Category Archives: Costa Blanca

No Spanish please, we’re English

Just yesterday, in a supermarket, I witnessed something I’ve seen dozens of times, but which never fails to astonish me. A man, of about my own age, needed to pass through a queue. “Excuse me,” he said. If I’d been … Continue reading

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The new countryside

The girls who make the cold calls are always certain there will be no problems. The engineers who turn up always say it’s impossible. The Internet has redefined “the countryside”. It is no longer a place where farmers grow crops, … Continue reading

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Web design, guv’nor?

One of my favourite Web sites is Vincent Flanders’ Web Pages that Suck. He means to be provocative, so no one will agree with all his criticisms. At the same time, you can sometimes learn better design habits from analysing … Continue reading

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Interruption to normal service

If you are a regular reader of this blog, sorry for the four days without posts. Because of some worries about my heart, I have been in hospital, in Benidorm. I am back at work now, and full of ideas.

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Web hosting: buyers beware!

A couple of posts ago, I suggested that people looking for website hosting or Web design might enable JavaScript error checks on their browsers, to check through Web pages in designers’ portfolios. There is something even simpler you can do. … Continue reading

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Is my computer a horse?

I am alluding here to a famous remark made by the Duke of Wellington. He was born in Ireland, to English parents. He hated people calling him Irish. Sometimes they would say, “But you were born in Ireland.” He would … Continue reading

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Are you having a trouble focusing?

No, there isn’t a typo in the title (this time). These are the very words which confront any visitor to the English homepage of the Barclays Bank website here in Spain. They are part of an animated ad for the … Continue reading

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No hacemos que hables inglés

A couple of months ago, I was chatting to a taxi driver when he told me that some recent ‘fares’—I think that’s what you call a taxi driver’s customers—had told him off for speaking Spanish, and for not knowing their … Continue reading

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Buying English books in Spain

In my last post I referred to a couple of books. I thought people might like to know where to get hold of books on the Costa Blanca. There are several English bookshops, but far and away the best—for my … Continue reading

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Microsoft sends in Spanish

I know, I know. The most predictable and boring thing you can do in a blog is to slag off Microsoft—and people often slag them off from a hidden envy. The company is so successful. Bill Gates is so rich. … Continue reading

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