Justin's Life

OK, so we haven't had the best weather lately but today is a lovely day, it is Easter week yet what has happened to all the foreign tourists?

Down in Sabinillas all the beach is packed with...Spaniards.  The Spanish don't tend to venture into the sea until it gets really hot but they are in there today which is a great sign.

But there is a real lack of foreign tourists around at the moment.  Normally at this time of year it's heaving with foreign tourists.

Where have they all gone?  Is eveyone going somewhere else now?

Will we ever get to the bottom of this mystery?

Will I ever stop asking questions?

The weather yesterday was absolutely perfect so we all trotted off to the Parque de la Paloma in Benalmadena for a few hours.

The sun really didn't feel that strong and having lent Susan my cap, the inevitable happened.  My head got toasted.

You would think that after nearly six years here I would know better but I keep fogetting that most of my hair fell out when we moved to Spain (strees I think) and there is no protection up there any more!

Suffice to say I'm glad the weather is rubbish again today as it gives my head a break from the sun!

If you're a slap head like me don't forget the sun block for the top of your head.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I realise that I am very lucky to work for myself, even if I do work 80 hours a week.

Here I am working on some new stuff for EOS and watching the Formula 1 practice sessions from Melbourne.

Life doesn't get much better for a geek like me!

Have a great weekend.

You're happily working away when a stong smell of cannabis starts filtering into your office.  At this point you "fly" to the door to see what's going on and find a couple of teenagers smoking up in the stairways.

Just a typical day at Eye on Spain!

Why do teenagers think it's ok to sit in a private building smoking and drinking?  And do they think no one is going to notice?

Suffice to say I escorted them out quite quickly today.

But it did made me realise something that someone told me recently, and that is that there is a very high level of usage of cannabis in Spain.  In fact, I have seen it quite a lot and it's not the first time I've chucked people out for smoking up in our building.

Have you noticed drug use with teenagers in Spain?  I'm sure it's not just around these parts that it's happening.

I often nip to the bar around the corner for a morning coffee boost before starting work.  I simply love the "cafe con leche" that they do in the local bars.

And I needed the extra coffee this morning to try and make an attempt to the 300 emails in inbox.

It's not going to be a fun morning.

But no point moaning about it, time to just get it done.

We have the equivalen of Sky TV in Spain which is Canal+.  If you're thinking of installing it...don't bother.  It's not cheap and then you have to pay extra for most of the channels and the ones you get free are mostly crap.

You get more channels with free digital TV.

The one channel on Canal+ that really gets to me is the one for "Gran Hermano".  This is the equivalent of Big Brother in the UK but here they have a dedicated channel for it.

It is the most pointless, boring, waste-of-life channel I have ever seen.  I would rather pull my eyes out with toothpicks whilst sitting on a red hot poker than watch it.

Who is wasting their life sitting watching this channel all day?  A summary is fine, but when it runs all day long it's not much of a round up.

As you may have gathered I'm not much fond of Canal+ or Gran "waste my life" Hermano.  It reminds me why I hardly watch TV these days.  In fact, if you want to quit watching TV then start watching the Gran Hermano channel, within minutes you'll be switching off and be afraid to switch it on again.

Gorgeous day today.  This is what it's all about...

Now settling down to watch the Bahrain Formula 1 qualifying.

Bliss.

There's just a little over an hour left before we take down our Hacienda Sale offer for ever.  Check out the offer at:

www.eyeonspain.com/haciendasale

Thanks to everyone who has taken up the offer.  If you didn't get redirected automatically by PayPal after paying then please let me know and I will email you the link.

Thanks for everyone again.

Justin

I have to admit, I have been quite shocked today at some of the hate mail I've received after announcing my Hacienda Sale.

Some of it has been particularly nasty and personal.

If people dislike me so much why are they still on my newsletter email list?  I don't understand this. I spend quite a bit of time each week putting together a free newsletter for our subscribers.  It's a big effort but I know people appreciate it.  Then I send them one email that they don't like and I'm called all sorts of things.

Luckily, after nearly 6 years of running EOS I have become quite thick skinned.  I have been threatened and called all sorts of things by various people so I was expecting it anyway.

The thing is that my email was very honest.  My whole "Hacienda Sale" is an honest need.  I wasn't scamming or selling fluff.  Those products have some excellent content and real value in them.

If people really get so worked up when someone is honest and open then I really think they need to unsubscribe from the newsletter.  The whole idea of the newsletter was to "tell it as is", and yes I know sometimes some of the things we print offend people in one way or another, but we're not here to sell Spain, we want everyone to have all the information and advice they need to have a more pleasurable experience in Spain.

If I'm strong enough to handle the abuse I get back then if you want to subscribe to our newsletter then you need to be just as strong about what we send to you.

I'm getting off my soap box now.

I have just sent out an email to all our newsletter subscribers with an very limited and huge offer.

Some people have emailed me saying that it's a scam.

IT'S DEFINITELY NOT A SCAM.  It is from me and it is a real need.

I need to start paying this tax bill next week and need the funds.

If you haven't seen the offer yet then please take a look at it at:

www.eyeonspain.com/haciendasale

Thanks

Justin

It may seem odd living here in the South of Spain and getting excited when the sun comes out.  But we really have had the most awful three months of rain, rain and yet more rain.  We've probably had 2 or 3 days of rain at best.

Houses have collapsed, roads have fallen into the river, restaurants and bars suffering...it's not been good.

So today it's great.  I haven't got my camera but I can tell you that it's lovely out there and long may it continue!

¡Que alegría!

Manilva, where we live, has been all over the news for the past couple of days due to the huge number of problems caused by the persistent and torrential rains that we've been getting.

On "España en Directo" on TVE1 tonight they were showing an urbanisation in Manilva that needs to be domolished like now.  The rains have literally moved the whole lot and it's all falling down now.

It's a terrible thing to happen to anyone and I really feel for the residents of the urbanisation. 

However, two of the residents they interviewed on the TV were English.  One has been here for 12 years and the other for 30...yet neither of them could speak Spanish.  They needed an interpreter.

I'm not being cold hearted and I really do feel for them, but how can you possibly live in a country for 30 years and not learn the language?  Especially considering how different Spain was 30 years ago when probably very few people in the area spoke any English at all.

The mind boggles.

When I visited my mum in Wales last week she handed me a cassette tape with a recording on it that she really wants me to listen to.  It's apparently got some very interesting details on it that I should know!

Anyway, on arriving back in Spain I realised that we don't have a cassette player, and haven't had one for many years!

I realised that this device, which had been a big part of my life growing up, slowly left it over the past few years and I didn't even notice.

Now I'm stuck with a cassette tape that I can't play anywhere.  None of my friends seem to have a cassette player either.

However, yesterday someone did give me one option.  His old Ford Transit van has a cassette player in it.

So if you see someone looking dodgy sat in a Transit van around Manilva going nowhere for an hour...it's me.

There I was happily working away when what seemed to be a very big knock at the door interrupted my concentration.

I opened the door only to find a policeman standing there.

At this point all sorts of things go through your mind in quick succession:

• What have I done wrong now?
• Where are you taking me?
• Has someone died?
• Why do you look so scary?
• Please don't hurt me.

But I really didn't have anything to worry about.  He thought I was still the president here and he was after the contact details of one of the owners who wants to sell his property.  My hand was still shaking whilst writing down the details for him.

It's a bit like going through customs crossing from Gibraltar into Spain.  Even though you know you're not carrying anything that you need to declare you still feel like you have to put on a forced "not guilty" face.  It does usually work too.

Last night I was with a friend in Gib and on my way home the Guardia Civil had created one of their usual, threatening, road blocks, blocking an entire dual carriageway.  They stand there with machine guns stopping everyone and it is frightening.  I was lucky last night, I put on my now perfected "not guilty" face and they waved me through. Phew.

But why I am worried?  I haven't done anything wrong anyway!

 I recently did an interview for Expat Focus and I thought you may find it of interest.  You can read it here.