Help for Heroes in Benidorm

It´s a beautiful day on the Costa Blanca with clear blue skies and people able to sit out enjoying their drinks. I´ve just been down to do my show and now I will spend ages battling to get the podcast up on the internet. This is now going from bad to worse!

A P&O ferry service to Spain operating from Portsmouth is to be withdrawn due to “unsustainable” losses, putting 252 jobs at risk.

The Pride of Bilbao´s final crossing to Bilbao – which P&O Ferries has operated for 15 years – will take place on 27 September, the firm said.

The 252 employees, including 130 agency workers, all work on the vessel. Twelve others work on shore in Bilbao.

P&O said it was talking to unions. The RMT said the route “remains viable”.

Contacting passengers

Steve Todd, the RMT´s national maritime secretary, said: “We believe the Portsmouth-Bilbao route remains viable and that there is no case for axing the service.

“We will be working with the company to look at options to keep the route sailing.   Full Story

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Help For Heroes Darts Marathon will be held at the Duke of York, Benidormon Saturday3oth January from 11am until late. All welcome. Darts Marathon, Pool, special 5 Digit Eyes Down plus a super raffle donated fromotherbars and local businesses. A donation from The Duke of York. Bar, music, karaoke and cabaret throughout the day.

Here’s today’s challenge from Iris the Silver Surfer

(1)    Born 5 October 1951 and is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of a famous Irish rock band.

(2)    He started out as a music journalist in Vancouver, Canada , for the weekly publication Georgia Straight. although he had worked as a slaughter man, road navvy and pea canner,

(3)    In 1979, he wrote a No. 1 Hit song in the aftermath of Brenda Ann Spencer‘s attempted massacre at an elementary school across the street from her house in San Diego, California.

(4)    He left the band in 1986, to launch a solo career and publish his autobiography, Is That It? Which was a best-seller.

(5)    His first solo records sold reasonably well and spawned the hit singles “This Is The World Calling” (co-written with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics) and “The Great Song of Indifference”. He also occasionally performed with other artists, such as David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Thin Lizzy. A performance of “Comfortably Numb” with David Gilmour is documented in the 2002 DVD David Gilmour in Concert.

(6)    He has received many awards for his fund-raising work, including an honorary knighthood (as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth II, in 1986. He is entitled to use the post-nominal letters “KBE”, but as he is not a citizen of a Commonwealth realm, he is precluded from using the title “Sir”. Regardless, the nickname has stuck, and media reports will frequently (but erroneously) refer to him by his nickname as if that were his correct title.

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Here´s the weather picture for Alicante ….

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
18° C | 9° C	20° C | 7° C	19° C | 10° C	19° C | 8° C	18° C | 9° C
Clear	Scattered Clouds	Clear	Scattered Clouds	Clear

Word of the Day

compartir kohm-par-teer’  (transitive verb)

to share

EXAMPLES

¿Por qué no compartimos el resto del pastel? – Why don’t we share the rest of the cake?

Gracias por compartir este tiempo comigo. – Thank you for sharing this time with me.
For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for compartir.

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Old friends of my show will remember Don Woods. Don sent me an e-mail yesterday with news of his show with Elvis’ guitarist James Burton……

Did another concert with James Burton last November…great show…I’ve added it to my website (www.donwoods.co.uk)…some good photos…I also found the following on Don’s website which notes how we met.

Vince Tracy
Vince was a DJ on Local Radio in the 80′s and also did the clubs which is when I got to know him. At the time the German Embassy in Liverpool criticised the City for its scruffiness..and itso happened at the time that I was promoting one of my songs extolling the virtues of the area.So Vince suggested we march on the German Embassy and give them the record and a piece of our minds…which we did-to a rather bemused bloke behind the desk. We then went round to Radio Merseyside and the late Bob Azurdia gave us a spot on his show and played the record…which was my first introduction to radio.

Recently I saw Vinnie’s name on the internet and contacted him and discovered he is now a radio presenter in Spain with his own show.I asked him if he would be interested in playing some of my local songs which may be of interest to the ex-pats out there which to my delight he did…and to top it all has me on his show on a live link up.I also get to chat with Paul Melba who is also on the show…which is wonderful because for my money Paul is the best impressionist ever…and I am a big fan.
Vince can be checked out on his website … click on this link
http://www.vincetracy.com
If you go into his podcast library you will hear interviews with many local celebs…great stuff.

There is an old saying which Don epitomises…..old friends are often your true friends.

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Prehistoric History

The historical references I’ve made so far can only be considered as relatively modern
history when considered alongside the evidence of life in prehistoric Iberia … strictly
speaking we shouldn’t refer to the concept of “Spain” before 1469 when the marriage of
Fernando and Isabela united the two most powerful states of Aragon and Castile. The
oldest human bone fragments in Europe were discovered at Atapuerca near Burgos and
are said to be 780,000 years old (this isn’t far away from the town of Vivar where the
notorious El Cid Campeador was born in 1040).

There are many cave paintings around the country which are well worth a visit if you’re
nearby. The most famous are the Caves of Altamira in Santillana del Mar (Cantabria)
which date back to 12,000 BC. Nowadays, to see these cave paintings you need to make
a formal request a year in advance as too many visitors were starting to destroy the
paintings. If you’re in the south you should pay a visit to the Nerja Caves which are
Spain’s 3rd most visited tourist attraction after the Prado Museum and Alhambra Palace.
For something far less touristy try to get to the Cueva de la Pileta which is a relatively
unknown cave structure just a few kilometres from Ronda where you can see 25,000
year old cave paintings in the company of a local guide who will show you around using a gas lantern. This is one of my favourite finds in recent years.

spain@spanish-fiestas.com
http://www.spanish-fiestas.com

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Iris’  Challenge-
Bob Geldof
Today’s  Podcast

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1956, Tennessee Ernie Ford was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the Merle Travis coal-mining song ‘Sixteen Tons.’ Written in 1947 about the misery of coal mining.

1957, The Cavern Club opened in Liverpool. It became the home of many Liverpool bands including The Beatles who appeared at the club 292 times.

1987, TV presenter Jools Holland was suspended from Channel 4′s UK music show The Tube for 6 weeks, after using the phrase ‘groovy fuckers’ during a live trailer broadcast in children’s hour.