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Mid October and it was already down to -2 degrees centigrade this morning. Daytime highs at the moment are struggling to reach 5C.
Not in my balmy corner of Spain, I hasten to add. In Norway.
I was conducting a phone interview with a banking executive in Oslo this morning, and this is the weather report she gave me.
Tags: country, development, environment, income, Norway, quality life, sea, Spain, sunshine, weather, work
I received an email last week from a guy called David Jennings, a financial services expert who offers the benefits of his years of experience to expatriates in Spain. Given the benefits that sound financial management can bring to your expat experience (especially given the current squeeze!) I thought I’d pass on his details, in the hope it may be of use to some of you …
Financial Pages in Spain – David Jennings http://financialpagesinspain.blogspot.com/
I was involved in UK financial services for over 30 years, with experience in banking, insurance and pension planning. When I first bought a property in Spain 10 years ago I was astonished at the sheer bureaucracy of home ownership here. I am resourceful and I use Google extensively, but yet again I found frustration as I researched all things Spanish. Everything I ‘Googled’ was effectively an advertisement.
Ten years later, more grey hairs and full of personal experience, it’s my time to fight back.
My blog contains financial information, but does not give personal financial advice and does NOT include a single financial services advertisement. I guarantee that I will never advertise those financial institutions who wrap up information in biased adverts. Please check me out. Just like Paul Allen, if you bring forward a subject I can post, I will make my blog available to you. I am also pleased to answer your questions. Happy blogging.
Biography
I am David Jennings and generally known as DJ. I have been battling with Spanish bureaucracy for 10 years. Fortunately, I have over 30 years experience of banking, insurance and pensions in the UK and was not going to let them stand in my way. I still hear ‘urban myths’ from British people in Spain. So I want to bring together, without advertising, my experiences that I can pass to others. I am 59 years old and my financial services experiences are available to you all.
Tags: banking, expatriates, financial services, information, insurance, pension, property, Spain, Spanish, UK
It’s a fiesta today here in Spain, the feast of the Immaculate Conception (Día de la Inmaculada Concepción). It’s a Roman Catholic holy day, which marks the conception of the Virgin Mary, a point from which she started and remained throughout her life free of the Original Sin that stains the rest of us. Or so the Catholic doctrine says.
Having been brought up in England in a Protestant household – albeit with a Roman Catholic father (although that is another topic in itself) – it’s not a holiday I was familiar with until moving to Spain. But then so much of Roman Catholic theology and practice remains something of a mystery to me, despite it’s communality with the UK’s ‘national’ religion. Which I suppose is what makes living in Spain – or for that matter any other country – so interesting.
And I have to say, I quite like the idea of squeezing another public holiday in before Christmas too …
Tags: Catholic, Christmas, Conception, country, England, fiesta, holiday, living, Mary, Protestant, religion, Sin, Spain
The blind man came yesterday. Or should I say the man to fix the security blind that covers our patio door.
We’re on first name terms, José and I. Not surprising, given the number of times he’s had to come to our house in the four years we’ve been living here.
He must have fixed that blind at least half a dozen times. This time it had come off the roller on one side and jammed half up. Lucky really, as on previous occasions it’s got stuck when all the way down, leaving the lounge shrouded in gloom and forcing us to climb through the window if we want to get out onto the patio. Fortunately we only had to wait three days for José to show up this time around too.
While he was here he mended the kitchen window as well, as it keeps sagging on its hinges, making it almost impossible to open. It’s only about the fourth time he’s had to sort that one out though, so I shouldn’t complain.
As for the window in our daughters’ bedroom … well, that’s another story.
We’d asked about it while the house was still under construction. One day, while visiting the site to check on progress, we found the builders about to install the windows. There would be a tilt-and-turn one in the kitchen, and another in the downstairs bathroom.
“Could we have the same mechanism in the second bedroom?” we asked.
The architect, developer and the head of the building firm consulted. “No, it’s not possible,” we were told. The frame was too small to support its weight, they said. Being ignorant of such matters, we shrugged our shoulders.
Eventually the house was finished – two months late, so six months early by Spanish standards – and we moved in. But the sliding patio door locks kept breaking (too much weight on the door for too flimsy a lock it turned out), so we called José back in … six times.
During the course of one of his visits I pointed to the kitchen window. “Is it possible to have the same mechanism in the bedroom upstairs?” I asked.
“Of course,” he replied. “I just need to add a piece to the top of the frame.”
I explained to him what I’d been told about the frame being too small. He shook his head. Nope, complete rubbish. It would cost me about 50 euros to get it changed though. Ah, that explained why the developer had said no.
So José said he’d come round and sort it out. Which he did, several weeks later. He took the window off its hinges and returned to his workshop to add the necessary pieces. A couple of hours later he was back, as promised. Unfortunately, he could only put on one piece of the necessary mechanism, he explained. They were missing the other bit, but he’d order that and return to install it as soon as it arrived. It would take ten minutes to do.
We waited. I called and left a message with his secretary. A few weeks later I ran into José in a local shopping mall. “Yes, of course,” he said. “I’ll give you a call and come round in a couple of weeks.”
We waited.
I called again and left another message.
A little while after I bumped into José in town. “I’ll come one day this week,” he told me. “I’m not sure which, but I’ll call and let you know.”
We waited.
I called and left a message. I went up to the factory. José had popped out but would be back in five minutes. Could I come back then?
I returned half an hour later. José was still out. I talked to his dad, who owns the business. He’d speak with José when he returned and get him to come see me.
We waited. I called and left a message with the secretary. Nothing.
It’s now two years since José first came to change the window. So I took the opportunity while he was fixing the blind to ask him if there was any progress on the missing part for the bedroom window. I should have known better.
José shook his head sorrowfully. Unfortunately, he told me, the guy who manufactured the pieces has gone out of business (which hardly came as a shock).
The good news though is that over the last decade José has installed the same style of window in many other houses around town. So all we have to do now is wait for one of them to be knocked down or have their windows changed and he can nab the missing piece we require.
Shouldn’t take too long, I figure. Another five years or so and I’m sure we’ll have it sorted.
Tags: builder, building, construction, house, Spanish
So we’ve hit July, which marks the high summer season on the Spanish costas, and indeed all round the Mediterranean.
The beginning of the month sees the start of the school holidays in France, and so we get the French influx as people hop across the border. They are followed by ever growing numbers of Dutch and Belgians and Germans. Then, at the end of July, the Brits start to roll in. And once we get into August it’s the Spaniards, many of whom stick to tradition and have the whole month as vacation.
From now through to August 31 the beaches will be packed, the restaurants and bars mobbed, the roads chock full of cars with foreign plates driven by people who haven’t a clue where they’re going.
It’s both a boost and a bane.
I hate the fact that I can’t even get in the car park at the local supermarket, and that the check-out queues will stretch back to the ends of the aisles. That the idyllic and almost deserted beachside pathway we stroll along most days out of season will become so crowded that there’s now a 50-50 chance of getting run over by a cyclist or out of control roller-blader.
But I like the life the summer, and its tourists, bring to the place. Like so many coastal places, our little fishing town can be somewhat ghostly through the winter. But in summer it’s pulsing.
And of course we get to enjoy the blessed golden days and balmy nights that attract the tourists in the first place. It’s the price, I suppose, of paradise.
Tags: beach, costa, holiday, July, Mediterranean, paradise, Spain, summer, tourist, vacation
At last, the European Championships have got under way. Of course, as an English football fan it is with a tinge of regret … I’m still wondering how England didn’t manage to qualify! Still, this is no time for harping on about past disappointments.
Instead, I shall be focusing on the fortunes of my adopted country, Spain. I’ve put money on Spain in major football tournaments and been disappointed too many times in the past to get carried away. All the Spaniards I’ve spoken to seem to feel the same way, recognising their team as the perennial underachievers.
Still, the eternal optimist inside me can’t help but wonder if this year may really be the one. Many of Britain’s football pundits seem to think so too.
Individual talent has never been in question. It’s that cohesiveness as a unit that lets them down … and the reason why Germany always seem to do so well, even when they have a dearth of individual brilliance.
So is the Spaniards’ failing down to a lack of organisation, of belief? Quite possibly. It’s certainly something the German team never seem to be in short supply of.
Commitment? Maybe that too. There were reports in years gone by of severe divisions and antagonism in the Spanish camp, particularly between the Real Madrid and Barcelona players, who carry the burden of their great team rivalry and its political backdrop.
I read not long ago that FC Barcelona defender Oleguer Presas, a radical Catalan nationalist, didn’t want to play for the Spanish national squad and only agreed to join up with them when invited in 2005 because of pressure from the Barça president and the threat of not being able to play for his club. Can you imagine an English player being so antipathetic to representing his country?
And it is a not uncommon attitude among the wider Catalan population, many of whom refuse to cheer the Spanish national side. Centuries of centralist “repression” have left their mark!
Hopefully there is more unity and more belief in the Spanish squad this year though. And I, for one, will be cheering them on to the final.
According to a study by Currencies Direct, Spain continues to top the list of retirement hotspots for Brits who actually want to enjoy some sun in their sunset years. And it’s not hard to see why.
But Spain’s allure is not limited to pensioners. Rather, it consistently ranks as the second most popular destination for British émigrés of all stripes. So here are 10 reasons why you might want to consider it too.
1) Sunshine
Let’s face it, a plentiful supply of sunshine is always more appealing than endless days of rain (unless you’re an Australian farmer). And Spain, by and large, receives a bountiful supply of those golden rays throughout the year. Plus you won’t even have to leave home for your summer holidays anymore.
2) Outdoor Activities
Sunshine and warmth – perfect ingredients for enjoying the Great Outdoors, whatever your interests: sailing, cycling, golf, painting, or simply paddling around at the beach. And in the winter there’s decent skiing in the Sierra Nevadas in the south, or the Pyrenees in the north.
3) Natural Beauty
Unfortunately Spain has become synonymous with overdevelopment and tawdry beach resorts. But for those that want them there are still plenty of low-key towns and unspoilt stretches of coast to be found.
And once away from the Mediterranean there is a surprising diversity of landscapes: from the wilds of Galicia, to the lush forests of the Basque country, and the majestic Picos de Europa or Aigüestortes national parks.
4) Cost of Living
Spain has become noticeably more expensive, especially since the euro came into effect. Nevertheless, prices for food, alcohol, petrol and property – to name just a few items – are still lower than in the UK.
5) Food and Drink
Spain may not be a gourmet capital like France or Italy, but its cuisine is not restricted to paella and tortilla either. And if you doubt it, take a visit to the Basque region, where the food has a deservedly high reputation. As for the wine …!
6) Pace of Life
While the pace may be picking up in big cities, Spain in general continues to adopt a more relaxed approach to the clock. Siestas remain commonplace too. Great if you have time to go with the flow!
7) Health Care
Spain’s health care system was rated seventh in the world by the World Health Organization when it compiled a report on the subject back in 2000. And in my experience (having had two children here, one with severe allergies) its reputation is deserved: the staff are well-trained, and facilities are modern, well-equipped and clean.
Family Life
Spanish families tend to be close knit, with plenty of contact across the generations. They are also children oriented, with kids the centre of attention for doting family members and strangers alike (which is great if you happen to have some yourself).
9) Fiestas
Fiestas are a central feature of Spanish life. Famous ones like the bull-running in Pamplona (San Fermín) or Sevilla’s Semana Santa are well worth a visit if you can get there. But each village, town and city has its own catalogue of saints’ days and feast days too, which can be just as entertaining and intoxicating (in every sense).
10) Cultural Riches
Spain’s glory days as a world force may be long gone, but it carries with it a wealth of history and culture: from the magnificent art galleries of Madrid and Barcelona to architectural jewels such as the Alhambra in Granada, the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and Bilbão’s Guggenheim museum. Or you can simply soak up the atmosphere with a stroll around one of its many beautiful cities: Salamanca, Toledo, León, Girona, Sevilla …
Tags: Brits, cost, emigrate, family, fiesta, health, Mediterranean, Moving Abroad, Retirement, Spain, Spanish, sun
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