And so it came to pass as most of us here predicted - further Covid restrictions are in place with effect from Tuesday which mean that all bars/cafes/restaurants will be closed (although they can provide a takeaway service). Gyms and sports facilities will also be closed (apart from federated sports) as well as all non-essential shops and larger shopping centres. Government buildings and schools will remain open. The former is good news for those still processing official paperwork such as TIE (the post-Brexit residence) cards. In any event, I'm very much looking forward to the vaccination rollout here; my youngest daughter who works in a care home in the UK, received her first vaccination last Sunday with her second dose booked in already. One day.......🙏
This past week saw the Three Kings fiesta although of course it was a shadow of its former self this year. Nevertheless, here and indeed all over Spain, heroic volunteers turned out in their costumes 👑 on an absolutely freezing cold evening to drive round just about every road in town (standing on small flat bed trucks or jeeps) so that children could see them from their balconies 👏👏 This big child (ahem!) also enjoyed it - they went past 3 times due to living on a main junction - but the street and shop lights made it difficult to get reasonable photos, this is as good as it got:
From what we saw of local children the next day (the Three Kings bank holiday) out playing with their new toys, it seemed that somehow parents and the local Three Kings organisers ensured that the children had as good an experience as possible - bravo!! 👏
The weather here really has been dreadful in the last week or so - cold, grey, windy and VERY wet! This has made sitting outside to eat or drink a bit of a trial and I've taken to bringing an extra scarf with me to lie across my lap. Mind you, as of next week I won't have the need to do that for a while so every cloud and all that! It's been so cold that sitting on the loo seat makes me squeal 😱😂 and leaving a nice warm bed to go to the loo in the middle of the night is something that you put off until you absolutely have to, a bit like I used to do when a scout leader (which I was for many, many years in the UK) when at winter camps. Mind you, at least here I don't have to clamber out of a sleeping bag, put on a coat, put on boots and unzip a frosted tent flap to walk to a freezing loo block so maybe I exaggerate, but you get the idea!
Recently we had cause to go to Palma with appointments at the tax office to obtain certificates to say we were fiscal residents in Spain. And as ever, nothing is easy! My appointment was first which was a good thing as my Spanish is reasonable and it soon became clear that the reason 'computer says no' was because apparently I live in the UK! 😳 The staff were very sympathetic and actually the nicest government officials we've yet encountered, but had no real answer as to who I'd been paying my tax to ever since I moved here and started working but hey! this is Spain 😂 If we were able to prove, same day, that we had lived here for at least 6 months then all was well. The fact that we live almost an hour's drive away and they close at 2pm elicited sympathy but when I enquired if we could make an appointment for another day...... you've guessed it.....'computer says no'. Brainwave! Cue a brisk trot to the nearest branch of our bank to get copies of at least 6 months of bank statements to prove we live here, back to the tax office and one of the sympathetic staff members produced the goods. Only in Spain! 😂
In local news, the owner of La Fortaleza (the beautiful estate in the bay where The Night Manager was filmed) has donated 400 food hampers which the local social welfare department will be distributing amongst needy local families - good news indeed in these very difficult times. This is a very welcome addition to the great work of the local food bank 👏
Today, or at least mainly this morning, the weather was much improved and so we took the opportunity to walk along to Llenaire and back with the dogs whilst the sun shone:
The bay looked as beautiful as ever and we felt very lucky to be able to be in the great outdoors in such lovely surroundings 💕
Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!
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