Month: April 2017

Partaloa – 1,000 residents and three crooked mayors

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Partaloa has broken some sort of record – its third mayor in a row has been barred from holding public office! This tiny backwater of just 915 people seems to have an abnormally high rate of incompetent politicians. Or does it? The story so far…. Antonio Peñuela has just been barred from holding public office for seven years by the national audience for sacking the town clerk without following proper protocol when he first became Continue reading Partaloa – 1,000 residents and three crooked mayors→

Motion of no confidence in Spanish government mooted

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Rajoy’s weak administration could be on the verge of toppling after Podemos called for a vote of no confidence in his government this afternoon. The scandal hit PP party is tottering, as high-ups are arrested or quit as magistrates extend their investigations into corruption and illegal financing by industry magnates. Catalan independence party Comprimis has backed the call, and now the race is on to get the other small parties to back them. For the Continue reading Motion of no confidence in Spanish government mooted→

Almería goes to Iceland

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Holiday time approaches. Due to time constraints on both our parts, May seemed like the best time to escape as a family for some much needed R&R. Bearing in mind the GF is a desert girl who complains when the temperature drops below 19ºC, and Baby refuses to go outside in the wind, where is the best place to take them? The Arctic circle, of course! To be specific, just below it – Iceland. With Continue reading Almería goes to Iceland→

Girl hurt in fairground attraction in El Ejido

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I knew those things were bloody lethal – a 14 year-old girl has been seriously hurt at a fairground in El Ejido on Saturday night. The teenager, who suffers from the achondroplasia form of dwarfism, was a passenger on a ride called la rana (the frog) when she was thrown from her chair and impacted against the ground. The girl was rushed to the Poniente hospital where her condition was described as stable. Police say Continue reading Girl hurt in fairground attraction in El Ejido→

Sunday Times apology for calling aircraft carrier a destroyer

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An apology in today’s Sunday Times: A caption last week incorrectly identified the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson as a “destroyer”. Apologies to all those who were deceived 🙂 Somebody was obviously angry enough about this to make a formal complaint. Dunno why I thought this was funny, but it made me laugh. More to the point, who was Carl Vinson?

A trip to Málaga airport

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I’ve just been on a trip back to the UK, and decided to go via Málaga airport*. Now that the motorway is open all the way there, I wanted to see how easy it is to get to this airport. As the fourth biggest airport in Spain, flights are cheap and plentiful to all points of the UK (and other European destinations), so could it be a serious alternative to Alicante? The answer is, yes Continue reading A trip to Málaga airport→

Spain has no answer to zombie invasion – but says it doesn’t need one

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Are they mad? The Spanish may be able to forgive their politicians embezzlement, sexual predilections, and cosying up to Trump. But the revelation that Madrid doesn’t feel it’s necessary to draw up a Zombie emergency plan has caused anguish across the nation. Actually, the response to the question tabled by senator Carles Mulet (Comprimis) shows a rare sense of humour by some unknown functionary, as El Mundo notes. Mulet, a member of one of the Continue reading Spain has no answer to zombie invasion – but says it doesn’t need one→

Another unique eco-system in province killed off

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One of the largest surviving “artineras” ecosystems left in the province has been destroyed by farmers. The 2,64 square kilometre artinera outside El Ejido is a protected space under Spanish legislation, but Ecologistas en Acción say that invasion by builders and farmers has illegally destroyed it. Artineras are grouping of several types of indigenous grasses that form small inter-dependent ecosystems around a shrub known in Spanish as the Arto. Animal and insect life within the Continue reading Another unique eco-system in province killed off→

So what’s going to happen to the Spanish State visit?

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In all the general election excitement in the UK, one vital question has been overlooked by the pundits – what’s going to happen with the visit of the Spanish Royal family to the UK? The election is on June 8, and King Felipe is supposed to be visiting on June 6-7. He and his family can still meet the Queen of course  but with purdah in force across the UK government, he won’t be able Continue reading So what’s going to happen to the Spanish State visit?→