The first rainfall started a little after twelve, midday on Friday, 21st, and soon filled the two rivers. As depressingly appears to be the norm here, cars were caught in the river, which are improvised roads. Some had actually been parked, which is lunacy, considering the time of year and weather forecast; not to mention laden sky, and others were simply making their way down the riverbed, which is understandable, if it is the only way to get to your land.

However, the trouble was that two cars, together with branches and other debris jammed against the San Cristóbal Bridge, making the water build up, unable to reach the sea. The river then burst its west bank just behind Hotel Playa, and its right bank into Calle Guadix. But the tropical downpour was still to come.

Around two o’clock the sky turned a very dark grey before unloading a furious deluge, which made it impossible to step outside. Rio Seco rushed through the area known as El Empedraíllo (ironically, where Agua y Servicios has its office) and immediately swamped the Roman aqueduct pit, before carry on alongside the main road and through behind Carbonnel’s.

Just in this short space of time it had snatched up dozens of cars, mopeds and anything it could find and dumped them in the aqueduct pit, or left them stacked up along its route. From there, it swamped the Plaza Blas Infante (Friday market square), completely cutting the main road, and swamping Las Palomas and the old council houses between the gasoline station and Carbonell’s yard. It seems as if the higher river was seeking the lower one.

In the meantime, Río Seco had kept within its floodwalls but had vented its rage against the Gondolas Bridge, causing it to subside, but not collapse completely.

What had saved the town from countless deaths was that respite between twelve o’clock and two o’clock, which was precisely the time when the junior school piled out and the route that the river later took was crowded with pedestrians and cars. It doesn’t bear thinking about what that aqueduct pit would hold otherwise.

Wading through Chaos
BY MARTIN MYALL

I was completely shattered, after having spent eight hours wading through floodwater on Friday 21st. The town was a mess. There was no mains water, but at least they managed to get the electricity back on by the time night fell.

I had received a phone call from Irene from Delfin Book Shop at 2pm to say that the river was up and that there were two cars parked in it. I thanked her and set off, armed with my camera.

The two rivers that pass through Almuñécar are really only wadis, because they only run after storms. Of course, it didn’t used to be like that, 25 years back they both carried at least some water during most of the winter months. People like John and Anne Jones, for instance, who lived in the Barranco de Ítrabo on the east bank of the Río Verde, would be cut off at least once a year for the space of a week or two, when the river was up high enough to make crossing it dangerous. During the winter you could usually drive across modest running waters. But, consequently, it has become a yearly outing for the townsfolk to watch the first waters of the year run down the parched riverbed. In the last couple of years, however, the rivers have hardly carried any water at all, let alone a deluge. So when I got Irene’s call, I set off for the event.

However, this year things were to be drastically different.

I was busily taking photos of the two parked cars, left by idiots, in what had been dry river bed and was now a surging river – the water hadn’t covered their wheels, and didn’t look like it would, but then the dark, pressing clouds crowded in from the west and daylight fled towards the east to leave Almuñécar to fend for itself.

Very suddenly the downpour hit, barging people along the streets as rain scythed down. I was tempted to find cover under a parked trailer of an articulated lorry, but with thunder booming out and lightening scorching the heavens, it didn’t seem such a good idea to hang around underneath several tonnes of beckoning metal. So I made a dash for it.

The rain was so heavy that if you tried to peer through it the landscape was an opaque grey, with streetlights reduced to dull orbs of diffused light.

And it fell, and fell, and fell…

Pretty soon it was obvious that the mounting waters that raced by were coming from somewhere, other than above our heads. When, after about 15 minutes, the rain eased off and the dazed residents ventured out, each street was a minor river and the park near the football stadium was a frantic pond, impatient to join the gushing streets.

From there I moved to the bottom corner of the Friday Market square (Blas Infante) and was amazed to see cars, bow down and sinking slowly, in the wide, grinding ‘Amazon’ that should have been the main road, service road and northern side of the square. Cars were scattered around like a small fishing fleet.

I waded across, with water up to my waist, trying to get to the main road, but thought better of it – it was a new camera and I didn’t want to ‘Christen it,’ if I slipped.

When I got to the main entrance junction for the town, I was amazed to see people carting off fridges in wheelbarrows. Where the hell had they come from, I thought? The Guardia Civil were directing the traffic to nowhere, because there was nowhere to go. People, cars, agricultural debris, fridges, drowned mopeds and policemen all stood/floated around, wondering what the hell had happened. Making my way from there, via the connecting street that runs just below the southern side of the main road to the aqueduct, things took a turn for the worse, with cars piled on top of each other, as if frozen in the act of mating, bedraggled with most of the vegetation props from a Tarzan jungle film set.

But even that did not prepare me for the Daliesque scene that the Roman aqueduct presented. What had once been a seven-metre deep, excavated square was now something akin to a brimming ploughed field, scattered with harvested bamboo, topped off with a bewildered blue car, semi-afloat at one end. Hanging on for dear life was a small herd of four or five panicking cars, just managing to prevent themselves from toppling in, thanks to the top of the Roman Aqueduct that only just poked through the menacingly stagnant lake that had settled there.

I had taken nearly 300 photos by then and had spent eight hours recording Almuñécar’s misery – it was enough for me.

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See a slideshow of these and other photos. Click here to download the standalone slideshow. This an .exe program file of 5.4 Mb which will work with any version of Windows.

OK, let’s start off with some changes to planned events. The Europa Day is off, as are all fiestas, thanks to a Town Hall decision on the 25th September that put a 30-day ban on them, as a result of the flood. Similarly, the Friday Market was cancelled in the last week of last month. It is not clear, at the time of going to print, whether the first Friday and Saturday of October markets will also be cancelled. Apart from the Blas Infante area (where the markets are held) being in a right mess, it is also much needed parking space with so many basement garages put out of action.

Talking of parking, the PP raised an objection to the Town Hall who had reinstated the Blue-Zone parking areas just days after the fateful flood. They consider that the move was, in the immortal words of Shakespeare after a few pints of ale, “Taking the piss.” First off, they point out, as mentioned above, that many basement garages are completely out of action and car owners are having to find alternative parking. Subsequently, with signposting having the aspect of having been dragged through Saigon 1968 backwards and with normal street-parking having been systematically reduced over the last year, it adds insult to injury for the Town Hall to start fining people for parking in Blue Zones without buying a ticket.

There were two stabbings in Almuñécar, towards the end of last month. The first occurred on the 20th and involved a 50-year-old Spanish man with the initials J.B., and his 30-year-old Russian ex-girlfriend, who works as a waitress in one of Almuñécar’s bars. Apparently, the jilted man couldn’t give a damn that it was five in the afternoon in one of the town’s main streets (Avenida del Sol); he had decided that she would look better with holes in her, and that was that – the bastard. A neighbour rushed down to the street from his flat and bundled the girl into his car to take her to hospital, where it was found that she did not have life-threatening wounds. In the meantime, the man simply phoned the Guardia Civil – still clutching the knife – and stood there waiting for them to come and arrest him. However, the Local Police got there first and clapped him in irons. Ironically, the incident took place just 200 metres away from the law court that deals with cases of domestic violence.

The second case happened in a bar in La Carrera – perhaps the Cactus – and involved two men having an argument. With the time honoured shouting and arm waving concluded, one of them, whose only name we have is his nickname: Pica Higos – plunged his knife into the stomach of his 44-year-old victim. Satisfied that business was concluded, the victim, J.P.M., made his way to his car to get patched up, but his wound was more serious than he thought and he was rushed off to Santa Ana were he was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit.

It was announced on the 9th of last month that the Aquarium would be operative and open to the public by Semana Santa – not bad, considering that this means that it will actually open its door exactly one year after having been officially inaugurated. Yes, the fishless Aquarium is decidedly fishy. Mind you, since this announcement we have had the bloody great flood and all of the Aquarium installations are underground…

A para-glider had to be rescued after making a bad landing. This happened up above Otívar, with the ‘pilot’ coming down not far from the road, injuring his back and legs. He was transferred by helicopter to Granada. What caused the accident is not know.

Great news for anybody with any form of handicap – and I’m not talking about golf, but physical or mental handicap. A new association was launched on the 8th in the Majuelo, which aims to encompass anybody who experiences physical or mental difficulties, ranging from Down’s Syndrome to Alzheimer’s; walking difficulties to talking difficulties.

I went along to the park on the big day and spoke with Margarita Martín Santaella, who heads the Asociación de Discapacitados de Almuñécar y La Herradura (ADALH). “We are aware that we have a lot of important and hard work ahead of us, so it’s important that we all work together and that the people of Almuñécar can get to know who we are, today, in the park,” she said.

One of their objectives is to bring about the elimination of architectural barriers in the town; i.e., difficult access for wheelchairs, etc.

You can locate them behind the gasoline station, in the social services building.

As we predicted in our coverage of the municipal elections, Juan Luis González Montoro is standing down as leader of the Almuñécar branch of the Partido Popular. Undoubtedly, the poor election results obtained by his party have led to this. However, this does not mean that he will be abandoning his position as concejal, (elected representative in the local council).

In the last elections, the PP lost two of its seven seats on the local council; something that Juan Luis didn’t expect. However, many other’s did, considering that he had been sticking ‘too closely’ to the Mayor; i.e., his controversial backing of the Mayor’s PGOU, whilst at the same time, for the record, throwing up the odd objection to Benavides’ political course. Juan Luis considered that the Mayor ‘played dirty’ all through the election campaign, accusing the PP and PSOE of forming a secret pact to govern, yet as soon as the election results were known, offered to govern in coalition with the PP.

To make matters worse – or a bitterer pill to swallow – Juan Luis González Montoro had to sit back and watch his immediate boss and provincial head, Sebastian Pérez, make direct negotiations with Benavides, over his head.

Ah well, I shall miss him, as he always found a moment for us when we needed an interview or had any questions to fire at him. Good luck, Mate!

The Mayor had to appear before a judge on the 18th of September in Almuñécar over the Camping Affair. According to the owner of the Carambolo Camp site on the main road up to Taramay, Fermín Tejero, the Town Hall has been harassing him because he doesn’t want to play ball and turn his picturesque campsite into a concrete jungle of flats.

And it is picturesque because Rancho California was the first place in the whole of Spain where avocadoes were grown. A German entrepreneur/botanist searched the whole of the coast of Andalucía for the ideal spot to experiment with sub-tropical fruit at the beginning of the 50’s. He found it here and not only experimented with all kinds of avocadoes, but also brought many kinds of ornamental trees, as well. Today, this experimental farm is the Camping Carambolo and is lovingly kept by Fermín, amongst others.

Anyway, back to the plot, Fermín Tejero accuses the Mayor and the former Councillor for Urban Planning, Emilio González Pavesio, of closing them down without even waiting for required reports from the inspectors. He also claims that the Town Hall filed false ‘denuncias’ against the campsite and even falsified his signature – and all this because he opposed his land being turned into building land. The Mayor denies categorically these charges, claiming that it was all ‘generalisations and ambiguities.”

There was one moment, as I was wading around through Almuñécar’s bleeding wounds, that had a couple of us nearly falling over in laughter – Andaluces are like that; they love mocking themselves and making jokes in the face of adversity. We were gazing downheartedly at the mountains of strewn rubbish and vegetation around us when this old man said, “I’d like to see if Mirlo (the rubbish collectors) have the balls to announce now that they’re going on strike!” I doubled over, nearly dunking my camera – the swine!

Well, I mention this anecdote because the rubbish collectors were very, very close to going on strike again, just before the flood hit. You see, the workers haven’t been getting the promised money, mainly because the Town Hall hasn’t been paying the private cleaning company; or at least, has been dragging its heels, with several months delay on payments. For example, last month they finally paid May’s bill. Understandably, the private company, Mirlo, has a cash flow problem; hence the workers not getting their money.

The Town Hall defends its tardiness by saying that the Town Hall pays all its bills in this manner. Somebody might like to point out to the Town Hall, however, that if householders don’t pay their rates punctually, then they get 20% surcharge slapped on them.

On the other hand, if you hire a building company to do some work on your house, you don’t pay all the money at the beginning, and it is up to the company to keep its workers paid and necessary building material available until it receives the full amount.

Whichever way you look at it, the rubbish-collection crews were out demonstrating that they had still not received the negotiated sums promised; i.e., the accord that ended the strike. However, since the flood, everything has died down in that respect, with 110 rubbish collection workers cleaning up the town around the clock.

It is worth mentioning that the IU party has suggested that rubbish collection be taken from private hands and taken up again by the Town Hall services, as was the case until quite recently.

Floods hit La Herradura and cause havoc. Although the damage isn’t perhaps as obvious in the village as it has been in the centre of Almuñécar, the floods have definitely taken their toll on public and private property throughout La Herradura. The water damage has left a number of businesses with losses, both in terms of spoilt goods and labour, with time spent cleaning up the mud and dirt.

On top of this, a dozen or so boats were demolished by the storm, plus there were domestic animal casualties (at least one dead pig was spotted) which were washed down from the campo.

Most dramatic has been the change in the Río Jate, where the sheer volume of water descending, caused the river to break its banks at a number of points, leaving residents in the valley behind the N340 cut off from normal tracks and in more serious cases, actually unable to access any of the usual roads without hiking cross country.

As one of the inhabitants of the valley commented, “More than a simple weekend retreat, we’ve made this our permanent home. Life without the track has made things very difficult for us in terms of getting down to the village, bringing supplies to the house, or even making it in time for school.” Examining the photos after the event, clearly what has happened is that the weaker walls of the river have given way at various points, as the flow has taken up force and the course of the river was diverted over tracks and even into the field set aside for the Hotel Fuerte. Added to this, an escaped portacabin from the motorway works crashed its way along the banks and with the debris collected, managed to destroy the central pillar of the bridge just before the beach (at the Rosa Náutica end). It was so badly damaged, that the bridge has to be removed and the area cleared for a new bridge.

How long this construction will take, I can’t promise you, but knowing human nature, people will find alternative routes before too long.

Certainly, a September afternoon that won’t be forgotten in a hurry and perhaps will take some time to repair. Speaking to the Vice Mayor’s Department in the Centro Cultural Jate (opposite end of the municipal market building), it’s recommended that you report any flood or mud damage (especially to property which is publicly used) by filling in a form (Solicitúd de Daños) and submit this to the Vice Mayor as soon as possible.

La Herradura pays their last respects to Nicolasa Ortega Hita as the beloved teacher dies of a heart attack at 102 years of age. Doña Nicolasa spent her holidays here every summer and she continued to make an impact locally with her great interest in culture and history. Indeed, hers was a story in itself, playing a very significant role locally during the 1930s. Together with her husband Manuel Molina Ruiz (Granada 1900 – 1948) she worked to keep the only schools going in the area, under an era of serious repression. The journalist Andrés Cárdenas from IDEAL recently reported that the Department of Education was preparing to commemorate veteran teachers and Doña Nicolasa was right at the top of the list. Thankfully, Doña Nicolasa’s memories were not lost, but shared during a programme produced by Spanish television, focusing on her experiences during one of the most challenging periods of Spanish history: the Civil War.

Guardia Civil detains eight people and a heist of 3.8 tonnes of hashish, just in case you hadn’t noticed the strong presence of the boys in green, cruising along the beachfront. Three Moroccans and five Romanians were captured in what has been called the biggest ever anti-drug operation of the Granada province. Not only did the Guardia track down the goods and the eight key individuals, but they have reported apprehending a 12-metre raft with 250-CV motor intending to land along the coast at Cerro Gordo, plus a truck, which had been stolen from Alcalá la Real; with both used for transportation of drugs and the people involved. Although the eight prisoners and all the goods are in custody, the investigation remains open until it can be proven that there are no further suspects.

Another update from Ann Maxfield as the English library remains closed, despite the efforts of many. Everyone is welcome to the next meeting at The Hideaway just across from the children’s park. This will take place from 11am on Wednesday 10th October. There will be an opportunity to discuss recent developments and future plans, return library books, plus take out recent book acquisitions. Library funds and fees (€ 5 per annum) remain frozen until further notice. People are still generously offering private book collections but unfortunately Ann and the team are not yet in a position to house or display even the current collection. Your support is most welcome and in fact, it is probably essential if a local English library service is going to continue to be offered, so please make sure you go along to the meeting, or at least voice your enthusiasm.

At Galería Felicia Hall Carmelo Trenado’s exhibit runs until October 28th with gallery hours as 11-2 and 5-8, closed Sunday afternoon and all day Monday, or by appointment. Carmelo is a professor at University of Granada, a painter all his life, all the work is mixed technique on board. He lives in Granada, is beloved by his peers and his students (many of whom are called ‘Carmelitos’).

Opening on November 3rd, Saturday night is a one-man show of the works of Peter Thomas of landscapes in pastel. This long show will run Nov 3rd - Dec 31st. Felicia would like to invite any interested persons in a short course with Peter to sign up at the gallery. The course will run for three days: Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nov 8th, 9th and 10th, from 11-2 with lunch to follow. The class will be taught in English, outdoors on site, limited to 6-8 people. The cost, including lunch, is € 50 per day. Please contact Felicia on 958 82 70 42 for further details.

Fourteen cars crash at roundabout over ten days and finally the authorities recognise that clearer signs are needed as you come off at La Herradura’s exit from the motorway. ‘Carreteras del Estado’ (the State highway authority, which forms part of the Ministry of Development) has introduced improved signage, reduced speed limits and greater lighting to indicate to drivers that the road stops here! Due to the number of accidents, they’ve also had quite some tidying up to do, with broken glass, damaged barriers and even having to deal with a somewhat limp looking lamp post. Now that the holidays are over, the hope is that with less traffic passing through; statistically fewer accidents are likely to occur … at least until the festive season, that is. And if you think it’s not fair to blame the ‘foreigners’ to this part of the world for the spate of accidents, you just have to take a look at the number plates that were the main casualties (thankfully) abandoned near the roundabout, indicating cars deriving from France, Italy and other parts of Spain.

New system relieves Cantarrijan of thousands of cars as the Junta de Andalucía justifies keeping the block and shuttle bus in place until the end of September. It was calculated that some 13,300 people had used the shuttle since the system was started at the beginning of July. The Department of the Environment claimed right from the start that their priority was very much about protecting the natural parkland, as well as the beachfront. This was to be achieved by avoiding unnecessary traffic which not only eroded the track and contributed to the combustive and noise pollution in the area, but also increased the likelihood of bush fires. Their solution: limit the entry of vehicles to only 100 at any one time and allow any additional visitors entry only via the shuttle provided (at the princely sum of € 2 per person per trip).

Needless to say, this action from the Department of the Environment received a lot of public criticism, as well as protest from the ‘chiringuito’ owners themselves, who believed that the actions served to discourage a lot of business.

The central government department has continued to defend its position on the grounds of the several thousand cars that have been prevented from impacting on the natural surroundings. However, in July the leader of the Partido Popular (PP), Juan Luis González Montoro, put forward a motion to suspend the measures adopted by the Department of the Environment because these rules were actually imposed, rather than informing, let alone consulting any of the other parties concerned (impacting on businesses, workers and residents in the area). The feel from many citizens here is that all of the Costa Tropical needs protecting, but then there are ways and means. As Juan Luis pointed out, “These methods are discriminatory and seriously affect the economic viability of the businesses located there.” Whatever happens, I’m pretty certain that everyone will be watching very closely, come summer 2008.

Partido Popular (PP) proposes a facelift on Plaza San José where Sam and Marga have their successful language school, Idiomas el Mar. The original site of the church, this area was traditionally considered the real centre of the village. Counselor Juan José Ruiz Joya pointed out that the Plaza is “one of the most significant points in La Herradura, since most of the cultural activities historically took place there.” Certainly, the Plaza is just an echo of its former glory and could well do with some TLC in time for the next major fiesta in the village.

Speaking of important fiestas for La Herradura, it turns out that next year’s San José feast day actually falls on the Wednesday of Holy Week (which culminates in Easter Sunday). Consequently the head priest (also called José – maybe it’s a prerequisite for the job?) in San José’s parish has suggested to the Town Hall that the village patron saint have his annual celebration shifted to avoid the clash. Well he wasn’t going to suggest to the rest of the world that they should shift Easter, was he? So it looks as though, for the purpose of diaries and public holidays, we need to change the San José fiesta for 2008 to 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th March. Start saving those pennies for the ‘fun’ fair!

Sunlounge set to spook us out for Halloween, so make sure that you mark your diaries on 31st October for this now famous annual event, where children young and old are welcome to share in the fun. As normal, there’ll be no entrance fee, but lots of goodies and games for the kids starting from 6pm. Obviously, fancy dress is essential for anyone that is geared up for lots of fun!

Talking of games, 4th of November sees the next TAGS society-golf competition and the Sunlounge (as sponsors of this well-known competition) are happy to take names at the bar for anyone that wants to join in. Finally, Leanne is busy collecting ideas and planning activities to keep everyone busy during the winter months, so if anyone has any thoughts or preferences, please contact her on 686 026 631.

Hideaway takes on Setanta Sports, so plenty of armchair games for people to enjoy with friends over a wholesome meal or a few drinks. Although they’re closed from the 29th September through to the 5th October, Jenette and Darren will be opening for a month, which already has couple of events to note down, including a riveting Quiz night on 25th October (make sure you sign up at the bar). Earlier on in the month, as I’ve already mentioned, on the 10th October at 11am, you’re invited to attend the next English Library meeting where you can find out more about what’s happening.

Nothing like a birthday to Anchor us down, as both Jean and Katie celebrate theirs this month at El Ancla. So don’t forget your ‘many happy returns’ next time you’re in there. And there’ll be no shortage of things to bring you in through those doors with Sunday lunches still enormously popular as well as those bumper breakfasts tantalising the taste buds. The England qualifiers start early October, so La Herradura’s very own ‘home of sport’ is bound to draw you in to cheer on the team. Finally, if unlike me, you’re super organised, from the middle of October you’ll also be able to find hand made Christmas cards from England there, so make sure you stock up!

Blue Lagoon serves up autumn specials with home made soups and the opportunity to eat a generous baguette and beer for under a fiver (we’re talking euros, not pounds!). With those colder evenings, you may just want to eat at home on the sofa, so that’s where Sue and Martin’s take away service makes sense, since you still don’t have to cook it yourselves, but all you have to do is order it and come to collect it. Finally, it’s back to the football and rugby season again (notice the peace and quiet, girls?), so time to head down to watch all your favourite matches in good company.

The Treasury Department at the Salobreña Ayuntamiento recently received a surprisingly large bar-bill for the amount of 1,021.90 euros passed to them from the Mayor’s office (PP). This was kindly brought to the attention of the public by Gonzalo Fernández (PSOE) who was incensed at this type of expenditure by the Mayor and his friends, felt it was totally excessive and felt that if this type of expenditure was maintained there would be no money left in the Treasury coffers (money boxes). Juan de Dios Márquez, Councillor of Economy, was quickly off the mark with an explanation saying that it was not a waste of the public’s money and in fact, it had been an error of the bar, which had added two separate drinks bills into one. On the early-June night in question, the Mayor had been entertaining participants of a Corpus procession at the bar and at a certain point, when the bill had reached 306 euros, the bar had been asked to close the account. However, certain members of the group had gone on drinking at the bar and this bill was to be paid separately. The incorrect invoice had somehow slipped through to the Treasury Department without being checked or authorized and Gonzalo Fernández now wonders how many more inflated invoices arrive at the Council offices that are being paid without question. Gonzalo Fernández adds that he was not invited to the post procession festivities at the bar…

Salobreña Wi-Fi access. Although many of you will already know that there is a free Wi-Fi access point outside the Ayuntamiento building, we thought it worth a mention again. At present there is no comfortable seating or much needed shaded areas during the summer months around the front of the building so it’s a case of parking yourself on a concrete bench with your laptop balanced precariously on your knees in the sunshine. But hey … it is free access and top marks to the council for making this service available … Motril, please take note!

The Lobres Old People’s home is being enlarged. The plan was hatched in 2006 with a quote of 114,000 euros. Forty percent of the cost will be paid by the Ayuntamiento and sixty percent by Central Government. The extension will be added to the back of the current building and there will be three more rooms added. One of these will be for meetings or small activities, painting or sewing, etc.

Salobreña Ayuntamiento has recently passed a unanimous vote to fight the noise levels caused by mopeds, music from cars, terraces and bars and the fights taking place in the streets in the early hours of the morning. All governmental groups supported the motion but the Mayor, Jesus Avelino Menéndez, adds that it will not be an easy task. The person given this responsibility is Olga García, who has confirmed that in the past two months there have been over forty motorcycles immobilised. At present, immobilisation is the only option available but Olga García has announced the intention of the Council to modify current laws to get the motorcycles off the streets once and for all. There will also be a campaign to raise awareness, which will be run through various education centres in the town.

The Sports Pavilion in Salobreña is to have an automatic and portable defibrillator installed. In addition, the staff at the sports centre will be given a short course on the use of it. For the past two years, many public areas in Spain such as sports centres, airports and casinos have been installing defibrillators and it is reported that up to 6,000 people per year have so far needed the use of one. The Councillor for Sport confirmed that with up to 25,000 people using the sports centre every year and, considering the raised cardiovascular risk through sports activity, they had decided to install the defibrillator following the latest recommendations from a recent Sports Accident Prevention report. If a defibrillator is used within the first three to five minutes of a heart attack it can produce rates of survival between forty nine to seventy five percent. The survival probability is reduced by seven to ten percent for every minute that the person remains untreated. Calculations suggest that up to 100,000 lives annually could be saved if defibrillators were more widely accessible.

Street lighting and the remodelling of the green zones in Salobreña are to be undertaken shortly. Special attention is going to be paid to the Paseo Marítimo, where lighting has deteriorated with the humidity. The work is programmed to take up to one year, as they will also be changing the Telefónica installations and general electrical wiring in the area. For the green zones in the town centre, an ambitious project with new landscaping designs will take place. Instead of palms trees, Mediterranean pines will be planted alongside other native shrubs. Gustavo Aybar at the Council explained that what they are now trying to achieve is gardens of greater aesthetic quality and with the use of native species that have adapted to the climate that can be irrigated efficiently by means of sprinklers, and using ground coverings so that less water is lost through evaporation. In addition, solar panels will be used for the lighting required in the green zones. The new landscaping project has a budget of 58,000 euros financed through the Council of Medio Ambiente (environment).

Building permissions are now possible to obtain again on the hillsides around Salobreña known locally as Laderas Occidentales where the urbanisations Alfamar, Monte de los Almendros and Costa Aguilera are situated. Approximately seventeen months ago the Salobreña Town Hall stopped issuing new building licences in these areas but allowed buildings that already had permissions to be completed. The Councillor for Urban Development, Pérez Cobos, says they have to look at each building application individually, as some are very advanced but they should get their licenses and that some projects may well have to go back to the drawing board to be adapted. The Town Hall wants to ensure that new houses can branch into the new town drainage and water services, which they are proposing to bring to the urbanisations in the future. The object is to make sure that there is a guarantee that all future works comply with all new regulations. We spoke to Mike Lingwood of Inmobiliaria Lingwood on the Monte de los Almendros, who has been closely monitoring developments through the Resident’s Association on the Monte and at various meetings, which Pérez Cobos has attended. Mike brought us up to date on the current position: “It is a little surprising that the Town Hall has decided to once again permit new houses to be built in these residential areas as there are still no definitive plans for the proposed drainage system or any firm date as to when the mains water will be available to these residential areas. However, for owners of plots who want to build houses or sell their plots this is indeed good news and we have already noticed increased interest in the building plots for sale on Monte de los Almendros. For owners of existing houses this is not a very welcome development as they have enjoyed the relative calm of the past few months with very few builder’s lorries around!”

The police have just taken delivery of two spanking new Mazda patrol cars to add to their current fleet of four cars and two motorbikes. The Mayor, Jesus Avelino Menéndez, presented the cars to the police force at a special ceremony outside the Town Hall and repeated his commitment to continue extending the numbers of the police force from their current total of twenty one agents to thirty five. A further ten agents are currently being trained and should be pounding the streets of Salobreña next year. Menéndez also added that the new cars would be equipped with defibrillators (most probably got a ‘buy two get one free offer’ as the Sports Pavillion is also getting one!) as the police were often the first to arrive at a scene and given that fast action in the case of a cardiac case could help save lives, they felt this was now high priority.

The Salobreña International Club has a brand new website, which includes information on club trips, Spanish classes, a history of the club, photo gallery and an activity calendar. The club has a Wine Tasting event on Wednesday 10th October 2007 at the Salobreña Hotel, commencing at 12 noon in the Bora Bora Salon. The website can be found at www.icsalobrena.com

It was Salobreña’s turn this month to be on the receiving end of the dreaded botellón (where groups of young people congregate in one area to drink and party all night). The meeting point for young people at the moment is the El Vial area parallel to the Paseo Marítimo. Having spent an evening drinking, twenty youths thought it would be a great idea to invade a private urbanisation nearby to take a very early morning swim in the community swimming pool. They succeeded in scaling the walls to the swimming pool area twice during the night. On the first occasion the residents of the urbanisation managed to get rid of them but 55 minutes later the youths were back again and this time battle commenced. The residents had had quite enough of the youngsters, who this time came back shouting, scratching and kicking and the residents ended up fighting in their pyjamas to defend their turf until the Guardia Civil and local police turned up. One resident took the punches from two young underage girls, who gave him a black eye and broke his glasses. This resident said that knowing the law he was not able to move to defend himself, which would have landed him in trouble. The two underage drinkers were subsequently denounced by the residents for their aggression and threatening behaviour. The botellón has been around for some years now and is based on the idea that once a week and usually a Saturday night, it gives young people that cannot afford to go to bars and clubs a local and free area to congregate in … with their purchased booze in a plastic bag and squawk box (music) in hand. Unfortunately, the areas chosen for botellónes are getting closer and closer to residential areas and the youngsters are getting more and more drunk and disruptive. It seems that every week reports are made of pissed youths up to no good after a good night on the tiles and many towns are experiencing problems and are now having to rethink where to let them congregate.

After the recent storm along the Costa Tropical, Salobreña has sent machinery and personnel to help Almuñécar in their clean up operations. The Mayor of Salobreña has offered their assistance to the people of Almuñécar, mainly sweeping machines to clean the mud off the streets saying that we must help our neighbours and stressing that if Salobreña needed help he was sure that others would come to their aid.

Back to school? Many new courses are now on offer at the Cultural Centre in Salobreña and also in Lobres and at reasonable prices. The courses start in October although enrolment started in late September so there is still plenty of time to get yourself on to your chosen course by getting yourselves down to the Centre as soon as you read this! Perhaps, for many of you, the most important and popular will be the Spanish courses on offer in Salobreña and which start on 15 October at different levels. Other courses in Salobreña include flamenco dance, ceramics, embroidery and painting to name just a few. In Lobres they will also be running the same courses but with the addition of a computer science course. Gustavo Aybar at the Town Hall says there will be over 20 different courses being run from October through to June 2008 for all age groups, which will have over 900 students attending.

The previous Alcalde (Mayor) of Motril, Pedro Alvarez, stepped down as leader of the PSOE party in the last few days of August after their defeat in the May 2007 elections. He said he took full responsibility for the defeat and that by his departure it would give the young bloods in the party the chance to work their socks off to get them back into power at the next elections. Pedro Alvarez is now known as the Alcalde who brought Motril to a state of patas arriba (upside down). For everyone here in the town, he will be remembered as the Mayor who threw out the nuns of Motril and made the town chaotic with all the road works and with a total bill of 40-million euros when he started designing the new street layouts of Motril. It seems strange that the PSOE of Motril has not updated their website since early 2007 … perhaps they ran out of money?

Enjoy bike riding? A group of local enthusiasts and ecologists are celebrating the enjoyment of bike riding and are inviting other like-minded people to join them on Saturday 6th October 2007 for a bike ride through town. The meeting point is el Cerro de la Virgin and the event kicks off at 18:00h. The group asks that you respect the norms of the traffic, wear comfortable clothing and give drivers and especially pedestrians due care and attention. Further details can be obtained from Michel Cuvelier at this email address: bicimotril@yahoo.es

Motril and Melilla have recently signed an agreement to have a regular sea crossing between the two ports. The Mayor (PP), Carlos Rojas, signed the agreement in early September. No further details are available at present. Why issue a press release with such little information? OK, hands up how many of you have been to Melilla or know about it? Here is a resume. Less than 200 kilometres separate the two ports. Melilla is a Spanish enclave on the Mediterranean Rif coast of Morocco in North Africa. The Spanish went over there in 1497 and gave everyone a good ear bashing and conquered the area and have held on to it ever since. It has a population of approximately 65,000 (around the same amount of people as Motril). Morocco claims Melilla (and Cueta) along with other Spanish islands off the African coast as its own leading to comparisons with Spain’s territorial claim to Gibraltar. Melilla and Cueta are the only two European territories located in mainland Africa. The principal industry is fishing and Spanish and European grants are the other income source. 36,000 Moroccans cross the border daily into Melilla to work, shop or trade goods. Melilla’s Capilla de Santiago or James’s Chapel is the only genuine Gothic Architecture in Africa and the town has the second most important concentration of Modernist works in Spain, after Barcelona. There, that should keep you going for a few minutes at your next BBQ!

Whacky backy (cannabis) was recently discovered by the Guardia Civil growing under plastic greenhouses in Albuñol. A staggering 684 plants measuring over two metres in height left the Guardia Civil officers speechless with surprise. The Guardia report that although they are accustomed to coming across illegal farming of cannabis even they were amazed at the quantity being grown and that it was the largest haul they have ever come across in the whole province of Granada. Twenty Guardia Civil officers were involved in the early morning raid on the farm with the assistance of other municipal workers who were also needed to help due to the large size of the area. Castillas, where the cannabis haul was found in Albuñol, is an area known for an abundance of plastic greenhouses (usually used to grow vegetables and fruit) and is bordered on one side by a hill with a sheer drop … very handy for growing cannabis, with very few passers by and a mass of other greenhouses to disguise the smell permeating from the cannabis plants, the growers must have felt they were on to a sure-fire (can’t fail) hit. The Guardia Civil were then charged with cutting down the plants and transporting them to a warehouse where a judge would then decide how they would be disposed of (Makes you wonder how much of the haul actually made it to an incinerator?). The owner of the greenhouses was located living in Almería and was pleased to be able to report that he was renting the greenhouses to someone else and had no knowledge of the illegal substances being grown on his land. A 35-year-old man with the initials of JPS (John Player Special, perhaps?) has now been detained in Albuñol and is helping the Guardia with their enquiries.

Train to Motril? Again, the debate over a railway link-up between Granada and Motril rages on. The new government of Motril has ordered a detailed economic study on the negative consequences that the lack of a railway line has generated in the town. The Mayor (PP), Carlos Rojas, hopes that this study will serve as a tool to make Central Government wake up and take note of their unfulfilled promises to assist the growth of the coastal infrastructure. Under the old socialist local government, Motril had been assured they would have a railway connection in 2008 but due to continuous delays this date slowly started to move back somewhere over the area marked ‘horizon.’ Carlos Rojas wants to ensure that a budget is now agreed for the creation of a railway between Granada and Motril, as well as a coastal railway between Almería and Málaga.

The Urgencias Department (medical clinic) in the Avenida de Salobreña, opposite the post office (correos) is under threat of closure. This has caused a public outcry, led by local politicians who say they are totally against its closure, especially when so many people use the facility and, if anything should be done, then it should be to give all medical centres and the Santa Ana hospital better funding and personnel to make more resources and services available to the town. Particular note was made to the long queues and waiting times experienced over the summer holiday period and to the very professional staff who give a high quality of service at the centres. The politicians have backed calls to stop the closure of the Urgencias and so we now wait to see the outcome.

Smart cars at the ready? Back in February 2007, some of you may remember that we reported that a car park was being built opposite the Central Medical Clinic (near the police station). News has drifted our way that the car park has now opened for business. There are a total of 321 parking spaces on three floors although 128 parking spaces are allocated for the purchase by local residents in the area at a cost of 13,000 euros each (the present market value is 20,000 euros per parking space). Unfortunately, the top surface of the car park should have been made into a recreation area but because the previous government (PSOE) raided the car park building budget (they spent it on the road works) this top area has not been completed. The present administration will now have to find a further 500,000 euros to complete the work, which they say will come from the car park charges. What we would like to know is where the money from the sale of 128 car parking spaces at 13,000 euros a time will be going? That’s a cool 1,664,000 euros! Why the need for a Smart car you may well ask? Let’s put it this way … public car parking spaces here just seem to be getting smaller and smaller by the year.

The first hospital for chronically ill patients is opening in October. The Costa Nevada Hotel on the road to the Santa Ana hospital is its new location and the hotel has been adapted to provide 75 beds. Two young doctors, Jesus Palomares and Jorge Rubiño, after many years of lobbying have managed to get this much needed service up and running on the Costa Tropical with over 3,300 people currently needing palliative care in the region. The hospital has already received over 300 requests from families and the doctors hope that this will solve many problems that families face when looking after chronically ill or terminally ill relatives. There is no other hospital in Andalucía offering this type of service and it is seen as a very novel project that will also create a further 50 jobs in the town and which is fitted with up-to-date modern equipment. However, it is a private hospital and comes with a hefty (large) monthly bill should you or your relatives require its services.

A new proposal to farm mussels (mejillónes) off the coast of Motril has been unveiled by the Provincial Delegation of Agriculture and Fishing. A new system of farming, already used by Nordic countries, is proposed that gives greater rates of mussel growth with a prolonged life of the farming facilities. The proposed zones of these mussel farms stretch from Castell de Ferro to Punta de la Mona along the coastline and there will be a total of five farms at various points. The companies or associations wishing to tender for these farms now have to present detailed information after which there will be a period for the public to have their say on the matter. An environmental report will also be submitted at this time. Each farm is estimated to cost 473,000 euros to establish and will create 30 new jobs to the region in addition to the additional jobs created through packaging, maintenance and marketing, etc.

The local roads around Motril are at last to get a facelift. The lack of asphalt on these caminos (roads) has apparently caused the highest demands made by locals to the authorities to do something about them. A budget of 586,631 euros has been set for 2007 and work is to begin shortly and will take six months. Roads specifically named to get new surfaces include La Comuna, Montecastillo and La Mimbre, Los Molinos, Pataura, Carretera del Puerto, Cerro del Toro, Fuente Mujica and La Granja. Bad luck to those of you who don’t come into these areas and have lost the odd exhaust pipe from years of bumping down roads which are continuously being taken up and put down by various companies adding pipe-work or other installations and who then leave the roads in a dreadful state.

Mobile telephone abuse has hit Motril. Skirt wearers at Alcampo beware! A Motril man has recently landed himself in front of a judge for taking photos on his mobile telephone underneath the skirts of women at the Alcampo supermarket and then sending them on to his friends. Harmless fun some might think but the judge took exception to this man’s antics and the photography of women’s ‘intimate areas’ and fined him 1,800 euros and gave him a one-year prison sentence, also ordering that the mobile telephone in question be destroyed. One woman, who caught the offender in action underneath her skirt denounced the poor deprived individual and he also had to pay her an amount of 2,000 euros for the ‘moral damages’ he had caused her.

Windmills galore! In August 2006 many of you will have noticed the windmills being constructed on the hills behind Motril or got stuck behind the most enormous transporters slowly making their way up the Motril to Gualchos road. Having only seen these windmills before on the road up to Granada and hearing that ‘creating energy by harnessing the power of the wind’ was the way of the future, I decided to find out a little more about them … especially as they are now truly in our back yard.

Firstly, no member of the public has ever been injured during the normal operation of a wind turbine in the past 25 years and there are over 70,000 of them installed around the world although I am sure there have been a few stunned birds wondering what the hell hit them! The average wind farm will pay back the money used in its manufacture within six to eight months of use and is classed as one of the most popular energy technologies with eight in ten people in favour and less than one in ten against them.

A windmill will last between 20-25 years, with the odd new part required along the way, and the energy produced is the cheapest of all the renewable energy technologies. The central core of a windmill is made from steel and finished in a matt coloured surface to reduce reflected light and can tower up to 80 metres from the ground. There are usually 3 blades ranging from 30-65 metres in length and these are made of glass fibre, reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy (that bit is to keep the boys happy while reading this!).

Turbines start operating at wind speeds of approximately 15 km per hour and reach maximum output at around 45 km per hour but in high winds the turbines shut down (sensible, otherwise you’d find rotor blades littered all over the countryside!).

One 1.8 mega/w turbine can produce over 4.7 million units of electricity each year, that’s enough to meet the annual needs of over 1,000 households or to run a computer for over 1,620 years! And finally, they are not noisy, it is possible to stand underneath one and hold a conversation without raising your voice.