Storm damage

Once again the front line properties along Guardamar beach have taken the worse of the storms, at the end of the road there is one property left undamaged, and several large gaps in the row where buildings have had to be demolished, last summer, the Ayuntamiento put in walls of sticks and pathways in these areas to try to promote regeneration. Every winter these properties take a battering and more disappear,there was a rumour they were all being pulled down as they were illegally built, maybe that is why the damaged buildings are not being replaced.
AN ATTEMPT TO HOLD BACK THE BEACH

Horse Rescue Centre

A horse rescue centre has been set up on the outskirts of Rojales, it is called The Easy horse care rescue centre, they have 9 horses at the moment and would welcome sponsorship, commercial and private, donations,car boot stalls, Market stalls and other help would also be appreciated.
There is an equestrian shop at the centre that has a good variety of stock, and will order any items that are not in stock or that can be found in the Shires Equestrian catalogue, Easy horse care also specialise in the unique Freemax Treeless saddle and sell second hand saddles.
To find The Rescue centre see the map on this webpage http://www.easyhorsecare.net/map
The website http://www.easyhorsecare.net
also has lots of usefull information, a newsletter, information on the founders and owners,feeding a horse in Spain and contact details.

Whats the word on the streets

and in the papers. Had a quick scan through,papers and online to see what we missed. Well there's been a lot of rain while we were away. The Rio Segura is a high as we have ever seen it. Had a lovely walk yesterday afternoon up towards the main part of Formentera over the iron bridge, and that will need some work soon, then back along past the site of the commercial development in Benimar. Well not much has happened on that site, remember it was supposed to be finished by christmas, now come on did you really think it would happen. I was always doubtful and given the present economic climate its manana manana for certain. The pavements and lights have gone ahead however and when they are complete it will be a nice easy walk into Rojales that way. We do wish the powers that be would put in a foot bridge though. It would be a real asset to be able to cross at the spot opposite the end of avenida Los Palacios. That would give easy access to the old part of the town and the lovely new garden area leading up to the Salud.
As i said its really rained a lot in the last few weeks,there was a humdinger of a storm last saturday for our return. We wonder if the rain and last years earthquakes had anything to do with the collapse of a cave house in the old town. Sadly a local lady of 75 was killed as she lay sleeping. This was the house she was born in and that her father had built. What an awful end to the year for her family.
The current employment situation is pretty desperate here. In the last year the number of unemployed has risen by 1 million. Spain now has the highest unemployment in europe and that's just the registered unemployed. Its a fact of life that many work without papers here and we assume this do not show in the statistics.
Some people are packing up and moving back to UK but others are moving out here. I know where we would rather be. As I said we had a lovely walk and spring was in the air, blue sky, oxalis in flower, birds singing and even saw a Hooppe. The smell of oranges and roses in bloom, come on you know what ticks the boxes for us.Just love it here.

Back again

Well we are back home again, after a busy Christmas and new year, we talk about it being noisy here but it is generally lot quieter than the UK, whenever you are outside the traffic noise is always in the background, as we were flying into Alicante the roads looked deserted, mind you it was Saturday afternoon, While we were away heard from Bec that she had got engaged to Joaquin and they may get married this summer so some planning to do. Not much else seems to have occurred around here.
The poll regarding the beach restrictions in Benidorm has finished, from the votes it appears that not being able to have sex and drink on the beach are the highest concerns so i am slightly worried about the outcome of this poll!
As we have a new "Dr Who we thought it would be fun to think of some alternative Dr Whos and who you would think would be good, so vote on our choice in the next poll.
Anyway we must be getting around and about again to bring the latest news and developments in story and photo.

Ford Bargain

A happy new year to all,Do you fancy a new car as a belated Christmas present, well, Ford Spain began discounting many of its new car prices by 25% last Monday. The company denied it was getting rid of a glut of unsold vehicles, claiming instead it was responding to the ‘delicate' situation dealers are in at present. All models, except the latest models of Fiesta, Ka and Kuga, are included in the offer which continues until January 24.