2007 in hindsight

Christmas in the Costa del Sol

This festive season was spent in Southern Spain alternating up and down the coast between Sebanillas and Gibraltar, enjoying the company of an old friend, the warm sunshine and high density housing.

I arrived with dreams of exotic Spaniards and paella, aquamarine seas and small villages of whitewashed houses clinging tenaciously to seaside cliffs. What I got was quite different.......

My arrival was preceded by a car washed up on the beach complete with dismembered body in the boot (well most of it anyway. I still don't think they have located the missing leg yet!). Santa Claus came early to Sebanillas!

Gibraltar was a step across into another world; a duty-free tax haven separated from the Spanish mainland by the runway of an airport and an arbitrary border where a wave of your passport sufficed. Consisting of little more than a rock with more roads under it than around it and more cats and seagulls than residents, Gibraltar is a portal back to the lost motherland complete with red phone boxes, Bobbies, British pubs and a fish and chip shop for every inhabitant.

Our accomodation ranged from luxurious apartments with sky tv, to small hotel rooms with an excess of bathroom fixtures and balconies barely big enough for a gnat.

My most memorable though was the dusty cupboard in the building site. For all those singletons out there....my friend Dave knows how to show a girl a good time so if you are interested........