I wrote this article while editorialising for my new magazine, Spain is Different. However it needed to be expanded upon and explained fully and the obvious place to place it wasn’t apparent. In the end I decided that here was as good a place as any, a blog about being an entrepreneur in Spain.

So here we go, enjoy and comment.

Spain is at a crossroads, a place where the next moves forward could determine a lot of future outcomes for better or worse. Spain is in a fully blown crisis both of the economy and also of confidence. Spain needs change and that change cannot come too soon.

However Spain also has good raw materials. When you have good raw materials you just have to to put them together well into something that is worth it. Spain has those raw materials in my opinion but can it mix them together well, I am not too sure of that.

Let’s look at something that may help you to understand the last point in the article. If something is approached in the right way there is usually a good outcome.

If you give everyone the ingredients and the instructions to bake a cake it is likely that you will get ten very different tasting, and looking, cakes. Some will be good, some bad and some, mine included probably, very indifferent, or possibly burnt.

If you bring ten different people to Spain they will have ten different viewpoints and ten different experiences. Their reaction to Spain will depend on their cultural background, their education level, their likes and dislikes and even how they felt on that day. Six may enjoy it, a couple may think “meh” and a couple may hate it. It all depends on what they are presented with really and whether that suits their personality and tastes. However if Spain presents the right raw materials to the right people in the right way then there is really no reason not to enjoy it. However there is, in the end, no accounting for tastes.

PADDLE4HEROES, RAISING MONEY THROUGH KAYAKING - FOR HELP FOR HEROES AND FAMILIES OF THE FALLEN

On the 31^st May this year, nine men from Paddle4Heroes are going to paddle from Gibraltar to Marbella in Spain by kayak to raise funds for Help for Heroes and a new charity called Families of The Fallen.  Both of these charities should touch the heart of anyone British, as they are at the forefront of helping servicemen and women recover from the trauma of war.

Of the nine paddlers (aged between 20 – 58!), six are ex-servicemen (including one from my own regiment) and all live on the Costa del Sol.  Several have experienced active service and all know the devastation that war can bring to everyone involved.

Indeed, the consequences of active service can be long lasting, not just for servicemen and women but also for their immediate families.  Both parties often need significant help readjusting to normal life (whether the trauma is psychological or physical) and that is where charities like Help for Heroes and Families of The Fallen come into their own.

Needless to say, Britain seems to have been continually at war for years now, with the Iraq wars and Afghanistan being notable.  However, our military forces also continually operate in many other areas including often as unsung UN peacekeepers, which can often involve significant risks – and injury.

TRAINING, TRAINING AND...MORE TRAINING!

In fact, whilst deaths in battle always make the news, injuries rarely do and they, of course, far outnumber deaths, despite often being utterly life changing for those hurt.  Indeed, I hate to think how many British servicemen and women have sustained terrible injuries over the past twenty years – with their injuries never having made the news or having been ‘hidden’ deep within governmental statistics.   Certainly, many more servicemen and women (and their families) need help than most of us realise…

Needless to say, the point of the canoe trip by Paddle4Heroes from Gibraltar to Marbella (90 km) on the 31^st May is to raise funds for Help for Heroes and Families of the Fallen.  It is your money that keeps these charities going and your money that directly helps our servicemen and women in their time of greatest need.

So, please make an effort to spare some money for Paddle4Heroes.  What they are doing deserves your support and it would be great to think that any of you Britons, with any connection at all to Spain, could help to make the Paddle4Heroes event an outstanding fund raising success – that does justice to any Briton living or holidaying in Spain!

If you want to know more or wish to contribute to Paddle4Heroes then please see the Paddle4Heroes Facebook page.

TOUGH TRAINING BUT WORTH IT FOR A GREAT CAUSE

Please do give Paddle4Heroes some Likes on their Facebook page and  spread the ‘word’ about what they are doing (your Facebook/Twitter/Google+/Blog etc.).  This is a commendable cause and I would urge any Briton to help Paddle4Heroes.  Your enthusiasm and support is needed by the team – with every donation (however small) very much appreciated.

Finally, if you want to get hold of Paddle4Heroes directly then you can e-mail them at: paddle4heroes@hotmail.com

 Nick Snelling – Culture Spain

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/1904881580/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_next_2?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=2&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Madrid is a great place to live, mainly because it is a capital city with all you need, and with the quality of life you do not have in London or Paris: no pressure, no insecurity, you can eat out for as much as 10 €, people are open and talkative.

However, you have to know that the typical Madrid flat does not comply with the expectations 90% of newly arrived expats.

Plainly put, the average quality of real estate in Madrid (and in other main Spanish cities) is significantly below the average quality in other big cities, and especially the USA.

This means that even with the crisis, there is more demand than offer for quality, premium or luxury flats a bit like the photo at the start of this post.

At any time, you will only have handful of real luxury flats available in Madrid, which you have to know where to find and how to book. If they let you book months in advance, because usually the companies managing these flats just accept booking a month before the entry date.