HRM vs the strap vs the GPS head unit

For those who look at my Strava feed it delivered some interesting results back at the end of August on what should have been a nice easy recovery / keep the legs spinning ride, essentially my heart rate came back at double what it should be.

Of course I didn't realise this until I got home, hit stop and save and some very strange results appeared on my Garmin 1030 Plus, new max rate and a crazy effort level for what was essentially a low speed spin round what is used as TT track near our house.

OK so your first thought is did I suddenly get very ill somewhere as this makes no sense, the something more rational sets in and you start troubleshooting, something we started when I worked at Sun was a methodology for this, it doesn't just apply to tech, it applies to all walks of life.

So what could be broken well only three things in this loop the HRM, the strap, the Garmin GPS unit. The HRM has a battery in it, it could need changing, so change the HRM, still the same result, could be the GPS head unit, still same result, so must be the strap, but that is strange never had one of those fail before and sure enough it was the strap. Bit of googling later discover this can happen, who knew, apparently the solution is to wash them, which I haven't tried yet. Doesn't seem to be any logical reason why, they are obviously not as passive as I thought.

I did also x-check with GPS watch I use for skiing and that verified the new results were accurate.

Buying a place

We moved to Spain August 2019 and since then have been thru 4 rented properties 3 apartment style and most recently a house.

Firstly the company provided us with an apartment in centre of Marbella, we moved out of that to an apartment in the very top of Los Naranjos which turned out to be a bit of a disaster as the day we moved in they had a water leak which whilst fixed the work required on the apartment meant we couldn't live in it, so that was two places in 3 months.

We then moved to San Pedro de Alcantara where we have stayed for essentially three years, firstly in a three bedroom ground floor apartment and then a lovely five bedroom villa with its own as opposed to shared pool (as much as I love and so does our dog like a private pool, be aware you have to maintain it). This was definitely a better place to be than the Los Naranjos place would have been during lockdown, to be honest had we been in Los Naranjos I'm not sure we'd still be in Spain.

Whilst the postal address might be San Pedro it is also referred to as Nueva Alcantara.

We've been really happy and love San Pedro, often described as "Spanish town" which is just fine by us as it is essentially a mixture of nationalities Spanish, English, Swedish, French, German, Ukrainian, Russian and many many more. It makes for a great mix especially of food! Plus you have to speak Spanish unlike some areas of the eastern side of Marbella where literally it is like little England and whilst I'm sure that attracts some people, why move to another country to re-create where you came from?

Then just before this summer the lady we were renting from announced that she wanted to sell the house and ideally wanted to sell it to us, sadly the asking price was somewhat over our budget. So we started down the road of looking. It became clear very quickly that actually renting was crazier than it was when we first started and if we could make it work then buying was the right answer. So to cut a long story short we did the maths and found that even with all the extra costs of owning we'd still be paying out 1000€/month less than if we were renting, plus we had an appreciating asset.

So the process of buying a place in Spain began. Finding what we wanted at the right price point, even if we renovated proved essentially impossible in San Pedro, so we had to look in the surrounding areas and after many visits we settled on a place in Nueva Andalucia, although in reality it is almost Puerto Banus. A 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom duplex apartment on an urbanisation only 15 minutes walk from the beach. A far cry from the first place we had in Los Naranjos which was up the top of the hill and about an hour from the beach!

The goto website where most people start is idealista but bear in mind stuff on here is changing all the time and a walk round local estate agents is often as valuable, the trick is find a property agent you can work with and get them to do the leg work, but don't be afraid to shop around.

The geographic boundaries of these areas is somewhat confusing hopefully this picture explains it, although where we lived in Los Naranjos is often regarded as Nueva Andalucia as sometimes is Puerto Banus.

So now you have to figure out how to avoid all the horror stories that you hear about of buying in Spain, the reality on our experience I would say is they are very very few and far between and bite you if you take short cuts.

We were fortunate to have some good friends one of whom works for a law firm in Marbella and one manages properties so we had plenty of good advice to tap into. We also needed to get a mortgage and worked with our bank (Sabadell) on that they did a great job. Worth bearing in mind that as a Spanish resident the most you can have is an 80% mortgage, as a non-resident 90%, plus you need to bank on not just your deposit but other costs of approximately 10% (varies depending on where you live in Spain). Your bank will ask you to provide bank statements and credit checks for every country you have an account in plus proof of the deposit and fees. In addition your lawyer will ask you for proof of source of wealth i.e. where are you funding your deposit and fees from. This is an AML (Anti Money Laundering) requirement.

Also worth remembering post BREXIT as a UK passport holder, but not Spanish resident you have some additional third country national hurdles to jump over (BREXIT, the gift that keeps on giving and for the record before any BREXITERS complain about these rules, they existed already the EU didn't inflict them on the UK, the UK inflicted them on itself and actually helped write them).

Outside of that I'd expect your lawyer to be working with the vendor on obtaining a bunch of supporting documentation, which definitely includes as a minimum:

1. Acquisition title and “nota simple”
2. First occupancy license (Licencia de primera ocupación)
3. Non infraction certificate
4. Energy efficiency certificate
5. Copies of Supplies invoices
6. Latest IBI and basura receipts
7. Touristic license (if available)
8. Information about the community of owners (if applicable):
• By laws
• Any other internal rules or regulations
• Last 2 minutes of community meetings
• If there is any extraordinary contribution approved
• If there is any resolution imposing any restrictions or prohibition to the tourist rentals
• Amount of the periodical quotas

If you get all of this stuff then in our experience you are OK.

Your bank of course will want to do a survey which will detail a lot of this stuff as well (in our experience this is a 20 page document) plus of course the valuation for mortgage purposes.

Then you should expect to spend time at the notary and the bank signing documents (some of this they will accept scanned and signed copies), but things like acceptance of the mortgage offer (known as FEIN), the private sale document and the final transaction public sale document on the day of completion have to be signed at the notary.

The process like the UK one is a two stage contractual process there is the private sale part, consider it like exchange of contracts, basically pays the vendor some form of deposit (typically 10%) at which point they take it off the market. Once all of the above paperwork has been done then you goto the public sale document at the notary and the property is yours.

You'll have to contact water, electric and internet providers to move over services as well as if you are buying in a community the "management body" to arrange payment of your community fees, equally you'll have to talk to your local municipality to sort out paying IBI and basura, you can put all of these on direct debit.

 

Also worth a note the day of the final signing the bank debit the mortgage amount from you chosen repayment account before they write the cheque, a bit strange because for a period of time you end up several 100K overdrawn, but this is all part of the process as you sign the final mortgage document after the public sale. Once the mortgage document is signed the negative balance goes away and life returns to normal.

You'll also need to pay the sales tax a few days after completion and the notarised documents will need to goto the land registry.

You can of course grant your lawyer Power of Attorney to sign stuff for you with the notary.

One last thought bear in mind Spanish inheritance laws (like French) are different to those of you familiar with UK ones, things to do not automatically pass between spouses it goes to children first, so you need to invest in a Will that clearly lays out your wishes, get some proper legal advice.

This is all from our experience which was generally hassle free and I'm sure I've missed something (aka the disclaimer), now comes the actual moving and getting sorted part.

If you are in the Marbella area I can recommend a good legal firm they are linked from my blog but also included here https://marbellapropertylawyers.home.blog/ this covers more than buying a property and is a good read.

London Bridge has fallen down

I had a couple of as they say pre-recorded blogs to post the end of this last week and over the weekend but with the events of this week I felt the need to write something else.

It was 1230 UK time on Thursday September 8th that a note was passed to the UK PM Liz Truss and around other senior members of parliament, Keir Starmer rushed out of the commons chamber and returned wearing a black tie, now we'll likely never know what the contents of that note were but it clearly was not good. The Queen had been ill before but this was something more serious and the BBC basically all flipped to wearing black and what is known as Operation London Bridge had essentially started. With Operation Unicorn as well.

[Added note, it has subsequently come to light that the PM for sure knew before she started her speech in the commons, according to well placed sources in the Cabinet Office she was told at 1140 that the Queen was seriously ill and had hours, not days, that would kind of make sense as by 1230 members of her family were already on the way to Balmoral. For sure that means those flying up from London never made it, Anne was already at Balmoral and it would have been a close call even for Charles and Camilla. Sure she looked frail on Tuesday, but not that frail!].

Charles, Camilla and Anne were in Scotland and it was about the same time they headed to Balmoral, also William, Andrew, Edward and Sophie headed to RAF Northolt around the same time.

After that we don't really know what happened when but at 1830 a news flash appeared saying the Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. Later it came to light that Liz Truss was told at 1630, it was very likely therefore that sometime in the hour before that the dreadful moment happened.

What is particularly sad is that with those timings it is clear that those traveling from RAF Northolt never made it in time and they knew as they drove into the grounds of Balmoral, probably explains why Edward and Sophie in the backseat of the Range Rover driven by William had such horrific looks on their faces and they were waiting for them to arrive before announcing it.

I'll certainly never see another Queen in my lifetime as even with the change to the succession rules, the next Queen is 3rd inline to the throne and she has an elder brother. Sadly I do expect to see another monarch as at 73 as Charles acknowledged in his speech last night his time is limited.

There are so many memories, the Paddington sketch from the Platinum Jubilee, the James Bond sketch from the 2012 London Olympics, the interview with the former Royal protection officer when the Queen met American tourists in Scotland and they never realised who she was. The Invictus Games video with the Obamas and Harry and the cutting of a cake, when she was told a knife was available she said she used the sword because it was more fun. One of the best little stories was the one from Theresa May about the cheese from a BBQ she attended at Balmoral was a classic.

There are so many more anecdotes and memories, I met her and Philip in person once and like all of those interactions what struck me is just how much of a dry sense of humor Philip in particular had and just how much of knowledge she had and how much of an interest she took in everything.

All of these go to show just how grounded and a normal person she really was. The photo below combines her first and last photo, shows just how much of an amazing lady she was, working until the end. The poem below has gone viral.

Phillip came to me today, 
and said it was time to go. 
I looked at him and smiled,
as I whispered that “I know”

I then turned and looked behind me, 
and seen I was asleep. 
All my Family were around me, 
and I could hear them weep. 

I gently touched each shoulder, 
with Phillip by my side. 
Then I turned away and walked, 
with My Angel guide. 

Phillip held my hand, 
as he lead the way, 
to a world where King’s and Queens, 
are Monarch’s every day. 

I was given a crown to wear
or a Halo known by some. 
The difference is up here, 
they are worn by everyone. 

I felt a sense of peace, 
my reign had seen its end. 
70 years I had served my Country, 
as the peoples friend. 

Thank you for the years, 
for all your time and love. 
Now I am one of two again,
in our Palace up above.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (well in the reverse order) and no Steve Martin or John Candy

One of the things I've discovered in Spain is the high speed rail network, my current employer did an M&A earlier this year (we started the whole process about a year ago, we announced it just before Christmas 2021 and the transaction closed the end of March 2022, on a side note M&As are something I've been involved with a lot over the years having worked for Sun Microsystems and Oracle, in fact the total of M&As I've been involved with including this latest one is 70).

As a result of the M&A I've been doing a lot of travelling to Madrid and beyond as well as Barcelona, although is abou the via Madrid part. Spain has a great high speed rail network, although it is radial primarily from Madrid. It also has good links from Madrid and Barcelona northwards into France and the rest of Europe as well. Sadly getting from Malaga to Barcelona by train is somewhat painful as you essentially have to go most of the way to Madrid, although the funding is now approved to complete the link from Barcelona to Malaga. Currently there is what is nicknamed the "Barcelona bus" which is the Vueling flight from Malaga to Barcelona, of which there are 6 a day each way.

What this does mean is that getting from Malaga to Madrid is just over 3 hours by high speed train, which is way less painful than flying, in so many ways, more comfortable and none of the associated airport hassles.

The Spanish government recently announced limited free rail travel from September until the end of the year funded by a windfall tax for all journeys less than 300km.

So today I was travelling from San Pedro to Toulouse, this started with the 0853 train from Malaga to Madrid, this meant leaving the house around 0700, this was the first part bit and was a drive from San Pedro to Malaga María Zambrano station, a 66km, 49 minute drive. Although the reality is a little longer than that, but you end up with about 40 minutes at Malaga station, time for a quick coffee.

Malaga station has a nice easy access car park underneath it. So this is automobile part done.

Next, Malaga station itself, it is in two sections the local trains (which are Spanish broad gauge) and the high speed stuff which is the more traditional gauge you see across Europe. Nice modern station, bunch of high speed platforms easy to access, with airportish style security (they x-ray your bag and pass a metal detector wand over you).

The seats are bigger than airplane seats with more legroom. Then of course you have the speed, very quickly after leaving Malaga you are going along at 271km/h. Plus you have good WiFi and cell connection all the way (mostly 5G).

By 1202 I'm at Madrid, Puerta de Atocha station which has the same modern look and feel as Malaga station.

So this is the train part of the journey done, now back in an automobile, a quick less than 30 minute taxi ride across Madrid to Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, the bit of this trip that needs the most work is the ride across Madrid.

Quick checkin-in of bag at the Emerald / Gold desk and I'm in the Iberia lounge by 1300. Grab some lunch and then down to the gate.

Gate is just a 10 minute walk from the lounge and we are off at 1540. Then basically just over an hour later we are at Toulouse (the home of Airbus) so on the way in you always get to see some interesting planes.

So the plane part is done as well, in Toulouse until Friday and then do it all in reverse or is it the right order based on the film title?

Bottom line is I've become a serious fan of high speed rail.

Morning, San Pedro Playa

 

Sunday morning in September. I was thinking as I walked the dog down the paseo this morning to collect the car we parked last night when we went for dinner, this is an amazing time of the year on the Costa. The temperature has dropped those few degrees both during the day and at night, we've gone from July and August of 40C, of which we had a lot this year to the mid to low 30s, with the odd days of high 30s.

For those of us that live and work here it is a bit of a welcome relief, the tourists all go it is wonderful high 30s low 40s, but you don't actually have to work in it! They go you have a/c, we do, but like everyone else the rising electricity prices means everyone is very careful how often they use it and frankly we are more used to weather as we live here, so our need is less. People who work outdoors in Spain such as builders tend to start really early in the summer (often before sunrise) and finish early as well because of the heat, this has wrongly lead to the perception that people are lazy here, they are not they just maximise working time based on the climate.

The Spanish govt passed a law recently imposing restrictions on the use of a/c in public buildings such as restaurants and shopping centres. It has definitely caused controversy but the logic is essentially sound, why air condition a shop and leave the door open? The law has a winter element as well where the reverse logic applies you can't heat the street.

High 30s low 40s is great for the tourists and a lot of the economy relies on it, but it is nice when after the madness of July and August a little calm returns, walking down the paseo is not like walking thru Leicester Square in London, the other things you notice is the traffic the A7 to the west of Marbella from where the A7 and AP-7 split to the San Pedro tunnel is a known bottleneck (although the funding is approved to solve the problem, not sure exactly where they'll build any road expansion) to the point in the peak season it back up all the way to the Nagueles tunnel. Then of course parking at La Canada the out of town shopping centre north of the AP-7 as it goes round Marbella, yesterday I went up to goto Leroy Merlin and I could actually park, I've always wondered why people who come for the summer to the Costa actually want to spend there time in a shopping centre 🤔.

The view across the Med on a morning like this is beautiful, and as the temperature drops the view at night improves, at dinner last night and you could see across to Africa and down to Gib.

Sleeping at this time of year becomes easier, there is also a gentle on shore breeze from the Med, for me riding my bike on one of those crazy over 100km, several 1000m in a day rides we do every weekend becomes a little more pleasant, by early afternoon your still cycling in the heat of the day, but it is the right side of 40 for that kind of thing.

Then of course the temperature continues to drop and by Christmas we'll all have coats on walking down the paseo, it never gets below 8 or 9C at night here even in Janaury. It is funny walking along the paseo in November where tourists come for winter sun in shorts and t-shirts with the locals in jeans and jumper.

Other things change at this time of year The Starlite Festival which runs every summer up in the open air arena in Nagueles comes to an end, the opening hours of shops will change at the end of September (the Andalucian govt allows the likes of La Canada to open during tourist seasons on a Sunday, although the smaller shops are allowed to open all year on a Sunday), some restaurants and bars will close for a period of time and then open again maybe in November and over the Christmas break.

There is still am amazing amount of things to do on the Costa and across Andalucia out of beach time, Andalucia itself is bigger than Scotland and Wales combined with a population of some 12 million people, I can drive for nearly 3 hours from my house on the autopista before I across out of Andalucia (excluding of course crossing into Gib).