Andalucia Day Paella

I have now returned from a 2 week spell in the UK and boy was it cold!

This Saturday is Andalucia Day and the councillor for Culture has organised a giant Paella for the villages. It will be available by the Renfe in La Alfoquia from 2.0pm.

Thursday 18th February

I am on holiday at the moment but thought I had to post this.

The Mayor Luis has successfully presented our P.G.O.U. In Almeria yesterday. This is our revised and amended plan in accordance with the rules laid down by the regional authorities and in the words of Luis, "I can only expect a positive response".

Let us also hope that it is a reasonably timely response. We have now done everything we possibly can to make this plan acceptable to all the relevant authorities.

Trip to Carboneras

The councillor for culture and Sport, Noelia, has asked me to ascertain of there is enough interest in a coach trip to Carboneras.

The trip would included transport, services of a english speaking guide, tour of the castle and old mill and lunch in a local restaurant. The cost would be about €20 per person and she would be looking at organising it for earlyApril.

I am just looking for some idea of the likely response if this would interest yourself or your friends drop me an email, so we can decide.

Tuesday 10th February

Had a good talk with Candido this morning about outstanding issues etc.

First of all following publicity in the Focus magazine about a court case listed for April, in the Focus magazine and a question raised by a reader, Candido confirmed that that case was in relation to a development called Cortijo Zurano out near Almajalejo and is the 3rd time this case has been heard and he has no idea whether this will be a final hearing or not but will update us.

Secondly I asked whether all the TH workers were back at work yet (following the end of the annual leave year) in order to progress the outstanding maintenance work. He said some were but Paco would not be back until the end of the month. I said that the list of maintenance issues was getting longer and he promised to do his best to get all issues on my list attended to as soon as they were all back at work. That included the street lights issues, the other maintenance issues, and the installation of the street plan for Los Llanos (which is sitting waiting in the workshop to be erected). I also asked him to add to their list the hole in Calle Malta caused when the TH workmen repaired the sewer pipe last summer as it was an issue.

I had had an emil from a  resident about the installation of an irrigation control pipe system to the back wall of a residents property near the pool bar. He asked me to go there with him to se it. I did and that area is really coming on they have planted a whole lot more trees and plants and two irrigation systems, one for each side of the landscaped area. He informed me that we will be building small casitas to cover these control pipes and he hoped that was ok with the residents but that if anyone had a problem with the location of the installation he would move them.

I asked when we were likely to get Calle Finlandia and Calle Escocia repaired, following the agreement with the Dipitacion, to provide the funds last October. He said that although Finlandia was included Calle Escocia had not been included however, he has promised to get both repaired in the next 4 to 5 weeks.

I informed him that the grading work required on Calle Miguel de Cervantes, Palaces, and Calle Ulla, Los Carasoles, had not yet been done and he agreed to raise it with the people who had promised to do that work to try and get it done.

I asked him to confirm that the pipework being installed in the rambla between Los Llanos and Cuesta de los Pinos was the second stage in the sewerage treatment infrastructure and he confirmed that that was the case.

As usual I will try and email everyone who asked about these, or other issues which I have not covered on here, but if I miss you out please contact me.

P.A. Meeting

I was called to a meeting last night with a couple of senior members of the Partido Andalucista (P.P.) from Almeria in relation to reestablishing an effective party within Zurgena.

As many of you know within Spain there are currently 2 main political parties Partido Popular and P.S.O.E. respectively the right and left of the political spectrum. As you are probably also aware, if you have been reading this blog for the past 8 years, I was asked by P.A. (a middle way and one which has always fought strongly for local issues within Andalucia) to stand in the elections in 2007 as a representative of the expat community (and by the way the only party to openly involve our community in local politics over the past 10 years!).

The reason the meeting was convened was to formalise the standing of the party within Zurgena and organise a committee to manage that. For some reason (not quite sure how) I have ended up on that committee! Not only that, but, as a member of this committee, I needed to fully join the party and therefore sign a direct debit for my monthly subscription to the party. So now, not only do I not get paid anything, I have to pay for the privilege, but it is only €5 every 2 months!

The meeting was over after 2 hours and we will now prepare compiling our list of persons who we will present to fight the next election in May. If, as I mentioned in an earlier post, anyone is willing to get involved please let me know.