Amazon Spain is live (at last)!

To anyone out here that buys through Amazon UK, you may be delighted to learn that finally Amazon Spain is open. They don't yet have the full listings of products that the other Amazons in Europe do yet, but they have a fair selection of electrical goods which of course will come with a Spanish electrical plug!

Not to be sneezed at - anything that makes life easier is good!

Amazon ES is live!!

Enjoy!

Here is a handy tip.

If you don't read Spanish or struggle a bit with it, use the CHROME browser.

It has a handy button at the top that appears when you open a foreign language page. It will say "This page is in Spanish, would you like it translated to English?" Click Yes.

An option should appear saying something like "Always Translate Spanish to English?" Click Yes and then any time you open AmazonES  OR ANY OTHER SPANISH SITE, you should be able to read it easily.

If you want to read it in Spanish, place the mouse cursor over the text and blocks will revert back to Spanish.

Summer Thunderstorm in Relleu

We got the most amazing thunderstorm in Relleu yesterday! Firstly the sky got blacker and blacker as these enormous clouds rolled in and the thunder started to roll.

It was harder to see the lightening because it was daylight but for sure there was plenty of it! I love thunderstorms.

Then the rain started. Suddenly, it became the heaviest rain I have witnessed in my life. The racket was terrible. It took a few seconds to realise it was hailstones and not rain!

I got some photos to share.

The clouds rolled in

black clouds over Relleu

hailstones in the swimming pool

think more water bounced out of the pool then went in!

Hailstones on the ground

It got really dark during the storm

And this is a photo I took the day before - yes folks we've had two days of thunderstorms here in Relleu.

Lightening strike

E-coli and Spanish Cucumbers

This Associated Press photograph shows cucumbers being dumped in a skip

The whole situation in Germany, where imported Spanish cucumbers were initially blamed for the outbreak of a deadly new strain of E-coli, is horrendous. At the time of writing this, 18 people have died and thousands have been afflicted with a horrible disease that causes one to pass bloody diarrhoea and which, in a massive 25% of cases, causes kidney failure.

After a few days, it became obvious that Spain wasn't to blame after all. The E-coli bacteria that had been found on a couple of cucumbers were of a different strain to the ones affecting people.

Meanwhile, practically all Spanish cucumbers are being picked and destroyed.

They have to pick them, even although they know that it is a waste of time; they are being picked to be dumped. Each farm must keep a detailed record of what produce they destroy if they are to have any hope of reclaiming their expenses from the European Community Fund.

It is not just cucumbers of course, all Spanish horticultural produce is going to waste. 90% of what Spain grows is for export. Tomatoes, lettuce, all sorts of salad vegetables have suddenly lost their export potential.

In the whole of Europe, everyone is wary of raw salad vegetables. There remains an air of uncertainty, because the source of this ghastly outbreak of E-coli has not yet been identified, and perhaps never will be.

So it is not only Spain that is suffering. ALL countries within Europe who produce fresh salad vegetables are finding sales drying up as consumers shrink away.

Russia, one of Europe's main importers, has gone so far as to place a BAN on all vegetable imports from Europe. This is a massive blow for growers, and of course this doesn't just affect the growers, it has a knock-on effect against the transporters and market handlers.

Spanish growers alone believe they are losing in the region of €200 MILLION a week through this crisis, and figure may rise until a definitive cause is found.

This is a tremendous blow to Spain, a country with the highest youth unemployment in Europe of 45%, and with an overall unemployment rate of a massive 19.6%. A country which is already in deep recession but had hopes of climbing out of.

Call me pessimistic, but am I the only one who thinks the German E-coli outbreak may have been a deliberate terrorism plot?

I mean, think about it, this is a brand new strain of E-coli. It takes the worst traits of two known strains and combines them. It (unusually) affect adults instead of young children. It affects more women than men. It affects young women. It causes death in high numbers.

I can't help think it has been developed in a laboratory and then maliciously released.

Otherwise, wouldn't they have found by now where it started?

UPDATE: it would seem the outbreak started in an organic farm in Germany, growing beansprouts.

Bolognese Sauce

Lid is on, bolognese sauce simmering

I have just made a bolognese sauce to die for! Yes I know I spelt the name wrong; it is 'bolognaise', but our American cousins don't recognise the spelling! I believe there is a third spelling but it escapes me at the moment.

Anyway, what I used was:

• 1 large onion,chopped 
• 2 cloves of garlic,minced 
• 3 large red tomatoes, skinned and chopped 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• a little freshly ground black pepper 
• pinch oregano 
• pinch basil 
• 1 bay leaf 
• 2 teaspoons sugar 
• a little bit of concentrated tomato puree (for color) 
• 2 peeled and sliced small carrots 
• 1lb of minced beef (ground beef in the US)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Place all your vegetables in a pan with olive oil and fry gently for about 20 minutes. Add water as required. Add herbs, salt and sugar.

In another pan, brown the meat in olive oil and fry until there is not much oil left (the meat releases its fat if you fry it slowly ans steadily over maybe 30 minutes, or maybe a bit less).

Using a colander, drain the fat off the meat. Add the fat to the dogs' dinner. They will love you all the more for it.

Add the drained meat to the pan containing the bolognese sauce. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a while. Time not important really because it has probably cooked all it's going to cook at this point.

Turn heat off.

Eat next day, or that day if you cooked it just before dinnertime. I cook at night because it is cooler in the evenings to be in a hot kitchen.

Or if its winter, it warms me up in the evenings, take your pick.

VERY IMPORTANT: Now I know this is obvious, but please remember to switch off your cooker before you go to bed!

Dama de Noche (Cestrum Nocturnum)

Dama de Noche

One of the nicest things about living here in Spain is getting to enjoy the scent of the Dama de Noche when in flower.

Tonight, and last night and the night before, I brave the great outdoors where all sorts of horrible biting insects lie in wait, just to smell the wonderful perfume from this plant.

Actually, when I say 'outside' I just walk out onto a terrace; this house like all Spanish houses, has a few terraces.

All the downstairs windows are open to allow the perfume in.

The upstairs windows remain firmly closed after dusk to keep the night insects out, but still the scent pervades the night air.

What is Dama de Noche?

Dama de Noche translates literally as 'Lady of the Night' (talking about me again!). In Valenciano, it is Galan de Noche, which means the same.

Botanically, it is cestrum nocturnum, which is a member of the family solanaceae - same family as potatoes and tomatoes.

To grow Dama de Noche you need a warm and subtropical climate, because they don't like the cold. Once established, they are not fussed about getting a lot of water either, which makes them ideal for growing in Relleu.

They must like alkaline soils else mine and all my neighbours' would be dead by now.

Dama de Noche in full flower

They actually like USDA zones 9 and above to grow, which means they can actually tolerate a frost down to -10C. They will be wilted and ruined above ground, but the roots should survive meaning that it will come back again.

Believe it or not, many parts of the UK are USDA 9, especially those westerly areas that are warmed by the Gulf Stream.

The problem with the UK and Dama de Noche, is that even in those warmer zones, an occasional severe winter cannot be ruled out, and you could lose your plant.

The obvious solution is to grow them indoors or in a conservatory, and always keep cuttings to hand so that if one dies, you have at least one more.

How to Propagate Dama de Noche

Cestrum nocturnum are easy to root. Chop off a cutting of at least 2/3 inches, and place in a glass of water until roots form. Semi-hardwood cuttings are probably the best, but I have had success with softwood and hardwood cutting too.

If you need to know the difference, softwood are from new growth, and hardwood is from old growth.

Dama de Noche flowering

Dama de Noche Flowering

Dama de Noche flowers 3 or 4 times a year, and the perfume is divine. It can also be over-powering as it is reputedly the strongest scented flower in the world, as you can smell it from 500 yards away.

Some people claim to be allergic to it. Pedro across the road says it upsets his stomach. Fortunately for him and people like him, the flowering stage only lasts a few days, so enjoy it while you can.

An interesting thing about the Dama de Noche is that their flowers only open as dusk falls and close again by dawn. All day the flowers are tightly shut, exuding no scent and not looking very interesting at all. But the moment the sun goes down, they open up into the most beautiful little star-shaped green/creamy tubular flowers.

gorgeous star-shaped flowers of the cestrum nocturnum open at dusk

The reason why some flowers only open at night is because Mother Nature has programmed them to only be pollinated by moths and other night insects.

Moths have a highly sensored olfactory system. Obviously with it  being dark, having excellent vision would not be much use, so instead they were given a highly tuned sense of smell.

So when moths fly into a flame, it is probably because it smelled nice, and nothing to do with the light - they hate light! They'd be butterflies if they liked light!

The Spanish Local Elections May 22nd, 2011

The socialist PSOE (pronounced PESS-OY) had high hopes of winning seats in the Spanish local elections of May 22nd, 2011, but the results were Conservative blue (Popular Party) the length and breadth of Spain.

I didn't have a vote, although I live here and have lived here for many years. During previous elections, I was working in Benidorm and wasn't here to vote, and this time around I was laid up with an injured back, and so missed the notices put up in the town advising ex-pats that merely being on the Padron (the voters roll) was not enough to guarantee your vote, and that we had a few days up until April 11th to go into the Town Hall and register ourselves as voters.

I learned about it round about the 15th, and so was too late.

However, I have been taking an interest in what is going on, and fully expected PSOE to do well. Their election meetings were always well attended with hundreds of people squeezing into the auditorium, while at the PP meetings, hardly anyone was showing up.

Everyone is sick of the corruption in this village (Relleu, in case you forgot) and the mayor, the alcalde, was expected to be soundly thrashed.

Well, surprise, surprise, he stomped home to a resounding victory, much to everyone's surprise.

I assumed it would because he is related to half the village and that maybe he was rightfully voted in.

Heard this evening from local Valencian people living in the village, that bus-loads of strangers arrived with a vote.

Don't forget there only 1,400 residents in this village, and a third of them are ex-pats like myself, many of whom didn't vote, so I would be keen to know the voting figures.

I wondered how it would be possible for strangers who do not live here to vote, but it seems it's a simple matter to register them on the Padron, and even though they don't live here, nor belong here, they had a vote.

IF this is true, this is highly unethical if not downright illegal activity, and should be reported to the highest authority.

utorrent client "Waiting on Log in" Error

Now if you use the Utorrent client recommended by thebox, you may at some point come across the error message "Waiting to Log In" where Utorrent hangs and refuses to either upload or download. Maybe newer versions of the client don't have this error, but you won't be able to use thebox with newer versions.


I had this error the other day and it was driving me mad!


I went in search of all the help files, after rebooting the computer several times to no avail. I came across this advice.

1. Check that your firewall is allowing utorrent through. as UDP traffic requires this in order for DHT to function. 
2. If that is OK, close Utorrent and go to %appdata%\utorrent,  click on dht.dat and dht.dat old and delete both files.

Well that sounds easy enough except they didn't say where "%appdata%\utorrent" was. Had a look in programs under 'utorrent', and under 'windows' and was starting to pull my hair out.


Go to start, search, enter "%appdata%\utorrent" (without the quotes) and it will come up along with all your download programs. These files are right at the top and easy to miss.


This worked, by the way.

Using Torrent Files to Watch British TV from Abroad

If you haven't set a dish up and have no access to British TV, but have a computer which can go online, your only other option for watching your favourite TV programs is to download them to your computer.

You cannot use the likes of BBCi player or any other online television program viewer as they will not allow you to see their programs from outwith the UK. You can instal a proxy to fool them into believing you are in the UK but I never got round to doing that as my internet access simply isn't fast enough for live streaming.

However if you use peer to peer file sharing, you can indeed watch whatever program you like.

I find thebox.bz to be the best of the lot for British TV programs - http://thebox.bz/

Next you will need a file sharing program. I like utorrent, but thebox carries a list of programs they permit users to use. Use any other and you cannot use thebox.

Go to http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=2387 to see a lit of allowed clients.

Once you have your client program installed, simply go to thebox.bz, sign up, search for your program i.e Coronation Street, and download the torrent file. It is only a tiny file, but when you click on it to open, you will see the program start downloading in your torrent client. Depending on your internet speed it can take from a few minutes to a few hours to download.

If you are using a satellite connection to access the internet, you may find that you are only permitted to download a tiny amount of things every month, but if you are fortunate enough to have a land line internet connection, there should be no limit.

For those using a laptop with wifi, you can use any public place that offers free wifi connections, which could include your local library, Town Hall, or in many bars.

Once you have downloaded your programs, you can watch them at your leisure on your PC or laptop, or through a big screen TV if you connect your computer to it. If you have a newer computer or laptop, you should be able to connect the two devices through HDMI, which is the easiest way.

Anyone in the world can do this. If you are in the US, Canada or Australia, perhaps as a British expat, you may find this useful.

Watching British Television Programs from Spain

As I'm sure most folk know, you need a giant 2.4 metre satellite dish to pick up BBC and ITV on the satellite digital channels. We are so far south here, the footprint barely reaches.

Then you have a choice of having a Sky Box where you have to use a UK address (for a fee a lot of companies will deal with that side of things for you) or a FreeSat box.

With FreeSat and a 2.4 metre dish, you can pick up all the free channels in Europe as well as Africa, but most people won't want that because of all the different languages involved.

Image courtesy of http://www.satandpcguy.com

Anyway, when I get my 2.4 metre dish finally set up (it's lain in my garden for nearly 2 years), I'll let you know what channels I can get.

The whole satellite thing gets complicated because there are several actual satellites you can point the dish to - Astra 1, Astra 2, Hispanisat etc and you either need a hand-held machine that can set it exactly or pay an engineer to do it for you.

Each satellite carries a limited number of TV programs and you would need a motorised dish if you wanted to be able to change satellites to watch a different TV station not carried on the satellite you are pointing at.

You can see the footprint in this photo and that square thing bottom left of picture is Spain. Relleu is in the Costa Blanca in SE Spain.

Electricity overcharging

Everybody, it seems, had a double electricity bill this time around.

No-one knows why. We can all dream of getting a half bill next time but don't hold your breath! I don't know what is the matter with this electricity company but they are never in their office, they never answer their phone and they are just generally unavailable.

Two things!

1. We don't need to put up with it, we can chose what company we wish to supply our electricity under new rulings.
2. We can read our own meters. All we have to do is break that stupid plastic covering that currently prevents us from doing so.

The meters are on the street, not inside our houses. This makes 'fixing our meters' nigh on impossible LOL. This does not give any company the right to rip us off. I don't even see meter usage listed on the bills. I mean it should say something like:

Meter reading: 0896667

Last meter reading: 0896147

You are being charged for using: 520 units at such and such a price.

Doesn't EU rules give the consumer protection?