Is that 1 better than GT85?

It appears that the Mossos were given the job of trying to prevent the vote in the multitude of small villages whereas the Guarda Civil have targetted the larger population centres. This would account for the seemingly random outbreaks of violence between the Guarda and protestors and the low turnout as people were intimidated. This isn’t going away anytime soon,

We live exactly half way between 2 villages, both have declared their results.
El Perello: Si 1201 No 20 70% turnout
Rasquera: Si 469 No 10 80,13% turnout
Pretty overwhelming

Just off to Barcelona to collect Mrs PB from the airport, wish me luck.

Hope I’m not wrong but Catalans don’t do violence, I think the peaceful approach today won the argument hands down. It made the Guarda Civil look like bloodthirsty monsters and Rahoy look like a fool.
Don’t know if it has made the coverage in the rest of Spain or Europe but footage of a young Mossos lad breaking down in tears and being hugged by a protester has been all over our news tonight.

Been out on the bike this afternoon around home in S Cataluña, roads were very quiet, but they always are. I called by my local village and had a chat with one of my local councillors who happens to be British. The village square was full of people, about 200, who were guarding the entrance to the Civic Centre as the 2 Mossos who were there had orders to seize to ballot boxes if they could get in unobstructed. The funny thing was that the ballot boxes on display inside were dummies, the actual vote had taken place in the Town Hall about 500m away and the boxes were long gone. I think the Guarda Civil violence will backfire very badly in Madrid, it has definitely galvanised the Si campagn and the next couple of days will be very tense. Independance will be declared within 48 hours and there’s talk of Spain being suspended from the EU over this.

Local news reporting the Guarda Civil have cut internet connection to the vote hq, people seem to be able to vote but numbers seem low. Wonder what will happen to the ballot boxes when it’s finished.

Well it’s getting a bit tetchy in our sleepy local village, the police have closed the school which is the polling station and a crowd has gathered chanting for democracy. Guess this is the situation in many other places as well.

Chin up Tony, you live in a wonderful area with great people. Just a couple of points re your rack, did you get a revised ITV when you fitted the towbar? It’s a legal requirement to have it noted on your registration. Also don’t forget to have one of those red and white boards when you have the bikes on, again you can be fined otherwise, probably not needed for short trips round the lanes but some jobsworth may stop you for this.

I blame Wilfred the Hairy!
As with all these things, it boils down to money. The difference between what Cataluña pays to Madrid and what it gets back is claimed to be €16bn. Catalans complain that they subsidise major infrastructure projects in the poorer south, airports that are mothballed, roads to nowhere, housing estates that have never been lived in etc but suffer a lack of investment.
There’s all sorts of rumours regarding what might happen on Sunday, I hope it doesn’t end badly but wouldn’t rule it out, there are a lot of hotheads about.

Interested to know how this is being reported outside Cataluña as local news is treating it as quite a good thing that citizens are allowed to exercise their right to vote. I spoke to a few people when we were in Asturias and they felt it was bad for Spain. The heavy handed reaction of Rahoy has served to strengthen the Si resolve whereas a few months ago the opinion was quite evenly balanced.
I was in central Barcelona yesterday and there was a big Guarda Civil prescence. Just to cap it all, I’m picking Mrs PB up on Sunday, again from Barca, she’s flying with Ryanair!

Mrs PB has arrived in Rome, due back on Sunday, thinking I may never see her again. Fingers crossed.

monkeyc, we may be old but at least we can spell it’s “they’re”

Given that she is flying back into Barcelona on Sunday which is also Catalan election day, on reflection posting Monday may have been a better bet.

Well MrsPB flies tomorrow. Now the dust is settling a bit, I can say we came out quite well. We booked our original flights because they were a lot cheaper than the ones we transferred to at no cost,the new timings are actually better for her. Now they’ve sent her an €80 voucher for flights up to the end of March. If we make full use of these, we will have saved about €250 on the whole thing.

Aparently they’re not allowed in London.

Vallnord Andorra, weather is good in the Pyrenees at that time of year.

Mrs PB was a member of Wakefield Tri we lived in Penistone, they do swim sessions at Pugneys just off Jcn 38 M1. You don’t have to compete in Tri’s to go. The water has to be over a certain temp to have the sessions so it’s generally May to Sept. If you want to swim in the sea or lakes where there’s motorised traffic, instead of paying a fortune for a pull buoy, just get a bright coloured dry bag and attach a 6ft line to a belt.
Her swimming has become a lot more pleasant now we live 15mins fom the Med.

Poolman, you’re in Spain yes? May have been a bit incongruous then. Maybe better to whistle the Patrice Rushen song Forget Me Not which is the tune of Bin Bags (nerd factor 9). Janice Battersby off of Corrie lives near us but given her husband’s hobby of punching autograph hunters, I’ve stayed well clear.

Now they’ve cancelled Mrs PB’s return flight, rebooked for 4 hours later so my lie in on Thurs is trumped by a midnight pickup on Sunday, boo.

Mrs PB’s flight from Barca to Rome next week is cancelled but not the return. Managed to swap to same day but later so ok and I get a lie in.

Mrs PB is flying Ryanair from Barcelona to Rome at the end of the month, long weekend for a friends birthday. Nothing from them as yet.

Hmm, interesting that the man who invented the Crud Guard should be advocating leaving a route that has wet and muddy sections in its current state.
Improving it to the quality of the section of the PBW which runs across to York and has the scale model of the Solar System would seem sensible and would encourage more casual riders to use it without getting mucky.

It won’t matter whether they’re 2016,17 or 2020, they’ll still explode without warning and rip your leg off. Just saying.

I once spent a couple of hours at the motorcycle show at the NEC shuttling between various stalls looking for the best deal on an Arai helmet I’d been lusting after for years. When I’d finally beaten down the price, it came to getting the right size, the guy told me that the next size up from the one that fitted was the box.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “left-hand drive vehicles prohibited” sign.

Ahh but Farage isn’t PM,yet.
Hammy, wasn’t sure if you knew the rules and our posts crossed, we weren’t when we moved to Spain 2 years ago.

Steering (see what I did there) back towards the topic.
The op referred to his foreign car, I’m assuming he has a foreign registered car in which case there are rules against keeping such a vehicle on UK roads for more than 6 months in a 12 month period. If his neighbour is aware of this, he may decide to make life difficult as the car will have to be re-registered.
A chap we know living in Cataluña visited family in Leicester twice in a year, each time staying a couple of weeks. On the second visit, his Spanish registered car was towed away and he had to pay to reclaim it. He had to prove that he’d been back to Spain in the intervening period in order to get the fine overturned. Conversely, we have friends who’ve lived here several years, driving UK registered cars with no hassle.
Edit, op’s explanation answers all.

Arrange dinner with Frank Skinner, they could compare notes on investment strategy, or a seance to have a chat with Geoff Astle.

We live in Cataluña and hear this every day, even red wine is vino negro not tinto. My very pc wife does however struggle when talking to her friend Paqui.

I’ve had the best part of a week off STW watching the Vuelta but 2 hours brings back some of the cynicism. Just thinking that it was interesting that Contadors stage win and hence test was the last competitive one. Wonder if the results will be quietly be forgotten about provided he retires and stays that way. The manufacturing of Treks combativity prize was a way of getting him on the podium in his home of Madrid to the delight of his devotees and of course the event sponsors. On Spanish tv, virtually all the jersey presetations, including red were in the background while Contador was being interviewed. You really had to be there to see the strength of adoration towards him, it was a much bigger story than Froomes win.

As I posted earlier I was standing just past the finish of the Angliru and the Poels thing was definitely an act of thanks from Froome. The last 600m was actually downhill so there was plenty of time for Froome to recover and pass Poels. The way they were talking and hugging after the finish didn’t look as though the Green jersey was top of their priorities.

Just got home to Cataluña after an epic 10 hour drive from the top of the Angliru. Yesterday morning we were sat at a prime spot that we bagged on Thursday afternoon about 7km from the top, an official drove up and asked if we would be willing to drive our camper van to the finish area as their second van that they used for the riders to use for the medical control had broken down. In return we would get VIP passes to the finish line hospitality and some goodies.
We agreed and packed up, there then followed the most stressful hour I’ve had for a long time, we’d ridden up on Friday, and tbh it didn’t seem too bad but trying to get a 2.5m wide van up through the thousands of people walking and riding up, wobbling all over the road, taking selfies and cursing us with a 1000m drop off 1 side of the road and a sheer rock face on the other was terrifying!
We got to the carpark at the top and as it was raining hard and very windy we stayed in the van watching the stage unfold on tv.
When the race reached the bottom of the Angliru, the weather had abated so we watched on the finish line. There were very few spectators, mainly press and tv so we had a prime view of the finish and team cars arriving to take the riders back down. Once the podium and interviews had finished, Chris Froome was ushered into our van to do his tests, Contador used the other one. After about 15 minutes, he came out, I managed to get a photo with him and he thanked us for use of our toilet!
So the answer is that the stage winner and GC leader are tested every stage, what a day!!

Mystery solved!
I’ve always wondered what those P’s alongside the forum member names signify.

Anyone would think Webb had a book out which has been serialised on Radio 4 all week.

Kind of hoping that he has a bit of a wobble at the weekend as I’m watching 3 stages live next week. The TT, the Queen stage in Asturias and the finalé on the Angliru. At this rate he could be out of sight.

Good job they missed the Robertson’s jam float that followed.

I assume you know that the Vuelta is in the Cantabrian mountains next week, Wed and Thurs in the eastern section fri and sat around Oviedo inc the fabulous Angrilu. We’re taking the camper van and a couple of gravel bikes mainly for the lower gearing on the 25+% climbs.

So many things to take issue with.
£50 a month saving, is this year round or only the 4 months when there are enough sunshine hours in the UK?
Is your garage roof strong enough to support the panels and frames, they’re bloody heavy.
Adding £10k to the house value is bollox. They have no way of verifying this.
Cost seems very steep, I live in Spain and have recently installed a system which fully powers our house, 8 panels, 12 batteries, inverter and charger for under €9k.
I’d be very careful in believing any claims for solar in the UK climate.

Shirley you’re famous enough to go on who do you think you are. Added benefit of getting the opportunity of giving Davina Mc Call a portion of fist pie.

Not specifically water conservation, more to keep properties looking original not like holiday homes which a high proportion are. They also frown on large picture windows and outbuildings that don’t look authentic.
The Vuelta was interesting, far more laid back than the Tour. The last 2km was very twisty which strung out the sprint line, we were 20m from the line, it was very warm.
Looking forward to the next couple of days, it gets a lot lumpier.