December 2010

Hello again. As I write this, final column of the year, I have just returned from a meeting at the British Consulate in Malaga. The meeting was attended by a number of the SOHA.ES committee and Alexandra Brown of the British Embassy in Madrid and Paul Eason of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London with a special responsibility for ex pat property owners. The meeting was also attended by Rossalyn Crotty MBE, the Vice Consul. Their aim was to find out from us what the problems were for British property owners in the Axarquia. We had a very pleasant meeting and we gave them all our usual tales. I think the only thing that surprised them was the idea of ex pats feeling “trapped” here, unable to sell their homes and without enough money to return to the their countries of origin. They know now. We also made it clear to them that we believe that the problem lies at the feet of the Junta de Andalucia and we suggested to them that the British Government could help by applying direct pressure to the Junta either by the Europe Minister or by the Foreign Secretary himself. They told us they would “see what they could do”. Let’s hope they do something, at least we have a dialogue with the FCO now.

Hope you see our “register to vote” advert in this magazine. Remember the first step is to “empadronarse”. This MUST be done by the end of this month. Then you have only until 15th of January to register to vote. If you think your current incumbent council is doing a good job then maybe not doing anything is reasonable. If, like me, you think that the current incumbent has messed up badly then you need to vote.

On the 10th of December we are holding a Quiz Night at the Camping Bar starting at 8.00pm. Entry is 5€ and if you want the chance to win some great prizes then contact Pauline at [email protected] or phone 606441495.

Merry Christmas everyone