Week 47 of Gibraltar Diary

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Sunday 1st February 2009

We wake up very late after the party and wander downstairs to the excellent cafe at Ellis Quays. Amazingly, they are still serving the complimentary "all day breakfast" at 1.30pm. I forgive them for their spelling and we sit there happily reading the Sunday papers.

In the evening, we try to go to the cinema in Parnell Street but have to give up because there is nowhere to park. Eventually we see Bride Wars at a complex about 5 miles to the West of Dublin for no other reason than that it starts at a convenient time and stars Ann Hathaway. Ann, what a load of garbage, how could you?

The temperature is Siberian and we cannot find the hire car - it is sort of small and dark coloured. Eventually, it winks at me in the dark from almost 100 yards away and we are saved from the icey wastes.

Monday 2nd February 2009

It is snowing! Or more accurately, sort of hail followed by snow.

In the evening we go for a bite to eat with a friend. The restaurant is quite nice and the food is "all right". By eating the cheapskate "prior to theatre" meal we escape with "only" paying 125 euros. Dublin is horrifically expensive as the euro approaches par with the pound.

Tuesday 3rd February 2009

We set off to see a friend who lives near Wicklow and it starts to really snow. We press on regardless and eventually the snow stops and turns to rain. On the way back we get stuck in traffic for an hour but our trusty navigator gets us home.

Wednesday 4th February 2009

We need to return the car to the airport full of petrol. The navigator tells us there are several petrol stations on the route but the first three turn out to be non existant. My girlfriend had recommended we buy petrol the night before but I was too tired - there must be petrol stations on an eight mile road from a major city to a major airport. Surely?

We evetually turn up a side street, still trusting in the navigator to find a filling station. Yet again it is wrong but we find one anyway. The stupid thing then directs us into the middle of huge road works and we sit and fume. The roadworks have traffic lights and also a man who stops me driving through the red light - a job creation exercise if ever I saw one.

At the car return we have to track across endless wastes to another office. Eventually, we drag our luggage to the terminal. A man has idiotically decide to stand in a narrow gap for no reason while swaying backwards and forwards. Gratifyingly my trolley runs over his foot but unfortunately does no serious damage.

Eventually we arrive in Malaga and then drive home through torrential rain.

Thursday 5th February 2009

Gale force winds but then mysteriously the wind abates and the sun almost comes out. Maybe spring is on the way?

Friday 6th February 2009

Under my window, just the other side of Morrisons, is Montkaj. She is 256' long and is owned by Prince Mohammed bin Fahd of Saudi Arabia. Whether the Prince is with her I don't know - maybe he has popped ashore for a "Full English Breakfast for £3.75". What with the price of oil being so low and all that.

Saturday 7th February 2009

In the morning our old friend Red Wolf comes by pushing a landing craft of some sort. Maybe they are going to extend out the land even further to deliberately ruin the view of people who thought they had bought flats overlooking the sea? This has been happening in Gibraltar for about a hundred years and it is only a matter of time before Gibraltar joins up with North Africa.

Later we go down to Tarifa. The air is extremely clear and we can see the Mediterranean Steps extending about half way up the Rock. Tomorrow we will climb up them unless we can think of a goood excuse not to.


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