I recently spent some time with local sporting start Víctor Fernández López who has just come runner up for the second year running in the Wave category of the Professional Windsurfers Association Tour.

Among the things we discussed where his background, targets for the future, sponsorship, and working together through Almerimar Life.

Thank you to Jenny Edwards for her first hand account of the Spanish Hauliers Strike!, and some tips on where to buy great plants!

A day out in search of plants for the garden turned out to be rather more interesting than we had at first anticipated!

Reading BOF’s first article, Noise in Almerimar, and the comment that people have varying degrees of tolerance to noise, I was reminded of an interesting article I read a while ago.

We all experience the world through our senses but, even in exactly the same situation, what we experience may be very different. Some people adore the feel of silk and velvet. They probably also savour the flavour of fresh peach, dress brightly and crave company. Others prefer their own space, calm and orderly, uninvaded by the noise of others.The Telegraph

Further news on efforts to raise money to help the stray animals in and around Almerimar. Well done to Pam Roberts who spent several hours at the Ankara today, and raised 98 euros from a book sale. Thank you to everyone who bought and donated books, including John Roberts who did both. Apparently Pam had unbeknown to him cleared out a few of his books and he gamely bought them back! This time the money is going directly to support the Casa De Los Gatos. Pam is planning another book sale in Roquetas next Sunday, and would appreciate more books if you have any going spare.

Firstly I have to thank Mary again for taking me to the airport last night to pick up my mother. I was becoming increasingly concerned as the wind got stronger that my not particularly stable jeep would blow all over the motorway and my fears were not helped by the story of Betty’s experience just a couple of hours earlier.

What brought you to Almerimar?

We found Almerimar during our three and a half years sailing and seemed to keep coming back for the Winters. It had a lot to do with the people we met here. I then took some bar work really for something to do, ended up taking over the original Bahia for 18 months, and then after a short break we opened La Bahia in the square.

Don’t Forget To Check Out The Latest Offer To Readers From La Plaza

What brought you to Almerimar?

We were both looking for a change of lifestyle, both wanted to try living abroad, and wanted to start a business together. We had no ties in the UK apart from our house which we were selling, didn’t particularly like our jobs, and were generally fed-up with the ‘rat-race’ in the UK. Spain was an obvious choice as Lee’s mother was already in Almerimar, but we were actually looking much further North with the idea of opening a specialist bakery, when we were asked to help out with some bar relief here, and that was it!

Sam Jones works in one of the local estate agents here but she has taken some time out to write an article for us about her learning to drive here in Almerimar. Thanks Sam

I found this article interesting, even though the writer is based in Madrid and not here in Almerimar.

He is writing about the level of social integration of the Chinese community in Spain, in his opinion non-existent, despite the fact that he believes there has been a significant Chinese population in Spain for years; in fact long enough for them to have entered into the Spanish vernacular e.g. trabajar como un chino means to work extremely hard!

There has been a lot in the UK press over the past couple of days about the racism Lewis Hamilton endured in Barcelona this weekend, but I felt that the following written on the blog: Notes from Spain, summed it up nicely.

“The fact that Lewis Hamilton endured the usual bout of racist remarks (puto negro etc) as he tested this weekend at Barcelona’s Montmelo circuit is bad enough, but the fact that in this day and age there are people who thought it acceptable to black-up boot-polish style and acutally appear in public in the stands (wearing T-shirts saying “Hamilton’s Familyâ€?) is quite astounding. It puts Spain about 20 years behind the UK in terms of what might be considered acceptable social human behavior.

Further to Chris’s recent article “Well they have the wind!”, here is a report of the event written by one of the competitors, Ludo Jossin a professional windsurfer in Tarifa. Interesting to me and I’m sure more so for anyone into surfing as it all sounds quite technical. I thought everyone only had one surfing board or “blade” as Ludo calls them!

Although not a parent myself I found this a very positive article discussing the issues of being a long distance grandparent, because either yourself or your family are living abroad.

It is particularly interesting in that the main character, Peter, is an 80 year old who is in the process of developing a book and Web site on the subject so that others can help from mutual experiences, and also that he is working closely with a mother (Anne) who sees the problem from the other side. This proves that you are never too old to embrace change and take up new things.

What brought me to Almerimar?

We started our property search in the Almeria area after our sons insisted that our previous location in the hills of the Axarquia was too remote and out of reach of hospitals and amenities. Our first impression of Almerimar was that it would meet all our criteria for easy access to shops and restaurants etc. and most importantly it is an easy drive to Almeria where one son and his family live for part of the year.

What brought me to Almerimar?

A gent told me to look at Almerimar and give it a visit. This was arranged and a week was spent both around the port and inside the bars. It was May 2004. We travelled to La Envia and saw a little of Roquetas. But we also took a trip to Balanegra and saw the route up to Guardias. All pleasant stuff (with the possible exception of Roquetas).

What brought me to Almerimar?

We (John and I), discovered Almerimar on a golf holiday and returned for several more holidays thereafter. We originally planned to buy a holiday home here. However, due to changes to our work circumstances, we decided to make the move out here full time.

What are the main things in my life here?

What brought me to Almerimar?

It was cheap! I´d been thinking of moving to a hot country for a while, and in 2003 it was still very affordable here compared to the rest of Spain. I wanted to live by the sea and knew the area from a holiday in Roquetas some 20 years before. Basically I did some research on the internet and went for it.

What are the main things in my life here?

What brought me to Almerimar?

At the time one of the companies that I was running had developed a software application that provided full traceability of the growing history of fresh produce and we had a contract with Sainsbury’s to run a project here in Almerimar.

What brought me to Almerimar?

We found Almerimar completely by accident. My husband and I arrived in Spain in early September 2004 with a view to spending 6 months here just travelling around and seeing some different places. Almerimar was literally a dot on the map when we were looking for somewhere to stop on our journey from Marbella to Almeria. I wasn’t sure about it at first; I thought it was a bit modern and characterless compared to the older towns and villages we had visited but my husband took to it straight away and I guess it has grown on me…cos we’re still here!

What brought me to Almerimar?

My wife Jacqui (Mays - we agreed that she would keep her name after we were married) and I decided in the year 2000 that we wanted to buy a holiday home abroad. We spent two years using all our holiday time visiting loads of places in Spain and Portugal and spent some time looking at climate statistics etc. We wanted a place where we could play golf in the winter which was close enough to London so we could have long weekends away and not spend ages on a plane. It ended up being a choice between Murcia or Almeria due to the relatively low amount of rainfall in these areas in the winter.

What brought me to Almerimar?

If I’m totally honest we moved to Almerimar because of my husband. Chris had come here initially because he was working with a small company doing consultancy work into peppers and pesticides! They had rented an apartment for 6 months and that gave me the chance to take a look. Apart from the dreaded greenhouses, I loved it, but I was also pretty attached to my life in England, and as Chris did a lot of his work through the internet and travelled regularly, when we bought our apartment 6 years ago the plan was to split our time between here and the UK.