Almería news, blog, webpages, books, gossip, opinions, history & much more since 2001
From today’s discussion of the difference between pubs and bars, being carried out on the letters page of The Times: Sir, Many years ago I was called to the bar of my Inn, which has no bar, and drank in a mess. Fortunately the Inn has a pub adjoining, with one bar much frequented by the Bar. Andrew Francis Lincoln’s Inn, London WC2 Well, that’s cleared it up!
What fun. Here’s an interesting fact that escaped my notice (what with the foxes and all). IVA medium rate goes up tomorrow (1st July 2010) to 8% – meaning if you buy a new house tomorrow, costing 200,000€, it will cost you 2,000€ more in tax than it would have today (7% IVA rising to 8% IVA). IVA is only applied to new homes, right? But, Andalucia has said that the Impuesto sobre transmisiones patrimoniales, Continue reading Tax goes up… but not for second hand homes!
As foxes go, this one was not a particularly fine specimen. Don’t think I need to worry about him biting through the chicken wire to get at the chickens! Taken in the Rio Aguas above Turre last night (click for big pic) We later discovered that this was a cub and spotted him with his mother (no sign of any others around) All together now… ahhhhhh….
29 year old José Miguel L.R. from Huercal de Almería has been officially awarded the coveted “Dimwit of the week” award by the Guardia Civil in Almería. Young José, obviously a firm believer in the Rule of Law, went round to his local copshop last weekend to denounce a friend of his for stealing eight fully grown marijuana plants from his living room. Officers were “surprised”, according to a spokesman, but went round to José’s Continue reading Dimwit of the week
Blimey. The rumours were true, and The Le@der “newspaper” has started distributing it’s Costa del Sol (eh?) edition in Almería. 16 flimsy pages – frontpage leads with “Van Rompuy” praises Spanish presidency, which also fills up page two (riveting stuff), along with a large anti-Chilean cartoon. Something about Ryanair, some Málaga news, several pages of UK TV listings and lots of ads. The only time “Almería” is mentioned is on the frontpage. Do we Brits Continue reading Another English paper in Almeria?
The Ministry of Health has announced plans to build 15 new heliports across the province to expand it’s heli-ambulance service. Adra, Abla, Albox, Berja, Carboneras, María, Laujar de Andarax, Ohanes, Pulpí, Serón, Tabernas & Vera will all get new helipads. The idea behind them is to expand coverage, allowing serious patients to be taken to local medical centres before being airlifted to regional hospitals. Seems there are five medical helicopters in this region, which are Continue reading 15 new medical heliports to be built across the province
The latest crime data released by the Jefatura Superior de Policía de Andalucía Oriental suggests that despite the recession, crime across Eastern Andalucia (Jaén, Málaga, Almería, Granada) continues to drop, with 14.06% fewer crimes being committed so far this year over 2009. The two types of crime with the biggest drops are bag snatching (a 31% drop) and vehicle theft (22% drop). Better police training, with better cooperation between forces, and better backup from the Continue reading Crime continues to fall across region
Despite being billed as the worlds thinnest, sexiest and faster touchscreen phone, the new iPhone 4 doesn’t actually appear to work. Users are reporting that holding it by the bottom left hand corner causes a short between the two built in antennas (one for the mobile phone, one for wireless internet) causing bothing of them to fail. Apple’s response so far appears to have been “don’t hold it like that. If you must hold it Continue reading iPhone 4 is as crap as we expected
Here’s an interesting little website for anyone who suffers from hay fever or air born allergies: http://www.polenes.com/ It’s a website run by allergy doctors across Spain, who measure the pollen count in their areas on a daily basis and upload the data, so you always know how bad your particular allergen is at any given moment. In Spanish only at the mo’.
It appears that the Junta has found the private investment necessary to finish off the Almanzora motorway, and has promised that the rest of the works will be contracted out by the end of this year / beginning of 2011. After announcing that they’d run out of cash, they are now hunting around for companies to lend them money, in exchange for lucrative maintainence contracts over the next 50 years. They appear to have been Continue reading Junta finds the cash to finish Arboleas motorway