Just a note to say that the water is off in the Calle Alcor area of Almerimar at the moment. Apparently there are people working in the street near D´Bar sorting something out.

Early this morning the Ideal site published the article here about the Ikea shop that I think was originally supposed to open in Almería in 2019.

It seems to cast doubt on whether this building will go ahead. As Ikea has yet to apply for a building licence. Also, it suggests that if the building work does take place it is likely to be a smaller style shop opening in 2020.

One other interesting point in the article is that there is now an Ikea pick-up point in Viator, close to Almería. So you can purchase things online and collect them from Viator. Rather than go to Murcia or Málaga to collect things. Or, of course, you can have your online purchases delivered to your home.

Read More for a Google translation of the article.

Just a quick plug.......

If you would like to see what this part of the town (and many other parts of Almerimar) looked like in the past take a look at the Memorias de Almerimar Facebook page.

You do not have to be a member of Facebook to see the page as it is a public page. Enjoy......

Sorry for not posting much recently. I have been very busy with golf competitions. Plus there has a load of other stuff I have been dealing with.

The work is continuing both inside and outside Mercadona. I will take some photos when I get a chance.

Another thing to say is that it has been very windy and pretty cold recently. So wrap up warm if you care coming over.

On the subject of golf, the new greens on the Classic are slowing down a bit but are still good. The other 18 greens are slow but playable. Hopefully they will be as good as the new ones by the time the 18 hole course re-opens again in September (it is due to close in May 2019 to replace the greens).

Cristina G has been in touch with the following information:

If you want the opportunity to vote in the municipal elections in May 2019 you will have to register on the padrón for El Ejido by no later than Thursday 31 January 2019.

The article here on the Euro Weekly News site has details of a maximum speed reduction from 100kph to 90kph on secondary roads in Spain from tomorrow.

The article here on the Noticias de Almería has details of what El Ejido is presenting about the area at the 2019 edition of the FITUR tourism exhibition in Madrid.

One focus is the 42nd edition of the festival of theatre.

Read More for a Google translation of the article.

I was up at Copo yesterday afternoon buying the prizes for the winning team in the 2019 Woodsly Cup. The traffic in the area was really bad. I eventually found out why.

It looks like the stretch of road between Copo and the hospital has been resurfaced. This work had been completed. However there were people re-doing the road markings. Hopefully they will finish quickly.

I guess this is a preliminary step in advance of the remodelling of the bridge over the motorway.

I have been asked to advertise the following by William M who is based in Roquetas....

"A friend of mine, also Friday golf society member wants to sell his set of left hand golf clubs.

Wilson Staff irons
Callaway driver/woods.
Taylormade bag

All for 40€ (ono)"

If anyone is interested in buying the clubs please get in touch with me. I will then pass on your contact details to William.

From time to time Almerimar, like many other places in the world, has a spate of burglaries.

I understand that there have been some burglaries taken place here recently. I have been told that some of the burglars are coming in at night through patio doors.

So I guess that owners here should make sure that there place is secure before going to bed.

Today I am thinking a lot about our past times in Almerimar.

Sadly, earlier this week, one of the 6 people who are the reason that Jacqui and I are living in Almerimar passed away. Doug's wife Marjorie is no longer with us.

Doug & Marjorie, Idris & Shirley and Joan & Peter welcomed us into the golfing world at Almerimar in the late 90s or early 2000s. We were staying at the golf hotel for a golfing holiday. At that time we were looking around Spain and Portugal with the idea of eventually buying a holiday home.

We spotted that there was an official competition due to take place. It was a competition organised by Bahía San Miguel. At that time Doug was on the committee of Bahía San Miguel.

We were told we could take part for fun but could not win a main prize as we did not have an official Spanish handicap.

There was a big meal in a marquee on the lawn of the golf hotel after the competition. We wandered in to the marquee knowing nobody apart from the people we had played with earlier. Doug & Marjorie, Peter & Joan and Idris & Shirley invited us to sit with them at their table.

Straight away we found that the people here had an attitude unlike anywhere else we had played golf. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. The friendliness shown to us then was the reason we have ended up living here.

This is my way of offering my condolences to Doug and his family at this sad time.

Looks like the council might be working on the water supply at the moment. There is very low water pressure to our apartment today. My guess it is the same in other parts of the Calle Alcor area.

One of our readers Chris G has asked us to post this about an almost new mobility scooter for sale.....

"We got back last week from a trip to the USA and whilst there my small fold-up mobility scooter had a malfunction - just prior to getting on the Queen Mary to return to the UK!!  So only solution my husband could come up with was to purchase another one to get me back to Spain!!  So now we have a really lovely- virtually new fold up mobility scooter for sale - as l do not need 2 of them.  If anyone is interested in buying one that has only been used for one week could they contact us please. 

It is white, a folding Go-Go Quest with 4 wheels, has fixed lights front and rear and can do approx 10km on the level...speed 6km and folds up in 3 simple steps to go into the back of a car [think suitcase size and shape].  Can show people that the price on line here in Spain is 2,444.00 Euros but we are happy to sell for just 1,600 euro which is close to a saving of 1,000 euro on a new one."

If you are interested in purchasing the mobility scooter please get in touch and I will put you in contact with the seller.

Just testing out the system that automatically feeds stories to the Almerimar Today Facebook page.

Hopefully it should now post a maximum of 3 stories a day automatically. With any extra stories during a 24 hour period being added to a queue. Then posted on the Facebook page later without breaking the 3 stories a day limit.

This has been on my to do list for a while. Now that things are a bit quieter I have had a chance to find out some details.

The article here was published just over a month ago on the Almeria 360 site. It has some details of the changes to the Copo motorway junction that are scheduled to take place next year.

A separate bridge over the motorway is to be created alongside the current one. It will allow for 2 lanes of traffic in both directions, a bike path and a pedestrian walkway. Also cars turning right when leaving the motorway will get their own separate lane on the slip road. Rather than having to go up to the roundabout.

I guess there is going to be some disruption during the building work. However it should improve things in the longer term.

Read More for a Google translation of the article.

UPDATED 14:35 22/11/18 - I have been told that the IKEA may be to the left of the Repsol garage rather than the right. Also, the whole area is supposed to become another shopping centre.

The other day I was talking to someone about the IKEA shop that is due to open in Almería towards the end of 2019. Neither of us knew for certain where it was going to be located. So I have had a poke around on the internet. Apparently it is going to be at the top of Calle Belén. Near a roundabout with a Repsol garage. It looks like this is very close to the 443km turn off from the motorway. You can see my guess of the approximate location on the map above (that I lifted from Google maps).

One of our readers, Gerry, has asked us to publish this information....

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION POPPY APPEAL

1918 - 2018

WHERE TO FIND A POPPY BOX IN ALMERIMAR

Leo's, Ankara, Stumble Inn, Charity Shop, Alcor Properties, Bonnie & Clyde, Alamar, Pauline Hairdressing

WE NEED YOUR HELP

MANY THANKS

Charity Number 219279P

Just a quick reminder that this coming Thursday, 1 November 2018 is a bank holiday in Spain as it is All Saints Day. So watch out for the shops being closed.

Also, I understand that some businesses may be taking Friday 2 November 2018 off an unofficial holiday.

One of our readers, Mark D asked me to advertise these sofas.

"Two English 2 seat Sofa's for sale, both had little use and in good condition, €125 each or €220 for both."

If you are interested in buying please get in touch and I will give you Mark's contact details.

Today it was announced that Almería is to be the gastronomic capital of Spain for 2019. The article here on the La Voz de Almería site has more details.

Read More for a Google translation of the article.