation is holding a Coffee Morning on the 11^th September 2010 11am – 1pm in the play area by the main pool to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.
This is part of the World's Biggest Coffee Morning being held by Macmillan Cancer Support see www.macmillan.org.uk/Fundraising/WorldsBiggestCoffeeMorning for more details.
We have invited everyone from the urbanisation to attend. I will let you know how it goes.

Weather in Spain 16th August – 22nd August 2010

Monday: Raining first thing but later bright and warm with a temp of 28C. Warm overnight with a temp of 20C.
Tuesday: Very Overcast Day with a temp of 23C. Cool overnight with a temp of 19C.
Wednesday: Very hot. Temp of 35C. Warm overnight with a temp of 27C.
Thursday: Thunderstorms and heavy rain throughout the day. Temp of 28C. Warm overnight with a temp of 25C.
Friday: Hot and Sunny with a temp of 30C. Overnight warm with a temp of 22C.
Saturday: Sunny and hot. Daily temp of 29C. Warm overnight with a temp of 22C.
Sunday: Hot and sunny all day. Daily temp of 30C. Warm overnight with a temp of 23C.

Recommendations

You know what it’s like, you live in the area and visitors ask you to recommend restaurants.
Tapping in to the wisdom of the crowd is a natural human instinct, according to one expert. “We’re hard-wired to get as much information from other people as possible,” says Graham Jones, a psychologist. “We use the views of other people to help validate our choices, and to meet our need for social acceptance.”
Trouble is you can come unstuck. We had a great couple of meals at a local tapas restaurant and recommended it highly to all and sundry. We had not been for a couple of months so we took the Lady of the Villa’s mother and sister to the restaurant recently. It was abysmal. It had turned into a bar with food rather than a restaurant. Still doing tapas but of poor quality and the service was abysmal.
From now on if we recommend anywhere we will have to go on a more regular basis.

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!

USA Leave Stage left – Civil war enters Stage right

The last United States combat troops have left Iraq yesterday.

The USA has declared the job done. I cant see it somehow. The country in my opinion is rife for Civil War and it wont take long for it too break out.

Spain self-deluding

In a manner disturbingly all too reminiscent of Greece earlier this year, the Spanish authorities appear to have deluded themselves into believing that the Spanish economy is about to rebound and that Spain can muddle through without an IMF-European Union bail-out package.

Denial is also all too much in evidence with respect to the Spanish banks. The Spanish authorities keep up the pretence that their banking system is sound. Sadly, in this endeavour they now seem to be being aided and abetted by the recently released stress tests. By confining itself to singling out five relatively small Spanish saving and loan banks as unsound, that test gives the overall Spanish banking system a virtual clean bill of health. And it does so despite the system’s patent overexposure to the very troubled construction sector.

In stressing these positives, however, the Spanish authorities happily gloss over the fact that Spain experienced a massive housing boom in the past decade, which saw a trebling in Spanish home prices and an increase in the construction sector to 18 per cent of the economy. 

Since September 2008, the bursting of the Spanish housing bubble together with the collapse of housing-related tax revenues has caused Spain’s budget position to swing from a small surplus to an 11½ per cent of GDP deficit by 2009. At the same time unemployment surged from less than 10 per cent prior to the crisis to more than 20 per cent at present.

More disturbing still, the housing market bust has drawn market attention to the fact that the Spanish banks in general, and the cajas in particular, are overly exposed to Spain’s crumbling housing sector. Unsettled by this large exposure, foreign banks have virtually stopped lending to Spanish banks and companies. This has forced the ECB to have to rediscount about €125bn ($162bn, £104bn) in Spanish bank loans to forestall a full-blown Spanish funding crisis.

Spain now finds itself in a similar predicament to that of Greece. It is forced to engage in severe budget-cutting to bring its budget deficit down to a more sustainable level without the benefit of a cheaper currency to boost exports so as to cushion the economic blow of budget retrenchment. Further complicating is the fact that Spain will have to engage in serious budget tightening at a time when unemployment is already at about 20 per cent and when the domestic housing bust still has a long way to go.

Trying to talk up the markets is the right thing for the Spanish authorities to do provided they do not fall into the trap of believing their own rhetoric. It would also help if they took serious measures to recapitalise their savings and loan banks.