Although there were scenes of mass rallies in Madrid and Barcelona and thousands marched in Alicante, the general strike had little effect in this area.
In the industrial part of Orihuela, pickets managed to stop 90% of the workforce but in the city centre it was business as usual with shops open as usual. In Torrevieja the strikers only managed to muster 150 to protest in the Plaza de la Constitución.
You can’t have missed the team of workers cleaning up the parks and roadsides. They have done a fantastic job in the park and on the road up to Villas Andrea making the place look a lot smarter.
Many thanks to them and to the town hall for organising the clean up – it is very much appreciated.
At midnight last night, the general strike in Spain began. Summoned by the CCOO and the UGT, this is only the seventh strike of this type since the country became a democracy and the first one for eight years.
The strike has been called to protest against austerity measures introduced by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist government. Workers are demonstrating against wage cuts, an increase in the retirement age and new labour reforms that make it easier to hire and fire workers – all measures introduced in an attempt to reduce Spain's budget deficit from 11 per cent last year to within the three per cent of GDP limit set by the European Union by 2013.
So, for today, factories are closed, rubbish collections will not take place and the wholesale markets in the large cities have been paralysed. Other services like the buses and the Metro in Madrid will run almost as normal.
As a side effect, the strike will cause travel misery for thousands of tourists and other travellers flying to and from Spain. Budget airline easyJet has cancelled around half its Spanish flights and rival low-fare carrier Ryanair has told passengers they can only bring hand-luggage to limit disruption from striking baggage handlers. Several airlines, including British Airways, warned passengers of disruption and advised them to check their respective websites for further information.
The union leaders are convinced that the strike will have the required impact on the government and make them change their plans for labour reforms. We shall see.
Pam and I watch a program on our Spanish satellite TV about a USA company called West Coast Customs. It never fails to amaze us what these people are able to do to transform ordinary cars into something special.
It isn’t just in America that customising is popular. All over the world there are people intent on making their cars “different” including those in this area of Spain.
Of course there is not much point in spending hard earned money and time on your car if nobody else sees it. So a group of enthusiasts in Torrevieja organised what they called a Noche del Coche to provide a platform for people to show off their prized automobiles.
The first Noche del Coche was held in Torrevieja’s new sports yacht harbour, Marina Salinas March 2010. Since then owners of classic, specialist, tuning and interesting cars and bikes have been invited to go along, enjoy each others company and view each others vehicles the last Friday of each month.
Last month there were apparently over 20 cars to see but if you missed it don’t worry because there will be a special event this Friday to celebrate Octoberfest.
Octoberfest, which will run between Thursday and Sunday, noon until midnight, has been organised by the local café Ole del Mar. Entrance is free, as is parking outside of the white fence that surrounds Marina Salinas. Visitors can park their cars within easy walking distance of the event, inside of the first barrier.
On Friday 29th October there will be another Noche del Coche and on Haloween Night the Ole del Mar will be holding a special fancy dress night with prizes for the best dressed.
For more information about the Noches del Coche please visit www.NochedelCoche.com or call Dave on 697 198 939. Marina Salinas is located 100-metres past the entrance to the Fairground Car park and past the Pascual Flores and Delfin S61 Submarine.
According to accounts in the papers, the council meeting last night was, by Bigastro standards, relatively calm. Although there were arguments across the floor, the meeting carried on without expulsions and without police intervention.
One of the hot topics was the implication that Bigastro was somehow involved in the Brugal case which in fact has turned out be about an alleged payment to the PP by the industrialist Ángel Fenoll.
Aurelio Murcia, spokesperson of the PP countered the accusation made against him by reminding the socialist group that there are still five cases open against them including four which involve the present mayor. The main case being the alleged embezzlement of 850,000 Euros from the municipal coffers by the ex mayor, José Joaquín Moya.
The other main topic of concern was the lack of “niches” in the town cemetery. The mayor explained that they had requested money from the Caja de Cooperación de la Diputación Provincial to build new niches. Murcia urged that this matter needed attention before 2011 when the town’s debt could well rise to a level where they will not be allowed to spend. Otherwise there will be nowhere to bury the dead in Bigastro.
Looks like we could be in for a pleasant week weather wise. Apart from today, there is little chance of rain forecast; the winds will be light and there should be plenty of sunshine. Temperatures will be about good for the time of year – nice and warm in the daytime and cooler at night.
Our youngest daughter is due to arrive on Friday with Molly and will be staying until next Wednesday. Let’s hope the weather stays good for her visit.
I wonder what tonight’s council meeting will bring.
Apart from the regular business, there is bound to be some lively debate about the accusation that Aurelio Murcia received one of the “brown envelopes” from Ángel Fenoll in connection with the Brugal case.
Although Bigastro is one of the few towns that are not involved in the scandal, rubbish collection was still a contentions issue in the town when the contract was awarded to Residuos Sólidos Álvarez for five years. That was at the council meeting on the 4th July 2008, one of the last that José Joaquín Moya presided over.
Sparks flew at that meeting, no doubt they will fly again tonight at 9pm.
One thing I never tire of are the views we have of the surrounding mountains. As the light changes so does their mood. One time dark and brooding an another deeply sculptured. Even the colour of the rock they are made from changes with the light.
I apologise if you think you have seen these all before – to me they look different every time I l get my camera out.
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When Pam and I were down in Torrevieja on Thursday, we saw loads of salesmen trying to flog their “hooky” DVDs, CDs, bags and even fake Calvin Klein pants. I said to Pam, “if the police spot them, they’ll confiscate the lot”.
The war between the local police and the salesmen has heated up recently. The salesmen are determined to carry on their trade and the police are equally determined to stop them. On Thursday this apparently led to another confrontation where two of the vendors got injured along with one of the police officers.
The story goes that, late in the day, two foot patrol officers came across between five and ten of the Africans who promptly fled only to be found moments later further down the street.
At first the confrontation was just a tirade of insults followed by a retreat on the part of the sellers. Then suddenly the men stopped, a group of them surrounded one of the police officers and started pushing and hitting him. The police officers retaliated resulting in two of the Africans receiving cuts on their heads and the policeman a cut on the arm.
When the police tried to detain the assailants, the gang of black people tried to stop them which forced the police to send for members of the Guardia Civil to act as reinforcements.
The Africans will be claiming that the police used unnecessary force to detain them. Fighting back and getting into confrontation is presumably a new ploy that they hope will intimidate the police into leaving them alone. I doubt that it will work. Now if people stopped buying these fake goods – that would work. Without a market – the Africans would be forced to give up their illegal trade. In my book, people who buy fake goods are just as guilty as those that sell them.
You have seen the effect of the strikes in France and in Greece. Next Wednesday it is the turn of Spain.
Public sector employees in a wide range of areas including the transport, postal and emergency services, among others, have staged their own partial stoppages over the past several months due to wage reductions and other cutbacks that have left many disgruntled workers up and down the country.
The main unions in Spain have called for a general strike on September 29th so we can expect widespread disruption to a whole range of services.
 | Every year in spring, the council come and cut back the trees alongside the road down to the town. It does look brutal when you first see it done and you wonder whether the trees will ever recover. |
 | No need to worry though because every summer the trees grow back even larger than before. This year, not only have they grown back but some of them have burst into flower. If you look carefully you can see a plume of deep blue crowning the delicate foliage on a few of the specimens. Top marks go to Star Sol for planting the trees and to the council for maintaining them so well. |
When my father was a policeman in Morley, then Batley and finally a sergeant in Penistone, the majority of his time was spent on "the beat". His main role was to deal with the incidents that troubled people’s daily lives. I am sure that his presence was much appreciated by the majority and feared by those who could not conform to the norms of social behaviour.
However, since my father retired, all that has changed. The refusal by police in Britain to regard tackling antisocial behaviour as "real police work" has led to officers "retreating from the streets", according to a report today by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.
The study says the scale of antisocial behaviour has been widely ignored, with 14m incidents in the past year, of which only a quarter were reported to the police. Sir Denis O'Connor, the chief inspector of constabulary, says that for 20 years police have increasingly left the public to cope with persistent antisocial behaviour. Victims have suffered repeat attacks and a high level of intimidation if they complain to the police.
One study showed that almost half of almost 6,000 people surveyed had changed their routines through fear of anti-social behaviour, by avoiding certain streets or not going out at night.
This paints a very worrying picture of the country that Pam and I were were brought up in and loved before we move to Spain.
The UK and Ireland have been named as the worst places to live in Europe for quality of life, according to research published today.
The UK has the 4th highest age – 63.1 – at which people choose or can afford to take retirement, and one of the lowest holiday entitlements. Net household income in the UK is just £2,314 above the European average, compared with £10,000 above average last year, falling behind Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark.
UK workers enjoy a week less holiday than the European average and three weeks less than the Spanish, while the UK's spend (as a percentage of GDP) on health and education is below the European average and UK food and diesel prices are the highest in Europe. Unleaded petrol, electricity, alcohol and cigarettes all cost more than the average across the continent.
If it is any consolation, Ireland is even worse off. It has the lowest numbers of hours of sunshine, the second lowest government spend on health as a proportion of GDP and the second highest retirement age of 64.1.
If that's not bad enough, France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Sweden and Italy all enjoy a longer life expectancy than the UK, according to uSwitch.com's latest Quality of Life Index.
For the best quality of life France comes tops. France enjoys the earliest retirement age (joint with Poland), spends the most on healthcare (11% of GDP) and has the longest life expectancy in Europe at 81.09 years. Its workers also benefit from 36 days holiday a year – compared with just 28 in the UK – and it comes only behind Spain (second in the rankings) and Italy for hours of sunshine.
As a smoker, I objected to the heavy handed approach of the British government’s ban on smoking in public places. Regrettably, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before a similar ban was imposed here in Spain.
It therefore came as no surprise when, early in 2010, the Government said that this year smoking in all public places would be banned but up to now, nothing seems to have happened. The minister for health has backtracked and said that the smoking laws will not come into place until 2011.
However, 2011 will be an election year when the introduction of this new law could work against them in the polls and so some observers doubt that anything will happen until after the elections. It will then depend upon which party comes back into power.
Iberdrola cut the supply of electricity to La Paz school in January, The reason given was that Bigasto owed about 120,000 to the electricity company. They also cut the supply to the sports centre and to La Pedrera. Since then electricity had been supplied by diesel generators much to the consternation of the parents of the children.
Now it seems that Iberdrola and the town hall have come to an agreement about a calendar of payments that will clear the debt – over half has already been paid. The mayor, Raúl Valerio Medina therefore hopes that the company will restore mains power to the school before the end of the week and to the Pedrera and the sports centre before the end of the month.
The Brotherhood of the Virgin of Bethlehem in Bigastro will be celebrating solemn mass in her honour next Saturday, 25th of September at 8pm in the church.
Bigastro is one of those towns that cares about people who are less fortunate through any circumstances.
For example, the Association of Relatives of Alzheimer Sufferers in collaboration with the Council of Social Welfare has organised special events to commemorate the International Day of Alzheimer.
On the 16th and 23rd of this month there will be a special table at the weekly market to give out information about this condition.
On Monday the 20th from 6pm there will be a gymkhana for the children in the park.
On Tuesday the 21st at 5pm they will be serving coffee in the auditorium
On Saturday the 25th the church will hold a special mass to remember those sufferers who have passed away.
Finally, on Sunday the 26th there will be a flea market and a raffle for a ham in the park at 9am.
Our visitors returned to rainy Liverpool yesterday leaving us basking in warm sunshine.
The forecast for their stay was not good – cloudy at best with the distinct possibility of rain. As it turned out, it rained on the Friday morning when we went shopping, the rest of the time it was pleasant mixture of sunshine with the odd cloud.
This week promises to be much the same, clouds and sunshine with maybe a little rain now and then.
I haven’t looked at the forecast for the Wirral but I dare say our visitors would probably prefer to have stayed in Bigastro which would have suited us just fine.
I am usually reluctant to recommend a restaurant on this blog however, La Herradura in Los Montesinos is one which I feel confident will not disappoint you.
Pam and I have been there several times now, we even had Christmas dinner at La Herradura last year. We have taken friends and have been on our own. Each time we have been delighted with both the food and the service.
Last night we went with Hugh and Angela on their last night for this visit. The weather was fair so the flamenco show was held outside in the patio area. What a show it was – different routines to the ones we had seen last time and of course different dresses - as I said - well worth a visit.
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The weather over much of Spain was dreadful yesterday. In Bigastro we had grey skies for much of the day but only a spot or two of rain – we were lucky, some areas had substantial rain for most of the day.
This morning we have a mixture of blue skies with some clouds. Apparently large swathes of the country will be having more rain but here it might just be a short shower.
