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………………………………….