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...

¡Sí!

Yes!

I finally got the taxi entitlement - but didn't have to do the taxi exam to get it. If you want to know how you'll have to guess, it's not something I'm going to advertise, but it didn't involve bribing anyone.

No more paying for parking at the airport.

I'll be celebrating this weekend.

No han aprendido nada

Crazy driver behaviour still seems to abound in spite of points-based licences. Witness this little set-to in La Línea.

DGT retira el carnet por puntos a un joven que cometió tres infracciones con su moto

Almería.- Tráfico disqualifies a youth who committed 3 offences in one day on his scooter.

ALMERÍA, (EUROPA PRESS)

The youth, identified as LMG, aged 19 becomes the first person in the province of Almería to lose his licence following the new points-based system introduced in July.
According to DGT, the youth committed three offences on the same day the new law came into force. The was spotted riding his scooter without a helmet by local police officers [worth 2 points]. The officers ordered him to stop which he failed to do [another 4 points], and he then attempted to escape by making dangerous manoevres [another 6 points].

Yesterday the youth's name was entered on the list of disqualified drivers, which bans him from driving. If he is caught driving again he faces a fine of between 301 and 1,500 euros and a further ban of two years.

Now he's lost his licence, LMG must pass a 'road re-education' course and theory test.

Since July, 213 drivers in the province have lost points from their licences.

It appears things are tougher here now than when I was a spotty youth in Portsmouth. I was hauled by the police back in 1984 for (would you believe it) seven separate offences committed at the same time! This caused no end of joking at my expense by my mates. Well, I'm older and wiser now, and big enough to admit it.

I was riding a scooter (Honda C90) back from work in the ferry port and the police fell in behind me because my rear light had failed. When they put on the blue lights I panicked and attempted to flee - pretty hopeless really on such a machine. They caught me, of course. I spent a night in Pompey nick and had to go to court. I still remember that day (the only day I've had in court). The sergeant stood to give his evidence and said "on turning on the blue light the motorcycle appeared to accelerate". Praise indeed!

The charge sheet read (if I recall rightly):
Failure to display a tail light
Failure to stop when ordered by a police officer
No MOT
No tax disc
No insurance
Theft of a tax disc (I was displaying that from a mate's bike)
I forget the other...

Total damage was 6 points on my licence and a GBP 400 fine, which took me 6 months to pay off.

Thankfully, I learnt my lesson. Let's hope LMG does the same.

Atropellado un guardia civil y un operario cuando regulaban el tráfico en Santiago

Traffic officer run over whilst controlling traffic in Santiago

(c) EFE

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA.- A Guardia Civil traffic officer and a highways maintenance man were run over and suffered serious injuries whilst controlling traffic following an earlier accident which had resulted in no injuries.
The incident happened at 22:40 horas at km 511 on the A-6 (Madrid to Coruña) highway, in the Begonte district of Lugo province [NW Spain].
The collision happened when M.V.Q.V., aged 35, from Rábade (Lugo), who was uninjured, lost control of his vehicle an Opel Corsa (registration C-6972-AM), and ran over the officer J.V.S., aged 51, the highways maintenance man A.V.C., aged 40, both from Lugo.

It appears Tráfico (DGT) are not having a good month. This incident, on top of the second week running where accident fatalities are higher than last year - in spite of the new points-based licence system introduced in July. Perhaps a few more drivers need to be banned. So far only one driver has 'definitively' lost his licence under the new system, despite the benemérita handing out more than 200,000 points! (you get 12 per licence)