Good to hear

It's not just an English problem. All over Spain, large groups of teenagers join together at the weekend to consume cheap drinks with the intention of getting as drunk as possible, as quickly as possible. These group parties are known as el botellón.

In some regions there has been an attempt to ban the gatherings which has met with varying degrees of success. A survey in Alicante however, seems to indicate that the vast majority of teenagers on the Costa Blanca have more interest in spending their money on clothes and mobile phones than on binge drinking.

The ONG Club, who carried out the survey, said that this isn't because Costa Blanca youth don't go to el botellón parties; it is that Alicante teenagers are using the gatherings to have fun without the drunkenness.

Of course, it may just be that el botellón has been severely reduced in Alicante by the introduction of a 90 euros on-the-spot fine for anyone caught drinking alcohol publicly.

In Summer we could hear young people up on the Pedrera most Saturday nights at what what we suspected were el botellón parties. Some walked up, some rode up on motos or drove up in cars. Their presence didn't seem to cause us a problem until they decided that it would be fun to kick or push over the service boxes on the vacant plot round the corner.

The broken electricity box revealed the supply cables, the gas and water supply pipes were perilously stretched. But more significant to us; the telephone box where our new connection had been made was broken. Fortunately the cables to the box and to our houses were intact.

The cold weather seems to have put an end to the late night parties so hopefully our newly repaired box will remain intact.