Electrifying

Big Company Iberdrola   got a lot of   $$$$$$$$$$$$$, they own Scottish Power  from Madrid.


They provide just 3 kws  of electricity in general per household,  so no Blackpool illuminations here, that is 25 amps. You can upgrade, get re wired  for about 500 euros to 5kws  but its not worth it. Better to get a solar panel  connected to a water tank, free hot water and a gas oven.  I hate electricity companies. Greedy bast**ds.

Do Iberdrola  fit solar panels "NO",  simple answer.  They have large wind and solar farms in the interior on the mountain tops, but for  Joe Public  or lets say Manuel publico,  NO.  In fact the government tax you if you harness solar to your own grid, so what incentive is that  to climate change.  So estupido !!!!! And  users are limited in electric use, because they cannot generate  muchas.

Another thing  I notice,  not quite  electrifying is how the hombres like Pedro park their bum and sit and watch their wives, sweep, clean and weed the ground, then get the paella  dished up. Meanwhile Pedro will only break sweat if he sits in the sun. 

Its another midweek fiesta here. Everything shut, some saint or other, they have monthly bank holidays, always midweek so the whole week is disrupted,  good for productivity huh !! So less electrifying.  Poor pedro had to light his own cigarette. They all smoke here. How Pedro managed to raise his arm, I don't know,  it was a miracle, I thought he was a wax work !!!!!!!!!!

productivity !!!   rude word  in Spanish.27%  unemployment.  4 men and a lorry in the park  yesterday. In 15 minutes 3 chatted and stood motionless trying to grow roots like the pineapple palms one was pruning, 3 leaves on the truck in the 15 mins I was there watching  time and no motion study

An English Man abroad - Getting blood out of a stone

An English Man Abroad - getting  blood out for test, no my name is not Stone .
08.00 hours  turn up outside La Mata Clinic, a throng waiting outside the doors, no not my fan club,  and not exhibitionists in thongs, they were all ill (enfermo) and wanting to get in too.

Sit down in the waiting hall  alongwith about 30 other patients, after the stampede  when the doors were open.

A Nurse comes out with a table, and a lot of bar code stickers and a name list.

My name gets read out eventually, I hand over my documents from the doctor  a week before and my urine sample.  She bar codes my papers and I wait by the door of the blood testing room.

Analisis de sangre (not to be confused with sangria,  that would definitely be dodgy  in your veins !!)

In the room is one nurse on a computer and 3 nurses  taking blood  from patients sitting with one arm out stretched  in each booth of the partitioned table.

Mass productiion, division of labour, all over in 30 minutes, must say  impressed by efficiency, 3 phials of blood  lighter, not quite an arm full, and no cuppa tea !!! Quite (h)armless really !!!

See if my blood passed the test in a week.  Stay tuned to this channel.

Thats all for now folks, medical bulletin finished, next the weather.............. its raining.............makes a change !!!! 

Feeling like a foreigner

Extranjero  ...foreigners here.


Spain is steeped in bureaucracy and paperwork and officialdom

To get Residencia and health cover,  you need NIE  number ( National Identity )  Padron (electoral register), proof of income into Spanish Bank, proof of health entitlement as a British Citizen in Europe, Passport, Deeds to the house, utility bills, passport and passport photos  , and copies of it all, plus the application form  and your family history.

I got all the forms from the Tourist Office. The Town Hall is where you get the Padron by getting there early  before the doors  open at 9am and getting your queue ticket. Then the masses turn up.  2pm they close.

To get residencia  is at the National Police Office by prior appointment, (about 2 weeks wait) and again jockeying for position with the masses  all waiting.  One has to go to the bank with a form to pay the 10.60 Euros tax and come back with the rubber stamped copy.  Then sit there and wait, eventually getting rubber stamped and going to another desk  to get the health cover card, but thats only a temporary one, so another day going to Social Dept  to get a permanant   one. Then you get a temporary permanent one and wait for the clinic to receive  your hard plastic one.

You have to take a translator, no one varies from Spanish, so I paid 70 Euros for a solicitor  to take me for residencia  and for ease and peace of mind. Even so, easy  it is not , the first time, complicated it is an experience, never been a foreigner before.

No cards are  given on the day,  they are prepared and then collected at another date.  So there is no one stop shop, it is multiple stop shops and go slowly.  The Bank has to be told about residencia  and lesser charges as a result.  Also one tries to go to the electricity office Iberdrola,  to wait in similar mayhem and witness much arguing and arm waving,  only to notice an out of date wall poster with a phone number to leave a message with and then they call back at 8pm, and eventually  you get somewhere as opposed to nowhere  and a headache.

Then have to go to the clinic, at least doctor speaks English, after a 2 hours wait, don't take a book take a library.  Hope you are not very ill.  The receptionists are as miserable as sin to get a cita, an appointment.  You have no choice of clinic, its the catchment area and a drive away.

At least the clinics are new and the hospitals. 10%  of the drug fee is what I have to pay on precription and I have to carry my SIP  (medical) card at all times, passport too really and driving licence.  The car  documents have to be carried in the car too at all times.

The Town Hall, Police Station and Iberdola Office, Bankia too are depressing long waiting rooms,  dark dingy drab, need decorating and just add to the experience. Imagine working there every day  YUK. 

A relief  once its done  taking 5 mornings in all to get that much legal and official. 

Great Restaurant

Nautilus Restaurante Punto Prima Fantastic Food, view, sun and sea

3 Kings Procession 5th January

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX9UNifGYig

The Spanish celebration on 5th January of the 3 Kings in Torrevieja , meant to be a procession, to me its a stroll in the street by people dressed up......which one is Sinbad????