Staycation A Holiday At Home

Amazing when you actually look around your home town how many things there are to do.

Where I live in Polop Alicante nearby we have the Fonts del Algar a series of naturally waterfalls you can walk along the riverbank, swim in the rock pools or find a quiet spot to sit under the pine trees and enjoy a family picnic.

Further up the hill is a botanical garden with over 500 different species of succulents and cactus.

Towards Benidorm on the coast there are the theme parks Terra Ñatura which is a new-generation wildlife park and Terra Mitica full of themed shows and fast rides and not forgetting the mountains with several walking routes.

Recycling and Crafting

 

Next time you're about to discard your old candles or near empty oil paint tubes and tiered old curtains think twice, these seemingly now useless items can be recycled and in the case of the curtains save you a few quid.

I've written some Squidoo lenses on recycling from how to make your own Wine Cork Candles, crayons for the kids using the wax and oil paint and creating your own wall art using your old curtains or pieces of material.

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Modern Day Steeplejacks

Watching a steeplejack company's presentation and promotional video which included their practices regarding safety systems, in one part a steeplejack is climbing the ladders hooking a safety harness then moving up a rung clicking again to the other side, 'what is that?'

I think it's ridiculous and also fall arrest systems these all protect when laddering the chimney and traversing the ladders, yet when I spent over twelve years in the industry, my grandfather and father with over sixty years in the industry free climbing, nobody fell from climbing or erecting the ladders.

Okay prevention is better than cure and reducing the level of risk by any means, but not when that hinders the worker, surely other solutions should be sort.

Installing these systems after the ladders have been erected seems like closing the gate after the horse has bolted

As for the rest of the systems they looked spot on and shows how far the industry has come. I've always thought and said that the steeplejack industry was a head in regards to risk assessment in my day it just lacked the documentation.

I've written an article on Squidoo about my life as a Steeplejack it touches on a small part with a few anecdotes and some of my favourite videos.

Su altitud en la vida depende de su actitud en la vida

Summer at the beach

I say this every year about the Costa Blanca that I can't remember it being this hot and this year is no exception, June felt like July and July is already resembling August, I dread to think how scorching hot August will be.

Loading up a Kayak with a picnic cooler and paddling along the coast with my hound on the back, finding hidden coves and throwing a fishing rod over the side is the most tranquil times I've had.

This year I have been looking for some new beach activities and found some that appeal, Ive have written a Squidoo lens about them.

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Run for your life!

Just a few days away from (some say) the biggest party in Spain.

The Feria de San Fermín in Pamplona.

Opening ceremony starts on the 6^th July and as soon as the rocket is fired out come the red scarves and tied around the neck for the duration only, which ends on the 14^th of July.

Fiesta as it's also known as draws in thousands from around the world, creating a revenue of 60 million at a cost of around 4 million. So the anti-bullfighters have their work cut out with those figures.

The demonstrators will be there nevertheless, in full force, semi naked and protesting in their annual running of the nudes.

  

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Vegetarian Flavours

Years ago if the meal didn't have at least one meat and two veg it wasn’t considered a proper meal, yet I remember as a child preferring things on toast.

Researching for a vegetarian grill dish I came across some quorn and decided to use a Malaysian street favorite, chicken satay. I applied these ingredients to the quorn marinating it and then grilling on the BBQ, it tasted the same as chicken.

The next dish I wrote about is a veggie Spanish breakfast favorite a tostada, using a baguette, tomato and olive oil.

I have also created a squidoo lens about a veggie dessert also from Spain Churros with strawberries and ice cream, and a vegetarian dish made with lots of herbs and spices coated croutons. 

La Fiesta de los Nanos

Can you image walking out of your home one day and there on the corner of the street is a rag doll caricature of you with a large sign pinned to it criticising you and even worse half the neighbourhood is there looking at it – strange, yet this is what happens every year in the middle of lent in a town called Cocentaina Valencia Spain.

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Hot Air Ballooning Spanish Style

The fear of heights soon left me when I became a steeplejack in the eighties, my grandfather, father and uncles were all steeplejacks and after walking up my first chimney I was set and stayed in the industry for twelve years, leaving for a higher earning potential.

Steeple-jacking in those days, we used relatively simple equipment to access Industrial Chimneys, Churches, Highrise Tower Blocks... knowing your equipment how to use it, its limitation and trusting those you worked with were the key things to survival in the industry. So getting into a hot air balloon and trusting a stranger and his equipment tweaked the feelings of that very first chimney climb.

They say that a little knowledge is dangerous when it came to hot air ballooning in Spain for the first time, too much knowledge made things a little scary.

I was on my way to Utah in the USA for a month to take my hot air balloon license and for three months before I had studied like mad reading everything ten times and some, so I would pass hopefully with ease, at the last minute the trip was canceled. I decided to get some flights in locally in Spain.

The stages from getting the basket out, inflating it, to the equipment check and the long brief on how to conduct yourself and finally what to do when we come to land, also the opportunity to ask a few questions about the safety of the balloon for reassurance was translated into one word VENIR – Come, followed by VENIR AQUÍ RÁPIDO - come in here fast!

We then Shuttle launched to 4000 feet – Who needs a girly safety-brief.

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Moving to France

Compact and bijou as we all know means - extremely small and elegant. The reason for this parlance is to cover the fact that the property must be well over priced and the buyer Benefits from “arguably” nothing. This use of the Estate Agents Dictionary just adds to the apprehension and mistrust of the buyer.

On one house viewing in Cowes Isle of Wight – several years ago. We were particularly drawn to a property via the Estate Agents description and within our budget. The main focus being that it needed up grading, had a large garden and sea views.

When we arrived we agreed – the place did need reforming. We were dishearten by the fact that the large garden was the sole access for the other houses on this side of the street, but what really blew the deal was the sea views.

The bedroom to the rear of the property had a mirror stuck on the window reveal and if you looked at it you called just see the sea. The bathroom window had a VW beetle mirror stuck on the reveal – Presumably, just in case you get caught short for a view.

No wonder people disbelieve from the disposition of some Estate Agents. Another encounter with an Estate Agent, this time, in France – I was skeptical from the beginning...

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Living in Spain

Living in Spain it made sense to write about my favorite places so I started with the first area I moved to over ten years ago, a town on the coast of Alicante called Villajoyosa this town even though it has a few northern European expats is very Spanish and traditional and celebrates fiestas to the max and especially the Moors and Christians, because they are on the Mediterranean coast they add a special twist called desembarco, where they stag a sea battle.

The second village is Jalon in the Jalon valley famous for its bodegas (wine cellars), Saturday flea market and picturesque scenery.

I have also written a staycation lens about my home town of Polop inland from the popular holiday resort of Benidorm Costa Blanca. This is a quiet village in the middle of some major tourist attractions, including the famous waterfalls called the Fonts de Algar.