Thumbs Up!

Dd reporting a successful first day of her latest course here in Barcelona! Funny to see one of her linen tops tailored and purchased in Cairo here on the streets of Catalonia in front of Bar Angela owned by Chinese...it's a small, small world!

In other news, I managed to find a secure document destruction company to safely unload 50 kg of papers (mostly bank stuff) built up over the years and stored in the boot of the Saab which is being passed on tomorrow to its new owner. Fittingly, I booked one of our car club cars for two hours to take the bulging bags out of town to their pulping machine...the cost of the car was €14 euros including petrol. And, coincidentally, it turned out the company also services the English Language Exam Centre of a very close friend of ours, Caroline, who also uses the car club when her employees have to make business trips!

I also visited the traffic department of the local authority to check on procedures and obstacles in selling a car to an Andalucian; one is flying up from the deep south town of Huelva tomorrow to take ownership. I got some good advice which opened the door to having a 'gestoria' or professional management office do the whole thing for me as they have access to the state computer system and can avoid any hiccups. It seems obvious, but the news was a godsend and gives me all the security I need in the sale...the whole process is a minefield of papers and legal responsibilities and often results in the naive seller being burdened with every traffic fine of the new owner for years to come. It's very much a case of 'Seller Beware’ which sums up the nonsense of Spain's bureaucracy...as Spanisheyes will testify! Time will tell in my case!