On the Plaza outside the Ayuntamiento. Tomorrow Evening. Friday 17th June.

Well Friday nights free music night in Arboleas just got better.

Not only is a very famous Flamenco         Singing Star, Solea Morente, performing at around 10 pm but the incredible Steve Jackson is also perforing for everyone at  around 8pm to 9.30pm.

Solea will start at around 10 pm. Remember this is a free evenings entertainment put on by the Ayuntamiento.

Please come along and have a great evenings entertaibment.

*Voting in local elections in Spain* 

Lots of you have been in touch asking about your continued right to vote in local elections here in Spain, following an ECJ ruling last week and subsequent press reports. 

This judgement, which concerned a UK National resident in France, does not affect UK nationals’ right to vote and stand in local elections in Spain. These are provided by the bilateral agreement between the UK and Spain, which allows UK nationals who have lived in Spain for more than 3 years to vote and stand in local elections.

UK nationals can vote and stand in local elections in Spain once they have been resident for 3 years. To do so, you must:

• be registered on the municipal register where you live (padrón municipal)

• confirm your registration on the electoral roll (censo electoral), within the dates set by the electoral authorities before each election

Your town hall may not allow you to register on the electoral roll at other times.

You can find more information at gov.uk/livinginspain#voting

Jos Biggs problems this past week. Oh dear !!

Have you ever noticed how many friends and relations Problems have?

If one Problem comes along it brings all of those friends and relations with it - I have a theory that Problems must be deeply insecure in themselves and always need to be surrounded by an inner circle of other Problems, who can offer them support and confidence.

And thus it was last week!

I awoke all peaceful and calm; the sun was making definite plans to hoist itself over the horizon, the blackbird was singing its little head off in the garden, it was going to be another serene day in paradise.

And then I went to the loo. I have 2 loos - the on-suite and the other one. The on-suite hadn’t been working for a couple of days. I was going to get it fixed, just not today because I had to be elsewhere for the morning. So I patronised the other loo - loo 2.

Loo 2, however, came over all pathetic; the best it could manage was a trickle so feeble as to be useless.

When the water pressure is low I have an external pump that is supposed to kick in and somehow magically return the water supply to the house to its normal strength.

With dread I realised that I hadn’t heard the pump kick in. Full of foreboding I toddled round to the little pump house, and there was the pump, doing nothing. I pushed its override button - nothing!

I rooted out a couple of buckets and filled them from the pool. I was in control of the situation!

It was then that I discovered that you can pour as much pool water as you like into the cistern, but if the upsy-downsy things - or ballcocks to the pedantic, don’t work that water is going to stay just where it is - in the cistern!

I needed a plumber, and I needed him right now! This is where things began to go seriously awry. I was supposed to be elsewhere at 10, and the plumber wasn’t open until 10, so therefore couldn’t be asked to come and sort things out before that hour. 

I couldn’t ask leave of absence from my usual appointment before 10, so I high-tailed it down to Fontalmanzora resolving to hand in my apologies telephonically later - a plumber was at this moment my first priority.

I managed to convey my tale of woe in Spanish, and was reassured (in Spanish) that a plumber would call this morning.

This is going to cost, I thought, so on my return I raided my secret cash supply and settled down to a waterless daily routine of jobs. Unfortunately I forgot all about phoning - my brain was full of plumbers, there was no room for anything else!

My sanitary ware saviours turned up just after 11, about an hour after I had thrown myself on the mercy of the might of Fontalmanzora.

However, by this time my absence had been noted, and I was in receipt of a smart ticking-off re my non-appearance.

For the sake of peace and quiet I pressed the house keys into the hand of Plumber#1 and explained that I had to go out, and when they had finished would they please lock up the house and put the key under the flower pot.

And when I got back home there were no plumbers present, but the door was locked, the key was under the flower pot, a new pump and 2 new upsy-downsies had been fitted, and all the removable objects that could have found their way into an unscrupulous plumber’s pockets were all still in situ!

It’s amazing how the lack of a functioning toilet can focus the mind to the exclusion of all else!