Living with the Presidente.

It's COLD here!!

The plane was nearly diverted to Birmingham instead of East Mids because of poor visibility but I was asleep so missed the subsequent panic!!

It's really nice to see friends and family but why do they have to live in such a cold and foggy place?

I don't have woolly knickers but I could do with them!! I have to wear my Ugg ( not the genuine ones ) boots without socks cos my ankle is still blue and swollen but at least I can get them on............................I was a bit worried that I'd have to arrive in flip flops......................and whereas I don't mind looking a BIT eccentric, I think that would be a bit much given the weather!!

El Presidente is road bowling, so I hope he keeps out of mischief and well out of the way of rogue balls !!   

BUT ONLY FOR A WEEK ! ! !

 

 

I'm off to England to see my Granddaughter take the lead in her school play and do a bit of Christmas shopping.

I've loaded the freezer with easy meals 'cos El Presidente doesn't really kmow what that white box which heats up is for.......come to think of it, he doesn¡t know what the one which fills with water is for either!!

Talking about WATER............it's all gone from the garages and the lifts are back on. The man from the town hall says he's going to sort it all out ( when ? )+ ( how ? ).................no answer!

We didn't make the Round Town News this week, we were left out for a rat at La Zenia........but look next week !

Take care all.....I'll be popping in.

 

 

                           

It's RAINING AGAIN..........................................

El Presidente is down in the garage area with the 'pumping' men. There are 4 of them and one of him and they are squeegying the water from the far end of the garages 'cos the pumping lorry won't reach that far !!

They have this ginormous lorry and they've already had to empty it once and they are STILL at it. I told El Presidente that I would have helped BUT as he had not bought me the flowery wellies I wanted on our last trip to UK, I couldn't !!

I had an e mail from the Spanish Town Hall forum this afternoon asking me to contact the councillor who runs the site. I have, over a pariod of about 18 months, written about the flooding at La Mirada and he has contacted me before and said he would come and have a look but never has. Anyway, at the end of my tether ( and temper ) last Thursday, in the midst of the flood, I put another post on the site.............................and I must admit, it was a little strong. Anyway he asked me to ring him and I did. He told me that the town hall knew about the problem ( that's a first, 'cos every other time we have taken in a complaint they have said they knew nothing!! ) and were looking at thier budget.

I told them, looking at next years budget was NO GOOD and we had the water NOW and it needed addressing NOW. He asked me to e mail him the photos ( they already have these---but who am I to argue? ). So I did and I have to ring him again tomorrow.

It will all probably come to nothing but it's worth a try....................it will be interesting to see if the publication in the Round Town News brings any response....................I'm just a bit worried it might be negative tho'.

I want some wellies ! ! !  ( please )

                                           ( with flowers )

                                    

THIS IS OUR GARAGE.......................

The lifts have been turned off so the poor owners on the top floor ( including some old people with mobility problems are stuck.

The BUILDER ( San Antonio ) says the problem belongs to the Town Hall. The Town Hall says the problem belongs to the Builder.

WE ( La Mirada ) are the ones who are suffering ...........AGAIN ! ! !

The Garages have NOT been handed over from the builder to those who have bought spaces.......in fact only about 20 of the spaces were sold. This area was not included in the sale price of the apartments and seperate deeds were issued to those who bought them. The builder is paying for the electricity and no one pays any Community fees for the garage are. NOW though, the builder says 'It's not his problem' and will NOT have the area pumped out. The bottom of the lift shaft is in the garages and is full of water. The Community has already built a ramp so the rain water does not go down into the garages, but this time the force of water was so great that it went over the ramp and into the garages with considerable force. The Community has paid several times for the garages to be pumped out and we are claiming the money back from the builder via legal proceedings.

The trouble is, the garage area is also the base of the apartment block.

What moi, or El Presidente does not understand is this..................we paid 6,600€ for a space in this garage six years ago and it is now underwater AND apparently it is NOBODIES business ! ! !

Anybody got any ideas????

The press has been informed and the Administrator is at the Town Hall now with photos to put in ANOTHER complaint that no one will take any notice of.

El Presidente and Moi are FED UP ! ! !

Despite the rain, El Presidente and his son who is over here ( for the Spanish sun ) for a week, went road bowling. I didn't cos I still cannot get my shoe on !!

The rain continued...............and continued....................and continued.

It flooded the street, the cars were half way up the doors with water and guess what ??? the garage is flooded AGAIN. I rang the builder and he said he would ring the Town Hall. I rang the Administrator and they said they would ring the Town Hall.

I waited.................................they rang back, but the Town Hall representative couldn't come out................because it's RAINING ! ! !

So I donned El Presidente's wellies ( despite having a football sized black ankle ) and hobbled out in the rain without my waterproof cos I'd selflessly given it to El Presidente's son in case the rain persisted ( had a bit of a giggle thinking of a sturdy 29 year old in a pale lilac waterproof ! ).

I looked in the garage and it was teeming in so I took photos and went outside to take a few more in case ANYBODY ever takes any notice of our problem !

So I'm now waiting for the return of El Presidente and son, or anyone else for that matter, to sort out the next part of the problem, which will involve pumping out the garage YET AGAIN so that we can restore the lifts which have had to be turned off.

So far, only 5 people have phoned to tell me the garages are flooded and only 3 people have rung the doorbell to tell me the same ! ! !

                                                   

 

                                                      

It's arrived ! ! !

We are having a LEGAL satellite English TV system installed, the concrete bases for the two apartment blocks are being put in today and the dishes and all the wiring will be put in at the end of the week.

Each owner will pay a one off fee for the installation ( which means that although it is a Communal System, the cost has not been taken from Community fees, so if anyone doesn't want to take advantage of this offer then their monies will not go towards it, which should save a lot of arguement Community wise. )

Everyone who opts for this system can buy their own box thingy for their own apartment so they can decide what sort of one they want.

There will be NO monthly payments and all the programmes from Astra 2 will be available, depending on which box you have.

AND......................it is LEGAL.....................so now we can stop discussing TV instead of the weather and El Presidente can stop searching the net for everything TV related and I can have my computer back ! ! !

My ankle is still twice the size it should be and is a lovely shade of blue/black and I still cannot get my shoes on, so I've given road bowling a miss this morning !

El Presidente told me to rest my ankle today.

El Presidente asked me to e-mail all our owners about the Communal Legal English Satallite TV today. Keep your leg UP, he said. ( ???????????? )

So I sat, at the computer desk, with my right leg at right angles propped on a chair with a cushion under my foot and typed.

It's hard..................to type with your leg at right angles and in the air.

B***** this.....................I'm off for a ciggie with my LEG UP, of course ! !

                                      .          

 

Yesterday, El Presidente and Moi went Irish Road bowling. we go twice a week and enjoy it very much, it gives us some exercise and time to socialise with friends.

Basically, road bowling involves lobbing a 28 ounce metal ball along the ROAD, as far as you can and then your partner taking the next throw. We do this round a set course, along the roads and around the roundabouts ( no houses near ) and the pair with the least amount of throws is the winner. In actual fact, it's more about enjoyment than winning but it's always nice to get a good score isn't it?

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster for Moi because a rogue ball bounced on the kerb and flew acreoss the pavement and landed just behind my right ankle bone, which was a good job cos if it had hit the bone it may well have shattered it !!

One of the other bowlers came to the rescue and in my agonised state I taught him a lot of new words he did not know BUT.....................I DID NOT CRY.....................what a brave girl I am !!!

i was driven back to the starting point and cold water was applied to my ankle and then at the pub ( well you have to don't you ? ) 'they' 'kindly' applied and ice compress...................then I did cry ! !

I hopped to the car and spent the remains of the afternoon with my leg propped up to reduce the swelling which is considerable but I managed to hobble in to watch 'Strictly' with El Presidente who was solicitous with cups of tea and words of comfort ( NOT ).

This morning, although my ankle was still rather larger than normal and very black, I managed with a great deal of courage to drive up tp the cigarette shop ( well you have to don't you ? ) and tonight El Presidente and Moi will hobble to our local where I shall deliver my quiz and sink one or two ( or three ) Tia Maria's............purely medicinal........for the pain of course !

 

El Presidente and Moi are back in situ..................and it's WARM...................well it's certainly warmer than UK.

Just to go back to the post about the hire car and it's petrol cap.......................a nice man..........a very nice man.......from the RAC came out ( his name was Mark ) and told me that the petrol cap had been 'b******d. ( I knew that !! ) Anyway with a lot of grunting ang banging ( rather like the 'rude' TV chanel ) he got the damn thing off and then followed me to the petrol station so he knew I would be ok. That was good of him wasn't it ?

We got back to Murcia airport ( having flown RYANAIR ...............good company that ! despite what some people think ) ten minutes early only to find that the person picking us up had a flat tyre and was stuck on the motorway ! ! !

Anyway, El Presidente and Moi have now seen the writing on the wall, or rather the painted over writing on the wall. All that is now visible is El Presidente's name which has been sprayed on to the cotagram but the nasty words have been obliterated.

So, THANK YOU to the nasty uncaring unthinking person/persons who did the graffiti....................you have managed to consolidate our Community and proved that the owners can all work together in a caring way.

A big THANK YOU too, from El Presidente and Moi, to ALL those who helped sort out the situation.