Katmandu, Deepana and the Annual Collection.

Tuesday 31st July

Graham:

Hi,

For several years now we have been sponsoring a Nepalese street child to go to boarding school in Katmandu. Now is the time of year that we donate some of the money ourselves and collect the rest by giving out envelopes in our bar to our customers and friends. The customer in the bar are in the main quite generous and Victor who does this job, receives donations varying from 5 euros to 20, 30 and one lady has even donated 50 euros. Last year we produced an info sheet with an old picture in of the little girl in black and white. Her name is Deepana. This year however we are taking a more professional approach to the fund raising. The charity is called, The Buddha Academy Children’s Home Trust and it was founded and is still coordinated by Layla Patterson. Layla managed to raise funds and get a voluntary film crew together and go to visit the children’s home in Nepal. She has made 73 hours of DVD footage and she is always looking for people who will edit her film voluntarily. Layla very kindly posted us a DVD to the bar, which contains an interview in English of the little girl we sponsor. Of course we were all really overjoyed to actually be able to see and hear her on DVD for the first time in 4 years, she is so pretty, polite and her English is coming along too.

We are going to use this DVD in our bar to help us collect the funds that we need to raise to pay for another year in the boarding school.

I have produced some still photos from the DVD, which Victor is showing to people when he hands out donation envelopes. He plans to have a “Deepana Night” in the Bar when he’ll present the relevant parts of the DVD to try to get any of our generous customers who we have not yet approached to give a little to this good cause.

Victor Phones Home

Sunday 29^th July

Olivia:

Hi,

It’s a well know fact that when 17-18 year olds go away from home on holiday, the last thing they would ever dream of using up their mobile phone credit on is phoning home. However we did get two quick calls to say that Victor was camping on a remote island off the coast of Murcia and that the tent etc was all working OK. Now after he has had good nights sleep in his own bed, he starts to paint a radically different picture of the island and the gruelling and dangerous journey they had to undertake to travel to and fro from it. It appears that the privately owned and completely uninhabited island sits in the midst of an enormous lagoon. The lagoon has been created by massive infilling and whilst it has created a great harbour for pleasure boats it has affected the ecology of the area, causing the water in the lagoon to rise to a luke warm temperature and encourage the proliferation of masses of sea weed.

They actually spent 2 nights under canvas and two days really roughing it, but it was a good character building experience and as Victor has said, he now appreciates his own home and the beautiful beaches we have here.

Next Tuesday he is due to take his driving test theory exam in the morning and then fly two Paris for two weeks.

Oh! By the way after two days and nights roughing it, Pablo the accompanying parent decided to fork out for the whole party to stay in an hotel on the coast at Mar Menor. The boys had to row a very long way in a dinghy loaded with gear. When they arrived, they were about as tired as it is possible to be, but finally they moored the boats, checked into the hotel, took a quick shower and collapsed simultaneously onto their beds. Wow that must have felt marvellous!

Return of the Prodigal.

Saturday 28^th July

Olivia:

Hi,

Victor has been working in the bar to help out during the really busy times. He is learning the job quickly although to be fair he doesn’t have the skills to wait on the tables when the bar is packed out or to help with any food preparation. To run a successful bar, your food must be first class all the time and you simply cannot afford to let an 18 year old loose in that area. When the bar is packed out and I am bashing out pizza and fresh pita bread non-stop, I have no time for supervision of staff, so all this means that any young person helping out in the bar will get stuck on washing up and bottling up the fridges to keep the supply of cold Cokes in line with demand.

Victor is my son, but I can’t afford to treat him any differently to any other non-skilled helper, so he is the washer-upper.

Graham who had 5 years teaching experience in the past has managed Victor’s education path par-exellence, resulting in Victor doing fantastically at IGSE level and of course becoming absolutely bi-lingual. He is currently improving his French as well. Graham believes that school curricula should subject the student to a lot more work/life experience than they currently do and for this reason, we have just sent Victor off to live on a remote island off the coast of Murcia, where there are no bars, no drinking water, no shops, no people and no toilets. He went with 4 school friends, accompanied by the father of one of the boys, who brought a dinghy to ferry the boys back and forth to the main land to get shopping. All in all it was an experience very like some of the popular reality TV shows which seem to have taken over the TV like woodworm have taken over my aged aunties Welsh dresser.

Victor was on the Island for three days and as he loves all his home comforts, it must have really come as a shock to him to have to manage without them. Of course he really enjoyed himself.

Yesterday he set out to make the return journey. He left the island at dawn and had to row to the nearest town on the mainland, where he took a rushed breakfast with his friends of toast covered in garlic, olive oil and tomato. To cut a long story short they had to take several busses with a lot of waiting in bars in between to escape the 40oC temperature outside. When they eventually made it to Malaga, they were met by car by one of the parents who drove them 40km south to Fuengirola, via Torremolinos, Benalmadena and Arroyo de la Miel. Once they had hit Fuemgirola my sister Inelda collected Victor and he completed the final stage of his journey arriving at our bar shortly before closing time. I made him a kefta kebab, which he ate like a lion who had just come off a hunger strike. Filled new life experience he went to the apartment, slung his bag in the middle of the kitchen, left his shoes in my bedroom, the contents of his pockets on the lounge table, threw himself on his bed, after throwing his clothes on the floor and crashed out.

My Mum is Chilean and Spanish, whilst my Dad is Anglo-Irish

Saturday 21st July

Victor:

Hi,

I have been given this spot to introduce myself to you all properly.

I was born here in Spain. I am now nearly 18 years old. I am completely bilingual and am working at improving my French as my 3^rd language.

My Mum is Chilean and Spanish, whilst my Dad is Anglo-Irish. I learnt my foundation English by repeatedly watching musicals like Mary Poppins, over and over again, from the age of 18 months.

I went to Spanish state school in Cancelada (which is just 2km from our bar), until I was 12 years old, by which time I was fluent in Spanish, I then changed to a private English International college at Benalmadena, where I met students from Fuengirola, Torremolinos and Benalmadena*. This is where I studied for my IGCSE’s. I did 9 subjects and came out at 16, with 6 A’s and 3 B’s.

*(I stayed with my auntie Inelda, but as she works till late and doesn’t get home until 8:30 or 9pm on average, I had a pretty lonely time of it.)

I lived away from home with my auntie in Benalmadena from 14-16, but I hated it and 3 months before the IGCSE exams, I was well behind on my studies. Mums are wonderful people aren’t they and my Mum is no exception. She could see that I needed help and support during my last 3 months leading up to these important exams, so she came up with a brain wave. She rented an apartment for my dad and me to stay in, in Torreblanca. I went to school as usual whilst my dad prepared flash cards for several of my subjects and brushed his French up, so that he could help me in the evenings when I returned home.

Those 3 months were really hard. I’d be at school all day and then come home, have an hour’s break and do my homework, after which I would revise with my dad until 10:30 or 11:00 pm. We always end up watching something together on Spanish TV. before we turned in for bed.

My Dad is an experienced teacher, very serious, but very effective. He does actually have a teaching degree. He showed me how to revise efficiently and he also told me which topics were not important in the exams and which one’s it was vital that I should know inside out. The subjects that he was most able to help me with were French, English and Business (All of which I returned A’s in.).

I used to love getting back to the bar restaurant on a Friday evening. When I was born my already had parents had “Graham’s Pizzeria”, so I’ve never known anything else. The restaurant is just as much my home as the apt. It was great to see my Mum on a Friday evening, all my fiends from Diana and to pig-out on fresh pizza or the wonderful Kefta kebab. After that I’d get the only chance in the week to hit my PS2 (Sony Playstation 2 for the thickies).

I have just finished taking my A/S exams. I’m doing Maths, Business, Physics and Chemistry. And last week I did a very constructive week’s work-experience, in an accounting firm in Marbella.

I’m off to the bar now to meet 3 of my friends. We’ll probably share a couple of piping hot freshly made pizzas, double cheese of course!

No Flour. My Worst Nightmare Come True!

Thursday 19^th July

Olivia:

Hi,

Graham is almost pain free at the moment. He can’t lift anything or walk too far or sit in a chair, but his mood has changed beyond all recognition. It’s amazing when someone is perpetually in pain how negative and generally uncreative they become. I had forgotten what a great personality Graham has and now under his new doctor (neurologist) he is back. Back to his old self. It’s wonderful.

Today however has not started well for me. Firstly I went to Estepona to change our social security registration, from Marbella to Estepona. When I got there I told them that we have a bar and that was it, I was then asked to bring about 6 other papers, because I was autonomous (Self employed) Why is it that European government officials regard us self-employed people, as one of the lower echelons of pond life? We pay more social security than staff employees, we add to the nations GNP, we create employment and we don’t draw unemployment pay (but of course we do make a nice profit, which I am not complaining about).

I called our flour supplier in Malaga on my mobile and asked if the 100kg of flour I had ordered on their answer phone was on the way. I almost died when they told me that they had received no such order on their answer phone. I told them that I had called them and left the order several times, but no. No message had been received. Graham very kindly offered to drive to their depot in Malaga and collect the flour. No good, they said. We don’t have any flour and won’t be getting a delivery until Thursday.

I was in tears. A bar/restaurant relying on home made pita bread and pizzas, with no flour.

Next we zoomed back to San Pedro to buy 100 kg of flour from the bakery at a rip-off price. We collected some meat also for the bar and then made a beeline for the garage café.

Coffee and toast on the terrace. I was so wound up that it took Graham 10 min to talk me back to semi reality, with his wise and comforting words.

Sitting on a terrace with fresh coffee and toast and the sun shining on your face, anger and frustration just melts away. Peace and tranquillity. Wonderful. I want to stay here forever!

Thursday 19th July

Graham

Hi,

Yesterday I went with my son Victor to El Mastren (which is the best traditional Spanish bar in San Pedro.)

We take our breakfast there every Sunday, so yesterday was an exception to the rule. They do great bacon and eggs on toast.

As I have a severe back problem, I cannot sit in a chair and at the moment must use a sun-lounger. We carry a lightweight-folding version in the back of the jeep. I also need an Invalid parking space if possible, as I have to carry the lounger form the car to the bar.

There’s a 50/50 chance of finding the parking space near the bar free, but often it is blocked by a delivery van or occupied by a car which is not displaying an Invalid parking sticker.

Normally I don’t take offense at all this and just double park and then when a police patrol arrives I explain that I couldn’t use the parking space for whatever reason. They are pretty good and just say. “OK double park until you’ve finished your breakfast and we’ll turn a blind eye.”

Yesterday I noticed that a white Renault Megan (not displaying a parking sticker) had been parked in the invalid space for 48 hours and decided that, the line had to be drawn somewhere.

After making about a dozen calls and being pushed from pillar to post, 2 police motorcyclists arrived. They called me over and assured me that the offending white Renault would be towed away within minutes. Within 2 min they had used two trolley jackes to extricate the car sideways from the tight gap it had been parked in and had one end of the car up in the air at which point I noticed that a myriad of Spanish people on the El Mastren bar terrace were looking daggers at us and saying. “That’s Sofi’s car and she has a child in a wheel chair”. There were two really heavy guys sitting on the next table, glaring at us and making sure that everybody new that we were behind getting Sofi’s car towed away, at a recovery cost of at least 150€.

Typical of Andalucians, nobody wanted to take responsibility and tell the policemen that the owner of the car did after all have the right to park there, so I went across and spoke with the officers, who confirmed that they were taking the car away, but when they had hoisted the car up in the air, they had already seen an Invalid Sticker poking out from beneath the sun shield.

I asked the officer's if it might not be better to leave the car parked where it was, as although technically it was wrongly parked, as it was not displaying a sticker, it would be rather harsh to tow the car away, under such circumstances.

At this point the Officer asked me if I knew the lady owner and her invalid daughter. I decided a white lie might save the day (and 150+ euros) and said yes I did know her. “OK then”. He said we'll put the car back.

An so an awfully embarrassing breakfast was concluded on the terrace of El Mastren bar San Pedro De Alcantara. My stone cold bacon and eggs were just great!

Top neurologist suggests a solution.

Tuesday 17^th July

Graham:

Hi,

I did promise to tell you what the neurologist’s report said, so here goes:

He thinks that the 2 prosthesis and the saddle fixing my L5 to my S1, have effected a good structural repair to my previously failed (Worn- out) lumber spine, but he says that no mechanical repair will ever eliminate pain. (The reason for this is that once the very precise tolerances between vertebra and the nerves exiting the spine, have been altered from those created by nature, there is always going to be pressure on nerves and that means pain).

He suggests a solution.

In Oct he plans to do a very precise procedure. Using a monitor he will inject all the posterior nerves that he suspects are causing pain and anaesthetise them. I will then have 5 hours to walk around and decide whether or not he has found the source of the pain, if he has, then at a subsequent date he will conduct a procedure using radiographic imagery, combined with lazar technology, to destroy the offending nerves. Any benefit gained from this procedure will be effective for 5 years and then have to be repeated.

Dr.Victoria Chacon-Almeda.is an angel. Centro Comercial Diana

Monday 16^th July

Graham:

Hi,

When you have a real medical problem, that needs the attention of a specialist, you must search and search, until you find someone who really understands your problem and also really wants to help you get better. This is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

I had a big operation on my lumber spine, 6 years ago and have been unable to work ever since, due to high levels of pain.

I have seen many, many specialists. I have a pile of CAT scans a foot thick, but have got absolutely nowhere.

But now I have made a break through, thanks to an angel,

my G.P. Dr.Victoria Chacon-Almeda. She has moved heaven and earth to get me appointments with top neurologist etc and it is through her that I got to see the top man at the Pain-Clinic (Unidad De Dolor) in Hospital Civil, Malaga.

He has intimated prior to writing his report that my pain comes from aggravated nerves at the back of my lumber spine.

He has doubled the amount of Lyrica that I have been taking and he has added to that Morphine, Tramadol and Clonazepam drops, for when the pain is simple gets too much.

I cannot tell you how much better I feel with the new dosages of drugs and the prospect of a REAL expert conducting test, aimed to eliminate my pain is just fantastic.

I feel like a million dollars!

Tomorrow I should have his report to hand and will tell you his findings more precisely.

Always Wear a a Big Smile, Even if You're Dying.

Friday13^th July

Olivia:

Hi;

Eli my key worker has been having trouble with frequent nosebleeds. Not very good when you are delivering a burger which is supposed to be, well done.

One of the problems with working in bars and restaurants is that nobody ever asks about the health of the people who are serving them. Customers are very quick to tell you if they have a broken nail, but you can be in the middle of an asthma attack and just so long as they get their long, cool latte, they don’t even notice if your arm is falling off.

Most of us are like this, when I stop in the morning at a bar to enjoy a coffee and toast with Graham, I often forget to ask the waitress how she is, but they always enquire into my health. ” Hello Inés how are you today?” and I reply well very tired and I didn’t sleep last night and my in growing toenail is killing me. We are basically all egocentric. Or is it just me?

Come on let’s all agree to try to be better people, by asking the waitress/waiter in our favourite bar, how she/he is feeling next time we drop in for a coffee. Wouldn’t that be great?

Well anyway to get back to our bar and Eli. She went to see a specialist yesterday, who burnt her nasal passages, using lazar tech., he says that when they heal, they’ll be stronger and she’ll be free of nosebleeds. I do hope so!

Today she is at work, but unfortunately she looks rather like she’s done 12 rounds with Henry Cooper (Who incidentally had Mohamed Ali well, beaten when he nearly took his head off with a fantastic left uppercut. IMHO It was only by his corner cheating and cutting his glove, to buy him extra recovery time that he eventually won, but in his heart and when he meets his maker he will know that he was beaten by or own Henry).

It’s not good to have workers walking round your restaurant looking ill. Clients want to be uplifted by fit people that can tell them jokes and make the trip to the restaurant or bar an entertaining if not at times a special experience.

I hope that our bar will be operated by fit and happy individuals tomorrow, even though it’s a bit of a rarity between Estepona and Marbella.

Well, They said it couldn’t be done!

Mon 9^th July

Olivia;

Hi,

Well, They said it couldn’t be done!

Dr Victoria, who is the best GP you will ever find, is in private practice, just above us in Diana. She is an absolute angel. She has been phoning and phoning for weeks now to get an appointment for Graham to see a top specialist dealing in back pain. After years of paying top money to private consultants, we are now trying to get Graham’s back pain sorted through the "Social Seguridad".

Dr Victoria doesn’t have to do this for us; she’s simply doing it as a favor, because she is a really lovely person.

Well last night with very short notice, she called to say that she had arranged for us to see the top consultant at the pain clinic, Civic Hospital, Malaga and that the long awaited appointment was for 9:30 am today.

Having finishing work at midnight, my clock doesn’t start until 9:30am, let alone drive to Malaga, find a parking space, ha, ha, ha and then find the right place in a massive hospital, all by 9:30 am.

They all said it simply couldn’t be done, what with all the traffic going into Malaga in the morning rush hour, but after moths of waiting, I was determined not to miss this chance to see someone who may well be able to help Graham.

Graham woke up at 6:00 and took all his painkillers and then brought me in a cup of coffee at 7:30. We were both in and out of the shower in 5 min (Why can’t teenagers do that? It puzzles me.) We threw our clothes on; Graham mixed up the food for Sami our Yorkie (A dead fussy eater.) I shot off to get things out to thaw at the restaurant, whilst Graham got the jeep out of the underground garage, by 8:30 we were driving towards Malaga on the E-15 motorway, listening to Arcade Fire.

We paid 5,75 € (Each way.) to use the toll road, but it is really worth it and the only way to get from Estepona to Malaga quickly. We found the hospital, no problems, but there were loads of cars creeping round the car park bumper to bumper, in the vain hope that someone would pull out and a parking space would appear.

I left Graham with the Mitsubishi and went off and found the doctor, he was ready and waiting for us, as Dr Victoria and he are good friends and she’d done a great job on getting him on our side.

I called Graham thinking he had only a cats chance in hell of finding somewhere to park, but he’d taken advantage of having a 4*4 and driven up onto a rough piece of land at I must say (When I saw it later.) a very precarious angle. A mere car would not have been able to do it. It looked as though it had been parked on the side of a house roof.

He got there right on the chime of 9:30. We saw the doctor and were back at the bar by 12:30 and that included stopping at Macro cash and carry by the airport, loading the car up with supplies and having a café con leche as well.

One of us will tell you what the specialist found, as soon as we have it officially.

Panic stations! Olivia has gone to Gibraltar

Thursday 5th July

Graham:

Hi,

Panic stations! Olivia has gone to Gibraltar for the morning to accompany a good friend and client, Julia, plus her daughter, Leonora and Leonora’s exchange friend Rory (Yes! She’s a girl.) The idea of this trip is to show Rory a kind of Little Britain. You know see the policemen, the changing of the guard and of course eat and down a pint, in an English pub. Hmm! I wish I were there now.

Well the idea was that Victor set out the terrace, whilst Eli ran the bar/restaurant, with the help of Eimy. Eimy lives in San Pedro. She worked for us for 15 years and once she’d got married and had a son, she found it too hard to continue the job, but she still comes in when we really need her. (We regard her as the daughter we never had.)

I did the shopping with Victor, but when we got back to the bar he let it slip out casually, that the 16 packets of burger buns that were on his shopping list, he’d not managed to buy, as Mercadona in San Pedro were sold out.

Panic! Very often when there’s a big feria coming up at the weekend, (As indeed there is this weekend.) every Tom, Dick and Harry decide to have a BBQ, plus the fairground people buy them for their burger stalls and the net result is, not a burger left on the shelf, for miles around.
Panic, Panic, Panic and then more Panic!

I took the decision to rush off to Cancelada in the faint hope that we’d get there just before the hoards of marauders arrived hunting out the last of the burger baps, as I got to the shelf in Mercadona (Cancelada) I was just able to clear every last packet of baps, whilst people behind me were giving me looks that would have killed Cruella DeVille and muttering pretty precise speculations about my parentage. I couldn’t allow any sympathy to creep in, this was war, a dog eat dog situation and for a flashing moment I was both Rambo and Bruce Willis rolled into one. Gee! It felt good.

Olivia:
Hi,
I had a great morning in Gib. With the girls, but was worrying that Victor and Graham would cock-up the shopping, leaving me desperately short of some vital commodity, but when I got to the restaurant, they were sitting sipping cold drinks and they’d got everything exactly according to the shopping list I had given them at 7:30 am this morning. I always worry, when there’s simply no need to. I should learn to trust Victor and Graham to do jobs for me correctly.

Oh! Well. Silly Me, I was worrying over nothing again.

Lola is here for a few days!

Wednesday-4th Jul

Graham:

Hi,
Lola is here for a few days! That means there will never be a dull moment and we won’t be short of entertainment, whilst she’s around. Let’s just say that whilst Lola is a great friend of ours, she is let’s say rather generous with words.

Lola together with her Lebanese partner (Hanna) used to run a bar restaurant in San Pedro, which we visited frequently. Where else would one find wonderful Lebanese cuisine, fine wine and be entertained from when we entered their door to when we left?

Lola and Hanna have had bars and restaurants in Estepona, Marbella, Benalmadena and Fuengirola. The have always rented their premises and only once bought the lease for a bar and consequently have moved whenever the rent has be jacked-up.

Hanna left the Lebanon, when a bomb exploded near him, leaving him deaf in one ear for several years. He has worked as a chef for rich Arabs here on the Costa del Sol, but finally his entrepreneurial partner Lola convinced him to set up their first restaurant together in Marbella.

Olivia:

Hi,
I met Lola years ago, when she first started to come to our bar in the Diana Commercial Center, as a customer. I was immediately attracted to her as a person for three reasons: She was a great talker, always having and interesting tale to tell, She was born in Barbate on the Costa de la Luz, (which is our favourite place to get away to) and lastly because she had traveled widely to places such as Indonesia and Cuba, (where she had managed an hotel for 5 years).

They now have a bar restaurant in Barbate:

Terraza y Bar Restaurant “Losana Sabores”
C/Voraz SN
Paseo Maratimo Barbate”
Tel: (English) 679 74 74 27

The reason they are here now is to install people into their villa here behind Diana. They are renting their house to an English couple, who are waiting for their new house to be finished in San Pedro-Estepona area.

Lola is not only a good talker, but is also a published writer.
This is their first season on the sea front in Barbate, but with Lola’s people skills and Hanna’s exquisite cuisine, I am confident that they will do really well in their new bar restaurant.

Let’s all wish them good luck!

Fitting in a trip to the hairdressers.

Tuesday-3rd July

Olivia:
Hi,

When you have a bar/restaurant, fitting in a trip to the hairdressers, in the morning before you go to work requires a lot of split second planning.

Today, I am trying a new hairdresser in Guadalmina. Renata, a regular customer and friend, keeps on about how great this new hairdresser is and how much cheaper etc. I have to listen to this every day, so I have finally weakened and am going to be disloyal to my regular hairdresser Pepe who is right here a few doors up from my bar and he is superb.

This morning I woke up in a hot and cold sweat, wondering what will happen when Pepe finds out I’ve been playing away on the hairdressing front and on top of all that when I spoke with Renata last night she was starting to drop in a few doubts about this new girl Gema (The hairdressers is called “Silvie”. It’s up stairs in Guadalmina commercial center, right above Supersol).

Actually I went to my Salsa class last night at 7:30 and on the way back I called in to see Renata. My reason for calling in was that her 16-year-old daughter, who had a tumor removed from behind her breasts last year, leaving her with a flat chest, has just been in for cosmetic surgery to re-establish her bust.

Shakira had the op on Saturday and was in great pain on Sunday, but by the time I went to see her on Monday evening, she was out of bed and playing on her PS-2. She is a wonderful girl. A year ago she took lessons and learned belly dancing, without telling her Mum and now earns good money dancing in posh restaurants at the weekends, as well as doing great at school. Shakira is also a very brave girl and I have total respect for her.

So, this morning I went to Mercadona with Graham and got there 5 min before they opened. I flew round and loaded up the trolley to the gunwales, stuffed it all in the jeep, got Graham to drop me off at the hairdressers and then sent him off to take the shopping to the restaurant. I had asked my son Victor to lay out the terrace and unload the jeep, as soon as Graham arrived at the bar, making sure that he put all the bags on top of the inside tables, so that Eli could clean the floor without any obstructions.

Right I’ve just come out of Silvie’s and Gema cut my hair and did my highlights, really quickly. This time factor is important to me, as even an half an hour saved in the morning means an extra 30 min sitting in the sun sipping coffee, before my day in the bar really starts.

I’ve just called Graham, to come and collect me and as I climbed in the jeep, he said. "Your hair looks great; they’ve done a really good job". So a perfect mission completed. I saved a few bob too, so what can I blow that on?