Helen and Andrew Waring

We got to know such a lovely couple Helen and Andrew, because we had met and liked Helen in our Spanish class, and soon got to know them both and their family.
 

Helen and Andrew Waring with John and Charlotte
 

Since then, we meet up whenever we can and always have an enjoyable time together, even though they are many years younger than us. We were so delighted to be invited to their son John's wedding in England that we attended.


Montana Tosina

We also have some new Spanish friends, who are much younger than us (they are about our son and daughter's age), and we feel privileged that they have chosen to keep in touch, ever since we met them during our first few years. I first met Montana Tosina through the law firm that acted for us to buy our flat. I soon found out that she is a qualified accountant and that she was the one that did our tax accounts.

She informed me that she was leaving this firm and was planning to work independently, I immediately asked her if we could be her first clients, which she agreed to and would charge us far less than we had been paying. During our chat I mentioned that Trudy and I were trying to learn Spanish and Montana explained that she had taught Spanish before and would be more than happy to help us.

We arranged to meet in a cafe, near our home, so that she could meet Trudy and we would see how we all get on. Trudy liked her too, so this is how we got to know each other well. It was lucky that Montana had left the law firm, because not long after all the lawyers were arrested over dealings with the late Marbella's corrupt Mayor Gil.

We pay around 1,000 euros tax every year (it varied each year) for our apartment, but for some reason we were not in Spain when it was due, this was one of the early years and I had overlooked this payment. Once we were back about a month later, I brought it up with Montana and she said no need to worry, she had already paid it for us, as she did not want us to be fined and charged interest! Of course, we quickly paid her and thanked her.

After all my years of business, I have only had two accountants (each one for many years and we knew each other well) but I am certain, that neither one of them would ever have done anything like that for us.

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