almerimartoday

Thanks to Doug (Fred) for passing us details of the summer golf deals available at La Envía this summer.

You can see details in the PDF file here.

JUL 2 : GUESS THIS MIGHT BE A DIFFICULT ONE. UPDATED AGAIN WITH A DIFFERENT PICTURE.

 Read More for the rest of the photos and the rules.

Just read the article here in the Euro Weekly News saying that the new departure terminal is now open at Almería airport.

As an aside they mention that passenger numbers this May were down 28.7% compared with last year.

 

Just a quick thanks to Chris and Gary from Absolute Satellites. We have had some TV issues recently and thanks to Chris and Gary the problems now seem to be resolved.

Shame they have to work tomorrow so they can´t take part in the Almerimar Today Friday Golf this week.

Don´t forget that tomorrow is the first night of the free summer concerts at the castle in Guardias Viejas.

This one is the Andalucian Brass Sextet. Something for Barry to have a look at and judge how well they play?

Starts at 10.30pm.

Further to our earlier article on this issue here.

I know that primera  has explained that it is easier to open an account at other banks in Almerimar and get them to get this certificate for you (probably at a price of 25 euros). However, we were part way through the process and our friend has already set up the account at Cajamar so we saw it through to the bitter end.

Read More for details.

 

We had an email earlier today letting us know that the latest ediition of The Messenger is now available on their website.

We have a link to their site in the Media section of our Useful Links page.

We understand that it includes a bird watching article by John Witham. We also understand that the newspaper is hoping to agree with Iain Kemp that they can include examples of his poetry in future editions.

 

Sorry for the lack of items today. Jacqui and I have been slaving away all day on a new project. It is likely to take quite a bit of time over the next few days so the site is likely to be a little quiet.

Hopefully things will get back to normal next week.

New rules about the maximum prices for texting while abroad in Europe come into play today.

"The maximum charge for sending a text is now 11 euro cents ($0.15; 9.4p) plus sales tax.

It is the first time that text charges have been capped. The previous EU average was 28 cents."

For further details see the article here on the BBC site.

Read More to read the latest poem.

Just read the summary of San Isidro from the La Voz de El Ejido site that you can see here (in Spanish of course).

Checking the name against the list of participants on the town hall site it was the fireworks that we saw on Saturday that won the competition this year.

You can also see a few more photo in the article.

Based on the email I have just received below it looks like they are opening up the terrace for the evenings from 8pm from Monday to Saturday at the Tenis Club in  El Ejido starting tomorrow.

Hola amigos, os recuerdo que mañana miércoles 1 de julio abrimos la terraza de verano en el club de tenis, de lunes a sábado desde las 8 de la tarde.
 
os espero
 
José Miguel Fernández Borrazás
C.D.YARA
Restaurante del club de Tenis
653529180

I spotted an article in the online edition of Ideal about Almería preparing for the sailing event on 10-12 October 2009 - The iShares Cup, Extreme 40 sailing.

Here is a quote from the Ishares Cup website:

The creators of the Extreme 40 took the biggest, fastest sailing boat in the Olympics — then made it twice as big and even faster. And no, brakes do not come as standard... 

For more details see the website here.

If you walk or drive around Almerimar at the moment you can´t miss the poster above. It is on virtually every lamp post in Almerimar.

There is a car show in the car park close to the old camp site every evening at 22:00 from 2nd July to 12th July 2009 with extra shows at 12:30 on Sundays.

PS Hope people didn´t forget the local Bank Holiday today. The suggestion from Pauline, the hairdresser, is it is called hangover day as it is the day after the final day of the celebration of San Isidro in the El Ejido area. Mercadona is shut but the butchers is open so at least I could pick up some meat.

Just spotted the above notice on the wall at Mercadona. A bouncy castle in Plaza Varadero for the kids  every Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at 9pm if the parents buy a beer in the Asador or Bar D´An.

I have added this on the Event page as a regular event.

Wishing Mike (aka Daisy) and Doreen happy 40th wedding anniversary today from all your friends in Almerimar.

As mentioned earlier we went to see the sights in El Ejido last night. San Isidro is a 5 day festival in the town that we had never attended before. The festival is in honour of the patron saint of El Ejido and always takes place towards the end of June.

Read More for details. See the Gallery for more pictures and the Video page for videos if the fireworks.

 

where John found the article about Seve I noticed the following article reference beach bars.

 ¨Government U turn on beach Chiringuito restaurants¨
  ¨The Ministry for the Environment has now said the restaurants can stay on the sand without disciplinary action taken against them¨.

Its staggering that our council who are so slow to react to anything, have already removed them all!!! and replaced them with the monstrocities that now stand on the beach car parks, at enormous expense.

Does this mean that the original beach bar owners can now replace the ones the were forced to remove, leaving the new buildings unwanted and unused.

That would leave copious amounts of egg on the faces of our council.

Perhaps not, but what a lovely thought !

Been back from El Ejido for a while now and I am just finishing off uploading photos and videos from this evening. See Gallery for more pictures from San Isidro and see the Video page for some video of the fireworks tonight.

Off to bed now so will write a more detailed story when I get the chance.

 
Hole In One!!!

Well done to Marianne who made her first "Hole in One" recently on the 7th hole on her home course Bro Hoff Slot. We understand that the celebrations continued for quite some time...

As promised yesterday I took a picture of progress on the clubhouse as we played the Almerimar Today Friday golf today.You can see that they are now roofing the double height room on the first floor.

PS Well done to Shaun and Nina who both scored 37 points individually today. After the draw of front 9 & back 9 the winner was John A with Doris/Shaun followed by Jacqui & Nina in second place. Both pairs with a combined score of 36 points. Sharon & I came last with 25 points (my front 9 & Sharon´s back nine). In our defence I would just like to point out that if we had drawn Sharon´s front 9 & my back 9 we would have won the competition with 38 points. 

I found this interesting article about Seve on the Typically Spanish site.

The golfer said the bad bits had been taken away as he presented his new Foundation

There is no doubt at all that Seve Ballesteros is a fighter.

The popular golfer showed he has made an excellent recovery from several operations to remove a brain tumour when he appeared in his first press conference since the series of four medical procedures on Thursday.

It was back in October when he collapsed and the alarm was raised over his health.

Now tanned but noticeably thinner and with a visible scar on the right hand side of his head, he spoke to the press about the ‘miracle’ of his survival, and made plenty of jokes.

He thanked the professionals of the La Paz Hospital in Madrid and also expressed gratitude to his family and all those who had sent messages of encouragement. He said that the doctors had told him the tumour had been the size of two golf balls.

The 52 year old presented a new foundation which takes his name and which will help fund cancer research.

‘I’m a better person now’, he joked, ‘as the doctors took out the bad bit’.

Just heard from Juan Francisco that he has found a new sponsor to run a golf competition on Sunday 26 July this year. Optica Cervantes will be replacing Onda Cero.

It is likely to be an individual stableford competition. However, full details have yet to be confirmed.

The Golf Almerimar Torneos website and our Events page have been updated to reflect this change.

Just a few bits and pieces of local golf news.....

1. We are trying out a new format for the Almerimar Today Friday golf tomorrow. Everyone keeps their own stableford score then afterwards each player draws a partner. Their team score is the sum of the stableford scores for the front 9 holes of the first player and the back 9 holes of the second player.

2. Work is continuing on the clubhouse. They are now working hard putting the roof on the double height room on the top floor. However, apart from that progress is relatively slow. If I remember I will take a picture as we pass the clubhouse tomorrow.

3. There have been some changes to the official tournament list for 2009 in Almerimar. The Bretagna competition scheduled for this Sunday has been moved to August. It was clashing with the final day of the San Isidro festival and not many people were down on the list to play. Also, the Onda Cero and the Open Almerimar competitions have been cancelled. My guess is that this is due to the current financial climate. You can see the updated list of tournaments on our Event page here or on the Golf Almerimar Torneos site.

Thanks to one of our readers, hilda, for the following information.

As reported on Euro Weekly News the British Embassy in Madrid is moving to new offices in July. Because of the move and the introduction of a new computer system applicants for passport renewals and the issue of visas can expect additional delays.
 

Just picked up the following story on La Voz de El Ejido today...

Las banderas azules ya ondean en las playas de Almerimar

La concejala de Turismo, Maricarmen Fernández, y el portavoz del Equipo de Gobierno, Ignacio Berenguel, izaron ayer las banderas de las playas de Poniente y Levante de Almerímar. Estos distintivos son otorgados por la Fundación Europea de Educación Ambiental en función del mantenimiento y equipamiento de las playas del municipio.
La edil de Turismo explicó, también, que aunque la Fundación no está por la labor de ampliar candidaturas, desde hace 3 años también se solicita este distintivo para la playa de San Miguel ya que cuenta con los mismos servicios que las otras dos playas de Almerimar.
Por este motivo, Fernández espera que en poco tiempo se distinga también a San Miguel con la bandera azul.
La concejala pidió, una vez más, la colaboración de los ciudadanos para el mantenimientos de las playas y el mobiliario.

The local council have announced the summer events for the area and have published a leaflet about it.

There has been a real cut back in events this year. There is only 1 event scheduled for Almerimar. This is a theatre event in July. Also, the bolero event that was a real success here last year has been relocated to the castle at Guardias Viejas.

There is a very good selection of music at the regular Thursday and Friday concerts at the castle this year. We will definitely try to attend some of these events.

It is a great shame that there will not be many summer events organised by the council in Almerimar this year. I guess it is a combination of the fact that most events were not that well supported in Almerimar last year plus cutbacks due to the current economic climate.

See the Events page for details of events this summer.

First, a big thank you to Kurt and Cindy from the Stumble Inn and everyone that helped them organise the event last night. Kurt and Cindy said it was very much a team effort with lots of people in Almerimar helping them organise the event.

We have been to the beach for San Juan 4 times since we came over here to Almerimar. We have been to 3 events organised by different bars and we have had one do-it-yourself night. This was the best organised San Juan night we have attended.

There was plenty of food and drink plus we had tables and chairs set up for us on the beach. It was a great night and I am sure everyone enjoyed it as much as we did.

Read More for details in words and pictures. 

Just a quick thanks to the Stumble Inn for the fantastic San Juan event tonight. I know there was great help from others. Nevertheless they did a wonderful job looking after us all.

We will publish more details and photos in due course. However, on behalf of Jacqui, Jules, Mary, Ray, Albert, Nina and myself a big thank you.

Time for bed now.

Chalky has just been in touch with the following information: Thanks Chalky.

CAM bank is closing this Friday in Almerimar. The nearest branch will be in El Ejido and the nearest English speaking bank will be in Roquetas.

People wanting to withdraw money without charges can use Caja Murcia and Unicaja (I assume this is using a CAM bank card).

UPDATED: 23 JUNE 17.30. The winner is William Wobblyjavelin aka Primera, aka Alan. See the comments below....

 

Here is the first in what could be a regular series of where and what in Almerimar photo quizzes.

Read More for details.

Following a tip off from Pauline, the hairdresser, I popped down to check out the chiringuito next to Spirit Mar.

As you can see from the photos above, Paco´s new chiringuito is open today.

Read More for details.

 

Jules and I went out for a long walk today, in fact 15,000 steps worth!  Read More.

Yesterday Jacqui, Jules and myself visited Vélez Blanco in the north east corner of the province of Almería. This is where there are cave paintings of the Indalo and the Chaman or Brujo (pictured above).

Read More for details.

The town hall has now published details of the events for San Isidro. 

Events start at 7.30pm tomorrow and finish at 2am on Monday morning.

Read More to see the details (in Spanish).

Jacqui and I are just back from a great day out to Velez Blanco with Jules. We went to see the cave paintings of the Indalo. It was a really interesting day and not what I expected. 

We have been invited out to dinner with friends this evening so I won´t get a chance to write up a story about the trip today. Hopefully I will write it up and publish the photos tomorrow.

UPDATED: Managed to upload the photos to the Gallery before going out to dinner. Will write the story tomorrow.

Well done to Alborán who took the trophy today. We beat them today but they hammered us at Alborán earlier in the year. You can see the results here on the Golf Almerimar Torneos site.

Also, well done to Juan Fernandez Olmedo who had a hole in one on the 164m 18th hole today.

you can see loads more photos from the day in the Gallery on the Golf Almerimar Torneos site here.

As you will have seen, a group of us went to La Envía yesterday for the Top Banana golf society competition.

Read More to find out how the day went, see the Gallery for lots more pictures and keep checking out the Video page over the next day or two. We are uploading some videos of the Yankee Blues Brothers who performed for us on the evening. Once they are uploaded to YouTube we will add links to them on the video page (3 done so far).

UPDATED: ALL VIDEOS UPLOAD NOW. 

Sharon and I took a drive into Roquetas recently to what was called Legs & Co (now Mariposa), a lingerie, swimwear and clothing shop.

Read More.

There were 4 societies taking part today and Almerimar Today came 3rd out of 4. Thanks to Bryn, Amanda, Nina, Albert, Craig, David, Alan, Sharon, Barry and Jacqui for taking part (as well as myself). To Gary who could not take part - hope you are feeling better soon.

Bryn scored a fantastic 35 points to top score for our team. He just missed out on winning the prize for best overall winning score by a point.The rest of us didn't do as well.

We will publish more about the day along with some photos in due course. However, we have got Jules turning up for a visit tomorrow and we have the Almerimar vs Alboran comp on Sunday so I am not sure when we will get a chance to process the pictures etc.

Finally, thanks to Alan from Alcor Properties for organising the day.

UPDATE: Sat 20 June 09 - added photos to the Gallery. Got to sort out the video from last night now. The Yankee Blues Brothers were very good. A more detailed article will appear when we get a chance.

As you can see from the picture above it looks like that is a new costume jewelry shop opening in Almerimar. In Vivien Morriss´s old shop on the back road behind  darsena 3 close to the Yachting and Golf restaurant.

I checked bisuteria in an online dictionary and it translated as imitation jewelry.

I called in to see the owners while I was passing and they said the shop should be opening tomorrow (Friday 19 June 2009).

While down paying my water bill in the town hall office in Almerimar I noticed the following posters in the window.

The events for San Isidro in El Ejido take place from 24-28 June this year (Weds -Sun). I have checked on the town hall site and as yet they have not published details of the events.

The 14th festival of fireworks is taking place at the municipal park in El Ejido on 25-27 June 09 (Thurs - Sat). Each night there is a different fireworks display starting at 11.00pm.

Further to the earlier article about Elsur payments not being taken and the threat to cut off our water....

We now know the cause and how to solve the problem.

Read More for details.

This poem was inspired by the picture above. La persistencia de la memoria by Salvador Dalí.

Read More to read the poem.

We have just published the rules for the Bacardi golf competition to be held at Almerimar on 5 July 09 on the Golf Almerimar Torneos site. You can see the rules here (in Spanish).

One important rule is that all participants have to be at least 18 years old. So it looks like the juniors will not be able to take part in this competition (or at least win any prize if they are allowed to play for handicap adjustment purposes).

There are handicap limits of 18 for men and 24 for ladies. There is a single category for all players and the overall winner will be invited to play in the grand final at Sotogrande on 22 August 09.

Has anyone with property here in Almerimar recently had any problems with Elsur (the local water company) not taking the money they should via direct debit?

We had a registered letter that we had to sign for delivered today saying that there was a problem with payment of our water bills. So we have just checked our bank account and it appears that Elsur have stopped taking payment via the direct debit we set up some time ago. Hence it looks like we are in arrears.

The person delivering the letter seemed to have lots of similar letters to deliver so this may be a widespread problem.

Sorry for there not being many articles so far today. We have had to spend quite a lot of time today upgrading the Community Builder software that we use to manage the registered users and their actions on the site.

The upgrade seems to have worked OK. However, it would be good if registered users could check whether you can still log on OK and that everything seems OK from your point of view.

If you have forgotton you log on details feel free to get in touch and we will reset your password.

We have just updated the Golf Almerimar Torneos site with results from the junior golf competion that took place over the weekend. You can see the results here.

If you take a look you may recognise some of the names. It looks like the Escobar and Canton kids are taking after their parents and playing some good golf.

You can see more photos in the gallery on the Golf Almerimar Torneos site here.

I wanted to draw everyones attention to golf this Friday in case anyone missed the last post and on seeing it now may want to join us.

Next Fridays Almerimar Today golf will be played at La Envía.

Read More for details.

Further to the article I wrote some time ago about urbanisations in Spain that you can read here and the recent article about buying paint here.

In a way these articles are linked.

Read More to find out why.