Beans

When stuck for what to eat, beans are always a good choice.

Chilli red beans with rice, and salad.

Refried red beans with flour tortillas, green salad and guacamole.

Sweet and sour red beans with rice - well usually just sour for our taste - and some raw pickle.

Last night we had sour red beans, ie beans with chillis and vinegar - only had balsamic vinegar in the cupboard, but it worked well as it added a slightly sweet flavour without tasting sugary. Couldn't resist chucking in a few more spices though, so it ended up being hot, spicy and sour beans - with rice.

There was a little rice left and a few beans - just right for my lunch today. Except they had been stolen for someone else's breakfast when I was snoozing away.

Top tip (2) - tumble dryers

One of the few downsides of having a large furry dog is that there are large furry piles of dog hair all over the flat.

Living in a warm climate seems to result in a year-round moult. Even when he gets groomed regularly. Well, as regularly as he tolerates.

The throws on his sofa get washed regularly. But inevitably I can't shake all the fur off, so some hairs end up in the washing machine, and then, some end up in the tumble dryer which produces the pleasant aroma of burning dog fur.

Winters may be warm - but they are also wet, and we don't have anywhere undercover to dry the washing, so the 30-year-old tumble dryer from my mother's house has come in surprisingly useful.



It was tumbling away merrily and pumping out the usual slightly acrid smell.

"What's that burning smell?" asked Partner, doing the usual interfering routine.

"It always smells like that. It's dog fur."

Mr Interfering was having none of it.

"It's burning, go and check it," he ordered, despite being nearer than me to the tumbly.

I walked in and smoke was pouring out of the front of the tumble dryer.

I opened the door in horror to stop it and ran out in case it went bang.

It didn't.

Mr Interfering amazingly restrained himself from a smug comment and merely said:

"We need a new one. That can go out tonight."

Some time later he had a flash of inspiration and went to investigate the tumbly.

He came out with a filter thing, rather clogged up with two years worth of dog fur and goodness knows how many years of dust.

If my mother had ever cleaned out the filter I am sure she forgot as she grew older.

"Turn it on again," he ordered.

Why is it always me that has to deal with the dubious electrickery?

I turned it on.

No smoke. Still the left-over burning smell. I agreed to check it out the next day with some proper wet washing.

I did. It worked.

So - when your 30-year-old tumble dryer starts smoking - check out the filter. It could save you forking out for a new tumble dryer. Or maybe I am the only person who didn't even know that tumblies had filters.

Commonwealth Day 2009

Today is Commonwealth Day. In fact this year the Commonwealth celebrates its Diamond Jubilee.

The Commonwealth was established in April in 1949 under the Declaration of London when the heads of state of the UK, Australia, Ceylon, (Sri Lanka) India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and South Africa, and the Canadian secretary of state for foreign affairs reached agreement on the new constitution.

Although the history of the Commonwealth goes back much further, this date marked the beginnings of the modern commonwealth as we know it today, rather than the previous colonial relationship which had emerged from the British Empire.

The meeting in London was triggered by India's desire to adopt a republican form of constitution while still retaining Commonwealth links. The countries concerned agreed that the monarch (King George VI) would be recognised as head of the Commonwealth, and that it was 'a free association .... of independent nations.'

At the same time India removed King George VI as head of state in keeping with its republican aspirations.

After the agreement, the Commonwealth expanded rapidly. Many new nations dropped their colonial status and gained independence, but chose to retain their historic links by joining the Commonwealth. Today the Commonwealth comprises 53 independent states, plus the British Overseas Territories such as Gibraltar.

The head of the Commonwealth is Queen Elizabeth II, who became head when her father died, and she will be attending a special service at Westminster Abbey today.

With nearly two billion people living in the Commonwealth and half of them aged under 25, the theme for this year's message is 'serving a new generation.'



Here in Gibraltar we celebrate with a Bank Holiday, and Chief Minister Peter Caruana has issued his traditional message in keeping with that theme, emphasising the importance of investing in young people for the future of Gibraltar.

Sources: Gibfocus, BBC News, and the Commonwealth web site - which is an excellent source of information here.

Royal Marines exercise their Freedom of the City

Of all the nice wintery days we have here in Gibraltar, it chose to bucket down on the day the Royal Marines marched up Main Street.

Band of the Royal Marines (Scotland)


Royal Marines from Alpha Company, 40 Commando


Veterans from the Royal Marines Association


Given this was the first time since being granted the Freedom of the City that they had exercised it, the weather put a real damper on things.

However it didn't stop people turning out to see them as they rapidly marched from Casemates. They then went to the Convent for a public reception held by the Governor of Gibraltar, Lieutenant General Sir Robert Fulton KBE, who is a Royal Marine.

Guests arriving for the reception at the Convent


The unveiling of the monument at Ocean Village was postponed until the following day - fortunately with much better weather.

The monument with the Royal Marines badge, and the inscription below records the important role of the marines in Gibraltar's history


A close-up of the Royal Marines badge on the monument


Following their visit to Gibraltar the Royal Marines left for the Mediterranean on RFA Mounts Bay to take part in Taurus 09 - a routine deployment of the Royal Navy's Amphibious Task Group.

RFA Mounts Bay


Also moored at The Tower, HMS Blyth, a Sandown class minesweeper, with presumably HMS Ramsey behind. The two ships left Bahrain - after more than two years operational activity - at the end of January for the journey back to Faslane, Scotland.

HMS Blyth


And apart from the weather - there was another less than glorious moment. On the Sunday night, a police officer arrested a Royal Marine for being drunk and disorderly. However the RM then assaulted the police officer, grabbed the officer's baton, and caused injuries to the officer's face and torso.

A taxi driver intervened and the RM was eventually handcuffed when another police officer came to help.

The RM was charge with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct in a police station. He pleaded guilty to all the charges and was sentenced to one month's imprisonment.

A shameful ending to a weekend of ceremonial events intended to commemorate the close relationship between the Royal Marines and Gibraltar.

Passport numbers - tip for ex-pats

A helpful tip to anyone buying property or contracting services in Spain - eg electricity or telephone - do NOT under any circumstances lose your old passport number.

For example, if you wish to contract Telefonica's ADSL service, ie pay more money over to the company, you will not need to give out a passport number.

However, if you wish to cancel that same service, you WILL need to provide a passport number.

And if you have changed passports in the meantime, you will need to provide the passport number that you originally gave to contract the telephone line in the first place.

Bureaucracy eh? Why am I not surprised that you do not need to provide anything to pay even more money over and yet do need to provide something to cancel a service..........

Much more about this one on Clouds. This is the helpful post - the other is the rant post.

Ocean Village and the Royal Marines

Instead of the usual wander to Rosia and Europa I headed off in the opposition direction to Marina Bay. More commonly called Ocean Village these days with the new investment and development that has sprung up since the original marina was developed.

And it has to be said, since Partner had forgotten to buy bread/there was no bread (choose whichever you think appropriate) in Morrison's, this was also a helpful factor in deciding on the route which co-incidentally went via Morries.

Here are some photos of Ocean Village.

Entrance to the marina


Down the walkway


....Boats...


New casino


One of the (many) new wooden bar/restaurants


And this weekend, the Royal Marines will be visiting Gibraltar to unveil a monument at Ocean Village dedicated to their role in Gibraltar's history.

The Royal Marines' involvement with Gibraltar dates back to 1704 when the English took Gibraltar from the Spanish. (NB to whoever is in charge of the Royal Marines website, I think you should do a history check - the Treaty of Union was 1707, some three years after the storming of Gibraltar, so the reference to the British taking Gibraltar is inaccurate).



The Capture of Gibraltar on 24 July 1704 is one of the Corps' Memorable Dates, as is the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

Although the RM do not carry individual battle honours, their badge does carry the word 'Gibraltar' referring to their role in the first Spanish siege of the Rock, which was also in 1704, shortly after the Spanish had been defeated.



So it is hardly surprising that Gibraltar feels a special affinity for the role of the RM in the Rock's history and in 1996 they were granted the freedom of Gibraltar.

The new monument will be unveiled and dedicated on Saturday morning, followed by a parade in Casemates Square, inspected by the Commandant General Royal Marines, Major General Garry Robison, and the parade will then march up Main Street ending at the Convent.


Sources: Gibfocus, MOD, The Royal Marines, and Wiki.

A long weekend

All the tough macho builders on the firm stamped their tough macho feet and insisted they would not work on Saturday because it was Valentine's Day. Awwww. Bless.

Not only that, but Partner finished early on Friday and announced he was taking Monday too as he was owed some lieu time. We decided to spend the weekend at the finca.

But on Saturday morning, it did not seem like an auspicious start.

The weather was cloudy and gloomy.

I woke up fretting about the smashed window and wondered whether it would shatter on the journey.

Partner mentioned that he had thought about boarding it up because he was worried about the Guardia Civil not letting us through the border. They have been known to turn people back with a cracked number plate so badly cracked glass could be a real loser depending on the officer and the day.

He went down to sort that out. The worst that could happen was that we would get turned round.

We packed up and he took the dog down. I did all the last-minute checks. I read a shitty email from someone which didn't exactly help. When I got there he was fiddling about with the passenger door. The lock was playing up.

I began to think we were destined not to go. He sorted it. We set off and flew through the border.

As we travelled up the coast, the sun came out.

We arrived at the finca which looked really pretty with the winter jasmine coming into bloom and the margueritey type things in flower.

I checked the post. No bill from the electricity company as usual. I groaned. Another half day in the nearby town to sit around waiting to get a print out of the bill would be called for. I plugged in my router from Gib to see if it worked. It did - apart from the fact that it wouldn't connect to the internet. By which I mean, it came on, the ethernet connection worked, the ADSL was working but could I hell reach the internet.

I cooked tea and went to bed frustrated.

On Sunday we had agreed to go cycling. This was A Big Event because I hadn't been back on the bike since the Cat-Chasing Monster pulled me over two years ago and I damaged my arm/wrist/fingers. My grip was non-existent for ages and I couldn't have changed gear or pull on the brakes to save my life (literally).

But it although it was sunny, it was also cold. We agreed to take the Cat-Chasing Monster for a walk down the beach instead.

Snow on our local peak


Cocks of the roost


By the time we got back the sun had warmed everything up and there was no wind. It was now - or who knew when.

I put on posh cycling gear complete with padded arse, on the principle that even if I couldn't do the part I could at least look it.

Off we went, both wobbling down the street. No traffic at the crossroads fortunately as I wasn't up to indicating. Shot round onto the old railroad track and bounced up and down.

"I've forgotten how to change gear," I called.

"Just try and you'll work it out."

I did. The chainwheel came off.

We had an argument and put the chainwheel back.

"Don't get ahead of me," I said.

"OK," he replied. And shot off, but waited for me at the bridge. At this point, I had managed to get enough balance to start indicating with left arm, and assertively moving into middle of road. Feeling good.

We followed a couple of very brown cyclists (from the nudist camp site at a guess) down the no-entry side road - de rigeur in Spain for cyclists.

"We'll go to Trini's," I called to Partner.

"OK."

He shot off again. He shot past Trini's and into the distance. Where the hell was he going?

The veg shop that doesn't open on Sundays? One of the bars? (not going in the direction of the one we had planned on going to). Down the promenade past the sailing club? Who knew.

I went wearily went down to the bar. Not there. I went back to Trini's wondering if it had finally computed where we were meeting. Nope. Back to the bar - and then I saw him in front of me. I whistled a couple of times but he was clearly deaf to the world.

When I got to the roundabout he had disappeared again. Damn. I cycled down to the promenade to see if I could spot him. Pring pring went my phone. I pulled in and took it out of my back pocket (not being clever enough to continue cycling and carry out such a complicated manoeuvre).

It stopped ringing. I rang him back. No answer. I clicked the phone shut. Two missed calls. He'd rung me from each of his phones. I rang the second one. We finally made contact.

I looked round - couldn't say anyone walking past with 'British' tattoed on their forehead that I might offend. I felt free to say what I thought.

"YOU STUPID FUCKING GIT!" I shouted. "I'll see you at the bar. NOW."

I shut the phone quickly as the excitement of so much activity was sure to deplete the battery. Sure enough, it started beeping, and the bateria baja sign came up.

We met at the bar and went off immediately to the correct veg shop, and then back to the bar to catch up on the latest gossip news. We spent a pleasant hour or so sitting in the sun and cycled happily back.

Stopping on the bridge - river in full flow due to the mountain snow


Cheerful cyclist


First outing in so long had gone well. I had that great rush that you get from exercise and didn't feel particularly whacked. We sat on the terrace in the sun while I prepared lunch. After a siesta we had artichoke salad. I had used all the food up, and we had an early night.

In the morning, we packed up, tidied round, I pruned some of the overgrowing plants, showered - and locked up. Just before we left, the postie arrived with the missing electricity bill. A good end to the weekend. We had a super drive back and felt really chilled out after the break.

What I don't like ... and do like

1) Is going to the electricity agency (ie the firm that handles connections, and bill problems on behalf of Sevillana Endesa), clearly writing out the address I want bills sent to and not receiving them.

On the second visit, I discover that Ms Very Nice and Smiley but totally clueless, has added the Spanish postcode to my Gibraltar address, and neatly stuck Spain on the end of the address. No, dear. Gibraltar is NOT in Spain, however much Spain wants.

Hardly surprising I didn't receive the bills.

2) Sending an email to Sevillana Endesa to ask them to sort out the problem with receiving bills, and receiving an automated response that says 'You will receive a personalised response shortly.'

I don't know what their idea of 'shortly' is, but obviously it doesn't include within two weeks as I still haven't had a reply.

3) Going to the bar in the bus station for an omelette and chips, a beer and discovering the bill is 7.50€! At a rate of £1:1€ that is a pretty dear omelette and chips.

That last time I had it, it was a plata combinada and was really good value - I paid around 5€ for everything. This time, it was 4.75€ for the omelette and chips, 1.75 for a tubo of beer - AND - 1€ for a stale bit of bread. Since when did a stale bit of bread become an extra euro?


But what I do like is.....

1) Going to a different bar and when asking if a tapa contained fish or meat, the camarero said no. But then he decided to double-check with his colleague, who said he thought there were some tiny bits of fish in there.

2) Asking for some of those tiny grissini things - which apparently are called picos in Spanish - and being given a handful and could have had more, for no extra charge. A huge salad, picos, glass of white rioja for around 6.50€. Take note, bus station bar.

3) Waiting for the bus to La Linea, which had moved from the platform marked on my ticket to the next one down (always best to check the noticeboard) - and then being accosted by one of the bus company staff to tell us that the bus was actually at a different platform again.

Nice to know people have some responsibility and try and make sure you don't miss the bus.

And finally while everyone living in Spain is still moaning about the exchange rate - 1.02/1.03€ to the pound down Main Street the other day - Giblife is now no more expensive than Spain, and cheaper in a lot of respects.

The shelves in Morrisons in Gib seem to be depleted half the time, as so many of the cross-border workers are now shopping there instead of buying food in Spain, as their pounds go further in Gibraltar rather than exchanging them for euros and shopping in Spain.

But I still buy my veg from one of the local shops which tends to reflect Spanish seasons rather than British supermarket vegetables. Fresh peas £2.50-3.00 a kilo.

Rosia to Europa - and MV Fedra

So after a quick break, onwards to Europe Point.

Around from Rosia Bay is Camp Bay. In summer it is full of loungers and full swimming pools. In winter it is still busy as children play in the empty pools and everyone enjoys the winter sun.



Looking back down the coast towards Parsons Battery.



And round towards Little Bay...someone else enjoying the winter sun.



Then the walk through the tunnel.....



..... to emerge at Europa Point, just by the mosque.



Looking across to Morocco.



I was interested to see what had happened to the remains of the MV Fedra, which ended up on the rocks in the storm on 10 October 2008. Link here to earlier post.

Part of it was still there.



As I was looking at it, someone who was parked up started talking to me.

"He was emborracha (drunk)," he said. Well, who knows?

The other story I have heard is that the captain was asked to put the ship on the rocks as it was worthless. These sort of stories always go around. The other option is that it was a very bad storm- which it was - and maybe bad luck for that ship that night.



Not my job to judge, someone else can do that. At least there was no loss of life and the rescue services did an excellent job in terrible conditions.

Spring rolls and dipping sauce

In case anyone is flagging accompanying me on my walk to Europa Point, I thought I would put up a quick food post.

I am not a fan of packaged food. At all.

I make all our soups, sauces, and casseroles - the only occasional lapse is when I buy some vegetarian escalopes or steaks from the supermarket. We all run out of inspiration at times, and they are handy to pull out of the freezer.

But I must confess I do like the spring rolls at Marks and Spencer. They are excellent. They are not cheap - £2.99 for six tiny rolls - ie 50p each. In fact I was feeling so mean the other day that I only cooked three and split them in half to serve as a starter.

I was very pleased with myself at this economic measure - especially as it meant I could have the remaining three all to myself for lunch the following day.

Spring rolls need a good dipping sauce. So into the pot went:

extra virgin olive oil
soya sauce - tamari
ginger (fresh)
parsley (from the finca)
garlic
some fresh green onion
wine vinegar
chilli sauce - I would have preferred fresh chillies but had used them all.

I made enough dipping sauce for the following day. Until someone decided to mop it up with his bread. Oh well, at least it was enjoyed.

100 ton gun

I cheered up by wandering in to see the 100 ton gun at Napier of Magdala Battery. I've been past the gun battery a few times as it's en route to Rosia Bay.

Every time I've walked past before, it's been closed, although the person on the desk assured me it only shuts for two days a year.

Entrance fee is £1, which is pretty reasonable - there is some interesting history stuff about the gun, and then you get to poke around it outside. Plus the views are spectacular.

Apparently it was meant to fire up to eight miles, in a wide sweep from San Roque, La Linea, Algeciras right out to sea, but the blurb says it was unlikely that it would have been accurate, with a max more likely of five miles at the most.

It was made by Armstrong in Newcastle (UK) in the 1870s. Armstrong initially built 100 ton guns for the Italian Navy, some reports say four, others say six, and others say eight. Four guns were then built for the Royal Navy, two were sent to Malta and two were sent to Gibraltar. The only surviving ones are this one in Gib, and one at Fort Rinella in Malta.

From the dock at Rosia to the battery took three weeks to transport the gun, a mere third of a mile. It was put together between 1878 and 1884, and cost £35,717.

The one at Napier was originally at Victoria Battery (current fire station next to the Alameda Gardens/cable car), but it was moved to Napier when the gun there split during firing practice.

It was last fired in 2002 - with a minimum charge rather than the intended 450 lb charge - as part of a joint heritage conference between Gibraltar and Malta.

So, some photos:

A commemoration to Nelson outside the battery - his body was brought ashore at Rosia after the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.



Inside the entrance to the exibition.



Into the loading bay. The gun's barrel was aligned with the opening - and the projectiles and charges were hydraulically lifted from the magazine and then pushed into the muzzle of the gun using a giant ramrod.



One of the stories told about the gun is that it repeatedly failed to fire during a demonstration for the Inspector General of Artillery in 1902. After waiting the required 30 minutes the general asked for a volunteer to climb down inside the barrel and attach equipment to unload the gun - and risk being blasted across the bay.



Outside - and - the gun.





The plaque reads: Refurbished by 101 Battalion REME Marble Tor 2 June 2006.



And from the other side..



An anti-aircraft gun from WWII.



Looking south towards Europe Point, the Straits of Gibraltar and Morocco.



Looking across the Bahia de Algeciras.



Definitely worth a visit as part of Gib's naval heritage.

Links:Gib museum, and Gib Govt tourism site

Off to Rosia

Bank Holiday (last Monday 12 Jan) was a beautiful day here in Gib so a walk was in order.

The good thing about Gib is that you can set off in any direction and make a walk as long or as short as you feel like.

Anyway, I set off in the direction of Rosia, possibly to go towards Europa Point, and back down past the old naval hospital.

Wandered along past Jumpers (link on Pippa's blog here), and then off towards Rosia.

I'd not been for a while and was horrified at some of the new build that is going up. Imagine having a HUGE building like that right in front of your home. I'm guessing the developers are waiting for the owners of these properties at the far end (on the right with the bay windows) to sell up and then they can whack up another monstrosity.



and more of the same..



and more..



Here is a nice distraction, a ship in the Cammell Laird dry dock.



The police headquarters at New Mole - how long before they get knocked down?



And on the other side of the road - yes, more new flats.



And just down the road ...yet more....



I have no problem with construction work - hey, my partner works in construction, why would I? But I do have a problem with insensitive - and quite frankly ugly - buildings being thrown up without any respect for the existing environment.

Gibraltar's heritage and history is unique. Large ugly buildings are not.

Next up - the 100 ton gun.