BBC - southerncounties Interactive - Calling all Expats

BBC - southerncounties Interactive - Calling all Expats

Will be contacting the Beeb shortly. Our story appears in the local press tomorrow.

Diez mil lectores. ¡Qué va!

Many thanks to the readers out there who have visited so far, ten thousand views and counting...

We are in the middle of an exchange student visit at the moment in the hungry cottage. We hadn't bargained on a "tall, dark and handsome" 14 year-old from Germany; our preconceptions were someone more like Tom's own size (a bit short like his mum). Still, he's clean and well-behaved. The only downside is that he's vegetarian, but does at least like fish. I thought that I might have to go out and get a whole new cookbook - we are confirmed omnivores in the hungry cottage.

The school itinerary looks quite curious. Today, for instance the students are off to London for a "cultural" experience; London Eye and Tower of London. I'm not quite sure how this squares with the billed lunch at Burger King!

This weekend we will be free to give our own cultural education. I've suggested a pub lunch, possibly Portsmouth Dockyard and in the evening a fish 'n chip supper. Lady wife agrees on the food menu, but quails at the expense of the Dockyard tour, 55 pound sterling for a family ticket (only five people). A lot depends on the weather, the wind and rain will have to ease a bit first.

So much has happened since leaving Casares. The Teacher Training fell through after failing to get a grant. Didn't qualify as a home student because I'd been out of the country for over three years and failed as an EU student because that won't pay for a Masters course!

To help pay the bills I briefly did a paper round, then managed to pick up a cleaner's job at a local school.

I had applied at the end of November for a driver's job for a local company but had to wait around for ages for the CRB checks to go through. Surrey County Council were fine, but East Hants have been a complete nightmare (as is true for almost every department in Penns Place). They wouldn't accept the letter of good conduct from the Spanish Ministry of Justice (that Surrey did) and insisted I get another. This had to be done through the FCO and British Consulate in Málaga. I got the request off before Christmas, only to find on enquiry that the application was sat on some FCO "merchant banker's" desk in London in late January. And they wanted 121 pounds for the service. If you go in person to the Ministerio de justicia office in Málaga they'll do it for you for 8 euro. I could literally have flown out and done it myself for less than the FCO charged!

Eventually I got the paper back and so now I have taxi driver licences for Hampshire and Surrey (which explains the Facebook profile photo).

Not that taxi (or school bus) driving is an end in itself. I am retraining for something much more lucrative...

Facebook

This is the end of the road for my blog on life in Spain. Mainly because I no longer live there (and won't be moving back anytime soon), but also because I've (e)migrated my contact with my friends to Facebook, which I find a much better way of staying in touch. If I make further entries here it will be to do a bit of politicking. One of my good friends from the last project I worked on in Spain has taken up the cause I see.

I will still be visiting Blogger from time to time to check up on what's going on in Spain.

Lydia Cacho

For Spanish readers, this site is highly recommended. If you're not a Spanish reader, you can find her here in Wikipedia.

Tolerancia cero

We have finally managed to get a rented house about a quarter mile from where we lived up until 2002. We're still getting settled in and are eagerly awaiting the delivery of a washing machine and fridge.

I've changed career totallyand am retraining to be a science teacher at secondary school. I've had some weeks at a school in Fareham observing teachers at work. As would be expected there is zero tolerance to bullying there.

The same cannot be said of the school our children attended in Casares. I have the photographic proof of injuries to our children to proove it. Strange how the teacher kept saying that our children walked into doors. Ten times in one day? I think not! I cannot think of any teacher there that would keep their QTS* more than a week given the lies they tell and outright racist attitudes they hold. In fact, I'll go through the standards one by one to show you how they fail non-Spanish children and let down their own. That will have to wait for another post.

I've got to get back to my coursework now, there's so much to do and the standards here in the UK are so high.

* Qualified Teacher Status