matt begley

It was a nightmare trying to get to the airport on the 19th. Literally thousands of bikers (some 'gathering'!), combined with 3 porky cheese traffic cops aimlessly waving their arms around = chaos. It was as bad as the M25 on a Friday......but hotter!

The roundabout at the airport was solid and the dual carriageway backed up at least 3 miles. I expect there were a few missed departures that day.

Definately worth checking out when it is planned for next year!

Jon-Bxl

Hi Carol Thanks for that. Everyone was wearing Carmen shirts and it was called something like the festival of Carmen, but it was clearly a Madonna and Child.. so we guessed that it was a Spanish name for the Virgin Mary, but as applied to fishermen/sea goers.... being no expert of religion, I didnt think that there were 2 virgins and child in the Catholic faith!!... but we werent 100% sure.

It was a good day and it was really amazing to see the statue way out in the river, and also periodically there would be a huge chant and they would raise it 3 times. People were swimming behind and people fully clothed going straight in! I took a bit of video but its too big to download. JDR's was good.

A bit of patience needed though as the statue took ages to go around the town and of course the roads were blocked. So if you go find a nice bar and watch the world go by - and be prepared for a wait....

Thanks
Jon

Carol&John

Hola jackytoo,
There's more to it surely? The preparation, the relationship between the town and the feast day, etc?

El Capitan

Yes, AFTER the Faro event loads of them headed East out of Portugal. Quite a few French plated bikes, some GB plated old camper vans. The service areas were packed out on the Sunday evening.

JohnandCarol

Hola Carol & John,

They could have been travelling between the Jerez racing circuit to the Estoril circuit for the motor gp

JohnandCarol

Carol&John

Hi Jon,
I first experienced this festival in Salobrena with fireworks, then in Zahara de los atunes (Cadiz) with the procession carrying the statue of the Virgin into the sea also. Afterwards there was music and dancing.


Hi matt,
Phew! Just missed it!

teflon

Hi Everyone, the bike meet is an annual event, thousands of bikers descend on Faro for 3 days of partying!
http://www.the-news.net/
Regards Teflon.

Carol&John

Did see several French plated caravans, too. The ERG petrol station (westbound, as the other side hasn't yet opened, I believe) was busy at the time.

Just remembered something: there are several warehouses open in the industrial area between the highway and the parador. Easy parking.

Must dash, but just had another thought about prospects of "the shed". Any guesses? I'll check in later.
Hasta luego.

Jon-Bxl

Hi
Last week the ERG petrol station appeared open on the right hand side in the Huelva direction, at the very next roundabout.... (i.e both sides open) however if you are going in that direction, you need to take the SLIP ROAD that leads of 'our roundabout' at CE/Ayamonte Norte. Take the slip and not the m-way and fill up and continue on. The ERG's are rarely busy like GALP and BP in town and now you can access them from either direction leaving/coming back. I avoid the GALP as the people behind the counter have no issue keeping peolpe waiting before they zero the pumps...

Prices are good too at ERG.

Regards
Jon

Fortaleza

Right here goes.
In Huelva city, PP took control - as they did in many parts of Spain - of the council from PSOE in 1995 as the party was embroiled in a string of scandals under Felipe Gonzalez's administration such as the infamous GAL scandal which brought to light through El Mundo the governments implication in the 'ETA death squads'. The still left leaning population were tiring of the continuing scandals and PP reaped the benefits, particularly in cities. The following year, PP took the government too, under Aznar.
Huelva remains firmly under the control of PP and was recently condemned by the socialists, along with several other PP held cities, for "dragging their heels" over changing street and plaza names from Francoist ones to the more 'acceptable' ones chosen by the socialists as per their law regarding the civil war. (Giles Tremlett's Ghost of Spain is a good reference point for more on this)
Yet as a province, PSOE and PA have traditionally held the small towns. In fact, in the general election, the result is nearly always the same as we send 2 socialists and 1 PP to Madrid. For the Andalucian parliament we send usually around 7 or 8 socialists compared to 3 or 4 PP.

In Ayamonte, last year's local elections were very interesting. Due to the town's mistrust of the long serving PSOE in the previous administration, particularly because of the previous Alcalde who stepped down before the election (was he pushed?) the vote was split leading to a hung council.As the town has less than 20,000 inhabitants there are only 17 seats available, of which PSOE took 8 (one short of the absolute majority), PA took 4, PP 3 and Izquierda Unida 2. There was talk of a rather unholy alliance of left and right just to get PSOE out. This was seriously considered until PSOE managed to get a pact with PA, and not with the expected IU, simply because with the 4 votes from PA they get a stronger mandate.

PSOE had some interesting gains in the province last year as they ploughed money into what they saw were marginal or winnable towns, whilst leaving safe seats with hardly any cash!!! It worked as they ousted the long-serving PA in Isla Cristina, and they achieved a good win in Punta Umbria.

Fortaleza

And they're off and running....

First of the three adminstrators is........

...Antonia Magdaleno Carmona, a lawyer. She's got good form in this type of race. She's a solid player from Valencia, and has previously participated in the Llanera and Urazca Challenges.

The other two posts will be nominated by Bankinter and the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (a watchdog for the stock market) repectively.

Also, the Department of Employment have denied a request from Fadesa to help with the safeguarding of jobs, arguing that under the law, a company in voluntary administration, the judge and adminstrators should have sole control of the future economic decisions of the company and government interventionof any kind would compromise that.

Fortaleza

Interview with Antonia Magdaleno Carmona....

Q. The Law [regarding the concurso de acreedores/Voluntary admin] allows for the cancellation of the [Martinsa] buyout of Fadesa seeing that two years have not yet passed. Is this a plan you are considering?

A. Just because two years have not passed doesn't mean we will annul the buyout. Moreover it implies that we need to study it to see if it is liable to cancellation. In principle I have no intention of doing this, unless I see that it has been detrimental to the body of creditors/estate [translation doubt here but I'd go with the first one]. I would find this very surprising. We must study the conditions under which the deal was done, consider whether anything untoward happened to see whether the whole operation was flagrently detrimental, in the eyes of the law, to the body of creditors/estate [see above]. If we had to cancel every single previous action of the company, imagine......

Q. With your experience in this type of process, what problems should we pay special attention to?

A. Put in simple terms, the legal problems most common in these processes are the sites already under construction, the properties already sold but not handed over and relationships with the subcontractors. In the case of Martinsa Fadesa, we have to pay special attention to relationiships with partner and affiliate companies based overseas.


Magdaleno believes that the whole case can be resolved satisfatorily in one year. "Martinsa Fadesa are very keen [to find a solution] and we are surrounded by top professionals."
Being more optimistic, she also believes that if Martinsa Fadesa present an early proposal to the administrators, the whole thing could be wrapped up in three or four months. Such an early proposal, she believes, would benefit all those affected as it would "lift them out of the adminstration situation: the creditors who are so angry and tired of the financial situation, would calm down and the company could continue to function."
She will take up her role next Monday where she will begin to study the applications of the various companies owed money, meet with them and their lawyers along with the other admistrators. And she will also study the cases of private individuals who have bought properties, "of which there are many and who are very nervous."
To put people's minds' at rest, she announced that a webpage will be launched so that all concerned could follow the developments.

Yvonne King

We had a lovely meal in Jag's place last week. What we particularly liked was the variation in the menu as we have a particularly fussy daughter. We were able to enjoy a curry while she had chicken and chips. Best of luck to him.

JohnandCarol

Oh no. How long before we get a chip shop!

chrismortley

Look on the bright side, I think you can forget the proposed Burger King for the forceable future.