Ramblings in Retirement

March 2007

Trivial information No.1

I mentioned last month that the orange growers were getting only 12 cents per kilo for their produce and forgot to mention that we buy oranges at the roadside at €3 for 5 kilos and these yield almost 4 litres of delicious OJ.

Trivial information No.2

Each spring we get the pollen downfall from the pine trees, this takes the form of a fine yellow dust, which steadily coats every surface. The pine flowers, which take the shape of “rice crispies”, quickly follow the pollen dust and these also get everywhere and need to be swept up. This year, at the most opportune time, we had severe gales, which blew away the pollen dust, causing the pine flowers to fall much more rapidly, so it looks like we will have a shorter nuisance period.

Trivial information No.3

The most essential piece of garden equipment this year is the garden petrol blower. This is the reverse of a leaf-sucking-up machine as it only works by blowing leaves, twigs and other garden debris. You may ask “why is this an essential piece of equipment that everyone must have?” The answer is simple, if you don’t have one, you get all the leaves and debris from your neighbour, with this piece of kit, you can blow it all back!!!

Springtime is for gardening (with or without a leaf blower) and we have been busy tidying, weeding, cutting back and checking the irrigation system. Our jasmine climber is once again in blossom and it has a heady perfume, which pervades over all the rear patios and garden. I thought you might like to see it.

As we are thinking of putting the house up for sale, it is essential that we get the garden to look in prime condition, then we can lie about it being really easy and not needing much attention!!!

March, the time for another Fiesta here in Spain. The 19^th is St. Joseph’s day who as you all know is the patron saint of carpenters?! The significance of this, particularly in the Valencian region is that we have a spectacle called the “Fallas” (pronounced fa-yas). I have on previous occasions described these magnificent structures but I will give you a summary once again.

The carpenters of old (in the Valencian region) in the winter used candles to see by and placed them on wooden planks (called “parots”) suspended from the ceiling. In spring, when the candles were no longer necessary, the “parots” were burned. Children used to adorn these “parots” with old bits of clothing to make them look like figures and, through the ages; the “parots” became proper structures resembling local dignitaries, which were burned. Now the church, never one to miss a trick, decided that it would be a good idea to link this pagan activity with a saints day and so from then on, the 19^th of March became the day of the “fallas”. In Denia, each community, constructs it’s own “Fallas” and these are then judged by the town hall aficionados who award them a position 1-10 based upon construction, relevance, ingenuity and size of backhander, oops. Anyway, this ranking, determines the order in which the “Fallas” will be set alight at “la crema” (the burning).

Before that, there are lots of festivities, (lots of fireworks, street parades, roaming brass bands, Paella parties etc.. And, each community elects a “Fallas” Queen. On the 19^th March there is a grand street parade of the “Fallas” Queens supported by their community representatives,

all dressed up in their national costume. (Actually, quite spectacular). This day coincides with the Spanish “Dia del Padre” (Fathers Day to you and me which is a strange coincidence as it is the day after Mothers Day in the UK, hope you did not forget)! The whole event culminates in “la crema” which starts around midnight-ish (actually about ½ past) and the “Fallas” are set alight combined with fireworks and “Bomberos” (Fire-brigade) in attendance (not for the burning “Fallas” but to hose down the wall of adjacent apartment blocks)!!!

I have made a short video of the Fallas which you can see below, just click.

Ramblings in Retirement

February 2007

February has been flown past this year and the only significant thing was the birth of our new granddaughter, Daisy. Daisy was born on Sunday 18^th February and Penny was in the UK to welcome her. Unfortunately, no-one took a photo, so I cannot let you see anything as yet but I suppose there will be some soon.

As mentioned, Penny was in the UK for the birth and I had once again to cope on my own! Well actually, in between going out to friends who took pity on me and offered meals, and catching up with some tasks I’ve been meaning to do for a while, the time passed quite quickly.

I have completed the Video Project for the Computer Club at last (this was a project I started with the group last year and I tried to involve as many members of the group as possible to help in developing skills). As usual in these things, only a few of the members got involved but nevertheless we managed to produce a reasonable movie to celebrate the 21^st birthday of Javea Computer Club. I have posted the movie on Google Video if you want to watch it (only 10 minutes of your life), just follow this link (only if you have broadband).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2686950706014600432%20

At the beginning of the month the harvest of oranges took place with the owners saying that they were only getting 12cents a kilo (about 3.5 pence a pound) for their crop whilst it cost them 25cent to produce. Is it any wonder that in many cases they are ripping up their orchards and trying to sell the land for housing? About the same time, the annual almond blossom came with the trees covered in either pink or white blossom.

I think we are in for a bumper crop again this year. I do not know how much the almond growers get per kilo, but almonds are relatively expensive despite their abundance. Perhaps it is the work required, not only to collect, but also to shuck, shell and blanch the nuts. By the end of February, the blossom had given way to green leaf, and the spectacular sight gone for another year.

Penny has become firmly resolved to move house, our villa has too many steps from street level and we don’t get much sun between November and February so, despite all the advantages of our current villa, we will seek to sell up and buy another villa which is on a level plot and is south facing. We have had a look at several areas nearby and there are a lot of properties on the market at the moment. The danger is seeing something which you like but being unable to do anything owing to having your own house on the market.

The buying and selling of houses in Spain is significantly different to the UK and also the time taken to sell can be over a year! To sell, our current villa, we would employ an estate agent; commission rates vary between 5 and 10%! There is no real house valuation as such, the agent asks how much you want for the property, and then adds his commission, to get to the advertised price. Once we have a buyer, I will need to get the title deeds redrawn as the current property is quite different from that described in the original deeds. (This is due to a couple of small extensions done by ourselves and for some reason the 90sq. mtr. garage is not on the current deeds)! Additionally, we will have to pay a local tax called the “plus valia” which is loosely a tax on the difference between what we paid for the house and it’s current rateable value. We will not be subject to capital gains or any other taxes as long as we reinvest the sale proceeds in the purchase of a new house. So, all in all, not an inexpensive move, especially considering that when we buy, the add-on costs are about 10% of the property sale price.

We are currently actively “titivating” the villa, ensuring all paintwork is smart, garden tidy and everything showing to best advantage before we get estate agents involved. So that’s all the news for now, as I need to get back to the painting………………………………….