Orthodontist Marbella
If you are looking for an orthodontist and are wondering how much it costs to have a full brace fitted, the estimate is around 100 euros per month and you will usually need it for at least 12 months depending on how much movement you need to experience. To have a white one which the girls in my daughter’s class all seem to go for and are very discreet costs a total of only 200 euros more over the 12 months.
In the UK the costs are between £2000-£4000 for braces. So much cheaper here.
The orthondontist we have used has been very good. He’s near the copper tower in Marbella and can be contacted on 952866571. He speaks Spanish, English and German.
Opticians in Marbella
Hubby recently went to El Corte Ingles in Puerto Banus for an eye test.
The test itself is free and very thorough and professional.
The problem is that it is free and when they sit you down at the desk to go through your prescription it takes a hard man to leave without paying.
For a pair of cheap framed glasses for pc work, was around 168 euros. That’s about double what you would pay in the UK.
Flights to the UK
I was looking at flights recently back to the UK and most were around 65-120 euros….apart from one.
British Airways wanted over £600.
How on earth are they still in business?
The Brit Awards 2012
I’m sticking my forked tongue out at the person who thought it was a good idea to cut Adele short in the middle of her “thank you” speech/sentence so that Blur could play on time.She had only been on stage for a few seconds, it was awful to watch.
Blur had babbled away for ages saying thank you to their manager, Gandhi, their mum, grandmother and the person that washes their underwear but nobody cut them short.
Poor Adele had to endure being grabbed by a drunk and slurring George Michael who spoke for longer than she did and nobody cut him short. Give me an obsidian blade though and I’ll give it a whirl……
Adele was the star of the show, winning awards, singing like an angel and being absolutely gracious in every respect.
To cut her short so that an ageing band of long ago could play two songs that were so awful I had to put a cushion over my face to make it stop was quite frankly, humiliating for Adele, rude and to be fair. very UN BRITISH.
Owners Direct Spain
We’ve been trying to buy a house in the UK and I’m still surprised at how few owners try to sell their property directly. You see it all the time here and the owners save the 5% estate agents commission by doing so.
In the UK, certainly down in the south properties are still selling like hot cakes, there are few properties on the market and buyers in the wings.
I would have tried to sell a house in the UK privately before enlisting an agent, all you need is a sale board costing under £20 and a bit of confidence.
My friend did just this in Sonning and sold her house in a week. She saved on the 1% estate agents fee which added up to a couple of thousand pounds. Who wouldn’t want that?
If you are trying to sell your property here in Spain then have a go at marketing it yourself. Nobody knows your property like you do or the area and with estate agents charging more like 5% commission you really could be saving thousands and thousands of pounds or at least have a lot of room with your potential buyer for negotiation.
You can advertise your Spanish property for sale, for holiday rental or for long let here, http://www.inspain.tv/Sell-House-Privately.aspx
Good places to walk a dog
Other than the beach early in the morning before the police spot you or your dog savages the fitness brigade, there are a couple of other great places to walk your dog in Marbella.
The river bed near El Rosario, by the beach restaurant is good. Very few people go there and a dog can have a good run as it is flat.
We went to the mountains today on the way to Istan. We pulled over and went down one of the side paths. One side always has a death drop, but our crazy dog didn’t jump so if you have a dog that will stay reasonably close to heel and doesn’t chase butterflies, then it would have a good jog around here. The side paths are for walkers so car free too.
Any others?
Property Management Marbella
Has anyone had a delightful experience with a property managment company in Marbella?
I am finding the lack of communication and care astonishing with one company I am using. I have to go in and check what the cleaners have done because each time there is a mistake. They charge me around 100 euros a clean/laundry plus 50 euros a month for property managment so this really is not on.
The beds were made the wrong way today, only one full size towel on a bed with one facecloth…for 7 days? The cupboards and drawers are never checked so fill up with crumbs and the cot wasn’t put up properly either, with the ends all floppy. Two bulbs had gone and not been replaced (I have spares) and the wardrobe door was off the rails so wouldn’t work.
I have found an English couple which come highly recommended and have promised a better job so fingers crossed the future will be brighter but I am really unimpressed so far with this one property managment company. They are focussing on sales and their staff are not reading emails and passing on details to the cleaners.
If you are a property management company in Marbella then plug away why property owners should choose you to look after their rental property. I’ll post it…..
Car rental London
Beware of cheap deals on cars. Cheap car rentals can often be false economy.
My husband arrived at London Stansted to collect his rental car and there was no car rental booth. He had to phone up a number that sounded like someone in a house answering the phone in-between cleaning the kitchen. He waited 10 minutes ( not a problem but it was so cold outside that he experienced deep shrinkage in his body parts….) and then a man arrived to collect him. There was a drive of at least 10 minutes out of the airport. Not ideal but less ideal coming back. He rang to see if he could return the car early and was told that the office closed at 8pm. Perfect, he had time to spend with his dad and get the car back before 8pm.
On the day it was due to be returned, hubby had a call saying the car rental office was closing at 5pm. He was an hour away from London Stansted and had to leg it over to the car rental company pronto. They didn’t apologise for closing early and at this point there was no snow. I can’t imagine that Hertz or Avis would do that. They stayed open long enough for him to arrive but it meant he had to rush around, had little time with relatives and was not what the car rental company had agreed. If he had arrived at 8pm as planned the place would have been shut and he would have had no way of getting to the airport either.
Stick to car rental companies that are based at the terminal building. You pay a little bit more but you will get better service.
Clean up operation
We had gales in Marbella yesterday like I have never seen before.
I actually got dressed like a womble and attempted to go and take the dog out for a walk. He was spooked and when I saw the trees at 90 degrees and roofing material littered on the front drive I was spooked.
Today we did manage the walk and paths look more like a woodland scene. There are huge piles of pine needles, branches all over the pavements and roads, people throwing roofing material into skips and furiously brushing their front gates clear.
It is going to be one heck of a clear up operation tomorrow……
Stansted airport and the snow
My mum in law who lives in London rang today to tell me they had 6 inches of snow and to see if my hubby had got back safe and sound as he had a flight at 6am today from London Stansted airport.
I didn’t hold out a lot of hope, after all doesn’t everything come to a standstill in the UK when there is snow?
Well actually no…..
His flight is airbourne and he’s winging his way home back to us.
Thank you Stansted airport!
UPDATE…
Well it wasn’t quite so smooth after all. Lack of staff meant huge queues for check in and at passport control. If your bag was pulled over you had to wait and wait for someone to double check with you. The monorail froze over and so they laid buses on for people. Only the buses got stuck and they had to get tractors in the early hours of the morning to clear a path. Then there were 26 people that didn’t arrive on the plane but had their luggage checked in. Twenty four passengers never did arrive and so they had another 45 minute wait whilst those that had failed to find the plane, had their luggage thrown off.
I had used a plane tracker website to find out what was happening and it said the plane had never taken off…..so beware of thse sites as the plane had taken off….I had a call saying ” I’ve landed ” whilst the website still said ” plane yet to take off….”
Hope everyone got to where they needed to be if they were flying to or from London Stansted!