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Even the government seems unable to muster much enthusiasm about the building, the official press release is quiet on the subject of the facade, simply muttering about the new improved space and the modern office with all mod cons.

A recent check of the front revealed that, unlike most office buildings, there is no happy little plaque announcing the name of the architect. No doubt he is either in hiding or committed to an asylum.

In fact, 10 mins on the net doesn’t even reveal who is responsible for this atrocity. Just a bunch of local residents complaining about the eyesore in their street. Can’t even find out how much it cost.

But what really gets me is that the expansion next door is in almost the same design. Only they changed it slightly so that you don’t confuse the two buildings. So instead of one large building, ugly as sin, we have two jarring eyesores that, frankly, are so ugly they will cause accidents as people stare openmouthed at them as they drive past for the first time.

Who comes up with these things? More importantly, how dare they spend our money on this crap?

According to an article published today in La Voz, a recent survey shows it’s cheaper to buy your fruit and veg from a local grocer then from the supermarket. Also, the farmer gets a better price selling it to the grocer cooperatives.

For example, a kilo of tomatoes in a supermarket cost €1.57, and in a grocers €1.37. Peppers €2.05 in a supermarket, €1.57 at the grocers.

Plus, the qualities normally better, the fruit fresher and it hasn’t been driven miles and miles - it’s almost always local. And it keeps the locals employed and our villages full.

The construction of 600 homes (including 400 council houses, or VPOs as they’re known in Turre) that were going next to the cementery (next to Fuentemora, or Rickys Bar as you might know it) has been suspended “pending the fixing of a few small problems with the plan” according to the Junta.

Rumour (from a chap I know who works in the town hall) has it that they’re trying to sell the last few luxury flats above and beside it before filling in the rest of the space with high density council flats.

From the BBC:

Diners have been flocking to a restaurant in northern Nigeria to see pieces of meat [beef] which the owner says are inscribed with the name of Allah.

A vet told the newspaper the words “defied scientific explanation”. “Supposing only one piece of meat was found then it would be suspicious, but given the circumstances there is no explanation,” Dr Yakubu Dominic said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7520149.stm

Well….. I suppose a condescending know-it-all westerner like myself might mutter “5 minutes with a butter knife and free publicity” but far be it from me to cast aspersions on the word of an honest Nigerian. The nation that brought us the 419 email scam. No doubt his father was killed in a freak yet sad accident leaving the beef to his only relative who is willing to part with 40% of it if you send him your bank account details to smuggle it out of the country…

Paul Preston has created a wonderful profile on Franco, and this book has become the authoritive laymans guide to the only 20c Western European dictator to die peacefully in office.

Despite it’s initial size, this is a book that concisly explains the evolution of Franco from the early, eager military cadet to the cool, absent caudillo he became.

A wonderful book that reads more like a novel than a historical text, and I devoured it.

See Franco: A Biography on amazon.co.uk

I recently came across this little gem of a book. Written by David Gaunt, a fellow who’s been coming to Mojacar for quite some time, it’s an enthusiastic book detailing the construction of the local railways at the turn of the last century, and how they affected the local villages and populations. Lots of photos and interviews.

Well worth a read if you’re interested in the old railways or mines that litter this area. Buy it from amazon.co.uk.

According to Cajamar, there are currently some 1200 families in Almeria who have defaulted on their mortgage so far this year. Loan defaulting in general has shot up 28% with respect to last year, and Cajamar expects the situation to get worse, which is why its put 55M€ aside to cover such shortfalls.

Last year repossessions in Almeria were 0.3% of the whole market. So far this year it’s at 1.8% and is expected to reach 3% by years end. Mind you, during the last crisis of 93, it hit 9% so it’s still got some ways to go.

The road from Pulpi to Carboneras (part of the ambitious Llano Central plan) is being signed off today. It consists in improving and upgrading the Garrucha to Pulpi coast road (double carrageway in places), a new bypass from Las Bouganvillas, Garrucha, to the current Mojacar - [Garrucha-Los Gallardos] crossroads, then continuing past the Mojacar petrol station roundabout behind Mojacar Playa to Carboneras. Should be nice. No doubt the residents of La Parata and similar will start moaning again about the bypass, which should have been built years ago.

No word on when it will be built, but the feasability studies will start soon and monies are being reserved for the construction.

I was looking up the life of Mestrius Plutarch, the greek historian, and this is what google returned:

A family who were bound for a week’s holiday in Lanzarote are back home after a check-in desk mix-up meant they caught a flight to Turkey instead.

The Corays, from Llanishen, Cardiff, had booked an all-inclusive holiday with First Choice in a five-star hotel in the Canary Islands and were supposed to be flying into Arrecife, Lanzarote.

Last resort - the family are now booked on an alternative holiday

But instead they found themselves in Bodrum airport, Turkey where they then had to pay a £10 visa charge per person before boarding a plane back to Cardiff.

Mr Coray said they had not realised their mistake because their boarding pass stated only Bodrum airport and not that it was in Turkey.

No doubt he was one of those people who smugly said that Geography is a waste of time in school. “If I go anywhere the authorities look after me, so why bother learning?”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7517577.stm