Advertisement
Published: November 26th 2015
Edit Blog Post
The highs and lows of life in Spain
When I last wrote we were just arriving in Isla Plana which is one of our favourite spots on the Murcian coast, the Costa Calida. The map shows you were it is, the bay of Mazzarron and Bolnuevo are overdeveloped and have lots of resident ex pats. Isla Plana and La Azohia are on a more manageable scale. The campsite is 1km from Isla Plana central a nice walk along the beach or a quick cycle ride. Our neighbours at the campsite were Ian and Paula from Dewsbury and we joined them most evenings for sunset drinks at the Social overlooking the sea in Isla Plana. They were great company and we went to the Thursday “dance” at the campsite together too. The campsite has lots of snowbirds from Holland, France and Germany and some of them had packed their dancing shoes, it was not quite Strictly but there was plenty of enthusiasm. The guy singing was okay and it was a fun night.
Originally we had planned to do a bit of wandering but in the end we stayed put for seven days. We cycled most days and swam in
the two pools on site and generally just chilled. Just what I needed as the cold I picked up on the flight out was lingering. Chris was able to do a bit of diving as well so all in all a good week. We used the coastal path to La Azohia which was a wonderful cycle, keeping us off the main road. There is more of the coastline further west that we want to explore but will leave that for next time.
Returning to the house we had several things still to get sorted. The daughter of our neighbour is doing her teacher training and wants to practice her English so I needed to get that planned. The guy we call “the Alcalde” , the mayor, had asked Chris if I would do some conversation with his son. Chris has owned the house for 12 years and decided he wanted to be on the equivalent of the UK electoral role, the padron. The computer is in the repair shop and the 15 days are now up. Then we developed a problem with the power!!
I arranged with Joquinita to do our firts converstion session on Thursday last week,
It is cold at night but the log burner makes it cosy!!but her childcare didn’t work out so waiting for her to contact me!! The Alcalde wondered if I might go to the school to do some conversation with the children as a native English speaker............so Mathew the teacher came over on Thursday and I am waiting for him to bring me the timetable so I can sort out when to go in. All progressing well at the usual Spanish pace of manana!!
The padron required Chris to visit the town hall with all of his documents and he was delighted when the guy said everything was in order...........except they couldn’t find the house on “their system”. This is the house that Chris pays his council tax on and they have been taking payment for the last 12 years. Another colleague was called over who said it was their problem and they would ring!! Part of the issue is the numbering of the house, No 4 on the deeds, No 28 above the door and No 33 for water and electric bills. A phone call asking for a copy of the electric bill to be presented on Monday seemed to hint at some progress.
The computer is an ongoing
manana saga and so far it has been in the workshop in Murcia for 30 days and we seem to be making no progress but a promise that it would be back on Monday was made.
The electricity.........while Chris was sorting out his padron in Mula I used the stick blender and as I took it out of the socket the power went off on the extractor and as I later discovered the whole the back of the house. So half the kitchen was okay but no light in the garage and beyond and no power for the washing machine-which was in mid cycle! Chris then spent most of the afternoon trying to sort out the problem, there are two sockets and the one to the left of the cooker which runs the extractor is a junction box for power through to the garage and then to the rear of the house. One of Chris’ real strengths is that he will not be beaten and certainly not by a few wires out of place. On occasions the air was blue but he eventually sussed where the problem was. As an aside the washing machine gave me a shock, thankfully
not a serious one, as there was a separate problem with that socket. Serendipity!
So for best part of a week Chris has been sorting sockets and running cables and on Sunday Juan, the electrician came and sorted out some cabling in the main box and left Chris to insert new cables and will come back to connect it all and test it is okay. There was some general shaking of the head from Juan, old house, old wiring. I was spring cleaning the camper van but was so impressed with Chris who chatted away in Spanish to Juan .
So on Monday we go into town and Chris goes back to the town hall to finalise being on the padron and there is only a small queue. On the basis that it is always better to make connections I chatted to the reception lady who has a son in England in and is off there for a visit at Christmas. The guy came and looked at the paperwork said it was okay and left us with his colleague. Public sector staff in Spain, and maybe France too, are in the job for life and see no real reason to go out of their way to be efficient, friendly or helpful. She had the radio playing random songs, a bit of Frank Sinatra helps the boredom? The phone went and it was not a business call all the while wittering about wanting to see another document. In the end Chris said no the documents were all there last week and her colleague approved them so she signed and stamped the paper and put it on the desk and continued to chat. That was it! This is where my Spanish lets me down and I don’t know enough to say some customer service skills would not go amiss!!
Off to the computer shop and despite his assurances to the contrary no sign of the computer. Spain has a complaints process so out came the form, in triplicate, which we then take to the Town hall, only to find there is another separate office especially for these forms. We were on the scooter so tootled off round the one way system. The office for the form,was just beside the local police office and as we approached were told we could go no further so Chris parked the scooter, as I went to see where the office was. As I reached the corner I saw why we had been stopped the paramedics were doing CPR on someone in the street. We found the office, no sign on the door, and went in with the form. It was empty apart from a woman behind a desk listening to music on her phone. Eventually we worked out she wanted us to make an appointment to discuss the form at which point Chris put it on the desk and said “The form says deliver it to the office, we have delivered it . Good day” and walked out. There is a limit to how much you can put up with in one day.
So back to lovely tranquil Casas Nuevas and the rewiring continued!!
Till next time
Norma xx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.133s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.1133s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb