La
Plaza del Ayuntamiento, Valencia
Something
to think about… electricity
Why
is electricity so expensive in Spain? In this
article from El Pais, translated into English, we have
the best attempt I've seen to explain the complex world
of Spanish electricity tariffs.
I'm still not entirely sure I understand it but my eyes
did leap to the bottom to the little additional information
about the membership of certain electricity boards.
Say no more…:
elpais.com
One
new year resolution down the drain already
In
December I promised no more Top Tens from The Local.
Well, we all know that New Year resolutions are not
really meant to be kept.
So, why wait any longer? I'm busting mine at the first
opportunity. From 'The Local', another top ten, this
time encouraging you to think again about how you pass
your time in Spain. Which one of these 'ten ways
to spice up your Spanish life' might you try in 2014?:
thelocal.es
I
also enjoyed this comparison of Madrid v. Barcelona.
Described as the 'great city face off', The Local compares
the two cities according to their weather, nightlife,
food, economy and other factors. Which city comes out
on top and do you agree? Take a look:
thelocal.es
It
seems as though interesting articles come in threes.
Also from The Local, I was intrigued by this list of
expat enclaves. It takes into account the settlement
patterns of a number of different nationalities in Spain
including, Fins in Fuengirola, Russians in Marbella
and Germans in Mallorca. There is some dispute about
whether Benidorm really should be classed as Little
Britain. Do you agree or where would you suggest instead?:
thelocal.es
Top
5, 10, 20, 100
It
seems like everyone is doing it. Wherever you look there
is another top 5, 10, 20 tips for…
What is it about numbers that means we are attracted
to reading articles and blogs that reduce everything
to numerical slots? Saying this, I have been drawn to
another two, both celebrating the benefits of Spain.
1. The first one is 10 things you are missing out
on if you do not live in Spain:
spanish-property.net
2.
The second one goes 10 better and advocates 20 reasons
to drop everything and go to Spain. This one from
the Huffington Post:
huffingtonpost.com
And
if these two articles between them don't entice you
out here - what will?
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Registered
in Madrid
If
you have made a Spanish will then you can rest assured
that your inheritors shouldn't have too much
trouble in finding it.
All wills made in Spain have to be registered in the
will registry in Madrid (Registro Central de
Ultimas Voluntades).
This requirement is a really useful way of ensuring
that a will can always be traced and that there is no
dispute about which the last valid one is.
People forget that when circumstances change,
wills may need altering too. Fortunately for the family
in our case study, the will registry provided the closure
they needed:
abacoadvisers.com
Helping
out across the miles
If
you live in Spain and have close relatives in another
country or if you live elsewhere and have relatives
living in Spain, it can be difficult to keep the communication
lines open at the best of times. When things go
wrong it can be even harder.
You are not in a position to pop round for a sympathy
chat and the miles in between can seem an enormous barrier
when someone you care about is distressed.
In the following article, there are some suggestions
of actions you can take to reduce the burden
of guilt and reach out when you can't be there in person:
expatica.com
Reading
about Spain from different sources
You
can't always believe what you read. So the more opportunities
you have to check out versions of events the better.
If you're a Guardian newspaper reader you might
know already that it has its own webpage for Spain.
There are only a selected few articles so you
won't get day-to-day news alerts, but where they do
write about events in Spain you might appreciate a different
perspective:
theguardian.com
I
rather like this article on the Guardian webpage. Not
specifically about Spain, it compares the fate of five
countries since the first world war based upon statistics.
So, for example, in 1914 Germany had 4.50m soldiers,
now they have 0.18. It's interesting to note that according
to this source, Spain has the smallest number of soldiers
at 0.12 and the largest is France with 0.30.
Congratulations on 'Life Expectancy' Spain! Spain
has increased more than its neighbours since 1914. Spanish
residents are now expected to live 39.5 years longer
than they did in 1914. Spain started off as having the
lowest life expectancy and now has the highest.
How reliable the data is - who knows, but interesting
to reflect on and spark discussion:
theguardian.com
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