Rain, rain, rain

Thats right. Rain. In Spain.

The last 2 weeks have seen us getting lots of rain down in the South of Spain. So much in fact that there has been flash floods in some areas. And a few people have died.

Last night it kept dry though. We decided to venture down to the coast to catch a film in english in Puerto Banus to celebrate the fact that the weekend had arrived.

And it never seizes to amaze me how big a difference a 25 min. drive can have in the weather. Up here in the Sierra de las Nieves, it was rather cold, but in Marbella the weather was really windy but the wind felt warm. So warm in fact that we decided to sit outside for tapas in Marbella without freezing out bums off after the film had finished.

And driving back the weather behaved as I have seen it before. A bit past the second exit to Ojén when you have just come to the other side of the mountain, the wind dropped and it got colder. It really is true that Marbella has its own little micro climate.

Checked the weather forecast for Spain again, and it seems we have more rain coming...thursday next week it all kicks off again, so far until monday. Why is it always in the weekends you get the rain? There should be a law against that...

Human rights in the Faroe Islands

Reading the news this morning online I came across an article about the fact that in the Faroe Islands it is perfectly legal to discriminate homosexuals.
Next month this law is up for review, and last time this was the case (last year) there was a huge support to keep the discrimination legal, many of the politicians referring to their belief that men who are with men cannot go to heaven.

Which of course is absolutely bollocks. So go to the link below and sign the petition to end this insane law.

http://www.act-against-homophobia.underskrifter.dk

"Buen Dormir" my arse

When we were in Sevilla in the weekend, we spent the night at a little hostel. After driving to Sevilla and spending most of the day in IKEA to look at stuff, we arrived in the centre at around 8, having completely forgotten that it was Puente.
Optimistic we walked around to find a hotel in Sevilla to spend the night, only to be met by the answer that everything was full. Panic slowly grew, but in the end we found a Hostal that had one room left. The Hostal was called "Buen Dormir" or good sleep in english.

And that has got to be the understatement of the year. I was the worst nights sleep I have had in a lot of years. We only had one very high and hard shared pillow, and I could feel the bed springs boring into my back the whole night.

Anyway, nothing was going to ruin our little holiday in Sevilla, so a few coffees the next morning managed to make us laugh about our lack of sleep and the weather was on our side after a few days with rain as well. Sitting outside at a nice cafe looking at the Cathedral and all the old restored buildings whilst catching a ray of sun with the one you love, makes you much more positive despite our experince at "Buen Dormir".

IKEA Sevilla trip

Went to Sevilla in the weekend on one of those combined business / pleasure trips. The business was the big IKEA and the pleasure was well, walking around the beautiful city that is Seville.

I must say that I cannot wait until the IKEA opens in Malaga. They have been talking about it for ages, and it kept being delayed, but now it does seem to be happening. Apparently its going to be located quite close to Malaga Airport in one of the large industrial areas, and expected to open in mid 2007.
Wonder what a lot of the local furniture shops are going to think about it? I mean, there are so many people buying properties in Spain and obviously they need to furnish them. A lot of companies offer whole furniture packages with fixed prices for e.g. 2 or 3 bedroom apartments which is ideal for property buyers in a hurry to get their apartment ready and without the time to sift around all the shops on the Costa del Sol.
But IKEA does fill a huge gap in the market down here. 1. Its cheap 2. You might actually want some of their stuff in your home.

Especially the second part has been a huge problem for me. How can I put it? Literally there are so many ugly things down here. I dont think the people in Andalucia has very good taste. Everytime I look in my "Casa y Campo" magazine I see wonderful house after wonderful house, but all the cool and stylish shops are always located in Madrid or Barcelona and not down here in peasant Andalucia. Bugger.

Spent the whole trip driving back from IKEA munching on all the goodies we had gotten in their swedish shop. Daim (or Dime if you prefer), pepporkakor (ginger biscuits), gelly fish, Kanel gifler (cinnamon rolls) and a lot more I dont want to be reminded of. Sufficient to say that my nausea grew increasingly with each bump in the road after I was done with my little feast.

The mortgage game in Spain

Getting a mortgage in Spain is no easy task!

Somehow most of the banks here seem almost unwilling to lend you money, even if you have a house or apartment in Spain already.

I guess one of the reasons is that there is just not enough competition. They are very unflexible when it comes to borrowing money, even though you would think that bricks and mortar would be a very safe investment for them.

Our bank in Marbella just drives me nuts. Never pick up the phone or answer email which means that everytime you want something sorted you have to drive all the way down there and turn up in person. Only to find out that the person you need to see is on holiday...

Im going to turn to one of those mortgage companies soon! Must be an easier way of lending money on the Costa del Sol.