Life in La Unión

Every month there is a survey about the things which most concern ordinary Spaniards. Recently corruption has been up there in the top three usually just behind unemployment. Over the past few years there have been several high profile corruption cases and, because the Spanish justice system still hasn't bought many computers and is notoriously slow, most of them are still current news stories. Anyway there are new scandals almost on a weekly basis. The King's son in law is in court on corruption charges and the Infanta, a Princess in British terms, has to declare in court tomorrow. The ex treasurer of the governing right of centre Partido Popular is currently on remand accused of handing over wads of money in brown envelopes to lots of prominent people - one name on his payment list is that of the President. Everybody seems to be in on it from prominent business people and heads of regional government through bankers to town mayors and even to the unions who are accused of...

My finances are a little stretched at the moment. Two months without pay over the summer and then a month with very few paid hours in September has left a delicate balance between outgoings and income. Provided my October pay gets to the bank before the 6th there won't be any problem but there's the rub. Transfer money from an account in Spain to another and your money disappears for a few days. It goes from the sending bank immediately but it can take four or five days to show up in the other account. I don't often go to a bank but, when I do it's always a pain. The queues are interminable. Every transaction seems to take an age. There are notices on the desk to say that they will only accept recibos, which so far as I know means receipts or bills, between 8.30 and 10.30 and that always makes me worry that they will send me away. I can't complain about the charges from my current bank. Basically there aren't any but, in order to maintain free banking, I h...

I don't get a lot of calls on my mobile but you can guarantee that when I do it is when I am stuffing a turkey, cleaning the lavatory or at least driving. It happened today. I was cleaning grease from under the electric hob when the phone exploded into life. It was a Madrid number which usually means someone trying to persuade me of the benefits of some wonder product. I nearly didn't bother to answer. The woman checked who I was, said she was calling from my bank and asked me if I knew anything about a payment from Iberdrola, the electricity supplier. I didn't. She mentioned a name associated with the payment which rang no bells at all. Don't worry about it then said the woman and went away. Five to ten seconds after the phone call was over I realised what it was. The landlady of my new flat, whose name I hadn't recognised, had asked about paying the electric bill directly from my bank account. She'd gone and done that and I'd just told my ban...