I suppose it comes with the territory, but the Spanish foreign ministry can be pretty pathetic at times. Today's news for example... the Queen of Spain won't be traveling to London to celebrate the Queen of England's sixtieth bash... because of Spain's injured pretensions over Gibraltar and an upcoming visit of the Duke and Duchess of Wessex to the British controlled territory.

Later: The Guardian runs an article titled 'Spanish queen's jubilee snub over Prince Edward's Gibraltar visit' which offends El Mundo and its nationalist readers... Personally, I think that given Gibraltar's unemployment at 1.8% and contrast this with Spain's current situation at 24.1%, it might be better to drop the whole agonising idea of Gibraltar passing to be part of Spain... and suggest the opposite. We'd call it Giberia. Better still, the president of Giberia would be bilingual... Heh!

The Gnomo Feliz is a restaurant on the road between Vera and Puerto Rey. It is owned by a company called Ingofersa which, it would appear, owes money to the bank. Thus, the renters, who have a contract with the company, have been served a notice to abandon the property forthwith. Ausra Klikunaipe, a Lithuanian who is one of the tenants, says that they have paid their rent religiously since 2009, and also paid a fifteen year bail of 180,000 euros. The building was auctioned by the bank last year without their knowledge until a court official told them in February to leave. The tenants complained to the Court but they say that their documents were not accepted by the judge. Today they will be evicted.
A fuller story in El Ideal states that the family, plus children plus four employees were ejected this morning by armed servants of the state. Luckily, the bank saved all of its money and that's the main thing.

The AUAN - the Albox-based property owners' association - has issued a statement criticising the town hall of Albox and its plans to resolve (or otherwise) the problem of some 550 homes, mainly purchased in good faith by foreigners, which after their purchase became either 'ilegal' or 'alegal' (a word which does not appear in any Spanish dictionary, but is popular with the Junta de Andalucía to describe its cock-ups).
The association says in part: 'Our members feel that having been defrauded by our promoters and let down by a slow legal system, we are now being held to ransom by the government of Andalucía who demands expensive paperwork, difficult legal contortions and in some cases the funding of infrastructure projects to fix problems caused by others, including, it must be said, the Junta de Andalucía.'
Full statement below:

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El Mundo publishes a report today about a municipality in southern Alicante called San Fulgencio. The story, surprisingly friendly, is about the high percentage of 'Europeans' living in the town - in fact, the highest in Spain at 80% and 'with the largest British community in Europe outside of the UK' (probably inside it too...). There's a short video - mainly in inglés...

There's a dating service, supported heavily by El Mundo (perhaps they are advertisers) called Ashley Madison. Today appears to be the first anniversary of this company in Spain. The service is focused on extra-marital sex and cheating on one's partner. The director Noel Biderman says sententiously 'infidelity is a business that is recession-proof' and the company has apparently made six million euros in this country with 630.000 'users' to date. What a revolting idea this is.

In the event that a home-owner manages to sell his house during 2012, the plus valía tax which he must pay has been cut by 50%. The benefit also falls on institutions that manage to sell a property... like banks for example (ahhh!).

The Unicaja has confirmed that it is closing down its branch in Mojácar Pueblo, meaning there will now be no banks whatsoever in the village from May 24th. The bank manager of the surviving branch on the beach says that they are still unsure if they will keep a cash dispenser open on the old site.
When I first came here, there were two banks in the pueblo. One was the Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Almería (Unicaja that was) and the other was a rather dodgy bank from Murcia with only a couple of branches. The joke was that it gave wooden cheques. It didn't last long. Later, the Banesto and the Banco de Jeréz (this was a Rumasa bank... also went bust) had branches in the pueblo.
Now, seems like we're back to wooden cheques.

Richard Branson, speaking at the inauguration of Barcelona's Museo de Cannabis, which opened this Wednesday, said that Spain could resolve its deficit problem at a stroke by legalising the use of marijuana.
Perhaps we could force those pesky bankers to smoke some weed...?

Two concerts of interest: the Jorge Pardo Sextet to play in Mojácar at the Centro de Artesanía at the Fuente on Friday 18th May at 10.00pm. Jorge is a famous flute player who specialises in jazz/flamenco fusion. He'll be presenting his new album 'Huellas' at the concert. 10€ at the door. Poster here.
Blues concert in Turre on Sunday June 3rd from 3.30pm with Mama Paula's Blues Band and local bands Los Mezcaleros, Ratatouille and the Zambra Allstars at the Hostal Rural. 5€ entrance. Poster here. Proceeds to PAWS.

Per Svensson writes the Weekly Report to subscribers (see here). Here's a piece from today's report:

When Spain goes bust

Experts and commentators take it for granted that Spain will at some point during this year be unable to meet its financial commitments, that the markets will not be willing to buy unsafe public bonds anymore, not even at 6% interest, and that a number of banks will close their doors due to lack of credits and deposits from clients.
The Rajoy government will go on cutting the income and living standard of Spanish families, at the same time as taxes, charges and costs soar. The result being a deepening recession of the Spanish economy, and falling consumption, leading to less tax income and thus the subsequent shrinking of public services.
We have asked ourselves how such a situation may affect the many foreign property owners in Spain, and have reached the following conclusions:




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