Health warning – do not read this if you are hungry

Gibraltar has started to become a sea of red and white, if one can have a sea of red and white.

Gone is the red, white and blue bunting to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, and in its place is the red and white to symbolise Gibraltar in advance of National Day celebrations on Monday (September 10).

Red and white down Main Street, approaching The Convent

Quattro Stagioni and Gib flags

Even Morrisons staff are allowed to abandon their green and white school uniforms for red and white patriotic clothing.

Morries supports Gib – it would do, given the prices they charge

In John Mack Square/Piazza there was a fine band.

Jazz band in the Piazza

I asked Partner to record it with the iPhone. He didn’t. When I started, they, er, stopped playing.

Pix of National Day to follow on Monday. Maybe vids too. Maybe not.

In the meantime, last night, we celebrated redundancy with a take-away pizza from Quattro Stagioni on Jumpers Bastion.

Many years ago when we were affluent, we had a phase of eating there. As did Pippa, because we sat outside in the evening sun. Here is his review and some photos.

Since the opening of Mamma Mia, Quattro Stagioni must have taken a real drop in takings. Mamma Mia is in Boyd Street, opposite the Queen’s Hotel, and basically in the bottom corner of the car park by the cable car, ie nearer to town.

These two Italian restaurants are within five minutes walk of each other. Mamma Mia is invariably busier than Quattro. It is also cheaper, and if they are aiming at tourists, they are far more likely to be visiting the cable car than wandering along Jumper’s Bastion, so not a bad location.

I’ve never eaten at Mamma Mia so I can’t compare a sit down meal at both places. I’m not planning to eat there either as I think Quattro is a much nicer location and the menu is better.

Let’s compare take-away pizzas though. A nice simple like with like.

It is my job to ring up and order a pizza. Naturally this leads to a marital dispute. For some reason my partner thinks I should order in English. I have no idea why, as I can speak and understand Spanish better on the ‘phone than he can. I doubt he could get the order right in English, let alone Spanish.

Anyway, as he set off for Quattro before I ordered I had the flat to myself and happily ordered in Spanish.

Readers will not be surprised to hear that I ordered a pizza vegetariana. Grande, grandissimo, I added. Con aceitunas. Negra? she asked. Sí.

Pizza before my additions

So we have the biggest veg pizza with black olives. I have learned it is not cheap a good idea to ask for extra toppings that I can put on myself, but I had no black olives in, (note to self – buy some) but at least Quattro does chuck a fair handful on. Once back home, I chopped up some hot green finger chillies, some garlic, and chucked on the last of the capers. (Note to self, buy more capers).

I like this pizza. I like the courgette and the aubergine, as it gives it a really fresh veg taste. Plus there is no gloopy tomato sauce sogging the dough, and very little cheese. The dough is extremely thin and crisp.

Added to, warmed up and looking good

Onto a Mamma Mia pizza. Same thing, another vegetarian one, but with no extra toppings. I added green olives, and capers, chillies, garlic again.

This is a totally different pizza, onion, sweetcorn and peppers are the main toppings, before I add my extras.

Mamma Mia pizza – with extras!

Despite how full this pizza looks, it wasn’t as big as the other one. I should have either ordered a grandissimo one from Mamma Mia, or two of this size as we ganneted it all and still felt hungry. No complaints about the pizza, good dough, and enough veg.

OK. Bottom line.

Large pizza from Quattro with extra olives (£1) – £13.50

Pizza of indeterminate size from Mamma Mia – £7.50 (no extra toppings)

Big price difference. But, we had two pieces left from last night’s Quattro one that served for brunch today, and the other one from Mamma Mia just wasn’t big enough for a decent meal for two people. Two would have been better, which makes the price difference insignificant.

I like the ingredients on the Quattro one better, but the Mamma Mia one is OK for a change.

What about Indian take-aways?

Well, we used to eat at the Maharajah on Queensway Quay, which according to the staff at their Tuckey’s Lane restaurant (off Main St, by Barclays), is currently closed.

Part of the recent take-away flurry was because I was feeling a bit off colour the other week and totally incapable of cooking, so poor old Partner came in from work and then traipsed out to pick up some food.

From the Maharajah, I ordered garlic nan, peas pilau, bhuna veg curry and sag aloo. I think the only thing on the take-away menu was the garlic nan (we didn’t have a menu at home at the time, but Partner brought one back). I do like flexible restaurants where you can order what you want, and they just say yes and get on with it.

The Maharajah meal was slightly under £15. This was for two people, and one greedy Partner had seconds. He then took the rest of it to work for his meal the next day (much to my annoyance when I fancied some reheated curry).

Maharajah meal

Needless to state, Pippa has reviewed the Maharajah restaurant on Queensway Marina more than once.. And when Partner was chatting while collecting his food the other evening, the waiter reminded him that we could always take the dog into the town restaurant too! OK, so they want our money, but that is a good way to go about it.

There are other take-aways in Gib, we have used the Mumtaz and the Mumbai, but Maharajah is still our fave. It doesn’t have that same sauce dished up with everything that only varies by a couple of spices. Or if it does, they do it more cleverly. I like the flavour of spices to come through, and not some claggy sauce with some hotness added.

So, once that flurry of take-aways was over, it was back to making more of my own Indian food. Moving on from fruit chutneys to tomato. It was OK, but I prefer the fruit ones. Oddly, they are actually sharper. [recipes may appear or may not at some point]

Mustard seed tomato chutney

I have plenty of other news but Gibraltar is chilling out this weekend. Celebrating being Gibraltarian, British, and definitely not Spanish.

Wishing everyone in Gibraltar a great National Day on Monday. And apparently the British Foreign Office in Whitehall will be flying the Gib flag for us on Monday. Good one. Just make sure you keep those naughty Spanish fisherpeople and their Guardia Civil escort out of Gib and British territorial waters.

Foreign Office ministers David Lidington and Mark Simmonds, respectively the ministers for Europe and the Overseas Territories, have said they welcome the raising of the Gibraltar Flag over the FCO in Whitehall to mark Gibraltar Day. 
 

“From now on, the flags of each UK Overseas Territory will be flown over the FCO one day every year, to mark a significant day in each of their respective histories,” said an F&CO spokesman. 

“I send my greetings and best wishes to all Gibraltarians ahead of Gibraltar National Day. It is a day to celebrate the people of Gibraltar, their community and identity.

“It is fitting that Gibraltar’s flag should be flown annually in London to mark this occasion,” said Mr Lidington, who has responsibility for the EU and Gibraltar.

Source: Gib Chron

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Gibraltar – proud to be British

The bunting has been up for a while, red, white and blue. Normally it is red and white – the Gib colours. But this weekend is a British celebration, and Gibraltar is British.

Flags have been increasing day by day, the union flag, the Gib one, and my favourite, the Gib one superimposed on the union flag. Couldn’t find one when I looked in the local souvenir shops the other day.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo is in London for the long weekend representing Gib.

Joe Bossano is in Ecuador for a UN conference. The following is from a Chron article:

Government minister Joe Bossano yesterday took delegates at the UN C24 decolonisation seminar in Quito, Ecuador back to 711 to illustrate a common thread in history leading to “independence from Spain”, in Gibraltar case with the arrival of the British in 1704.



And in a dramatic turn to illustrate the way in which politics was conducted in the 16th century, Mr Bossano said that thirty-two years after first becoming part of Spain with Queen Isabella taking it from the Duke of Medina Sidonia Gibraltar had, in 1534, “formed part of the state who sent Pizzaro to massacre the Incas in Quito.”



But he said that sovereignty in Europe today is not what it was in the 16th century, though Spain, he argued, has not understood this.

In 1704 he said “Gibraltar had gained its independence from Spain after 202 years under Spanish sovereignty.



In his address, also pre-recorded on a YouTube clip posted at the GSLP website http://burl.co/117125C, Mr Bossano defended self-determination and said that the UN had to defend the people under colonial rule and not be manipulated by member states in territorial disputes.



Referring to the decolonisation list of which Gibraltar is one of 16 territories Mr Bossano said that the continued existence of the list is the reason for the seminar.

“The meeting is to assist the people to fulfil the charter requirement to exercise self-determination,” he said.



Mr Bossano pointed out that the committee has been studying case of Gibraltar’s decolonisation for 58 years and said he himself had been involved in that campaign for that time.

He also said that privately many agreed that Gibraltar’s case unassailable but Spain had astutely manipulated circumstances.

“The present Spanish Government will no more succeed in its attempts to conquer Gibraltar than any of its predecessors have done in the last 58 years. No matter what alliances it makes with others,” said Mr Bossano.

It is, he said, the freely and democratically expressed wishes of the colonial people that count as far as the UN Charter is concerned.

Spain, said Mr Bossano, had been flagrantly in breach of the Charter for decades and did not want the C24 to know what Gibraltar itself wants.

Mr Bossano urged the C24 members to assist in the achievement of decolonisation and urged them to remember the C24 is the guardian of colonial people. The process, he emphasised to them is one of assisting the people from colonial rule to self-rule.

Go Joe! I love the way he doesn’t mince his words.

Speaking of Spain, I see that Sofia did go to visit Liz. But in a private capacity. What a load of hypocrites.

Anyways, apparently there is a street party today. So best wander out and see what is going on.

I may even get to see Rhona the Rhino, who is apparently being pulled down Main Street to raise funds for Africa.

WTF is a rhino doing in Main Street? She deserves to be in Africa, not part of some crazy stunt.

And on crazies, a customs car was vandalised the other day and customs officers were pelted with stones when they stopped a couple of Spaniards with 81,000 cigarettes.

Workers on JBS are on overtime over this holiday weekend putting up razor wire at the airport to stop people escaping over the frontier with their contraband. No street party for them.

For fuck’s sake

I am sick of this.

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I want a flask that I can not buy here. What a crock of shite.

Piss off Amazon. Big time.

Bank holiday rainy days

Gibraltar may be a few thousand kilometres away from the UK but we managed a suitably traditional long damp weekend holiday.

What a dutiful British Overseas Territory we are.

Reflection

Although, somewhat differently, we commemorated Workers’ Memorial Day on April 28 with a public holiday on May 30, followed by another holiday on May 1 – Labour Day/International Workers’ Day – hence our long weekend a week ahead of the UK.

I like holidays that are actually celebrated on the day and not bumped forwards or backwards to the nearest Monday.

Regardless of which, it was wet. I took the rare opportunity to take wet photos. And caught a cold. Literally. I am sure the two are not connected as I was wearing my leaking Goretex.

Rainy day faces

Ironically and unintentionally this post continues the theme of the last one….

Unite the Union Gibraltar Branch renew our commitment to, and demand once more, safe and healthy work for all.

Society no-longer finds drink-driving or domestic violence acceptable. It is time for work-related ill-health, injury, and death to also become unacceptable rather than a tragic but accepted part of the world of work.

Unite the Union Gibraltar Branch has declared 28 April 2012 a Day of Action to Defend health and safety. Unite the Union Gibraltar since 2008 have held Workers Memorial Day events and have finally influenced the Gibraltar Government to recognise Workers Memorial Day.
 
Every year we make clear the link between deaths and illness caused by work: most workers do not die of mystery ailments, or in tragic ‘accidents’. But because an employer decided their safety or health wasn’t that important a priority.
 
Unlike those dying in war or major incidents, they are not publicly remembered yet over 2.3 million people are killed by work worldwide each year – more than by wars or AIDS

Can you believe that? What appalling statistics. So, meanwhile as I was saying on the other post about trainees wearing safety gear on site…..

But moving swiftly on, our Chief Minister was busy unveiling a plaque on Workers’ Memorial Day, and sending out an inspiring message to Gibraltarians:

It is now also the GSLP, with our Liberal partners, who are introducing Workers Memorial Day as an annual bank holiday. As the grandson of a man who died in an industrial accident, it has been hugely satisfactory for me to introduce this commemorative holiday as a long weekend at the end of April. I recognise the work of Unite (in particular Gilbert McCarthy and Christian Duo) in raising the profile of this day.

Workers die around the world everyday whilst they labour to earn a living. Just last year a man lost his life working in Gibraltar.

We can therefore never be too careful when it comes to the protection of life in the workplace. That is why I adopt the phrase “remember the dead and fight for the living” which Unite is promoting as part of the events of 28th April co-sponsored by the Government and to which people from across the Community and across the political divide have been invited.

I have heard criticism of the fact that we are declaring a bank holiday to commemorate those who have died at work. Surprisingly, no-one criticised bank holidays given to celebrate royal weddings or winning court cases later lost on appeal. This day is much more poignant, enduring and relevant and I am hugely proud to have been able to declare it a holiday.

Finally, if you are going to take advantage of the fact that this year will be an extra long holiday weekend to go away – wherever you are, spare a thought for the events and sacrifices that give rise to these holidays. Enjoy –but do not forget.

While I may sound sarcastic, I am not. I think those are very valid sentiments, and my sympathies go out to the Chief Minister’s family and everyone else who who knows someone, whether family, or friend, who died at work or through a work-related disease.

I hope Unite’s calls for action are heard and implemented. There is more to workers’ rights than unveiling a plaque, fine words and a public holiday. Hopefully this government will be able to strengthen health and safety for those who work in Gibraltar.

Maybe even clamp down on that odd bit of illegal working that goes on? Cross-border workers trying to earn a pittance. No cover. Risking their lives. And sadly, so are the employers who knowingly take them on as illegal employees.

Unite the Union Gibraltar Branch is calling for:
 
1.        No reduction in the legal protection for workers and the Gibraltarian community on health and safety.   
2.        Those who create risk must be held accountable. 
3.        No freedom from inspections and an increase in inspector number. 
4.        Recognition and support for the role that union safety representatives play. 
5.        More action to prevent occupational diseases. 

Meanwhile some more damp pics from my sick bed and the obligatory slideshow.

Just looking for worms?

An empty and wet Line Wall Road

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Leave your hat on

Don Miguel Rojo, I want to talk to you.
Don Miguel, I hear you’re hiring on men.
Well, I might just be available.
I gotta tell you before you hire me…
I don’t work cheap.

[A Fistful of Dollars]

But trainees do.

So cheap that they don’t have to wear hard hats on a construction site, or the scaffolding they are working on doesn’t need to be netted.

These are government trainees working on a government site, a hospital in fact.

It’s OK, because anyone working around the bottom does wear a hard hat.

The Government can confirm that all Gibraltar Training Centre employees and trainees are provided with the necessary Personal Protective clothing and equipment to satisfy the requirements of the Factories Act. As a training provider, the Centre ensures that all its employees fully comply with current and local Health and Safety Regulations by undertaking an induction period at inception stage and also undertake an independent Health and Safety test in accordance with the guidelines set out by the UK Main Awarding Body.

Moreover, trainees undertaking periods of on-site attachment are inducted on site to familiarise themselves with the site orientation, nature of development works and are instructed to follow the policies set by the Main Contractor. The GHA Project Manager responsible for the KGV refurbishment works carried out a risk assessment and its findings were that there was no need to use debris netting on this particular project. Scaffolding has been predominantly erected as a means of access to assist painters and decorators who are exclusively making use of it to decorate the main facade of the KGV Building. It is therefore not a requirement to include netting as there is no risk of falling debris, objects or heavy tools/equipment. The painting and decorating trainees are working at different heights along the platforms and are protected by overhead scaffold boards and consequently there is no need for the use of safety helmets either.

However, plasterers and bricklayers working around the site in open spaces hacking and making good wall defects at ground floor level are permanently using safety helmets. The Government in general and the Construction Training Centre in particular take this opportunity to reassure the public that it is fully committed to provide a high quality comprehensive range of learning opportunities relevant to the construction and built environment to assist the young generation and raise local standards. Furthermore, there have been no reports for many years of any incidents or near misses on the building sites where trainees have been working.

So, for starters. Scaffold clips? Scaffold tubes? Hit any of those with your head? Poke your eyes out? Anyone who has actually been on scaffolding will know what it is like – and it is very, very easy to bash your head. Or your face.

We don’t need netting because it is too expensive no-one is working above. Really? So there is absolutely no risk of anything falling onto anyone? From anywhere? No decorators using tools?

I wonder if they are wearing hi-vis jackets? Safety boots?

How many sites do you see around Gib that have signs saying?:

No hard hat.

No safety boots.

No job.

Gib government – what are you talking about, seriously?

Twenty years ago as a press officer I wore a hard hat when I went on construction sites. These trainees are not just visiting, they are meant to be working on a site.

This is an appalling way to train young people in a trade – ostensibly – for life.

As for the reference to the Factories Act? This is not the nineteenth century – first factory act in the UK passed in 1802. The UK has specific construction site inspectors within the Health and Safety Executive. Factories are not construction sites.

And – I have read the Gib Government Factories Act – 1956. This is a construction site.
There is an awful lot about colour-washing walls in factories – of which we have a lot in Gibraltar in 2012, 56 years later no less – and matches, and steam boilers, and laundries, and steam pressure, and asbestos and, where is the bit that says you need to wear safety clothing on a construction site in 2012?

We have a new socialist government looking after workers. Or do we?

Here is good scaffolding with good practice being carried out by the workers on site.

Gib Government -
1) You still need to change your press releases, and
2) You may wish to wander around a building site.

Here is Joe Cocker, from Sheffield, Yorkshire, who sang “Leave Your Hat On,” in the 1986 Adrian Lyne film 9½ Weeks during the striptease scene. It was later sung by Tom Jones on the Full Monty. Written by Randy Newman incidentally.

The rain in Spain …..

… hasn’t happened very much this winter at all in my part of Spain, and we are all moaning about how much we need the water.

A rare sight - a wet table

Rose in the rain

Normally the winter months ie Jan to March do see some decent rainfall, with snow on the mountains, but this year there has been muy poco (very little).

Naturally, on Saturday morning in Gibraltar, with a sulking tumble dryer, we awoke to hear the sound of rain on the window. Quite heavy. ‘Quickly,’ I ordered, from the comfort of my thermarest, ‘Get the washing in.’ Which he did.

Hey, he’d got up to make coffee, might as well make himself useful while I grabbed a few more minutes snooze time.

He’d done it remarkably quickly, so I draped it all around the flat, and hoped it would be dry on our return.

The journey up to Spain was cloudy, but no torrential downpours.

And then, it started spotting. As we approached our normal dogwalking stop by the beach, it was bucketing down. The dog doesn’t like the rain so we by-passed that one.

I jumped out elsewhere to take a few piccies.

Boats on the beach - not going anywhere

We arrived home, jumped out, ran inside. We opened the door to watch the rain and the dog promptly ran outside!! He came back inside equally promptly. Silly dog.

It didn’t last long however, and today dawned bright and sunny although with a cold wind.

Just as I was getting brunch ready, José called me.

My heart sank. We were having some left over bean slop for breakfast and some tempeh sandwiches.

He proffered a plate of sweet Spanish cakey things that they eat at Easter. Adelina had got two glasses ready for us to get rat-arsed on anis while getting sugar-overdosed on the cakey things. Roscas de Pascua.

Roscas

I explained we were coming back to Gib so we couldn’t drink while driving and we were about to eat and ….

Their little faces fell. Partner came out and saved the day by picking up one of the cakes and shovelling it in. I caved in and said I would have a glass of anis after all (passenger me so no worries there). They looked much happier.

There was a long chat about how they hadn’t seen us over Easter to offer us these goodies, and we were often gone too soon.

We sighed in sympathy and pointed out that we did have to go to work (well, Partner does), and there ain’t much of that in España right now.

From there we discussed world politics as you do, which as usual included Gib’s status and the Spanish claim, and Argentina sabre-rattling about the Falklands. I did notice some weeks ago that the first motion on the agenda for the new Argentine parliament was about Las Malvinas. (Spanish for Falkland Islands). I do think President Kirchner should back off with her bellicose bollocks, or perhaps she thinks she is the new Margaret Thatcher?

However, we managed to avoid falling out with our neighbours, and in the midst of these political hot topics, Adelina was busy saying how she had made the roscas. This was probably because after so many years of living next to us, they know exactly what we eat and don’t eat. So many bought Spanish sweet things are full of lard. I still left the roscas alone, and we agreed to take the rest of them back with us as Partner’s compañeros will no doubt appreciate them tomorrow. Or maybe not.

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Gay rights in Gib?

Standing in the non-existant bank queue today (Gib not Spain) I glanced at the television screen.

‘Buy a £5 coin for only £5.’ Um, yes? What else would I pay?

Me and a badminton participant in the 1970 something Commonwealth Games rolled our eyes at each other. I learned about his badminton history when we were watching the news together briefly in the queue.

Then I read about the controversy over the adverts on London Transport that have been pulled by Boris Johnson because they are intolerant of homosexuality, or to write rather more slangily, anti-gay.

Link to BBC here and Guardian (better story) here.

This sort of thing is medieval at best, but more accurately pre-historic. This is 2012 and the UK has same-sex civil unions.

Homosexuality is not a disease. And quite frankly, what consenting adults do behind closed doors is neither my business, anyone elses’, and certainly not the business of a church founded in the name of someone who preached tolerance.

If you want to promote your own cause/religion/viewpoint blah blah, it is courteous to point out the advantages of whatever you are espousing. It is offensive and disrespectful to criticise others because their point of view is not yours.

Apparently the churchy group moaned about lack of free speech. Well, there is a difference between free speech and causing offence to others.

Saying that gays have a disease that can be cured is on a par with saying ‘Wogs Go Home!’

I would respectfully suggest that if they can find some advantages for Christian marriages between heterosexual couples they should be promoting that and not slagging off homosexuals.

Here in Gibraltar, we don’t have same-sex civil unions, although last month Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has said the government would support civil partnerships and will publish a command paper on the subject in autumn.

Like his predecessor, Peter Caruana, Picardo has drawn the line at gay marriages. Hmm. We do live in a Roman Catholic country though. Or perhaps that would be one step too far too soon, for what is essentially a conservative place.

For more info on gay rights in Gib, check out this site – Equality Rights GGR.

And back to the beginning, and speaking of queues, here is a quick phone snap that I forgot to include the other day.

Isn’t it great that you can wander into the Post Office in Spain with your birds on your shoulder and no-one bats an eyelid?

Later on, I was at the counter and one of them was next to me happily pecking away at a yellow post-it note on the counter.

I wonder how many rules and regulations exist in the UK these days to stop people taking their birds into a Post Office.

And these people standing in the queue reminded me of one of the best scenes (and best films) I have seen in many years.

And if you have a few minutes to spare you may want to check out some of the other versions where people have performed their own versions, some of them are excellent, especially the Italian wedding scene, which includes the bride running in front of the dancers gathering up ties!!

Working holiday part 2

Well the Easter Bunny didn’t bring us any choccy eggs which is just as well because we wouldn’t have eaten them.

But we did get a rather nice freebie just before the holiday which will come in most useful.

Doing a refurb always involves getting rid of stuff. The firm Partner is working for at the moment ripped out a kitchen. Did anyone want this granite? A breakfast bar, a corner piece and a long piece with a sink cut-out.

‘That will do nicely for your finca won’t it?’ said one colleague. Hey, we don’t even have to put up our hand and ask. Everyone knows we are tight-arsed into the environment and recycling.

Partner agreed. So instead of being taken to the tip and chucked out, it got put in our truck to take back to Spain.

And as luck would have it, when we arrived, one of our neighbours, his son and his son’s mate were outside. Quick as a flash they were commandeered to unload, the two young lads picking up the huge piece as though it was cotton wool.

‘That’s for jovenes,’ [young people] said our neighbour sagely as he and Partner took the two smaller pieces. Offers of tinnies of beers were refused so we’ll find another way to pay back.

So after ten years of washing up in a plastic bowl on top of a Black and Decker workmate, and throwing the water over the wall, I may get a sink. But hell, there is no rush after all this time. And I need to design and measure up first. That could take a while.

On the road back to Gib we saw this rather neat car flying past us.

‘Aston Martin, DB4′ said Partner. (He likes Aston Martins although not as much as Land Rovers).

Flying too fast to take a photo but we spotted it again in the frontier queue. They must have taken the scenic route after they flew past us.

‘No, I think I’m wrong,’ said Partner sadly. ‘The front end doesn’t look right.’

Any views dear car experts?

Having been to more than enough shops for one day (previous post), we rejected the idea of Morrisons, and I decided I could rustle something up with what little we had in. [tempeh and tofu with a couple of dipping sauces for those of you who are interested - the sauces are probably worth a post at some point]

So we got in, unpacked, and then took an evening walk on Easter Monday with the dog.

Gib wasn’t exactly busy. Just how we like it.

Looking down Main Street (north)

Looking up Main Street (south, obviously)

Looking up the Rock from Referendum Gates

Once through the gates, looking up from Trafalgar Cemetary with the cable car and Trafalgar Heights building on the right of the pic – Trafalgar Heights has a marked resemblance to the leaning tower of Pisa for some strange reason

And down to Queensway Quay marina with the boat masts just visible through the entrance

A lovely ending to a great long weekend.

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Pokito a poko

Eeeh, they don’t make things like they used to, do they?

The tumble dryer was working away this morning (it was raining again) and suddenly the noise changed.

‘Fan belt,’ muttered Partner.

In pulling the tumbly out from its normal home, he decided to get rid of a vile glass cabinet that we inherited on buying the flat and couldn’t get rid of either through Friday Ads or FreeCycle.

We took it to bits and carefully took the glass and the cabinet outside. I piled the glass on the vile office chair that we finally got rid of yesterday. I never liked it, it was cast off from some job that partner had worked on and was one of those rather macho black executive swivel job things.

I took the camera with me when we set off for the shops but sadly had omitted to put batteries in. On returning from shopping trip, it had all been taken by our excellent street cleaning service. So no pic of either.

But here is a tumbly pic. Indeed it was the fan belt. The machine was made in 1977. Hotpoint. My mother bought it when I was at university. Fancy the fan belt only lasting 35 years.

I do hope I can buy another. For the want of a fan belt the tumbly could be lost.

My mission, apparently, should I choose to accept, is to find a fan belt for a 35-year-old tumbly. Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

NB Buy a new tumbly does not qualify, and I’ve worked out to look at the Hotpoint website. Otherwise, fire away.

At least the fan belt problem inspired us to finally get rid of the cabinet as part of our spring clean, so little by little the flat is looking slightly tidier.

Pokito a poko (little by little) by Chambao, another Andalucían band, this time from Málaga. Described as a fusion of flamenco and electronic music, I would have called it a mix myself but one has to keep up with crappy jargon so fusion it is. Another of my favourite Spanish bands.

Chambao, by the way, is one of those ubiquitous Mediterranean beach huts, but the word means more than the hut, it captures the whole atmosphere too.

Life

Some people celebrate new life this weekend. I don’t. I’m not religious.

I’d like to celebrate it every day.

But here is Amparanoia, (Ampara Sanchez), with her superb rendition of La vida te da.

There’s no real translation in English, but ‘life gives to you’ will do.

Brilliant Andalucían singer and musician.

But I also like this video because it shows older women with their elegant and gracious dancing with their hands. How clever they are, and how much a part of this dance they are. Age doesn’t matter here.

I like the silhouettes.

Above all, I love the exuberance and happiness.

And the trumpets, forgot that one, but they are brilliant.