What’s happening in Tenerife translates to Lo Que Pasa en Tenerife which niftily happens to be the name of a Spanish language blog about the island. It often reports on environmental matters and raises issues that may not be aired on ‘holiday’ type sites. For example today they report on the new policy at the Alteza supermarkets to charge a small amount for degradable plastic bags and  reusable cotton bags (which can be replaced free of charge if ever broken). This compares to the policy at Mercadona and Hiperdino whose plastic bags blow about the countryside like confetti after a wedding.

Another story comments on the insufficient margin allowed at some bus stops accompanied by the photograph of a young woman waiting for the guagua who looks dangerously close to becoming road kill.

The Lo Que Pasa En Tenerife website covers not only the big events that happen here but delves into the minutae of life on the island that has an effect on us all – tourist, residents or Tinerfeños born and bred. I’ve added a link to LQET on the nav bar under Sites in Spanish so you can always find it easily there.

Any expatriate who has lived in Tenerife for more than five minutes has had the head-banging experience of trying to get official paperwork sorted out in order to qualify for one or other public service.

Just as one item seems to be sorted and everything looks fine a Spanish spanner gets thrown in the works and off you are on a wild paper chase again. Hours if not days are wasted on this bureaucratic ring-around-the-rosie both by the hapless expats and by the officers of the state who sit behind their desks looking either secretly amused or totally exasperated by the foreigners’ total inability to get their acts together..

It’s all very well to tut at those whose command of Spanish leaves a bit to be desired and I doubt if anybody believes that the UK’s current policy of providing support in every language from Africaans to Vulcan is in any way sane but surely a little more assistance for the large numbers of expatriate settlers in Tenerife (and Spain) wouldn’t  go awry?

Well, hold the phone! The always interesting Tenerife Matters blog reports that the Tenerife Cabildo now provide English and German support in Citizens Service Bureaux Offices (CSC – Centro de Servicios al Ciudadano) in both the north and the south of the island. The specially trained officers will advise about services available to expat residents and handle many of the standard applications that have until now been such a nightmare to complete.

Absolutely brilliant and not before time. Check locations and times and read the article  here : Cabildo One Stop Shop for Foreign Residents in which the writer comments that this will be a welcome move for those who struggle with Spanish bureaucracy. That would be everybodythen  – including the Spanish bureaucrats.