It always takes a bit of adaptation getting back to the office routine after the Christmas holidays. Some people feel down after the New Years Eve revelling comes to an end, others can’t wait to get back to earning – rather than spending – ways, while many of us are sad to end the holidays but also slowly becoming bored, so a gradual return to work is perhaps the best solution.

In Spain many people work through the conventional Christmas period anyway, taking only a few days off around Christmas and New Year’s. Instead, the focus is on the period around Los Reyes, or Three Kings, the traditional highpoint of Christmas in Spain, and also the time when children here receive their gifts. Three Kings Day falls on the 6th of January, so in Spain the working year only really kicks off in earnest from that date onwards.

Anyone who lives in Spain will have experienced the popularity of the Spanish puente (literally 'bridge'), which results when a Public Holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday and workers take an extra day to make a four-day weekend.

While previously any move to change this tradition might have attracted howls of protest from outraged employees, the currently rocky economic climate has led the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations (CEOE) to suggest that in the future all Public Holidays should be moved to the nearest Monday or Friday, thereby rendering the time-honoured four day puente extinct, a proposal that has been greeted with a surprising lack of animosity from unions.

When the Spanish public went to the polls to elect a new government on Sunday 20th November, they had one hope in common – that whatever the outcome there would be a decisive victory. A hung Parliament could have resulted in a disastrous future for the country, with politicians fighting amongst themselves and blocking legislation prepared by the opposing party.

In the event, the Partido Popular won a landslide victory, so the worst-case scenario quoted by professional and amateur political pundits was thankfully avoided. The focus of the local, national and international press has now turned to Spain's future under the management of Mariano Rajoy and the PP.

Who wouldn’t like to be featured in a newspaper – especially when you’re receiving kudos from lofty sources. And if it’s in a major national newspaper, so much the better.

A recent report in the UK's popular broadsheet, The Independent on Sunday related the story of ex-Premier League footballer, Neil Heaney, whose struggle to retrieve money from an unscrupulous developer has led him to build a new career that should help property investors who, like him, were let down by 2008's collapse of the property market.

Heaney is now the Chief Executive of Judicare, which incorporates a Spanish law firm and a UK legal services company providing specialist assistance for individuals affected by the current crisis in the international property market. Recently Heaney visited Madrid to open an office to complement the services offered by existing premises in Hertfordshire and Tenerife.

During the 1960s and 1970s the Costa del Sol gained a reputation as Britain's favourite holiday destination, so when Spain joined the EU it wasn't surprising that Britons started to buy holiday homes here. Before long it became a favourite retirement haven, then young families started to move to the coast to open businesses and raise their children in a country that offered many more opportunities for outdoor living.

Most British expats would agree that life here is relaxed, enjoyable and relatively free from stress. However, one of the more disagreeable aspects of life on the Costa del Sol is the bogus gas man. While formally more prevalent during the autumn, these scoundrels can now be seen at any time of the year.

If you are either a foreigner, resident in Spain for tax purposes or even a non-resident property owner, you will often be asked to quote your NIE number, whether for purchase of a car, a property or to open a bank account. The good news is that obtaining it is completely straightforward and once you have this form of identity you will find it useful for all manner of transactions in Spain.

You can apply for your NIE number (the acronym for Número de Identidad de Extranjero) at the immigration office at one of the designated police stations. Most towns with significant foreign populations will have such a facility, along with resident translators to assist the process for those with less than perfect Spanish! Once you have submitted your application you will be given a receipt that you will need to bring with you when you return to collect your NIE form – usually about two weeks later.

The municipal elections held across Spain on 22 May produced a very clear trend away from PSOE, the ruling party of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The Spanish Labour Party lost out to the centre-right PP (Partido Popular), which swept all before it, not just in Málaga province but across the country.

PP’s gain is PSOE’s loss

In towns across the region voters sent a clear message to Madrid, perhaps not so much laying the actual blame for the current economic crisis with the Zapatero administration, which is in its second term, but indicating clear dissatisfaction with the manner in which the PSOE government has dealt with the situation.