The Regional Government 'requests' that work should stop on the 140 buildings that are springing up like mushrooms above Marina del Este. The reason is that, according to the technical experts that were sent by the Junta de Andalucía to investigate the building project, the buildings exceed the permitted limits by 1,845.76sqm.

But that's not all. Some of the buildings have more floors than are permitted by the PGOU. All told, 6 different building projects belonging to the Jardines de Adnania are affected. José García Giralte (the Delegate for Public Works) has also requested that the Town Council revise each and every building licence issued for these promotion & construction companies.

The Town Council was quick to point out that the building licences in question were issued by the previous administration in May of this year.

So, it would appear that you cannot build with impunity, ignoring regulations. Work on the building site in question continues, because the report issued by the Regional Government to the Almuñécar Town Council was only a 'request' to cease work. But it doesn't matter because the ball is rolling.

The reason that the inspectors were sent, was that all requests from the Regional Government to the Town Council concerning this building project had been left unanswered. So, what exactly is wrong, according to the regional authorities?

Part of the problem appears to be that the building company has included the access streets within its calculations to compute the maximum building area. However, the streets are not 'building land,' even though they occupy part of the plot. Another 'trick' has been used to calculate the number of floors. As the buildings are on a gradient, one side of the building is more exposed than the other. The company has used the side with the least amount of floors exposed to 'comply with height restrictions,' claiming that the lower floors exposed on the other side are 'basement floors'.

Finally, building regulations stipulate that the top floor or 'penthouse' should be 20% smaller than the floor immediately below. This has been ignored. The buildings affected are: Llias, Abla, Hala, Aida, Malaka-Aya, Joya and, Horia. The trouble is, that if the Regional Authorities were to take a good look at all of the buildings that have gone up in the last 20 years, then a quite a few people would be receiving unsettling letters from Sevilla concerning the legality of their houses or flats.

On the 9th of last month we saw the first anniversary of the Bodíjar fire, which changed our local landscape radically. It was the first forest fire, of course. The biggest one was back in '74, at a time when a drive from Otívar up over the mountains onto the Granada plains would have taken you through continuous pine and oak forests. They say that it was like driving through a long, leafy tunnel. The fire wiped it all out and burnt for weeks. Ashes, they say, fell on the streets of Málaga and a gang of fire fighters were caught in a ravine and perished. Vicente Alaminos, who was a forest warden back then, says he can still hear their cries as they screamed to be put out of their misery. Since then there have been at least three more fires - the last one being the Bodíjar fire last month. 4.8m euros has been invested in repairing the damage but this sort of damage doesn't only take money to repair - it also takes 60 years for the pines to grow back. Most of us will be dead by then.

Whilst we are talking about the upper valley, news comes concerning the projected Otívar dam. Ask the locals about it and they either scoff or shrug because the fabled dam has been on the drawing boards for the last 13 years - and that is where it will probably remain for a few years yet. Nevertheless the Almuñecan PA has asked all the other parties with representatives in the Regional Parliament to present an amendment to the PGE 2004 (Plan General del Estado), so that Otívar dam receives a 7,842,480 euros budget. The main concern is that if something isn't done soon, in 2007, when Spain will cease to receive FEDER funds from the EU, the dam will die a quiet death without having produced a drop of water except tears of frustration.

Officially, for someone to be sent to prison, somebody has to order it, yet that wasn't the case of a Moroccan in Almuñécar. According to article 504 of Criminal Law there must be a meeting between the parties where the prosecutor requests that the accused be put into custody. If there is no such request, the Judge cannot simply send a man to gaol - in fact it is considered a crime in itself, if he does. And that is basically what happened in Almuñécar. Mohammadi Benali spent almost 4 months in gaol thanks to F.F.G., who was the judge in Almuñécar who presided over the case. The maximum that somebody can be kept in custody without being charged is 72 hours. After that, if the prisoner is a threat to society or there is a chance that he might flee the country, the judge can recommend preventative prison. The judge, in this case, ordered Mr Benali's detention in Valencia and then promptly forgot about him. Mr Benali even sent 2 letters to the judge from his prison cell, asking why he was in prison and incredibly, the judge continued to ignore him. This judge is now facing a year's suspension from office for infringing a person's 'Individual Freedom.'

Good news for those who like reading! Almuñécar's municipal library is now online. This library, which is situated in the Casa de Cultura, near the main church, has 11,000 books on its shelves. But they're not all in Spanish - there are books in English, French, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and even Arabic. At the moment there are only 5,000 listed on the Internet but they are constantly adding more. The e-address is: www.almunecar.info.

Almuñécar's Antonio Jerónimo Padial took the 4th prize in the Spanish Scuba Fishing Competition, when he made a record catch of what looks like a Brobdingnag Trout but is in fact a 43 kilo medregal (Seriola fasciata), which he caught just of the Canary Islands. 22 competitors participated. The first prize went to César Quevedo, (from Cantabria) who accumulated 18,850 points for 14 separate catches and his biggest catch was only 1,340g and the 2nd prize went to Alberto March with 7.010 points for 6 captures, the largest being 2,400g. So, how come our Antonio only got 16.610 points and won 4th prize? Because the fishing event that went over 4 days and he didn't manage to catch anything during the first 3 days... not a sausage! Fortunately his Schwarzenegger Goldfish pulled in a lot of points. ¡Enhorabuena, Antonio!

Jete leaps into the 21st century! This tiny village of a little over 700 inhabitants, once had the enviable position of being the municipality with the highest per capita in the whole of Spain - that was, in the boom days of the chirimoya. Now it's back in the news again because it has opened its very own I.T. workshop - something that it's larger neighbours do not enjoy. The workshop counts on a dozen state-of-the-art computers and a budget of 21,035 euros. "It has been a difficult challenge," says the mayor, Plácido Jerónimo, "but has been well received by all the villagers. We have already started three classes, one of which comprises of 22 women villagers." This project is part of the 'Mercurio Project' that aims at providing wide-band Internet connection to all of Andalucía's villages within 3 years.

Almuñécar's Councillor for Tourism announced that the proposed underwater park would be finished during 2004. Within the underwater park there will be 13 diving areas and will cover an area from El Peñon del Santo (the cross on the rock) to Cantarriján. The project has a budget of 2.16m euros. The mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides, would like to remind everybody that the project very nearly went aground, thanks to the opposition offered by the previous administration under Juan Luis González. The previous mayor wanted to cancel the project and use the money instead on illumination for the existing paseos.

It will soon be goodbye to those smoky, old, grey buses that patrol our streets... when you least expect them. For we are going to have a fleet of minibuses, instead! One of the most positive aspects of these buses is that they will be adapted for the use of handicapped passengers, as well. The Councillor for Traffic, Daniel Barbero, says, "We've put our money on an urban bus service that is modern, with an emphasis on quality, punctuality (?) An efficiency to be able to cover the demands of the townsfolk." The minibuses can carry up to 40 passengers and will be renewed every five years. As for the bus routes, Sr. Barbero says that during the winter months there will be two routes: one along the coast and the other for the town centre and outer sectors. In the summer months there will be an extra route that will cover exclusively Velilla. To be fair, if the buses haven't been punctual in the last few years, it is because of the Wallies that park in the most inconvenient places.

The Mayor has announced that the local taxes will not be going up next year. The reason being that 2003 has seen 2 different administrations and there hasn't been time to study the subject in depth. Therefore, all rates and taxes will be charged at the same price as this year. As for 2005, he says that he promises that there will be a realistic budget aimed at 'doing more with less money.'

There is talk of a pedestrian tunnel under the main road that will connect Barrio San Sebastian and Almuñécar. Miguel Ávila has announced that the Town Council has requested permission from the Ministry of Public Works. At the moment you either risk life and limb crossing the main road at the main entrance to Almuñécar or you squeeze through the existing underpass. The trouble is that when the schools pile out - and there are 3 of them in San Sebastian - the pavement is choked and the car traffic is hideous. Another pedestrian underpass is not such a bad idea, therefore.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the surviving trees from the Paseo? Well, they can bee seen in various places: San Sebastian, on the beach in front of the Paseo and... tucked away behind Las Góndolas. The yuccas were severely pruned - truncated more like and stored in this unlikely space. It is very probable that the palms will not survive another 12 months before giving up the ghosts but the yuccas are hardy beings.

Have you ever heard of the expression 'botellon'? It means a street piss up... sorry a spontaneous alcoholic celebration in the street. These are messy and noisy affairs but very popular, as you can imagine, for the hormone-harassed youngsters. To combat this tide of iniquity, the Councillor for Social Services has announced that the Town Council will subsidise the entrance ticket for the cinema so that it will only cost 1 euro. Now this is only for the last session on the 1st Saturday of every month. Can you imagine the scene? Spotty Youth, number 1: "Hey let's get totally pissed with the rest of the gang and you can vomit in my top pocket and I'll piss in yours!" Semi-deaf moped tormentor, number 2: "Nah. I say! Why don't we go to the cinema and watch Mary Poppins because it will only cost us 1 euro instead of 3!" Spotty, masturbation machine, number 1: "What a spiffing idea, then we can go home and tidy our rooms!" Nope! Can't see it working, myself...

So, where are people going to park? It's a good question, now that the work on the P4 secondary school has begun. The Paseo, other than First World War re-enactment meetings, is of no use to anybody until after summer 2004, it would seem. However, there is some out-of-the-way parking just behind Las Góndolas. It's not very big and for those of you who don't like walking much, it could be described as 'a 3-day-camel trek & a packed lunch' from most of the shops. But never mind, because come the summer, the nearest available parking space for the centre of Almuñécar will probably be Salobreña beach.

You can't help being impressed by the habitual jovial attitude to life that Spanish workers hold. Admittedly, most of what they do turn out is a joke, anyway, but even so, that doesn't detract from this remarkable attribute. British builders, on the other hand, are quick to mumble discontent as a conversational opening. Smiling on a British building site is probably banned by the unions anyway. To be fair, who would have anything to be happy about when working outside at the mercy of the British weather? Back to Spanish builders - they're artists when it comes to quips, especially when it comes to the opposite sex. Where as the British builder might offer, "You'll never be short of somewhere to sit, Lass, as long as my face exists!" the Spaniard would be just a little more poetic: "¡Tienes mejor delantera que Real Madrid! (You've got a better front line up than Real Madrid!) or "¡Viva la madre que te parió!" (Long live the mother that bore you!). Any tourist that ventures close to a building site with a camera will cause a general down-tools and smiles. They might even scrape their linguistic barrels and offer, "Yes, very well, Manuel!" or settle for a patriotic, "¡Carne Ibérica - Mu Güena, mi guiricita!"

Rafael Deliso from Italy wants to set up a 'pizza school' in Almuñécar. His dream is to turn out pizza chefs for the whole of Andalucía. "The demand within this sector and the lack of a 'specialised training centre' make it necessary that we support the idea of a pizza school. Almuñécar will thus become the site of the first Pizza College in the south of Spain," he claimed. Rafael, who lives in Almuñécar, won the 1st prize in the 'fantasy' section of the IV European Championships. His winning pizza was entitled, 'Sirenita María.' Rafael says that the pizza was invented in Naples and that the most popular one is the Margarita, which owes its name to Queen Margarita from the 18th century.

Pablo Amate, the well-known gourmet critic, and Paulino Plata have been awarded La Chirimoya Verde. This prize was presented to them by the Asociacíon Cultural Chirimoya Verde del Valle Tropical de Almuñécar. Pablo is a well-known gourmet and writes a regular gastronomic column in the Ideal Newspaper.

Almuñécar's cemetery will have its own morgue in about 2 years time. Admittedly, it's hardly a reason to send up rockets and break out the party hats and silly noses, but it is progress. The morgue or 'tanatorium,' is not just a larder for stiffs but will also provide a viewing room for wakes etc. No doubt it will become so popular that people will be dying to get in there.

But the modern marvels of bustling Almuñécar do not stop there, folks because, what was going to be Almuñécar's ice-skating rink, but has spent at least the last 10 years as a crater and dumping ground for kamikaze shopping trolleys, is now going to become a huge, underground aquarium! Yes, it's true - we were going to have an underground ice-skating rink under the Plaza de Kuwait (behind Radiovision and parallel to the fish market). The project was dropped when it was found that the ice kept on melting - welcome to sunny Spain, folks! You can look down into it from the square and behold a decade of rubbish and oddities cast down for the scrutiny of the dark god Vulcan, Prince of the nether regions.

Whoopee! By the end of the year our new sewage plant will be working... I get so excited about these things! No longer, good residents of Almuñécar, will you be faced with this morning's breakfast in it's new saline and buoyant state when you bathe in the sea, because it will be whisked away through industrious pipes, fresh from your nether-plumbings, to the nice shiny sewage plant up the river. There, subjected to the marvels of 21st century technology and a lot of good luck, it will be transformed into irrigation water. This will be a feat only surpassed by my tenacious grip on sanity and the keyboard (sob!)

Nearly a month after the Paseo Blitz the area is a dark no-go zone at night because of a lack of lighting. Business owners complain that they have experienced a 50% drop in their takings compared with the same period last year. During the day, you will still see people along the shop fronts, thanks principally to the banks, however, as dusk falls, business falls sharply, to such a point that many businesses are thinking of closing in the evenings. But for the bar owners under the Paseo, the future is even murkier. The original agreement between the Town Council, the construction company and bar tenants (all of the premises are rented from the town hall) stipulates that the bars would be handed back, 'as they were handed over.' Then the construction company changed the offer, saying that the bars will be handed back as shells without economic compensation by which we mean they won't even have tiled floors or plumbing. This will be in exchange for a 50% increase in the size of the premises and 30 years without having to pay rent. Now, that sounds more generous than it actually is for 2 reasons. Firstly, the rent paid to the town hall is nominal, perhaps 40,000pts (240 euros) per annum. Secondly, the 50% increase in size is impossible to value because of the varying sizes of the premises in their actual state. For example, the discotheque is huge compared to, for example La Sirena. Most owners do not want an increase in size of their bars etc - they want them back as they left them. It appears that the construction company is allowed to change the rules of the game at whim and the very authority (The Town Council) that should be regulating the situation is turning a blind eye. By the time that you have this month's Seaside Gazette in your hands, the tenants will be out on their digestive outputs after having to suffer petty harassment from the construction company. From the beginning, rubble was heaped up at the bottom of the steps leading up onto the bars' terraces for no other reason than to hinder clientele. The Paseo promises to be a drawn out and sordid affair and those that should look after our rights have seemingly fallen in with our exploiters. ¡Viva la Pepa!

Almuñécar continues not to show any solidarity when it come to protesting about the Paseo in a constructive manner. There is little point to whinging in private and then not bother to turn up at the organised street protests. This was the case of the protest on the Paseo on the evening of the 6th November. The local paper, Ideal, claims that there were around a hundred people present - and there might have been, but not at any one time. 40 to 50 was more like it at the climax of the meeting. In fact, the local & provincial press reporters and TV crews made up about a quarter of those present. The protest meeting was convoked by the United Left Party, The Greens, Ecologists in Action and the trade union Comisiones Obreras. Any sentiment of gravity was ruined by the duty drunk who kept everybody amused or scandalised by his ranting against the world in general. Juan Luis González, the chairman of the local Conservative Party and ex-mayor, was present and gave his opinion that the Paseo should be restored to its original state and that this should be paid for by those who had destroyed it. The union leader pointed out that although the town badly needed parking areas, the Paseo was chosen, not because it was the best option for the town, but because that it was the most lucrative for a company that builds and runs it for the next 30 years. He added that all other parking spaces around town are being systematically eliminated by wide footpaths or have been turned into Blue Zone, i.e. pay-to-park. You can't help but agree with him, especially if you consider that the Friday street market area, (opposite the petrol station), is huge and would be better suited for a possible underground car park. Such an underground car park, with immediate access from the main road and with no limitation to size or technical setbacks such as the water table, would be the ideal place. Work on the Paseo underground car park should have continued on the only area that comes exclusively under municipal jurisdiction, but it hasn't, despite the announcement made by the mayor to that effect. It would seem that the only thing that is preventing it is that the company still hasn't got a plan or technical report, which is a clear indication of how brusque the change of plans from the official 2-level car park to the 'blitz' one was. Another point that Juan Luis or the Mayor couldn't fail to have noticed is that the building site where the Coliseo Cinema used to stand - indeed, the façade still does - has a water table problem. Just behind the blocks that border the Paseo, during 24 hours a day, up to four pumps gush out thousands of litres of fresh water from the excavations into one of the town's drains.

Any of us who can remember the drought years at the end of the 80's /beginning of the 90's, will remember the unpleasant experience of washing your teeth with salt water and walking around with stiff clothes that no amount of softener could counter. Fresh water is not an endless commodity and should not be pumped straight into the drains. Millions of euros are being spent on a sewage recycling plant to feed the agricultural needs of the community, precisely because water is scarce.

The town's worst fears concerning the inactivity on the Paseo project seem to be materialising. The original schedule for the work was to take 9 months but the car park was to be ready for the 30th July - that now seems improbable and the mere thought of Almuñécar without parking during the fiesta week, doesn't bear thinking about. Work should have begun on the 10th November, on the municipally owned land, at least. This first phase comprises of a 10-metre deep by 2-metre wide trench all the way along the line of the buildings. This is for the shell of the underground car park - at least, one side of it. According to the construction company, to complete the shell on all four sides will take between 6 and 8 weeks. Once that is done (and all permits and paperwork having been obtained) the Paseo bars will be demolished. The snag is that those tall blocks on the front might not like the idea of having that trench there. Behind the block where the CK photo shop is, for example, there is another building project going on. There is an excavation of a similar depth, which at the moment is swimming in water. So, in effect, that 7-floor building will be balancing on a 10-metre-high mound of soggy earth. In the excavations behind, you can see the concrete foundations of the block exposed. Draw your own conclusions

Chupitos Briefs
The glorious winter sunsets are glowing across our shores…a warm reminder in these colder days that the festive Christmas time is nigh. In stark contrast to the bustling activities of the summer is the relaxing 'mañana mañana' days of the winter. Without a doubt a good handful of folk will be nipping back to northern European territories for a healthy dose of Christmas festivities. An exception is Patrick and Noli who embark yet again, nomadic blood I think, on a venture this time to Cape Town South Africa. Bizarrely, they will visit the penguins on a beach in the summer time…well the penguins were in hideaway during their summertime arctic escapade! Also our scouser Steve is diligently planning a global trekking adventure to the great Aussie locations and possibly hitching a canoe ride to the exotic lands of South East Asia.

Despite this, a brave few will be bouncing back to our tropical climate. New Robbie Williams Irish sailor boy is back already to fuel the fiesta fun before Christmas. Oil crew Adam may well make a surprise appearance at the height of the season and finally dear Shirley is successfully recuperating from eye and shoulder ops and is packing up to join us in the first week of December. Welcome back!

Already, a substantial amount of partying has been in progress to keep guys and gals on their toes. Many thanks to Shirley's son Mark for a spontaneous voluntary performance of two cheeky hip swinging numbers from the infamous Jungle Book! It definitely instigated some monkey moves and grooves in the bar after a dose of flamenco vibes.

So, in the lead up to Christmas I have begun preparations by joining a local gym; total investment before absolute divulgence! However, it would be great to unite all creative talents and focus on combined artistic ventures, so get your thinking cap on and scribble your ideas down in the bar and I'll organize a concoction for the New Year. In the meantime, some poor folks are looking for gold in the pavements to line their empty pockets with so any type of work available please contact Chupitos and we'll offer contacts for all those willing and able.

Finally, watch out for all sparkliness and injection of oodles of fun leading up to Christmas…in true Spanish flair we have Flamenco music on Christmas Eve and shall offer time for fiestas until Jan 6th.

The leader of the PSOE (socialists), Rocío Palacios, has been stomping around the streets of the village in an attempt to drum up some votes. She claims that the streets of La Herradura have been 'abandoned' by the Town Council. She visited calle Príncipe where the road works have laid dormant since the end of summer. She expressed her 'surprise' at this, seeing as the materials for the job are hanging around despondently in the football ground installations. She also had a good 'tut-tutting' about the state of the street outside the Hotel Almijara, saying that it presented a lamentable image for the town's tourism.

The village can now count on a local police office, as well as a daily patrol, says the Consejal de Seguridad Ciudadana, Daniel Barbero. The police office will be situated in the Rio Jate Centre, open to the public on weekday mornings plus another policeman who will be out on patrol. No doubt the criminal underworld will pack up and migrate, knowing the terrible odds against them. But even so, it's a good step in the right direction.

The P-7 & P-9 will be going ahead, providing around 200 new buildings on 102,000sqm of land. The P-7 is better known as El Peñon del Lobo, which is situated between Marina del Este and the Cotobro garages. 16,000sqm of a 41,000 plot will support 120 dwellings. The P-9 is above the western entrance of the Cotobro tunnel and extends as far as the rubbish dump track. Here 12,100sqm of a 61,000 plot will provide 110 dwellings. The Town Council will get a 530,000-euro kick back from this deal, which will 'apparently' be invested in the construction of the above municipal building (civic centre). We say, 'apparently' because not everybody sees it that way. (See article below starting with the words, 'Izquierda Unida')

It's official - the La Herradura Golf Course is being taken seriously. During the last town council meeting, our merry band of municipal men... and women, approved the drawing up of an agreement between the Town Council and the owners of 2-million sqms of land at the top of Rio Jate Valley. The latest company to join the pact is Panix (I bet it does!). The agreement stipulates that the owners of the land have to finance environmental impact studies, amongst other things. The Town Council, on the other hand, pledges that it will carry out the necessary changes to the PGOU so that the land can be assessed as building land for the luxury building estate that will accompany the golf course. The golf course will be an open one and not private. But before you start slavering over your set of golf clubs... there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip. The mayor pointed out, "The agreement does not tie the Town Council down but it does bring the postures of the private and public sectors closer." In other words, It's still only hot air and that the only 'putting' that will be heard up there in the next few years will be the 'put-putting' of the local campesino's moped going up the valley.

Los Fenícios Hotel has closed its doors until Semana Santa (Easter) for renovations. The manager of the hotel, Magdalena Gallo told us, "The establishment needs a thorough overhaul in many areas, such as, services and furniture, etc, so that we can maintain the standard that one would expect of a 4-star hotel." The 17 staff will either enjoy some holidays or will be sent elsewhere until the hotel opens again in March. She pointed out that the hotel already had extensive bookings for that period and that, if they hadn't closed the hotel up til now, it was because the hotel has been always quite full. In October, for example, it was operating at 74% of its capacity. Hotel Los Fenicios was the first 4-star hotel to appear on Costa Granadina back at the beginning of the 90's.

Twiddly-dee, Twiddly-dum, the high school extension's done! The kids won't have to go to school as dusk falls anymore. The building extension cost 250,000 euros, adding 200sqm to the existing building. So, for only 1,250 euros per square metre the school now has four classrooms more and some more toilets. But this doesn't mean that pupils and teachers will be seen skipping merrily off to school. Just about everybody agrees that this building extension is nothing more than one more patch on top of another. Ángel Suárez, the chairmen of the parents' association, said, "What is needed is a new school at a different location. A school that has all the amenities that you would expect in a modern school," pointing out that, "We still don't even have a school yard or gymnasium at the moment!" By the time that this issue of the Seaside Gazette is lying, trembling in you expectant mitts, work should have begun on the infant school in the village. This new building, which will be situated next to Las Gaviotas Infant School, has a budget of nearly half a million euros. No longer will the kids have to walk nearly a kilometre between the 2 existing buildings, where the junior school pupils are housed.

Izquierda Unida (United Left Party) is strongly criticising the Town Council for the deal that it struck with the property owners of El Peñon del Lobo (the area between Cotobro and Marina del Este). They accuse the council of having ceded its percentage of land there in exchange for money. The council would have received this land, according to the IU Party, for public use to build a school or sports facilities. IU points out that this practise is not illegal, providing that the township is not lacking such facilities. In the party's opinion the money obtained should be used to purchase land in another part of the township where these facilities are lacking, or to build council houses - for example, along the Camino de Ingenio in San Sebastian.

There has been a nasty accident in the Cerro Gordo tunnel. A motorcyclist was seriously injured when he collided with a van and ended up trapped underneath it. Apparently, the rider for unknown reasons lost control of his bike and veered off into the oncoming traffic, and ended up under a large Mercedes Vito. Needless to say chaos reigned for a couple of hours but by 6 o'clock in the evening, traffic was back to normal.

La Herradura Insiders
Rugby fever escalated last month when England made steady progress towards the world cup final. Saturday 22nd November saw the boys win the trophy by beating the Aussies in their own back yard which made the victory even sweeter. The England players have now been elevated to hero status and their supporters are still on a high. The Hideaway and El Ancla both showed the game live and despite the 10.00 am kick off time, both establishments were packed with expectant fans.

The storms at the beginning of November caused considerable damage to property. Patio chairs could be seen in the most unusual places indeed one was found perched in a tree in Las Palomas.

Rafa's beach bar at the Clipper has gone until next summer and he is enjoying a well earned rest along with his neighbours in La Cochera. Juan at El Chiringuito has closed for improvements. Paco at Café Toscana has just reopened for business, after doing likewise. Restaurant El Tinao del Mar has closed down and is now available for rent but as one establishment closes another opens. Juan and Belen formerly of Bar Alameda, which is now The Hideaway have opened their new bar next door to the Farmacia on the beach.

José Miguel Jimena, (Councillor for Agriculture and Fishing for the Town Council) has made it known that the work to run electricity up the Rio de Miel has concluded. Very soon the owners of the 30 houses that are in that area will be contacted so that they can submit the required paperwork for the connecting up of their homes to the municipal power supply. He also said that work would soon begin on carrying the existing power supply up to such zones as the Loma de las Cuadrillas.

Thompson tour operator awarded Riu Mónica Hotel in Nerja the 'Golden Awards.' Together with this hotel, another 3 hotels of the same chain in Andalucía have also been awarded: Nautilus & Belplaya in Torremolinos, and Atlántico in Huelva.

The mayors of the villages belonging to the Axarquía area (amongst them the mayor of Nerja) have asked the Ombudsman to take a hand in the 'empadronamiento' crisis. When a foreigner comes to live in a Spanish town or village, he should register at his local town hall. This will, in no way, affect his fiscal situation nor alter his tax status. However, for a town hall it is crucial that foreigners do so because the money they receive from regional authorities varies, depending upon its population. Places like Nerja have a huge 'unofficial' population that costs the township money (services & even wear and tear, believe it or not). If Nerja, for instance, can show the Junta de Andalucía its true population figures then it will be entitled to more police, for example. It is a sign of the disparity between real population and the one on paper that the mayors are forced to ask for help from the ombudsman.

The municipal police have rumbled a man in Frigiliana for falsifying official documents, amongst other things. It all started when the man was stopped by the police in his vehicle and was found to be short of insurance documents and a drivers licence. This was on the 6th of October. However, at the beginning of last month he turned up at the vehicles compound with an insurance certificate dated the 24th October and a copy of a police report made at the local Guardia Civil post, in which he stated that he had his documents stolen... his drivers licence amongst them. This aroused the suspicions of the police, who then checked up on the man and discovered that he had never possessed a drivers licence.

It may come as no surprise to learn that nearly half of the dwellings in Nerja are 'second' or holiday homes. Another 550 new dwellings were added to the town hall records this year. All told there are 13,229 dwellings in the town (450 of them are cortijos). 60% of the houses built in recent years have been destined for the tourist sector, most of which have been bought by residents of the UE as retirement homes.

Nerja residents have just constituted an association for the prevention of violence against women. Anybody interested in joining this group or obtaining more information should go to the Centro de Información a la Mujer in c/.Carmen 1, next to the Balcón de Europa. To date 65 women have been murdered by their male partners or family members this year. And the problem seems to be increasing rather than diminishing, despite the social awareness campaigns on TV and the daily litany of murders on the lunch time news. Many foreign women find themselves especially isolated and feel that they have nobody to turn to. This is not the case, precisely because of the present social situation. The police have all the relevant telephone numbers and addresses of the various women's organisations available.

A group of people (a British policeman amongst them) managed to trap a thief who had stolen a woman's handbag in the Capistrano Playa estate. It all started when 34-year-old M.M.R from Nerja pounced on a woman whilst her husband was occupied parking the car. He didn't get very far because a squad of British 'super pensioners & tourists' grabbed him and gave him a good tweaking.

A fire broke out at the beginning of last month in the basement of a house in Ladera del Águila, next to the Caves of Nerja. The fire, which was caused by a short-circuit in a dishwasher in the kitchen, burnt out some cables in the basement. The municipal police were the first to arrive at the house, owned by an Englishman, and tried to put it out with the garden hose, after having removed the gas bottles from the house. The firemen then arrived and forced the metal door of the basement and put the fire out. The fire destroyed various crates of vintage wine. (sob!)

The Coastal Train could be with us by 2012. (These damn dates still seem so futuristic - God knows when we'll get used to this 2000 lark.) The Regional Government in Sevilla started the ball rolling in 2000 when they ordered a feasibility report. Last year there was a report on possible Málaga - Nerja & Estepona - Fuengirola lines. The report concludes that it is possible and viable to connect Nerja to Estepona with a travelling time of an hour and a half. Bear in mind that at present if you wish to do the same trip by public transport it might well take you four hours, through having to change buses and hang around for connections. How much will this projected double line cost? 2,436m euros. This line will use Málaga as its pivot, incorporating the future metro and existing Málaga - Fuengirola line. What needs to be built is 94kms of double line with 21 stations. Coming east from Málaga the stops will be: El Palo, La Cala del Moral, Rincón de la Victoria, Torre de Benagalbón, Benajarafe, Torre del Mar, Caleta de Vélez, Los Llanos (Torrox-Costa) and Nerja. The Nerja train station will be next to the bus-station (puente del Río Chillar), thus avoiding the centre of town and being well situated for a possible connection with the eastern coast.

The strange case of the voluntary prisoner. The Nerja local police 'rescued' a 22-year-old woman who had been locked up in a cortijo up in the hills for over a month. The metal door was chained shut by a male 'friend' who brought her sandwiches each day. There was no running water, heating, or toilets of any kind. The police described the living conditions as 'subhuman' "She used a can for her necessities and emptied the contents out of the window. It was a neighbour who tipped the police off and various foreign neighbours confirmed that a woman lived in the house. The woman, M.S.D. is divorced and her 3-year-old daughter lives with her grandmother. The 'friend' who brought her sandwiches every day never stayed and chained the door shut from the outside each time he went back down to Nerja. At the time of her 'rescue' she showed no signs of depression or mental illness. Nobody has been arrested, although the judge has made a note of the friend's personal details. Neighbours are speculatiing about who or what she could have been hiding from and what sort of friend would let her do it.