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Today is the shortest day of the year, but luckily we still have electrical power here in southern spain. The providers have played with the pricing structure in such a way that no one has any idea of what it costs to do whatever and whenever. The fact that there has been no diminution of the nativity lights in any of the public places also shows that the councils don't know or care about the cost (why should they, when we are paying?). My major contribution to global power shortages has been to buy some wifi enabled bulbs and sockets, so I can manage things from my phone (I was going to strike that through and put "play", but this web app still hasn't woken up to this user´s requirements). I almost need an app just to manage my devices now, as I think we have hit double figures with phones, ipads and desktops. I am actually in the process of installing / configuring / moving to another iMac. The old (2011) one was still going well, but the supporting software was no longer being updated - so I needed one that worked with everything. I eventually bought a second hand (2019) one from a newish (but rapidly growing) renovation company called "back market". I was offered a new one at some discount, but this was half the price for the same functionality, so I thought I'd give it a go. All good so far and they even sent me a free keyboard and mouse - but unfortunately the keyboard is set out in a way I have never seen before (top line is AZER not QWER), plus a number of other changes.). I now realise that I can pretty much touch type (but only on QWERTY). I guess you can't win ´em all. (Just checked and it seems to a uniquely french conceit - no real surprise are there seem to be so many other ways they shoot themselves in their "pieds" to avoid using anything "English", especially words). And what major functionality has this new device brought to my table (should have been struckthrough) desk? Hmmm - just had a look as to whether I can insert a struckthrough word and it seems I can. Strikethrough - I love it Bugger - now I have found it, I can't get rid of it!!! Ok, that's sorted. Well - sorted in the only way I can run my life - and it is not for the faint-hearted. I discovered years ago that I could make Microsoft Excel pretty much sing - which meant I could get it to do almost anything that the "other" windows applications would do. I actually found it easier to use a tool with which I was conversant than to learn something new. Well, the same thing still applies. I had a quick look for a strikethrough font-style in the website - and when it was not immediately evident, went for alternative thinking of cut and paste from an app that does have it. Surprisingly it worked - and whilst it may be a little more effort, it is a damn sight quicker than hunting through the seven realms of hell that are instruction pages for most apps, but especially Wix. G is under the (mis) apprehension that the old system will be on its way to the basement , but I currently have them both running in the office - only having new-baby on the PC unit and old-lag on the main desk. (Backup in case of problems you understand). I am toying with setting up old-lag as a security system to monitor my 7 (paranoid, moi?) yes seven wifi cameras, but we shall see (and see, see see, = seven sees). Enough of this - it started out to be a Christmas letter and ended up an IT update, so better get to the Xmas stuff elsewhere.

Sitting at my pc listening to the wind howling outside. It is a north wind, which, in our case, means it can come from anywhere in the range of East to West, as the mountains deflect it and send it around corners (or so it seems). The local weather app even had a warning for strong winds - and to date my little anemometer shows we have had 54kph = force 7 (I think). Anyway it is rough enough to get waves on the pool (cleaned yesterday unfortunately) and leave leaves in piles in various parts of the garden. The sea looks flat calm, but the wind is blowing offshore, so I guess that is reasonable. Out new neighbours (the Danes) have quickly realised what a mess / pain (and potential threat) the big trees between us are and have promised to cut them down before the end of the year, but this wind could easily take one or two down onto their roof if they aren´t quick! G managed to get an op on her ankle in double quick time when I talked her into switching to a different hospital, so she is a bit chirpier now, but still having to go through a litany of things to protect the op areas. I spent a lot of time waiting around in the hospital while she went through pre-op, op etc, but at least they have a 24-hour cafe and a car park, so a bit more accessible (and comfortable) than Marbella. I was that impressed with the place that I made an appointment with my eye specialist - something I have been putting off since before covid. He wants me to do something called a "field test" (where you sit in a tiny booth and stare at a mechanically-changing black screen) , and I find it almost impossible to concentrate and miss the little lights - which makes things look worse when the results are analysed. It is actually tempting to cheat as there is a definitely a timing sequence, but that would be a bit self-defeating I guess. I woke up one day last week and realised that the Qashqai was now 7 years old, so decided on a whim to look at changing the two cars to just one - thus went down to Francisco at Nissan to see what he could offer. I wanted to stay with Nissan, as I particularly like to the service staff and the ease of access (at the bottom of the hill), but the "other, not Francisco" salesman wanted me to pay another 10k to get a new Qashqai - which seemed crazy and totally over the top. I asked about smaller cars and found they did a Micra automatic Sprint which is VERY quick and I could get that for less than the 10k part-exing just the Qashqai. Did the deed, so we still have two cars, but what the hell. I like the Micra a lot, but am really struggling to get my iphone to work on car play and display maps (which I neither need nor look at in reality). I will work on it. G has taken it to the shops this morning, so I am waiting for it to be decalred "her" car now. Other technology has fallen into my lap and started working with real ease. I have a "few" security cameras and noticed that TP did wifi plugs and bulbs. Bought a few bits to test and was stunned at ease of connection and set up and how they slot into the app. Currently annoying G by dimming lights at will and switching stuff on and off. She particularly dislikes how "white" the bulbs glow, so I might get a rainbow one next just to really wind her up! Rufus continues his daily visits for food, if not for any form of interaction. It is strange that he only comes in the daylight hours, so maybe he really does have a proper home. He is a bit like a hotel guest who comes down first thing to inspect the buffet, nicks a croissant, then goes off for a constitutional. After that he comes back for a proper breakfast, then goes about his busines - with later visits for lunch and high tea. We take the biscuits in at dark and I don´t catch him coming around in the night, so it seems like a perfect relationship - but I do wish he would stop acting like such a scrared wimp when he must know that I am trying to put his biscuits out. The pantomimm scaredy-cat half-run-away is a bit wearing after almost a year.

The changing of the (many) clocks shortly followed by the (hassle) of "All Souls" (with associated wholesale migration to the cemetry) on 1st November usually indicates the end of summer (that is, assuming the usual rain on Mijas or Fuengi feria which is actually the first indication). Now those indicators have past. I trimmed th bits of grass which are growing, revarnished a bench which had been stained by the dust and we wait for the constant bonfires which usually start in November - but hey! - not this year, as no rain means no bonfires, so the air remains clear. Well, it does until we find a need for the fire and we took delivery of our first "cube" (50€ worth) of leña yesterday. Puss seemed a bit miffed by the large sacks next to his troughing area, but he will survive it. Oh, and we sprang a leak. Well we didn´t, the above-neighbours did and eventually it started trickling through our cellar walls. They were quite procative and called the ownwer - who sent the pool guy then a plumber. All well within a few hours and the old carpet dried enough to get relaid (despite my being told to "bin it"). Whilst we were talking to the neighbours, the kids appeared, so in a fit of idiocy I told them to try trick or treat on us. (knowing G had some sweets and that they were unlikely to be allowed anywhere else). The whole family turned up, but luckily we have everything available (softdrinks without the additivies) and Jack Daniels (don´t remember where that came from). Worthwhile as we caught up on the local gossip and found the old lady who owned the house above has died and the daughter has told the current renters that she is going to move in herself - and they will have to leave - even before the end of their 1 year contract. (This is, of course, garbage. The odds of her moving in are just about zero, but in spain you can break a rental contract by claiming "special needs" for your family). The odds of it reverting to airbnb have got us thinking it may be time to move on. Amazing that the people with three kids and two (nasty, noisy) dogs are preferral to the local owners is quite surprising, but certainly true. The "lower" neighbours have been back in Denmark, so the mountain goats decided to take advantage of the lush grass that is growing down there . Lack of rain affects their natural shyness and a quiet garden is great for this family. Another winter harbinger (or two) also appeared as we have the black redstarts back - hopping around the wall and patio, also a robin , which will keep them all in their place. The blackbirds have been back for about a month, while the pair of nosiy doves never seem to go away (unfortunately). G "unlucky legs - thanks Jim" is having a bit of a problem with her ankle, necessitating trips down to the clinic in Fuengirola or hospital in Marbella - this is giving me a fair amount of downtime as I find a parking place to hide.I think I have renewed my relationships with about 5 cafes in Fuengi - and it is still proving impossible to predict the price of a "cafe con leche grande" to within 30 cents (except that the price is about 25% of what people pay in *bucks etc). Funnily enough I never consider myself as a coffee drinker (but they just don´t do proper tea here). Luckily Dunnes (irish M&S) have kept their line of fine china mugs, which are our "go-to" for a homebrew. Whilst on comestibles, we bought an airfryer recently and found it works very well (and save us from using the oven for the odd thing). At it´s best for frozen chips (not for me, obviously), but quick and easy for yorkshies. I intend to try it with some chestnuts at some stage - but realise as I write that that chestnuts can / do explode and getting chestnut puree up in the innards of the airfryer is probably to be avoided - maybe I will try welsh rarebit instead.

The spanish health system (which is probably better than or the equal of the UK´s sacred cow NHS) got its act together fairly quickly on the jab updates (as did I) so we went down for our "boosters" coupled with the annual ´flu jabs yesterday. I had cunningly sat Rik Wakeman-like with two PC keyboards as I selected dates and times for us both - and managed to get us sequential appointments just before 1400 yesterday. 1400 is great because the nurses finish then, so they rush everyone through from about 1315, so there is no waiting in a scabby waiting area with all the local diseased population - but it is also crap as the school opposite finishes at 1400 and the parents block the road picking up their little darlings. The police do bugger all about all the cars parked a tthe roadside - but harass the patients who are trying to get to the clinic! Anyway - all done and without much blood, although I really felt the saw-edged needle she used for the covid (not so the other nurse who gently did the gripe in my other arm). I actually couln´t tell I had had anything until I had been in bed for a couple of hours when the covid jab was extremely sore if I lay on it, and the ´flu one only a little sore. Upshot I tossed and turned all night with a variety of vivid dreams and woke up feeling like I had been on the razz for a week (which of course I had not). This morning the regular 30mins of biking actually had the sweat dripping off me (I suppose it should be like that all the time, but Ii am cycling gently rather than chasing up a col). Luckily today´s frantic Friday coincides with my birthday, so I really can cut loose - well, I thought I could, but the new neighbours kids who are here on a week´s hol are apparently coming up to say hello later (turns out it is another of their kids birthdays today too), so I might have to show some restaint should I go to the bar (can´t remember ever writing that before). The mega-shambles in the UK politics continues to the extent that I think it is likely that they will bring back Boris. It might get then in contention for the next election, but I don´t think he is up to any serious future planning (and I noted that the press are starting to realise that it is probably Mrs B who is driving the crazy green agenda). You know things are bad when friends from other countries are sending me Gifs and Memes taking the piss out of UK politicians. The Tory methodology for electing a leader was so flawed as to be unbelievable - the MPs bartering votes with various candidates, before offering a choice of the least-worse candidates to the party members. I suppose that when you dont actually have any statesmen (statespeople?) then you are screwed anyway. I said "was" as I believe they have changed the rules for this next pm to something wherby anyone with 100 backers can stand. God help us all.

A quiet week, as she-who-must-be-obeyed was over in Blighty to see her sister. (and much thanks to A&S for their forbearance and carriage services as somehow they seem to have visited every major shopping centre in the North West). I, of course, reverted to "lock-down" (not covid style) mode, wherein there was a minimum of shopping, eating, cleaning and laundering (or even drinking). Yes, I did manage to stick to my 4 teetotal days (without too much mental anguish), but today is slightly different as it is "frantic Friday" when I usually go silly in bars outside and inside the house - but G returns on a late-flight this evening, so have to stay alcohol-free for that. The garden needed little attention, but got a regular watering and I did actually cut the grass (a light trim in barber terms). The real barber couldn´t fit me in when I managed to find a parking space while on a (fruitless) visit to the Correos, so will have to schedule a drop-off once she is here again, unless I decide to turn into a "Robinson Crusoe" figure. Rufus the puss cat came four or more times each day, but still refuses to engage in any sort of interaction other than his trough. Probably for the best and a perfect cat for me you might think (and that reminds me of a story of when I was in my teens and some friends named a cat that visited their flat "Hunter" - when idly asked why, they said he turned up occasionally, ate anything he could find, then left. I was caught between pride and embarassment). The weather has changed to autumn and the nights are definitely colder - but, as ever, it is always very pleasant outside during the day (provided there is no cloud cover). The tv has been full of people sniping at the UK government, so the video channels have taken a bit of a bashing. When I eventually finish the (20 odd?) years of Crime Scene International I will be at a total loss, but then 400 hour-long episodes covers a lot of free time. The UK is currently obsessed with the cost of living and the people there just do not get the fact that it is a global issue, largely brought on by the costs of the covid pandemic and the current war in Ukraine. When you remember the sacrifice people made in previous european conflicts, the modern population seems very insular, selfish and uneducated (or just uncaring). Without going into full "in my day" mode, these modern tosswits seem to think that they have a right to have kids, homes, cheap mortgages, new cars, salaries that rise above inflation levels and multiple international holidays. God help them if the crap really hist the fan and they (we) end up with rolling blackouts and shortages of essentials. In my (very biased) opinion, the rush to a green upland is one of the biggest problems facing the western world. It is a strange case of nimbyism and self-flagellation about something that is actually negligible at global levels, as India, China and South America build coal-powered power stations at a rate about 1000 time faster than the Brits are closing them. In terms of dereliction of duty, how can the government have implemented a "green" policy without any plan of how to get there and (obviously) zero contingency planning. Oh, let´s insist that we all have electric cars - but lets not bother creating power generation, power distribution or resolve range and charging of vehicles. Tidak Rancangan as we said in Brunei. ... but then when the government does suddenly come up with a financial plan that is marginally long-term, the press and social media go into paroxysms of rage. When "my" elderly (transport) patients used to lament the negative slant of all the news, I used to point out that the international media now meant that you heard about small problems on a global scale - and this has been (hugely) exacerbated by social media. The way that the press report on rubbish they find on social media - and vice versa - just leads to wall-to-wall garbage. An overly self regarding ex-minor-pop-star-cum-scientific-personality-astronomer found his way into the press again this week by claiming that politicians should have the intellectual rigour to understand complicated issues that were put before them (doesn´t that sound very Shell?). I guess that means he is going into politics - and with his own ego, he should fit in well. Shell always modelled their management style on the military, with the senior officers occupying the "high-ground" in order to make executive decisions that those at the coal-face could neither see nor understand (Charge of the Light Brigade anyone?). My view is that the SAS is generally regarded as the best fighting force in the world - and they keep the officer class out of it and work at the "sergeant level" - and even military officers say that the best mess to eat in is the sergeants mess ( but then they are usually in charge of supplies and suppliers).

Very sad to hear of the passing of Queen Elizabeth on Thursday. Sad, but not entirely unexpected, as the reports coming from Balmoral were increasingly gloomy. I found it affected me much as when I realised that the last of the family generation before me had died and thus I was now the front-line. In this case, it is the realisation that it really is the end of an era - and an era that had lasted most of my lifetime. Whilst Charles has made a good start to his reign, I do worry that the republicans in the commonwealth countries (let alone the United Kingdom) will seize the opportunity to change their constitutions. While the Queen was in place, it was a difficult change for them to get started, but in this interregnum, and particularly until Charles proves himself, I feel the whole commonwealth edifice will be unstable. Why that should bother me at my age, I have no real idea, except that I am actually a child of Empire! The television if full of stories by people who met the Queen and G and I realised that neither of us had ever even seen her in the flesh (and I am not sure any of our family members did either) . The closest I got was when she visited Manchester in about 1955 and was due to be driven back to the airport and passing near our primary school. We were provided with little flags on stick and wheeled out to line the road on the corner (actually almost opposite our house). After a long wait, a couple of large dark cars went past (and I don´t remember any great cavalcade of police as now). No occupant visible, no wave noticed, but we waved our flags wildly and pretended we had seen her to our parents. G reckons she saw her in a car as she passed the Halle booking office where she (G not the Queen) was working. G also managed to be the sole person to see Price Edward when he visited the Shell offices in Brunei, as she went to the office entrance to see him emerge and found herself totally alone when he did so. Apparently the school had set up something for the parents to see him in another location and notified them via a note to their children - obviously forgetting that there were other (royalist) Brits who worked for them. And that is it for even seeing members of the royal family in the flesh. Strange how they can be so much a part of your life just through reports and film and photographs and without any sort of personal interraction. In relation to the mourning period in the UK, it is obviously a requirement due to the ceremonies that have to be invoked and the places her coffin has to be seen in or rest in. The state funeral is not until Monday the 19th - which means a prolonged period of waiting. I know we will actually watch the funeral, as that sort of thing is probably Britain at its best for ageing expats like me (and fervent royal watchers like G). Although, and for now, the cry of "Long Live the King!" still sounds quite surreal to us Elizabethans. * and now it is the day after the funeral - and what a funeral it was. For some unknown reason, I felt compelled to watch the whole day unfold on the tv, as if I owed it to the Queen. Phenomenal pomp and ceremony - and all conducted without a hitch. Guardsmen / pall bearers were superb and I think everyone was wishing them well as they manoeuvered up and down steps and around obstacles. I found the final Windsor church service the most moving as we finally saw the end of the second Elizabethan age. In fact, from the whole 10 days since the Queen died, the thing I found most moving was the queue to see the lying in state. The way people waited patiently for so many hours just to see the coffin and bow to it was truly amazing - and does give you some hope for Britain in the future - although I would love to see the demographics for the queue to see it it was a fair representation of the country as a whole (as it certainly wasn´t the sort of "modern family-style" Britain that is shown in most tv adverts). I like him anyway, but I was very impressed with Beckham just joining in the general queue (and. like many, saying it was for his grandfather´s memory in particular). My one real gripe wa that I felt that the move from Scotland to London was poorly handled. If ever you wanted "levelling up" it should have been in the hearse driving through Newcastle, York, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Stoke, and Birmingham etc., over a period of a couple of days and nights (note how I slipped in an "Oxford comma" for fun during the latest UK teacup-storm re punctuation ?) rather than making it all so "London-centric". Oh, and while I am on the subject, I think there could have been much better thinking about queue management (but generals always fight the previous war they say). I have reinforced to G that I don´t want anything quite so lavish and that a no-one-present cremation with my ashes tossed anywhere they choose is a better option. In-extremis, put the ashes under a tree on the mountainside, with a large measure of JWB to wash me down. I guess it takes all sorts....

You really can´t begin to believe how bad Barclays are in relation to managing accounts (I don´t think the word "customers" has passed their lips for some time). As previously mentioned, they told us resident expats we had to close our accounts as they had decided not to bother with licences for EU countries. No help offered, just shut it by November. No thought of using offshore accounts instead (although lots of us expats probably have offshore accounts). Compartmentalised and UK-centric. Anyway, we moved the few payments that were going in, and in a fit of magnamanity, I called them and told them they could close it - but specifically mentioning that I wanted to keep using the App for online access. Well, as you will have guessed immediately, they managed to close the account and the access to the app too. (Anyone using online access to a Barclays account will understand why I prefer the app, as getting out a chip and pin reader and a current credit card just to complete the log-in process is so bloody old fashioned and cumbersome). I called the call centre (God save us all from them) and after long wait got through to a pleasant girl who reckoned she could reinstate the App - following problems with it having a UK contact number (which I had only ever used for Barclaycard, and had nothing at all to do with the previous app which used my spanish mobile). But the change "would require 24 hours to be implemented", so call back "in a couple of days". Dutifully did so, only to find she should have told me 2-3 working days, so wait longer. Called agin, only to find it would not work. Then they found the first girl had registered my mobile as home line and left the dodgy UK number intact. Start again with 2-3 days wait. Called again with a feeling I might be a little less tactful. Friendly bloke who could obviously read voices tried his best, but I knew we were stuffed when he got to the stage of "possible problem with configuration of an iphone 12" bollocks. Now note that this is not now anything to do with me having or using the app (which worked fine on an iPhone 12), but something to do with them sending an SMS to me authorising the download and implementation - which is obviously a one-off and not to be confused with secure usage. The call centre guy tells me he can´t see the code "for security reasons" as ever, but only works by an automated system (who designed that crap I wondered aloud?) which can only send an SMS. I pointed out that my other banks used a combination of email and SMS when I log on, so having such a system just to set up the system shouldn´t be too insecure. Agreed and noted. He was really getting the picture. I told him I had an alternate iPad mini device with a different spanish sim card which he could maybe try. I think he added that number as a home one, but hey-ho. So now we wait again for another 2 or 3 working days while he consults with the tecchies and sees if there are alternate options. I did point out that I have an email from the MD of Barclays International in my inbox awaiting my reply - after I insisted an early worker registered a formal complaint about the way that Barclays (UK) handled the closure and subsequent activities (only to be told it was a Barclays UK issue - Grrrrr). Said MD does not know what she has let herself in for - or, more likely, does as it is bound to be a 3rd party handler - but I guess she doesn´t give a toss anyway. Maybe I will just send this whole blog to her.

Just mention banking to almost anyone these days and you risk them having a heart-attack. This is especially true here on the edge of the world as bankers seem to have lost interest in holding people´s money - something which used to be what was expected of them. First of the useless bankers was Barclays, who pulled out of Spain and even Gibraltar - all well-before brexit was even coined. I remember as I was setting up the Barclays Gib account (ok, waiting in a queue to do so), a guy said to me " you must be mad setting up with this lot - they are useless and I am moving my account". Prescient. They did not last long and were pretty crap on the service front. With Barclays demise, and still in Gib, we moved to a Scandi bank named Jyske. Nicely set up (and even in the old Barclays offices I seem to recall), with pleasant staff and fast access to funds or managers. It couldn´t last - and didn´t. About 4 years I think, before they pulled out, but sold the business to some oddly named consortium (Noa?) "backed by the Gibraltar government". They vanished so quickly I can´t even remember their full name, but before they went, they divested themselves of any Brits living in Spain (legally of not, they didn´t want them). G reckons the bank might still be there, but I somehow doubt it. With their demise, we reverted to Barclays Channel Isles - which actually ended up with us investing in Barclays IoM as they were the ones who had better insurance cover (the Jersey, Channel Islands bank didn´t think of telling us about that, despite it being a desktop exercise to switch). Well, last week we received a letter from the UK Barclays bank telling us that they are closing our account (only held for 55 years, but customer loyalty is not the sort of thing banks give a toss about any more). This fin de siecle is not like Barclaycard where a UK address wil be accepted - UK residency is the requirement, or just sod off. Luckily they gave us 6 months to close the account - which may prove necessary if only in just getting them to answer the bloody ´phone. I eventually found someone who answered, but he wasn´t in a group allowed to actually help me, but did confirm what I suspected - it was not a British government issue, nor an EU issue - simply a Barclays business decision. A business decision ignoring the fact that almost every overseas customer with a UK account also has overseas Barclays accounts - but do they recognise this and try to help - like hell they do. It actually turned out that I could have a current account in the IoM instead, so that is where we have moved (hating Barclays, but recognising that it is just tooooo much trouble to open new / different bank accounts these days). I still find it amazing they didn´t recogniseand suggest this option, but basically they are just crap. .... of course that it just the start. Now I have to move the pensions payments - which are all that is left in the UK. Contacting the DHSS has been harder than contacting Barclays, with it taking nearly 3 weeks just to answer an online query (and , no, you cannot do anything by email, it has to be by ´phone or letter). As the ´phone handests regularly run out of juice after half an hour of waiting, I eventually had to resort to the old Skype online system - which I can leave running in the background with the interminable "we value your custom"-style messages letting me know I am still in the god-forsaken queue. Happily, and after more than half an hour´s waiting, a geordie bloke came on and effected the changes once I had summoned G to the handset to give all the answers (I was providing) to his questions. Pleasant and efficient once contacted. So a done dowgie. Well, we hope. Now have to watch the new account to ensure money is heading in the right direction - then Barclays UK can really go and stuff themselves.

The people dispensing their version of the news on the TV and in the press (well, on the web), seem to have forgotten that this is what they always used to call "the silly season" when there was no real news, so any old cobblers could make a headline. Maybe this year it is not so silly, although most commentators seem to have very short memories. Johnson has gone, mainly due to his inability to differentiate between real truth and what he wanted to be the truth (at that moment). The contenders are not up to much, but adopting conservative values might help. The (very recent) global pandemic caused huge business problems, cost billions in government support, and the effects will be felt for years. It hasn´t just gone away. The war in Ukraine is the main reason for the surge in the cost of living. Grain, oil and gas supplies are nowhere near where they used to be and people are seeing that in the price of things. Keep telling people it is temporary result of the war and it will improve (and keep your fingers crossed that is true). Generally people are very supportive of Ukraine, but need to be reminded that there is a cost (to them) for their support. Get someone in (say Shell) to explain how their "windfall" is actually going to be used to cover the company´s losses in Russia. I hear the assets have been nationalised over there and that must be a huge hit. (and while you are at it Shell, give the pensioners the same bonus you just paid the working staff). Just never admit you have no idea what drives the oil price and you are at the mercy of shifts in the political weather (especially in August). Get that bloody NHS sorted out. Stop calling it the envy of the world - it isn´t. It maybe the equal of most European contries, but they certainly don´t treat public health as some sort of sacred cow. The "professional" managers just aren´t cutting it. Root and branch reform soon please. Get the police force to start policing real crime and stop trying to be woke. Ignore the supposed problems at airports and ferry ports and simply stay(cation) at home. That would work for us here too (holidays in the sun are not part of anyone´s "human rights") Stop pretending that any regular bloke actually gives a toss about women´s football, cricket, rugby, etc. - create a dedicated channel to show women playing men´s sports (and see how long it stays financially afloat). ... and the key one in the UK, get off the Green Agenda fast-track and realise that you (the government) never had an actual plan, just an unrealistic target. The infrastructure for electrical cars, hydrogen boilers, etc etc is fairy-dust. As is the power generation "policy". Use the carbon resources you have to keep the cost of living down NOW. You are going to miss your targets anyway, so make it reasonable to fail! Rant over.

The local painter was true to his word and turned up in July - well on the 28th anyway - and with 12 hours warning ("OK to start tomorrow?"). Started with one little guy (Paco), but augmented with Sergio and José the next day. We had received two options for the cost - a lump sum or per diem, so I opted for the day-rate as I know that things will change (= G will ask for changes) and for some stupid reason I always feel embarrassed to ask for changes to any agreement. Anyway, we went with 120€/day plus materials (but even the 120 per day was an instant 6% increase on the 14€hour originally quoted -still there have been a few crises since we originally spoke). Hats off to these guys - they were all hard-workers, clean and committed. The boss actually seemed to be more of a fetcher, carrier and organiser, although the guys reckoned he was working on a different job as well. As predicted, the scope expanded and we had them painting cellar and dining-room walls, plus all the top patio, as well as expanding the number of "rejas" once they proved themselves fast at them too. I had expected the arbor woodwork to take a couple of days for a couple of guys, but that went past in a blur of ladders and pots with just Paco for the day. The downside for me is the sheer stress of having to be available all the time - from opening the gates at 0730, right through to waving-off at 1615. AND that was just with them working outside. I hate having people actually IN the house, but painting rejas requires one working outside and one working in - so checking on activities became more important. Yesterday I paid the final bill and G and I spent the morning jet-washing the patios and moving flower pots back to their original homes - also trying to find a new covering for the pool-room door which is basically just a reja-on-hinges. Bottom line, the place looks the dogs and she-who-must-be-obeyed is happy (and the total cost including cement work was about two-thirds of what I had originally anticipated). On another front, we haven´t managed a bite in the Niño for a couple of weeks as it has proved impossible to get a parking spot of a table. We went on a Sunday after not being able to get Friday or Saturday, but that was a disaster as the only table available was outside next to the door - which is smokers corner. We decided to give it a miss until August (and peak tourist) ends. Talking of tourists, I was gobsmacked to learn that the council have earmarked 6 million euros (yes, 6,000,000€) to promote tourism by staging a music festival for each of the next 5 years. Apparently they are required by law to only spend this sort of money if they can prove a benefit of at least 50% of expenditure, but they sacked the audtors and paid 600k upfront to the promoter anyway. Stuff you. As one (opposition) councillor put it "normally the promoters pay the owners of the land , not the other way around". So 3 days with up to 150,000 people expected to be staying or "glamping" on the old hipdromo site, with a charge of €150 / head - even if you live here and are sponsoring it! You couldn´t make it up. The same councillors who approved it are apparently the only ones in Spain who haven´t ratified a budget for this 2022 year yet, but somehow are trying to find ways of getting rid of money by the barrow-load. So, and due to the number of tourists, you can´t park, can´t get into restaurants, but the council is still p----ing money up on spurious vanity projects to "get more tourists". Maybe time to sell our shiny place and go somewhere quieter?

Twenty One years and one week after "the Great Fire of Mijas", we had a repeat - only the press generally missed the point that it was Mijas Mountain" that took the hit, not Mijas Pueblo. The photograph (thanks to Infoca firefighters in more ways than one), shows the area of the fire (red surround) whilst our little nest is the blue dot at the base of the southern slopes. It started on Friday lunchtime and, to date, has covered a couple of thousand hectares (no, nor me, but think about 30 golf courses joined together). On Saturday last, they were frightened that the blaze might come over the mountain, or even spread along the southern slopes from the west. Frightened enough to close the road we live on (basically the line between the fire extremities, which is probably about 10 miles) and gave us a warning that we might have to leave at any time and at very short notice. We were all pretty edgy anyway, as the helicopters were a constant stream between the fire and the golf course ponds and the sea. I think they had about 18 aircraft at one time, plus a couple of dozen fire-engines and two or three hundred firefighters. They had already evacuated nearly three thousand people in the two Al Haurins and all points in between, so it was in everyones minds that running could be the next step. G and I have had a "Contingency Plan"(hope you weren´t surprised by that) taped behind a kitchen cabinet door since the last big fire, so we duly moved all the patio furniture away from the house, disconnected the gas, closed all the windows and doors, tucked all the curtains away from the windows - then filled the car with pillows, water, washing kits, spare clothes etc, etc - not forgetting everything from the safe. (Oh, and the external hard drive from the Mac) - and finally remembering to turn off the pool pump. All (3 other houses) of neighbours had been alerted and were ready, but there was no way of getting any genuine news on the state of the fire. I had re-registered on Twitter to get the infoca, local police and local news feeds, but it was all out of date by the time it was posted. The local police manning the road block knew sod-all either, just saying "no new information". (*remembering Oman in the Gulf War, genuine information is like gold, but rumours proliferate and obscure almost everything). I whizzed down to the Niño, to hear that no one knew anything new, other than that Juan was still at his house (3km west of ours) hosing down the house and trees in his plot. Another fruitless update from the police as I returned past them (and of course they didn´t say anything about where to evacuate to if we had to leave, so nothing has changed in 21 years). Anyway, and in the absence of any concrete news, we decided to go to the Niño (where I had a reservation for 4 anyway) and get something to eat - so G and I went with our new Danish neighbours and met our other friends. After about an hour Juan turned up too and said there were no blazes on our side of the mountain and that it hadn´t spread around the "end" of the range - so we all felt a little better. Refreshed in many ways, we went home and told the neighbours to stand down from immediate flight level, but to remain vaguely alert for anyone coming to contact us. And so to bed for an uneasy night. Sunday was the same constant stream of aircraft, but by mid-afternoon they re-opened the road - so we unloaded the car! Experience says it will take them a couple of weeks to finally kill all the little hotspots, but hopefully everything will be ok. The bonus points are that the contingency plan works and all the neighbours have actually met each other - despite the (very suspicious) German neighbour telling me that a robber had been to his house to tell him he might have to leave. That "robber" turned out to be our new heavily tattooed neighbour who had been the one who had been told to prepare to leave by the policeas he came home! * One nice thing to come out of it all was the number of telephone calls and emails from friends asking if we were ok. Obviously, and after 22 years, we have become synonymous with Mijas in many people´s minds. Thanks everyone for your concern!

We have had a bank account in Gib for some time as it proved a convenient way of getting the sterling pension into a bank "within reach", which then allowed us to gain access to cash. Of course with Covid, that access had dwindled to zero, so luckily we now have Transferwise which is my currency exchange of choice and which now provides debit cards which work in the currencies of your choice. The original bank I used in Gib was Barclays, but they bailed out a few years ago. We then switched to a Danish bank called Jyske - but they too got cold feet and sold to a local group named Trusted Novus Bank. A few days ago I received a letter from them telling me that as I am a UK passport holder / spanish resident, they had decide that they no longer wished to offer me banking services. Yes, I am a legal, tax-paying brit in spain, with all the documentation to prove it, and with a kosher bank account accruing a legitimate pension - so they don´t want me. Says a lot for their business model. Anyway, I called them up and told them I would transfer it online to another bank. They said it would be better if they did the transfer, for which they would charge me. Excuse me - you want to do a slow transfer manually and charge me, rather than me doing it instantaneously over the web? Well, when you put it like that.... I transferred a few quid to make sure the forms and details were correct, then did the whole caboodle. Few quid went ok, large amount not. Called bank again and asked whether they had omitted to mention some sort of authorisation requirement Yes they had - but it will be done "immediately". Now all moved. Stuff ´em all.