Spanish inquisition in Court and from an ex-pat

...ANGE HAD to go to court the other day. She had to give evidence to the court regarding the theft of her purse in the market last Friday. I went with her to give some moral support. The court house is about as inaccessible as it can be if you don't have any transport, fortunately we have the car.



Just on the outskirts of the Old Town is a new bus station which is anything but central. The one redeeming factor is that all the major roads, rail and bus networks converge at the same place. For a pedestrian it is a major walk from town and therefore there would be need to either catch a bus to it, jump in a cab or drive. Above the new bus station is a shopping mall, to the side a brand new Bombero edificio (fire station) and across from it adjacent to the N332 national road is the department of Justice for the Valencia Generalitat.



Ange had a paper given by the Guardia Civil office, instructing her to report to the 'Juzgado de instruccion No dos'.

We arrived at the court as it was just opening to businessat 9.oo am. We had to go through screening process as you do in the UK where you are patted down by a Gurdia Civil guard and searched by a metal detector, Anges purse was looked into. We followed the instructions and went to the third floor reception desk. The lady behind the counter was busying herself rustling through papers, and was clearly not available for consultation. We sat in some nearby seats, when a young Spanish couple arrived brandishing smilar paperwork to Ange and they decided someone was going to speak to them. Eventually at 9.20 am a lady did respond to them so Ange followed suit. We had some Spanish and she no English so we decided, after being directed downstairs that she meant all the way downstairs to the ground floor where all the salles de instrucion were. We arrived and parked ourselves in the seating available. After a few minutes a lady emerged from one of the (we presumed court-rooms) and posted a notice on the door. Ange's name was on the list as a witness, so we approached the lady who is like an usher. She ticked off Ange's name from a list and the lady asked if she needed an interpreter, Ange said she did. Within minutes the interpreterwas there and we were invited into the court.



In the court were two ladies in gowns sat at a horse-shoe shaped desk, with microphones in front of them, they looked like the Spanish equivalent to Magistrates. A third lady appeared to be a clerk, taking notes of the proceedings. Ange was invited forward and was aked in Spanish and then in English to give her account of what happened. She did so. Then the two defendants who appeared late were asked to stand and give their defence, one at a time. The magistrates all the way through everyone's evidence asked appropriate questions as and when they felt appropriate. As Angela finished her evidnce the main Magistrate asked if she was claiming the 25 euros back, which she confirmed that she was.



After all the talking was over, Ange and the defendants were asked forward to receive their passports and sign for them. The interpreter said "That's it the decision will be made in a week" and we were excused. The entire process was less than an hour, very efficient an was handled extremely professionally. The fact that Ange and I hadn't a clue what the defendants said or what the Magistrates comments were, we felt it went OK.... We may have some money coming back soon, or we may just never hear what happened ever again...

...The thing about living in a small village like La Cala de Villajoyosa, is that the local ex-pat community know everyone, even if they have never said hello to each other. Your business is their business.

After 5 years living in Spain my wife and I have decided to move back to the UK permanently. However, our experience of our home here in Spain has prepared us to appreciate the times of the year when being here is best. For example San Juan and New Year. So our intention is to have more holidays around the rest of the world, preferable outside the Euro zone so it is cost effective, and come to Spain for a month at a time or more as and when we know our friends will be here and the weather is comfortable (my blog will continue from wherever I am). So as I went into the Marina bar yeserday I was somewhat surprised to hear a guy I have only ever said hello to, shout across to me "I thought you had gone back home Bob!" A bit defensively I replied "...er, no! Sometime in January 2010."

I found a free seat and sat in it as Pedro brought me my customary first round of two ice cool Mahous. The bar was emptying as it was the end of the siesta period, Ange had gone onto the beach for a sunbathe and I was enjoying a relaxing few moments. To my right there was a group of English tourists who had not long since arrived with baggage heading for their hotel, their quick turnaround was impressive and six or so of them were quaffing their first sips of beer in their shangri la for the next couple of weeks. However, the man behind the voice telling me I had moved back to the UK took the golden opportunity of allowing this group to impinge on his space, and he came and sat next to me. "So how come you are going back." he isn't backwards at coming forwards. "....Let me see, 1.08 Euros to the pound at commercial rates, increases in the cost of living in Spain, a rent of over 700 euros a month, no sensible works for non-Spanish fluent ex-pats, the fact we haven't had a real holiday in 5 years and the necessity of many ex-pats to know all of your business all of the time......hows that for starters" I replied and quickly added "oh! and that unfinished hotel over there, and the fact that Amancio's Anfora building around the corner is almost certain to fall down and kill someone before the inept administration in Finestrat village does something to safely demolish it." I thought that was enough information to kill the subject, but no he decided he would continue. "No its not the place it used to be he said" . "It has many positives." I continued. "But having been here for nearly 5 years, I have seen most sights several times, been to most bars and restaurants and now feel I am in need of more adventures and hopefully elsewhere in the world." Ange and I along with a few of the guys have booked a week long Nile cruise and stay in a 5 star hotel on the red sea in November of 2010. Laurence did some sterling work to get us all a great deal and it promises to be an excellent break. Also next year Ange is 60, and she fancies a mediterranean cruise to celebrate. On top of that we have an aging apartment in the UK in need of some TLC and we want to spend some time rennovating it. Ange is already looking at bathroom suites, carpets, sofas, tiles etc. So I somehow think 2010 will be interesting. "I may go back permanently or more often" said Richard (I had to ask his name because whilst I knew him by sight his name wasn't known to me) I come here for 2 months and stay in the UK for 1 month, my ladyfriend is very into her grandchildren and won't move permanently." He expanded. "I also have an irregular heartbeat and maybe need some medical treatment". he further explained. "Well Richard (I felt like we were now on first name terms) I too have a medical condition, my diabetes is worsening and on the 27th ofthis month I have an appointment with a diabetic specialist in my hometown with the prospect of starting insulin treatment, so I will feel much more comfortable dealing with this in English rather than Spanish"

As I had completed this latest revelation, Gerald a friend of David and Pete's and his wife along with two other friends arrived at the bar. Gerald already knew of our intention to move back to the UK, and was doing some background work seeing if anyone would buy my car. He came over to me to ask about his Sky TV. He said "Bob, do you know anyting about having to get a new sky card?" "I don't Gerald, other than I know n the UK they have to retune a lot of TVs because of the Digital changeover, maybe thats the reason." I answered. "No......" interupted Richard. "Do you pay a subscription, because that will be the reason." "No this is free to air, I have no premium channels", "Well I think you will find if you don't get a new card you will lose all your channels because its all to do with pirate usage in spain" Richard came back quite animatedly. "....let me finish please.." interjected Gerald. "...Whenever I have been back to the UK, when I return I have to power everything up again and often have to re-set the box, I think it may have something to do with that." I asked "What about th guy who installd it, can he help?" "oh no, if you as much as ask him to look at the box he charges 40 euros." I have a friend in the Costa del Sol who deals with satelite installations so I told Gerald I would ring him to see if he has any suggestions. Gerald returned to his friends a little bit miffed with my companion Richard. I was by now hoping for a miracle to happen, because Richard was clinging on to my company like a limpet mine. That miracle happened in the form of Ange wending her way back from the beach with sunbed in hand, it seemed to be Richard's cue to leave.

Gerald headed my way again, "...Where did you get him from?" asked Gerald. "I haven't spoken to him before today, but he seems to know everything about everyone including me." I replied. "Well he won't be getting to know me." he said as he returned to his table....

Ange and I now replete, decided to go back to the apartment and settle down in front of the telly. On our way out we bumped into Jack and Pauline who are back from the UK after their Summer sabaticle. "Hi Jack, good to see you back." I said "And I owe you a debt of gratitude, I stopped taking those atenalol pills on the basis of your advice. I told my Doctor that I had stopped them. He said to me on the basis of which diagnosis, I replied 'Jack!' and he asked the obvious who's Jack" I expained. "How did you explain that one?" asked Jack. "Well I said that you had encountered similar side effects to me and was advised to stop taking them, so it seemed like the right idea for me too." I continued. "The Doc said, 'Well I concur with your diagnosis not on the basis of Jack, but something slighly more clinical namely its interaction with another pill you take which combined tend to lower your heartbeat and consequently your blood pressure to very low levels'. I repled to the Doc that the outcome was the same and trust jack because he was a police diver...to which the Doc rolled his eyes..." Jack was quite amused at this, but I felt I had to dampen his enthusiasm for any further homeopathic consulations. "The Doctor did add that I would be best advised to seek medical advice, rather than that from an ex Police diver in future, as he sensibly pointed out that he would be remiss if he advised me to switch off an aqualung at 50 meters, so your advice should be treated with suspicion regarding medical matters.

I suspect Jack was completely unphased by my final statement as he was still smiling as Ange and I took our leave......

Chick...chick...chick...chick....chicken

I WAS sat on the balcony reading the daily UK papers when Angela came home in a somewhat distressed state. "Are you OK?" I asked (although I knew she wasn't). "No I have just had my purse stolen on the Market" was her dischuffed response.

She had been to pay our rent at the CAM bank, fortunately she paid that first, otherwise we would have lost a considerable amount of money.

In her purse was 25 euros in cash, a Euromillions ticket for the draw that night and sundry cards (none were credit or debit cards) a copy of her passport, loyalty store cards, and a couple of small personal things of small value.

She had gone on to the market to get a cooked chicken, they roast the chickens on the market and infuse them with various spices, they are excellent for lunch with salad and crusty bread. As she walked through the crowd she bumped into May, who is one of the proprietors of the fish and chip shop in the bay, and they were catching up on the bay gossip. Ange was aware that someone was close by and not particularly shopping and noticed she was wearing a bright pink top but dismissed it as the Spainish can be 'In your face' at times. When she said goodbye to May, she decided to get her purse and the money ready to buy the chicken. That's when she discovered the theft.

After she had related the story to me, she said she had to go and get some more money and that she still hadn't got the chicken. I decided (a macho thing) that I would go with her, and insisted on holding her bank card just in case. She drew some money and we went to buy another lottery ticket (6 Euros), and on the way back bumped into Denise and Margaret. Ange told them what happened, and Denise said "We have just seen the Police down there and they seem to have arrested two women for something, it may be them". Ange was off, in the general direction of the Policemen. I intended to follow but continued the chat with the girls when I saw Ange frantically waving at me from next to the Farmacia (Chemist). I made my excuses and went to meet her.

"See that one in the pink top I am sure she stole my purse" She was pointing at one of two ladies that the police were detaining. One of the Policemen was rifling through their bags pulling various suspicious items out, none of which belonged to Ange. Then a lady came across the road, asked us if we were English and said she had nearly been robbed but scared them off and she too thought it was the one in pink. Following this lady's departure a Belgian man approached: "my wife was robbed of 500 euros by these same people a while ago, they even took our passports, they work in threes so one of them has got away." he told us. Eventually the Policeman came across to confirm what was lost, and said he had not found those items. However he asked us to give a statement to the Guardia Civil up in Finestrat village. We still didn't have our chicken and the market closes at 2 pm, and I was due to take Dave and Pete to the airport in less than an hour, so I asked if I could go later, the policeman insisted we go now. I rang Dave to see if he was ready to go a little earler. "Sorry Bob I a not shaved yet and we have to make our sandwiches for the flight, (makes a change from the boiled eggs he does) so I will be around 20 minutes." I couldn't press them it wasn't their problem so I thought I would take Ange to the cop shop leave her, go take Dave and Pete and come back to pick her up.

So I did exactly that. I dropped her at the Guardia Civil office in Finestrat. I could see through the door and the two accused were sat in the waiting area, and Ange had to walk past them, but I thought in Ange's state of anger if they started anything they would be in serious trouble and decided to leave her. After I managed to navigate the extremely slender streets of Finestrat, I rang her for a status report, "I have to come back in an hour, so I will go to Molly dos for a coffee." (We don't go to Al Fresco anymore, but that is another story which I will take great delight in explaining at some later date) I said I would ring at the airport and get a further update. I then collected dave and Pete and took them to Alicante airport.

I rang from the airport and Ange was clear of the Guardia Civil office so I arranged o meet her near Molly dos. I couldn't park in the village so had to ask her to abandon a fresh cup of coffee so I could just drive off.

She explained what happened. A statement in Spain is usually called a denuncia (in English the best interpretation is a denouncement) The Guardia Civil interviewer spoke no English, Ange has a fair amount of Spanish but she decided she would take someone along to interpret, it was a lady from molly Dos. So Ange duly told the story and the interpreter interpreted. The only English conversation was about th UK when Ange had asked the Guard if he had been to England and it turns out he had been to the Lake District. No wonder the Spanish are convinced that constantly rains in England. "Anyway..." Ange said, "...the upshot is we are in court in Benidorm next Wednesday at 0925 in the morning." The two women had been arrested and remanded in custody.

We still had no chicken! And the market had now closed, so we went to Carrefour, bought an uncooked chicken, and a bottle of whiskey to refill my drinks cabinet, and we went and had an all day breakfast at the chippy.

As we walked past the market as the stall holder were clearing up their stalls, we went to see if the purse had been discarded. No such luck. So we went home 25 euros down from the theft of the purse, 6 euros down for buying a new lottery ticket (incidentally we only got two numbers correct in the draw) and 15 euros down for the interpreter I will dismiss the 12 euros for lunch as it was pure gluttony and we could have eaten at home. We will have to buy a new purse and re-copy ange's passport so she can use it as an identity card for using her debit card. So all-in-all it was an expensive Friday. The moral of the story is to ensure you zip up your hand bag/wallet, make sure you can see your bag at all times and most of all from our perspective, don't consider buying any more cooked chickens from the market our last attempt cost us 46 euros and still no chicken........