Friday 30 September 2011

In the Garden............


Crinum asiaticum


        
 Flowering now at Cortijo Azahar.

Crinums are impressive plants which can reach 5 to 6 feet tall in their natural habitat, Tropical Asia.
There is a rare variety which has red petals and all are fragrant, releasing their perfume at dusk.
A common name is 'Poisen Lily' or 'Poisen Bulb'.
A single bulb can weigh up to twenty pounds and the seeds can be as much as 3 inches across.         




        
       

Flowering at Keanae Arboretum, Maui,  the second largest of the Hawaiian Islands.
                                     

Thursday 29 September 2011

24 hour Visitors.........


Such exitement for us.........

It was Tuesday afternoon just before 4 o'clock when the phone rang.  We were expecting  some friends, Shirley and Andrew, who we had first met in February on the 3 week Desert Detours trip around Morocco.   However the voice on the phone was Spanish, a UPS courier with a parcel for us so we agreed to meet him down at the Fairground to pick it up.

It all went from there..........and this next section is taken from Shirley & Andrew's Blog.......














 Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Benidorm to Motril

Tuesday, Up like a lark and started to brew a cup of tea for breakfast but were thwarted as our electricity was disconnected (as we had asked) albeit it a bit early.

We were also thwarted in attempts to leave as a site vehicle had broken  just outside our pitch. But some good manoeuvrability managed to see us avoid any damage.

By 11:15 we were having breakfast at a truckers stop on the main road, not the most salubrious of places but it fitted the bill.

Saw a great football stadium at a place called Lorca. Now if those of you who do not know, Lorca is named after the Spanish poet who died in the Spanish civil war.

We found what was a superb overnight stop at a “pub” just off the main road. Good job we did not stop there, as it turned out that the local pub was infact a licensed brothel!

As we made our way east, the sea of polly tunnel stretched from the Med to far beyond the capability of the human eye. Within these tunnels they grew three crops a year, consisting of mainly salad produce including lettuces, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. Not one of these crops are grown in an once of soil, its all chemical based. The locals do not buy the produce due to the growing methods and its all export to northern Europe. Is that why we get uniformed shaped tomatoes? Temperatures can reach up to 45c in these tunnels. Previously the land was used for the production of sugar cane a by product of which was rum which is still made with the cane imported.

Arrived at Motril and missed the bull ring but as we found a piece of land to turnaround at, there we two figures waving at us like long lost friends. Turned out Ian and Anne had to go and collect a parcel at that very spot. Drove up to their place and it is simply stunning. Parked up outside and plugged in. Life cannot get simpler.

There are vast views over to the med and we sat out on the roof terrace until nearly midnight.

We met their two dogs Dobby and Layla. Now Layla is a real lady of the house, who spends most of her time chillin and is a real laid back dude. Dobby meanwhile is very loveable and affectionate three year old, who simply never stops. His life revolves around, clearing the property of lizards, having a stroke, washing the concrete or someones legs, playing balls, chasing flies, annoying Layla and that’s all in a single minute. Both complement each other and are so friendly, just like their owners.

Anne cooked us a super curry with rice which was duly washed down with a can or two.

The area is very quiet with the laid back lifestyle demonstrated by the cockeral who was crowing at 10:20 clearly having just woken up. Up on the hill there are peacocks
And everyone has the obligatory dog or three.

Life cannot get any better than living here.

Location is N 36 44.663 W 3 29.415 at a height of 74 metres. 




                                                                                                               

 Wednesday Afternoon.......   We were sorry to say goodbye to them almost exactly 24 hours after they had arrived but they had an agenda, needing to get down to 'Casa Barnado', hotel and restaurant with its enormous car park, sited just before the port at Algeciras, where they were stopping overnight preparing to meet and greet 15 more motorhomes who will be arriving  throughout today for the start of yet another great adventure to Morocco.    7.30 am tomorrow will see the line of motorhomes setting out for the 5 minute drive to the ferry which will take them across the med to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the tip of Africa where they will regroup before crossing the border into Morocco.  They will, or should have, one of the most amazing holidays they have ever experienced.

Shirley & Andrew will be escorting the trip on behalf of the UK Caravan and Camping Club and answering  all the questions and sorting out all the niggly problems that are often raised by the campers and that the 'Desert Detours' crew simply do not have time for.  It won't be all fun!






Tuesday 27 September 2011

September Days......




The days are beginning a little later and cooler now and the sun is taking longer to appear over the high hill behind us.  The garden is recovering from the summer dormancy, greening up and blooming again.
The dogs have more energy and are chasing each other about and the people have stopped mopping their brows and exclaiming 'hace calor'  when we meet in the streets or the shops. 


A Day Out........

Up early yesterday for a rare excursion down to Ikea at Malaga.    A veritable treat indeed for us shop starved expatriots.   The journey takes an hour and a quarter and after picking up our friend Patrick on the way, we arrived around 10.30, herself eagerly grabbing a couple of the free catalogues for herself and the daughter to pore over for the next few weeks  before ascending the escalator to the top of the nave.

What seemed like hours later, we emerged with yet another Ikea bag having forgotten of course to bring at least one of the dozen or so Ikea bags stored in the cupboard at home ready for future Ikea visits.
Why oh why can we never remember to take a bag with us?  Not once ever have we remembered.
So what did we buy?  Well... candles of course, it's always candles and tea lights and two or three of those kitchen gadgets that we didn't realise we needed until we saw them.  Lots of the small yellow batteries, a powerful lamp on a flex for himself, and a cushion for himself for his large wooden patio chair.... that's the one that was rescued from the skip early one winter morning... a real good find, oh and a doormat for the campervan and the most expensive item at 7.99,  a shelf for the wall under the new this Spring, outdoor room on the roof which is only just coming into it's own now that the sun is losing some of it's strength.

The main topic of conversation after emerging from Ikea was, 'where shall we lunch'.  How about a curry someone said?  Brilliant idea so we set off for Almuñecar stopping at Nerja on the way at the small nursery that our friend Patrick had discovered on one of his outings.  That proved to be a real treat too and la jardinera found four 'must have' new plants.

It was well after 2 o'clock by the time we had parked in the underground car park on the sea front at Almuñecar and we were all thirsty and looking forward to the curry, another rare treat but....  as luck would have it, as we rounded the corner we saw that the restaurant  herself thought never closed,  was closed.  Ah well, the tourist season being well over, we shouldn't have been surprised.
So, we opted to eat at a restaurant not long opened by a German lady who we first met years ago working at the famous Sunday 'paella on the beach' place at La Herradura.  It was a poor substitute for our curry I'm sorry to say.

After dropping Patrick off with his purchases we arrived home just before 5 pm to the the most wonderful welcome from Layla & Dobby dogs.  As I said before,  we rarely have such a long day out.







Saturday 24 September 2011

Absolutely no rain today...........



It's a beautiful, sunny, balmy day with just a breath of a breeze.....


 Villa Tranquila - La Garnatilla 

We said goodbye to our French Gendarmes whose three week holiday at the villa was sadly over for another year.  'See you next year they said'.

They always leave the house so clean and tidy, it's a joy to have them stay.




No more paying guests until next Saturday means a peaceful,  stress free day for us.



Friday 23 September 2011

No rain forecast today........



Clouds yes and a high of 26º but rain?   no of course not.

... it has been raining since around 4 pm. not heavy mind but its showing no signs of stopping.

Our first rain since early May!

Luna Mora Fiesta...Guaro


Guaro, well know for its Luna Mora festival, is situated on the road between Marbella (15km) and Alhaurin El Grande and Coin.
It is 50km from Malaga and the road links the Costa del Sol with the Ronda Mountains.
It is the entrance to the Nature Park of the Sierra de las Nieves Mountains, and the area has been named by UNESCO as a Biospheric Reserve.

                                                                                 

  Guaro itself  is located in the stunning Guadalhorce Valley and is built on the side of a steep hill, its' narrow and winding streets rising and falling with the mountainous terrain they are built on.


The two biggest events in Guaro's festive calender are the August Feria and the Luna Mora Festival which  takes place on the second and third weeks in September.
During the 'Luna Mora'  the streets turn into medieval Moorish bazaars. While Andalucian and Arabic music is played in the streets, belly dancers perform and everybody tastes the best of the local produce available.
Guaro becomes especially pretty by night when thousands of candles light up the streets.

                  Programme 2011....                                                                                 






















                          How to get there... 















Doctor serves six months in prison because of his grandmother's mothballs.......




The Panamanian doctor found the Guardia Civil accusing him of being a cocaine mule.
 

           

Sep 5, 2011 - 12:27 PM
A mistaken positive in a drugs test carried out at Barajas Airport in Madrid has resulted in a Panamanian doctor, Juan Rodríguez Lizondro, to be imprisoned in Madrid for six months.

The customs authorities and Guardia Civil declared that his 19 kilos of clothes had been impregnated with cocaine, while the doctor claimed they had detected his grandmother’s camphor.

The reported conversation at the time was....
‘It smells strange – what’s it got?’
‘I don’t know. I live with my grandmother. She irons my clothes with starch, and then puts it in drawers with balls of camphor ro repel the moths – maybe it’s that’.
‘Let’s see’, said the Guardia Civil, who then sprayed the clothes with an aerosol which produced a distinctive blue colour, indicating as far as they were concerned that it was cocaine.

The 34 year old doctor, who is a Seventh Day Adventist, had come to Madrid because of a three month scholarship he had won with the Carlos III Health Institute. He did not drink or smoke, much less take drugs.

Despite that the prosecutor called for him to be charged with drug trafficking and the judge, who considered the aerosol test could not be wrong on 108 different items of clothing.

A second test on the clothing at the Spanish Medicaments Agency took six months to come up with the correct result showing that there were no drugs.

‘I came to Spain with all my dreams and a grand project, and everything turned into the worst nightmare’.

Friday 16 September 2011

So, you think your car is insured? well.... perhaps you had better just make sure.........

Himself was stopped by the local police this morning whilst taking a car full of garden rubbish to the local tip. The local police were waiting on the road just before the tip.   Unfortunately.... himself did not have any of the information  that he is required by law to carry around with the car and this was because.... herself had appropriated the document folder which was languishing on the pc desk as she was about to buy insurance for the following year, the existing insurance not due to expire until September 23.
Existing Insurance?   Much later.......According to the police data base we are not insured.   According to the police, our policy was taken out on 24th September 2010 and cancelled the same day.
What?  How can this be?  The money was taken from our account, we have emails from the insurers, we have a copy of the policy which states that the end date is 23 September 2011, we have a copy of the cover note.....

What we do not have are original documents!   

Meanwhile, our car will be languishing in the police compound for the weekend.  We have not paid the fine so they will not release the car.  Paying the fine would be an admission of guilt and we certainly are not guilty.
Guilty of negligence though we might very well be.


UPDATE

'Spanish Insurance Solutions'   who issued the policy seem remarkably unwilling to get back in touch despite having initially offered to find out what went on.

 Monday 1300.  Have just made an appointment with a lawyer for tomorrow at 9 am.

UPDATE
 Tuesday 20th September

 Received this email yesterday late afternoon from the Insurance Company:

                       " Thank you for your emails.

I am writing to let you know that your policy has been reinstated, we have updated FIVA today and tomorrow morning your vehicle will be live on the central database. 

Please go to the impound tomorrow morning to collect your car.  They will be able to look up your vehicle on the FIVA database and see that it is live, and then the 1500€ fine will be waived.  You will need to pay the impound & grua fees for the period that your vehicle has been there, but if you would please send us the original receipt we will reimburse you in full (it would be helpful if you could please email us a copy of the receipt in the meantime).  Please do not hesitate to contact us should you incur any difficulties at the impound.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for all the inconvenience caused.

Regards.  "


We met with the lawyer this morning who was sympathetic but noncommittal.  He wished us luck, he knows only too well the red tape that surrounds everything here, but we did recover our vehicle without problems although it took a while.

Looking back I can only shake my head in disbelief.  


FACTS              

We paid for our new policy on 17th September 2010.
On 24th September, after some chasing up, the Policy was issued
That same day, 24th, the Policy was cancelled.
 On 25th September, a copy of the Issued Policy was faxed to us.
 .....Very soon after this, this Insurance Company was taken over by another Broker.

On 27th October after more chasing, we received an email from the new Broker's
 office saying our Documents  would be sent to our new address, it having been
 assumed by everyone that the original Documents had been sent to our old address
 and lost in the post.

The matter was then forgotten by everyone!
 
The  Insurance Company who issued the Policy,  the middleman between the local Broker and LLoyds,  is saying nothing.                   

  Make of this story what you will, we know what we believe happened.



                      
                            












Monday 12 September 2011

Down to the Sea...

The temperature has reached 29º in the shade this afternoon here on the patio at Cortijo Azahar so a decision was made to head down to the beach for a late swim and a picnic supper. 

 Playa de Poniente   is a huge beach, 2200 meters long and has an average width of 110 meters.  The sand is fine and dark of volcanic origin and the sea safe to swim in.

                                                                   
                                                                      
 This beach is without a doubt the busiest and largest of Motril’s beaches. There are all kind of services and facilities here:  apartments, hotels, camp sites, restaurants, cafés, supermarkets, beach bars - 'chiringuitos', an adult sports equipment area on the beach and a very frequent bus service to and from Motril.  It is the nearest beach to the centre of Motril only 2 km away through the tropical plain with tropical fruit trees. 
  
It has a lovely seafront promenade and is very lively during the warm summer nights.  
It is well known for its intense nightlife and hugely popular with the young people who  meet up with their friends after midnight in all the different beachfront bars or “chiringuitos” along the shore.

The promenade has a bicycle lane which is also used for roller skating and a children's play area.  It is also used for open-air activities and concerts and the annual firework display which ends 'Fiesta Week' in August.



                                                                     

Sunday 11 September 2011

In the garden.....

Allamanda cathartica

                                                                             

Native to South and Central America, this fast growing shrub likes the sun and plenty of moisture.
It was given to the garden by a grateful 'paying guest' last summer as a thank you and is now flowering away in it's second year. 


                                                                                  

Friday 9 September 2011

Gibraltar's National Day

                                                                               

An article from  Panorama  Gibraltar's on-line Daily

Spain should drop its claim to Gibraltar, says Garcia

National Day message, from Leader of Liberal Party Dr Joseph Garcia
This year I will have been in politics for 20 years and have had the pleasure and the privilege to serve you as a Member of Parliament for over 12 of those years. It is curious that despite the time that has elapsed since I was first elected, there are certain fundamentals that remain the same.

The first of these is that the Spanish claim over the sovereignty of Gibraltar remains unaltered. In some respects it is worse than before. In recent times we have seen Madrid move from a position where they were content to assert their claim verbally, to one where they now do so physically and more aggressively.

DESIGNATION

Nowhere is this seen clearer than in the designation, on a proposal from Madrid, of Gibraltar’s territorial waters as if they were Spanish for the purposes of EU environmental legislation. This is no abstract, theoretical move. The designation requires action to be taken and jurisdiction to be exercised over Gibraltar’s territorial sea. Madrid has also included a section of international waters as if they were Spanish waters.

It is well known that Spain then moved to assert jurisdiction inside Gibraltar’s territorial sea. There have been several well-publicised instances of this. The new wave of incidents commenced in May 2009 when the Spanish fisheries protection vessel, the Corvette “Tarifa” lowered a RHIB inside our waters in order to inspect fishing boats, in accordance with Spanish law. The RHIB refused to leave when approached by the Royal Navy.

The case of the four armed Civil Guards who entered the Port of Gibraltar and proceeded to land on our soil is a further example of this lack of respect for our jurisdiction. In September 2010, the Guardia Civil removed a suspect from RGP arrest after a stand-off in the Bay. They have interfered with military exercises and with visits by an American nuclear submarine. More recently, a merchant vessel anchored off the east side was told by the Spanish navy to leave the area because they were in Spanish waters.

WATERS

The string of incidents is continuous. It is clear that Spain wants to assert jurisdiction in our waters and that we cannot allow that to happen. This would be the thin end of the wedge.

As another National Day approaches we have to bear in mind that everything that has happened in the last twelve months, and indeed before that, is line with Spanish policy that Gibraltar has no waters and no airspace and that it all belongs to Spain. We totally reject that view and will continue to lobby Members of the UK Parliament and of the European Parliament in order to keep them informed of the issue. Indeed, our Liberal Democrat MEP for Gibraltar and South West England Graham Watson has already raised the issues of the designation and the incursions in Brussels a number of times.

As I write this message the frontier queue stretched to Eastern Beach.

SELF-DETERMINATION

However, all this said there is another constant which has been there for the last twelve years and from much before. This is our determination as a people to stand up to and reject the Spanish claim and to condemn the aggressive actions that they take against us in order to further it. In 2002, when we rejected shared sovereignty with Spain, we sent a message at the same time that Madrid should have no say in our affairs in any shape or form. This obviously includes a resounding “NO” to a so-called Andorra solution which is something that we totally reject.

We must move forward confident in our right to Gibraltar, our right to our waters and our right to self-determination. The Liberal Party is totally committed to continue the campaign at the United Nations and to take our agenda to whatever forum is prepared to listen. Our right to self-determination and the international recognition of a new decolonised status now assume even greater importance.

Twelve years on from when I joined our Parliament in 1999, the message to Madrid this National Day must be that Spain should drop their claim to our country. Our sovereignty is not and will never be a matter for discussion or negotiation with them.

Happy National Day!

08-09-11


No hand over of sovereignty to Spain, says Picardo

In a National Day pledge, the GSLP leader Fabian Picardo says they will never discuss or negotiate with Spain the sovereignty of Gibraltar, its waters and airspace. This is the message:

We are once again celebrating our National Day.

Although the 10th of September is a date that we rightly associate with a celebration, it is of course much more than that. What we are remembering is the result of the 1967 referendum and celebrating our identity as a people. We are also making an assertion of our political rights as a Nation and our right to Self Determination. The importance of that has not diminished just because we implemented a new Constitution in 2006.

We have always made clear that the political attempts to downgrade our National Day into a municipal and civic event are a mistake that erodes its massive political significance. We are therefore totally committed to re-establishing the National Day rally at Casemates, retain the celebratory atmosphere and enhance the whole event further. If we win the election due shortly, we will make that a priority for the 10th of September 2012, which will be the 20th anniversary of the establishment of National Day in 1992.

It is a pity that there is now a division in our Community about the manner and place of celebration of the National Day rally. The division was brought about by the decision to move the event to the smaller venue at the Piazza. We all know that we must be united as a people if we are to defeat those who would relish the disappearance of Gibraltar as a distinct Nation and who try to stifle our further progress in the process of decolonisation and the assertion of our rights.

The clear message that we have to send to those who challenge our right to our land is that the Spanish flag with never fly over any part of our Gibraltar. We in the GSLP have been, are and will always continue to be opposed to any discussion or negotiation of the Sovereignty of our Gibraltar with Spain. I have therefore made clear at the United Nations that our Sovereignty is only an issue for us and the UK, not a bi-lateral or a tri-lateral issue to consider in any forum with Spain.

For all of these reasons, I call on you to join the SDGG organised rally at Casemates on Saturday 10th September at 11am. I will be accepting the invitation sent to all the political parties by the SDGG to support their rally. I hope to see you there so that we can again together reassert our rights to determine our own future and that of this land of ours.

My regards and Happy National Day 2011!

"THE GSLP SOVEREIGNTY PLEDGE:

The Sovereignty of the Rock of the Gibraltarians, the Sovereignty of its territorial waters and the Sovereignty of its air space will never be discussed or negotiated with Spain, nor any part of it ever shared or handed over to Spain; NEVER, EVER!"

09-09-11

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Let me introduce you to.........Dobby


                                       

 His photo was e-mailed to us by a rescue centre in Almeria.  We had contacted them earlier looking for a puppy or two for our daughter and Spanish son-in-law who had recently come to live here.

I showed the photo to 'himself' who said 'oh go on then'.  Next day we drove the 130 k to the sanctuary near Mojacar and fetched him home.

He had been found, in a cardboard box along with two other older pups of a different breed, outside the sanctuary gates one morning in November. They thought he was about 8 weeks old. Much later we realised that he had only half a tail.

Layla wanted to play with him as soon as she saw him.

                         


 He survived the rough and tumble and grew to be just a little smaller than her.  A year or so ago there was no difference in the speed they could achieve when running and chasing around the garden but Layla has slowed down now and doesn't want to play as much as Dobby would like.

One of Dobby's favourite things to do is growling, barking at and jumping up walls to try to get to the Geckos that come out after the sun goes down.
His other favourite thing is to have us throw his ball up in the air so that he can jump to catch it when it comes down.    He will hover over the ball waiting until some one passes nearby in the hope that they will throw it for him and he will drop the ball out of our reach when we are sitting down and growl to say throw it for me as if he thinks our arms are six feet long but...we have never been able to get him to bring the ball back to us.   There is obviously no retriever in his genes.
He is almost 3 years old now. 
                                                                           
                                                                                  


Tuesday 6 September 2011

In the garden.........

Carissa macrocarpa

                                                                          
                                                                                 


The flowers which are produced throughout the year are sweetly perfumed and the berries, rich in Vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, are tart but edible.    The plant has vicious thorns and is often planted as a security hedge.

In the garden again........

Whilst doing some essential pruning this morning,  a young tree frog landed on my shoulder.  He didn't stay long. Don't know who was the more surprised.....him or me.


       I was lucky enough to find this older tree frog hiding in a rose whilst watering early one summer morning.   Did I say hiding?                        


The pruning had become essential because 'himself' had been complaining that he could no longer navigate the path to the water tank in safety.  The Carissa, with it's nasty thorns, kept attacking him he said.   I could see his point.                             

In the garden...........

Phaseolus caracalla

                                                              

Snail vine or Cork screw vine 




This very fragrant vine from Caracas in Venezuela was planted here in early Spring and has just begun to open it's flowers. 
 



              

Monday 5 September 2011

In the garden........


Tibouchina urvilleana



This lovely tropical shrub has been flowering in the garden since early July.  It is a native of Brasil and needs a sunny sheltered spot over the winter.