Algorfa Costa Blanca

As people huddle round their gas fires, in their properties, which are built for hot weather, we must ask the question “What happened to Spain’s mild temperate weather ?”. Last winter lasted 6 months, this appears to be not much different. You just do not expect to see ice on the car windscreen in early March on the Costa Blanca.

Roll on 2010 ! England to play USA, Algeria among their group opponents. Could it be 1966 all over again?

The economy of Spain took another blow yesterday as Madrid failed in its bid to get the 2016 Olympics. It would certainly have created a lot of work and brought about prosperity to the country, however, it was not really a possibility , especially as 2012 in London, was a venue too close to Madrid.

It will be interesting to see how Brazil fares in 2016: it is obvious from the reaction, there that there is plenty of enthusiasm for those games to succeed.

Gordon Brown is to drop the National ID scheme to save money, as part of the cuts needed to reduce the mounting deficit. Presumably the reason for introducing them no longer exists. No more terrorists coming to the UK??

Apart from that, the Daily Express reported that the tax office are to get information about your bank accounts and other financial affairs, and that this information will be shared in the EU. Of course there is the usual call to get out of the EU, in order to stop this spying.

Do they not know that the Spanish Tax office already knows whether you pay your taxes, SUMA and they know how much you have in the bank, how many bank accounts you have already.

The UK is supposed to be in the EU, and to be fair does appliy the directives, which does not always seem to be the case here in Spain. My contention is, and always has been that you don’t join a club, just to take part in the bits that suit Britain, and reject those that impinge on the historical sentiment of the past. the UK should have jouined the EURO at the outset, and should go into it now.

The Britrish press are suggesting Germany and France want their old currencies back, but that is only because they are out of recession and doing OK.

People will , inevitably, complain that to join the euro will put prices up in the UK, but at a time of recession and low inflation, that could not happen to the extent it may otherwise have done. There is very little difference in prices in Spain and the UK for the basics of life, and the higher UK prices for such things as wine and petrol are down purely to tax differences.

It would help both the UK economy and that of Spain, as it would be much easier to stabilise the property market. In this recession, you have still seen buyers around from EURO countries, such as Ireland, because there is much more value to the Irish to buy in Spain.

Britain needs to stop thinking it is the “ruler of the world” and needs to concentrate on domestic and regional issues.

Latest economic forecasts make for gloomy reading. Spain has 1.6 million properties , either partly finished or empty and for sale. There is only demand for 250,000 homes a year, so if it suggests that it will take 6 years to use up the current slack at most. This does not include any properties, which are about to be started , following a relaxing of bank lending , which is still very difficult.

Unless the investment market does not pick up, which seems unlikely with the euro at such a low point, then selling property is going to be difficult, unless you really do want to give it away.

There are always going to be opportunist vultures prepared to swoop on the desperate ones, who need to sell up.