PAMPLONA BULL RUN DEATH

A 27 year old man, Daniel Romero, has been killed while attending the annual Pamplona bull run in northern Spain. He was gored by a bull and struck in the neck and lung. Others were injured in the same attack.

Over many years devotees of this nonsensical event have tried to justify it to me. They often quote Ernest Hemmingway whose support for this bonkers festival knew no bounds.

It is amazing how many otherwise seemingly sensible British men fly to Spain in order to attend the spectacle and get excited at being chased by some heavyweight bulls. I am reminded of the fine words of Forrest Gump: "Stupid is as stupid does."

As for the Spanish, one cannot be surprised that they continue to defend this part of the San Fermin festival. After all, when it comes to animal welfare, so many Spaniards have attitudes that belong in the dark ages. Barbaric is the only word for how, in so many parts of the country, animals such as dogs, cats, mules, horses, pigs and bulls are treated.

ENGLISHMAN SPLASHES THE CASH AT PALMA AIRPORT

Heard the one about the drunken Englishman landing at a Spanish airport?
No, not that story, nor that one, or that one... but this one.
A dishevelled, drunk out of his tiny brain English chap landed at Palma de Mallorca airport this week and proceeded to give away thousands of pounds. Named by arresting Spanish police officers only as "James from Manchester", it seems the man had recently inherited around a vast sum of money and wanted to share his good fortune.
By the time the police rescued him from a grateful crowd of onlookers, he had 52.000 Euros (45.000 pounds) left on him. Police could not calculate how many thousands he had already given away before they got to him.
Onlookers said that he "looked like a tramp and smelt", but that did not stop them assisting him in his mission to hand out cash and travellers cheques.
The 59 year old man was put back on a flight to Manchester where he tried to buy a season ticket at Old Trafford but was told he was not rich enough. Apparently!

VILLA HOLIDAYS - BUT WITHOUT THE VILLA

Moraira, scene of the latest villa holiday scam

I heard last year of a large family who paid a fortune over the internet to rent a villa in Nerja on the Costa del Sol. They paid everything before leaving the UK. They were arriving at night time (the worst time to arrive on a holiday in Spain if you don't know where you are going).

They drove around Nerja for hours. The fact is the villa did not exist. They were not the first, and likely will not be the last, to fall for such a scam. Quite why people pay thousands in advance for something they cannot prove exists is beyond me, but it happens a great deal. It's also happening up on the Costa Blanca as this story in The Times reveals http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article6669338.ece

I don't know whether to be more concerned about the scam itself or the disturbing fact that The Times are employing people who cannot spell the word fictitious.

BARGAIN BUYS IN SPAIN

The mortgage rate in Spain is at an all time low. There are thousands of properties for sale at reduced prices right across Spain. Many non Spanish homeowners are desperate to sell and return to their native country. These are the facts of life in Spain circa 2009. You are not supposed to say it out loud, but the fact remains that in Spain right now it is a buyers market. Anyone with cash or who can prove to the banks that they can easily afford a mortgage, is in the driving seat of the property market in Spain.
That applies right across Spain. I write to you from Andalucia where there are bargains galore. But that applies in every corner of Spain.
Since the turn of this century my work has led me to meet and work with numerous estate agents working across Spain. I have contacts that would take you ages to find on the internet and just as long to establish a working relationship with. I know which ones you can trust and which ones you cannot. As in the rest of life, i try only to deal with straight, honest people. That was how how i found my own lovely home. By finding an agent one could trust. As recent 'shock horror' style TV programmes in the UK have proved; others have not been so fortunate.
Visit www.forsaleinspain.blogspot.com for more

GRANADA IS GREAT

Top: Campo del Principe has lots of bars & restaurants. Middle: the shops & souks are quieter in summer. Bottom: a view towards the Albaicin in Granada

At weekends in the summer the good people of Granada rush to the beach. Every Friday the newly improved motorway is full of cars racing to see who can get to the beaches of the Costa Tropical first. That leaves the city of Granada much quieter and ideal for strolling around. Providing you go in the morning or, the best time, later in the evening. Temperatures are now too high to walk around Granada in the middle of the afternoon.

The city is a joy to discover. So varied and has so much more to it than the main streets full of the usual suspects of the high street. Get off the beaten track. Take a good map. Circle a district or barrio you want to explore and stick to that. Next time, try another barrio. Make the walk even more enjoyable by buying the guidebook to 100 of the best tapas bars in Granada.

No, do not try them all at once! This book has 18 tours to choose from. 4 bars on each tour. Something to suit all tastes and walking ability. The book has sold well and has helped visitors to Granada avoid the more tourist driven bars where, at best, you receive a plate of crisps with your drink.

By using this book you will sample some of the best tapas on offer in Granada and see the city and its sights at the same time. Buy the book via the buttons on this site or go to www.guiribooks.blogspot.com

For more on Granada take a look at the following sites:- www.granadaisgreat.blogspot.com www.granadatapas.blogspot.com or www.todogranada.blogspot.com

SPAIN - IT'S A GAS

I live in an all electric house. The cost for domestic electric supply in Spain has rocketed since last Janaury. The electric companies have promised refunds in relation to literally millions of bills they sent out across Spain early in 2009. Bills that were wrong. They overcharged customers across the country. The people of the country are still waiting for those refunds.

I only need to buy the Butano gas bottles in winter when temperatures drop below freezing here in Granada. The gas bottles are the quickest, cheapest way to heat a room.

Right now many Spaniards are turning back to gas to heat water and to use for cooking. Mains gas supply is increasingly making its way to various towns and cities in Spain. But many people still favour the ugly, heavy to lift butanos.

I take my hat off to the men who deliver them and have to carry them up flights of stairs, particularly in apartment blocks with inadequate lifts. I am willing to bet these men suffer from very bad backs later in life.

Depending on when you moved to Spain, you either remember the cost of these bottles when they were a few pesetas or now - when the price has gone as high as 13 euros and as low as 10. The price does vary from province to province in Spain. When i first moved to Spain they cost 6 euros.

Butanos are a doddle for those people who are experienced campers or used to cooking on a gas stove. For folk like me, who have been brought up with the comfort of electricitiy; they take some getting used to.

IKEA GRANADA DELAYED

It seems plans to construct a new shopping mall based around a large IKEA store on the outstkirts of Granada have been postponed. In the current economic climate, when Granada has the highest unemployment rate in the country which itself has the highest unemployment in the EU, perhaps it is not surprising that the Swedish superstore has put plans on a back burner.
A disappointment though for expats and Spanish alike who must now continue trudging to the branches at Malaga, Seville or Murcia for their closes IKEA fix. And a blow to the already beleagured construction industry in Andalucia.

ALL THE FUN OF THE FIESTA

The Spanish get out more. Yes, the weather helps. But they are not addicted to bad news

I have, as promised, escaped fiesta the last two nights and will do so again tonight. The fiesta ends at 5.30am Monday morning. Clearly the economic downturn has produced an unexpected upside for me. There are way fewer fireworks and bangers going off by day than in previous years. Hooray!

Nevertheless that news, bad as it is for the locals, has not depressed them. They love fiesta. It is the highlight of the year and good luck to them. I have no idea how the senior citizens can stand the through the night noise of fairground rides, fireworks and a live band performing with the volume turned up to maximum. This 50 year old cannot take it. My nerves are shot at during fiesta.

But then, in another week driven by a bad news agenda, i wonder if my Spanish villagers are not happier simply through not watching or reading about all the bad news in the world today. The Spanish watch news, for sure, and over here they show far more graphic footage of disasters than they do in the UK.

Yet, they don't seem to get wrapped up in the negative news agenda. They don't appear to get depressed about the news. The idea that anyone living in my ncek of the Spanish woods would stand on a corner crying over the death of a pop superstar they either a) never heard of or b) certainly never knew personally, is ridiculous. (As, incidentally, it is utterly ludicrous that people are doing just that in certain parts of the world)

My locals in Spain seem to follow a Monty Python like outlook. Always look on the bright side of life? If they want to stay that way then i suggest they use the forthcoming digital TV switch over as the opportunity to dump their telly by the bins.

Maybe people in the UK should follow suit. Cancel your subscription to the News of the World (did any newspaper ever have such a misleading title?). Pick up a good book. Go for a walk. See family and friends and ban talking about what is in the news. Do not be a prisoner to the news agenda and those who drive it. Villagers here in Spain seem a whole lot happier not knowing about all the bad things going on in the big, wide world. Perhaps they prove the point that, sometimes at least, ignorance is bliss.

*To read a longer, more personal feature on bad news versus good; go to www.vernongrant.blogspot.com