Each month we send out a newsletter by e-mail to everyone who has subscribed. It is a light-hearted way of passing on useful information.
Features include Sneaky Beaky’s fun trivia that Google cannot help you with plus lifestyle tricks of the trade. We also pass on special offers and useful links. To get your copy every month simply sign up here Costa Difference weekly newsletter.
La vida BONITA means the beautiful life. Read every month what the residents are enjoying.
The newsletter is read by residents as well as website visitors every month
☞ Banking with ease. (⌐▀͡ ͜ʖ͡▀ )
Increasingly, banks in the UK and Europe are closing branches due to the rise of online banking. Once an account is open, you can manage everything online.
For residents, the best online bank accounts to have are N26 as the main Spanish account and Wise for GBP and Euro accounts. Wise makes it easy to exchange between the two currencies.
With N26, you receive a Spanish IBAN number, allowing you to pay all bills related to Spain, including car tax. For the security of using debit cards online and in person, Revolut stands out.
You can hold a smaller amount of money in the account and freeze cards when not in use. They also offer a one-time-only virtual card, which is “terminated” as soon as it is used to prevent online fraud. All three offer free banking.
Latest GBP <> EUR exchange rate: £٩◔̯◔۶€
For those who use Revolut to exchange money, we report the exchange rate for the day before (Thursday) and the trend. Currently, the GBP is €1.15 to £1, which is down 1c from last week. The € is now worth £0.85, up 1p.
Why do rates matter? In the community, people buy and sell in both currencies, and residents come from the UK and other European countries. A drop for some is a gain for others.
☞ On the spot Spanish news: ٩◔̯◔۶
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pledged on Wednesday, ‘not to throw in the towel’, despite a damaging corruption scandal engulfing his socialist PSOE party.
Rather than stepping down, he unveiled an anti-corruption initiative developed in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), aiming to restore trust in his embattled administration.
The situation is particularly precarious for Sánchez, whose rise to power in 2018 was rooted in promises to cleanse Spanish politics of corruption, following a landmark conviction against the right-wing People’s Party (PP).
☞ Thinking out loud: (◕‿◕)
- “If you do things by half, you get half. That is why you should always live life to the full”, MT.
Last week, the French air traffic controllers went on strike once again, timed to cause maximum disruption just as schools broke up for the summer in France. Not a real issue if it only affected flights taking off and landing in France. The problem is that it also caused problems for all flights flying through French airspace.
When flying to Spain from the UK or Europe, airlines have to use French airspace. This means the strike also harmed the Spanish economy.
With so many flights cancelled and thousands of travellers stranded, the question has to be this: when will such actions be banned in Europe on human rights grounds? After all, thousands of passengers had their flights cancelled and their human right to travel freely terminated.
☞ Time for some humour. (-‿◦)
A young man went for a job interview at his local IT store for a salesperson position when the manager handed him a laptop off the shelf and said, “I want you to try to sell this to me.” The young man took one look at the laptop and said, “Fine, no problem, how much do you want me to get for it?”. £250, replied the manager.
With that, the young man picked it up and left the office. Just as he got to his car, his mobile rang, and the manager said, “I want that laptop you are walking out with”, to which the young man replied, “Certainly, Sir, give me £250, and it is all yours”.
Smiling now? (¬‿¬)
☞ Interesting fact about Spain: (͡o‿O͡)
Andalucia produces over half the world’s olive oil, some 1.5 million tons annually, enough to fill over 450 Olympic-sized swimming pools. It’s an integral part of Spanish cuisine that has been around for 3,000 years. The province of Jaén is the largest producer of olive oil in Spain, producing more of this golden oil than the entire country of Italy.
☞ Sneaky’s brain teaser 
Sneaky Beaky, our co-editor, puts together a brain teaser that gives you a second chance to win some money.
Every Friday, he buys a La Primitiva lottery ticket for the following night. Subscribers who send in the correct answer to his question BEFORE THE DRAW are sent the ticket numbers and will automatically get an equal share of 50% of the jackpot if it wins.
Let us take a look at last week’s “Sneaky Beaky” question, which was this:
Q: One day this week, 89 years ago, a novel was published. It became a classic film with the same title, starring Clark Gable. Name the book and movie.
Here is an anagram containing all the letters to help you name it.
dentinghowwhite
Answer: Gone With The Wind, written by Margaret Mitchell and published on the 30th of June 1936. It was turned into a classic film three years later, starring Clark Gable.
Thirty-four subscribers sent in the correct answer using the link provided in the newsletter before Saturday night’s draw. If Sneaky’s ticket for the Primitiva on Saturday night had won, we would have contacted them by now to arrange payment of their winnings.
Dividing 50% of the jackpot by 34 would result in a substantial amount of money paid to each of them.
Now, let’s move on to this week’s Sneaky teaser, an easy one we think. Good luck! What a great newsletter story it would be next week if his ticket went on to win the lottery!
Q: One day this week, 29 years ago, a group of girls released their debut single, which went on to launch them to stardom and establish a huge fan base. Name the group.
Here is an anagram containing all the letters to help you name it.
Grisselpic
IMPORTANT: >>>Please click on this link to send us your answer.<<<
Your email program will then open a new pre-loaded email template for you to send us your answer. Once received, it will activate a server-automated response with the lottery numbers.
After clicking send, check your inbox for the numbers. If they’re not there, check your junk or spam folder.
If you send your answer to us any other way, you will not receive the lottery numbers in advance, and we might not be notified of your answer, which means you could miss out if the ticket wins.
Here are the links again to the instructions on how to do it, as email providers are blocking them. Copy and paste the web address into your browser.
- AOL: https://www.whitelist.guide/
aol/ - BT Internet: https://www.whitelist.guide/
bt-email/ - Yahoo: https://www.whitelist.guide/
yahoo/
Not a subscriber: ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡° )
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That is it for this week; thanks for taking the time to read everything. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us.
