A well planned retirement

I just hope that this is so true.
Outside England’s Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses.  For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant.  The fees were £1 for cars ($1.40), and £4 for buses (about $7).
Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the Zoo Management called the City Council and asked it to send them another parking agent.
The Council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the Zoo's own responsibility.  The Zoo advised the Council that the attendant was a City employee.  The City Council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the City payroll.
Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain (or some such scenario), is a man who'd apparently had a ticket machine installed completely on his own; and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day -- for 25 years.
Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over $7 million dollars!
......
And no one even knows his name.
Brill, if true

Dangerous on the Road

This is a Spanish taxi. The most dangerous thing on the road in  Spain today. They are always white with lots of advertisements on the paintwork.

The cars themselves are usually well maintained and clean with the drivers taking great care of the interior and exterior, with the local councils doing there bit to ensure that they are safe on the road and fully insured.

But beware, the drivers have no need to pass any test other than the normal driving test. Once they get in the taxi they become Alonso, not Xabi Alonso the footballer but Alonso the Formula 1 driver, you know the one that does not look in the mirror and thinks he is the only one on the track.

They only know one speed, how fast can this cab go! Signals – no chance.  

Mountain Trip

I never really thought of Spain as a mountainous country, I know that it has a border with France and the Pyrenees help define the border.
So it came as a surprise when the Lady of the Villa organised a day trip to our local mountains. We went by Coach, thank God, as the Sat Nav would have got us lost I am sure. The roads were very like those in the Lake District only better maintained and much steeper. We were told that the Tour de France teams train here. I can well believe it.
It was a vey picturesque trip, stopping off and various towns and villages for ‘photo opportunities’ as you can see below.
   
This was an old look out tower built during the Moor’s occupation of Spain.




One view from the top of the tower.




View from the other side of the tower

Weather in Spain 9th August – 15th August 2010

Monday: Overcast start but later bright and warm with a temp of 28C. Warm overnight with a temp of 20C.
Tuesday: Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 33C. Warm overnight with a temp of 22C.
Wednesday: Very still and hot. Temp of 40C the highest this year. Warm overnight with a temp of 27C.
Thursday: Very Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 38C. Warm overnight with a temp of 25C.
Friday: Overcast and a very cool (a word not used in the last month!)day. Daily temp of 25C. Overnight thunderstorm with a temp of 18C.
Saturday: Sunny and hot. Daily temp of 29C. Warm overnight with a temp of 22C.
Sunday: Hot and sunny all day. Daily temp of 30C. Warm overnight with a temp of 23C.

New Season New Dreams

A New Season starts for Liverpool today with Arsenal the visitors. Can we win the Premiership. Maybe not this year, however, a few interesting points:

• Young Scottish defender Danny Wilson has signed for Liverpool. He is the only Scotsman in the first team squad for 18 years. Liverpool have never won the First Division without a Scotsman in the squad.
• The young players played well in pre season and in the Europa Cup
• The main players, Torres and Gerrard are still with the team.
• New signings, Cole, Wilson, Poulsen and Jovanovic have strengthened the team.

  I am dreaming I know, but…… is this our season?

Solar boat

We have been on a number of day trips recently. One of which took us on a trip on a Solar powered Boat.

The trip on the boat was only an hour and was part of the overall day trip. The boat took us around the great reservoir that services Benidorm and was not exciting but quite and picturesque.

The boat itself held about 60 people and was totally powered by the solar panels you can see on the top picture.

  I tried to get the details of the output of the solar panels in this picture, however, as you can see I failed. According to Mr Fixit, who was with us that day, each panel was pushing out enough electricity to power a good sized kettle and as they were over 50 panels on the boat more than enough power for the boat.

Talking to the boat keeper it did work on non cloudy days, however, on rainy overcast days it struggled a bit. But lucky for him not many rainy days in Spain.

Liverpool new strip

A new season, a new manager, a new sponsor and a new hope.


This is the new Home strip for Liverpool FC for the coming season.
At least it is still red, but the sponsors logo is as big as the Club badge.




This on the right is the new Liverpool away strip for next season.
Pinstriped? Will it catch on?

And just to prove that they do not rip the fans off, here is the third strip. Why?

Ways around recession in Spain

Visitors crossing the border from Spain into Gibraltar could be forced to pay a toll in the latest row over the disputed British territory.

The mayor of La Linea, the Spanish town bordering Gibraltar, is looking into introducing a tax on those crossing in an attempt to cash in on the large number of visitors to the peninsula known as The Rock.  Mayor Alejandra Sanchez of the right-wing Popular Party claims that the socialist government in Madrid has sacrificed the town of La Linea's interests, favouring Gibraltar, to ensure good relations with Britain.
He argues that "millions of visitors cross the town to get into the British colony each year", and that most of Gibraltar's income comes from visitors from Spain. "Meanwhile, we have 10,000 unemployed in La Linea. This truly intolerable situation cannot continue," he said.
He has ordered a study on the legality of charging vehicles and pedestrians using the border crossing a nominal fee to help swell town council finances. Spanish workers employed on the Rock would be exempt from the toll, he assured.
Critics of the mayor's proposal point out that La Linea already benefits hugely from neighbouring Gibraltar. Some 7,000 Spanish workers are registered as officially employed in the tiny territory and countless others provide services or supplies. Many of the 28,000 Gibraltarians own homes over the border in Spain because of a shortage of affordable housing on the Rock itself.
But the town hall of La Linea is said to be close to bankruptcy with recent demonstrations from council workers protesting that they had not been paid their wages. This border crossing charge, for visitors, not the Spanish workers, the Mayor sees as a way of increasing his towns income at the cost of hitting Gibraltar's economy.

UK Banks profit is a good thing

The profits that the UK banks made and announced this week should be good news for the UK.
Lloyds share price rose 2 pence, to 74 pence, putting the government about £3.17 billion in the black on its 41% holding in the bank. Its bail out cost £17.4 billion an investment that is in profit as long as the share price stays above 63.2 pence.
The government's larger, £45.2 billion bail out investment in RBS is up by about £1.9 billion, based on the bank's 52-pence (4/8/2010)share price. Any move above 49.9 pence is favourable for the government.
The banks profits payable in dividends go to the government as do the taxes on all dividends.
The government's other major holding, fully-nationalized mortgage lender Northern Rock, also made a small profit across its two separate businesses. The bank was split into a "good bank" and "bad bank" in January, though it was the bad bank that made the return.
After fierce public anger over the bank bailouts, the government will be keen to demonstrate that they turned out to be a good investment.
In one of the most-optimistic predictions to date, consultancy Centre for Economics and Business Research said taxpayers could make £19 billion profit from the Lloyds and RBS holdings, with the assumption that the share prices will rise along with gross domestic product.
Not bad.

Paradise by Katie Price aged ?

Katie Price aka Jordon has a book out called Paradise No1 in the Sunday Times fiction list. I thought it was an autobiography until I noticed it was in the fiction area. Still could be I suppose. However, I began to wonder if she wrote it. She is always in the news and is a PR dream at times, but a book?
I hope I am not being classist, anti-feminist or any other ist apart from one ist (I am being anti Katie Priceist, I admit), but, she does not seem to be a novelist, ok a good editor helps, but this is fiction, you need to be a good story teller not a self projectionist! Or is that an oxymoron?
Did someone ghost it?
Joke: Cabriolet are called Jordon’s over here. Its because the tops come off so easy.

Weather in Spain 2nd August – 8th August 2010

Monday: Hottest day this year with a temp of 38C. Very hot overnight with a temp of 26C.
Tuesday: Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 35C. Warm overnight with a temp of 22C.
Wednesday: Very still and hot. Temp of 36C. Warm overnight with a temp of 27C.
Thursday: Very Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 38C. New high Warm overnight with a temp of 25C.
Friday: Hot and sunny day. Daily temp of 30C. Warm overnight with a temp of 23C.
Saturday: Sunny and hot. Daily temp of 28C as a wind kept the temperature down. Warm overnight with a temp of 24C.
Sunday: Hot and sunny all day. Daily temp of 32C. Warm overnight with a temp of 23C.

Off with their heads! Or into the Stocks

England's failed footballers should count themselves lucky that their ignominious World Cup exit was met with little more than a public mauling by the media.

Their counterparts from North Korea, who lost all three of their group games, have been subjected to a six-hour excoriation for "betraying" the communist nation's ideological struggle, according to reports.

Last month the players were summoned to an auditorium at the working people's culture palace in Pyongyang, forced onstage and subjected to a six-hour barrage of criticism for their poor performances in South Africa.

I know I said the World Cup comments were over, but, this was too good to miss.

War or Combat Operations or Spin?

US President Barack Obama has confirmed the end of all combat operations in Iraq by 31 August.
So its not been a war or an occupation its been a combat operation or a series of them.However, 50,000 troops will stay in the country in order to train Iraqi security forces, conduct counterterrorism operations and provide civilians with ongoing security (or combat operations?). Is this Spin?
Meanwhile, according to the US military, 222 people died in attacks last month. Baghdad says 535 lost their lives - which would make July the deadliest month in the country for more than two years.
The US released its own figure after Baghdad's estimate prompted concern that insurgents were exploiting a post-election power vacuum - and would wreak more havoc as the US withdrew more troops.
"The claim that July 2010 was the deadliest month in Iraq since May 2008 is incorrect," a US military statement said. The US offered no full explanation as to why its figures differed so markedly from those issued by the Iraqi authorities. Now that is Spin!

SOS-SL

Received this about the proposed fan buy out at Liverpool FC:
ShareLiverpoolFC and Spirit Of Shankly, the Liverpool Supporters Union, are pleased to announce that we have reached a formal agreement that allows us to push forward as one unified force for supporter ownership of our club. We have already been working closely together for some time but recognise the need for a unified organisation to successfully pursue this goal.

Recent discussions have led to an agreement about how we can work together for the benefit of all supporters. This will see ShareLiverpoolFC re-branded as Spirit Of Shankly – ShareLiverpoolFC (SOS-SL), bringing together the combined resources of both organisations to work on the issue of supporter ownership. By working as one we will be much more effective in achieving that goal.

Using the strengths and attributes of both Spirit Of Shankly and ShareLiverpoolFC, along with the supporters who back them, we will:

• Continue to develop the model of supporter ownership
• Work to secure the funds necessary to acquire supporter ownership of the club, through direct share purchases and the Spirit Of Shankly Credit Union
• Oversee the launch of the share issue to raise these funds
• Promote the issue of supporter ownership through high quality, consistent communications
• Represent 50,000 (and rising) Liverpool fans on this issue, providing a unified voice that cannot be disregarded

SOS-SL will retain ShareLiverpoolFC’s constitutional status as an investment vehicle through which shares can be purchased to take a stake in LFC and will, like the soon to be launched Credit Union, have its own Management Committee. This will comprise members from the current Board of ShareLiverpoolFC and representatives from Spirit Of Shankly. In order to bring greater unity to the supporter ownership campaign SOS-SL will be represented, alongside the Credit Union, on the Spirit Of Shankly Management Committee, enabling us to build one unified campaign.

Working together is clearly the best result for all of us. By combining forces on this issue we are creating a massive organisation of LFC supporters in pursuit of a shared aim. Every single one of us, speaking with one voice, letting everyone know that this is our Club, not only emotionally but financially too. We have to build on the momentum we have now, grow and become stronger, to become truly representative of the entire fan base.

Then as one, working together, speaking together, let's become proper custodians. Let's take back our football club.

Schumacher

Michael Schumacher was handed a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday at the Hungarian Grand Prix after almost pushing Rubens Barrichello into the pit wall. In my opinion he was lucky not to be on a murder charge.
I never did like him, there was always something of the night about him. Not just ruthless but uncaring, single minded winning at any and I mean any cost. Second to him was nowhere.
He crashed into competitors deliberately to win races and championships. Cared nothing about team spirit and although adored by Ferrari and retired joined Mercedes for the money as there is no glory and there will never be, for him.
He nearly killed another driver for one championship point. A point that did not help him or his team up any “ladder”. He was in a poorer car everyone knew that, nobody would blame him if he got passed. But no he had to show his ‘night side”.
This year I have seen another “night side” driver, Vettel. He is in the same mould as Schumacher. Watch him, he is going to kill someone. He crashed into his team mate Webber and took his equipment. Nearly pushed Alonso into the wall at the start of the German Grand Prix. It’s one step beyond ruthless.

Who owns the Football Club?

When I was a lad, admittedly years ago, my club was Liverpool. I thought it as my club. I did not pay any bills or buy players but it was my club although owned with the other 45,000 people who turned up each week.

Much later I learnt of shareholders (at one point I tried to buy one at just under £6,000) and Chairmen and Directors. Now there are such people as Club Owners, Abramavitch, Glaziers and of course our Hicks and Gillette.

However, apart from Chelsea, the real owners are the Banks. Not so long ago I quoted the RBS chairman as saying Liverpool borrowed too much. LOL. I thought they lent too much, but they have made a few million in fees.

Now because of this borrowing the Football club that I support is up for sale. To the highest bidder? Maybe not. To the best qualified? Don’t make me laugh. To the most caring? Never!

So what will happen. In my opinion. Nothing. Why?

Hicks and Gillette want to make money on the deal. They have to. Its an ego thing. Just look at what has gone on across in America to clubs they have an interest in. Will Ken, the Chinese get it? Not at the moment. His deadline of the 16th August is a gun to heads which nobody likes and most important he wants to clear the debt only, leaving the Americans nothing. No way will they go for that. The ‘other’ so called bidders are unknown and if they exist at all, chancers, looking for a commission if they can conclude a deal.

So what then?

I see an impasse until the 31st August when the bidders will disappear and we the fans can get on with supporting “our” team. Later in the football year RBS will take over the Club as Hicks and Gillette cannot repay or roll over the debt and the current bidding process will begin again, but with no input from the Americans.

The Americans are hoping for a lucky break, or a relaxing of the lending process or something. They will take it to the wire. Why not, they have nothing to lose.

Its just another business deal, some come good some don't. They don’t care about the fans who really “own” the club. Football is an industry now, just like automobiles or aircraft. Unfortunately I can only see more of this l coming to more clubs in the future.

Copa Ingles

This is a Copa Ingles or translated the English Cup. It is, in my opinion, and without doubt the best Ice cream dessert sold in Spain.
It is Chocolate mint ice cream, with chocolate Ice cream. The chocolate ice cream is only surpassed by the chocolate mint ice cream which has real dark chocolate chips imbedded in it.
This version is only sold in a restaurant in Cabo Roig harbour called La Bahia. If you are in the vicinity do not hesitate, do not pass Go, go straight there and it only costs 6 euros.
Heaven in a bowl!

La Finca Golf

Course description
This is really nice course, wide fairways with challenging holes. Buggies need on this one. It has fantastic views and the course design makes the most of the unprecedented surroundings.
It offers a large variety of greens ranging in size from very large to very small. It has several lakes with running water and reed beds along the course add difficulty to the round. On a sunny day it provides a fantastic golfing experience on a windy day watch out!
Facilities

Buggies, Trolleys, Club hire, Golf lessons, Putting green, Chipping Area.
Golf Course Statistics
Length (yards) from yellow tees: 6032 Handicap: 36
Directions
Follow the road Algorfa-Los Montesinos. The course is located at km 3.

Weather in Spain 26th July – 1st August 2010

Monday: Hot with a temp of 32C. Very hot overnight with a temp of 22C.
Tuesday: Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 35C. Hottest Day so far. Warm overnight with a temp of 22C.
Wednesday: Very still and hot. Temp of 36C. New high but feels hotter as there is no wind. Warm overnight with a temp of 27C.
Thursday: Very Hot and sunny. Daily temp of 38C. New hioh Warm overnight with a temp of 25C.
Friday: Cloudy start giving way to a hot and sunny day. Daily temp of 30C. Warm overnight with a temp of 23C.
Saturday: Very sunny and very hot. Daily temp of 31C. Warm overnight with a temp of 24C.
Sunday: Hot and sunny all day. Daily temp of 32C. Warm overnight with a temp of 23C.

Books read in July 2010

61 Hours. Lee Child.  The 13th book in the series. Another favourite author and character with another fantastic story I could not put down. This one is different as it is the first part of a two(?) part story. Usually the story is complete in one book. This one is a combination of, amongst others, drugs, a prison, a town in South Dakota, a bus crash, a protected witness, a Mexican based drug lord and freezing whether. Compelling reading. 4.5 Stars
The Black Book. Ian Rankin. Next in the Inspector Rebus series. This one is about  two black book written in code by one of Rebus’s sergeants and another by “Big Ger” a master villain. One helps solve a 5 year murder mystery, the other puts “Big Ger” away. Not the best of the series as it all seems a bit contrived, but, its very readable. 3 stars.
Bourne Legacy. Robert Ludlum. Next in the Bourne series. Ludlum, a favourite author, again writes a compelling and interesting story. Multiple twists and turns in the plot and characters; some hard to believe, but, it is fiction after all!. Lots of pages for your money and lots of entertainment. 4 stars.
Mortal Causes. Ian Rankin. Another in the Rebus series which I am enjoying. This is about terrorists, Scottish terrorists with links to the Protestant terrorists in Northern Ireland. He also brings in Big Ger via a prison break and the Special Branch. These added to the Ger-B, the worst housing estate in Edinburgh sets the scene for a really thrilling book. 4.5 Stars