Motril: you will be able to find some at Radiovision, Mediterranea garage on the Puntalón roundabout, Café Paris on the ring road up to the hospital and Restaurante El Zarcillo on the Esplanada, for example.

Salobreña: Chiringuito El Bahía, Supersol, Lingwoods, Casa Técnica, tourist office, etc.

Nerja: Dentadanés (Maro) Clínica Sta Cecilia (c/Hurtado, Nerja) and Tienda Danesa (Frigiliana)

Almuñécar and La Herradura: everyone that advertises

Alpujarra: phone area rep on 645 036 158

Lecrín Valley: main branch office of Caja Rural (c/Granada 21)

Velez Benaudalla: Inmo Margarita on the main street, just after the church square.

As for the online, we will start putting it up on the 1st, just as soon as we’ve had a breather from getting the Seaside Gazette ready for the printer.

Something to Bear in Mind
You may well be aware that when you move country within the European Union, you can take certain social security benefits with you. For example, you can receive UK benefits such as contributions-based incapacity benefit/ESA, Bereavement Benefit, the State Pension, as well as others, even if you move to Spain.

However, there are certain benefits that are ‘non-exportable’. You can only receive them if you are resident in the UK. These benefits are known as ‘means-tested benefits’ and include pension credit, income support, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income-related incapacity benefit or ESA. If you are resident in Spain and in receipt of any of these benefits, you should inform the authorities immediately.

For more information on which UK benefits you can and cannot receive as a resident in Spain, see our website

Healthcare in Spain
Many people who live in the UK do not think twice about going to the doctor and accessing state-run healthcare. This is because the UK’s health system is residency-based. What some people do not realise when moving to Spain, however, is that the health system here is different, it is contributions-based.

In other words, to have entitlement to use public doctors and hospitals, a person must either be working and making national insurance contributions into the Spanish system, be in receipt of certain Spanish or UK benefits or in receipt of a state pension. Unfortunately this does mean that some British residents in Spain do not have immediate access to public healthcare and more information on the options available to you if you are in this position can be found on our website.

But what if, like many other British residents in Spain, you are in receipt of a UK State Pension?

Pensioners:
Well, if you are not in receipt of a pension from any other country, you can apply to the International Pension Centre (IPC) for form S1 (previously known as an E121). Once you receive this form, and have your residency and padrón certificate, you must take all copies of the S1 form, along with some form of official ID, to the INSS (social security) office.

They should take the forms and issue you with an accreditation document, either there and then or through the post. Once you have this document, take it to your local health centre to register with a doctor. They will then apply for a Spanish health card on your behalf. (NOTE – this is a different card from the EHIC which is for use outside Spain)

So if you’re a pensioner but have never applied for an S1/E121 or have the forms but never registered them, make sure you follow the steps above to make sure you have your right to healthcare in Spain recognised.

To request an S1 form, call the IPC on 0044 191 218 7777. In September, look out for accessing healthcare as a ‘dependant’.

UK Child Benefit
If you or a member of your family cares for young children, you may want to find out if you are entitled to some form of benefit.

To receive UK child benefit in Spain, you must either:
* Be employed or self employed in a job in which you have to pay national insurance contributions to the UK, OR
* Be in receipt of a UK contributions-based benefit such as a pension, incapacity benefit, ESA or Bereavement Benefit.

However, if you are resident in Spain and your child was born here or you are paying Spanish insurance contributions, you should make enquiries with the social security office regarding your entitlement to Spanish child benefit. See www.seg-social.es for more information.

For more information on UK Child Benefit, call the Child Benefit Department in the UK on 0044 161 210 3086 or see www.direct.gov.uk.

Keeping Your Cool
It has been a long winter so I«m sure that you are glad that summer is on its way! However, high temperatures and humidity can present a risk to health and so it is important to protect yourself from the heat and recognize the signs of heat related illnesses.

How to avoid heat related illnesses

(1) Keep out of the heat – stay indoors during the hottest parts of the day and if you are outside make sure to stay covered and take water with you.

(2) Avoid strenuous activity – limit chores such as gardening to the mornings or evenings when it is cooler.

(3) When you are indoors stay in the coolest part of your home and draw curtains and blinds closed in rooms that get the sun.

(4) Wear loose fitting, lightweight and light coloured clothing.

(5) Take cool baths and showers.

(6) Drink lots of fluids even when you«re not thirsty and eat cold foods such as salads and fruits that contain a lot of water.

Get Registered!
If you’re resident in Spain you might have heard of the Padrón. The Padrón is simply a list kept by your local town hall which allows them to know how many people are in the locality, so that they can provide sufficient services for the community.

But did you know that registering is a really simple process and that it’s free of charge? All you need is:

* An address where you habitually live.
* A form of official identification.
* Your NIE or residence card.
* Details of your home (deeds/rental contract).
* A recent utility bill in your name.

Go to your local town hall with the above documents and fill in a form. It really is that simple!

Unfortunately, we at Age Concern España see an increasing number of people coming to us for help and our hands are tied because we cannot link them into state provided services. For example, if you are not on the Padrón you may not be able to enter a state residential care home, nor access local services such as home help. You will also not be able to claim income-related Spanish benefits. Access to many of these services depends upon the length of time you have been registered on the Padrón. Therefore, the sooner you register the better!

For further information about registering on the Padrón visit the “Living in Spain” section on the UK in Spain website. www.ukinspain.fco.gov.uk .

According to the locals, you will find a pothole or crack every couple of kilometres wherever you drive in the area. That is if you can find the road, in the cases where it has slipped down the valley.

There are three main access roads to the Alpujarra Granadina and all three of them have problems.

The first one joins the capital of the comarca (county) to the Contraviesa, running through places like Haza de Lino and Murtas, for example.

The second major road joins Órgiva to Ugíjar (the second largest town in the area), passing through Torviscón and Cádiar, amongst others.

The third one is the highest one, joining Órgiva to the Alpujarra Almeriense via Trevélez – probably the best-known road for tourists. Between them they comprise about 300 kilometres of road, sprinkled with around 150 ‘problem areas.’

It’s hardly surprising of course, when the average rainfall for the area is anything up to 600 litres per sq/m, whereas last winter it was well over the 2,000 litres mark – some even claim nearly 3,000 litres.

Whereas the problem most certainly ‘fell out of the sky,’ there are many that believe that the Junta de Andalucía hasn’t been exactly ‘on the ball.’ How else can you explain that right in the middle of summer the debris of an angry winter has not been swept away and damage made good? After all, six months ago the Ideal newspaper published an article that listed 71 landslips just between Torviscón and Cádiar, five of which were the result of gales the previous year!

In their defence, six months ago the Junta announced that it was going to build seven diques de contencíon (dry weirs designed to stop flash floods eroding the dry riverbeds) in the Barranco de Poquiera within the municipalities of Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira. This work, with a budget of 600,000 euros is being carried out at the moment. The Junta is also carrying out emergency repair work between Torviscón and Cádiar on the A-348, this time with an estimated budget of 1,200,000 euros.

“The years go by and the promised hospital, that is to be built in Órgiva, has still not materialised,” he said.
He also complained that a similar promise was made concerning a law-court building, which remains equally non-existent.

To be fair, Sr- Pérez must have missed the fact that we are up to our unmentionables in an economic crisis at the moment, which bear some relevance.

Interestingly, the hotel will have a solar-panel installation on the roof, providing 25kw, coupled with a projected biomass boiler, making the hotel self-sufficient in energy needs.
There’s even a plan to convert the old Lanjarón bottling plant into 50 tourist flats.

Oil by Sollmann of church in Albacín

The photos belong to the descendents of Paul Sollmann (1886-1950) from Germany who took many photos in that year of Granada city and province, as well as other cities in Spain. This photographer and impressionist painter live in Granada until the 1920’s when he returned to his homeland. Whilst living in Granada, he married Granadina Angelina Macho Millet Martos.

The photos will be on display until September, so there is plenty of time, but don’t forget, of course.

crowd goes wild

Tonight the crisis is forgotten

For an excellent account of the match, which you saw, anyway, but from an American point of view, click on this link

They have a fantastic product range providing low-cost telephone calls from your mobile, even to overseas numbers. Calls on their mobile service are only seven cents per minute to Spanish mobiles and an even cheaper 5.3 cents per minute to the UK landlines and many other European destinations.

They even allow you 100 five-minutes calls between Telitec customers for free (subject to 15 cent connection charge) and texts from only 9 cent each! Telitec’s landline services are equally impressive with calls at one cent per minute to most European landline destinations.

We asked whether the call quality was poor with delays, only to be told we were speaking through their system and the quality was perfect! So if you are looking to cut down your phone bills, or if you are interested in representing Telitec here on the Costa Tropical, check out their web page at http://www.telitec.com/

I haven’t seen this much eurphoria in the streets in years. Spain in the Word Cup Finals – unheard of.

¡Viva España!

As one of them was armed with a katana (ceremonial sword), nobody was keen to tackle them. For this reason, their chosen victim didn’t put up much resistance, as he had been promised a liberal dosage of sword wounds if he hadn’t complied. He handed over his mobile and his wallet containing a 20-euro note.