Costa Blanca South 27 October - 2 November 2022 Issue 1947

Linda Hall

RUF MARI restaurant in Los Urrutias (Murcia) was al most bursting at the seams on Saturday October 15.

They were hosting a birthday party for Lesley (80) and Paul Eburne (70) and 180 invited guests had come along to wish them Many Happy Returns, dine on a hot and cold buffet and dance to the Green Dog Band.

“But they didn’t bring pressies!” Lesley and Paul told the Euro Weekly News

Instead they had asked for donations to the three local animal shelters.

“Their needs are much greater than ours,” they said.

Fundraisers of many years’ standing, they know how difficult this is, espe cially with the current eco nomic situation and everrising costs that have resulted in an ever­increas ing number of abandoned

and hurt animals.

Lesley and Paul wanted to help, and so did their generous friends.

“A staggering €1,850 was raised, purely by people en joying a great night out, and donations are still coming in,” the couple said.

On Thursday October 20, volunteers from the Los In fiernos, Paps and Malcolms

Cats animal shelters came to lunch at the Centro Civi co Roda in San Javier.

They included three new volunteer fundraisers, Tara Behan, Elaine Simpson and June Harris, not forgetting Elaine Gibson who helps ev eryone.

Thanks to the birthday party, they were more than happy to hand over €600 to

each charity.

Following Lesley’s latest retirement, these three ladies have been amazing, helping to organise the an nual Christmas Boxes for Furries, scheduled for Roda on December 14.

“And if there are any birthdays coming up, it’s easy enough to have a par ty,” Lesley and Paul hinted.

Photo credit: Paul Eburne

Keeping tourists happy

ELCHE will receive more than €2.4 million from the Next Generation European Funds to develop the Strategic Plan for Tourism that will be dedi cated to the development of the municipality’s tourism policy.

The mayor of Elche, Carlos Gonzalez, pointed out that this plan represents “a shared strategy between the city council, VisitElche, business men in the sector and the Generalitat with the aim of turning Elche into a quality and relevant tourist destination.”

ON Friday October 21, 90 members and their guests, of the RNA Torrevieja Branch (RNATB) once again celebrated Trafalgar Night at the Masa International Hotel, Torre vieja.

Trafalgar Day is the celebration of the vic tory won by the Royal Navy commanded by Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, over the com bined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, luckily rela tions between these countries has improved since then!

As part of the excitement and ritual of the evening those assembled were privileged to have Eduardo Dolón Sanchez toast his majesty King Felipe VI of Spain and Lt Cdr Ed ward Dunn toast his majesty King Charles III of England.

Lots of dancing and merriment followed the meal, toasts, and traditional raffle and

The mayor recalled that “this Strategic Plan was approved in January 2022 with 34 impor tant measures, with the aim of attracting more tourism through unique experiences.

“The plan revolves around three fundamental axes: enhance tourism value and environment of the beaches and natural spaces; bet on the value of the heritage of humanity of the Misteri d’Elx and the Palmeral, and incorporate tourism intelligence as a tool to optimise tourism man agement in the municipality.”

A toast

the ex­Royal Naval personnel and civilian members of the RNATB and guests look for ward to repeating the event next year.

If you wish to know more about the RNATB please email Chairman. RNATB@mail.com.

Merriment at Trafalgar Day celebration.

Image RNATB

Passionate Pink Ladies

Slight light problemClocks back

ON Sunday October 30, at 03.00, Daylight Saving Time ends and the clocks will be turned back one hour to 02.00. There will be more light in the morning, however the dark nights will be drawing in.

Top job

ELCHE’S vocational training centre, El Torreta, can now offer a Master Palmerero course. After years of re quests, the central govern ment’s Cabinet recognised the work of the Palmereros who lop palm trees while suspended from their trunks as an official occupation in cluded in the National Cata logue of Professional Qualifi cations.

Water works

CANALES DE TAIBILLA, which supplies water for hu man consumption to 2.5 mil lion residents in Murcia, Ali cante and Albacete, revealed that they con sumed 79.5 cubic hectome tres of desalinated water during the October 2021September 2022 Water Year. In contrast, they used only 76.74 cubic hectome tres provided by the Tajo­Se gura pipeline.

Lucky number

THE entire first prize in the National Lottery drawn on Saturday October 22 was sold at the administration in Orihuela’s Calle Obispo Ro camora. Purchased in ‘deci mos’, or the 10th part of a ticket, punters who bought the 05617 number would have won €60,000 for every €6 that they spent.

Longer season

RESEARCHERS at Valencia’s Polytechnic University and the BASF company are devel oping early varieties of arti chokes, the Vega Baja’s prin cipal crop which are at their best during the coldest months of winter. Local growers are watching with interest the investigations that could lengthen the tradi tional November to May sea son.

Betty Henderson

A STRIKING fundraising event was held by the Pink Ladies breast cancer action group in Orihuela. Decked out in every shade of pink, the group marked World Breast Cancer Awareness Day with a fundraising day at Zenia Boulevard on Fri day October 21.

The event was themed ‘early detection’ since find ing cancer early significant ly improves chances of sur vival and making a full recovery.

Volunteers on the stall signed visitors up for can cer detection appoint

ments on the AACC Early Detection screening pro gramme as well as raising over €2,000 for the AACC with activities including a

Tough conditions

ROUND 12 of the Carp-r-Us Summer-Autumn Series was fished on the River Segura between Jacarilla and Bigastro.

“Although there hadn’t been any recent rain the river was very high, running fast and very muddy, so a tough match was expected,” said club secretary Steve Fell.

This was won by Dave Hutchinson, who was fishing his first match for a while. Dave fished Peg 1 with pole and corn to take 13.2 kilos. Towards the other end of the stretch, Steve Fell used a combination of pole and bread and feeder to take 6.3 kilos, which included four small barbel. The ever-consistent Willie Moons was in third place with 3.8 kilos from Peg 2, just pipping Richard Crawshaw who also had 3.8 kilos on Peg 3.

Further information on www.carp-r-us.weebly.com or on the Facebook page Carp-R-Us Fishing Costa Blanca.

tombola.

Local groups showed out in force to put on a brilliant afternoon of top quality live music, including global

ly renowned musicians Project Duo, Simon Jack son MBE, Blues Brothers tribute (Alfie & Lee), Mar garet Macdonald, and Sam and Neil Baker from Tre Amici from X Factor, who flew in especially from the UK!

Sunshine FM DJ, Simon Morton hosted the event, entertaining the crowd with an Elvis impression.

The Pink Ladies also thanked R&L Entertain ment for keeping the event running smoothly and the Zenia Boulevard for a generous donation of €500.

Gleam team

ALCOY’S city hall will be re sponsible for installing this year’s Christmas lights.

The city is famous for its Cabalgata, the Three Kings parade now copied throughout Spain on the night of January 5. Never theless, not one company has put in an application for the €151,636 contract.

The increased cost of ma terials and installation were the inevitable reasons for the lack of interest, and city hall must now use its own operatives for the Christmas decorations.

The illuminated arches that city hall acquired in 2017 will once again be put in place over central streets and the route taken by the Cabalgata. For other areas, city hall will buy motifs to be installed by the municipal electricity brigade and the concessionary company re sponsible for the city’s pub lic lighting.

EVERY year countries across the world observe Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

The month is marked with events to raise awareness about breast cancer and its detec tion. Breast cancer can occur throughout any stage of life, including in men and pregnant women. Do you know all of the symptoms to be aware of?

Symptoms include thickening or swelling in a part of the breast or the armpit, irritation or dimpling of breast skin, pain in the nipple area, discharge from the nipple, redness or flaky skin in the nipple area and changes in the shape and size of the breast.

There is no exhaustive list of breast cancer symptoms and self­examinations can be tricky, so make sure to check out any concerns you might have with a medical professional and at tend any breast examination appointments you are offered.

Early detection of breast cancer can save lives, so don’t delay in checking out any potential symptoms.

WHO said keeping clean was easy? Santa Pola has started the tendering process for the new cleaning contract with a price tag of €56 million over 10 years.

More staff will be assigned to Gran Alacant and the rest of the municipality, the fre quency of rubbish collection will be increased and the cleaning and sweeping of roads and paths will be im proved.

New containers will be in stalled for organic recycling and the collection of house hold waste will also be im proved.

Loreto Serrano, mayor of Santa Pola confirmed that: “We hope to have the new cleaning contract for Santa Pola awarded as soon as pos sible. With the new compa ny, we are going to improve collection and cleaning. We will have more workers in all areas of Santa Pola. We will have new, quieter and more

Keeping clean.

efficient machinery, more bins and recycling containers and an improved rubbish col lection.

“Our goal is a better, clean er and greener city, with more recycling and aware ness. Santa Pola is going to make a much needed envi ronmental leap forward with the new cleaning contract.”

Alcoy sources explained that the arrangement’s prin cipal drawback would be a reduction in Christmas illu minations, as this will be the first time that city hall and not a specialist company would be carrying out the work.

On the other hand, the same sources said, the fi nancial outlay would be far lower than in previous years.

The Pink Ladies put on a dazzling display to raise funds and awareness on World Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

Photo credit: Pink Ladies (by email)

Eagle-owl in difficultiesTheatre fun

A NIGHT at the theatre offers fun for all and now the councillor for Culture in Orihuela, Mar Ezcurra, has announced the theatre programme to the end of 2022.

The programming dedicated to children and families, consisting of the musicals ‘Colom bia, my charm’ on November 20, ‘Coco, re member me’ on Decem ber 18, ‘Cinderella, the musical’ on November 5 and ‘Cuento of Christ mas’, based on the nov el by Charles Dickens which will take place on December 10.

A last­minute addition to the cultural pro gramme of the Teatro

Circo is the show ‘En chanted Circus’ which will occupy the Theatre on October 28, 30, 31 and November 1, offering ‘a terrifyingly fun show for the whole family’.

A Christmas concert by the City of Orihuela Orchestra has also been scheduled for Novem ber 25 and a perfor mance by the Kyiv Bal let on December 4, as well as ‘Coronavirus, the musical’ on Novem ber 26.

The circus and dance shows ‘The flight of da Vinci’ and ‘On some place of the rainbow’, on November 4 and 13, respectively, will offer free entry.

Linda Hall

AN alert from Antonio Jesus Gomez, hunting on the Sierra de Benejuzar, saved an eagleowl from drowning.

The waterlogged bird, later found to be a female, was trapped in a large irrigation pond, exhausted and stressed after futile attempts to climb to safety owing to the deposit’s slippery, plasticcovered sides.

The hunter immediately contacted Benejuzar resident Evaristo Rodriguez, who not only knows the area like the back of his hand, but is also the Valencian Hunting Feder ation’s falconry expert.

Rodriguez, already experi enced in rescues like these, said that the owl had proba bly been struggling all night in the pond. Using a scoop net, he successfully removed the

bird, whose only injuries were damaged claws as it at tempted to escape.

The owl remained in Ro driguez’s care, in coordina tion with the Guardia Civil’s Nature Protection service, and was released several days later. It is increasingly common to line irrigation ponds with heavy-duty plas tic to prevent evaporation, the falconry expert ex plained.

“But they are death-traps because the sloping sides make it extremely difficult for birds, animals and even peo ple to emerge,” he added.

Animal abduction

Betty Henderson

A SHOCKING incident unfolded when homeowner Alison Michie’s tortoise escaped from her garden near Albacete, only to be taken by a passing SEUR delivery driver. Alison said neigh bours tried to step in during the event on September 23, but the driver left with the tortoise.

When Alison contacted customer services at the delivery firm, she was told that the delivery driver had moved the tortoise for its own safety, taking it to a house in Albacete over the week end. They said he would return her pet as soon as possible.

Alison’s partner even visited the local SEUR depot to no avail. Now, four weeks have passed and Alison’s tortoise has still not been returned. With the winter ahead and weather already turning cooler, Alison is worried that her tortoise will soon go in to hibernation, making it much more difficult to find.

She voiced her anger saying “I am furious that my pet can be taken, knowing it was mine and there is no effort or reaction to return him urgently to his rightful owner.”

Sailors wow

SAMM, the Sailing Association Mar Menor, was excited to book its place on Los Alcazares beach on October 12 for the celebration of the Dia del España. The first time it had been held for three years due to the pandemic.

Apart from the nor mal marquee, barbe cues, banner and dinghy anchored off shore (the beer sup ply vessel), a novel idea was needed to attract passers­by.

Julian Pering, the Balaton Group lead er, suggested tradi tional English Morris Dancing. A suitable dance was selected and moves chore ographed and after only four rehearsals the dancers were ready. The costumes and the music made many local people stop, watch and en joy the spectacle while they had their photos taken with the dancers or asked about our sailing ac tivities whilst chil dren played the vari ous beach games on offer.

It was a great social event that was en joyed by all. But now it’s time to get back to serious sailing and our Sunday race days.

For further infor mation about SAMM visit www.sailing marmenor.com.

FALCONRY EXPERT: Evaristo Rodriguez used a scoop net to rescue the trapped owl.

Photo credit: Evaristo Rodriguez

English Morris dancing.

Orihuela Costa Independence

THE residents of Orihuela Costa feel they are suffering from an appalling lack of ser vices compared to all the other districts under the con trol of Orihuela City Council. This cannot be blamed on the population size as Ori huela Costa has a population far greater than many of the villages that surround the area who have full control of their own administrative af fairs.

Local resident, Peter Houghton, who is fighting for independence from Orihuela City said: “I fail to see how a city 30 kilometres away, sep arated by countryside and two independent towns can lay administrative claims on the coastal area.

“Surely a location with a population of 33,227 is of suf ficient size to have its own municipal council.”

Peter added: “For too long

THE regional government will put out to ten der plans to add more lanes to the CV­95 be tween Torrevieja and Orihuela.

“Vega Baja residents have wanted this for some time and as well as improving road safety, this €30 million project will also be a great boost for the area,” said Rebeca Torro, who heads the Generalitat’s Public Works department. Speaking during her October 21 visit to Orihuela, Torro stressed the re gional government’s commitment to the Ve ga Baja and increasing its investment in “a key Valencian Community area.”

The project will be carried out in three phases owing to the complexity of the work involved and to simplify the bureaucracy

the Costa has been marginalised, neglected, and raided for the benefit of Ori huela. It is now time that the residents gain the services that they have been desper ately waiting for.

Failing independence, at the very least, with present population statistics there should be a minimum of eight councillors serving on the Orihuela Council from the coastal region.

More CV-95 Lanes

and paperwork involved.

“It is a very important operation for Vega Baja mobility and, therefore, for its econom ic development as well as the quality of life for the people living in this area.”

Photo credit:

CV-95 PROJECT: Rebeca Torro speaking to the media on October 21.

Painting the town

THE repainting works of the road markings in La Mata in Torrevieja are finished as reported by the councilor for Traffic, Federico Alarcon.

In the early hours of Tuesday, October 18, the repainting was complet ed in the entire district of La Mata, correspond ing to Zone 1, and during the week commencing Monday, October 24, the work will be completed on Turret 3 and Lago Sal, thus finishing zone 8. Zone 2, has already started in Nueva Torre vieja and will continue over the next few weeks. This zone extends from Avenida de las Cortes Valencianas to the coast.

Federico Alarcon re called that the pro gramme of action has di vided the municipality of Torrevieja into several zoned sectors, anticipat ing that the repainting of each of them will last ap

proximately one month, so he hopes that in a year the entire city will be completed.

The repainting work will be carried out main ly at dawn, in order to affect the city’s road traffic as little as possi ble.

We’re back

THE CDM sports club in the Orihuela Costa have recently had the football Astro turf playing sur face replaced and all football had to be can celled, but good news it is now officially playable.

The Playa Flamenca Walking Football Club will be able to resume playing on Mondays from Oc tober 31 at 4pm.

If you would like to play Walking football for the over 50s, gain some exercise or join the wags and players in a fantastic social club, please con tact the secretary vickyhillspain@gmail.com for further information or you can come along to watch or play on Mondays, kick off from 4.00pm and meet like­minded people.

Painting of road markings.

Image: Torrevieja City Council

Happy winners

MANY congratulations to the winners of the 5 Real Estate competition, Iain and Jane Morgan from Scotland. Iain and Jane listed their penthouse in Lomas de Cabo Roig at the beginning of October which sold within a week! The fantastic prize is that 5 Real Estate are waiving their €999 fee enabling Iain and Jane to sell their property completely free of estate agents fees.

Iain and Jane noted “We are absolutely de lighted to have been drawn as the winners to sell our house for free and to have sold so quick

ly! 5 Real Estate have been extremely profes sional from the initial val

More holidays

ANY excuse for an extra day off is a good excuse!

Alicante has proposed that the day of Santa Faz on April 10 and the eve of San Juan on June 23 become lo cal holidays in 2023.

Antonio Peral, the presi dent of the Internal Affairs Committee, explained that “in addition to the tradi tional date of the Pilgrim age, this year we have the possibility of having a long bank holiday in Hogueras if we take into account the local holiday of June 23 and the regional holiday of

San Juan.”

Other non­recoverable holidays in 2023, in accor dance with the national and regional calendars, will be the following: January 6, Three Kings’ Day; April 7, Good Friday; April 10, Easter Monday; May 1, Labour Day; August 15, Assumption Day; October 9, Valencian Community Day; October 12, Columbus Day; Novem ber 1, All Saints’ Day; De cember 6, Constitution Day; December 8, Immaculate Conception Day; and De cember 25, Christmas Day.

uation through to the ne gotiation process, all within a very short time

are now looking forward to a smooth completion with the help of the su perb aftersales team to guide us through. We wouldn’t hesitate to rec ommend their services.”

If you are thinking of selling your property, please call for a free valu ation +34 965 999 059, info@5real­estate.com, www.5re.es.

1st Charging stations

TORREVIEJA Town Hall has installed four charging stations for electric vehicles.

Each of the semi­fast stations has two chargers that can be used simultaneously by two vehicles. They are situated in Calle Caballero de Rodas 27, Calle Ucrania (Torrevieja hospi tal parking zone), Avenida Monge y Bielsa (Palacio de De portes ‘Tavi y Carmona’ parking zone), Calle Mayor (adjoin ing Plaza Encarnacion Puchol in La Mata).

In order to access the charging stations, users will need to make a reservation using the Recarga Publica Iberdrola App, which also gives information regarding charging station loca tions and methods of payment.

At present, charging vehicles will be free until the town hall has approved the future by­law.

Mayor Eduardo Dolon confirmed “With these first charg ing stations, we hope to encourage the use of electric vehi cles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and advance to wards the UN’s Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals.”

Time for change

Linda Hall

ELCHE men gathered in Plaza de Baix, calling for equality between the sexes and an end to sexist violence on Friday October 21.

The protest was the initiative of the city’s Casa de la Dona women’s association, organ ised for the day before the start of the Second International Conference on Masculinity and Equality at Elche’s Conference Centre on Octo ber 22.

Elche’s Equality councillor Mariano Valero and Raul Reina, Inclusion vice-chancellor at Miguel Hernandez University, read the Rueda de Hombres (Men’s Circle) manifesto, calling for a “deconstruction” of sexist mindsets.

“The Men’s Circle against sexist violence wishes to express our absolute condemnation of all the violence that is imposed on our life companions,” Valera declared.

“We are tired of daily attitudes which repli cate the patriarchy and men’s domination of women and guarantee the continuance of our privileges.”

There were men prepared to break with the sexist legacy and construct their identity in a different way, far from the traditional violent male supremacy, the manifesto declared.

Blooming great

SAY it with flowers. Alicante Town Council has confirmed that temporary flower stalls will be placed near the main gate of the Municipal Cemetery and at the central market located in Plaza 25 de Mayo, on Tuesday, November 1, for the occasion of All Saints’ Day.

The councillor for Markets, Lidia Lopez, highlighted the “importance of promoting the

sale of flowers on this date,” and to buy quali ty local trade products.

She also confirmed that there will be a de livery service where flowers can be ordered over the telephone for convenience.

The temporary flower stalls in the vicinity of the main gate of the Municipal Cemetery, will be open from 8.00am until 6.00pm.

Photo credit: Elche city hall

ELCHE DEMO: Local men call for an end to the patriarchy.

Spain’s 2023 budget and tax plans

The Spanish state and autonomous community regional governments have been busy planning their bud gets for 2023. There have been vari ous statements over recent weeks, so here we summarise the key tax ele ments.

While Andalucía hit the headlines first with the announcement that it was effectively abolishing wealth tax in the region, this was quickly fol lowed by the national government outlining its plans to introduce a new state ‘solidarity tax on large fortunes’ for the next two years.

With inflation continuing to im pact households, businesses and the economy, the Spanish government is looking to redistribute wealth by in creasing taxes on the very wealthy and reducing taxation for those on low in comes.

Solidarity tax on large fortunes

The biggest announcement so far is the proposed introduction of the new impuesto de solidaridad a las grandes

By Jon Pemberton, Partner, Blevins Franks

fortunas. The bill has not been pub lished yet and details of how it will work are limited, but the key points we know so far are:

• It is proposed as a temporary measure for the 2023 and 2024 tax years.

• It will be imposed on those with a net wealth over €3 million.

• Progressive tax rates will range from 1.7% to 3.5%.

• Taxpayers will not pay both wealth taxes in full – the amount paid in the regular wealth tax will be de ducted from the solidarity tax liability.

• This tax is being imposed at state level

This all still needs to be debated and passed by parliament, so it is pos sible these proposals may change or it does not get approved.

Savings tax to be increased

Another key proposal to improve tax revenue next year is to increase the rate applied to high levels of savings income. This covers interest, divi dends, capital gains made on the sale or transfer of assets, income derived from life assurance contracts and pur chased annuity income.

If approved, the progressive rates applied to savings income above €200,000 will increase from 26% to 27%, and income over €300,000 will be taxed at 28%.

This measure is included in the

General State Budget Act for 2023 which will be debated, amended and approved by Parliament.

Tax cuts at state level

The Budget Act also includes re ductions in personal income tax rates for low earners for 2023 and 2024.

If approved, the reduced rate of in come tax will apply to individuals earning under €21,000 a year, an in crease from the current €18,000. Those earning less than €15,000 will be exempt from income tax (currently €14,000).

Corporate income tax will reduce from 25% to 23% for businesses with net annual turnover under €1 million.

Comunidad Valenciana and Murcia

On 27 September the Valenciana regional president announced a series of reforms to reduce income tax for those earning under €60,000 a year. This will be applied retroactively for 2022 income (as declared in your

2023 tax return). The local tax-ex empt minimums and deductions will also be increased.

These proposals still need to be confirmed.

The regional income tax rate in Murcia will be reduced by 4.1%.

These annual budgets are a good prompt to review your tax planning each year. Consider what rules have changed, bearing in mind that you may not be aware of all of them, and check whether you are making the most of all the available allowances and tax-efficient opportunities. For the best results, and to make sure you have not missed anything, take spe cialist, personalised advice.

Tax rates, scope and reliefs may change. Any statements concerning taxa tion are based upon our understanding of current taxation laws and practices which are subject to change. Tax infor mation has been summarised; individu als should seek personalised advice.

IS there anybody out there? Alicante and Elche plan to find out as the two cities have put them selves forward to be ex plorers of other worlds.

The provincial capital is committed to entering the parallel universe of high technology, while the people of Elche have

Worlds away

their eyes fixed beyond the stratosphere.

Alicante is bidding to host the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Ar tificial Intelligence, while Elche is offering a build ing to house the Spanish

Space Agency. Both bids have widespread political and business backing.

Once the Ministry of Territorial Policy, the

driving force behind the programmes, are aware of the projects of all the cities that apply, the se lection process will begin, the result of which will be known on December 5.

Lovely looking

TAKING a little stroll along the river is about to get even prettier!

Renovation work has begun on the riverbank of the Segura, between the Levante and Principe de Asturias bridges.

The works will be car ried out by the company Construcciones Zaplana y Caselles SLU and have a budget of €381,150.

The deadline for com pletion is 92 days.

The councillor for In frastructures, Angel Noguera, explained that “the work includes the repair and adaptation of the fencing to protect

the river banks, the cre ation of a footpath on both banks, the replace ment of the existing LED lights, as well as sand ing, stripping and paint ing the metal pergola.

“The proposal aims to enhance the value of the recreational areas adjacent to the Segura River as it passes through the city of Ori huela, allowing its use and enjoyment by resi dents who will have a renovated pedestrian route where they can walk and play sports in the heart of the city cen tre,” she confirmed.

Building back better

BUILDING a better Torre vieja for its residents was the main focus of the 42 area representatives dur ing their meeting with the mayor, Eduardo Dolon, on Saturday, October 22.

The area representatives are residents of Torrevieja who, due to personal, work or professional resi dence, have knowledge and associations within the area. They are in charge of the 21 zones in which the municipality of Torrevieja has been divid ed and are in direct com munication with the Citi zen Participation team to report the needs, incidents and any situations that arise in the different areas

of the town in orderfor a prompt response and reso lution.

The mayor confirmed: “Having local representa tives provides a direct rela tionship between resi dents and neighbourhoods and the local government, allowing the government team to know almost im mediately should situa tions arise in our munici pality.”

Eduardo Dolon thanked the area delegates for their tireless work and collabo ration since they were ap pointed in 2019, “especial ly in the hardest months of the pandemic where they were helping the residents of their neighbourhood.”

MAYOR: Thanked the area delegates for their tireless work.

Image: Torrevieja City Council

LEONARDO DICAPRIO vis ited Barcelona last week in a visit that largely went un noticed as per the actor’s re quest.

According to a national news site, on Monday, Oc tober 24 the actor had visit ed a number of venues in the city along with friends and stayed on a luxury

Star magic

yacht rather than in the city.

The actor’s security team ensured that no pho tographs or news of the ac tor’s visit were published prior to his departure. He apparently asked that peo

Inflation ‘cushion’

RELIEF has been shown at a suggested financial ‘cushion’ of €20 million to counteract the effects of spiralling infla tion in the Spanish govern ment’s new budget. The Spanish government sent their 2023 budget to the Eu ropean Commission on Oc tober 15 and are now await ing its approval.

The left­wing govern ment has introduced an in crease in various taxes to fund special measures to see the country through the cost of living crisis, and aims to raise an extra €10 million in tax in 2023 to fund measures including

the inflation ‘cushion’.

Part of the inflation ‘cush ion’ could be used to fund social services including pensions and minimum wage, but the majority of the funds will be used to fund subsidies including for energy bills, fuel costs and direct aid to the agricultural sector.

The government has not yet revealed its complete plans for the financial cush ion and critics have ex pressed concern that funds raised through borrowing and increased tax will not be sufficient to fund the proposed measures.

ple respect his privacy and allow him to enjoy the city without interruptions or be ing mobbed.

DiCaprio attended a small 30­minute magic show that was performed at El Rei de

la Màgia store. It is under stood that DiCaprio also vis ited the Basilica of the Sagrada Família, and Gatsby restaurant and nightclub.

News of the visit only came to light after images started to appear online, the main one being pub lished on the magic store’s Twitter feed.

More strike action

SPANISH airline Vueling is facing three months of crippling strike action fol lowing the call by their main union Stavla for stop pages.

The strike announced on Saturday, October 22 will see cabin crew members walk out every Friday, Sun day and Monday between November 1 and January 31.

The crew will also stop work on November 1, 6, 8, 24 and December 31 of this year and January 5, 2023, all key holiday dates in Spain.

A spokesperson for Stavla told a national news

outlet that the strike is a result of “the absence of significant progress in the negotiation of the collec tive agreement and the lack of any real intention demonstrated by Vueling to resolve wage demands of cabin crew.”

They added that the union has called for a pay rise of 13.4 per cent and are prepared to continue with the strikes indefinitely if there is no resolution.

Vueling’s owners IAG have accused the union of being impractical and claim to have already provided staff with a 6.5 per cent pay rise.

BARCELONA: DiCaprio visited various venues in the city.

AGE IN SPAIN: Moving across Spain

IT’S one thing to move to Spain, find your dream home, and stay put. Learning all the ins and outs of an area is exciting and frustrating at the same time. Eventually, it becomes like muscle memory, and you barely have to think about it.

But what if the first place you land in Spain is n’t your forever home? If you thought moving to Spain proved interesting, moving to another Span ish region will throw you for a loop. Because now you have experience and expectations.

Moving to Galicia from Valencia meant we need ed to relearn all those things we took for grant

ed. Changing the address on our driving licences was almost more chal lenging than getting the permit in the first place. And locating peanut but ter in an unfamiliar gro cery store chain? Good luck. But the most diffi cult is completing our visa renewals in an area where we struggled to find the correct office to begin the process.

After determining how to submit the paper work, we celebrated our visa approvals. But our revelry would be shortlived. We needed the fin gerprint appointment with the National Police and to determine what we should bring to the meeting to obtain our new NIE cards. Each re gion is different.

I turned to Google, found the office, and made the cita previa on line. Even criminals leave Google reviews for the police in Spain. And I was pleasantly surprised to see they gave the place 4.3 stars. I eat at places and stay in hotels with fewer stars. Welcome news since the province where we lived previous ly had an Oficina de Ex tranjeria with a wellearned rating of 1.9 stars. Personally, I would have gone lower.

At last, the day arrived, and our NIE appointment in Galicia lived up to the Google hype. Who knew bureaucrats could laugh? Surely, the quickest and friendliest appointment in Spanish bureaucratic history.

Age in Spain. www.ageinspain.org Email: info@ageinspain.org - Tel: +34 932 209 741

End of endangerment

Betty Henderson

A GROUNDBREAKING rewild ing project in areas of eastern Spain is bringing back ancient and near­extinct species. The revival project is introducing animals including semi­wild

horses, the Iberian lynx, black vultures and ‘tauro’ cattle to rural areas in the Iberian Chain. Rewilding Europe is carrying out its first project in Spain, in the Iberian Highlands Rewilding Landscape project, which aims to increase biodi versity and nature tourism opportunities.

Project leader, Pablo Scapi

ra explained “Spanish cities have a lot of people who are looking for special places to see nature, so the tourist po tential of this area is huge.”

The area in the Iberian Highlands is located around two hours from Madrid and two and a half hours from Va lencia. The space was selected due to its low population den

sity, where there are just two residents for every square kilometre, as well as the natu ral landscape, featuring ex pansive valleys and canyons with pine and oak forests.

Scientists are releasing the species in small groups and will track them to monitor breeding developments and movements.

Square transformation

tober 22. Filming had original ly been interrupted in September due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Specifically, scenes were being shot in which a replica of the car in which Lady Di died in Paris in 1997 ap peared. It was recreating a pa parazzi chase of the princess, played by the actress Eliza beth Debicki.

There were more than 20 cars, four motorcycles, and a bus from the era, as well as other props that transformed the street into a boulevard in Paris, along with extras dressed as French police offi cers. The filming caused traffic cuts in a part of Plaza de Francesc Macià, in the uphill lane of Avenida Pau Casals, and in some sections of the adjoining streets.

Filming continued on Sun day October 23, until late in the evening.

Chris King

THE British Netflix series ‘The Crown’ turned Plaza de

Francesc Macià in Barcelona into a film set for scenes of the sixth season on Saturday, Oc

Airfare fines

THE government of Cat alonia on Thursday, Octo ber 20, fined budget air line Ryanair €40,000 for making it difficult for users to reimburse flights

that were cancelled due to the coronavirus pan demic.

Sources from the agen cy confirmed that follow ing a complaint by the

Federation of Urban Ar eas of the Canary Islands (Facua), the fine was im posed by the Agencia Catalana del Consum (ACC).

The autonomous body explained that the sanc tion responds to ‘unfair’ commercial practices by action or omission prac tised by the airline that caused, or may have caused, economic issues for users that they would not otherwise have had.

Facua denounced Ryanair in March 2020 for ‘excessively stretching’ the maximum term for the refund of the amounts.

This came after the air line informed them that it could take up to 28 days after the refund request, despite the fact that Euro pean regulations (Article 8 of European Regulation 261/2004) require it to be done within seven days.

Pipeline plans

PEDRO SANCHEZ, the Spanish President, announced on, Thursday, October 20, that an agreement had been reached between Spain, Portugal, and France to construct a pipeline between the Iberian peninsula and the rest of Europe.

This decision sees a huge U­turn by French President Emmanuel Macron, who had until recently refused to admit the need for such a pipeline to be built.

The new project has been dubbed a ‘Green Energy Corridor’ by President Sanchez. Speaking on his arrival at an EU en

ergy crisis summit on Thursday October 20, Mr Sanchez explained: “We have agreed to a new project to be called the Green Energy Corridor to link the Iberian peninsula to France and therefore to the European ener gy market between Barcelona and Mar seille.”

These facilities are an asset that will now help the rest of Europe boost imports once the link is completed. France already has a large network of gas connections through out Europe but Spain currently only has two low­capacity connections to that network.

Record temperatures

AN autumn heatwave has brought record temperatures in parts of Spain with average temperatures running at 2.9ºC higher than usual

A meteorologist said on Tuesday, October 17 that the day was the hottest on record with temperatures set to reach near highs in the south, centre and north of the country.

The highest temperatures previously recorded on this day were in the Andalucian capital Sevilla in 2017 when the thermometer hit 35.7ºC.

The weather site says that tropical nights have continued into October with tempera tures remaining above 20ºC in many parts of the country since May. Both the high tem peratures in the day and the night are said to continue, although storms are set to ar rive.

Experts say that global warming remains a threat as an autumn heatwave in Spain brings record temperatures.

Stability and unity

RISHI SUNAK has given an incredibly awkward first press statement as he vows to deliver for Brits by working “day in, day out.”

The statement on Mon day, October 24 comes af ter he was declared prime minister with his only ri val Boris Johnson with drawing from the race.

Warning that the coun try faced a “profound economic challenge” in a brief lasting less than 90 seconds, he said the country needed “stability and unity” to build a “bet ter, more prosperous fu ture for our children and our grandchildren.”

Thanking outgoing prime minster, Liz Truss, who he said had led with “grace and dignity” dur ing her brief stint in of fice, he added that a gen eral election was not on the cards.

He went on to tell Tory MPs to “unite or die’ with many pundits and MPs

Sunak delivered his first press statement.

within the party saying it was doomed unless they could unite around one candidate. Rishi Sunak has a mountain to climb and voters can only hope his performance is better than his incredibly awk ward first press state ment.

Piece of cake

IN a blatant act of vandalism, two Just Stop Oil activists on Monday, October 24, entered Madame Tussaud’s in London and threw chocolate cake over the waxwork of King Charles III.

Video footage posted on their Twitter profile showed two people approaching the waxwork display before removing their tops to expose white t­shirts. They then proceeded to smear the cake all over the King, with some also landing on the Princess of Wales. The wax models of the Royals are be lieved to have cost in the region of £200,000 to make.

The perpetrators were named by Just Stop Oil as Glaswe gian, Eilidh McFadden, and painter and decorator, Tom John son, from Sunderland. “The science is clear. The demand is simple: just stop new oil and gas. It’s a piece of cake,” they said.

Met Police officers were quickly on the scene to arrest them for criminal damage and take both activists into cus tody.

Greenpeace protest

POLICE have intervened to stop news channels from recording protests in parliament by Green peace activists.

The protest on Mon day, October 24 was held to raise awareness of the plight of people in fuel poverty whilst MPs quib bled over policies and leadership. Many are concerned that the gov ernment has been dis tracted by its own prob

lems leaving many strug gling to pay their bills.

Greenpeace along with many others want the government to change tack and to give more support to those in need of it.

The protests were timed to coincide with the appointment of a new party leader and prime minister. In a rather odd incident, a policeman tried unsuc

cessfully and illegally to stop a news team from broadcasting at the event, providing some light entertainment for those worried about re cent events and the fu ture direction of the gov ernment.

The protests were replicated elsewhere with those opposed to fossil fuels and other gov ernment policies continu ing.

IN PARLIAMENT: Activists were protesting about people suffering from fuel poverty.

A royal tour

KING CHARLES is said to be planning the biggest­ever world tour undertaken by the royal family following com ments from a number of coun tries that question the role of the monarchy in their future.

According to an exclusive re port by a national news outlet on Saturday October 22, sources at the palace said the monarch is proposing two years of trips to “extend a hand of friendship and support.”

It is understood that King Charles will focus initial efforts on those countries where the future of the monarch is at most risk, including Australia,

New Zealand and countries in the Caribbean.

The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to be included in the plans, as are a number of solo trips for the king. Un dertaking solo trips will allow the Queen Consort to under

take more engagements for those projects that she is per sonally involved in.

King Charles is said to be keen to help the country re build ties across the world in cluding with its neighbours fol lowing Brexit.

Stripping off

‘CAR CANNIBALISM’ is the latest crime wave to hit England’s streets according to a report by a national broadcaster on October 20. Cars are being broken into and then stripped of body and en gine parts, with Yorkshire and the Midlands said to be worst hit.

Most commonly broken into and stripped are Vauxhall Corsas and Toyota Yaris’ according to information obtained by the broad caster.

Although a dedicated police unit has been set up there have been no arrests or charges so far.

According to a spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs Council: “The force is aware of the incidents in the West Midlands and Scotland, but it isn’t something we’re seeing as a significant emerging trend on a national level at this stage, but we are moni toring the situation closely.”

The police have asked for anyone with any information about car cannibalism to come forward. In particular, they are keen for anyone offered car parts to contact them.

King Charles with Camilla.

On your bike

DUST down the spokes and jump on your bike as the councillor for Sports of Almoradi, Alfonso Garcia, has confirmed the next Bike Festival will be held on Sunday, November 6, starting at 10.00am from the Plaza de la Constitu cion.

Registration costs €2 and will be donated to the ‘TEACTIVA’ Association. You can sign up at the Tourist Office or at Bar Kurruncho and gifts will be given to the first 500 regis tered participants.

An accreditation num

ber will be given with the registration and with it you will be able to partici pate in a prize draw that will take place at the end of the event.

Prizes will be awarded to the best­decorated bicy cle, the youngest partici pant (who does the circuit

pedalling), the most veter an participant and the most fun group.

The councillor for Sports thanked all the sponsors for their collaboration in the development of the event and encouraged all those interested to regis ter as soon as possible.

Glamour

GLAMOUR GLAMOUR Fashion Show and Lunch in support of Help at Home Charity is on Thursday, October 27 from midday at the Panache Restaurant in Cabo Roig.

Help at Home is delighted to offer this fantastic event to raise money for those in need in our community.

Book via Help at Home at (+34) 965 328 794 or (+34) 634 324 389.

Tickets are €18 and include a threecourse meal and a drink.

It’s going to be a great day! The last event sold out very quickly so book now to avoid disappointment.

PILAR DE LA HORADADA Town Hall offers free lessons in playing castanets each Tuesday evening at the Casa de Cultura.

Flamenco dancer and teacher Raquel Peña’s first les son was attended by a large group of all ages, an nounced Fiestas councillor Susi Sanchez, who added that the classes are open to all Pilar residents.

Culture councillor Dario Quesada also stressed the “enormous benefits” of castanet­playing.

“Castanets sharpen the ears, develop a sense of rhythm and strengthen the muscles of the hands and arms,” he said. “They also assist the coordination and independence of the fingers, improve posture, release tension and, among other things, boost mental agili ty.”

For more information, contact Pilar de la Horadada Town Hall on 965 352 225

NIGHT ON BROADWAY

STUDIO 32 are looking for ward to performing what has proved to be the most chal lenging production that they have done so far. ‘A Night on Broadway’ will consist of nine mini productions with 27 mu sical numbers from shows that they have performed over the past 13 years, during which time Studio 32 has do nated over €40,000 to local charities.

The show will run at the Car denal Beluga Theatre, San Ful gencio, on November 10, 11 and 12.

Aspiring singers, dancers, ac tors and backstage helpers take note as Studio 32 are al

ways looking for people to join their group. If you would like further information about the theatre company and re hearsal times, or you would like to book tickets please visit

www.studiothirtytwo.org or email tickets@studiothirty two.org. Tickets will also be available for sale in the theatre on the night of the perfor mance.

night tours

HALLOWEEN is nearly upon us and Guardamar will once again be hosting a spooky schedule of events to celebrate on Monday October 31. The town’s popular ‘Terror Tours’ are set to run throughout the evening, organised by the local tourism board.

There will be two options of tours for thrill seekers: Terror Tours for adults (over 12s) and Terror Tours for children (aged three12). The adult tours will leave from Parque Alfonso XIII and run between 7.30pm and 11pm on October 31. The children’s tours will leaves every 10 minutes from the An fiteatro on Avenida Los Pinos.

Guardamar Council said it expected Hal loween will be a popular celebration once again saying “local streets are flooded with skeletons, witches, vampires and the un dead.”

Prior registration is not required, for more information, send a WhatsApp message to 633 969 692.

CAST MEMBERS: Rose McLean, Geri Dore, Jackie Waller, Jean Durham and Justine Cook.

A BRITISH tribute act lauded by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers love to perform in Spain, but their last tour was cancelled due to the pan demic.

Married couple Sarah Jayne and Andy Crust were delighted when Dolly said “I wish them the best and ap preciate them doing Dolly

When Dolly met Dolly

and Kenny so well for so long,” whilst Kenny said “Eu rope’s leading Dolly and Kenny.”

Speaking to Euro Weekly

News , Sarah Jayne ex plained that she had sound ed a lot like Dolly since she was a child and joined the great legends show aged 17 in Jersey and has been per fecting her style ever since.

After several years as a so lo Dolly tribute, she started working with her husband Andy as a duo and then ex panded the act to create the Country Superstars fronting a seven­piece band who be tween them pay their re spects to their favourite country superstars.

“For some of the Christ mas shows, our 11­year­old daughter Lucy who loves to perform will be joining us on stage as the young Dolly Parton,” the proud Sarah Jayne explained.

They are so popular that their current UK tour is con firmed until Christmas 2023 and they are already taking bookings for 2024.

“We enjoyed our solo

dates in Spain and were so looking forward to coming back, but the current de mand for the show in the UK means that we just don’t have any spare time at the moment and whilst it is rela tively easy to tour with the band here in Britain, the dif ficulty and cost of bringing the whole show over is pro hibitive,” Sarah Jayne told us.

Dolly met Dolly as she and Andy performed for her on the BBC One Show a few

years ago and since then, they have been sponsored by the Tennessee Tourist Board in the USA and raise funds for several charities in cluding the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

When Dolly was growing up the family was poor and she realised that her father could not read and write and as she became wealthy, she decided to do what she could to help children learn to read.

From a local Tennessee

programme started in 1995, the library has grown to in clude Australia, Canada, Re public of Ireland, United Kingdom, and the United States of America and amaz ingly, the Library has for some years been sending books to every child up to the age of five living on the remote volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha.

Having been the voice and face of Dolly for more than 28 years, Sarah Jayne re called that one of the many highlights in her professional life was to be invited to the O2 in London to be part of Dolly’s Better Day tour in 2011 and Blue Smoke tour in 2014 meeting and greet ing guests.

In the words of one of Dolly and Kenny’s song You Can’t Make Old Friends, but it’s clear that Sarah Jayne and Andy are spending their time making plenty of new ones.

Sea soundscape

AN unconventional expedition made up of a group of scientists and an artist headed off to the Arctic circle to plant microphones that will record the sound of melting icebergs on Wednesday Octo ber 19. The ‘soundscape’ created will preserve an archive of ‘ocean memory’ in the Davis Strait over the next two years.

Irish artist, Siobhán McDonald is ac companying scientists as they deploy the microphones. McDonald plans to use au dio files recorded to create a sound in

stallation, sculptures and paintings to preserve the unique sounds of nature.

The microphones have been released to different depths to create a compre hensive picture of the soundscape in the region. They will record sounds including earthquakes, wildlife, pollution, and landslides and will be used by scientists investigating the Arctic environment and climate change.

The international group of scientists are mainly from Europe with some re searchers from the USA and Canada.

Sweet letters and vodka

ITALY’S soon­to­be prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, slammed former prime minister and coalition ally, Silvio Berlusconi, over a connection with Vladimir Putin.

Meloni made a statement on Thursday October 20 reiterating Italy’s unity with the European and Atlantic alliances, saying that whoever disagrees “cannot be part of the government, at the cost of not having a government.”

Meloni gave Berlusconi the stark warning after news broke that he had ‘re­estab lished’ connections with Russia and received a birthday gift of 20 bottles of vodka from Putin for the favour. The delivery was also accompanied by a ‘very sweet let ter’. Berlusconi allegedly returned the gesture with a case of Italian Lambrusco wine.

Leader of the Forza Italia party and three­time prime minister, Berlusconi, previ ously had a close relationship with Putin. Forza Italia have denied that Berlusconi made the remarks, but an audio clip obtained by a French press agency appeared to show otherwise.

Appearances matter

THE new Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom dropped the country’s socalled ‘feminist foreign policy’ on Tuesday Octo ber 18, after saying that its label was distracting at tention away from the policy’s content.

The policy was intro duced in 2014 by the pre vious left­wing and selfchristened ‘feminist government’ and con tained the three Rs, ‘rights, representations, and resources’. It con tained sexual and repro ductive rights, rights to participation in civil soci ety and economic emanci pation.

Previously comments by the feminist Foreign Min ister, Margot Wallstrom, landed the country in hot water as Saudi Arabia re called its ambassador to Stockholm.

Ditching the policy, new Foreign Minister, ex plained “Gender equality

is a core value for Sweden and this government, but we will not conduct a fem inist foreign policy be cause labels on things have a tendency to cover up the content.” He insist

ed “We will always stand for gender equality.”

The announcement came as part of the new cabinet appointment after elections held one month ago.

Finding solutions

AMSTERDAM received 40 mayors from world cities for an innovation summit to work with experts on solutions to big­city problems.

The global city summit Bloomberg CityLab which fin ished on Wednesday, October 12, concentrated on ur ban problems and smart innovations. The focus was on areas such as climate change, digitalisation, tourism, a sustainable economy, refugee reception, pandemic re covery and bicycle traffic.

Besides panel discussions, interviews, interactive ses sions and cultural performances, participants also went on excursions to unique destinations in Amsterdam to see for themselves what Amsterdam has to offer in terms of solutions to major urban issues.

During the event, Amsterdam was pleased to an nounce it will have the world’s first fleet of self­pro pelled boats. They confirmed it will help reduce pressure on quaysides and bridges by transporting goods, waste and people. The first large self­propelled boat is current ly being tested.

PRESSEUROPEAN

DENMARK

Flight tax

IT appears that the Danish people are in favour of a green air strategy as a recent survey by Epinion on behalf of DR Nyheder showed that the majority are happy to pay the new tax of 13 kroner (€1.75) with more than half prepared to pay even more.

THE NETHERLANDS

Polly gone

ALMOST as bizarre as the Monty Python dead parrot sketch, a court in Den Bosch fined a balloonist €55,000 plus costs as compensation to the owner of three rare parrots which died of fright as the balloonist fired up his burner just 50 metres above their aviary.

BELGIUM

Car sharing

IN order to try to reduce car ownership in the centre of Brussels, the city council now allows short term rentals (locally referred to as car sharing) of up to 14 days rather than the previous three and is encouraging new companies to offer their fleets.

GERMANY

Royal visit

HAVING had to postpone their state visit to Germany planned for last year due to the pandemic, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia finally arrived to a wet welcome in Berlin on Monday October 17, where they met with both the German President and Chancellor.

FRANCE

Red card

REPORTS have appeared in French media that Qatari owned football club Paris St Germaine appointed an agency to recruit expert hackers and Twitter users in order to carry out a campaign against anyone who criticised the club and targets included PSG’s own Kylian Mbappé.

NORWAY

Shaman shame

THERE is controversy in the Norwegian Royal Family as Princess Martha Louise, fourth in line to the throne, has been accused of exploiting her title to help promote the work of her American fiancé Durek Verrett, a selfproclaimed healer and shaman who sells a coronavirus ‘cure’.

FINLAND

Raking it in

IGNORING Halloween, there is another tradition in Helsinki where volunteers are invited to the pretty Kaivopuisto Park between 11am and 3pm on Sunday October 30 where they will be issued with garden rakes and bags and asked to rake up the tons of dead leaves which have fallen.

IRELAND

Safer Xmas

IN anticipation of a cold winter, the Irish government has introduced a ban on evictions should tenants fall into debt and although notice of termination may be issued now, the earliest date that tenants will be required to leave will be April of next year.

ITALY

Cemetery shock

LUCKILY there were no visitors to the Poggioreale cemetery in Naples on Monday October 17 after a huge wall collapsed (said to be caused by vibrations from subway work) and left a number of coffins literally hanging in mid-air for the second time this year.

PORTUGAL

Showtime

NO need for a dish as SkyShowtime, which arrived in Portugal on October 25 allows those who pay a flat fee of €4.99 per month to view a whole raft of different content including popular series and blockbuster films from a range of studios online.

UKRAINE

No arms

IRANIAN Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has publicly declared that Iran takes a stance of “active neutrality” in the Ukraine war and was opposed to the continuation of the war from the beginning. In addition, he denies that Iran is sending arms to Russia.

SWEDEN

Green shock

THE new right-wing government in Sweden has decided to reduce the power of the Ministry of Environment and the green movement by scrapping it (previously its minister sat in the cabinet) and making green matters subject to control by a department within another ministry.

is the amount that Credit Suisse hopes to make through the sale of its shares in Spanish investment company Allfunds.

BUSINESS EXTRA Power surge

Pandemic funds not frozen

Wooing Madrid

WITH an eye not just on Spain but also the potentially lucrative Latin American mar ket, a group of business peo ple representing 20 compa nies from Monaco visited Madrid for two days to ex plore avenues of cooperation following a recent meeting between Prince Albert II and King Felipe VI.

Foreign workers

THE number of foreign work ers registered with the social security system in Spain con tinues to rise and by the end of September totalled 2,439,668, an increase of 19,791 on the previous month which represents slightly more than 12 per cent of the total of registered workers.

Zara seconds

FOLLOWING a trend set by a number of other clothing companies, Zara has an nounced that with effect from November 3, customers in the UK will be able to take advantage of an in­store ser vice to sell, repair or donate second­hand clothes to help the environment.

Profits down

INSURER Línea Directa’s in come from premiums charged increased by 4.1 per cent in the first nine months of 2022, to €710.7 million but net profit of €58.3 million was 32 per cent down from the previous year, caused in part by increased repair costs.

Sephora returns

IT was 17 years ago that French retailer of personal care and beauty products Sephora exited the UK, but it now intends to return to one of the top three European markets for these products, firstly online and then by opening a flagship store.

CLAIMS that the EU has frozen Span ish pandemic funds are false accord ing to EU Commission spokesperson Veerle Nuyts. For more than a week, there were claims on social media and even through some news outlets that because Spain had not complied with certain audit deadlines, the Euro pean Union had decided not to make any further payments from the Re covery Fund. It is suggested that re spected US news outlet Bloomberg had inadvertently fuelled the rumour after publishing the fact that Spain had missed a deadline last month to implement a new auditing system re

ORDINARY investors can see which banks have green roots and which are continuing to invest in environmentally un friendly operations.

There is a fine line to follow when one consid ers that regardless of long­term plans for the future, there is still a cur rent need for companies to produce petrol and diesel for vehicles and heating as well as for those who still wish to fly.

Some of us don’t really care about the affect on the environment whilst others want to take a stand and try to support green initiatives wherev er possible and a new website MotherTree has just created a ranking of

quired to unlock money from the EU’s Pandemic Recovery Fund.

Each country is required to supply evidence that they are using the mon ey received in a manner in accor dance with agreements put in place to ensure that they are complying with the laid­out procedure.

In the event that they don’t then the Commission has the power to freeze the funds until such time as the terms have been met.

According to a statement by Veerle Nuyts, Spain has so far received all of the money that it has requested al though when it asks for the third

tranche of payment, the European Commission will review the situation at the time.

Her actual words were “Spain has satisfactorily fulfilled all of the mile stones and targets linked to all pay ment requests submitted to date, and the financing linked to these has been disbursed, after approval by the Member States.”

It is currently expected that the next request will be placed before the EU sometime in the second week of November and that is when a deci sion concerning payment will be made.

Green roots

and is also the equivalent of the emissions caused if you ate a cheeseburger every day for a year.

MUCH has been said and written about Bitcoin over the years and the price has risen from the cost of a pizza to that of a decent luxu ry car and then bounced back.

Its latest problem comes from the European Commission which is considering inviting Member States to ban the mining of Bit coins (this is done using linked computers to create new Bitcoins) as there is a tremendous use of electricity to do this.

Energy consumption world wide in this mining has more than doubled in the last two years and some miners have resorted to tapping into public cables to steal electricity thanks to the energy cri sis.

Meta sale

GIANT social media group Meta (owner of Facebook) appealed a decision by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which instructed them to sell American company Giphy as it ar gued that the takeover would lim it other social media platforms’ ac cess to GIFs. Having taken an in­depth review of the situation, the CMA is sticking to its guns con cluding that by denying or limiting other social media platforms’ ac cess to Giphy GIFs it could push people to Meta­owned sites.

In addition, it could require Gi phy customers, such as TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat, to provide more data from UK users in order to access Giphy GIFs.

Britain’s banks and their green credentials.

It might seem strange to accuse a bank of being a creator of CO2, but it’s all to do with where they invest or lend the money that they look after for their customers and it turns out that according

to MotherTree, Barclays Bank creates the equiva lent of 0.29 tonnes of car bon a year for every £1,000 in a current ac count with them.

To put this into con text, flying from the UK to Rome and back seven times produces less CO2

Most of the big banks fare badly and in fairness, the free service does pre sumably receive some form of financial advan tage when it highlights green investments, which it says can offer better interest rates than the ‘big four’.

It should also be noted that MotherTree makes it clear on its website that it does not offer fi nancial advice, but sim ply points out options that exist.

IF you are irritated with all of the ads that pop up on Facebook and other social media platforms, the next step will be when you are being transported by Uber.

The ‘mini cab’ company is up grading its software to create Journey Ads which will target your mobile application prior to the arrival of your car as well as during your journey with differ ent adverts from a single compa ny. This coupled with other new advertising formats means that the company hopes to increase annual worldwide advertising revenue to $1 billion by the end of 2024.

EU FUNDING: Pedro Sánchez and Ursula von der Leyen agreed terms.

3I Group 1.085,50 1.105,50 1.084,50 101,60K

Abrdn 149,75 152,50 148,85 590,97K

Admiral Group 1.949,0 1.975,0 1.943,5 57,06K

Anglo American 2.663,0 2.717,5 2.647,5 336,09K

Antofagasta 1.103,00 1.145,50 1.096,50 47,62K

Ashtead Group 4.253,0 4.347,0 4.234,0 48,56K

Associated British Foods 1.317,5 1.348,5 1.314,5 69,19K

AstraZeneca 9.660,0 9.747,7 9.630,5 8,14K

Auto Trader Group Plc 502,60 505,40 493,10 540,54K

Aveva 3.143,0 3.154,0 3.139,0 70,51K

Aviva 408,40 417,50 407,10 717,54K

B&M European Value Retail SA301,39 308,90 300,60 369,08K

BAE Systems 802,00 813,40 799,20 808,33K

Barclays 146,88 150,50 145,44 5,38M

Barratt Developments 350,90 359,90 349,90 608,71K

Berkeley 3.340,0 3.412,0 3.330,0 42,77K

BHP Group Ltd 2.158,00 2.193,00 2.146,00 323,74K

BP 461,05 467,85 458,29 403,37K

British American Tobacco 3.330,0 3.347,5 3.314,5 234,18K

British Land Company 342,80 353,50 341,50 297,36K

BT Group 124,20 126,55 124,03 630,63K

Bunzl 2.720,0 2.741,5 2.724,0 4,30K

Burberry Group 1.830,5 1.839,5 1.805,5 103,08K

Carnival 622,4 636,6 620,6 60,24K

Centrica 67,34 68,80 66,96 1,73M

Coca Cola HBC AG 1.935,0 1.950,0 1.930,5 30,12K

Compass 1.841,00 1.853,00 1.829,50 198,62K

CRH 2.980,5 3.023,5 2.962,5 73,92K

Croda Intl 6.606,0 6.652,0 6.554,0 27,41K

DCC 4.766,0 4.822,0 4.752,0 8,57K

Diageo 3.589,0 3.624,5 3.581,0 259,45K

DS Smith 282,40 285,30 278,30 403,87K

EasyJet 320,90 332,20 319,37 163,06K

Experian 2.704,0 2.735,0 2.699,0 128,10K

Ferguson 9.226,0 9.308,0 9.166,0 38,48K

Flutter Entertainment 10.665,0 10.880,0 10.625,0 16,04K

Fresnillo 704,20 724,40 700,60 172,87K

Glencore 492,30 501,60 489,45 5,43M

GSK

1.373,70

89,09K

Intermediate Capital 999,40 1.018,50 993,40 50,83K

Intertek 3.709,0 3.744,0 3.697,0 16,06K

ITV 65,36 66,70 65,05 242,81K

J Sainsbury 185,35 189,80 184,70 434,11K

Johnson Matthey 1.917,0 1.942,0 1.903,0 104,23K

Land Securities 527,40 545,40 526,00 248,76K

Legal & General 230,00 235,60 229,50 637,83K

Lloyds Banking 42,05 43,01 41,94 26,70M

London Stock Exchange 7.370,0 7.516,0 7.318,0 58,28K

Melrose Industries 103,95 106,50 103,35 3,04M

Mondi 1.473,50 1.479,00 1.447,00 85,14K

National Grid 905,00 916,20 902,00 1,01M

NatWest Group 237,70 242,70 236,00 3,86M

Next 4.790,0 4.897,0 4.783,0 33,15K

Norilskiy Nikel ADR 9,10 9,10 9,10 0

Ocado 478,30 495,80 472,80 473,29K

Persimmon 1.241,5 1.268,0 1.227,0 338,94K

Phoenix 537,20 546,00 536,40 228,97K

Prudential 828,80 867,60 820,00 1,87M

Reckitt Benckiser 5.909,0 5.964,0 5.888,6 4,81K

Relx 2.241,00 2.255,00 2.222,00 282,40K

Rentokil 508,00 510,20 503,60 477,90K

Rightmove 470,20 472,70 464,80 259,37K

Rio Tinto PLC 4.710,0 4.765,0 4.674,0 32,52K

Rolls-Royce Holdings 73,26 75,94 73,10 3,54M

Rosneft DRC 0,20 0,20 0,20 0

Sage 712,60 720,00 710,00 103,38K

Samsung Electronics DRC 987,40 996,00 986,00 1,88K Schroders 380,0 386,9 380,0 8,17K

Scottish Mortgage 732,29 748,98 731,00 309,69K

Segro 734,40 753,20 731,40 766,44K

Severn Trent 2.348,0 2.396,0 2.329,0 136,96K

Shell 2.290,0 2.308,5 2.268,2 204,00K

Smith & Nephew 1.007,50 1.016,50 1.004,00 171,24K Smiths Group 1.509,50 1.523,00 1.501,00 66,81K

Spirax-Sarco Engineering 10.480,0 10.530,0 10.370,0 5,82K SSE 1.472,50 1.489,50 1.467,50 283,66K St. James’s Place 1.001,50 1.025,00 1.000,50 51,63K

563,20 552,00 154,13K

88,90 2,89M

3M 116,81 116,94 3,34M

American Express 140,04 141,32 132,21 11,67M

Amgen 251,94 252,38 247,01 3,53M

Apple 147,27 147,85 142,65 85,64M

Boeing 141,32 141,33 136,62 5,35M

Caterpillar 190,22 190,41 179,21 3,47M

Chevron 173,19 173,84 168,85 7,96M

Cisco 42,80 42,97 41,81 23,27M

Coca-Cola 55,96 56,10 54,99 14,90M

Dow 46,87 46,92 44,95 7,43M

Goldman Sachs 325,10 325,77 309,49 3,49M

Home Depot 275,53 275,71 268,00 3,43M

Honeywell 182,81 183,31 176,52 2,96M

IBM 129,90 130,85 127,59 7,18M

Intel 26,97 27,05 25,79 52,05M

J&J 168,71 169,37 164,43 8,12M

JPMorgan 122,23 122,39 116,33 20,37M

McDonald’s 254,55 255,36 249,50 3,25M

Merck&Co 95,67 95,96 92,64 10,23M

Microsoft 242,12 243,00 234,50 25,91M

Nike 88,50 88,78 86,71 7,85M

Procter&Gamble 128,58 128,95 126,48 6,30M

Salesforce Inc 160,17 160,43 154,82 6,13M

The Travelers 176,23 176,38 171,10 1,47M

UnitedHealth 533,73 536,53 518,01 2,80M

Verizon 35,35 35,70 34,55 50,20M

Visa A 190,37 190,95 185,05 7,57M

Walgreens Boots 34,30 34,54 33,21 9,80M

Walmart 136,80 137,41 134,00 6,04M

Walt Disney 102,04 102,30 97,89 9,82M

LMF Acquisition Opportunities -27.48% 4.84K

Sientra Inc -26.40% 7.24M

SVB -23.95% 5.60M

Starry Holdings -22.72% 1.55M

Xos

-21.33% 11.68K

Windfall tax

FORMER Spanish Minister of the Economy and now Vice­President of the Euro pean Central Bank, Luis de Guindos has called in a team of experts to study the sol vency of Spanish banks and expects to issue a non­bind ing opinion on the proposed banking windfall tax.

Greenwashing

IN what is believed to be the first action against a bank for so­called green washing, the UK Advertising Standards Authority has told HSBC that it may not run advertisements claim ing it is active in reducing harmful emissions as it ‘omitted material informa tion’ about its activities.

Fishing aid

ALTHOUGH announced ear lier in the year, the granting of aid totalling €49.5 million to compensate Spanish shipowners and aquacul ture companies for the ad ditional costs they have had to face due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine will now be allocated to those eligi ble.

Baking money

INSURANCE companies in the UK will be worried about an initial Court find ing in favour of a claim by Greggs the Bakers against Zurich.

The claim revolves around business interrup tion insurance and the amount that should be paid out due to closures during the pandemic.

Zurich argued that there should be a one­off payment under the policy with a maximum of £2.5 million, but lawyers for Greggs successfully con tested this, claiming that each time there was a change in government pandemic policy that a further £2.5 million claim should be accepted.

The next step is to agree the final pay out but this could be as high as £150 million.

Wasting energy

ON Sunday October 30, Spain will waste €300 million by putting the clocks back by one hour according to calculations by the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE).

By abandoning this move from Summer Time to Winter Time, the evenings (when people are more ac tive) would remain lighter for one hour and could ensure a reduction in energy consumption of around 5 per cent.

In theory the decision to intro duce Summer Time was to give more light to farmers at the height of their sowing and harvesting times, but there are two interest ing facts about Spain, as during the Civil War, both sides observed dif ferent time zones and even today, the Canary Islands are one hour

ahead of the rest of Spain.

Well before the current energy cri sis, the European Union had studied the time changes and in 2018, the

European Parliament voted to give each country the right to decide if it wished to continue to change time zones twice a year.

Good and bad news for Spain

With Spain championing a green energy revolution, investing billions in subsidising energy costs and cur rently rumoured to be about to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which protects invest ments in fossil fuels and other ener gy infrastructure, a simple decision to stay in Summer Time would be another way of saving energy.

There is a move in Italy to take the same action and a petition on web site change.org which concentrates on the Spanish situation already has nearly 250,000 signatures.

There is also a health issue as ac cording to US medical research, the number of people suffering heart at tacks on the day following the start of Summer Time can jump by 25 per cent compared to other Mondays in the year.

New stores

UK supermarket Asda plans to open some 30 Asda Express stores during the next year which will create some 500 new jobs.

Until now Asda has not owned any stan dalone convenience stores, but believes that there is a market for small shops situated in convenient neighbourhood locations and each will stock around 3,000 products.

Customers will also enjoy a range of hot and cold ‘food for now’ options from Asda and partner brands as well as ‘food for later’ choices such as ready meals and a selection of £10 meal deals for two people.

Stores will also offer parcel collection and return services and shortly after the first two are opened this year, they will also offer a rapid delivery service through Uber Eats.

Royal visit

SPANISH exports and imports both reached record highs in the period January to August 2022 according to a recent statement by Xiana Méndez, Secretary of State for Commerce.

Compared to the previous year, exports increased by 25 per cent to €252 billion and Méndez said “Spanish foreign trade continues to show dy namism despite the uncertain ty in a less favourable global context, reaching historical fig ures in the value of exports and imports.”

Conversely and equally im

portantly for the economy, im ports rose by 40.5 per cent to €298.5 billion so there is a sig nificant negative balance of trade which needs to be ad dressed especially as the cost of living continues to rise.

The bulk of the statement was devoted to information concerning exports with the biggest market being the Euro pean Union (62 per cent of the total) which was up by 26.1 per cent.

It was notable that the bulk of growth was to other mem bers of the euro zone with

much lower growth to those in the European Union who still keep their own currencies al though in August the situation had started to reverse.

The main positive contribu tions to the annual variation rate of exports came from the sectors of energy products, capital goods, food, beverages, tobacco, automobiles.

The autonomous communi ties with the highest year­onyear growth in their exports were the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and the Com munity of Madrid.

KING FELIPE VI visited the European Central Bank in Frankfurt on Wednesday October 19 during his State Visit to Germany.

Accompanied by Spanish Minister for the Economy and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares Bueno, and the Governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos he met President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde.

After discussions concerning the current state of the world’s economy and its impact on the eurozone, the king accompanied Christine Lagarde to the ‘Holocaust Memorial’, which is located under the offices of the European Cen tral Bank and is a basement in which Jews were held before they were to be taken by train to the extermination camps.

ADJUSTING CLOCKS: Changing time zones also affects the body.

Credit:

XIANA MÉNDEZ: Issued a statement regarding Spanish foreign trade reaching record highs.

A

REBECCA SERWOTKA ­ “We sell hous es! It’s what we do, it’s ALL we do!” Your favourite local resale property expert, of Inmobiliaria Real Estate Agents in Ciudad Quesada. Published author of ‘Moving Forward ­ 25 Es sential Rules For Buying & Sell ing Real Estate Without Going Crazy’.

Request your FREE copy! Featured on Best Buy Spain. Prestige Award Winner for ‘Real Estate Agency Of The Year 2021/22’.

Purchasing a home on the Costa Blanca?

It may seem straightforward that the home seller owns their property, however there could be hidden de tails that are not ap parent, even to that homeowner. Out standing debts, mort gages or even liens could be registered

SIMPLE’?

against the property that the home owners themselves may not be aware of.

In order to prove there are no out standing debts registered against the property and to prove who ac tually owns it, a ‘Nota Simple’ should be requested. This is a Land Registry Search.

You cannot order a Nota Simple with the property’s street address. You need to have its legal description.

It will look like this: To mo: 0000 Libro: 00 Fo lio: 000 Finca número: 0000 Inscripción: 0

The Nota Simple will show the cur rent homeowners’ names, address of the property, square metres of the home and land it sits on. It will also show if there are any debts registered against the property.

Rebecca Serwotka.

TYPICAL Labour attitude; always attack adversaries when their prob lems run high. Rather like a boxer endeavouring to compete in the ring after his rival has sprained a wrist or twisted an ankle. They are actually fully aware that their chances of winning a general elec tion on their own are virtually nonexistent. The best result they could possibly expect is a coalition with a couple of other parties, all piling in to number 10 in an effort to gain as much power as possible.

They accuse the Conservatives of ‘in fighting’; believe me, if a coali tion occurred it would be akin to WW3! You could forget the poor old British public. Things would be crumbling around them for years.

Can you imagine this whole mob of power happy, cross party individu als, screaming at each other around the number 10 ministerial table, or brawling for positions in the house as the country went to the dogs?

Give us a break. The lefties don’t actually care of course. They are in reality, at this present moment, ful

Complete chaos

ly prepared to let the country sink into chaos while they concentrate their whole resources on at least three months of electioneering. Starmer has stated that should he be elected they could fix some of the worst problems in one day!

How ridiculous to expect the long suffering British public to vote them in because they offer to repair many of the enigmas which are ac tually affecting the whole global economy, in 24 hours? Typical left wing propaganda slurry of course.

The last time they won an elec tion they took the country and its public for mugs and ultimately fin ished up on the floor. That same re sult of a left wing communistic atti tude, which is also as we speak crushing the American constitution under the Biden administration.

That is of course one of the rea sons he keeps decrying the UK. They too want a lefty government to prevail as political partners in global affairs; making it easier to adopt the attitude of Republican crook George Bush when he sided with ‘New Labour’ Blair to nick the

Iraqi oil. This resulted in thousands of our troops dying in a war that finished up precisely nowhere.

Don’t get me wrong, as stated re cently I don’t really give a toss for any of them. Having stated that I wouldn’t have minded Penny Mor daunt, already leader of the house getting in; I truly do enjoy the pre sentations of highly intelligent beautiful ladies. If I had the oppor tunity and was 30 years younger, I probably would have voted to elect her. Ah well, dream on Leapy. Sunak is in. Never fancied him of course! Ah well. Keep those mails arriving; I promise I do read every one.

Keep the faith. Love Leapy. leapylee2002@gmail.com expatradioscotland.com Mon. Wed and Fri. 1pm till 4. (Noon UK time)

What have sunflowers done to deserve this?

NORAJOHNSON BREAKINGVIEWS

CLIMATE activists who threw tomato soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in protest against new oil and gas projects then joined Extinction Rebellion’s protests.

Such hooliganism, such disrespect for someone who never benefited from his art. How did poor old Vincent and his sunflowers contribute to climate change? Why don’t eco­terrorists protest/glue themselves to the shiny skyscrapers where business decisions GET made?

Or go to Ukraine and help with aid efforts? If that’s too ‘boring’, then get THEM to manage the British economy without destroying the whole thing in the pro cess.

Couldn’t make more of a mess of it than the current lot. You might call it a U­turn, I couldn’t possibly comment.

But regardless of their hypocrisy, since they use many items derived from oil, there’d be mass starvation within six months if oil was removed from all our lives. We can feed the world population because of fertiliser, made from fossil fu el, enabling the planting, harvesting and processing of crops. Re move that, and no food will be cultivated with disastrous consequences.

Can these idiots prac tise what they preach and make themselves EXTINCT? Now, that’s a thought: that’s what might well happen in my next thriller...

Nora Johnson’s criti cally acclaimed psycho logical crime thrillers (www.nora­johnson.net) all available online in cluding eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, au diobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc.

Profits to Cudeca cancer charity. NoraJohnson’sopinionsareherownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

Noraistheauthorofpopularpsychological

Nora’s latest thriller.

Urinary tract infections

ANYBODY of any age, male or female, can get a urinary tract infection (UTI). The infection is usually caused by bacteria en tering the urinary tract. The bacteria travels up through the tube (urethra) that carries urine out of your body, until it reaches the bladder.

Women are more likely to have a UTI as they have a shorter urethra than men which makes it easier for the bacteria to reach the bladder or kidneys and cause an infec tion.

Symptoms can vary and may include pain or a burning sensation when weeing, need ing to wee suddenly or more urgently than usual and more often than usual during the night, wee that looks cloudy, dark or has a strong smell, blood in your wee, lower tum my pain or pain in your back, just under the ribs, a high tem perature, or feeling hot and shivery and sometimes a very low temperature (below 36ºC).

It is important to seek medi cal advice from your GP.

Ashamed about sex

tween the sexes, and have to avoid us ing the wrong pronoun or any word connoting male or female.

I HAVE a confession to make. I have al ways regarded myself as male (boyman­masculine­he). I realise now that such thinking is deeply offensive to mil lions of sensitive snowflakes, (snow drops, buttercups or butterflies) and I must admit that I am simply a person. Perhaps I should start by changing my name.

David is clearly a name associated with what we used to call men, as in firemen and postmen. Perhaps I should call myself Pat or Sam which can apply to persons of either sex. And my sur name should in future be Worchildren.

When I was young, we enjoyed the clear distinction between the male and female sexes. Why would there be any shame in being referred to as a ‘he’ or ‘a woman’.

Today’s Western society seems to be afraid of sex. There is reportedly a di minishing interest among younger peo ple in having sex at all. We are even discouraged from distinguishing be

For example, John Allan is chairman of Tesco. Why was he introduced on a recent TV programme as “Chair, Tesco”? A chair is something we sit on. And why have actresses become known as ‘actors’, while a princess re mains proudly feminine?

In the 50s there was a cheeky maga zine called ‘Men Only’ ­ or, in today’s terminology, ‘People Only’. The small red insect we have to call a personbird was known as a ladybird and Wycombe Abbey was an eminent girls’ school attended by schoolgirls (rather than a school attended by students). A female cat was known as a she­cat (whoops, is this offensive?), and a handyman would come round and fix things.

Oh! And before the arrival of Andy Murray, I used to follow the tennis ca reer of Tim Henperson.

YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE - YOUR OPINION

Letters should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments on our website: euroweeklynews.com Views expressed and opinions given are not necessarily those of the EWN publishers. No responsibility is accepted for accuracy of information, errors, omissions or statements.

TAXI FIASCO

WE went to Frigiliana on October 20, by bus.

Being our first visit there we went sightseeing, had lunch and decided to re turn to our hotel by taxi.

We waited for over one hour and not one, I repeat not one taxi came.

The couple in front rang all the numbers suggested on the rank board.

And was told “he’s on his way.”

“He’s a minute away,”

What sort of service is this?

Very angry. A good day spoiled

We shall not be return ing.

Steve Wagstaffe

Fed up

Absolutely fed up and shocked by Leapy Lee’s continued enabling of the racist LL. Presumably you will justify this hate speech all in the name of free speech.

Your disclaimer does not convince.

A Fowles

Correcting confusion

Am glad you printed Alan Robinson’s letter cor recting the confusion which some people seem to have regarding the re strictions that have arisen since Britain left the EU. Previously you printed an earlier letter (30 June this year) in which it offensive ly accused Spain of ‘pig headedness’.

Clearly, this person has still not got the message! Please do not print any more of the informed let ters... it would be much more helpful to use the

Our View column to set the record straight and prevent further misunder standings.

OUR VIEW

FACT NOT FICTION

OLDER readers will probably remember TV comedy The New Statesman starring Rik Mayall as Conservative MP Alan B’Stard which ran from 1987 to 1994.

According to Wikipedia, B’Stard was a selfish, greedy, dishonest, lecherous, ultra-right-wing Conservative back bencher who intentionally mismanaged a Tory election campaign so Labour would be blamed for an economic crisis.

During the period that the comedy was first on TV and then took to the stage, almost anything and everything happened to take the rise out of the Tory Party and politi cians in general, but even the writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran would have been hard pushed to dream up what has now become reality.

In 1865, politician and reformer John Bright said “Eng land is the mother of parliaments” and certainly until re cently, Westminster was considered a beacon of democra cy around the world for centuries, but sadly no longer.

The last 10 years or so have seen so many scandals and misjudgements by the UK parliament especially with the Brexit referendum that for many of us it reinforces the fact that we are lucky to have found a new home in our adopted country of Spain.

Naturally, not everything is perfect here and there have been plenty of allegations of corruption, nepotism and simple mismanagement, but things don’t appear to be as bad as they are in the UK.

There will be a general election in Spain before the end of 2023 and there could well be some changes, but whilst many are calling for a British general election now rather than another leadership competition, it seems unlikely when so many Conservative MPs face losing their seats according to opinion polls.

Hispanophile Cabopino

Doggie diet

ALONG with exercise and mental health, diet has the most significant impact on your dog’s well­being. A healthy di et can be the difference between a long, fulfilling life and life­limiting health conditions. So what should you be feeding your four­legged friend for the best quali ty of life possible?

Try out different things. No two dogs are the same, and the same goes for diets. Some dogs do better on meatbased diets and others on plant­based diets. Speak to your vet and research diets for your breed of dog.

Introduce fresh foods. Fruits and vegetables can give your dog a new burst of energy. They contain enzymes and nu trients crucial for diges tion and energy levels.

But avoid citrus, grapes and onion which can be toxic for dogs.

Avoid processed foods. Just like for humans, pro cessed food is not nutri tious for your pet. Dry food can be a more con venient and affordable option for your dog, but try to supplement it if you can with some fresh food or raw meat.

Doris Rämisch, a ca nine nutritionist based in Mallorca said “You notice the difference of feeding your dog a natu ral diet, their hair shines more and they are more active among other ben efits.”

Rämisch recommends meat­based natural di ets for optimal dog health.

Comfort for cats

AS expats, many of us have to travel often, and as a pet owner it can be difficult to ensure your pet’s comfort and safety while on the move.

Here we share some vetapproved tips on how to have the best travel experi ence with your cat.

1. Bring a comfortable and secure carry­case

Stressful and uncomfort able situations can be trig gers for anxiety, which makes cats run away or squeeze into tight spots. Make sure your travel car ry­case is a comfortable but snug fit to keep your cat safe, don’t spend your trip chasing after your cat!

2. Pack some cleaning supplies

The changes while travel ling can cause confusion, and sometimes, accidents. Make sure you are pre pared for accidents by bringing some wipes and cleaning supplies.

3. Pack familiar items A familiar blanket or toy can help to ease the confu sion and disorientation your cat might feel when travelling. Having a familiar scent can be soothing for your cat in new and foreign situations.

4. Be prepared for anxi ety

Travelling can be a terri fying experience for some cats. If you are concerned

about a particularly ner vous pet, speak to your vet who may be able to pre

keep your

while travelling.

scribe some calming medicine to reduce your cat’s anxiety.

Dogs’ most common health problems

A STUDY from the RVC has found the most common health problems in dogs are dental dis ease, obesity and ear infections.

• The most common health problems of dogs are dental dis ease (12.5%), ear infection (7.3%) and obesity (7.1%)

• 65.8% of the observed dogs had at least one disorder in the single year of the study

• Male dogs had higher risk than females for 10 disorders: ear infection, aggression, cough ing, seizures, foreign body, drug reaction, moist dermatitis, wound, laceration and arthritis

• Female dogs had higher risk than males for four disorders: urinary incontinence, urinary tract infection, mammary lump and overgrown nails

• The study showed that health in dogs generally deteriorates as dogs age, with older dogs gener ally having more health prob lems per year than younger dogs

•These findings highlight the complexity of caring properly for

Work closely with a vet.

dogs; but by knowing more about why dogs get sick, owners are better placed to keep them safe. These findings can also as sist veterinarians and owners to decide on the best preventive care for their dog, especially as they get older.

Dr Dan O’Neill, Senior Lectur er, Companion Animal Epidemi ology, at the RVC, and lead au thor of the paper, said: This study shows interesting and strong correlations be tween human and canine healthcare: the need for good dental and bodyweight mainte nance.

Owners should work closely with their vet to plan appropri ate dental and weight care pro grammes at each visit to their veterinary clinic.

ON

Feeding your dog a nutritious diet is key to a long life.

J & J PAINTERS. Insideoutside - clean - fast - low cost. Torrevieja - Orihuela Costa and surrounding a reas. Tel: 650 363 159 (294244)

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS IS ALCOHOL COSTING YOU MORE THAN MONEY? Drinking to excess not only affects your health it can spill over into ev ery other aspect of your lifedamaging everything that is important to you. Englishspeaking AA meetings are held throughout the Costa Blanca from Valencia City to Murcia. Anyone wishing to attend a meeting or discuss a possible drinking problem contact Costa Blanca North: 648 169 045 or Costa Blanca South: 625 912 078 or Costa Calida 679 385 105 All calls are treated in the strictest confidence. AA in Ger man: 645 456 075; Spanish: 679 212 535; Flemish: 635 047 053; and Scandinavian: 659 779 222. www.aa-costablan ca.org (93323)

also have a 24-hour Emer gency helpline which is available to both members and non-members on 966 723 733 (95456)

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY, TORREVIEJA Calle Beniajan 16, Torrevieja 03185, Alicante Evangelical non-de nominational church. Sunday morning Services at 11.00am. All nationalities welcome - Con tact 966 752 543 / 966 799 273. For other church matters phone: 966 799 273 / /617 215 463 www.icatorrevieja.org (95476)

LA SIESTA EVANGELICAL CHURCH on Urbanisation La Siesta, Torrevieja is a friendly, English-speaking church. For more information, including de tails of our services, see our website www.lasiestaevangeli calchurch.org (10005)

branch website www.orihuela costarbl.co.uk. (95457)

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION Gran Alacant & La Marina Branch. For info, contact the branch Secretary at granalacant.secre tary@rbl.community

ROYAL MARINES ASSOCIA TION (Costa Blanca) The aim of the Association is to bring together not just ex Royal Marines, but ex Service person nel with an affinity to the Royal Marines. For further details contact Hon Sec P S Wilkins Tel: 966 194 158 email: inkin spain@yahoo.co.uk (10004)

PRIVATE collector will buy your Gold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel - 678 716 693 (288662)

CAMPELLO CONTRA CANCER in conjunction with AECC Asso ciation Español Contra Cancer. Please support your local Can cer charity and if you wish to obtain literature or simply talk to someone. Please contact Mi na or Trisha. Tel 650 071 278 or 610 921 413 e-mail aecc_campello@hotmail.com (95475)

CANCER SUPPORT GROUP (MABS) MURCIA/MAR MENOR Help and support is just a phone call away, Avda Rio Nalón, Tel: 693 275 779 (95462)

CHURCH SERVICE IN EN GLISH Tel: 950 617 549 www.givinglight.com.(10006)

FREEMASONRY . Are you aware that Freemasonry is thriving on the Costa Blanca? There are various Lodges meeting up throughout the Va lencia region. If you already are a Mason or simply wish to know more about Freema sonry in Spain please contact sec@glpvalencia.com Tel 600 841 064 (95477)

PHILIP SCOTT LODGE No 10671 of the RAOB. Please call the secretary, Colin Bird on 693 287 614 for further informa tion. (95459)

PILAR CHRISTIAN COMMUNI TY CHURCH. All welcome from any church background or none. For further information, www.pilarchurch.org Reg No: 2009-SG/A (95463)

ROYAL Air Force Association Costa Blanca Registered Mem bers Group: The RAFA Costa Blanca RMG replaces the RAFA Costa Blanca Branch 1359 which is now closed. The RMG is a social group of caring peo ple and remains affiliated to the parent Association. Contact with the Royal Air Force Associ ation and the RMG can be made via the RAFA website rafa.org.uk. Tel:0044 8 00 018 2361. (238593)

ROYAL NAVAL ASSOCIATION For information please contact Chairman Anthony Jenkins +34 693 866 709, Vice Chairman Dusty Miller +34 711 006 670, Secretary Mike Cockman +34 670 224 822, Treasurer Carl Louden +34 678 518 202, email rnatorrevieja@aol.com (95455)

STROKE ASSOCIATION Spain (formally known as Torrevieja stroke support) Our aim is to help and support stroke sur vivors and their carers, with re habilitation, speech therapy, OC therapy and a very active social group. For info please contact 653 588 475 English and 620 907 474 Spanish or email strokesupportgroup@ hotmail.com, website: torrevie jastrokesupport.org. We are al ways looking for volunteers who have the skills and knowl edge to support. (95473)

families with neurological dis eases such as; HUNTING TON’S, ATAXIA, MOTOR NEU RONE, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS and PARKINSON’S. Our MOVERS AND SHAKERS CLUB held every Friday @ 1pm –3pm, is a chance for members to meet up socially, for a drink and a chat on a full range of topics and to exchange ideas and information. The club is held at O’Briens Bar in El Raso, Guardamar del Segura (except July and August). For more de tails, contact Marion Smith on 711 008 250, or email: mari on.smith@amscb.org.es, or you can find us on Facebook : fb@movers and shakers www.amscb.org.es (295976)

BATHROOM & KITCHEN Con versions Costa Blanca, contact 698 320 434. (291660)

WE buy, sell & transport all makes of static caravans for more information contact 630 055 418 or Elsyd7@hotmail.com (294686)

CARE home in Torrevieja, full care, full board from €800 per month. Call 747 438 225 (295552)

HELP VEGA BAJA. We are a non-profit making organisation that helps and supports any one, without prejudice, in times of need or crisis within the Vega Baja area. Our offices are based in San Miguel at Calle Lope de Vega 46 (Tel 966 723 733), Torrevieja at Rambla Juan Mateo Garcia 4 (Tel 965 704 282). We are online at www.helpvegabaja.com and al so on Facebook. You can email the San Miguel Centre at office@helpvegabaja.com. We

ROYAL BRITISH LEGIONWhy not make this year the year you volunteer? See how you can help either as a case worker (with full training) or as a Telephone Buddy. We also visit beneficiaries who are housebound or in hospital. If you feel you could support us here in Spain, and you have a Spanish phone number then why not email us for more info tbuddyhhvisits@gmail.com. If you or your partner served or are serving, and you feel you need help or support then con tact us using the details on the card, we are here for the small things as well as the big, sometimes talking to someone is the first step to feeling more in control. It can be a personal need or some help with your home or information on what or who to speak to on a medi cal issue, we help with sign posting if we cannot help di rectly, just call and have a chat with Pam who will try to guide you to where you need to be. If you would like to go to a branch meeting then find your nearest one at, http://branch es.britishlegion.org.uk/branch es/orihuela-costa - covering from Punta Prima to San Javier. More info can be found on

THE AIRCREW ASSOCIATION COSTA BLANCA BRANCH. For mer & serving aircrews of the UK or Allied Armed Forces are welcome to join this convivial & friendly organisation, now in its 21st year. www.acacostablan ca.org or call the Secretary on: 966 495 042 (95465)

THE ANGLICAN CHURCH, La Fustera. For more info: contact Frank Bentley on 966 495 188. (95461)

THE BAKER Foundation Spiri tual Centre Playa Flamenca. Calle Luis Gordillo, 1 Playa Fla menca Alicante 03189. You can join us on Facebook, The Baker Foundation spiritual centre. Or contact Linda Schug Tel. 606 990 665 for more details (95458)

THE PATIENCE LODGE No 2177 of the R.A.O.B Please call Secretary Dave Tonge on 688 704 091 for further informa tion. (253807)

THE SPIRITUALIST CENTRE, Benijofar meets at Hamilton’s Bake House, 62 Calle Vicente, Blasco Ibañez, Benijofar 03178. We hold a Sunday Sevrice at 11.30am. For further information: www.spiritualist centre-benijofar.com . Tele phone 711 060 171. Email martindroute66@hot mail.com. Fiscal G54713789

MOVERS AND SHAKERS We are a non-profit organisation that supports people and their

MR FIXIT. For all your electri cal, plumbing, general & appli ance & boiler repairs. No call out charge. 698 320 434 (290228)

FED UP OF NOT BEING SENT YOUR RENEWAL? CUT YOUR INSURANCE COSTS AND STILL HAVE 100% COVER. YOU HAVE TRIED THE REST NOW TRY THE BEST WITH SOS IN SURANCE. WE CAN EVEN INSURE YOU FOR UP TO A €1,000 OF WATERLOSS. CALL 686 116 297 (WHAT SAPP TO) OR VISIT www.sosinsurancein spain.com or email tracey@sosinsurancein spain.com (302024)

WANTED Gold, Silver, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel678 716 693 (288662)

BENEFICIAL INSURANCE SERVICES. Car, Home, Busi ness, Travel, Life, Funeral, all insurances available. Policies in English. BEST rates, covers & service. Im mediate quotes. Tel 961 129 215 / 622 275 561, (WhatsApp) info@benefi cialinsuranceinspain.com or visit www.beneficialinsuran ceinspain.com for online quote. (301135)

STAY SAFE! Abbeygate Insur ance Call 971 277 455 For your security www.abbeygatein sure.com

FRENCH,

PERSONAL TRAINER, WEIGHT LOSS, TONING, RESULTS GUARANTEED. CERTIFIED WITH 30

EXPERIENCE. FORMER US KICKBOX CHAMPI ON. CALL 747 438 225 (301319)

EXPERIENCE

CLASSIC SPANISH LADY , Playa Flamenca area, private premises, all massage services from 40€. Ana 657 603 495 (302112)

ATTRACTIVE, Girlfriend, Pro fessional Masseuse relaxing and therapeutic Masseuse. Tel: 693 357 526 (295448)

RELAXING MASSAGE FOR MEN - Mario qualified masseur in Alicante - Spe cial Massage for Men - 7 days 10am to 10pmAPPOINTMENTS visit : www.masajeyrelax.es/en or WHATSAPP 649 761 607 (296490)

LA ZENIA AREA English Masseuse offering relaxing & theraputic massage. Home premises and visits within 20kms of La Zenia. Call 711 041 330 (301279)

DIANA from Greece. Masseur. Call for relaxing & therapeutic massage. Torrevieja. Call 663 817 943 (302072)

LA ZENIA Professional Sensu al Massage service for men by

either an English Male or a Male/Female couple. Home premises and visits within 20km of La Zenia area. Call or WhatsApp 711 059 849

GOLD & SILVER Bought & Sold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel - 678 716 693

PIANO , Keyboard, Organ, Qualified Teacher. Please call 606 984 535 (294805)

KAMAGRA Gold 100mg plus Kamagra Jellies. Collection or Delivery. ROY HAS A NEW TEL. - 613 584 915 (295447) tp

Male/Female viagra, cialis, ka magra jelly, mixed trial packs available, all areas mail or der. 604 385 476. viagra4you19@gmail.com

GATAMI ORGANISATION, to help kittens and cats, looking for good homes, also spaying wild cats in the community. Kit tens require adoption, fully vaccinated, de-wormed, deflead. volunteers to Tel Anna: 966 806 976 / 654 729 977 (95709)

P.E.P.A. VOLUNTEERS & FOS TER HOMES URGENTLY NEED ED. By fostering an abandoned dog or spending a few hours each week on our telephone helpline, you could help save the lives of many animals. Please call: 650 304 746. For more information browse our website: www.pepaspain.com (95708)

WE ARE currently the market leader in our country in the sale of direct car, motorbike, home and company fleet insur ance. Since we started out in 1995, our philosophy has al ways been to offer an excellent service with the best prices in the market. For the most com petitive quotes in English, call Linea Directa on 952 147 834.

TAILOR-MADE in durable canvas, pergola covers, sails, umbrella, spa and CAR COV ERS. 10% off Cushions. Mazarron to Costa Blanca. RE TIRING SOON DON’T MISS OUT Google: KrugerCanopies. com WhatsApp: 667 879 399 krugercanopies@yahoo.co.uk (293646)

SPAMA GANDIA SHELTER. Dog and cat rescue registered charity, La Safor area. 500 ani mals awaiting rehoming. Phone Gail 962 896 118. Visit our website for directions. www.spama.org and view our new blog at www.spama -safor.blog.com.es PLEASE HELP US TO HELP THEM (95707)

PLUMBERS

MOTORHOME / Campervan wanted. Left or right hand drive. Cash waiting for right van. Tlf 650 722 905

EASYHORSE CARE RESCUE CENTRE. We aim to rescue HORSES. If you would like to DONATE please call 965 967 033 or sales@easyhorse care.net www.easyhorse care.net or call Sue 652 021 980 (95706)

MR FIXIT. For all your electri cal, plumbing, general & appli ance & boiler repairs. No call out charge. 698 320 434 (290228)

POOL MAINTENANCE Repairs, Spares and Leak Testing. Call 965 725 565 / 676 945 360 www.pooltechspain.com (289147)

POOL MAINTENANCE REMOVALS/STORAGE

FED UP PAYING TOO MUCH FOR YOUR MOBILE PHONE CALLS? THEN CONTACT TELITEC TODAY. CALLS TO SPAIN 7C PER MINUTE IN CLUDING MOBILES. CALLS TO UK 5.3C PER MINUTE. NO MONTHLY FEES, NO CON TRACT. WWW.TELITEC.COM TEL: 902 889 070 (2001)

/ JACUZZIS

byMarkSlack

WHEN you find the flagship model of a range is priced from just under €29k/£25k you’re looking at a manu facturer who knows how to package cars. When you find out we’re talking Skoda it comes as no surprise. The Scala sits between the Fabia and Octavia in terms of size and is a five door hatchback that looks a little bit more like an estate than tradi tional hatch.

My test model was the Monte Carlo finished in op tional, and rather smart, Race Blue Metallic. Add the standard panoramic glass roof and extended glass of the tailgate and this is an unusual and rather stylish bargain.

The range starts at €23,210/£20,120 and comes with a good range of standard equipment, al though not navigation, but you can link your smart phone. The Monte Carlo

Skoda Scala Monte Carlo

counter are almost identical, so a quick glance can be con fusing. Thankfully there is a digital speedometer and you can remove the rev counter with one of the view changes.

The build quality on the Scala is excellent and it feels and drives like a more ex pensive car. With superbly comfortable seats and a spacious interior for both

passengers and luggage, it makes the Scala a bit of a bargain. If you don’t need the slightly larger frame of the Octavia, then the Scala fits the bill perfectly.

I’m lucky to be able to drive a different car every week, and some very nice cars, but the Scala Monte Carlo is definitely one I’d be happy to keep in my garage.

Facts at a Glance

Model: Skoda Scala Monte Carlo

including 18­inch black al loys, powered, heated and folding door mirrors, priva cy glass, navigation, air con ditioning, rear view camera and very comfortable sports seats that look the part for a car bearing a Monte Carlo badge. It’s a very nice place to be seat ed.

choice of 1.0­litre, threecylinder turbocharged petrol engine or, as in my test car, a 1.5­litre fourcylinder petrol. Mated to a six­speed manual gearbox, with nicely slick gear change, it’s a pleasant drive that rides well with rather decent handling too.

Despite the Monte Carlo

certainly pick its feet up when required, yet returns around 50 mpg.

The interior, unlike so many VAG cars, has a pleas ing number of buttons and sensible digitisation. One mi nor issue with the instru ment panel, which has a multitude of optional views, is the speedometer and rev

Prices: €30,356/£26,315

Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol developing 150PS

Gears: 6-speed manual

Performance: 0-100 kph (62 mph) 8.2 secs

Maximum Speed Petrol 223 kph (139 mph)

Economy: Petrol 5.6 l/100km (50.4 mpg) WLTP

Emissions: 133 g/km WLTP

Model tested was UK-specification and equipment levels and prices may vary in other markets.

Motoring market shifts gear

PORSCHE became the most valuable car brand in Europe on October 6, overtaking its parent company, German giant Volkswagen. Porsche reached the coveted posi tion with its value rising to €92.6 billion, as Volk swagen reached a value of around €82 billion.

The change in stock markets also propelled Porsche to become the fifth most valuable Ger man brand. The brand outperformed expecta tions by market experts in overtaking its parent company so significantly.

The change came just one week after Volkswa gen was forced to sell 12.5 per cent of Porsche due to a grim economic forecast. VW raised €9.4 billion with the sale.

Experts remarked that the change echoed the phenomenon when Ital ian sports car brand Fer rari surpassed the value of its parent company, Fi

at in 2015.

The third most valuable car brand in Europe is Mercedes­Benz, followed by BMW with values of €57.03 and €47.5 billion respectively.

Today’s motoring mar ket does not follow the same rules as in the past. Brands’ value corre sponds with more subjec

tive measures, such as their equity rates.

For example, despite producing a fraction of the cars of European car manufacturers, pioneer ing American brand Tesla is worth more than the top five European car brands combined, with a market value of around €766 billion.

PRESTIGIOUS British car brand, Rolls Royce, is set to release its very first electric car. The Spectre is the most luxurious elec tric vehicle that money can buy and will set buy ers back a cool €350,000 when it hits the market next year.

The Spectre, already be ing called ‘The world’s most luxurious electric car’ is dazzlingly powerful at 585 horsepower, with an electric range of 520 kilometres on full charge. The transition to electric engine production is fit ting for the brand who have promised a smooth ride since their origins in the early 20th century.

The car is a full sized Rolls Royce and is typical ly large, at five metres long, with nearly 60cm wheels. The brand is owned by BMW, but opt ed to use their own ‘Ar chitecture of Luxury’ de sign on the Spectre, an aluminium platform inte gral to previous models including the Ghost.

Rolls Royce also

Luxury goes electric

promise ‘effortless per formance and limitless freedom’ in the car which underwent rigorous test driving in the French Riv iera and the Artic Circle.

The interior is just as decadent. The four seater coupe boasts rear hinged

doors, for passengers’ comfort and luxury leather upholstered seats. Rolls Royce are making the move to electric pow er in a typically stylish way. The Spectre does not compromise on luxu ry.

PORSCHE: Now Europe’s most valuable brand at almost €93 billion.

WALKING FOOTBALL - TORREVIEJA FOR THRILLS

THIS Saturday, October 29 all roads lead to the Torrevieja Sports City for the Costa Blanca’s biggest ever Walking Football Tournament for the Torrevieja Trophy.

It is sure to be compet itive with teams from the Costas Blanca and del Sol, Murcia,England and the Basque Country.

The Tournament kicks off at 10am with two cracking matches to get the excitement going. In Group A Athletic Club (Basque) meet Hartshill (Birmingham) and Group B El Cañadon (All Spanish team from the Costa del Sol) v Morecambe (Eng land).

Group A Athletic Club, Hartshill, Camposol (Murcia), Formentera (Costa Blanca) and Mala ga (Costa del Sol).

Group B El Cañadon, Morecambe, Esquina Park Rangers, Hondon

Valley Flyers and Porto bello (Current League Champions) ( Costa Blan ca).

This will be a tight group with three local teams competing with English and Spanish op position.

Matches are 20 min utes and the teams will progress to the Play­Offs

to decide who will collect the trophy and for the second and third places.

The Play­Offs will kick off at 2.15pm with the final kick ing off at 4pm fol lowed by the Tro phy Presentation.

CD Thader march on. Thader’s third

match since being formed saw them visit the Red Lions of Fortuna on Monday October 17 and come away with their third win in succes sion. In a close end to end game it was Thader who settled first hitting two goals in the first five minutes. Fortu na were back in the game 10 minutes later pulling a goal back.

However just before half time Thader went fur ther ahead quick ly increasing their lead to 4­1. It was goals a plenty in the second half with the hosts pulling the score back to 4­3 with some slick incisive passing before Thader hit back with three quick

goals to make it 7­3, with Fortuna adding a consolation goal to make the final score, the Red Lions of Fortuna 4 CD Thader 7 leaving Thader unbeaten in three matches.

Ray Glover was voted Man of the Match.

Next up on Wednesday November 2, CD Thader play Entre Naranjes WFC. A warm welcome was extended to CD Thader’s newest member Ian Driver.

Last Wednesday,Octo ber 19, Formentera WFC visited San Flugencio for a friendly match on the refurbished pitch at La Marina. Formentera, much improved from last season, had a comfort able 7­1 win.

For all news of walking football on the Costa Blanca make sure you get YOUR copy of the E u ro Weekly News.

TOURNAMENT : CD Thader, Red Lions and Fortuna.

Torrevieja Tournament on Saturday October 29.

PHOTOS. Torrevieja