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...

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

El retraso a nuestro pais

Well, we escaped from Casares and Spain.

Once we have ourselves established in something better than a caravan, we'll start with the dirt on Spain. At least at this range they can't touch us and their threats mean nothing.

Strangely I don't find the English rain depressing, more refreshing.

Al final de la carrerra.

I'm into the last hour at work now. Tomorrow we'll be doing our final packing.

The project where I've been working is also almost finished now. The platform will be floated next week I'm told and will sail shortly afterwards.

Our plans involve me going into teacher training in the UK. Carole is undecided about what she's going to do. We'll be on the road for the next week - Eurotunnel is SO much cheaper than the ferry.

Then we'll have to find soewhere to live in the UK. Buying a house seems stupid at the moment, so we're going to investigate alternative accomodation. More on that later.

Lo haremos para ella

Owing to a number of issues it looks like our life in Spain is drawing to a close.

The problems we've encountered I'll save for later once we've left.

However, to guarantee our childrens' health and education is why we came to Spain in the first place. Now it seems we must leave for the same reasons.

I don't believe that Spanish society has changed at all whilst we've been here, nor do I believe we came with "rose-tinted spectacles". Our childrens' needs have changed, and that alongside the darker aspects of Spanish society and institutions have made us realise that Spain is not where we want to be.

Where next? We have a number of options, but we'll almost certainly be moving house during the summer holidays. We'll probably rent the house out short-term and sell later, unless any of you dear readers are interested.

¿Qué ha pasado con abril?

A whole month has slipped by without a single post.

The main reason has been our occupation with Suzie, her baptism at the local church, the baptism of a neighbour's baby, that baby's health problems and of course doing battle with the State over our rights.

The last item goes back to our arrival in Spain. We soon discovered that we qualify for familia numerosa which gives not inconsiderable benefits, especially when it comes to taxation. We first applied in 2005 and got the book last summer, after two years of jumping through hoops put there to stop extranjeros applying. So the book arrived just in time for Suzie's birth which meant we had to immediately ask for a re-issue or lose the entitlement. Suzie is now almost nine months old and we're still fighting the Junta. This despite the fact she was born here in Andalucía.

After a useful relationship with Miguel Angel, a genuinely caring social worker who made every effort to help us through the system, he has moved on to another case. The new SW is a complete waste of space. Unhelpful doesn't even cover it. We patiently explained to her that the Junta's position on the familia numerosa is not only unlawful since it goes directly against the European Accession treaty that Spain signed and against the Maastricht and Lisbon treaties, but that the Junta's attitude is institutionally rascist, openly discriminating against EU citizens who are guaranteed equal rights before Spanish law. Her reaction was to side with the Junta, saying that "Spain is a special case and Spaniards have special rights reserved for themselves". Not in social equality they don't. She should re-read the above-mentioned treaties.

We will give her one last chance to break the logjam, then it's off the the press, lawyer and European Commission with the case. I don't think the Spanish government will want to hand back their Social Fund grants to Brussels on top of the 63 million euro they've had to repay to the CAP.

Juegos de niños II

As you can see, Charlie is getting creative with her Christmas present (mobile phone). So far none of the children have come back to me asking for a credit top-up, so I guess they're not making many calls.

The only fly in the ointment has been Lulu's phone which did not come with a cable (or Bluetooth). I've been completely unable to find a cable for it so we are still waiting for her photos, and the phone memory is full.

Juegos de niños

With another child's birthday approaching, I have to decide what to buy. Charlie's preferred gift would be a Nintendo DS, but at over 200 euro, it's a non-starter. Besides, we already have a free X-box for them to share, courtesy of the ADSL service we bought a couple of years back.

Charlie will get her second choice, the last in the Harry Potter series of books. This time she specified it had to be in Spanish as she reads it faster. I think all the children like the series judging from the games they play - Charlie's photo is entitled "Hermione contra Ron".

¡Anda ya!

A week ago we were invited to Seville with the company for a weekend break and dinner. Since the company was paying the hotel and dinner it would have been churlish to refuse.

Suzi celebrated by having a little crawl along the hotel bed.

The logistics of a family of six meant that we were unable to see much of Seville, but the dinner was very good and we enjoyed the lazy trip back to Casares through the countryside and mountains via Cortes de la Frontera. The town is a bit bigger than Casares, but has the same ubiquitous castle and crazy road layout - we felt quite at home.

Tío Brian

Christmas and New Year have been very strange times here.





My mother-in-law's partner, always referred to as Uncle Brian died on the 23rd December. As is the Spanish way the funeral was the day after, Christams Eve. This rather put a different mood on Christmas this year. Our neighbour and Susana's godmother, Isabel was very helpful in helping to organise the funeral. She's been a pillar of strength and support for us from the day we arrived in Casares.

What shocked me in putting together this post was how far back I had to go (August 2000) in order to find a picture of Uncle Brian when he was not ill. The gradual nature of his debilitation had fooled me into thinking he'd been ill for a lot less than seven years.

Os deseamos una feliz navidad y un prospero año nuevo

Apologies for last year's photo, my mp3 died temporarily.

¡Qué asgo!

This is presumably what Suzie thinks of babysitters who prefer to watch TV than look after her!

She's very people oriented, thanks I'm sure to always being fawned over by all and sundry here in Spain. Always ready with a smile - she seems so different from her older siblings who should be in Spanish politics they argue that much.

Bonita chica

Susie is progressing very nicely at last. After a dodgy start and numerous visits to hospital in Marbella and Málaga she's doing well at home.

She's now more than doubled her birth weight and is gordita. She's also starting to smile and laugh (especially at me). She also, thankfully sleeps through the night. I don't recall the other three being so well-disposed, perhaps living in Spain is good for babies.

Al hospital - ¡otra vez!

Suzie had to go back to hospital recently after a chest infection - this time for three weeks.

So far she's spent more than half her life there.

This time we didn't get such a good service from the Costa del Sol hospital, so we took her to the children's hospital in Málaga city. It may look a bit run down, but the quality of care there is the best around - just don't expect any English-speaking staff.

The doctor's have picked up on the amniosentesis report which shows Suzie has an extra 'marker' chromosone and wanted to do all sorts of test on her. So far everything has come back clear, but she'll need to go back again for more tests soon.

Nuevos proyectos

Now that the heat of summer is just a memory we can get going with insulating the roof and stairwell of the house which, because of its typically Spanish construction, has no insulation whatsoever.

On the ground floor this makes litle difference as the walls are 80cm thick, but the first floor was built only 50 years ago and so is just one single skin brick wall, in places as thin as 10cm.

In winter this makes for cold and damp, quickly followed by black mould - no place for young children. We've been very lucky and got a grant from the Junta to improve things. The original materials were ordered in May, and delivered to us (the bottom of our street that is) by three strong lads in their second truck (the first expired outside Benalmádena). The lads baulked at the last part of the journey - up the 42 steps to the house.

Full marks to the children who mucked in with me to break up the packages and move the lot up to the house in just three hours. Lulu even carried some of the 2m long beams.

Adios amigo

The downside of buying a new family car has been having to sell the van.

This C15 has given me three years sterling service and was sold for only slightly less than I paid for it - in less than a week. They seem to be highly sought after here, probably because they're so reliable.

El primer paseo, part 2

And this is what happens - each child is presented to the Virgin by the priest.

El primer paseo

This was Susana's first outing - to church at the request of her godmother.

The occasion was a blessing of all children in the town born in the last year, so we just scraped in.

Que orgullosa es

To round off the August catchup - I don't think this needs a caption.

y las hermanas mayores

Susana's big sisters made this lovely painting whilst we're waiting for her to come home.

She's picked up a slight infection so probably won't be home this week. The hospital is allowing Carole to stay on even though she is fit to come home.