N.I.E. required to buy a new car:
Must carry documents at all times when driving:

It's time for tapas, young man!
Salud!

Ermmm, not until I get there - fish-fingers egg & chips this evening, fresh from the field

No what I meant what that while an NIE is required it's not something that you have to do the first few days. It can be done after you've gotten your Social Security number

Don't worry Rob that wasn't aimed at you - I'm simply posting fragments when I find them that seem to be authoritative. My memory when I'm in absorb mode is like a cullinder so I find making each point in a separate post makes the information easier to use later.

If you have not got the docs, despite the fine they have the power to take your vehicle to the pound and charge you Grua`s fee and storage until you get the docs.

So do you actually carry all your vital documents every time you go out?

How do you manage if say you're going to go to the beach, or do something where carrying the documents would be a big encumbrance (e.g. swimming) ?

In the U.K. I don't even carry a wallet - just a bit of cash in a back pocket and maybe a plastic card if I'm going to need it. Even in the U.S. I leave all the vehicle documents in the safe.

Every bit of it, bloody silly if you ask me. So if the car gets stolen for instance, all the reg docs go with it.

That's what I was thinking. If I took all the documents with me all the time the last thing I'd do is also leave them in the vehicle, and seeing as a Passport is the most vital bit of I.D. and so bulky its not something you can realistically keep in your pocket without discomfort.
Looks like I'll need a hidden water-proof compartment in my tee-shirts

If you did carry good colour copies of the documents would that be fairly likely to give you the 7-days grace to present the original documents at a local police station - that's what I rely on in the U.K. ?

I think you have to get the copies certified and stamped by the police or lawyer.
But the law says all documents must be in the vehicle and shown if asked for, so who knows, it depends if they have had a good day or not. ;-)

Wow! new business idea... hijack a car = guaranteed I.D. theft

In the thread Cervantes Institute--crash course I talked about tuning the overnight radio to a Spanish-language radio station to add some subliminal help to my attempts to learn the language by increasing my exposure to it early on.

I've found some streaming feeds for, amongst others, Canal Sur and Canal Fiesta.

Its going to replace the BBC World Service which I usually have on (very quietly) whilst sleeping.

Can anyone living in or around Costa del Sol tell me what the local, mainly talk, radio station names are, so I can track down Internet streams?

Thanks in advance

What a good idea

Hmmm... except that I'm always tripped up by something just when I'm ready for bed, which takes ages :curse:

I run GNU/Linux systems here and I've just discovered the notebook I use in the bedroom for overnight streaming, audio-books, etc. doesn't have MPlayer installed to play the proprietary RealMedia stream (good example of why open-source is best!).

I copied the program distribution archives from the server, went to install, and find the custom-kernel I built for that notebook has some important header files missing - probably take another 20 minutes to track those down.

So now I'm installing the real RealPlayer proprietary player simply to ensure I'm not still trying to fix this at dawn

...

Yay! success... now how to say "off to count the sheep" in Spanish... "el ir a contar las ovejas" ?

HERE scroll down for English Stations.