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Torrevieja has a new Queen.
The Eras de la Sal open air theatre saw the crowning of Torrevieja's new Reina de la Sal or Queen of Salt, on Saturday night. The whole evening was one of grace and beauty as the competition was introduced and the capacity audience was treated to music courtesy of the guitars, drums and powerful voices of the old student band from the two Madrid univer-
sities.
Last year's Salt Queen, Gloria Ortuiio, took to the stage along with her supporting maids, the Queens of the various fiestas and in a real coup for Torrevieja the Fiesta Queens of Alicante and Valencia were introduced onto the stage.
Each beautiful young lady was accompanied to the stage by a proud gentleman from her family and all were swathed in spotlights. The number of incredibly beautiful women on stage was awesome. All had the most gorgeous evening gowns, not a hair out of place and smiling fit to burst.
The four candidates for the new Queen of Salt were then chaperoned to the stage.
Each was dressed in a stunning, white gown and each seemed to glide along the carpet to the stage, climb the steps onto the stage and turned to wave. The crowd could not have been more appreciative as they clapped and shouted "Guapa", beautiful.
First on stage was 19 year old Tania Moruno Delicado, an art student. She was followed by Estefania Torenero Seva, 18 years old. She sings in the choir of the Ricardo Lafuente orchestra in her spare time and is a hairdresser by day. Tamara Sanchez Raw who is 20 years old and works as an administrator. She enjoys traveling, reading and the cinema. Each of these contestants had sashes and became maids to the Queen of Salt.
The crowd went wild as Gemma Perez Sala was announced as the new Reina de la Sal and Lady of Torrevieja. Gemma, aged 19 years, is a university student studying for her
diploma in tourism. She lists her interests as reading, music and water sports.
Gloria Ortuiio, the Queen crowned in 2004 then passed the crown to Gemma and handed over her scepter of salt and Torrevieja had a new Queen. The anthems of Spain and Torrevieja were then played and the sky exploded as fireworks erupted into the sky. Each apparition of feminine perfection, in all its wonderful forms, then left the stage. The only incident that almost stopped the crowd from applauding was when Tania caught her foot on the hem of her dress as she descended the steps. For one heart stopping moment Tania tottered on the precipice of the stage but recovered her composure and got an even more enthusiastic round of applause for her very near miss.
The Mayor, Pedro Hernandez Mateo, was on hand to escort Torrevieja's new Queen from the stage. Mateo handed Torrevieja's Lady over to her mother who, understandably, burst into tears and threw her arms around her daughter.
When Gemma had been congratulated by, what seemed like, every-one in the Eras de la Sal she said, "I'm so happy. I really cannot stop smiling. This is just fantastic." She went on to thank her friends and competitors for the crown; Tania, Estefania and Tamara and then she was gone as everyone wanted to speak to the new Reina de la Sal, Gemma Perez Sala.
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Double tragedy on El Rebollo beach.
Last Wednesday a 44 year old woman, Maria Angeles Aviles, along with her 15 year old son drowned in the sea off El Rebollo beach near La Marina. The incident occurred at about half past one in the afternoon when the woman's husband and other tourists noticed she and her
boy were in difficulty. A total of 13 people attempted to save them, eight of whom were life-guards. Aviles' husband looked on in horror as each attempt failed to help his wife and son. When Aviles was eventually brought to land, about forty minutes later, three attempts were made to resuscitate her. She initially responded to treatment at the scene but died shortly afterwards. Her son could not be reached in time.
There are a total of 40 Lifeguards covering the stretch of coast from El Altet to La Marina. Supporting these Lifeguards are two ambulances, paramedics, two doctors plus a lifeboat and three quad bikes or off road motorcycles. At the time of this incident, eight Lifeguards were involved, two ambulances, a doctor and the life boat. The correct flags, designating safe bathing areas were being shown, but the stretch of coast between Guardamar and La Marina is infamous for the strong, underlying currents.
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Ten new cops for Torry.
Ten new officers have been added to Torrevieja's Policia Local contingent this week. The new officers were presented during a special plenary session in the Town Hall in an inauguration ceremony held by the Mayor, Pedro Hernandez Mateo along with the councillor for police, Pedro Valero. The ten new officers, five men and five women, will go directly into active service having passed all the necessary tests and examinations.
During his speech, the Mayor told the press that by the end of
The new officers at the ceremony
2005, Torrevieja's Policia to 224 agents.
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Language barrier has kids stumped.
An investigation into the education system here has revealed a startling number of children losing out due to the language barrier. The study specifically indicated the problems experienced by British children.
The report, which was carried out by education officials in the province of Alicante revealed thousands of non-Spanish children who are unable to follow their everyday lessons due to problems with the Spanish language.
The report goes on to suggest that it should take British pupils two years within Spanish education to integrate fully although this is not always the case.
According to officials, the objective of the report is to establish a series of economic
criteria which will eventually allow for better integration of international pupils.
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Salmonella warning.
The health authorities for the Alicante province have issued a Salmonella Warning following the discovery of 49 new cases this week. In total, 132 cases have broken out around the country with 49 in the Alicante province.
The breakout of salmonella related gastroenteritis has been attributed to two brands of cooked chickens - Pimpollo and Pollo Asado SADA.
Although manufacturers have recalled all contaminated products, the warning remains in place with health authorities
erring on the side of caution and advising anyone who has purchased these two brands of cooked chickens not to consume them.
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Electricity row.
Residents in the Parque Amadorio urbanization in La Marina were outraged this week when they were left without electricity due to 'missing' paperwork. A reader, who wished to remain unnamed for fear of repercussions from the builder of the urbanization, contacted the CoastRider to explain what occurred.
"There was a knock on the door last Tuesday," she explained, "A man asked my husband to sign some papers to do with changing the electric from the builder's supply to Iberdrola."
The couple was then asked to remain in their home that Thursday to facilitate a technician who would be calling to switch the supply over.
From what the couple could gather, the builder's supply was turned off and one by one, individual houses were 'hooked up' to the Iberdrola supply.
When no one had called by Thursday evening, the couple approached workmen on the urbanization for an explanation.
"We were told that our name wasn't on the list," the lady explained, "Apparently there was some paperwork missing."
As far as the couple was concerned, all necessary paperwork had been completed when their purchase was completed in October 2004. In addition, the couple paid 300 euro for the connection of water and electricity. "We assumed it was all sorted," they told us.
Left without electricity for the remainder of Thursday and into Friday (despite informing the builders that there is a young child in their home), the couple decided to visit their solicitor on Friday. The same type of form they had signed in October (bearing details of direct debit bill payment) was faxed by the builder, re-signed and returned.
Eventually, at 7.30pm on Friday, the electricity was reconnected. The couple told us, "It's just not good enough. We hold keys for a few unoccupied houses here and know for a fact that their electricity was off too. How many people's paperwork went 'missing'?"
They also explained how one resident had to be taken to hospital in the early hours of Friday morning with stress, apparently related to the lack of electricity and lack of information on when reconnection would take place.
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Bad weekend for motorists.
According to figures released yesterday, a total of 40 people lost their lives this weekend on Spain’s roads.
The figures, covering the period from 3pm Friday afternoon to 8pm Sunday night, also indicate that the 40 people were killed in a total of 33 accidents, most of which occurred in Coastal areas of the country.
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Fire phone failure.
A technical failure left Elche's fire-fighters without telephone lines this weekend. According to reports this weekend, a technical hitch left the 'bomberos' in Elche without working telephones for at least 48 hours.
The failure is currently under investigation, although officials say they currently have no clue as to what caused the glitch.
Essential communication between fire-fighters and local police was considerably hindered with 'bomberos' unable to call for police backup if needed.
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60% want Chinese adoption.
Almost 60% of the 546 families within the Valencian Community who applied for adoption in the first half of this year requested an adoption from China.
Others requesting international adoption specified Russia, Colombia and the Ukraine, according to figures released this weekend.
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200 stung by jellyfish.
The 76th Vuelta a la Escollera was devastated by jelly fish on Sunday morning. The swimming competition, that has been run every year, from the Playa del Postiguet to El Puerto de Alicante came to a sudden stop as the 500
contestants swimming from the beach to the port and back swam into a plague of jelly fish.
The swim is over 5,000 metres long and began at ten o'clock on Sunday morning. The conditions were perfect with calm seas. There were no adverse currents and yet swarms of jelly fish appeared half way through the race. The jelly fish were about a hundred metres from the shore line and the those caught by the stinging tentacles were swimmers at the front and those bringing up the rear.
Ambulances were already on the scene for the race and a local hotel and the Club Nautico also helped the sting sufferers. Injuries ranged from single stings to arms and legs to the more serious stings on swimmer's faces and necks and all over body injuries. Although not fatal the stings can block airways due to swelling and an allergic reaction can lead to shock and death. The vast majority of the competitors were treated at the scene and recovered quickly.
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Patron Saint of Torrevieja.
Residents groups in the Calvario area of Torrevieja last week celebrated the festival of Saint Emigdio, the patron saint of Torrevieja.
Processions were led from the Park of the Nations to Calvarioa and back, accompanied by banners and fireworks. Saint Emigdio is also known as the protector against earthquakes.
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Speed clampdown.
Spanish police are set to clamp down massively on those who drive in excess of the speed limit on motor-ways. After a trial, where 37 speed cameras were installed, the go-ahead was given when the trial captured 109,000 speeders in one month. The original decision was not to prose-cute any of those caught in the trial but this was reviewed when so many were recorded. Speedsters doing more than 130 miles per hour were done. Police even caught five drivers traveling over 150 miles per hour and one speeder with his foot out of the window!
Five hundred cameras are to be installed across Spain, at a cost of 55 million euros, to counter the growing problem of driving too fast. Each camera costs 110,000 euros and yet it is still more cost effective than the car mounted radar guns that have to be manned by officers. There will also be 330 radar equipped police cars of which 130 will be unmarked.
The trial was set up due to the rising number of accidents on Spanish roads causing death, injury and millions of euros in damage. In Spain 3,511 people were killed on the roads last year. Pere Navarro, Director of Spain's traffic Department intends to cut this figure by 10 per cent by 2007.
Statistics show that August is the worst month in the
calendar for accidents. Spain expects 47 million car trips to be made this month alone. Last weekend alone 40 deaths were recorded on Spanish roads as the holiday month began.
Spain is following other European countries in installing radar cameras to reduce speeding and accidents. France has cut the number of accidents by 25 per cent since installing 700 speed cameras on its roads since 2003. The UK has 1,000 cameras and the Netherlands 350.
According to EU statistics Spain had 129 traffic deaths per million of the population. This is double the rate in the UK and the Netherlands. Germany had
71 traffic deaths per million which is a 12 per cent reduction on 2003 figures and their motorways have no upper speed limit.
Drivers will face fines of up to 602 euros and the loss of their licenses for three months for offences more than 50 per cent over the speed limit. Lesser offences will incur a fine of between 92 and 301 euros.
Navarro was quoted in a televised interview in Madrid earlier stating, "We're going to take thousands and thou-sands of driving licenses." This attitude is certainly at odds with the general populace of Spain. In a recent poll more than one in ten Spaniards were of the opinion it was not risky to speed.
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Suspect refused bail.
The English man arrested last week in connection with the murder of his Irish partner in Alomoradi has been remanded in custody without bail, it was reported this week.
The man is reported to have been refused bail by an Orihuela judge pending a full investigation into the cause of death of the victim.
The woman was found with severe head injuries following a phonecall made to the emergency services by the suspect. He told the ambulance service that his partner had fell before fleeing the scene.
Officers later arrested the man in the area.
Eyewitnesses told police that both the victim and the suspect were drinking heavily on the night of the alleged incident.
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Killer shoes.
Reports this weekend indicate that your Flip Flops can Hill you! This excuse has long been used by my other half in an effort to stop my shoe purchasing frenzies, "Too many shoes are bad for your health", he would cry.
Now, however, researchers are claiming that the common or garden flip flop is putting thousands of lives at risk.
According to figures released this weekend, three in every four motorists have admitted to finding it difficult to drive in flip flops. Road safety bodies have even gone so far as to say that wearing flip flops while driving could be a fatal descision.
A spokesperson for insurer, Norwich Union, told the press, "Footwear such as flip flops are dangerous as the sole can get caught under a pedal. The absence of ankle support can lead to the foot slipping off the pedal altogether."
Reports in the UK press this week-end go on to indicate that German researchers have discovered that 14 out of 25 pairs of flip flops studies contained a mix of toxic chemicals which are known to lower men's sperm count as well as attacking the kidneys, liver and reproductive organs.
Luckily, I have plenty of shoes to choose from and am not limited to wearing my flip flops. Just to be on the safe side, however, I think that a trip to the shoe factory in Elche might be called for....just in case!
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