John Wright

I know these entries are sporadic. I am amazed any one ever reads what I have to say. Anyway I felt the need for a catch up, today, now. No idea what prompts it, but here goes I have not been out to Spain very much this year, been busy at home and I have had jobs to do. I have a four week trial starting 13 October so lots of preparation and I have been working for a client in Bulgaria on and off. I have had a coupe, of short Spanish trips, suffice to say that all is done now apart from snagging and after the trial I intend spending more time down there. It really is a gorgeous place, in a most amazing locality. There was a break in earlier in the year, they managed to pull out window bars and then got in and opened the doors from inside. What got taken, well, an industrial bacon slicer, a new, but plumbed in dishwasher, the Dyson, but they left Henry(!) 4 TV's with built in DVD players and one sky box, plus my old Praktica SLR and its lenses and a VHS camera and a mini DV camera I now have heavier duty window bars, iron bars across each door and a burglar alarm with a loud noise and flashing lights, that will frighten the buggers off, It connects to a local service centre and I pay an extra fee so that if there is a call out they send armed security guards. I managed to replace all of the camera equipment on e-bay for less than £250 and I have now replaced the other stuff. All the builders have to do is replace a door and two windows which were badly damaged plus paint the outside of the jacuzzi with teak oil. Any way clouds and silver linings, the gardener, who discovered and reported the break in offered the services of his dad as key holder and regular visitor, he offered the services of his wife as meeter and greeter for guests and cleaner and sheet and towel changer and then we did a deal about the allotment. They live in an apartment in the nearest village, about 5 miles and he misses his garden so he is now growing veg. I provide the seed/stock, he grows three or four times what he needs and I and my guests can pick, within reason. Upstairs needs underlay and carpets but that apart it is ready for lets. The website is in development and I am about to sort out the broadband access by satellite at reasonable band with and cost and VOIP compatible. I have become a traveller, a Romany, gypsy and am benefiting from an EU programme to bring Broadband to travellers. Its called ipCopter and is on the Greek Hellas sat and the equipment is by Alden of France. I am having it fitted on the motor home and the farm so I will be able to work whilst travelling and abroad. There is a big dish, 90 cm which tunes in automatically to 39 degrees east then a router and a wifi unit. I pay about €70 per month for telefonica broadband and a landline in Sitges at the apartments. The satellite system is €700 for a year or €500 for 200 days over 2 years. all sorts of packages and you can buy top up. Bulgaria, what can I say. Strange schizophrenic place, with its own Cyrillic alphabet but most adverts in English. Impossible to get around as you cannot read any signs. Very hot in summer and cold in winter. Very cheap. Charming people, wonderful country side. Sofia has enough to justify a weekend break, just, and is served by easyjet and BA and Bulgaria Air. The suburbs are dire, depressing and still run down. Taxis run on empty, but only because they have been converted to LPG and so the tank level indicator does not work. There is a huge sex industry and night clubs of the sleaziest sorts with gun toting door men I had dozens of business meetings, you go by taxi or they send a car for you as it really is impossible to go anywhere when you cannot read street signs. There is a huge corruption problem, a Russian and local mafia turf war and there are kidnappings of members of rich families. It was only after my third limo trip that I twigged that the big black Mercedes had extra thick metal, and glass, they were armoured and then I noticed the shaven headed driver in armani shades and tee shirt and snappy suit a had a bulge, not a pleased to see me bulge but a padded out area below his left nipple, so did the next one, and the one after that. On one journey as we got into the office he removed his jacket and yes there it was holster and automatic. I got to the coast at Varna and up to Sunny Beach. Sunny Beach is like the worst Costa ten or fifteen years ago and is invaded by Brits and Russians with the Russian having the upper edge. They run about 90% of the local building operations and apart from the horrible all day English breakfasts and wall to wall estate agents it is a 10 mile long unregulated building site. 3 miles in land Fort Noks, the biggest builder of them all is throwing up apartment blocks with one bed apartments from €30,000. So back inland to Bansko a new ski resort. What beautiful country side. Nice development. In a valley basin there are three developments based on original mediaeval towns. One a ski resort with great facilities, quiet in my visit, I stayed at the 5+ star kempinski for €60 per night and was one of only 5 guests, one other being my local driver translator. Next village has chosen golf, three new courses with housing. One Woosnam designed course and then a third is selling spa treatments with some nice looking hotel/treatment complexes. Bansko is less than an hour from Greece, Turkey and two hours from Sofia. There is a decommissioned military airport being converted to civilian use. What else does it have, well as well as winter sports there is trekking kite ascending, fishing, horse riding, a narrow gauge railway. The villages in the hills are mixed ethnic/religious, Bulgarians and Muslims, each village with an orthodox church and dome and a mosque and minaret. The fields are like alpine upper pastures, wooden buildings and cropped by hand with sickles and scythes. I couldn't work out which were Christian and which were Muslim, they all wore black scarves to shield from the sun. The kids were all along the road side with grandparents, toothless grannies in black with black shawls and scarves. Selling wood strawberries, bilberries and honey and jam plus wild mushrooms. Idyllic I have to go back a few times over next 12 months, I shall enjoy And finally to the Manx front. Well I have swapped my Smart car for a new Fiat 500 to tow behind the motor home and I have had another adventure with locked cars. This time I was locked out. My partner loses keys, give my partner a set of keys and the set gets deconstructed and then lost. I have an anal attitude to that. Our doors only lock with a turn of the key. If I lock inside I want a key in the barrels in case of fire so I can get out. each key set has the keys for that car, a house key a garage zapper, etc. I had friends in Summerland. Sometime in June the landrover set went missing, never to be found. £100 replacement via dealer from Germany. I didn't order because I hoped they would turn up. One morning I had to deliver some files to Mount Pleasant. Took the dogs. Returned to car to find lights flashing, dogs on dash board and they had hit the lock door button. The keys were in the ignition. I tried to persuade them to play games to jump onto the seats and then back onto the dash in the hope that struggling claws would hit the button and open. They looked at me as if I were totally stupid, which at that moment I felt. I went into the new government library, did they have a tool kit, could I borrow a hammer to break into my car. Geoff the librarian said, no Mr wright, we don't know its your car. I rang the police on 63 1212, after all not a 999 matter, no reply 20 minutes. Went to nearest office. Asked for hammer, was loaned one without question and proceeded to smash window. No one stopped me, no one called the police and it took me five goes New key, £100, new window £87 and fitting £120......... Dogs........partners.......idiot for leaving key in car!

Well here we are, Spring 2008. Just back from 10 days in Spain. The farm is now finished internally and I have an improved but still temporary electricity supply. The apartments are now open for the season with their new decor, kitchens and bathrooms. Bookings are good. Over summer the outside of the farm is being done up, a decking around the pool, a shade veranda on both patios and a pool solar heater and cover and finally a Jacuzzi. Then that is it. I hope over space of next six months to become a registered foreign (EU)lawyer in Spain and from early 2009 to spend more time out there advising expats on Manx, Irish and English law, wills etc, pensions and offering a mediation and arbitration service among the ex pat community I was at the farm house day times only last visit and now all the frustrations are out of the way I recall why I bought it. It was 3rd April, it was 25 degrees, the sky was blue, the daffodils I planted at Christmas were in full bloom and it was so quiet. An eagle soared over head, there was a jay in the trees as well as many smaller birds, all nesting in the boxes I have had put up, a dragonfly flew over the cisterna, so did swallows and martins. A fox barked, distinctive. The dog started rolling in something, smelled it, yes fox droppings, pungent. There are dozens of foxes and wild boar in the surrounding hills, plus pheasant, partridge and quail. From far away a distant melodic clanking started to impinge, it grew louder. Within half an hour a flock of sheep and goats with shepherd and two dogs passed within 50 feet and then dwindled away into the distance, their bells long audible after they had disappeared from view. What more could i possibly want?

About two years ago I decided I no longer wished to work 60 or 70 hours per week. I decided to work from home, restricted hours, on a few matters for a very few clients. I also decided to buy a farmhouse in Spain. I have been working part time from home now for 2 years. I have all the technology including satellite internet to allow me to work any where in the world. Yesterday I got the small works consent to allow renovations at the farm house I bought in Querol Catalunia in July 2005. I needed the consent because without it I couldn't turn on the electric! The electric was on when I bought. I just transferred the DD over from the old owner to my bank account. In theory every new owner has to have an inspection and a cedulla issued allowing supply for another 10 years. This is true of water and electric and gas. It is to ensure the old owner was not a rabid DIYer and has not rendered the place dangerous. In a land where many live in apartments it's a good idea. BUT the bureaucracy is overwhelming and the temptation is to cheat. So you just tell the utility to take the money out of a new account, the bills arrive in name of ex owner but so what. All was well until the ex owner fell out with the estate agent about the level of commission deducted, 5%. He then checked to ensure no bills in his name and had the supply terminated. Water was fine, it is pumped out of a well, very hard but cool and 10 Euros per month. Gas is large bottles, we have 10 of them. Next week we get electricity for the first time in 18 months! There have been frustrations on the way. To start off my blog I am going to post some of the stories.

Well, here we are again. Thursday 3rd January. I get out from under the covers. I check the radiator, still warm! Good. I go into the bathroom and turn on the shower. The water runs cold, very cold. No sign of it getting hot. Deep down realisation sinks in. I’m in Spain, in the farm, on my own, with no gas for heating or hot water and an intermittent supply of electricity that trips if I plug in the kettle. I had made the two 35kg gas bottles last a week. The Gas company, despite many calls had not delivered on the 27th. Never mind, today is Thursday, delivery day, they will deliver today, I thought. May be I had better explain. For three years I have been doing up an old farmhouse in Catalonia. Its actually in Tarragona province, in the hills, 5 miles from the nearest village. For 2 years we had been handicapped by the lack of electricity supply, work was slow, but we had bottled gas, 10 big bottles and pumped water from the well and a sewage digester big enough for Ballabeg. After 6 months with electricity on a temporary jury rig, all the work was done. Just finishing off. My partner and I had driven down in the motor home, arriving 20th December. The idea was to spend Christmas and New Year doing the final jobs, installing new lights, all the towel rails. Shelves, loo roll holders, mirrors etc and the cupboards in the new kitchen, plus do the same in the two apartments in Sitges where the builders had been beavering away for the last two months making reformas, installing new bathrooms x 4 and kitchens x 2. First shock was that the builders, having promised that one was finished and the other nearly done were only ¾ through one and ½ way through the other. On 21 December the entire Spanish building industry shut down until after 6 January (3 Kings day when presents are traditionally given). We knew at once on arrival that setting up the apartments for summer lets, checking the inventory and making up beds was a waste of time. My partner quick as a flash booked a week in Andorra, only 100 miles away from 28 December with sibling and siblings friend. I decided to stay at the farm, I hate winter sport with a vengeance, I always feel cold, miserable and wet and I cannot ski and have no wish to learn. We had a good Christmas, found all the British Christmas things, turkey, chipolatas, force meat, sprouts. Not had a British Christmas lunch for several years. On arrival the gas went off after 24 hours. The Butano is in banks of 5 with a turnover switch, which is not automatic. I rang Madrid, the ordering is centralised on a free phone number and they have English speaking staff. I ordered 5, for delivery 27th. I switched over to the second bank of 5. All was well. With guests we put on the radiators full, we were testing the system, checking all worked and heating the farm after three years of standing empty. 27th morning the gas ran out, never mind, we had two spare full cylinders. I rang Madrid to increase the order to 10. Any way partner and other two were leaving for a week, on the following day. I could live in one bedroom and turn everything else off. I even managed to down load the English instructions for the Honeywell timer and thermostat. All I needed was a warm room in the evening and hot water. As we had two kitchens, one gas and one electric all would be well. That of course ignored the electric problem. The supply is temporary. Effectively we have a three phase supply to the house, but it is switched off at the transformer station 50 feet outside the back door. Instead of that working we have a temporary meter and fuse board, trip switch consumer unit and then an extension cable into the house connected up on the consumer side of the meter. The extension cable is too long and has a join. If it gets hot, or damp, it blows the trip switch. On a cold but dry and sunny day it allows us to run a washer, tumble dryer and the dishwasher plus lights, a kettle and the TV. Switch on a cooker ring or plug in the motor home and bang. On a wet day we get lights and TV and even plugging in the kettle switches off the power. The building work is done, the electricity installation is checked and approved but we haven’t got a rateable value allocated so we cannot get a permanent supply. In theory we needed the número catastral for the phone, gas and water plus the rubbish collection, we managed to wangle those, but not Mr Electricity. I have gone to the office in Vals four times now. They are not interested. Only if I have the correct bit of paper with a number. I can have the temporary supply for ever, but I cannot upgrade. I have applied to the provincial tax office for a number. Twice. They lost my first application! The last application was in August, still no progress. OK I don’t pay rates, but I’d like to, and I’d like a full electricity supply, please. 3rd comes and goes. No delivery arrives. I go out to buy bread, on way back pass the delivery lorry on the road. Get back, try the cylinders, all make that horrid clanging noise signifying empty. The “””””””” didn’t deliver! My partner ‘phones. Arriving back that night. I warn about the heating and water situation. Still with the motor home back I can plug in and we can have hot showers and watch telly in the warm of an evening, powered by gas or electricity. Still I had put up all the light fittings, 20 of them, three kitchen cabinets had been put together and wall mounted, in the main kitchen I had installed another 20 metres of stainless steel shelving and I had managed to put together and then affix to the wall in three bathrooms, all the cabinets, mirrors, shelves and loo roll holders and towel rails any one could want . I had bought an electric floor polisher and polished and coated all the tile floors, moved furniture and put down rugs. I felt virtuous. I had even sorted out the problems with the Sky boxes and we had English TV in both living areas and all four bedrooms. I had fitted the rails and shower curtains and among the junk in the shed found and cleaned and restored and fitted the internal shutters for most of the downstairs windows. Friday morning I shout at Madrid. They have no explanation. They say descuple por las molestias , forgive us for the inconvenience. And promise a delivery that teatime. It does not arrive. Saturday the brother in law goes home with his ex army mate. They grumbled about the cold non stop. Realising that there was no point waiting to try and do something in the apartments the following week we set off home early on Monday via the B and C roads of Spain and France, stopping in villages in the Pyrenees and Gascony for coffee, cakes, and menu du jour lunch and supper. Back to Spain in March to sort out the apartments in time for Easter lets, Just have to miss the Carneval lets! 14th January I check the answer phone service for the farm. An angry madrilleno has complained that there was no one to sign when they delivered 5 butano bottles on the 9th and that there had better be someone there on the 16th when the next 5 get delivered!

Well in July I was feeling I was on the downward slope to enjoyment of my Spanish dream I now feel even nearer Two years ago my partner lost driving licence, Drink Drive. So I have been driving up and down to Spain on my own. Now has new shiny licence and passed test so can share the load and drive all other vehicles. We have a fleet. motor home, smart to tow behind, I have a Disco 3 to tow the trailer then there is a Citroen in Spain so we don't have to hire, an Audi TT for fun, a Fiat van for partnerswork and a motorbike. Finding insurance for a convicted driver on the motor home has been a nightmare, but I managed it yesterday and partner passed test. Went out to Spain 1st week November. Cleaning up farm after builders. It realy is done, a bit of decorating and a snagging list but liveable. Still only got a jury rig electriciy supply as still don't have the valor catastral or rateble valuse and number to sort out a permanent supply. Amuses me two ways, have to switch everything off and pull plugs. Otherwise it trips. So no washing and kettle boiling and vaccuming at same time! Of course other resaon for fun is that I am the Chair of the Rates appeal tribunal here! Just issue myself one! The builders did such a good job we commissioned them to renovate the apartments which we let out in Sitges, all new bathrooms, 2 a peice and new kitchens plus white paint everything else. We are off for Xmas and New Year, to oversee the finalisation of all the work and to check inventory and ensure deep clean before the first lets for carneval in February 2008. The farm has had fruit trees planted and the pool and jaccuzi installed. There is a sprinkler system from a cisterna fed by an underground spring. Planted apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries. Also a huge soft fruit cage with strawberries and reaspberries plus some eglish fruit rhubarb, the gardener had never seen before and they do not do thornless balckberries in Spain. Other things as well, olives, mature walnut and almonds, quince To put in yet are oranges, lemons, limes, kiwi. Also a herb garden and a vegetable patch. Must not forget crab apples. We have 36 grape vines as well. I am on look aout for a second hand domestic grape press and a couple barrels fr fermenting As we speak the gardener is planting some feel at home plants, daffs, tulips, snowdrops and crocuses. Well its 2,000 feet up and cold in winter. We get snow. but it less than an hour to the Cosat Garraff and Costa Dorada Any way 2008 looks good, more trips, relaxation out there. Both apartmnents are available via the web site and the farm direct from me, can be split so its either two two bedroomed units sleeping 6 each or one four bed unit sleeping 12. It has air con, CH and wood burning stoves, thre bathrooms and two kitcjens and living rooms. Of course the trips are all traumatic when I go. This last time we arrived at Caen port to check in, with thre pasported, chipped and de loused dogs. Refused boarding, Vet had used wrong pills for ticks! Bugger, night in hotel, find early vet, get correct stuff, then wait 24 hours before alowed to board. Got on boat 36 hours late, next two Steam Packet sailings full! So ended up home 48 hours late partner thouroughly pissed off demands to be set down at nearest airport, Birmingham obliges. I travel lots for work so know there are no Saturday evening flights, sit in car park smugly waiting a downcast return. After an hour I give up and drive to friends in Runcorn. Partner there on settee having caught taxi at cost £200, got card bill today, and charged it to my card!!!!

I'm off tomorrow to have work done on my motor home. I use it as a mobile office and for getting too and from Spain. It has all the toys including satellite broadband. I bought it about a year ago, my 50th to me present. Have had lots of work done since then. The attitude of suppliers is amazing. There are some good ones and some really bad ones. The main dealers are worst. The whole business is over charging, overcharging, overcharging with poor service. They all send their sales teams to shows which happen weekly all summer and monthly in winter, so no one ever takes responsibility for anything. I bought from Browhhills at Hymer UK in Preston. The Hymer UK main dealer and sole importer. The sales staff were so dis interested. I was looking at an £80,000 van. It was a 2006 model, by then the 2007 inventory was coming in. No one returned phone calls, no one returned e-mails. In the end I got an IOM dealer to contact them and negotiate on my behalf. WE agreed I would pay £70k delivered to my door and he would take his profit and all expenses from the amount he got below that price. He let slip he made £2,500 after shipping and transport. When it arrived there were problems, which I and local dealer sorted out. I also went back to Brownhills for service and some work. Talk about expensive. They know I was coming from IOM, on arrival I was told parts not in, I had booked four weeks earlier. I'm back again this week end. Some idiot tried to turn left through the side of the thing. Well it is 30 foot long and 10 feet high and they just didn't see it in broad day light on the inside lane. We both stopped, but before I could get details the police arrived, ascertained no one hurt and told us both off for stopping on the hard shoulder and the other driver fucked off without giving details.The damage is minor. It is not an insurance job, for a number of reasons. (Huge excess to keep the premium low, being one and not wishing to upset a 75% unprotected NCB the other, break even is £1,000) I took it in for estimate on my way to Spain on 13 March. Told them I only wanted limited work, and it was not an insurance job. The estimate was for £4,000. They had added every scuff and scratch, with an oh the insurance will cover it. I refused. I got a re estimate. 20 April I booked it in 9 July was earliest. I reminded them there was warranty work. A cable controlling the front passenger seat hydraulics, had parted. Please replace. A week ago I checked all parts were there. No cable, they could not get a cable. I suggested they got on Easyjet and went to personally collect or rang the manufacturer direct and had it sent DHL at my cost. No, have to order from main German supplier who goes to factory where they are converted who go to the actual manufacturer, no direct ordering allowed. Estimated delivery another 6 weeks and longer if holidays get in the way. All it is is a bit of bike brake type shielded cable, they wanted £158 before ordering it, that was why it was not there. They had forgotten it was warranty work. Tuesday I am going to little man in Warrington. He fitted my air con and my satellite TV system. One air-con unit has failed. He has got the replacement and he chases me to check when I will be over to see him. He is also installing my self bought 12v DVD player in the back bed room, all for free. I have commissioned an alarm system and a security lock to be installed as well, because I want to let him have some paid work. What a difference. Wednesday I was supposed to go to a firm in Newark who fitted a top range radio, CD, DVD and SatNav system with a Blue Tooth hands free in January. They also put in an automatic self levelling jack system so that the motorhome does not shake when parked up. It almost walks on 4 legs, eerie. They did not supply any instruction books, I have been chasing since. On Thursday they told me that if I came down I would only be given an A4 internet download, well I did that the minute I found out it was missing, so not much point. I also want a spare remote for the self leveller. I asked at time of installation, it was promised, still not received. I was to collect that, but no, it still is not in. £120 they want and I am willing to pay, but where is it. Final point and real reason for going down all that way is that blue tooth unit has been wrongly installed. It pairs and registers, but that is lost when ignition is turned off. any way I am having that done locally for £40, cheaper than going to have it done under warranty. I should have known, installation was a pain. I got back after two days in January to be told they had not got the blue tooth in stock, and I would have to return. They claimed to have hunted high and low. I had noticed a Halfords 500 yards down road, went, bought, and then they fitted, why they couldn't have done that is beyond me. Stupid thing is they are nice, they do lots. I want a a semi auto selection box and cruise control fitting, but I'm now terrified of letting the vehicle near them, also I want EFOY battery chargers, they work as a continuous generator running on Ethanol, quietly topping up the huge leisure batteries. £20 ethanol lasts a year. But will I get the whole kit, and if not how long before I do and how much of my time will I waste sorting it out. I thought motorhoming was supposed to be fun.

I have a C3 Pluriel parked in my garage space in Spain. It is great in the sun, roof down, and handy for nipping around. It also pulls our trailer, but it is cussed On our November trip the car would not start. Garage man started with jump leads. We asked should we follow him to garage and get new battery, but he told us to drive around. After an hour we stopped in a side street. The lights went off, proof the battery had not recharged. Sighing we reached for the door, it wouldn’t open. The default position in power failure is locked. Windows are electric as well. We tried to break a window, to no avail. It was 9.00pm and dark. Eventually a man walking his dog came over and we were able to slip the key out through a small gap between the window and rubber on the frame. He opened the door manually from outside. We now carry window hammers in all vehicles! Even better, In February I bought the kitchen units at IKEA, had a trailer to put on back of car. parked in IKEA underground, came back with trolley load of units, no trailer. Some shit had disconnected it and taken it. Left my disconsolate partner with the furniture and went to the nearest B&Q equivalent. Bought new trailer. It was to be an hour whilst they bolted it together, so I went back. We were fed up, so we risked leaving the kitchen units in IKEA underground. Got to B&Q, well Bauhaus really, and there was a problem. My bank had refused my card! Now I knew there was nothing spent on it. It was obviously one of these computer has detected odd pattern of use, you have spent €2,000 at IKEA and another €700 at Bauhaus, but yesterday it was 45p at Douglas Shoprite, theft alert. SO embarrassed I rang the card issuer, no problem instantly corrected and card went through. Got hitched, back to IKEA and guess what, the stuff was still there, not that we could have cared less by now. Any way packed up trailer and so to bed!

Well six months on and here I am again. The work is nearly done, so much for the time estimate of Easter. I now have a farm house with four bedrooms, all good size doubles, two kitchens, two living areas which each have a double sofa bed, three bathrooms and two kitchens. It divides into two, two bedroomed units. The pool is done and all I am waiting for is the air conditioning to be finished. I have made final payment to the builder subject to a three month, 5% retainer. I go over in early August to finalise the furnishings. My architect and advocate still have not got the cedulla, the certificate for habitation which allows me to get a permanent electricity supply, they cannot get it because the local authority, from which the people before me bought, has never had it valued for rates, even now 5 years on. It was local, regional and national election day last time I was over. I am on the electoral list so I get all the election pamphlets, Querol is a very strange place. As well as the national left and right there are the Catalan regional autonomous left and right then there are the Catalan extremists, then the Querol rate payers and then the stop developing Querol and your brother is corrupt party followed by the party for a free Querol and a few others. Mind there are only 300 electors so I suspect everyone bar me was a candidate. It is clear that one group think that the only way forward is to develop like mad, to bring back people to an area which has been depopulation on a big scale over the last 50 years. It is near enough for the daily commute to Barcelona. Vilafranca is twenty minutes away and is a station on the new high speed Barcelona to Madrid line. There are others who are rabidly anti developments and allege that favours have been done in laying out plots and with connection charges, Each group not only puts up posters but paints slogan on the road, NON! QUEROL POR....! They also issue public Denuncias, the stuff put in those is strong compared to our own forums. It seems to be rates related. Not that I have any to pay with a place with no rateable value. I understand the rates would be about €50 and water, which I do pay for, is €10 per month. I have no bin and have to use a public service about 200 yards away there are no street lights and I have my own private poo treater which I have to pay to have emptied occasionally. As it was built for a 100 cover restaurant I reckon about once a decade! Thing is to meet the cost of all the works to install water and electricity and out in new estate roads the rates are now going to rocket because the Tarragona region of Catalonia is refusing to subsidise any more and no one is buying. They have laid out over 500 plots I worry a bit, but they are all so nice to me. The building has been fun. An English builder supervising with Romanian workers. God they work hard. They were staying on site to avoid travel, went up every Monday at 09.00 and stopped at 14.00 on Fridays. I chatted in our common language, English. They are Seventh day Adventists, persecuted by Ceausescu and still at the bottom of the heap at home. They make more in a week in Spain than in a month at home. I made coffee and found out they don't drink caffeine, no cola, no tea. (paging DJDAN). So what else has happened to post about? last time out I arrived at El Prat airport about three hours before flight, with only hand luggage. Bedlam, all the check in computers were down, took 2 hours 35 minutes to check in. Better still I have now stopped the car losing power in my absence. nasty tale of entrapment to be told there some day

well, if Bush does, he won't be the first US prsident to be humiliated by an Iranain campaign in the dog days of his presidency

No longer?...they never have been invincible vietnam anyone That was two world super powers fighting by proxy, I specifically qualified post USSR This piece by a BBC World foreign correspondent makes interesting reading Amidst the barrage of bad news from Iraq, the growing chaos in Gaza, instability in Lebanon and uncertainty in Israel, one thing emerges clearly. The US invasion of Iraq and its quest to spread democracy throughout the region has had a series of profound but unintended consequences. Of these, the most important is the rise of Iran. Washington's destruction of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan and its toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq served to destroy Tehran's main strategic competitors. For a brief moment Iran too feared US intervention. It was at this moment that Tehran appeared most willing to explore talks. But the Americans' increasing problems in Iraq showed that for the Iranians the cloud of US ascendancy did indeed have a silver-lining. Sunni re-alignment Iran now was free to step-up its influence throughout the region - in Iraq, in Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories. Sunni governments - like the Egyptians, the Saudis and the Jordanians - watched with horror as their fears of a new Shia ascendancy appeared to be coming true. Such fears have prompted the beginnings of a re-alignment. "Something is happening that could have a strategic potential," says Dennis Ross, the US peace envoy to the Middle East during the Clinton years. Ambassador Ross dates the genesis of this to Saudi Arabia's criticism of Hezbollah during last summer's Lebanon war. "Iran," he said, was perceived by many Arab states "as trying to seize control of the Israel-Palestine issue and was using Hezbollah and Hamas as tools". This the Saudis and the other Sunni states saw as a threat because, as Ambassador Ross put it, "if the Iranians were in a position in which they could control the most evocative symbols in the region they could use it against these regimes". Add in the widespread unease at Iran's nuclear activities and you have a potential new alignment where the moderate Arab states and Israel all share common interests. Breakthrough 'hard' The Saudis have dusted-off their Middle East peace plan, and Riyadh, Cairo and Amman are all clamouring for a greater US push on the Palestinian front. And if this is the price for a new alliance to contain Iran, then the Bush administration seems willing to at least go through the motions. But given the bitter internecine rivalry between the Palestinian factions, can there really be any great hope of progress? Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is seriously weakened too - battered by his poor showing in last summer's Lebanon war and a series of scandals that have afflicted the Israeli political system. So for all the talk of a new US diplomatic push, Dennis Ross says that it is going to be very hard to make a strategic breakthrough now. He put it to me this way: "Can weak leaders take on existential questions?" So here, too, the Americans are going to have their work cut out. 'Sea-change' But there is also a much more fundamental problem for the Americans. The invasion of Iraq has paradoxically also served to bring an end to the era of US diplomatic primacy in the Middle East, says Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former State Department official. "For much of the last two decades the US enjoyed an ahistoric advantage in the region, with the end of the Cold War and the domination that it showed in the region after Iraq invaded Kuwait," Mr Haass says. "Now though, we are seeing something fundamentally different." It was, he says, the end of American primacy. However, Mr Haass is quick to stress that this was not an end to American influence. The era of US domination is over, but it is not being replaced by any single country. "Essentially, we are looking at a messier, a much more complicated, a much more troubled Middle East, where the capacity of the US to shape affairs is much-reduced," Mr Haass says.

I don't beleieve USA would be so daft. Their failure in Iraq has shown them up as no longer being the invincible super power. This topic really falls to be considered with the one about why we are between the Sunnis and Shias. Since the fall of the USSR there has only ben one world super power, possibly with China on the ascendant, but not there yet. Us influenece generally has been on the side of the Sunnis, propping up all sorts of extreme regimes against Shia Iran, it has alos been on the side of the Israelis. The failure of US policy leaves a void. the unthinkable might now happen, Sunnis, afraid of the Shias in Iran and to counter its nuclear capabilities may find themselves, without the guarantee of US might, having to do deal with Isreal as the only regional power with nuclear capability. That would change the middle east dynamic for ever, and is a real medium term option. Of course the only resaon we are there, or the US, is not the Sunni Shia divide but economic self interest...oil. We played the Iraqis off against the Iranis, and vice versa when Iran was a US client state, before the Ayatollahs. Now US is not so invincible, and I agree North Korea and lack of action seem to be another indicator, it will be interesting to see who forms coalitions with whom to survive

Some honest person found it and delivered it to IOM bank where it now sits in my personal account. Whoever thank you.

yup, got out of car with letters in my hand to post and deliver. They got blown away by a strong gust of wind. Still one missing with a £300 cheque in it. Reward for finder

In July 2006 I had bought the farm house, 30 miles inland from the Costa Daurada just south of Barcelona. I also had an apartment on the coast in Sitges. The purchase which had taken a year to negotiate had gone well. Then the ex owner had the electricity switched off. I went out to rectify. Most people in the country speak Catalan, which I can read but not write. I speak poor castillian and read that better than Catalan. It really was a flying visit. Out Thursday evening back Monday morning. I was chasing the apartment agent and the Central heating and Air conditioning engineers, plus electrician and telephone guy. Among other things! I’m paranoid about being late and missing things, so it was not a good start for Euro Manx to be an hour late leaving IOM. I nearly missed check in for easyJet at Liverpool. It is now a 30 minute check in, I had ensured I should have had an hour and a half, and there I was running. I was last to check in, seat 138 on a 150 seater. Then easyJet was late. No worries as I was staying in a hotel near the airport that night. Friday am caught train to Sitges where the apartments are. I was to stay in one for two nights, and in the other for one, only to find guests not checking out until 17.00 so I couldn’t load up the car with stuff to take to the farm. However they were having a flood so I mopped up. The central heating engineer had moved the washing machine whilst replacing the boiler and cross threaded the tap connector when reconnecting. Checked inventory and found six mugs, 8 large and 10 small glasses missing since February, no T towels and three bedside lights missing. What do guests do? Quick trip to IKEA called for and done. Then off to farm to meet translator, electrician and telephone man. All well except telephone man did not appear. Apparently he had turned up a day early. During visit note that whilst there are lots of plates, knives and forks there are no pans, sharp knives or cooking utensils. No kettle. The last owners ran it as a restaurant for Christs sake! Back to Sitges and try to get keys copied. Usual place said too busy. Next place closed. Most places shut for 2 weeks in August. Went back to choice number one;. begged as best my pidgin Catalan allows, he agreed, could I call back at 20.00, I suggested the following morning, but no, that was the first day of his fortnights break. At 20.00 he hadn’t started so I waited, good naturedly until 20.45 until he finished. It was obliging of him and I was having 4 sets of 8 keys per set cut. Big bill! Saturday; finalised inventory check and checked everything working. Sorted out computer connections and did a bit of work. Found one loo in apartment was running all the time. Tried plumber, on holiday, I should have known! Found out that the new Central Heating boiler has a complicated electronic timer and thermostat. Oh woe! If guests play they will wreck it. What is more there are no instructions for the boiler or timer/thermostat, not even in Spanish or Catalan, let alone English. Played with it; couldn’t work it out. Can’t operate the video, me. No chance! Pack spare sheets, duvets, throws and odds and ends. Re visit IKEA and raid the kitchenware department. Get basic kettle. Visit Farm, unload. Also go to local town hall and sign up for waste collection. Town hall only opens on Tuesday and Saturdays. 08.00 to 13.00. Village has one bar and as far as I can see no shops. It does have a 10th century church and ruined hilltop castle. Maybe 30 houses. Lovely lady who speaks pidgin English to my pidgin Spanish. We understood each other fully. She tries to send me down stairs to sign up for local property tax. Explain property used to belong to town hall until plot divided in two about three years ago. Property owned by a local authority is exempt rates so it did not have a valor catastral or rateable value because town hall and the people they had sold to forgot to go to the regional assessment office. No rateable value, no tax. Impossible sir, I am assured. I dig out my copia simple deed in which it is recited that this is in fact the case and that the local authority will forgive the ex owners and me all local taxes until they do sort it all out. She smiles, shouts to her colleague, the town hall architect, he shouts back, more smiles. Yes he remembers the letter. So it is me who has bought, good luck. They are happy to see me. I am the second English person, they say, to buy in their rural area. I say how much I like the rural tranquillity. As I am about to leave she asks where I come from. I tell her the Isle of Man. As I start the description as an island in the middle of the Irish Sea between England and Ireland she says she knows about it and its motorbike races and tax free status. She has a friend who lives there, in Douglas. Small world. Rush back to farm, The building next door is the Junta de Compensation. It deals with water rates. It opens Saturday and Sunday 12.00 to 14.00. It is built on the remainder of the plot originally and still owned by the Town hall. There I have to sign up for water. No one speaks English. They don’t try to understand my pidgin Spanish. They resolutely speak Catalan. They do write something down and give me a form. Its only 10 Euros per month. Water comes from a well and is not metered. I fill in the form, they read it and refuse it. I haven’t specified the plot number. I point next door, 10 yards away. It’s that plot. What is the number, surely they know? Map on wall has plots with numbers on. Cannot see my plot! Huge shoulder shrugs. I retire defeated. I will get the plot number from my Spanish lawyer, but it is August she is away on a fortnights holiday, so is her partner and both secretaries and the office is closed. Go back to farm to try my satellite computer access. Damn. I have brought wrong cables and left the instructions. Read copia simple. It’s plot H1. Rush to office next door. It is gone 14.15 and they are gone. Go back to Sitges, move into other apartment. Check inventory. Wonder how two balcony chairs are broken and realise with a sigh that in spite of me telling the Air conditioning man of the problems on 27th July the air conditioning is still not fully functioning. Go to his office. Closed. Holidays. Pardon us for the inconvenience the sign translates literally! Sunday. Check computer on apartment 2 broadband. Yes most of it works. Gather all cables. Go to Farm. Cannot get satellite system to work. Spend 4 hours playing. Batteries go flat. Without electricity supply cannot recharge. Retire defeated to Sitges but not before trying to sort out water during opening hours. No-one turns up. I go and read the notices carefully. There is a new one on the door. It must have been there Saturday at 14.15. Sunday is a local fiesta. Closed! Coming back Monday I knew guests were to check in at 11.00. The cleaner arrived 07.30. I got to Airport at 08.30 for an 11.15 plane. I get ticket 1. So there we are, that was my weekend. How was yours?