The Sun is Shining Today!
For time immemorial, neighbours have chatted about the weather but here in Spain the weather has been so dramatic as to be the stuff of headlines. This month the top weather story was Barcelona´s blizzard. One of the English-language publications here on the Costa del Sol stated, “If you think Andalucian weather has been bad then just take a look at Barcelona, which has been hit with the heaviest snowfall in 25 years. The Catalan capital came to a standstill, while flights were cancelled, schools were closed and trains were trapped on the tracks after 50 centimetres of snow.”
In 2004 the European Environment Agency predicted that Spain and Portugal would be most affected by coming climate change. “Storms, floods and droughts are likely to become more and more frequent with a significant rise in temperature expected…Natural disasters appear to becoming more frequent with twice as many serious events recorded in Europe in the nineties in comparison with the previous decade. Such events can cause very heavy economic losses, e.g. the droughts of 1999 caused losses of more than 3 billion euros in Spain.”
Ironically, the weather news in Andalucia this month has been about all the rain. Roads in Nerja, ruined by floods in 2007 and that deteriorated further with recent rains will be repaired, cliffs are to be reinforced and a bridge will be replaced. The price tag is an estimated 257,000 euros. Agricultural losses and estimated damage to infrastructure due to recent heavy rainfall in La Axarquia region is 172 million euros. Olives alone account for four million of that figure. In the Forest Hills area of Estepona, recent rains caused devastating landslides last week. Eight of the evacuated families have been given the green light to return to their homes but three others are not so fortunate. The Estepona town hall is repairing the affected streets. Cartama town hall has reported damage caused by heavy rains to the municipal cemetery and thirty niches had to be relocated to a new pavillion. Alhaurin de la Torre town hall is suing the owners of the Santa Amalia stables for the cost of removing the carcasses of twenty-six horses, along with numerous dogs,goats, and ponies who died when the stable, built illegally on a floodplain, was inundated by the Rio Guadalhorce. Economic commentators state that the unseasonably poor weather on the Costa del Sol and its resulting lower tourist numbers have had a greater financial impact on local businesses than the international economic downturn. Andrew Forbes writes in the Sur in English.”…it appears the winter weather has been the last straw for some of the coasts most prestigious hotels.” He quotes Count Rudi Von Schonburg as saying, “climate change and the heavy rain has put clients off coming here.”
Monday, August 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Issue #12
Top of the Morning to You!
I have celebrated St. Patrick´s Day only once before and that was in Montreal. At the time I appreciated the irony of attending festivities for the patron saint of Ireland in the heart of francophone Canada. Here I am once again paying homage to that priest, this time in Spain. According to The News, one of the English-language newspapers available on the Costa del Sol, St. Patrick´s Day was officially celebrated for the first time on March 17th, 1753.
Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fifth century to a wealthy family. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest. In 432, he says that he was called back to Ireland by God, though as a bishop, to save the Irish, and indeed he was successful at this, focusing on converting royalty and aristocracy as well as the poor. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading God's Word he died on 17 March, 461 AD, and was buried at Downpatrick.
In hopes of making a political statement, during the 1798 rebellion, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on the 17th of March. The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from the song of the same name. St. Patrick´s Day was also believed to have served as a one-day break during Lent, the forty day period of fasting before Easter. This would involve drinking alcohol; something which became a tradition.
I always thought that everyone is a little bit Irish on St. Patrick´s Day but judging by the surprised looks on the faces of my Spanish neighbours, I was wrong. My assumption probably was based on the fact that the 2006 census by Statcan, Canada's Official Statistical office revealed that the Irish were the 4th largest ethnic group with 4,354,155 Canadians with full or partial Irish descent or 14% of the nation's total population.
And whether or not you are Irish or of Irish descent,
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
I have celebrated St. Patrick´s Day only once before and that was in Montreal. At the time I appreciated the irony of attending festivities for the patron saint of Ireland in the heart of francophone Canada. Here I am once again paying homage to that priest, this time in Spain. According to The News, one of the English-language newspapers available on the Costa del Sol, St. Patrick´s Day was officially celebrated for the first time on March 17th, 1753.
Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fifth century to a wealthy family. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest. In 432, he says that he was called back to Ireland by God, though as a bishop, to save the Irish, and indeed he was successful at this, focusing on converting royalty and aristocracy as well as the poor. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading God's Word he died on 17 March, 461 AD, and was buried at Downpatrick.
In hopes of making a political statement, during the 1798 rebellion, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on the 17th of March. The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from the song of the same name. St. Patrick´s Day was also believed to have served as a one-day break during Lent, the forty day period of fasting before Easter. This would involve drinking alcohol; something which became a tradition.
I always thought that everyone is a little bit Irish on St. Patrick´s Day but judging by the surprised looks on the faces of my Spanish neighbours, I was wrong. My assumption probably was based on the fact that the 2006 census by Statcan, Canada's Official Statistical office revealed that the Irish were the 4th largest ethnic group with 4,354,155 Canadians with full or partial Irish descent or 14% of the nation's total population.
And whether or not you are Irish or of Irish descent,
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Issue #11
Happy Andalucia Day
Today marks six months that Inu-chan and I have been in Spain. We have moved away from our home in Arroyo de la Miel to a new place in Torremuelle. Torre means tower and for centuries the picturesque watchtowers ringing the coast of Spain from Gibraltar to the Pyrenees gave warning of attacks by the Barbary Pirates from North Africa. Torremuelle is an urbanization, a subdivision, of Benalmadena-Costa and it has its own train station just one stop west of Arroyo de la Miel.
There are no highrise buildings in our new neighbourhood and our lovely apartment has views of the Mediterranean and the hillside with Benalmadena Pueblo and the Buddhist stupa, from the front terrace. The back terrace is an enclosed jungle of vines perfect for a tiny tiger to hunt little lizards in, so perfect, in fact, that it came with a tiny tiger already there. I am presently trying to find her family. She is very sweet natured and wears a pink collar. She looks up the high walls and cries so she must have fallen into our back terrace.
Thanks to her I have already spoken with three different neighbours and they are Spanish, French and German which has led me to conclude that Torremuelle is a multi-cultural enclave.
I am attaching a link to Torremuelle´s website. http://www.torremuelle.net/index.php?lan
Today marks six months that Inu-chan and I have been in Spain. We have moved away from our home in Arroyo de la Miel to a new place in Torremuelle. Torre means tower and for centuries the picturesque watchtowers ringing the coast of Spain from Gibraltar to the Pyrenees gave warning of attacks by the Barbary Pirates from North Africa. Torremuelle is an urbanization, a subdivision, of Benalmadena-Costa and it has its own train station just one stop west of Arroyo de la Miel.
There are no highrise buildings in our new neighbourhood and our lovely apartment has views of the Mediterranean and the hillside with Benalmadena Pueblo and the Buddhist stupa, from the front terrace. The back terrace is an enclosed jungle of vines perfect for a tiny tiger to hunt little lizards in, so perfect, in fact, that it came with a tiny tiger already there. I am presently trying to find her family. She is very sweet natured and wears a pink collar. She looks up the high walls and cries so she must have fallen into our back terrace.
Thanks to her I have already spoken with three different neighbours and they are Spanish, French and German which has led me to conclude that Torremuelle is a multi-cultural enclave.
I am attaching a link to Torremuelle´s website. http://www.torremuelle.net/index.php?lan
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The cat named dog is no more.
On Monday the 25th of April, 2011, Inu-chan, my beloved tiny, Japanese tiger died. My muse, mentor and monster, she began her life with me in her birthplace of Yamagata, Japan. She moved with me to Vancouver, Canada and a few years later to Benalmadena,Spain. She died at home in Singapore having seen more continents, countries, airports and assuredly, more cargo holds, than most human beings.
As I write this there are 18 emails and 24 expressions of condolence on Facebook. A lot of them are from people who got to meet her and say they are glad they did. The others are from people who know how very much I am going to miss her, even if they don't know why.
On Monday at 11:13PM I wrote on my Facebook status, "
I wrote in my newsletter yesterday:
"Yesterday my tiny, Japanese tiger died suddenly at home in Singapore. She wasn't ill and there was no evidence of an accident. I 'googled' Sudden Cat Death and discovered it is much more common than I could have guessed and the vets seem to agree that heart failure is quite common even in younger cats. Inu-chan was 10 and a half years old.
I regret that she did not live long enough to enjoy the much deserved celebrity that would have been heaped upon her after Memoirs of a Cat Named Dog hit the New York Times bestseller list but the 22 messages of condolence received within 24 hours suggest that she had already enjoyed more than her 'fifteen minutes of fame'.
Inu was not the first of my cats to die but she will be the last. My heart is not strong enough to do this again."
With each day I find the strength to write more. I still can't talk (or write) about her without crying but I am finding the words, and that is a very good thing. Unlike all of the cats I had before, Inu will live on in 'her' memoirs.
As I write this there are 18 emails and 24 expressions of condolence on Facebook. A lot of them are from people who got to meet her and say they are glad they did. The others are from people who know how very much I am going to miss her, even if they don't know why.
On Monday at 11:13PM I wrote on my Facebook status, "
I wrote in my newsletter yesterday:
"Yesterday my tiny, Japanese tiger died suddenly at home in Singapore. She wasn't ill and there was no evidence of an accident. I 'googled' Sudden Cat Death and discovered it is much more common than I could have guessed and the vets seem to agree that heart failure is quite common even in younger cats. Inu-chan was 10 and a half years old.
I regret that she did not live long enough to enjoy the much deserved celebrity that would have been heaped upon her after Memoirs of a Cat Named Dog hit the New York Times bestseller list but the 22 messages of condolence received within 24 hours suggest that she had already enjoyed more than her 'fifteen minutes of fame'.
Inu was not the first of my cats to die but she will be the last. My heart is not strong enough to do this again."
With each day I find the strength to write more. I still can't talk (or write) about her without crying but I am finding the words, and that is a very good thing. Unlike all of the cats I had before, Inu will live on in 'her' memoirs.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Issue #10
A Day in Andrea´s Life
I don´t have a job that demands my time so my schedule is extremely flexible. I wake up with the sun and have a couple of glasses of café con leche before showering and dressing. Some mornings I do a load of laundry while having my coffee and then take it up to the roof to dry after I am dressed. I am usually out and about by noon. Some days I explore my neighbourhood and some days neighbouring towns. Most days I go to one of the two supermarkets near my apartment and pick up a few items. I get the biggest thrill out of picking up a baguette and it is still warm. The supermarkets are not open on Sundays so if I am in desperate need of something I go to Barker´s Booze and Groceries. It is open everyday and has quite an impressive selection for a shop that is not as big as your average 7-11 convenience store. I try to write daily or at very least edit what I have already written. I spend about three hours in the internet cafe every day.
Yesterday was the beginning of Carnaval and it was kicked off here in Benalmadena with a drag queen show. There were children in costumes racing around the square where the stage was erected and a cotton candy concession was open for business. I learned today that Carnaval was banned during General Franco´s dictatorship. I also found an article with great pictures and have attached a link below for those who wish to know more about this festival. http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrcarnaval.html
I don´t have a job that demands my time so my schedule is extremely flexible. I wake up with the sun and have a couple of glasses of café con leche before showering and dressing. Some mornings I do a load of laundry while having my coffee and then take it up to the roof to dry after I am dressed. I am usually out and about by noon. Some days I explore my neighbourhood and some days neighbouring towns. Most days I go to one of the two supermarkets near my apartment and pick up a few items. I get the biggest thrill out of picking up a baguette and it is still warm. The supermarkets are not open on Sundays so if I am in desperate need of something I go to Barker´s Booze and Groceries. It is open everyday and has quite an impressive selection for a shop that is not as big as your average 7-11 convenience store. I try to write daily or at very least edit what I have already written. I spend about three hours in the internet cafe every day.
Yesterday was the beginning of Carnaval and it was kicked off here in Benalmadena with a drag queen show. There were children in costumes racing around the square where the stage was erected and a cotton candy concession was open for business. I learned today that Carnaval was banned during General Franco´s dictatorship. I also found an article with great pictures and have attached a link below for those who wish to know more about this festival. http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrcarnaval.html
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Issue #9
Hanging in the ´hood
Groups of buildings are called urbanizations in Spain and the cluster of ten high-rise buildings that Inu-chan and I live in is Urb. Jardines del Gamonal (roughly gardens of the chief). It is located approximately, depending on whether you are going uphill or down, ten minutes from the train station and Paloma Park and fifteen minutes from the beach, on foot. There are 18 small restaurants and bars in the complex, 3 of them on the ground floor of our building. The other locales, commercial locations, on the ground floors of the buildings include a pharmacy, hardware store, pet store,and bakery. There are also a few beauty salons, travel agents, green grocers and internet cafes.
The next urbanization as you head downhill toward the sea is Zodiaco Corinto. There you will find more pubs but also a veterinarian clinic, a British health clinic, a British supermarket (where I get my monthly treat of instant macaroni and cheese) and Terri Fox´s Palace, billed as "the most glamourous place to be on the coast ...where fantasy becomes reality ". The show stars female impersonators Terri Fox and Shantell Michaels. This is where I ushered in 2010, sitting at the bar with Terri´s mother.
Groups of buildings are called urbanizations in Spain and the cluster of ten high-rise buildings that Inu-chan and I live in is Urb. Jardines del Gamonal (roughly gardens of the chief). It is located approximately, depending on whether you are going uphill or down, ten minutes from the train station and Paloma Park and fifteen minutes from the beach, on foot. There are 18 small restaurants and bars in the complex, 3 of them on the ground floor of our building. The other locales, commercial locations, on the ground floors of the buildings include a pharmacy, hardware store, pet store,and bakery. There are also a few beauty salons, travel agents, green grocers and internet cafes.
The next urbanization as you head downhill toward the sea is Zodiaco Corinto. There you will find more pubs but also a veterinarian clinic, a British health clinic, a British supermarket (where I get my monthly treat of instant macaroni and cheese) and Terri Fox´s Palace, billed as "the most glamourous place to be on the coast ...where fantasy becomes reality ". The show stars female impersonators Terri Fox and Shantell Michaels. This is where I ushered in 2010, sitting at the bar with Terri´s mother.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Issue #8
Benalmadena: My kind of town
Thank you to the 25 people who responded to the survey. It helped me to realize that I am exactly where I should be!! Jessica Selzer, author of Do It Afraid, was the only person who said being near a city was the most important although 5 other respondents said being near an international airport was really important. Being near the beach was of top importance for 7 people, nature got 4 and pueblo 3, only one person said being close to cultural events was number 1 but plenty of the folks who answered the survey made it their number 2.
Wikipedia describes Benálmadena as a municipality in the province of Málaga, part of Andalusia in southern Spain. The municipality is 12km west of the city of Málaga, on the southern coast between the tourist areas of Torremolinos and Fuengirola. It has a population of approximately 53,000 residents but also caters to a large number of tourists. There are three parts one of which is Benalmádena Pueblo, the original village, which is about 3 kms inland at approximately 200m above sea level. Its core is a typical white-washed Andalusian village. It has an archaeological museum, a bull-fighting ring and the largest Buddhist Stupa in the Western world. Benalmádena Costa has discos, hotels, beaches, shopping centres, and a marina. Tourist attractions include SeaLife aquarium and Selwo Marine Park. Casino Torrequebrada is along this same stretch. And then there is Arroyo de la Miel which means stream of honey. This is where I live. It was originally a separate village and lies between Pueblo and Costa making it very convenient to both the sea and the mountains. It is also convenient to Malaga airport and the city of Malaga because of the train station. It has become the main residential area, and is also the most commercially active. Arroyo de la Miel is home to the Tivoli World amusement park and the teleferico, a cable car which runs to the top of Calamorro mountain (769 metres). From here one can enjoy panoramic views of the Sierra Nevada, Gibraltar and on clear days, the Moroccan coastline.
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
Thank you to the 25 people who responded to the survey. It helped me to realize that I am exactly where I should be!! Jessica Selzer, author of Do It Afraid, was the only person who said being near a city was the most important although 5 other respondents said being near an international airport was really important. Being near the beach was of top importance for 7 people, nature got 4 and pueblo 3, only one person said being close to cultural events was number 1 but plenty of the folks who answered the survey made it their number 2.
Wikipedia describes Benálmadena as a municipality in the province of Málaga, part of Andalusia in southern Spain. The municipality is 12km west of the city of Málaga, on the southern coast between the tourist areas of Torremolinos and Fuengirola. It has a population of approximately 53,000 residents but also caters to a large number of tourists. There are three parts one of which is Benalmádena Pueblo, the original village, which is about 3 kms inland at approximately 200m above sea level. Its core is a typical white-washed Andalusian village. It has an archaeological museum, a bull-fighting ring and the largest Buddhist Stupa in the Western world. Benalmádena Costa has discos, hotels, beaches, shopping centres, and a marina. Tourist attractions include SeaLife aquarium and Selwo Marine Park. Casino Torrequebrada is along this same stretch. And then there is Arroyo de la Miel which means stream of honey. This is where I live. It was originally a separate village and lies between Pueblo and Costa making it very convenient to both the sea and the mountains. It is also convenient to Malaga airport and the city of Malaga because of the train station. It has become the main residential area, and is also the most commercially active. Arroyo de la Miel is home to the Tivoli World amusement park and the teleferico, a cable car which runs to the top of Calamorro mountain (769 metres). From here one can enjoy panoramic views of the Sierra Nevada, Gibraltar and on clear days, the Moroccan coastline.
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
