For the Queen

This year is a very important year for Gibraltar as well as the UK as the Queen is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee. This year I will also be going to the UK with the Royal Regiment Band and performing at a different venue including parades in Buckingham Palace.

This, of course, means practice, practice and more practice to get it perfect, right now we are nearly there with only very minor mistakes but we still have a few weeks to practice some more before we go. I am looking forward to going over to the UK and doing these parades and other jobs.

At the moment one of my work colleagues keeps asking me how it is all going and is general showing an interest into it. I don’t really mind him asking me every morning when he sees me in the kitchen as it does brighten my day a little bit.

The part I am not looking forward to too much is being in hundreds or maybe thousands of photos of me taken by all the tourists who will be watching the parade.

Diving the Rosslyn

The Rosslyn is a large wreck just outside the harbour walls of the South Mole in Gibraltar; it is one of the largest wrecks in Gibraltar and also a great dive for all kinds of divers.

The Rosslyn is a 3500 ton steamer which sank in 1890 during a storm in the Bay of Gibraltar and now is one of Gibraltar’s premier dive sites. The wreck sits on a sandy bottom at 22m with a slight list to the starboard side but she stands proud out of the water at about 7m of the sea bed.

Every time I dive on this site I discover something new on the wreck, a new hole to look through or a bit of the engine I have not seen before but the best part of it is how much marine life and colour there is on this wreck. My two favourite parts of the dive would be the stern and the bow. The stern of the ship at the bottom of it is the deepest part of the dive but you can see how large this ship was when you are sitting on the bottom and looking up on to the deck rails. The bow on the other hand is full of holes to look through in the large cargo hold and see how large these holds are.

I really enjoy diving this site and even though is it slowly decaying with time it can still be enjoyed by all divers who visit her.

 

Dinner at the Fruit Shop

Last night we went for dinner the most unlikely of places - at a small road side fruit shop in Spain. Now some people might ask me – well, did you have any fruit or just fruit for your meal but the answer I am afraid is no. How I did end up eating there was a bit of a random occurrence and it went a little like this.

Yesterday morning Nadia calls me at work and tells me that we have been invited to dinner in Alcaidesa by one of her German friends she has not seen for a few months and that he was going back to Germany very soon.

So he gave us directions for the place but at first we thought it was going to be at someone’s house so we planned for that. We set out from Gibraltar with some very simple directions but having no idea where this place could be. Anyway we made our way over to Alcaidesa and little did we know that as we went past a fruit shop on the side of the road,  Nadia would notice her friend inside and also his car parked outside it. I told her this can’t be it but I parked the car and got out to have a look and yes, it looked like we were going to eat in this fruit shop.

Dinner was grilled venison and grilled chicken over hot coals and even though the venison was tough it was quite nice and the chicken was also nice. Apart from the meat there were salads and other knick-knacks on the table to snack on.

It was a bit of a strange place to have dinner but apart from that the atmosphere was quite nice despite being a bit chilly to be eating outside at night, it was a pleasant meal.    

Happy Mother’s Day

Yesterday Mother’s Day was celebrated in Gibraltar just like in some other places around the world. This year instead of taking my mum out to for lunch we decided to do a BBQ at my brother’s house in Santa Margarita which is not far from Gibraltar. The weather in this side of the world is starting to heat up a bit earlier than usual  which is very nice as I do love the heat of the sun.

So we got all of the food we needed to take ready and set off but unfortunately what we did not plan was the border queue being as big as it was on a Sunday lunch. But then again you never know how the queue is going to be. Anyways, after nearly an hour we got across to Spain and made our way over to my brother’s house which took about 5 minutes to get there. The border queue is a big hassle to everyone -  it is not only a hassle to us but also a hassle to the Spanish too.

When we got there like normally the dog came running out to say hi to us and I think it was also trying to find out if anything in the bags was for her. As my mum had not got there we unpacked our bags and sat in the balcony enjoying some wine and the sun. When my parents and my sister arrived we gave our gifts to mum and we had a little something also for dad which we thought he would enjoy.

We had a lovely BBQ on the balcony and enjoyed the lovely sun after lunch. I had a little nap for about 15 minutes before the dog jumped on me and decided the bewt way to walk over the sofa was all over me and Nadia, which she then repeated a few times and we kept having a dog in our faces.

We left a bit early because Nadia had to work as she was on duty this weekend but it was a very enjoyable day out.

Happy Mothers Day

First Dive of the Year

This Sunday I managed to get my first dive of 2012 in. I know it is a bit late in the year but our dive club had been suffering some technical difficulties, mainly having  lots of eager divers but no air. Unfortunately our air compressor was down for the count and it kept failing the air test which left all of us high and dry.

About two weeks ago we all got the good news that we had air and that diving would be happening again soon. Anyway I signed up for one and like all of us had not been diving for a while it was decided that we should go for something in the shallow spectrum. So we decided to do a dive site called Inkwells.

The Inkwells dive site is close to Rosia bay on the western side of the Rock. It is a particularly easy dive as it is not very deep - the maximum depth is about 20m and it is a flat bottom with very little features. Some of you might say what a boring dive, but in Inkwells you are not looking for a shipwreck, caves or reefs but for artefacts that have been dumped there for the passed 200 years.

You can find a range of items like clay pipes, clay inkwells (which are quite the find) in many shapes and sizes. These are the more common things you will find in the site along with the countless beer and wine bottles you will come across. The true prizes are quite rare to find, such as: clay gin bottle (I am still looking for one myself), silverware and old fizzy drink bottles with a rounded bottom.

Even though this dive is an easy one, you do sometimes get cold as you don’t really move about a lot due to the fact that you spend more time digging for bits and bobs than swimming around. All items recovered should be declared at the Gibraltar Museum before you can claim it, just in case it is an important find. It is not the first time an important historical artefact has come out.

All in all was a lovely dive to start the year, the only down side is that I got a cold from it hence my previous post of “Diving and the cold”.      

Buttons makes a thump

Our little bundle of joy had not been out of his cage for about two days, really it just comes down to the fact we have been too tired to let him out.

In reality he is not such a bad bunny but sometimes he is a bit mischievous so we need to make sure we keep an eye out at all times when he is roaming around his little kingdom (the living room). Last night he was not running and jumping as much as he normally would be doing, which felt a bit strange for him as he loves to run and jump all over the room and on Nadia when she tries to watch TV.

So last night when he jumped onto the sofa I expected him to sit there for a while and clean himself as usual but instead he stood very still and before you knew it a loud thump was heard. I looked at him and he did it again and again for a few minutes. Now we all have seen the movie Bambi and remember Thumper the rabbit, but I thought the notion of thumping was only done in the film - apparently this was not the case. 

I found it cute as his thump just brought some attention to him while he was doing it and also the way he does it was cute too. Instead of like in the film where Thumper would just move one of his back legs to make the noise, Buttons makes a little jump with his back legs and lands on his big bum to make the thump.

This only lasted for about 2 minutes before he was laying down in his favourite spot which is the little table in-between the two sofas in the living room.

Diving and the cold

This weekend after a long and dry winter I have managed to get a dive in, and even though I enjoyed it I am now suffering its consequences by having a sore throat. Despite the fact that diving in Gibraltar can be practiced all year round I think I am starting to get old and I should start looking into getting warmer equipment to avoid this from happening again.

I have always had a dilemma when it comes to diving in the winter, and it is: To use a dry suit or not?

Those of you who are not divers might be thinking what is a dry suit and why not just wear a wetsuit but there is a big difference between the two. The wetsuit is the standard kit that most divers would use around here as it is quite warm in the summer and also sometimes in the winter and really does what it says on the tin (you are going to get wet).

On the other hand a dry suit is the ideal piece of equipment for cold water diving but it works a bit different to the wetsuit. For starters it keeps you dry when you are diving. But it also keeps you much warmer in the water than a wetsuit does. You are not only kept dry whilst you are in the water, but you also wear a thin woolly undersuit to keep you warm as the dry suit itself does not give you a lot of protection against the cold.

Now the reason I have not bought one before really is the price as it is quite expensive. Then you also need to buy the undersuit that goes with it so this means even more money. The other reason is that I don’t know how to use one as I have never used one before but that can be solved if I get one with a little help from Google.

The cold I am suffering from now has helped me to finally make a decision. I have decided to get a dry suit as I am getting older and also I am starting to feel the cold on a dive more often. Hopefully I will find one soon.

Walking in the dark

 Last night I practiced another one of my passions in life which is being a Tunnel Guide, for those readers who may not know, Gibraltar has 32 ½ (52 km) miles of tunnels inside the Rock. About a year ago I had the opportunity to become a tunnel guide and since I already was a local history buff I jumped at the chance.

So I was asked by a group if they could have a tour and I was more than happy to do it. We arranged a date and a time and all was set. I met the group outside and went over the normal safety checks that I have to do and I told the tour was going to be about 1 ½ miles long.

We set off on the tour and covered the normal course and this particular group was quite good as they seemed to enjoy the tour and information and even laughed at some of the really bad jokes along the way. But sometimes I find it hard not to offend anyone when the group has people from countries from Germany and Italy as in reality the tunnels were built to defend the Rock against them at the time. (Please excuse me if anyone has got offended by this!)

There are also some funny stories like the resident ghost in the tunnel, he is quite friendly ghost but he can be a bit of a prankster when he is turning off the lights of people’s torches or the few lights which work in the tunnel but that’s about it.

Another section of the tunnel which is a bit more impressive is the generating station in an area called Calpe Hole. What is great about it is that it is all still there and nothing was taken away when it was decommissioned. All of the huge engines are still there and it helps the tour a bit as in most areas you have to imagine how it would have looked like but here you can see it and even smell the diesel.

The last bit of the tour is the one I find more creepy - the old hospital. Even though the equipment is all long gone, some of  it is there and it feels creepy because some structures could not be taken off, like the morgue table and the operating room.

All in all I did enjoy this tour as the group seemed to take in the information and also ask questions every so often. If you are in Gibraltar and would like to have a tour of these tunnels please email me.

Thanks to Discovergibraltar.com for the photos

Day out in the country

Last weekend we went to “el campo” which in Llanito is going for a picnic in Spain. For as far back as I can remember, I have always gone to the same area in Castellar every time so it brought back a lot of childhood memories.

Anyways, when people go for a picnic or go to the “campo” they take everything but the kitchen sink and a lot of food and plenty of drink to wash it all down with.

But this time I went with the family and Nadia (it was her 1^st time coming here) and it was nice to get away from it all and go for a picnic/BBQ in the countryside. We set out from Gibraltar at around 11:00 and by the time we got there all the good spots had been taken but we managed to find a quiet area just next to the entrance with a large grass lawn next to it. We quickly set up “camp” and before you knew it, the BBQ was lit and the steaks were on and the wine was flowing.

After lunch came the lazy part of the day which involved just lying on the grass and watching the world go as others sat around talking and telling jokes. I managed to practice a “siesta” and slept for a bit, always being wary that my brother’s dog might jump on me.

After that we went for a walk to a nearby canal which was nice and refreshing to walk next to and managed to see some frogs and fish in it. Half-way down the walk we saw a herd of sheep and goats grazing nearby.

After that went back for some coffee and cake, Nadia and me had to leave early as we had friends coming over for dinner but it was a lovely day out and even got a bit of a tan.

Zoo Visit

On a recent weekend we visited the Zoo de Castellar which is about 30 mins drive from Gibraltar. Nadia mentioned that we should go and visit it because you can go into some of the pens and touch and be with the animals and the star attraction was getting to play with a baby tiger.

So we set off with a few of our friends  who also came with us. I had been to the zoo many years ago but it was very small back then and it was more like a private collection than a zoo. But this year it seems to have been an Internet sensation and everyone is talking about it.

We got there to find that even though it was about 11:30 in the morning the car park was al ready full. We paid for our tickets and for an extra euro we got a bag of food to feed the animals which is something that rarely happens at other zoos I have been before.

We walked about for a bit, fed a baby goat and some pigs and some of our ape cousins which was ok but then we entered a cage full of birds and rabbits. As you can image Nadia was off to feed the rabbits and we found a Buttons lookalike, maybe a distant cousin as he was the same breed and colour and just as greedy but still fluffy. 

We just about managed to stop Nadia from stealing the Buttons lookalike to take home by going into a cage full of lemurs where we had the chance of feeding them; they seemed to enjoy acorns as they were stuffing their faces with them. We got told by a friend of Nadia that the zoo is getting ready to bring the baby tiger out so we headed down to the main entrance to try and get a chance to see it. All of a sudden out of a door came a zookeeper with a baby tiger in tow with a leash on. Everyone just rushed to try and get a chance to give it a cuddle or play with it.

It was the cutest, most playful thing that I have ever seen - she loved to have her belly scratched and seemed to enjoy all the attention she was getting from the crowd. Nadia played with it for a bit and the tiger gave her a little bite but she was not hurt by it.

We walked to where the tigers were being kept but we found it more fun to feed the ostriches as they look so funny when they eat. Then we went to the aquatic section which I thought was the best part as its pens are around you and you can walk through them. We got to the reptile cage where we saw one of the cutest sleepiest animals. It was a Loris and the zookeeper was explaining that it sleeps 19 hours a day and that it comes from South America. Again we were given the chance to hold him - it was just like a baby, sleepy and just wanted to hug you and look for a place to sleep on you. 

But then the zookeeper said he was going to bring out the snakes and the next thing I know is Nadia is walking away as fast as she can as she is very scared of them. I was given the chance to have a big white snake on me, it felt really cold and then really weird as its body slowly moved in my hands.

I felt that the visit to this zoo was money well spent as we had a fantastic day and also learnt a little about the animals being kept there, and I would recommend to anyone to visit it.