Every year we go to visit the Belen which is set up in the main plaza outside the church on Calle Ramon Galud because each year it is different; elements are added and things are re-arranged.
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There is such an amazing amount of detail in the figures and the cameos, you have to take your time to see it all. For more photos of the Belen to see the incredible work that has been put into it click here.
The doors to the assembly hall of the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado will be open, the gallery will be full and the draw for this year’s Sorteo de Navidad will now be underway. At stake are 1,787 prizes amounting to 2,320 million Euros (70% of the takings) and in the drum 85,000 numbers. The first prize of 3,000,000 Euros will be divided into tenths because there are ten tickets sold with the same number; the second prize is a million Euros, the third 500,000, there are two fourth prizes and eight fifth prizes.
All I can say is best of luck especially if you have the same number as me!!
Mayors and representatives from the city councils of the Vega Baja met yesterday to protest against the expected 8% increase in cost of water to the region. In the end there were forty seven votes against the increase and fifteen for.
Our own mayor, Raúl Valerio Medina says that it is not a good time to increase the cost of water to families who have been hit hard by the economic crisis. He argues that it is not the increased cost of producing desalinated water that is the cause of the increase but rather the elimination of the subsidy for the transfer of water from the Federation of Channels of the Taibilla. For thirty years, the Vega Baja has relied upon the Segura and the transfers from the Tajo for water.
With global warming predicted to rise teemperatures by 2 degrees over the next 20-30 years and the expected desertification of areas like the Vega Baja, the supply of economically priced fresh water will become more and more of an issue to be dealt with.
I have made the point many times on this blog that Bigastro is a very caring town. The elderly, the infirm, the young and the needy are all thought of and catered for.
At a time when most families are preparing for Christmas, New Year and the Three Kings by stocking up with special foods, our thoughts should go to those less fortunate who will not even have the basic necessities to see them through the festive season.
To help them, the Council of Social Welfare in the town have been distributing food to the needy in Bigastro. The items have been donated for the San José de Calasanz school by the social work of La Caixa bank and the European Union Food Bank of Plan 2009. In total, one hundred food parcels containing vegetables, cakes, milk and juices have been prepared for distribution.
Mari Carmen Alonso, the councillor for Social Welfare, explains that the Social Services department had been working to try and enlarge the Food Bank by obtaining contributions from as many sources as possible so that they can provide aid to the maximum number of people.
I am sure that the recipients of this aid will be very grateful, we all hope they enjoy the provisions.
Under central government's plan Escuela 2.0, children in the fifth year of primary school are to be given access to laptop computers as part of their introduction to IT skills. Funds for these computers have been set aside by the government but Alejandro Font de Mora, the regional education councillor in Valencia, has refused to implement the plan claiming the use of the computers would cause short-sightedness in children.
However, this decision has sparked fury among educators and eye specialists who have called his reason unfounded, baseless, alarming and incorrect. The head of Alicante general hospital's ophthalmology department, José Belmont, said a connection between computers and sight disorders such as myopia has yet to be proved claiming that Sr Font de Mora is using this as a justification for political reasons only.
Now that the work on avenida Apatel, which was part of Plan E for Bigastro, is complete, the mayor, Raúl Valerio Medina wants to extend the remodelling of the road towards both Jacarilla and Orihuela. He has already had talks with Antonio Rodríguez Barberá, the councillor for urbanism in Orihuela to try and formulate a joint bid to the province for this work which he estimates will cost about 330,000 Euros.
So far, things look promising because the mayor says that there is agreement between the parties involved about the need for this work. Let’s cross all our fingers and toes to try and make this happen because It would dramatically alter the entrance to the town making it much more attractive to people visiting Bigastro.
This week should feel a little warmer as the clouds hold in the warmth.
When you compare the weather here with that in much of Europe, we are very lucky. I understand many airports were closed yesterday because of the snow including Manchester where we flew from last week.
Anyway, as you can see, there is absolutely no chance of us having a white Christmas here in Bigastro. It looks like Boxing Day, even though it promises to be cold, will be the best day to go out for a stroll.
Darren organised for a section of “This is Brass” to visit La Pedrera yesterday evening to play carols for us.
The band are based in San Miguel and regularly play concerts in the area. They will be at La Zenia on Christmas Day playing to the hundreds of Brits who go down there to start Christmas off on the beach.
It was great to clear the throats and join in with some traditional English carols and to hear the great jokes by the band leader who happens to have come from Saddleworth.
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Darren has a full programme of entertainment and fun for the Christmas period. It will be well worth going up there to blow away the cobwebs and dance off some of the turkey!
Many of the people living at Villas Andrea have jobs done by Pepe and Rafa Lorente and can testify to the high quality of their work.
Yesterday Pam and I had the great privilege to be at the inauguration of the Parque de la Cultura in Bigastro. The first exhibition there was of the highly talented work by Rafa’s sister Lola. (to see Rafa and his sister together click on this link).
Lola Lorente, was born in Bigastro in 1980 and has a licenciada in Beautiful Arts from the University of Valencia and has a formative cycle superior of illustration from the Massana School of Barcelona.
She won the Consolation prize in Accésit en Certamen de Cómic e Ilustración Injuve in 2003; in 2006 she got the first prize in Injuve illustration and in 2008 the prize for infantile illustration Pura e Dora Vázquez.
Lola's drawings are just exquisite; precise but yet concise in a style which is uniquely hers.
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Someone in Torrevieja is 1,205,678.42 Euros better off now as a result of playing Euromillions. The ticket that won the second category prize by getting five numbers and one star correct was sold by a shop on Avenida Asunción in Los Balcones.
A lucky person in France managed to get all five numbers and both stars right and will pick up 59,459,744 Euros as a result. Four people in Spain and eleven in the other European countries that participate managed to get the five numbers right without a star number and will collect. 93,314.18 Euros each.
Now we all wait with baited breath for the Christmas Lottery draw on the 22nd. Pam and I have just the one 20 Euro ticket so our chances are slim but then you never know. We had the same number last year and it came close, maybe our luck will be in this time.
There won’t be any fireworks, no loud cheer from the house nor an extravagant party just a discreet change in our lifestyles.
Our Belen hardly bears comparison with the one in town or indeed with some of those you find in other people’s houses. Even our little stable scene though is a reminder to us of what Christmas should really be about – a celebration of the birth of Christ.
Sad to say that the pagan festival has largely taken over from the religious theme in Britain helped in no small part by over sensitive political correctness on the part of some.
In order not to offend Muslims etc. many towns in England have decided to omit the word Christmas from any official notices and use the term Season’s Greetings instead. Even the traditional cards that people send lean more towards the pagan festival than the Christmas theme these days. If this process continues then I can well see that carols will have to be banned and all those cheesy songs will have to be re-written omitting the word Christmas. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” will become “I’m dreaming of a white winter festival” etc etc.
Here in Spain, the religious significance of Christmas is still managing to hold on as witnessed by the banners that people put outside their houses. In this Catholic country, the pagan feast is held on New Year followed by the Three Kings on the 6th. However there are growing signs even in Spain that Christmas as a present giving time is catching on. Papa Noel is year by year making inroads into the role traditionally performed by the Three Kings. You see a growing number of Santas climbing up ladders trying to get into people’s houses.
One of the results of this is there are some greedy children and over indulgent parents who want to play it both ways having presents both on Christmas Day and on the 6th for the Three Kings. The same applies in Britain where many Muslim children expect gifts for Eid and then for Christmas. That is like having your cake and eating it – not on.
Be assured in Casa El Willo, Christmas will still be called Christmas and we will continue to have presents on the 25th rather than on the 6th January. Whilst we will watch the parade in town, in our house, the Three Kings are on their way home by the beginning of January.
We have this problem with the box that houses the pump and the filter for the pool.
Whenever it rains, we get water in the bottom. Somehow, the water soaks through the paving and then seeps into the box as it runs down towards the drain.
The water has to get in through one of the holes where the pipes and the electric cable enter the box so I tried to seal them up with silicone which worked for a good while limiting the amount of water to less than an inch when we had a downpour.
When the pipe from the box to the skimmer was replaced, I investigated further to try and stop the leak altogether. That was when I discovered that it was actually the hole where the pipe that supplies water to top up the pool that was the most likely cause of the problem. All the installers had done was to cut a hole in the box and push the tube through. You can actually move the pipe up and down in the hole.
I tried sealing it with silicone again but made a poor job of it. Silicone won’t stick to anything wet so the leak continued. I then tried a different sealant which I hoped would stick and waited for the next rain.
As if to confirm that the sealant I’d used was useless, it poured with rain from Friday afternoon, all night and into Saturday morning. As a result you can see the amount of water in the box which was matched by a good two inches of water added to the pool itself. Luckily I’d isolated the electricity from the box because, as you can see, the pump was halfway submerged.
I’ve bailed all the water out now and left the pump to dry out. I’ve also carefully worked bathroom grade silicone into the joint where the arrow points and will add more to try and finish off the seal and then fingers crossed that I’ve managed to stop the leak or at least reduce it to a trickle,
Of course, my problem is a nuisance but it hardly bears comparison to those people whose houses have been flooded or the shops that have lost all their stock. Even if the pump was ruined, it wouldn’t cost the earth to replace it.
As it happened, the council meeting yesterday in Bigastro lasted just half an hour and the result was that the modifications to the plan for Sector D-6 were approved by the majority – not surprising since the socialists, who back Medina, outweigh the PP party eight to five. The necessary changes to the layout of avenue Vitorio Oliver were all that was required to meet the requirements of the Conselleria in Valencia.
However, the matter might not finish there because Aurelio Murcia has said that the PP now intend taking the matter to court in Orihuela. He gave the mayor, Raúl Valerio Medina, a document before the meeting began so that all the councillors would be aware of the stance that the opposition party were taking on this whole business.
The PP party claim that it was illegal to grant licenses to build on urbanizable land before the plan had been approved and that the council cannot now work in retrospect to put right the things that were wrong. They say this was all pushed through to expedite the building of the new school and that there are in fact two files, one of which leaves reality behind. Murcia adds that Medina was aware of the problems when he was in charge of urbanism under the previous mayor, José Joaquín Moya and should have worked to resolve them at that time.
For his part, the mayor says that resorting to the courts is a ploy that the PP party use when they do not agree with the decisions of the council and that he is is prepared to go with Murcia to Valencia to consult the technicians there to show that everything is now in order. The necessary changes to the original plan have been made and have been approved and that is what matters above anything else..
In my admittedly sketchy understanding of this whole affair, it is not the legitimacy of what is now in place that the PP are questioning but rather the way it has been carried out. Quite what the outcome of all this will be is anyone’s guess.
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 | Those of you who live at Villas Andrea will remember John Reid who used to clean pools here and now lives in a magnificent house in the Dordogne. Yesterday he sent me a Christmas greeting along with these photos that he took first thing. If you need to get out and about, snow is a pain in the butt. However it does make every where look rather beautiful especially at Christmas. |
Many thanks John for the pictures and the greeting. I’m sure all your friends from Bigastro would want to join with me in wishing you and Gladys all the best for Christmas and the New Year.
To counter all the bad news on my blog, I thought it would be nice to cheer the day up with this picture of “our girls” taken at Laura and Dave’s house in Sale.
On the left is Jemma who is 32 and on the right Laura who is 29 and is expecting our first grandchild in February. The occasion is the special pre-Christmas meal that they prepared for us whilst we were over in Manchester.
Pam and I count ourselves lucky to have such beautiful daughters who happen also to be very clever, successful and considerate. Over the years, they have brought us a lot of joy and pleasure. You could say we were very proud of them.
Seeing them the other week was the best Christmas present we could receive.
This photo from the newspaper Laverdad must be of a rare occasion when the mayor of Bigastro and the leader of the opposition saw eye to eye.
I doubt if they will be shaking hands at the moment because the extraordinary meeting of the Bigastro Town Council this afternoon to approve modifications to the plan for Sector D-6 has caused major controversy between the two parties before it even gets underway.
First off, the meeting has been re-scheduled for 2:30pm, an hour later than it was originally set for. The PP claim that the change of time is a deliberate ploy on the part of the mayor to prevent people from attending. Actually, if that was the socialist parties aim, they would have been better setting the meeting an hour earlier. Still you take the point – 2:30 is the time when most would want to be at home having lunch so they may not want to hang about for an hour if they arrive thinking that the meeting is still at the original time.
More important, the PP claim that, when they went to see the documents pertaining to the discussion on Wednesday morning, they were told that they were not complete. When they returned later, the municipal technicians were not at the councillors disposal to explain the details of the files. The Mayor counters this argument by saying that in fact the documentation contained in the 59 page legal report that has been signed by two lawyers and an architect is all that they need to pass a judgement this afternoon.
One of the complaints that the PP party made against the previous mayor was that he withheld documentation they required to prepare for council debates, now they are levelling the same argument against the current mayor. They say that, without full documentation, it would be better for them not to attend the meeting. For sure that would make the session short and quiet! We will have to wait and see what happens.
The picudo rojo beetle continues to threaten the palm trees in the Vega Baja. The beetle has already spread to Orihuela, Pilar de la Horadada, Bigastro, Jacarilla, Almoradí, Catral, Los Montesinos, Callosa de Segura and Torrevieja. Hopefully , the cold weather will slow down the activity of the beetles and allow councils time to fumigate trees in public places.
However councils are powerless to do anything about the trees on private property. Several people on our estate have already found picudo rojo beetles in their gardens.
You remember that one of our neighbours visited the town hall and was directed to the agricultural supplier on the by-pass opposite the Cepsa garage. They sold her insecticide to use on her palm tree. The instructions were to pour the diluted liquid down the centre of the palm where the insect would be burrowing and laying its eggs. Since she did this, five dead beetles have been found on the terracing nearby. Another neighbour treated his palms and found yet another dead beetle on the gravel by one of his trees.
If you have palm trees in your garden, particularly if they are Canary Phoneix then you really need to treat them sooner rather than later. The beetles love this type of tree with its shorter fatter trunk which contains a higher sugar content than other palms.
Of course there are a number of holiday homes with phoenix palms where the owners are not here and are possibly unaware of the danger their trees are in. If you know of anybody with palm trees in their gardens, it would be as well to let them know. Apart from the fact that they could well come out next spring to find their trees dead, they are in danger of allowing the beetle to spread.
If your trees are starting to die from the centre and the palms are turning yellow, then it is too late, the beetle has already done its work and you MUST inform the Town Hall who will arrange for the tree to be destroyed. Cutting or burning affected trees is apparently worse than doing nothing because the beetle detects this and looks for another tree to attack. Affected trees need to be crushed to destroy the beetle.
Those of you who tried to log onto the Bigastro web site first thing many well have found it down. Similarly, the town’s email server and the Bigastel servers were not responding first thing. I am relieved to tell you that the service has now been restored so presumably it was a simple issue for the experts in the Bigastel team to resolve.
Like many, I rely upon the excellent Bigastro web site for information about what is going on in the town and the email server for much of my email. My online albums are also hosted on one of the Bigastel servers. Bigastel provides us with an excellent service for which I for one am eternally grateful.
On a non-related issue:-
You remember that I reported that our teacher Ana had a hard disc problem? It seems that the company in Madrid have managed to recover 90% of the files stored on the disc but unfortunately at a huge cost to Ana and her husband. Before they moved to stay with Ángel’s parents, he would regularly make copies of the files on the disc. Since then he has had little time to do this. I imagine he will be making the time to back up his hard drive now though.
It is only human nature to want something for nothing but that is not living in the real world. The cheap DVD and CD copies that you buy from the street vendors are fake copies which may or may not play when when you get them home. The downloaded copy of a film or DVD that you get from the Internet may be of poor quality.
But even if your downloaded DVD or CD is of good quality, by supporting the pirates, you are depriving the industry of necessary funding to keep producing new material. More to the point, you are supporting criminal activity.
One way of getting current films onto the black market is to take a camcorder to the cinema. Of course, to do this, you need a good quality camcorder to get decent results and you need to be there when the cinema is quiet. After all you don’t want the sound of someone coughing or munching on popcorn in the background. That is precisely what a group of people were doing in Alicante but no longer.
National Police in Alicante arrested four people who were caught recording films in local cinemas to later upload them on the internet. The investigation began when an employee at an Alicante cinema saw one of the detainees recording a film with a high definition camera during a session which doesn’t attract many cinema-goers. Police searches two homes and uncovered a recording studio with several devices for copying and uploading the films, including three desktop and one laptop computer, a high definition video camera and a minidisk, as well as documents and receipts which prove they were being paid for advertising on the websites.
The detainees were found to be uploading the films, which were of very high quality, just hours after they recorded them and normally on the same day the films were released. They would use websites to distribute the links to the films, as well as video games and software, which were on servers in France and Germany. All of these websites linked to each other and could be updated from one of the computers which were seized by the police. They also used remote control programmes to control thirteen other computers.
It has been estimated that they have distributed hundreds of recent films in this manner, each of which has been downloaded some 10,000 times.
Guardia Civil in Alicante seized 30,000 pairs of shoes made in China, and are holding them as a precautionary measure under judicial order. It was found that bags containing Dimethyl Fumarate, a substance which is forbidden in Europe, had been used during fabrication and packing to prevent fungus growing in the shoes and deteriorating them. This product has been proved to cause severe allergic reactions.
The merchandise was seized in El Campello and Elda and samples have been sent away for testing. Meanwhile, the shoes are being held by the Guardia Civil, and if it is found the toxic bags have been used, a criminal suit could be brought against the importer and the product would be taken off the market.
Dimethyl Fumarate can causing itchiness, reddening, eruptions, burns and eczema on the skin, as well as lesions to the eyes and joints. It can also cause acute or chronic breathing problems. The symptoms generally appear several hours after using the shoes, even with socks, as the substance is absorbed by the skin. However, it can be treated with antihistamines, antibiotics and corticoids.
Anyone who suspects they have bought defective shoes should take them back and demand a refund. If they have suffered any type of reaction, they should report the brand.
This is not the first time I have read about problems with products from China. I seem to recall problems with imported toys which didn’t reach American safety standards. At one time, “Made in China” meant it was cheap and inferior; times have changed and many of the quality items we buy are made there now but surely not shoes. Elda was the shoe capital of Spain turning out very high quality footwear.
Personally, I’d rather pay a few Euros more and buy shoes made here in Spain rather than risk my feet in something inferior.
There are three grand tours in the cycling calendar, the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. Whilst I will follow the progress of these on television, I have yet to go and watch a stage live.
Next year will be my golden opportunity to see the end of a stage, perhaps the best part especially if it is a flat stage where there is normally a sprint finish.
The route of the Vuelta Ciclista a España was announced yesterday in Sevilla and includes the seventh stage from Murcia to Orihuela on the 3rd September. With just a third category climb at Hondon le Frailes, this should be a day for the sprinters.
Details of the actual route into the city will be decided in January when hopefully, I will be able to publish them on this blog.
For more information about next year’s tour click on this link.
Aurelio Murcia, spokesperson for the opposition party, has calculated that Bigastro owes Iberdrola about 1,000,000 Euros for electricity used in the recreational area La Pedrera and at the Sports Centre on the road to Molins. He says this is the reason why the supply to these two areas has been cut and the council are relying upon two diesel generators for power.
Murcia goes on to explain that the cost of diesel and rents for these two zones amounts to about 3,000 Euros a month and even then there have been cuts to supply at the Sports Centre which the mayor claims were due to work being undertaken. Murcia claims that, even though the work has completed, there have been further cuts in supply to the Sports Centre.
To every one who has read our blog over the last year. Thank you for dropping by, we hope you have a very pleasant Christmas and a happy New Year.
Pam and Keith
Sixteen of the independent communities in Spain, including the Canary Islands and the Balearics are on yellow or orange alert for low temperatures, coastal rain or snow according to the State Agency of Meteorología (AEMET).
The areas under orange alert for snow are; the west of Lugo, the northeast of Pontevedra, the south of Orense, centre of Asturias, the south of Leon, Palencia and Burgos, Teruel, Guadalajara and the south of Albacete.
On yellow alert for snow and low temperatures are; Galicia, Asturias, Castile and Leon, Cantabria, Basque Country, La Rioja, Navarre, Aragon, Community of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and the Andalusian provinces of Huelva, Cordova, Seville, Jaén and part of Cadiz.
The Valencian Community and Murcia stay at risk of low temperatures. The coasts of Pontevedra, Gerona and the five western islands of the canary archipelago are at risk from sea surges.
Rain will spread in from the Canary Islands to the rest of the peninsula by tomorrow. The southwest of Galicia will bear the brunt of these storms. In the rest of the country the storms will be much weaker.
 | As promised, this Friday there will be a Council Meeting to approve the modifications that have been made to the plan for Sector D-6. You may recall that these changes were necessary to gain approval of the Consell in Valencia. With only two items of business, the second being any urgent items, you might expect this to be a short meeting. We will have to wait and see. Hopefully, there will not be a repeat of the last meeting when the spokesperson for the opposition was escorted out of the town hall by the local police. |
 | It occurred to me that many of my readers will have no idea where or what Sector D-6 is. For the purposes of planning, Bigastro is divided into sectors. Villas Andrea where we live (at the bottom of this map) was Sector D-9. The new development of 600 houses in Sector D-6 lies between us and the town, in the grey area the other side of that green bit which is the “old hill”. |
On Monday we sang to the very tiny children at Bigastrin and were lucky that none of them cried. Yesterday, we were at La Paz to sing to the infants.
As an addition, we also read a story to each of the two age ranges. Pam and Christopher were chosen to read “Caillou” to the younger children and one of the Spanish ladies from the other classes read “Luces” to the older ones. As I have said on my Flickr project, Pam did a sterling job showing that her skills as an infant teacher have not left her. Christopher had a more difficult job following her but managed to sound very Spanish.
I think we all sang with gusto yesterday, perhaps because the weather was better. Although it was really cold, it was dry and sunny which made us all feel a whole lot better.
Even though there were only five Brits joined by Ana and one of the Spanish ladies, we managed to cheer the children up with “Jingle Bells” and our rendering of “O Come All Ye Faithful” to the older children was positively heart warming.
So, having brought the spirit of Christmas to the young children of Bigastro and given them treats as a reward, today we will collect our reports for this term.
You can see all of my pictures from La Paz by clicking on this link. Click on any thumbnail to see a larger version.
It isn’t just the politicians in Bigastro that play ping pong, the children can now join in because the Council of Youth have organised a match of table games for them.
The tournament will take place on the 29th and 30th December between 4pm and 8pm in the multipurpose room at the Auditorium.
It isn’t just ping pong though that the children will be playing, there are other table games like darts, chess and poker for them to participate in.
To take part you need to send an email with your details to juventud@bigastro.es
 | Last Sunday the weather was kind for runners who took part in the races organised by the Council of Sport in Bigastro. The Mayor, Raúl Valerio Medina says that, due to the great success of the event, it will be repeated in future years. |
 | Five hundred and fifty people took part in the various categories ranging from infants to “third age”. Although most of the runner were from Bigastro there were competitors from Dolores, Benidorm, Orihuela, Elche, Crevillente, Jacarilla, Aspe, Molina de Segura and Elda amongst the winners. |
The inauguration of this year’s Belén in Bigastro took place last Saturday in the parish hall.
For those of you who haven’t seen one of these, the Bethlehem is a depiction of the story of the birth of Christ using small figures and model buildings. They really are an art form and take months to prepare – well worth going to see.
Lots of people were down in the town to see the opening of this year’s Belén including, the Group of Belenistas, the parish priest, D. Aurelio Ferrándiz, the councilman of culture, José Espinosa and the Mayor of Bigastro, Raúl Valerio Medina.
To brighten up the occasion, the choir from the School of Music sang traditional Spanish carols.
 | SATURDAY, 19th 6:30pm The students from the School of Music perform a Festival of Christmas. This will be very popular so, if you want a seat, it is best to be early. |
 | SUNDAY, 20th 6:30pm Theatre: The jealous ones do not go to the sky by the Group Seven Comedians. |
Having practised our carols, now it was time to get out there and sing for our suppers.
Yesterday, we visited Bigastrin on a very cold and wet afternoon to sing to the pre-school children. We had a warm up session before we faced the first group. Then it was in for a penny – we sang a couple of Spanish carols to start with before the Brits amongst us broke out with Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. The children clapped along with us which we took as a sign of approval. Mind you when you see the age of some of those children you do wonder what is going through their minds; they were probably terrified!
Then onto the second group who were slightly older. They stilled looked in awe at the sight of all these big people who had invaded their classroom but at least none of them cried this year and most raised a smile or two.
Having given our all, we were then treated to a glass (or two) of cava and biscuits and then sent on our way ready to sing to the infants at La Paz today.
You can see the photos I took by clicking on this link.
As you will have gathered we are back home again here in Bigastro.
We had a wonderful eight days in England, busy as usual but very rewarding. The highlight as always was to see both our girls which we did the first weekend. Even though the weather wasn’t too good, we had a great time and a beautiful pre-Christmas dinner with Jemma. Laura and Dave.
After a few more days with Laura and Dave at their house in Sale, we visited Pam’s father on the Wirral. He is 86 now and although in good spirit and physically well, he has problems with his memory. Thankfully Pam was able to get the doctor out to see him whilst we were there.
The doctor felt that Pam’s father was capable of staying in his own home but did need assistance on a daily basis to help him cope. A social worker was summoned and she came to the same conclusion. So ASAP we will be recruiting help for him to make sure that he gets a proper meal each day and that his washing gets done on a regular basis.
Of course, Pam’s father does not consider any of this is necessary. He is of the old school which only asked for help in a dire emergency. It therefore will not be easy for the person concerned to convince him of his needs but I am sure they are prepared to cope with that sort of challenge. At least we will sleep easier knowing that there is someone visiting him each day to make sure that all is well.
Whilst we were over in the Wirral, we stayed with Hugh and Angela and went out with them for yet another pre-Christmas meal. It was great to see them, the meal was excellent and we were very grateful to them for putting us up for the night.
Back in Sale we were able to help Dave and Laura choose a “travel system” in preparation for their baby which is due in February. They had already considered the Maxi Cosi Mura system as their preferred option but it was necessary to see one in the flesh so to speak before laying down any hard cash.
Laura and Dave already have a large box of things ready for the child – that box is soon to get a whole lot bigger!
When I was a nipper, if I got into trouble at school I kept quiet because if my parents had got to know, then I would have been in for a second belting – no questions asked. In those days teachers were well respected by parents and trusted to make appropriate decisions about punishments.
Things have changed though. During my teaching career, I remember lots of occasions when children’s parents would come up to school to complain about their children being punished. In most cases, the parents had only heard one side of the story - their children’s and soon calmed down when they found that their offspring were not as innocent as they made out. It happened to me once. The child’s father had come up on “the bounce” but very soon regretted it when he discovered the truth about just what his son had been up to in the lunch queue.
It seems that parents here in Spain are no different. An article in Euro Weekly explains that a teacher from the Juan Bautista Llorca State School in Alicante was put on trial for punishing a 10-year-old girl in primary school for not doing her homework.
Apparently the teacher made the pupil copy ‘I must do what I am told’ 100 times, and sent her to the back of the class, which is not anything out of the ordinary, but the girl’s father accused him of abuse and humiliation, and took him to court.
The father also said that the lines had to be copied in class, preventing her from paying attention to lessons, and that when the girl was sent to the back of the class, she vomited and was forced to clean it up. The teacher says the girl didn’t vomit and claims he has always had a good relationship with the girl, who he defines as sociable and willing to collaborate, although on the day in question, she did cry. However, later that day he held an amicable conversation with the girl’s parents and therefore did not expect the father to complain to the council of education.
The judge considered the case had no legal content to back it and was just an attempt to do away with a particular way of teaching. The judge backed the teacher’s decision, as the girl has no reason not to carry out the promised project, and claimed that if teachers have to fear being reported and taken to court because they are attempting to discipline their pupils, they cannot do their job properly and children will learn that no matter what they do they will not be punished so there is no need to obey the teacher.
Of course teachers are not infallible and there are occasions when they make wrong decisions and meter out punishments that are either unjust or are directed at the wrong child. In relation to appropriate punishments, these are thankfully rare and are usually dealt with amicably. Taking a teacher to court does seem to me extreme; it is gratifying to find that common sense prevailed on this ocasion.
It looks like we have brought some of the Manchester weather back with us – sorry folks.
When we left, temperatures were in the mid to high teens, now they have plummeted to below ten maximum and just look at the prediction for the low on Wednesday of –2.
Just to think that some of our neighbours didn’t think they would need central heating here in Bigastro! I can tell you ours is on right now and even still it isn’t warm.
After the last plenary session of the council, it was obvious that the opposition party were not going to let their issues of concern go away.
Now they are calling for an extraordinary session of the council to be convened where the questions can be raised. First and foremost there are the issues surrounding Sector D-6 because It seems that the mayor has convened a meeting with the 35 companies that own land in D-6 to let them know how the plan for that sector will be modified to bring it into line with the requirements of the Consell.
There are other questions that the PP want to ask including those about the cost overrun for the car park La Paz, the fees for adult education, the “denuncias” taken out against PP councillors for parking, the agreements made with Idearco about the land at La Pedrera and why the ex-mayor, José Joaquín Moya is still being allowed into the municipal buildings.
It would be very surprising if the socialist party were able to come up with answers that would satisfy the opposition so it sounds like a recipe for yet another stormy meeting.
Dave and I went to the Vine last night for a pint (or two). I’m the one on the right.
I was brought up on Barnsley Bitter and have never embraced the move to lager. Dave on the other hand is a lager man.
Oz Clarke and James May had a lot to say about the role of lager in the modern pub during their series about British beer.
Sad to say, they are fighting a loosing battle; lager has the upper hand. Out of all the pumps at the Vine, I only counted two that served bitter and none that served mild. On the other hand, lager drinkers had a multitude of choices.
Photo copyright D.J. Field.
Thousands gathered in the Plaza de la Constitución at Torrevieja for the traditional English carol concert. As you would expect, the concert began on time at 6pm.
There were plenty of Spanish people out to enjoy the singing, I wonder what they make of carols like Good King Wenclas and Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.
When we get back to Bigastro, we have an engagement at the local primary schools to sing carols to the children there. Amongst the Spanish carols we will manage to slip in carols like “O Come All Ye Faithful” along with a couple of cheesy songs like “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.
I doubt that any towns in Britain will be hosting outdoor carol concerts like the one in Torrevieja – those that are won’t be singing carols in a foreign tongue!
Hundreds of British residents took to the streets of Alicante Province this week to protest over healthcare and illegal building issues. Two independent demonstrations were held in Catral and Alicante city.
On Wednesday around 200 residents protested in Catral over charges they will have to pay to legalise homes built on rustic land without planning permission. They marched to the town hall carrying placards calling for an end to corruption and stating they are pensioners who cannot afford to pay.
On Thursday, it was the turn of healthcare demonstrators who gathered in Alicante outside the British Consulate. They are angry about the withdrawal of free healthcare for early retirees, which has been replaced with a 270-euro charge every three months. Around 400 expats called for justice and SIP cards, carrying 'coffins' and many dressed as nurses.
At the British Consulate, Puma 22 representatives Norah Jones and Bill Bridges who organised the demonstration, handed in a letter of complaint to Consul Janine Lamont. Ambassador Giles Paxman was not present to receive them, as the protesters had hoped.
When we awoke this morning, there was frost on the ground. The skies were blue and the sun was shining so the frost soon cleared to what promised to be a good day.
Then we set off to visit Pam’s father who lives in South Wirral and there a dense layer of fog lay over the land as you can see in this photo taken from his bedroom window.
Having done all we needed to do, we set off back to Altrincham to return the hire car. The fog was nowhere near as dense but it was still grey and gloomy.
Finally we got a lift back to Sale where we are staying only to Laura and Dave’s house bathed in bright sunshine. All we need is some rain and snow and we will have experienced four seasons in one day.
We do get some wonderful skies in Bigastro. There are a few photographs of these included in my Spanish album.
Yesterday, the sky over Sale was equally beautiful tinged with streaks of red white, violet and blue.
That of course was before the heavy clouds rolled over and it started to rain AGAIN!
For those who haven’t visited Manchester, this is the Arndale Centre in the centre of the city.
I’m not sure whether this installation is just there for Christmas or is permanent. It fills the space above a staircase and caught my eye. Those of you who enjoy modern art will probably like it and those who don’t may well regard it as a waste of time and money.
Visiting the outlet village, Cheshire Oaks on Sunday, the Trafford Centre on Monday and then the Arndale Centre yesterday brought home the fact that this type of shopping is immensely popular in the UK.
When you visit similar centres in Spain, it is a mixed bag. Some succeed like the Habeneras whilst many others seem to struggle. I imagine it is because Spanish people still prefer to shop in smaller establishments in the centre of towns. They don’t have the “mall” mentality yet.
One centre which seems to have never really taken off is Ociopía just outside the centre of Orihuela. I can’t say we have ever been there and found it crowded. Gradually shops have closed through lack of business making the problem even worse for those that remain.
The death knell came when the supermarket, Sabeco closed its doors just a few months ago. The presence of a supermarket draws shoppers who then will visit the other shops and will stop for refreshments.
It looks like the gap could now be filled in a relatively short time. Discussions are well under way with several operators who are showing interest in the location. With a supermarket there, it is hoped that other retailers will follow suit. There are also plans to refurbish the fast food outlets which again would make a visit to Ociopía more attractive.
Having said all that, whenever we have visited the commercial centres located outside of Murcia e.g. Thader, they have been equally quiet. I’m told that they get busier at the weekends but of course, shops need steady custom throughout the week in order to survive.
Perhaps, as I said before the Spanish are just not ready for the shopping mall.
When Jemma and Laura were babies, everything was pretty low tech. We used terry nappies that were soaked each night in Napisan, feeding bottles and dummies were sterilised in Milton bleach, they slept in a carry cot, were carried around in a coach built pram and amused themselves by rocking the bouncing cradle with their movement. Once in bed, we used to take turns to visit baby’s room to see if it was asleep or not.
Things have moved on a LOT since those days. Laura is now amassing all the things she needs to look after our first grandchild and the list is long! Pam describes this need to get things ready as “the nesting instinct”. I can tell you, from what I have seen so far, no baby will ever have a fuller nest. I just hope there is still room for the poor mite.
I’m not even sure if they sell terry nappies anymore, disposables seem to be the order of the day. They are a lot better these days – I understand you can even reseal them without destroying the backing. Instead of a bucket of Napisan, you now have an electric nappy disposer to shred them and a special basket to hold the fresh supply.
As for feeding bottles, well they are high tech as well and are sterilised in an automatic electric device that takes up a fair bit of space in the kitchen and comes with a hefty manual of instructions.
As for carrying the child around, a “travel system” is a MUST. These come with a three or four wheel base onto which you attach a carry cot or a push chair unit. Then you can add a rain hood, a foot muff, a sun canopy – the list goes on. For gadget lovers, there are plenty of knobs and levers to play with which make them fold and transform in various ways.
Finally we come to amusing the child; baby gyms are the order of the day here. Whilst the precious bundle lies on a mat, a whole host of toys dangle down in front tempting them to squeeze and stroke and generally explore.
Once the baby is thoroughly worn out with all that gym work, you place it in battery powered cradle which gently rocks the mite to sleep to the sound of soothing music. Then you transfer the contented bundle to its cot and monitor every movement made, every last whimper, the ambient temperature of the room and a whole host of other things with a baby monitor.
This is all good stuff, designed to make life for mum, dad and baby a whole lot better but it does make you wonder how we ever managed to bring up children in the old days without it.
Those of you who are fond of markets might like to visit the Christmas Market in 
Guardamar del Segura. There you will find decorations, flowers and food on sale.
Last weekend 5,000 visited the market which was open from 10am until 2pm and then from 4pm until 8:30 pm. It will be open again at the same times this coming weekend under the arches of the town hall.
 | What a contrast, whilst every shop in Manchester would have been open yesterday. In Orihuela just half a dozen took advantage of the fact that it was el Día de la Constitución, one of the few Sundays when they could be opened. Eroski and Ociopia were the main exceptions; they will both be closed on Tuesday for the festival of Inmaculada Concepción. |
 | Of course this is another Catch 22 situation, if few shops are open, few shoppers will bother going out so sales for those that are open will be sluggish. The situation in Orihuela was in direct contrast to that at McArthur Glenn Outlet Village where we visited yesterday. The huge complex was crowded out with shoppers eager to bag a bargain in preparation for Christmas.
|
Do I really want to know what the weather is like in Bigastro this week, do I really care? I can tell that it is dry at the moment here in Manchester but the skies are grey and there isn’t a lot of light.
When people here ask us what the weather is like back home in Spain we say “very cold at this time of year”. Then of course we remember that “cold” is a relative term. You know, 18-20 degrees C would be a very pleasant day, even for summer, in England.
I hope my Spanish readers enjoy the pleasant weather on their days off work and look forward to the snow. For the benefit of my readers in Britain, that is a joke, Bigastro is way way below that snow line.
It seems that I have to be thankful for the two politicians who provided me with lots of items for my blog last week. On Wednesday a record 117 people took the time to read that items I posted, 92 logged in the next day and 100 the day after.
I can’t promise to have “interesting” stories to post every day but I will try and, with a little help from the Aurelio and Valerio, I might just succeed!
You know, reading all the articles in the press this last week from the mayor and the spokesperson for the opposition in Bigastro makes me wonder why anyone would want to be in politics. When you are in power, you get to make decisions that you have to implement and then stand by. However, you are a sitting duck just waiting to be sniped off by the opposition. Life must be spent watching your back all the time.
It seems to me that the opposition gets the better deal but that doesn’t stop them wanting to be in power. Why, because if they do get into power, they will become the scapegoats. Whilst in opposition, they can come up with whatever policies take their fancy and change their tack as often as they like. Since they are not making decisions, it doesn’t matter a jot whether their ideas are workable. If they get voted in though, all those policies have to be put into practice and that is where it gets messy.
One thing that does surprise me is the fact that there is simply no accord between the two main parties in Bigastro. If you go back through the minutes of the council meetings, at best you find the opposition abstaining during a vote; more often than not, they vote against the party in power. It doesn’t really matter because the ruling party have a simple majority but you would think that there would be some policies that they would agree on e.g. improvements to the town. Nope, as a matter of principal, they have to disagree.
The good thing about all this is that it does give me something to write about. Imagine this blog with just stories about how we get up in the morning, have breakfast, take a shower etc etc. Within a week I would be down to five readers. Even our family would stop logging in for a daily dose of the “Good Life”! Whilst these spats continue, I have plenty to keep me busy and plenty to keep you amused with.
Pretty obvious really. This illuminated Santa sits outside the Town Hall in Manchester looking over the Christmas market that has been set up. My Spanish readers will have heard of Manchester if only because it was Manchester United that Barcelona beat in the European Cup Final last year in Rome.
Those of you who are back in Bigastro complaining that it is cold need to know that it is not only cold here but very wet and miserable. Still the Christmas spirit is warm and Santa is still smiling.
The issues surrounding Sector D-6 in Bigastro are not going to go away lightly. Since the fiery meeting on Monday, when the spokesperson for the opposition was removed by the local police and ended up in the offices of the Guardia Civil in Jacarilla, there has been a daily game of ping pong between the Mayor and Aurelio Murcia in the local press.
The mayor explains that the issues of concern regarding Sector D-6 have been now been discussed with the relevant authorities and will be dealt with at the next council meeting. Murcia insists that the constructors who bought land there were deceived by the council who tried to cover up the fact that the process of urbanising the land was illegal.
There is no denying that mistakes were made in the original partial plan and that these needed to be rectified. Let us hope that these matters are resolved soon so that the town can return to positive politics – the sort that move the town forward rather than this continuous spat between the two main parties which just wears people down.
The new Parque de las Culturas, located on C/ Democracia next to the new post office, will be opened on the 20th of December at 1pm with an exhibition of the work of Lola Lorente.
You recall that the park located in the central zone of the municipality was one of the projects of the Plan de Inversión Local para el Empleo with an at a cost of 42,612, 94 €. I featured a photo of it on my Flickr album for Project 365.
The opening of the culture park will feature an exhibition of drawings by the bigastrense, Lola Lorente.
Lola Lorente, was born in Bigastro in 1980 and has a licenciada in Beautiful Arts from the University of Valencia and has a formative cycle superior of illustration from the Massana School of Barcelona.
She won the Consolation prize in Accésit en Certamen de Cómic e Ilustración Injuve in 2003; in 2006 she got the first prize in Injuve illustration and in 2008 the prize for infantile illustration Pura e Dora Vázquez.
In the exhibition will be works in pen and Chinese ink including the original drawings that Lola Lorente made for the books"Amor verdadero" and "Desaparecida".
You can visit Lola's blog here and see more of her work.
Musicians, dancers, generals in the army, writers and artists – just how much talent can there be in such a small town?
Yesterday, I wrote about the report I had read in the local press about the problems Bigastro faced with its major project for this year’s FEIL money, then we read this on the town's web site:-
The reformation of Calle Purísima will begin next week- just in time for Christmas!
The remodelling includes, not only Calle Purisima, but also Calle Dr. Fleming, Calle 1 de Mayo, access and parking “El Alto” (with capacity for 50 vehicles), Calle San Pascual and Calle Sagrado Corazón as far as the bank “Caja Murcia”.
Like all projects, of this nature, there will no doubt be a lot of inconvenience and disruption whilst the work is being carried out but the end result will be worth it. Remember when they tore up Calle Ramon Galud in Torrevieja and then the side streets leading down to the promenade. At the time time, it was a nightmare for traffic and businesses but now, torrevienses are reaping the benefits as we will in just a few short months.
Local Council 1, naysayers (personas con opinions negativos) 0.
Just for a change, this has nothing to do with the issues surrounding Bigastro! This is about protecting your data on your computer.
Last week, my good friend Pete reported that the hard drive on the server which distributes Internet and emails to his house was showing faults. Pete was taking the server to his brother Dave’s house to see what could be done. Although I haven’t heard yet, it is likely that he will have to replace the drive and rebuild the system. It will be a pain in the butt to do but at least he won’t have lost any data; that is stored on a separate server which has mirrored drives (two or more drives which replicate each other).
Yesterday our Spanish teacher told us that the hard drive on her husbands computer had similarly died. Ángel normally backs up the data from his hard drive but since they have moved to live with his parents, he hasn’t had the opportunity to do this. There is a possibility that the data can be recovered but the drive will have to be sent to Madrid first to check it out. All the photos of their eight month old baby were on that hard drive including many taken since Ángel last backed the data up. It is possible that some, if not all of those photos will now be lost.
There is a lesson there for us all in this. If you are going to store precious information, especially photos and video, on your computer make regular backups. As I explained to one of our classmates yesterday, modern hard drives spin at speeds up to 7,000 revs per minute. The heads that read the data float microns away from the platters that store the information. It is a blessed miracle that these things work at all. Like any mechanical device, hard drives wear out in time and can crash without warning loosing valuable data in the process. If you are lucky the platters that make up the storage space are left intact so the data can be read off them. Even if it is possible, this is a skilful and therefore expensive job to undertake.
Making backups can be boring and time consuming, especially if you burn the data to CDs/DVDs but it is far better to undertake than loosing all your work. Just to remind you, I use Acronis Tue Image Home 2009 to backup my whole system to an external hard drive at least once a week. You can of course use the program to make a backup to the main C drive but then if the disc fails that would be pointless. In the event of a drive failure (I have two configured in a Raid 0 array so have twice the risk!), I would have to install a new drive(s) and then reload everything from the external drive. It would take some time but at least I could do it without loosing very much.
One of the key projects for Bigastro under Plan E for this year was supposed to be the reformation of Calle Purisima, the main shopping street in the town. The plan was to close the street to traffic and install new lights, plants and benches, it was meant to take three months to complete. The Thursday market market was moved to the street above in preparation for the work to begin but so far nothing has happened.
Out of the FEIL budget, 179,830 Euros was set aside for this first phase which was to take three months to complete. The plan was then to complete the work with further money from the Province.
Three companies bid for the contract for phase one. Unfortunately the project was awarded to a company which the Ministerio de Administraciones Públicas said was unacceptable even though the company had already completed other civil work. So the second and third companies that had bid were approached but both withdrew because they said they had underestimated.
The only recourse then was to award the contract directly to a suitable company. Unfortunately , the term for awarding contracts for this year’s Plan E expires 31st December and work was meant to be completed a month later; most towns have already drawn up their plans for Plan E 2010. The Auyuntamiento are therefore seeking permission from the sub-delegation of the Government to extend the period to allow a new contractor to be validated and for the new contractor to make arrangements for materials etc and start work.
In the meantime, the Diputación de Alicante already has the plans for the second phase passed. Obviously the first phase will have to be completed before the second phase begins which further complicates matters.
You know it English we say, “it never rains but what it pours”. I can’t help but feel sorry for aTown Council who, no matter how hard they try, seem to move from one crisis to the next. Bigastro describes itself as a “cittá slow”, perhaps we are now realising just what that means!
It’s that time of year and of course the adults from the EPA (Education for Adults) are preparing to sing carols in both Spanish and English to the children at Bigasrin and La Paz schools.
You can see the photos of us by clicking on this link.
I’ll be taking more photos when we visit the schools for the real thing on the 14th and 15th December and post them into this album. In the meantime you can see how hard we are working on this worthwhile project.
PS the statue is of Santa Cecilia – the patron saint of musicians. I hope she can help us keep in tune!!
You can read the full explanations of what happened at the Council Meeting on Monday in the online newspaper Informacion. The articles include accounts from both Aurelio Murcia and Raúl Valerio Medina of the events that took place.
Basically, Murcia says that his expulsion from the meeting was a plot by the mayor to avoid the questions he was ready to ask under Item 17 and the mayor explains that he had no power to force the police to evict the PP spokesperson, he simply called them to restore order to the meeting.
The important thing is, what were the issues that Murcia wanted to raise under Item 17 before he was taken away?
The following is just my understanding from what I have read so far.
In 2004, Bigastro prepared a plan to allow 600 houses to be built on 300,000 square metres of land in Sector D-6 of the town. Of the 600 houses, 100 have been built and some are already occupied. It seems though that although the council went ahead with the development, the plan did not have definitive approval from the Generalitat in Valencia.
The Mayor of Bigastro now wants to negotiate a resolution to the outstanding issues with the chief of the main directorate of urbanism, José Maria Selva. However, several of the constructors that plan to build in Sector D-6 have expressed reservations about whether the proposed modifications are legal. Obviously, the outcome of any negotiations could have serious financial implications for those who own land in Sector D-6 ready to build on.
According to the mayor, the City Council provisionally approved the project in 2003 and subsequently submitted their plans to the Generalitat in Valencia . The Autonomous Government responded by warning of two errors in the basic infrastructure. One of these was corrected in 2004 but the other, related to Obispo Vitorio road which runs next to the new primary school, José de Calasanz, wasn’t.
It seems that the Council, having heard no more about the issues, took silence on the part of the Conselleria to signal their consent when in fact it meant quite the opposite. According to the PP, the plan that was set out for Sector D-6 has still not been fully approved at Valencia.
There are seemingly other questions related to Sector D-6 which the PP want to raise, in particular why were concessions for work licenses given for land that was not legally urbanizable and why was the land sold as urban land at urban land prices before approval was granted. And of course there are still questions about why gas tanks were installed on land that was designated as green i.e. for a park area.
The mayor has made it clear that none of this is related to other infrastructure problems in Sector D-6 i.e. the fact that there is insufficient electricity for the area which he says is down to Iberdrola who were paid 392,000 Euros to lay cable between Jacarilla and Bigastro.
Along with the issues related to the land up at La Pedrera which was sold to Idearco without consent for building from the Conselleria, the problems in Sector D-6 must present an ongoing nightmare for the council in Bigastro. However, it is only right to point out that the current mayor was the councillor for urbanism in Bigastro at the time when these questionable decisions were made and that many of the current councillors were also in office at the time.
Clearly the PP party in Bigastro are not going to let these issues go away or be swept under the carpet. As far as the opposition are concerned, the fact that the previous mayor resigned following his arrest and imprisonment does not absolve the rest of the Socialist Party from blame. Pam and I thought we were moving to a sleepy little Spanish town where nothing much happened - little did we know! From what you read in the local press, there are few towns in Spain that are entirely trouble free; perhaps it is endemic in the Spanish culture. It goes along with their desire to fight bulls and overtake every other car on the road - it is something in their blood.
Mind you, Star Sol, the company of which Aurelio Murcia was once a partner, are not exactly without issues. Apart from their responsibility for land subsidence at a number of properties at Villas Andrea, the company has caused severe problems for some wanting to sell their houses.
Although, all the houses at Villas Andrea were sold as “freehold” properties, I understand that some owners have faced difficulty when trying to sell their properties because it was claimed by the buyers solicitors that Star Sol still had outstanding mortgages on the land. I believe that these issues were eventually resolved but did cause unnecessary anxiety and holdups in the transfer process.
We English have a saying for this, "the kettle shouldn't call the saucepan black" which, for the benefit of my Spanish readers, means you should not accuse others of wrong doing when you have done wrong yourself.
Aurelio Murcia, spokesman for the Popular Party of Bigastro, was expelled last night from the municipal plenary session by order of the socialist mayor, Raul Valerio Medina.
Murcia was taken by two members of the local police force to their offices and then transferred to the offices of the Guardia Civil in Jacarilla where he was kept until 11:50pm.
The tone of the meeting had become heated well before they reached item 17 on the agenda, the point where the thorniest questions were to be raised by the PP in relation to city planning in Sector D-6. Along with the five members of the PP there were some of the neighbours who live on the new urbanisation keen to hear the answers to their questions.
However, they didn't get to that point because the mayor, Raúl Valerio Medina had already taken exception to Murcia’s confrontational stance against him and his second in command, Inmaculada Martínez. So, the PP spokesperson was expelled for "desobediencia y resistencia a la autoridad" (disobedience and resistance to authority).
At first, Murcia refused to leave but then decided that it was best that he should go. As he did, Murica called the mayor, cobarde", "cagado" and "miedoso" (cowardly, a chicken or worse and timid).
Bear in mind that this is not the first time that a local council meeting in Bigastro has ended in chaos. This sort of confrontation used to be commonplace when Joaquin Moya was mayor. Things have been reasonably quiet since then. With 17 items on the agenda though, this was bound to be a long meeting with a lot more opportunities for sparks to fly.
Murcia has promised to call a press conference to explain the questions that he was unable to put to the mayor and to explain fully the circumstances of his dismissal.
Here is a chance to enjoy an evening of entertainment and at the same time benefit those who are less fortunate.
This gala, which has being organised by The Association of Disabled “la Pedrera” and the Council of Social Welfare, features the dance group “Show Friends” and the music group formed by Antonio Larrosa, Efren Pamies and Toni Ortuño.
I don’t recall listening to the musicians but I can vouch for the dancers who are excellent. If you like Latin American rhythms and enjoy a fandango or a rumba, they are worth going to see.
The 3€ entrance fees will go to the Association which does a lot of good work for the disabled here in Bigastro.
