It's freezing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We came to Spain thinking it was going to be warm all the time....but no!! It is absolutely freezing at the moment. The Estepona mountain was covered in snow this morning and we had the most dreadful storms last night that I've ever known.

The lack of central heating is a real problem, I think we'll be better prepared for the cold weather next year!

My hands are frozen now, must go.

International property investment guru

Sorry I haven't posted for so long but the weather has been dreadful lately and it just doesn't inspire me to write!

Things have been quite quiet lately but no on the Eye on Worldwide front. We have been really pleased to get hold of an international property expert, Iain Maintland, to give us a weekly round up of the investment property news each week and post it on the Eye on Worldwide website. See International property investment. This is really good for us (and Iain) as it will keep our thousands of visitors each week up-to-date with what's hot and what's not in the world of property. Thanks Iain!!

It's still raining....

Castellar Zoo

We've had really poor weather over the past few days. Therefore yesterday we decided to take the kids the the Selwo Marina park in Benalmadina for the day. It was absolutely treacherous on the roads. So much standing water everyone and very heavy rain. We saw about 10 accidents as people were still dirving way to fast.

Anyway, we finally got there ok to find that it was closed until next month! WHY? Learnt valuable lesson...always call wherever you're going beforehand and check it they're open!! We then just went round a friends' house and all the kids played together so it was ok in the end.

Today, Sunday, we deceded to go to Casterllar Zoo, and yes, I did call them up first to check if they were open! Casterllar zoo is not very well known as they don't really advertise it much. We didn't really know what to expect. It's a little tucked away at the enterance to Castellar (leave the N340 at Sotogrande).

Anyway, it was brilliant! 80% of the animals in the zoo have been rescued from all over Spain. People trying to smuggle illegal animals into Spain, etc. It's not a well-laid out zoo such as the one in Fuengirola. It looks like they just put things up as and when they get animals come in. We were actually given a tour (in Spainish) by the guy who looks after all the animals and he was just fascinating, his understanding of the animals and his interaction with them.

He showed us how stupid ostriches are (their eyes are bigger than their brains!), brought out a huge snake for the kids to touch, an armadillo, strange carnivorous tortoises, and the list goes on. I have to say that it was the best zoo we've ever been to. I'm not exaggerating, it really was that good.

Afterwards we went to a packed venta for lunch and eat loads for very little.

We had a really good day today. Who needs great weather anyway!

Power cuts...in 2006!

I would advise anyone buying off plan to make sure that all services such as water and electricity have been properly connected before they complete on their property.

We are still on the developer's electricity, which they use for their own needs during construction, but the set-up is just not good enough for when people are living in their properties using lights, cookers, air conditioning, etc.

We keep getting faced with power cuts all the time and some notices have now gone up in the urbanization asking residents to try and keep electricity use to a minimum after 8pm!

In this day and age this is really very poor.

In hindsight...we should never have completed! I suppose you live and learn, hopefully this will help others not fall into the same trap.

Jerez

We went to Jerez for the day yesterday. If you don't know, Jerez is inland "Costa de la Luz" near Sevilla. It is famous for its sherries amongst many other things.

Well, i have to say that we really liked this place. It's a city, like a small version of Seville, very pretty, loads of history, lots to see (including the sherry making factories) and with plenty of shops for "the ladies".

We noticed a lot of construction in the area which is not surprising. With Jerez airport on its doorstep Jerez is a fantastic place to look for a holiday home in Spain. It's still very Spanish with great restaurants and a really nice atmosphere.

So, if you're thinking of buying in Spain and don't really want to be on the coast then you may just want to give Jerez some serious consideration, although saying that, it is only 30 minutes from the coast should you be missing the sea!

The three kings cavalcade

We took our daughters to watch the three kings cavalcade down in Sabinillas last night. It was fantastic! The three kings made their way up the main seafront road slowly on floats, with bands playing music, camels carrying gifts. It was a great atmosphoere. All the children had plastic bags in their hands collecting sweets thrown by the kings and other characters in the cavalcade.

It was sweets galore. You literally get bombarded with sweets as they throw so many from the floats (hence the clever kids with plastic bags!) I felt more excieted about the "kings" after that than I did on the 24th for Father Christmas.

Today is the "Spanish Christmas" where all the children get their main presents. We put more presents under the tree for ours so they don't feel left out.

Anyway, must get back to celebrating Christmas again....

Adios 2005

Well, here we are in 2006! Where did last year go? We had quite a subdued New Years (chicken pox in the family) and the shows on Spanish TV weren't all that good really. We're really anxious for our satellite TV now.

The weather is really nice at the moment, very sunny and relatively warm when in the sunshine during the day, although it can get quite nippy at night. We took our daugthers for a picnic at the beach today. It's one of those pleasures which costs nothing.

We're looking forward to this year. We've got lots of plans to expand our websites. We'll keep you informed!