Sometimes I Despair Of Spain

I have said this before and I will say it again, at times I despair of Spain. (I actually said I despair of bank and I despair of sellers but you know what I mean) This again was brought home to me this week because of a few things. Firstly, the process of getting a nie number which I have written about before here got easier again. I went to pick up two clients' nie numbers with no problems, just take down the forms and passport and copies of each, hand them in and voila, 10 days later nie numbers appear. So I told another client this and they went to the police station behind the railway station in Valencia taking the paperwork and they were told that they needed their Padron certificate meaning another visit on another day after going all the way to Serra town hall 25km away in order to get one, accompanied by their rental contract of course. Next I received two letters to pick up from the post office. So I went, one wasn't for me but the other was. It turned out to be a demand for payment for rubbish collection for a house I sold in 2005. Having sold it back then, every year since I have received this payment demand, had to take the deed of sale down to the town hall and explained that the house wasn't mine so stop charging me for it. Every year they say ok I won't receive it again and every year I go through the same process. This year a month ago I got the payment slip again and phoned the town hall to tell them that this year I was actually too busy to go through our usual pantomime and over the phone they promised me I wouldn't get it again. Well a month later!! The one that wasn't for me was from the same town hall for another client from years ago. For eight years now I have told them to stop sending me his letters and change the address they have on file. They haven't. Sometimes I am not surprised that the town halls in Spain have no money when they waste it like that. On the other hand I heard the same complaints this week from some people regarding the Fallas fiestas in Valencia which start this week. They were complaining about the ridiculous waste of money that the Mascletas are every day at 2pm in the town hall square. I gently pointed out that there were about 100,000 people in the square and about 20% would be having lunch in the city or at least having a coffee and maybe some beers while they were in the city and this slightly outweighed the costs of the actual Mascletas. Nevertheless the guy who organizes the fiestas in even the smallest towns will be very well paid, probably four times the wage of a teacher on average so they have got another reason to despair. Having said all of that I have a couple of American clients who have been suffering from bureaucracy as they try to get residency here. Unfortunately for them all of the ridiculous, stifling bureaucracy comes from the American side of the pond. They have found everything here to run like clockwork. After so many years here I still get surprised sometimes. Related Posts 1) Sometimes I Despair of Banks 2) Sometimes I Despair Of Sellers