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Posted

Bonus ,

I have never met you , but with a reply like that I am really starting to dislike you ....

:devil: ....

 

 

It's not easy keeping everybody happy when you're Livin' the Dream :-)

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Posted

Oh Bonus is really just being silly. SA has the best winters in the world and I'm going to miss them. No amount of snow and freezing will make me forget about riding in the cradle in winter. I don't imagine my bike will get out and about in winter here. So..... while we enjoy summer here I know all our cycling friends will be having a great winter ride around 9ish every Saturday and Sunday morning. It even gets so warm after you can have a cold beer after a ride. Enjoy the winter South Africa xx

Posted

We have a few little jobs to do today - talking to the architect and chasing our planning permission application etc (man, I'm getting bored to death of repeating this line!) before coming home and packing for our drive up through France to the UK where we will be visiting some family and friends for a fortnight.

 

Then it will be back here for the summer and hopefully to start getting on properly with our building!

 

:-)

Posted

Today I've been chopping and stacking firewood . . . now it's time to wash my bike.

 

There's nothing to look at around here . . just the same old mountains and scenery  . . . . ;-)

post-4874-0-68448400-1466441403_thumb.jpg

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

We are currently in the UK on a quick catch-up trip, visiting friends & family. Great to see some of our old school friends again :-)

 

Challenging and confusing times for the Brits at the moment, but it looks like as far as we are concerned, living & working in Spain isn't going to change for us in any way any time soon :-)

 

Hopefully by the time we get back to Ainsa in a week or two's time our planning permission will have been granted and we can start building!

 

:-)

Posted (edited)

My new passport came today - I discovered it was out of date at border control in Calais when we came over here. Luckily they still let me in.

 

 

The car is going in for it's MOT on Friday (the British version of a roadworthy certificate) and then we can start make plans for our drive back to Spain and the sunshine :-)

Edited by Bonus
Posted

My new passport came today - I discovered it was out of date at border control in Calais when we came over here. Luckily they still let me in.

 

 

The car is going in for it's MOT on Friday (the British version of a roadworthy certificate) and then we can start make plans for our drive back to Spain and the sunshine :-)

I think they were just so relieved to see someone with a passport for a change :ph34r:

Posted

I think they were just so relieved to see someone with a passport for a change :ph34r:

 

Yeah - even an out of date one! :-)

Posted

This is something I put on the "Leaving SA" group page on FB this morning . . . .

 

 

I'd just like to flag up a potential problem that people leaving SA might come across and should be aware of. When our daughter left SA 18 months ago she closed her Standard Bank account. When we left SA 5 months ago we closed our Standard Bank accounts. In both cases, 4 months after leaving the country we received emails telling us that our accounts are overdrawn and that if we do not settle our accounts immediately legal proceedings will follow. Emails back to Standard Bank go unanswered. The only solution to this problem seems to be a 30 minute phone call from wherever you are in the world to SA where you have to explain the problem and eventually have the charges dropped and the account confirmed closed.

 

 

I don't know if we have just been unlucky or whether Standard Bank are particularly incompetent. Either way, be careful when closing bank accounts. I don't know if it is possible to get some sort of a reference number from the bank when you close the account but at the least, make a good note of the date, branch and teller you talked to when you did it. All facts that will help you to prove that you are telling the truth.

Posted

 

This is something I put on the "Leaving SA" group page on FB this morning . . . .

 

 

I'd just like to flag up a potential problem that people leaving SA might come across and should be aware of. When our daughter left SA 18 months ago she closed her Standard Bank account. When we left SA 5 months ago we closed our Standard Bank accounts. In both cases, 4 months after leaving the country we received emails telling us that our accounts are overdrawn and that if we do not settle our accounts immediately legal proceedings will follow. Emails back to Standard Bank go unanswered. The only solution to this problem seems to be a 30 minute phone call from wherever you are in the world to SA where you have to explain the problem and eventually have the charges dropped and the account confirmed closed.

 

 

I don't know if we have just been unlucky or whether Standard Bank are particularly incompetent. Either way, be careful when closing bank accounts. I don't know if it is possible to get some sort of a reference number from the bank when you close the account but at the least, make a good note of the date, branch and teller you talked to when you did it. All facts that will help you to prove that you are telling the truth.

 

It's just SB being incompetent. As per normal. 

Posted

Simpler Better Disaster... 

1967 - "You can bank on the Standard"

1982 - "There's a bank that understands"

1991 - "Looking ahead so you're not left behind"

1993 - "With us you can go so much further"

2000 - "Simpler. Better. Faster."

2004 - "Inspired. Motivated. Involved."

2009 - "Moving Forward"

 

 All complete bollocks from my dealings  :whistling:

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

We are back in Spain now, safe & sound after a few weeks in the UK with friends & family.

 

It was a long drive through France but the countryside and villages are beautiful and once we get down to the Spanish border we're only 45 mins from Home :-)

 

Yesterday first thing we met with our architect at his offices to discuss the last of the obstacles holding up our planning application and today we met with him again (acting as our interpreter) and with our neighbours at our property to discuss the issues further. It looks like everything is going to work out ok. There are just some concerns regarding where exactly the boundaries of our respective properties lay.

 

One of the little oddities you get when buying a rural property surrounded by fields :-)

 

Let's hope we're nearly there now - all this cycling and sight-seeing we're doing to keep ourselves busy is exhausting!

Posted

The heatwave that we went through in SA over Christmas is now coming to Spain (as the earth tilts for summer here in the northern hemisphere). 38 degrees today, but not uncomfortably hot and a perfect excuse for a midday siesta :-)

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