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 .

Suddenly, you hear a noise behind you. Huh? Not Hubby! No way is he up yet! So you walk the three steps from the kitchen to the front door, to see the back of a broad-shouldered young man with dark curly hair and a deep tan, exiting your premises, and taking off (uphill!) towards the village. You look around, and see your handbag is exactly where you left it last night. Phew, you think. What a relief. Nothing stolen.

Then you walk upstairs (where Hubby is still magnificently oblivious) to see all three of your jewellery boxes are missing. Shock, horror set in immediately. You’ve just been robbed, in broad daylight, and with people in the house only feet from the robber.

You do what you were taught in your home country: you call the police. Now, in Molvízar, the Local Police consists of Paco, who duly informed the complainants, “I don’t do crime; this is for La Guardia. (However, should you park your car in front of a neighbour’s house, I’ll be right down to issue a ticket).

Anyway, one visit later to La Guardia, in Salobreña, you end up with una denuncia against person(s) unknown. Just a description (from the back) of aforesaid swarthy-complexioned youth. These sage gentlemen (no pun intended, but I just couldn’t resist it) are nodding to each other, and saying, “Aaaaah – Los Romanos regresan.” Meaning – Ah, the Romanian Gypsies are back. Their words, not mine, I hasten to add.

There is, to be fair, a long history all along the coast of Andalucía of Eastern Europeans conducting household robberies, mostly in organised gangs. And La Guardia is very aware of this. Come summer, when there is more wealth here to be stolen, the gangs are known to become more and more active and even more sophisticated; to the point of targeting an urbanisación, pumping ‘sleeping gas’ through keyholes or windows of selected villas, then cutting out locks and walking in to take anything of value. Cars, if keys are handy, TV sets, anything they can put their sticky hands on. They’ve even been known to remove iron gates from their hinges, in order to remove vehicles from the premises.

If robbery in broad daylight can happen in Molvízar, it can happen anywhere. So please, be warned. And beware. Many of these robbers don’t care if you’re in the house or not. Which fact carries with it at least the implication that they are prepared to be violent, if confronted.

Oh, and here’s the final insult in this particular case; because the front door was ‘open,’ the insurance company will not pay out one penny. Aren’t they just special?

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

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

¡Viva España!

It’s going to be a long night tonight and anybody who is thinking of getting a quiet night’s sleep tonight should grab his passport and book a flight out because it’s nothing but revelry this side of the Pyrenees!

¡Viva España – estamos con la Roja!

Things are getting worse, almost by the day, to the detriment of the most vulnerable among us. Unemployment for the whole of Spain is averaging around 20%, so it is almost assuredly higher in areas like ours, where there is no industry to speak of, apart from agriculture – which tends not to employ anybody outside immediate family.

The International Club has stepped up, with some great efforts to help. First, the Club has earmarked €400 for the purchase of food to be donated to the Food Bank, the first instalment of which has already been made. Additionally, the most recent meeting was dedicated to the Food Bank, with members being asked to bring items of staple foods to donate. Approximately €200 worth in additional aid was delivered by members, to be passed on immediately to the Food Bank. The Club has always made such donations, but is now increasing both the amount and frequency of them due to the current crisis.

Plus, of course, there are the funds raised by the Eco Rastro, which are to be used for improvement of the park facilities – which, given the cash-strapped situation facing the Town Hall, would never otherwise happen. All in all, I think we, as the foreign community, can take a well-earned bow in the way we’re behaving in support of the place where we live. No resting on laurels, though!

So still no response from the Ayuntamiento regarding the suggestion that we could, maybe, use the Catering College facilities along with some volunteers to set up a ‘soup kitchen’ kind of thing. Methinks it suffers from the syndrome known in business circles as, NIH.”

As in, ‘Not Invented Here,’ therefore cannot be considered. Anyway, we’ll keep pushing; and thanks to all of you out there who volunteered your valuable time.

As part of the plan to improve the facilities at the Port, there is a need to extend the docking area. This machine will ingest sand, cement et al, then form and deposit concrete blocks on the seabed, thus providing a foundation for an extension of the docking facilities. I s**t you not!

Of course, it’s been in place for more weeks than you could shake a stick at, without the slightest sign of movement. However that apparently is the plan. Like a lot of other things, maybe it’s just awaiting the appropriate funding!