Completing The Bajas

Kate's brother's been over from Ireland this weekend and so we've taken the opportunity to show him some of our favourite sights, bars and places. It's always great when people come over to stay because it feels like you're on holiday too and you get to do all the fun stuff you normally only do once in a while. It's like living in fast forward. Unfortunately this also applies to the amount of money you spend. I think when my 6 friends came a couple of months ago I went about €200 over my weekly budget. It was worth it though of course.

Last Thursday was one of those great 'puente' (bridge) holidays where you only have to take one day off to have a four day holiday. It's such a good idea, I don't know why they don't do it in the UK. I didn't take the Friday off, it was my last proper day teaching, but on Thursday (and Sunday) we took the opportunity to go and cool down at the outdoor municipal swimming pool near Lago. It keeps getting hotter and hotter and this last week it's been pushing 38C, and 21C at night. I saw a bus stop sign saying 43C but they're not very reliable. Either way, it's bloody hot and the pool is a perfect way to refresh yourself, only open in June July and August though. It's a really nice pool, clean and very deep. I'd also read that it's popular with Madrid's (large) gay community and the number of tanned, waxed, muscular men standing around in Speedos chatting seemed to confirm this.

Less relaxing has been getting my tax return and 'baja' (unenrolling) forms for social security and income tax sorted. Spain is infamous for its bureaucracy, as I had discovered enrolling as an autonomo in the first place (although not as much as some other people I know!). The tax stuff seemed beyond my comprehension, and Spanish, so I went to a gestor. A gestor is basically someone training in the intricacies of afore mentioned Spanish bureaucracy, who sorts it all out for you. They are usually small practices and don't seem to advertise on the internet much, so I found myself with one who didn't speak a word of English. She also seemed incapable of putting things in simple Spanish, and wrote in a style that Google Translate couldn't make head or tail of (sample sentence: "If given low in wealth and social security, you know that starting in July and could not purpose of exercising economic activity that was exercising.").


Basically, if you're an autonomo, you're required to make a declaration of income (this is for 2010) and so I needed to get a certificate confirming this from both companies I had worked for. Also, the Social Security office and the income tax office are two separate things and apparently do not co-operate in any way, so if you want to stop paying tax (because you're leaving the country for example), you need to fill in 'baja' forms for both. It looks like this would be a nightmare to do yourself (I've also found the people who work in the tax offices pretty unhelpful) and so I'd recommend saving yourself some grief and going to a gestor if your Spanish isn't tip-top.


Anyway, it was actually quite fun and we eventually muddled through with all the paperwork done and just my declaration of income to take to the bank. It cost €60 in total, and I'm getting €200 tax back from 2010. Leaving on my second visit there, making sure this was definately all I had to do, the gestor ushered me out the door with a friendly "Vas al banco y tranquilo en Inglaterra!" (Go to the bank and relax in England!).


Only 2 days left in Madrid. It still hasn't really sunk in that I'm leaving I don't think, although I know I am. I always think it's strange living your life when you have these deadlines looming that change everything completely. Having a goodbye dinner with some friends tonight and then Kate leaves tomorrow and me the day after. Looking forward to the train journey though, and arriving back. I think I might head straight for a greasy spoon for a full English breakfast and a pub for a pint as soon as the sun's over the yard arm.

Things I (Dis)like about Madrid 3

High time for another moan.

Likes:
- Clear skies/sunshine in winter - cold but good.
- Lack of overflying planes - Madrid, Europes 3rd largest capital, unlike London or Manchester, manages to keep at least it's central parts free of noisy air traffic
- Honey Rum - goes down real smooth. See also Tinto Verrano - fizzy wine, like cider but more Spanish.
- Eavesdropping English conversations - people tend let their guard down in public places when they think no-one's listening.
- Metro musicians - god bless 'em
- Rodilla - it's a pretty sterile chain of cafes serving very average sandwiches (see below) but whoever had the oddball gumption to call a string of eateries 'Knee' gets a thumbs up from me.

Dislikes:
- Mahou - I'm so fucking sick of Mahou, Madrid's local beer and the only one available in most bars/offys. 'A flavour of 5 stars' it may be but I've had a-bloody-nuff of it! Occasionally you'll get Cruzcampo or San Miguel but they'll be pricier.
- Winter temperatures - I'm understanding the 'bitterly cold' comments now. Although it reaches the mid-teens in the afternoons, it's regularly minus a couple of degrees in the morning.
- Sandwiches - don't bother with what passes for a sandwich, you're better off with an empañada.
- Bureaucracy and the unhelpful bureaucrats that 'enforce' it - having to convince the woman in the social security office that yes, I did need to pay it, or yes, they were going to fine me, was pretty annoying.
- Broken escalators - I'm not sure if this should go in the 'dislike' bunch because of the dizzying feeling you get when stepping onto a broken escalator (of which there are many) and the exhilerating effect it has.
- Lack of squash - are dilutable concentrated juice drinks a purely English phenomenon or has Spain just not caught on? Not found a drop of it.

A Boring Tax Bit and an International Spy Denial

I managed to get into a spot of bother over my social security last week. Having been told that the job I have on contract was paying it, I'd assumed that this meant that I didn't have to pay it my self as an autonomo, but apparently it doesn't really work like that so I wound up with a €80 fine. I'm still not sure quite how it works to be honest, despite getting on better at the social security office this time armed with a bit more Spanish. My only guide is my friendly English speaking bank 'cashier' (for want of a better word) at La Caixa (which isn't even really a bank... it's complicated). Now I've got to worry about my British tax return which I've got to file online by 31st Jan, because I was self-employed in England. My tax return for this year will be a nightmare: having been both employed and self-employed in both the UK and Spain this year!

Anyway, so far, so dull, I've also been following with complete fascination and amazement the story of the undercover police that have been living in the environmental movement in the UK for years (you can read a bit about it here if you've missed out). It's of course utterly bizarre that they'd waste that amount of time and effort on interfering with a peaceful protest movement, especially as it seems as if this guy has actually helped facilitate several actions, acting as a driver, as well as being an informant, as well as providing funding. Having just been through the court process for this kind of thing, I find it particularly wierd that he used police money to pay court fines for activists! What a huge waste of time! It occured to me, however, that I'm someone who, having been (very sporadically) involved in the environmental movement, has just suddenly upped sticks and left the country... I'm hoping that friends in Manchester aren't now suspecting me! I'd like to reassure them that I'm just a whimsical individual with an inclination to move around rather than being a police spy on the run!

A techy side note, I've put a thing on the side with all the tags from posts, so that you should be able to click on 'jobs' for example and get all my posts that say something about getting a job etc. I thought it'd be useful seeing as people keep asking me about various aspects of moving to Spain, but please still send me a message if you do want to know anything else and I'll be happy to tell you all I know!

Spanish Bureaucracy

I´d heard rumours of the immense bureaucracy involved in getting anything done in Spain but hadn´t really given it much credence. People here don´t seem to pay much attention to rules when they think they´re stupid or unnecessary. For example the ´Perros No´ signs in the park up the hill from our flat is ignored so widely and blatantly that someone has graffitied over one of them so it now just reads ´Perros´.

However, going to get my NIE, Social Security and Autonomo (self employed) status sorted was another story. The forms you have to fill in are bad enough, although comparable to British ones, but its the sheer number of people you have to go and see, and get bounced back and forth between in various buildings that´s really impressive/depressing. The Social Security office is an absolute nightmare if you don´t speak Spanish (even if you´ve got a bit, the language on the forms is pretty incomprehensible) and if it wasn´t for a nice woman who took pity on my English ass I´d probably be back there today! Its more or less done now though, next stop on the organisation list: getting a bank account.

Another cultural anomaly I spotted yesterday - book vending machines. When you get the Metro you can near guarantee they´ll be someone reading a book on there, usually quite a few and certainly more than you´d see in England. I thought the vending machine was quite a, ahem, novel idea though, they´ve got the synopses printed on the side of the machine.

The clocks went back here the other day (as I imagine they did in England), and you really notice the difference when its actually sunny most of the time and you can see the sun setting. I´ve been getting some great autumnal Madrid pictures out of it though.