Facebook Phenomenon

Is it just me or as Facebook reached a new dimension? It seems that everywhere I look/listen/watch someone somewhere is using facebook whether it be to advertise to encourage to vilify or ................... play games!!!

On the games front I have to say I find them annoying only insofar as I am not interested in whether you build a new barn on your farm, make cakes for your cafe, shoot people in your wars etc so I would prefer that I didnt get the notifications that such momentous events have occurred. Having said that if thats what people want to do and they enjoy thats great. If I started I would probably get hooked and waste all my time planting, cooking and killing .......hmmmm ....... well something like that anyway.

Of course, the original idea of Facebook was for people to keep in contact and have a "chat" no matter where they were in the world - hence "Social Media". And I do use it for that too. As we live in Spain and have family in other parts of Europe particularly the UK and friends all over the world - Facebook is just great for keeping in touch without writing the email which sometimes takes away the spontaneity of the chat.

If you are a private person then perhaps Facebook is not the way forward. You can "private message" people but then you could probably just as easily email them. But if you have a business of any description, then you would be foolish to dismiss the power of FaceBook. In fact it is probably one of the most powerful marketing tools you can use.  It doesnt have to be an online business - I have an online business, a T Shirt Painting business and I am a Holistic Therapist

Just recently a friend and mentor posted a video he had made showing people how to put a Facebook "like" button on their own website. You will notice that I have put one on this blog. Such a simple thing but so powerful. Probably its not Facebook that has taken a step forward but me!!! Finally I am learning how to use these tools and enjoy doing it.

Of course, its not all good. There are a lot of people who feel that their privacy has been invaded and they feel exposed. That is why its such a good marketing tool. There is a movie just released about the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg - "The Social Network" which I believe premièred yesterday. According to the press, the movie does him no favours although sources for the material of the movie apparently do have an axe to grind so who knows. You are not going to reach the dizzy heights of wealth that this young man has (only 26 years old!!!) without making a few enemies on the way.

The thing is - even if we all decided that he was a terrible person would we ALL leave Facebook?

From Facebook's own statistics page

• More than 500 million active users 
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day 
• Average user has 130 friends 
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook 

And if something or someone persuaded all those 500 million users to leave, would we be stepping out of the frying pan and into the fire!!

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Cruelty or just neglect?

One of the things both Derek and I find highly distressing here in Spain is the apparent lack of regard for animals.  Now before you all get up in arms about that statement let me finish the blog and then if you still have objections feel free to comment.

When I say lack of regard for animals this is perhaps only a "lack of regard" in other European eyes but for the local Spanish there is probably no real intention to be cruel so perhaps its a case of neglect.  Its hard though to view it calmly.  For instance, take horses which are quite a status symbol here.  People who really do not have the knowledge, time, space or finances own horses and some are not exactly neglected but one does tend to wonder why they have them.  You drive through the "campo" (countryside)  especially during the summer months and see horses tethered on the side of the road or mountain with no water, no shade, obviously no food as such - just dead weeds and very often the horse have docked tails so there is not even any respite from the flies.  Now that does make me mad!

Just down the road from us in our last house was one such horse and I wanted to take water to him during the day but Derek quite rightly said I would be upsetting the whole system that the horse has grown to accept and if couldn't get to him in the middle of the day or we moved (which we did) then I would have made the whole thing worse by giving and then taking away.

The little Terrier - ready for frankfurters!!

I can feel my soap box sliding under my feet as I do get really wound up by these things.  Another instance where I finally cracked and had to interfere was in the case of a dog.  There is a really sweet tempered little terrier which I pass most days when walking our dogs.  He loves attention and I take treats for him and every 3 months I stick a worming tablet in a piece of frankfurter so that is one thing taken care of.  But I cant actually get to him to do anything else as he is in a fenced and gated property.  However, in the middle of July when the ticks were at their worst he was covered and I mean COVERED.  There would have been over a hundred on his ears alone and if you think I am exaggerating, then think again.  His body was covered too and he was constantly shaking his head as I am sure that the ones inside his ears were driving him mad!

I couldn't stand by and watch this any more so I went to Posh Pets in Alhaurin el Grande and got a bottle of a solution that they use on dogs that are infested with fleas and ticks.  I put this bottle with a note in a bag and left it on the gate.  I felt very nervous going back past the house after that as I knew I had completely overstepped the boundaries bt more importantly I couldn't have borne it if I had gone back and found the dog still in a bad way.  I am pleased to announce that when I went back after two days the dog was virtually tick free and I almost cried with relief. The thing is - I don't think the owner was being really cruel, it just didn't occur to him to do anything about it.

Another problem here is that the Spanish don't believe in spaying or neutering, but quite clearly they don't want to be overrun with dogs either.  So their bitches have a litter of puppies which are very often destroyed at birth apart from one which is left on the mother to take the milk until they are about 6 weeks old.  Then the puppy is taken away and left somewhere or given to neighbours.

Murphy a couple of days after we got him!

Our Spanish Water Dog X, Murphy is probably such a case.  He was found on the side of the main road by a friend.  She saw him in the long grass and stopped to investigate.  She looked everywhere for siblings but he was alone and quite rotund!! She picked him up and donated (!) him to us as it was us she was coming to see at the time.  Its too awful to contemplate his fate had she not come along at precisely that moment as its a really busy road with lots of lorries.

He fell on his feet but he is only one!

The Charities (AID, Chain, SOS) do fantastic work but even they are up against it with the amount that are born stray and those that are dumped and cats as well.  A lot of the time with the strays the best thing that can be done is to spay them and put them back.

I know its not for us to come here and criticise but it will be something that drives Derek and I away from Spain eventually.  Just a couple of weeks ago we had a pathetic creature who looked to be German Shepherd crossed with Podenco - possibly.  There was no flesh on him, just bones covered in skin.  He had open sores down his flanks and the top third of his ears was just black in parts an open sores in other parts.  The first thing we needed to do was feed him. He wagged his tail at me when I opened the gate ................. WAGGED HIS TAIL .............. it was heartbreaking.  We fed him twice and gave him water.  Whilst he was wolfing the food down I had a good look at him.  His back legs kept giving out on him and I believe he was probably suffering from fairly advanced Leishmaniasis.  After the food he disappeared and only briefly appeared the next morning whilst I was out.  By the time I got back there was nothing to be seen of him and I have not seen him since.  I could not take him in but I have arranged for the vet to call by when the dog next appears.

There is, only so much we can do.  But I do urge people to support the charities and perhaps not only call them when they have a problem but to help out, attend fund raising functions, donate books, clothes etc to the shops.  It might not sound much but every bit helps.

Fire!!!

Fire - something that plagues all of us in these hot conditions at this time of year.  You only have to hear a distant helicopter and we are sniffing the air and checking the horizon for signs of fire.  Its actually quite a scary thing and something the Spanish dont seem to get too hot under the collar about.

Usually there is a ban on lighting a fire between May and October - although strong rumour has it that it is in fact illegal to light any kind of fire (apart from in the house in a fire place) at any time of year unless you have a "fire" licence.  That seems like a good idea to me but there again, like so many of the laws here, its only the foreigners that adhere to the laws.  The Spanish just light their fires at night - and keep them smoky rather than firey!!

It just occurred to me the other day when I smelt a faint whiff of smoke, that we had not seen any fires around our way all year.  I have hardly heard the helicopters going over either which is good.  I wonder if the extremely wet (and rather elongated) winter that we had has made fire less of a problem!  It doesnt seem likely though does it?  After all its tinder box dry here now - very little green apart from the citrus trees and I am sure that it would only take one cigarette butt carelessly thrown to start everything off.

Last year we had several fires quite close and one very, very close but the bomberos (fire fighters) were with us very quickly.  I actually spoke to the operator in English because its not something you want to get wrong when giving directions!!! She asked me how close the closest house was to the fire - obviously to ascertain if a helicopter was viable.  The house (not ours I hasten to add) was very close indeed so they only sent road vehicles and no air support.

Where we used to live - near Maqueda (closer to Malaga city) we had a fire just down the track from us that lasted all afternoon and night.  The bomberos left at about 9am and were back before lunch because it re-ignited.  It was disgusting because it was paints and paint related chemicals.  It came very close to our house in that instance.  But again the whole thing was dealt with very efficiently.

I think if you live in a country that is plagued by bush/forest fires - they do develop a very clear method of dealing with it.  As I say - this year has been great and I personally have only seen the helicopter once the whole summer!  Amazing.

Eating out!!

Okay - once again long time no blog - I blame the "visitors" of the previous blog.  Too much fun and not enough seriousness!!! Sounds great eh?

Up until the family arrived we had had quite a quiet summer, deeming it too hot and too much effort to go out much but when you have visitors its go, go, go.  So we went!!!

Because there are so many restaurants and cafes available its hard to know sometimes where to go.  We ended up trying three very different places in the evenings and before the family left yesterday I did a "Restaurant Review" with them.  Below is the result (please bear in mind that this is the opinion of six individuals and quite clearly is not an "authentic" review).  These are average scores from all six of us, out of 10.

El Fogon - Alhaurin el Grande - Gerald Brennan Street.

Food - 5.5 (Starters were good - main course was what let the score down)
Ambience - 3 (bear in mind we were sat outside and its a busy street - inside for during the winter looks delightful)
Service - 7.5 (lovely waitress)

Dinner at Max Beach - Calahonda

Max Beach - Calahonda

Food - 8.5 (good international cuisine with some local flavour)

Ambience - 8 (the atmosphere was what we went there for)

Service - 7 (efficient but not exactly friendly)

Finca La Mota - Alhaurin el Grande 

Food - 8 (good international cuisine)

Ambience - 7.5 (Arrived as sun setting then as it got dark lanterns were placed on tables - nice)

Service - 8.5 (nice and efficient)

The general opinion of the the visitors was that Max Beach was the favourite for a party atmosphere but Finca La Mota was a nice place for a quieter meal.  The service was good in all three restaurants which counts for a lot especially at this time of year when all are busy.

As I say - this is just a bit of fun between the 6 of us but we have all eaten in some pretty good places in our time so we tried to make it an "informed" study.

We would eat in all of them again!!

Visitors!!

One thing we can all be sure of when we move to Spain or anywhere where there is sun, and that is visitors from back home!! This week sees the arrival of Derek's family - son Steve, daughter-in-law Ruth and granddaughters Sophie and Lucy.

Overlooking Fuengirola from Mija

Amazingly enough due to such matters as ash clouds and horses, new houses and babies, (none of this ours I hasten to add - just the varying reasons for the non-event of visitors this year!) this will be our first visitors of the year so we are quite excited!! (The excitement has worn a bit thin today however, whilst doing the clean-a-thon - my goodness it doesnt take the dust long does it?)  However, this is the time of year when everyone is having visitors - school holidays make sure of that.

We spend several weeks before hand discussing what we will do, what we will see, where we will eat etc etc.  You see its our excuse for a holiday too!  Ok we live in the sun and to people in our home countries that means we are constantly on holiday ............... HAH!! I wish.  In reality unless you are over here retired then no its not a constant holiday.  In fact its just that little bit harder in a way, than living back "there" and going to the J O B!  So we leap upon visitors with great expectations.

However, all these plans can sometimes go awry as visitors tend to come out here to RELAX - novel concept I know! They tell me that its nice to go to a few places and especially to eat out in the evenings but to actually race around all day seeing this and that is not what they came for.

Steve - hmmm!

I have made this mistake before - planning carefully and chivvying everyone along to be ready to leave until I was asked sooooooooooo politely but very firmly if I could stop organising and just leave everyone to laze by the pool because thats what they came for!!

So now I treat all arrivals with caution waiting to see what the visitors want to do and if they are "up" for things - then so are we.  And if pool and sleeping and reading is what they came for then that's fine too!! Its their holiday after all!

(I still have my list to hand though - Malaga Feria, Marbella, beach, lakes and then plenty of eateries to add to the evenings.)

Watch this space for photos and updates of the "visitors"!!

Have a Heart Foundation

I went to visit our local English Speaking radio Station on Friday, Heart FM to catch up with Pat and learn more about the "Have a Heart Foundation" which she and Lee set up in Alhaurin el Grande last year.

I asked Pat what made her decide to set it up and she quite rightly said that we have so many animal charities in the area (which Heart FM support massively) but she felt that humans too needed some support.  Now I have to agree, Derek and I do a lot to support the local animal charities and always have but apart from buying the odd draw ticket etc, we haven't been involved very much with other charities.

Before the charity was even set up Lee and Pat got involved with Alhaurin Auctions to raise 2000 Euros for mentally and physically challenged children in the Alhaurin el Grande area.  Such was the success of that venture that they decided to start the foundation and make sure it was registered and legalised so that contributors knew where their money was going!

Having helped the children they were then approached about a 64 year old gentleman who had fallen behind with his rent.  His fridge had broken and he had no funds to replace it and with that he started to lose his self-respect and fell into a decline.  He was only 6 weeks behind with his rent but his landlady was elderly and so her daughter took over and decided that this was a good time to "get tough".  Its so easy to kick someone when they are down!!  With the help of "Have a Heart" and the radio station a fridge was found, food parcels were made up and delivered, clothing and other necessities have also been donated.  Now a new ground floor apartment has been found for him at a lower rent.  Arthur needs an operation to his eyes and it is uncertain whether or not he will regain full sight so a ground floor apartment is great for him.  Best of all he now has people who visit him and CHAT and care and with that he has regained his self respect and is caring for himself again.

Sometimes charity is not about money.  In fact money is not always appropriate - but caring is!  It also needs people in the right places to just "direct" the flow of goodwill to where its needed.  With Arthur, this is what Pat and Lee have done.  They have this fabulous tool in the form of a radio station and they have used that to get the word out.  Their followers only needed to know and then they rallied round and problem sorted.

So what I say is we all need to "have a heart" sometimes and think about not just what we can give but what we can do!!!  Pat says she gets cans of food dropped off at the radio station for Arthur's food parcels and I know that when I do my weekly shop there will be a couple of things go in the trolley for Arthur from now on.  Together we CAN make a difference - it may sound a bit trite but nevertheless its true.  The purpose of this blog is the way I can get the word out.  Words are my "weapon of choice" so perhaps those of you reading this would pass the blog site address on to others.  Going forward I am sure Pat can always use good ideas and able bodies to help with future projects.  We have offered our services and I am sure there are plenty of you out there who will do the same!

For people not in the area - some of you not even in Spain - there is a "donate" button on the radio station website (link under "interesting links" on the right hand side of this blog).

Pat and Lee are also hoping for a good turn out at the Ska & Reggae Festival at Los Arcos on 28th August and the raised funds will be going to the Have a Heart Foundation.  I will be there and I hope YOU will too!

Last but not least - for those of you who like to be sure that they are donating to and supporting a legitimate charity this is the official number of the Charity G93023513 Have a Heart founded on 22/09/2009.

Obviously if you have questions you can contact Pat Jay directly through the radio station.

Snoozing and reading in the shade is for WIMPS!!

I know, I know – another weather orientated blog but read on because it is and it isn’t – if you get my drift!!

Technicolour Sun - Courtesy of NASA

Now here we all are in Spain trying very hard NOT to moan about the heat. Yes the weather is just as much a topic of conversation here as it is in the UK and probably in most parts of the world. The last couple of days the temperatures have been getting silly with no respite after the sun goes down because there has been no breeze whatsoever.

But isnt it sad that we tend to wish our lives away saying "oh I cant wait for September". I think our biggest problem as expat Brits in a Southern European country in the height of summer is that we try to continue as normal. We are not used to flopping out for the afternoon and keeping cool as possible.

Heavens NO!!!! We must build that wall, prune those trees, wash that car and sweep those terraces – stiff upper lip and all that jazz. Snoozing and reading in the shade is for WIMPS!!! We Brits are not comfortable with that sensible approach to coping with summer in a hot country.

When I was in Abu Dhabi I used to start work in the morning at 7am and finish at 2pm and that was in air-conditioned offices all the year round. It was like having 2 days in one - great. But you see even with air-conditioning people are "conditioned" to that siesta time and we Brits are "conditioned" to that 9-5 work routine - when will we change?

Of course there are many people here who don’t have air-conditioning. We only have AC in the bedrooms for instance (I am not nice if I don’t get a good nights sleep). We don’t really want it in the rest of the house as it would mean keeping the doors closed and we would hate that. (Mind you we wouldn’t have said no to bit of AC during the last couple of days!!)

For me now I have the best of both worlds because I am self-employed and my main occupation is with my internet marketing business, I can start early when its cool and feel that by 2pm I have done enough so its pool and shade for me! And then I am happy to do some more at about 7pm when its slightly cooler. Flexibility is the key!!

I think its maybe a case of allowing ourselves to go with the flow more. We need to get over our mental conditioning (puns are ALWAYS intended by the way!) lighten up and relax!

ITS SUMMER after all and traditionally a holiday time - so chill, relax and Enjoy!!!