Dog kennels near Marbella
The following people provide dog kennels near Marbella.
PetCare Kennel and Cattery, Viv and pam McCarthy, Alharin El Grande tel 685400216
Tiny Dog Hotel for dogs under 5kg.
ojen, Mobile 627193270
Dog Walking Marbella/Dog care
We have used this and the dogs love it. They play during the day in a large garden with other dogs, with splash pools and toys and at night they can choose to sleep inside a purpose built building with sofas or sleep outside. Your dog won’t have time to pine for you as he will be too busy playing with his friends. I much prefer this to a traditional kennel where the dogs are enclosed in a kennel/caged area.
Contact Adrian 646904590.
The vet from Pointer Clinic uses Adrian for his dog……
Roy Fonte Kennel and cattery and dog training school
Elviria, mobile 627193270
The Pet Care center – dogs only.
Guadalmina Tel 699589915
Applying for a UK secondary school
We have spent the best part of a year researching this, to make sure that when we return back to the UK this summer that we are in the very best area for all three of our children.
There are some truly fantastic state schools in the UK and some really dreadful ones.
Some of the best ones are of course the grammar schools and that means taking an entrance examination and often having an address, but not always, there are several grammar schools in the UK that are free, have very good results ( as only the academic children get offered a place) and they do not require you to live in catchment. Most of these examinations are verbal or non verbal reasoning papers and you will be competing against parents that have paid for private tutors since year 5 or earlier……but something to consider if you have a child that is good at both mathematics and english.
There are state schools in the UK which are free but have boarding, so you only pay for the boarding, around £3000 per term. Some of these have very good results. These schools are north and south of the UK, not confined to one area.
Look at the Government league table results to see what the percentage of A to C passes was at GCSE or A levels, you can do this by county and see what the best performing schools were in any county in the UK. This is what we did, we then had to work out how close the schools for our girls would be from our son, did both have great results and would we be able to live in catchment? Then we had to start applying……
Once you’ve decided on a school talk to them directly before talking to the LEA. The school will usually be able to tell you if there are places, where you would be on the waiting list and what chance you realistically have of getting your child in. If they like you then can “bend” the rules in your favour….sometimes….
You can always appeal. We are in catchment for one school but it is hugely oversubscribed. So we are appealing. We can either attend the hearing in person, delegate a friend or write a letter outlining why we think our daughters should be given a place. You do not have to live in catchment to appeal, but it will probably help.
To apply for a school place you WILL need an address, you can do very little in terms of choosing a school without it, in other words until you have an address nothing will be promised or agreed. An address needs to be proof of exchange of contracts or a rental agreement. In some counties they allow family or friends to write a letter to prove that you are staying with them….
Once you have been offered a school place you have to take it up within 4 weeks.
At present we have been told we have school places verbally for our children but cannot be officially told this until 1 month before our eldest daughter can attend. We are also appealing to another school and taking a place at a different school does not mean you cannot appeal. The LEA considers it good sense and so do I. If we don’t win the appeal at least the girls will have a great school. Our second choice has also told us not to worry that they believe we will be offered a place but it cannot happen officially until 4 weeks before our daughter can start school – this July. Talking to the school has really helped. One school has 50 children on the waiting list and we are now bumped up to 1st place. Having a sibling in the school helps a lot!
So if you are applying for or thinking about a secondary school place for your child/children start early, get an address and keep your fingers crossed. If your children have been in a private school all their lives then moving them to the state system can seem quite daunting. But thousands do it successfully, it’s the normal thing to do and honestly there are some really great primary and secondary schools out there in the UK and ….
They are free!
The best things usually are in life…..:)
The power in my hand
Erika was sitting on my bed this evening and she looked really tired.
“I thought it was Friday today,” she sighed wistfully.
“I thought it was Friday too!” I replied, it really did feel like a Friday night today.
Erika gave me a look and said,
“You could make it Friday…”
Wow, who would have thought that little old me could have the power to change the week days for my daughter.
No, she’s going to school tomorrow.
Saint Anna has long gone…….
Saint Anna
That’s me at the moment.
My son has just had his first mathematics GCSE and I’ve been like a cat on hot tiles. Clock watching, worrying that his pen may suddenly stop working, implode, explode, write all the wrong answers for him automatically, or that he didn’t eat enough breakfast or that I made the breakfast too salty so he’ll dehydrate in the middle of his mathematics examination and his brain will shrink and he’ll forget his numbers and matricies and it will be all my fault.
See….I’m going quite mad and I’ve got another 2 months of this and so has he.
You never know how you will re-act when your child goes through these exams and I’ve become some saint like mother. He’s had cakes every day so he had a good snack, a proper breakfast made for him rather than the usual stale bread and mouldy jam, he doesn’t have to walk the dog lest he gets tired and a single brain cell is destroyed, he’s getting fish….a lot of fish….and his bed is cotton fresh, not a bogey in sight. I’m even letting him use the PS3 as relaxation is good isn’t it? Maybe I should try it?
Meanwhile one of his sisters is grounded, the other is like some horrible grinchy teen at the moment so she and I snarl at each other a lot and they have to make their own breakfast and they get mouldy bread and jam for a snack.
Their turn will come but for now they have to put up with complete inequality in this house.
God help him if he gets bad results! 
Deleting Facebook
I’ve recently deleted Facebook.
I was persuaded to go onto it by friends that I met up with last summer after years of being apart, they said it was a great way to keep in touch.
The reality is that with Facebook the need to pick up the phone, write a letter ( yes I do that on occasions ) or send a good long email becomes less and less and instead you are left with short monolgues and little interaction with friends at all.
Not to mention my email box being bombarded with messages telling me someone had updated their photos, their profile picture or left a message (usually a joke or You Tube video, neither of which I enjoy on an hourly basis.)
Sorry, but Facebook and I just didn’t get along.
I’ve kept love letters from my past and friends’ cards with their sweet messages, but I’ve never kept an email and I’ve never printed anything off Facebook. I like sentimental, I like give and take in a conversation, I don’t like reading how Emily is drinking another black looking cocktail to match her bikini with her friends in the Monochrome bar, or how Sophie is in the middle of a riot, again, in Cairo or how Charlotte spent a lovely week-end with her friends Bill and Ben who I’ve never met and don’t want to meet down at the Chelsea Flower Show.
I found the friends that post the most became really tiresome and the friends that posted the least would be the ones that I did click on to read their updates. Then somehow I ended up joining a group with a friend that had about 3000 friends, it was horrendous. I felt like I’d joined some cult as everytime her friends posted something I’d get an email telling me to take a look. Don’t even get me started on Twitter……
Going, going…deleted.
ps if you want to delete your Facebook account don’t ask me how, I had to look online and I’ve been warmly told by Facebook, that if I ever log back in my account will be there still. So you can’t really delete it at all, which just makes me want to remove myself from it even more.
Good news if you are travelling to Spain
as you now will receive about 10% more in the currency exchange than you would have last year.
Tourists are receiving about 1.20 euros to the pound and the forecast from Hifx is that it could go as high as 1.27 euros in the near future.
The pound is currently at a three and a half year high vs the euro and if the Bank of England maintains its interest rates and monetary easing policy at their meeting tomorrow then the pound could see more gains by the end of this week.
So great news if you are coming to Spain for a holiday.
Horse riding La Cala
I’ve had someone contact me asking where my daughter used to ride.
The link is below.
Charlotte is kind and doesn’t rush the children to trot, canter, or enter the Grand National on day one.
Half hour, private lessons cost 20 euros.
Very close to La Cala shopping centre, just up toward the mountains and Charlotte organises a pony club too for the week-end and holiday times. She also has a little Shetland pony that can be borrowed for a kiddies birthday party…sweet.
More information here, http://eljineteridingschool.wordpress.com/facilities/
I get more excited
about saving money these days than spending money….handy hey in the current recession?!
So I’ve not bothered going to Hollister to buy some tshirts. Not only are the tshirts over priced, I think it’s cruel to recruit Amazonian gods to serve you and welcome you into the “beach hut” and then to make it so dark that you can’t even see them. There should be huge spotlights on the staff and everyone should have a circle to step into where you can just stare at the Greek Gods of Staff for 1 minute before proceeding into the shop.
Since they don’t…I’ve headed to Dunnes in Mijas for my tshirts this year.
Result….5 euros a tshirt, lots of colours and sizes and they have elastic inside them so they fit really nicely.
Ok, so I don’t get any eye candy, but with the spare change I could probably hire a fireman strip o gram.
Chips Away Marbella
I have just used Chips Away in Marbella to tidy up my seriously scratched car. It had two delightful individuals that thought it would be fun to key my car. The first one wasn’t too bad but the second one must have been really peeved with me driving a French car because they really went for it, both sides and the bonnet. Can’t say I blame them, not too keen on the French either…other than their French tarts.
So last week I took my car to Chips Away in Marbella to get a quote. Some of the scratches they were able to polish out but one panel of the car needed spraying.
Result, within 24 hours ( car left overnight) my car is gleaming and I’m really pleased with the result. They also gave me a small pot of spare paint.
It cost 400 euros which I won’t get back when I sell the car, but at least now the car has been returned to its former glory and someone in the future is going to get a cracking good and very pretty car!
Martial Arts Marbella, kids martial arts Marbella
Most martial arts classes that I found in Marbella for kids charged at least 10 euros per session. It is therefore refreshing to find a qualified instructor and taekwando grader that teaches both adults and children at El Rosario and charges children only 20 euros per MONTH and that is for 2-3 lessons per week.
As well as the weekly classes, there are tournaments held regularly for those that are ready and grading for children take place yearly, adults every 6 months. At the end of the year Gerry gives out two prestigious trophies for the children that have worked the hardest or shown the most progress.
If you fancy learning taekwondo in Marbella then contact Gerry on (0034) 902325324. This is his workplace so you’ll need to leave your details for him to call you back.