Dear Editor

I would like, through your magazine, to say a big “Thank You”, to Gail at G.E.P. Skin Care & Spa Centre in Denia.

I was the lucky winner of the competition in your January ‘Female Focus’, winning a day of beauty treatments at G.E.P.
A pre-treatment consultation to discuss available treatments was followed a week later by one of the best days ever for me, when it comes to being spoilt and pampered!
To start my day, I chose a Deluxe Manicure, and Pedicure.
The moisturising mask with lemon grass and lavender was wonderful, and my nails were shaped and painted.
With magazines, tea, and biscuits, and classical music in the background, I ‘Chilled’ for a while, whilst my nails dried.
I chose a C.A.C.I. non surgical face lifting treatment to follow, together with a Dermalogical Power Regeneration Facial, and Dermalogical Revitalizing eye rescue.
I was able to lay down and completely relax during my treatments, and the whole experience was fantastic.
I went home feeling amazing.
The next time I am asked “What would you like for your birthday” no more “I don’t know” I know!!!
Any lady who would like an hour or two or more of total pampering. This is IT!!
A big thank you again to G.E.P. Skin Care & Spa Centre and Female Focus.

Chrystine Crossland

PS. Just a note to all your male readers, who pick up their partners copy of Female Focus, “to read the eating out section”. If you would like to give your partner a special gift for any occasion, from a Manicure to a Facial, I think a treatment at G.E.P. Skin Care & Spa, would be appreciated by almost any lady!

Dear Editor

Letter to the Editor

May I take this opportunity to correct a recent release of information by Friends of the Children of Emaus. Without in any way denigrating the work of Carole Saunders and her associates in their efforts to raise funds for Emaus I cannot allow a certain item to go unchallenged:  namely the impression given that the group known as Friends of the Children of Emaus was formed recently.

In truth Mrs Saunders formed last summer a new Registered Association of that name and is carrying on the good work of the original Amigos de los niños de Emaus that was formed in 1979 by Maggie and Derek Ayrton.

Formed specifically to assist the children in the Emaus homes Los Hermanitos in Altea at that time and latterly the home at Relleu, and incidentally, the elderly at El Verdader in Altea as well. I have personally attended many events including the Three Kings parties at each home (festivities and presents paid for by the Amigos) over the last 15 years or so and have written many articles about the work of these particular volunteers.

Over the years the number in the group dropped from the original 40 due to members leaving the area or unhappily passing away, leaving 4 very dedicated people Ann Jenkins and Pam Sanger, Denis and Veronica Spink who have continued to raise money and visit the children to this day- giving toys and clothes at Christmas and 50 chocolate eggs this Easter.  Their major contribution before their own retirement being the swimming pool in the grounds of the children’s home at Relleu.

I affectionately named them the Fab 4 because their contribution over the years has indeed been fabulous and not just for the children of Emaus but they have always been available to help me in my fund-raising efforts in and around Alfaz and Benidorm for the cancer charity AECC, running raffles and tombolas and often providing many prizes. Their unstinting work for charity in general and the children of Emaus in particular over the last 25 years should be acknowledged.
 
Nobody could be better pleased than the Fab 4 that Carole and her group are continuing the work that they have done for so many years and have had to retire from now that they bless them, are finding it too much.

They, and I, thank the new association and everybody helping them and wish them much success in supporting such a worthwhile cause as the Children of Emaus.
  
Pamela Dawson Tasker
Alfaz del Pi
Alicante.

Dear Editor

I am moving to Spain very soon. I have an apartment in the town centre of Torrevieja. I was wondering if there were any friendship groups I could join.

I find that when I come to my Apartment I don’t know anyone and stay in on my own watching Spanish TV. Good way to focus on the language.
Can anyone advise me of any groups?
Muchas Gracias!
contact-name: Karen Wells

telephone: 00441446421242

mobile: 00447967133168

Dear Editor

Rights and Obligations of Pet Owners

I've read recently about the costs to clean the "graffiti" on monuments and public properties in Alicante which the local Ayuntamiento spends is about 400,000 euros per year, more than 1,000 euros per day. Last year alone the company in charge of cleaning made "decent" (quote from the paper) a total of 2.124.375 (two million) square meters of walls painted with graffiti, more than 5,800m² a day, not to mention the cleaning of chewing gum on the pavement with the use of special equipment and hot water, depending on the quantity of chewing gum. This is the cost of cleaning only Alicante town. How much is the cost to clean each and every town in Spain?

Not to mention here the costs to remove illegal dumping, construction debris, furniture, all sort of hardware and all kind of garbage thrown in inappropriate places, things such as cans, bottles, plastics cups, supermarket bags, cigarettes, advertising flyers, magazines and newspapers, chewing gum and certainly "dog dirt".

According to the same paper the present legislation sets a 90 euro fine to a person that paints graffiti on a public building or monument, but there is no financial penalty for those who deface private property.

Now to the point: I have a small dog that needs walking and a little exercise due to his old age, and as a responsible owner I clean up after him.
The animals cannot think by themselves and they are like small children.
Even if we teach them to do their business at home, when they feel like doing "it" they do it, and they do it with style. And that's why we owners have to clean up after them. I do feel bad when I see dog dirt on the pavement but frankly it also makes me cross when I see plastic bags, cans, bottles and everything else mentioned before.

There are people who treat animal owners as if they are the only ones responsible for all types of rusbbish in public places. They do not care about the millions of euros spent on clearing rubbish thrown in public places, the graffiti cleaning and chewing gum cleared from pavements. All that made by people who supposedly know how to reason and who have 2 arms and 2 legs with their respective hands and feet to walk to the nearest paper bin to dispose of the bottle, can, publicity flyer etc. But they don't!

There must be punishment to animal owners who do not clean up after their animals? Certainly Yes. Surely there must be the same punishment to people who throw all kinds of rubbish on the streets, public gardens and parks? The answer is certainly Yes too.

But it seems to me that to the average person the answer is NO. They just see the "dog dirt".

I recently got an information "flyer" prepared and distributed by the "Consejalia de Sanidad del Ayuntamiento de San Fulgencio, Alicante" that explains the contents of the law 4/1994 from the Gobierno Valenciano and the Municipal Ordinance that Rules the Possession and Protection of Pet Animals (BOP nr. 221 of September 25th 2002) and quotes the Obligations, Prohibitions and Penalties to the citizens that do not comply with them, but (once again) not even a word about the RIGHTS of the pet animals owners.
It is fair to make every fellow owner of pet animals aware of their obligations but it is also important to remind the remaining citizens that "we" pet owners also do have RIGHTS. Here I stress again that these are never mentioned in any local announcements or even in any material published by local, regional and national news. It is important to say that we pet owners also have the right to walk our pets on the streets of the village, city or province where we live without being abused by those who judge themselves to be above any other authority.

There's no doubt about the fact that those pet owners who do not clean up after their animals should be punished, but lets also punish those who throw their cookie and pastry package on the floor and those who throw their cigarette pack or their drinks can on the street. They do it in a way that it seems they are performing an act of refinement and are decorating the sidewalks with the finest jewel ever. Let’s treat everyone with equality.

There are neighbours at the Urbanización La Marina, San Fulgencio where I own a property that shout and insult and even force people with pets to walk in the middle of the street as if the sidewalk in front of their houses were their private property. I have called the citizen help desk at the Ayuntamiento de San Fulgencio and they kindly informed me that we as neighbours and citizens of the community can freely walk along any street of the urbanization, village or city that we feel is most convenient to get to our final destination including those streets called private if they make our journey shorter, unless they are closed with walls and gates. So let them know about that too!

But sometimes those very same neighbours that insult us are those who at the middle of the night throw construction debris and many other kinds of waste in improper places. They are those who pretend they are not seeing their neighbours house being robbed and just turn their head because it's better not "bother" the thieves since they can come back for them any other time. But to the pet owners they do spend time and energy because they know we are good citizens and are not going to make any reprisal.

So that's why I come to you news media papers, magazines and alike to remind you that every time you write about dog dirt on the streets, do write about respect to people and animals rights. Remind people that pet owners aren't criminals and that throwing a plastic bottle in the environment contaminates it too and for much longer time than a dog dirt.
I don't want to justify "dog dirt" on the streets but I don't want either to comply with the idea that just the dogs are making the streets of this and any other town an unbearable place to walk.

Just because a minority of dog owners do not clean after their dogs you cannot to blame all pet owners. It would be the same as to call anyone who carries a bag a thief just because the crime rate is high in the neighbourhood.

My best regards,
Gil Marques

Dear Editor

Dear Madam
BE WARNED! I personally have evidence to show a major money making scam used by some UK car rental firms to make themselves possibly hundreds of thousands of pounds from unsuspecting customers.

It affects customers returning hire cars with a minor dent/scratch. What should be a simple, cheap repair £100-200 actually becomes a very expensive affair.

The repair bill is sufficiently massaged to show that the insurance excess fee (£500 upwards) taken from the customer’s bank account immediately on the vehicles return (sometimes without permission) is not sufficient to cover costs. It may take months of phoning and waiting to learn not only will there be no money returned but that the repairs have not even started.

One way to beat this is to cancel ones bankcard before returning the car and let the company bill you direct. Make sure to photograph the damaged area if possible.

David Knight, Beniarbeig, Alicante.

Dear Editor

There has been, and no doubt will continue to be, a great deal of speculation about the desalinisation plant of Torrevieja. It is a preoccupation, not only for the politicians, but also for the normal citizen.

No one is any doubt that Spain needs water (despite all the rain we have had recently). All the political parties are in agreement that desalinisation systems are one way to achieve sufficient water for the ever-growing urbanisations, agriculture, golf courses and countless swimming pools. What is in dispute is that environmentalists tell us different stories about the effects of these industrial plants. The problem with the Torrevieja proposal is not a difference of politics, but of environmental concern and subsequent “fall-out”. Ten years ago the Partido Popular were discussing the possibility of a desalinisation plant in Torrevieja and the same party began work on the one in San Pedro del Pinatar and the one in Alicante. The problem of Torrevieja is where to site the plant, as in reality there is little industrial land available. Last year the central socialist government decided, without prior consultation with local or regional authorities, to expropriate land near to the hospital and the salt lake, to build such an immense project. This is not industrial land in any sense of the word. One lady in a letter wrote in a newspaper that she lived only a hundred metres away from the plant and had no complaint to make. Unfortunately, in a few years time she may have more than one complaint as we are looking at a huge electricity generator whose thick cables have to be buried underground and NO house must be within 100 metres of these cables for safety and health reasons. Likewise the two metre tubes that have to be used as an input from the sea and an outlet of the salmuera back to the sea, have to be located at least 500 metres out at sea. It is so dangerous a mixture of salt and chemicals that it has been diluted with water and it cannot be used in the salt extraction process of the lake because of the high percentage of chemicals. As an assiduous reader of the local Spanish press I know that the mayor of Torrevieja is preoccupied about the placement of these tubes and the cables. Incidentally, as far as I know he has never said anything against the proposal of a desalinisation plant, but has shown his anxiety about the placement of the various services required, as it will require a lot of roads closed and dug up, with even more traffic chaos, and also about the effect the residues will have on the environment. The Valencian regional government is fighting the siting of this largest desalinization plant in Europe on environmental grounds, not on the fact that we all need water. This is being done at national level; the case is still in court although the Tribunal has permitted work to continue, and also considered at the European Union level, which has partially financed such a project. In fact Torrevieja will not benefit or obtain any of this water, as it is destined southwards, where other towns have offered sites for it to be built. The water is justly required, as Murcia must continue to be the market garden area of Spain. These same agriculturists have already complained about the high cost of the water to be obtained, but obviously this will be passed on to the buying housewives. Environmentalists have already noted that the sea adjacent to the Alicante desalinisation plant is already lifeless. Do we mind in Torrevieja if our beaches suffer a similar fate? Do we care if the bank of Poseidon plant dies, which shelters and feeds countless species of marine life? I for one do care and would like to see the plant put elsewhere where it would have less environmental impact. What is an environmental issue became yet another political football in the run up to local elections and the real issues have become obscured.
Your sincerely,
Pat Hynd.

Dear Editor

The letter from Pat Hynd in your June issue on the subject of desalination has to be a send-up.

The only FACT that I can find in the entire diatribe is that the salt needs to be pumped out at a good distance from the shore.  Special cables which will prevent human existence within 100 meters.  Poppycock. 
Poisonous chemicals in the residue. Poppycock. 
All that happens in a desalinisation plant is that the salt water passes over a permeable membrane.  On the one side of the membrane is pure water, on the other side Salt!
I am not a supporter of desalinisation as a means to end the local water shortages, but uninformed claptrap like this from supporters or opponents will help nobody to come to a proper conclusion.

Peter Mansfield, Benidoleig

Dear Editor

A Request from APAH
There is only one thing that upsets me more than the continual bad treatment of animals, and that is those irresponsible pet owners who seem to think that APAH is just a dumping ground for the pets they no longer want. Common excuses include; “He’s too boisterous”, “We’re going back to England/Germany/Finland...”, “I can’t afford…”, “We’re moving to a house where no animals are allowed.”

Before you take on a new pet, you need to bear in mind that it is YOUR responsibility. If your personal circumstances change in the future how will you provide or care for your pet? Remember a dog or cat can live around 15 years, sometimes more. You may need to return to your home country. In this case, your pet will need a passport to travel with you. To go to England it takes around six months to arrange this. If there is the smallest chance that you will have to return to England in the future please arrange your pet’s passport NOW, then you will be ready to travel if ever the situation arises.

APAH is a very small charity caring for abandoned or mistreated dogs and cats. We are not the RSPCA. We just do not have the manpower or the resources to be able to take in every animal that we are called about. I am an animal lover, of course I am otherwise I would not be doing this job. Please believe me when I tell you that if I could help you I would but I receive numerous phone calls every day about dogs and cats - they all need help!
I get a bit fed up when someone calls me and then SHOUTS at me because I am unable to take that particular animal in. Each case has to be considered on its own merits. I can refer you to other sanctuaries, I can place your details on our waiting list, you can foster the animal until space is available, if the animal is your own pet you can place the details in the ‘Owner’s Appeal’s section of our website (www.apahrescue.org).

You can call me on 630422563 and I will give you as much advice as I can but please don’t shout at me - it won’t change the situation. Remember, you are not the only call I will have had that day.
Had to get that off my chest,
Kerry,
Kennel Manager APAH.

Dear Editor

The letter from Kerry, the Kennel Manager of APAH, in your July issue, struck a cord with me too, although I thought her remarkably restrained in describing the calls she receives from owners wanting her to take on their ‘unwanted’ pets!

I coordinate the dog rescue/re-homing of dogs for P.E.P.A., the Helping Hands charity, which operates throughout the Costa Blanca. I recently recruited a couple of new volunteers to take calls on our help desk. When asked how they had found their first week they both replied that it would have been OK but for the abusive phone calls!! These from dog owners wanting us to take on their pets because yes you’ve guessed it:
“He’s too boisterous”
“We’re going back to England”
“I can’t afford”
“We’re moving to a flat!”
And isn’t it strange that everyone having to go back to England is catching the plane ‘tomorrow’, emotional blackmail or what! When you reply we are a charity for abandoned dogs the response often is “well this one will be if you don’t take it”.
Its one thing to be subjected to abuse when you are in paid work but when you are a volunteer it does make you question whether it’s all worth it – especially when you have come to Spain to find peace and relaxation! Is it any wonder I have ‘lost’ several stoic volunteers over the last few months, due mainly to the stress of the job!! Like APAH we are a very small charity. We rely solely on volunteers and survive totally by our own fund raising efforts.
So please if you find yourself in the situation where you have no choice but to try and re-home your dog – don’t bite the hand you want to help you!
And a final reminder, it is now law within the Valencian Community, that all dogs have a pet passport once they reach three months; including a microchip and inoculation against rabies. So the only extra you need to enable your pet to travel back to the UK is a blood test. Vets fees in Spain are very reasonable and so there is very little extra cost over and above what you need to do to comply with the law. And if you can’t afford that, then you can’t afford to keep a dog!
We all think we are here for the duration but things change, please make sure every member of your family has the chance to travel with you.
Kate
P.E.P.A. Secretary and Dog Re-homing Team Coordinator
PS. We too run a register for owners to place their dog for adoption, see: www.pepaspain.com

Dear Editor

It’s horrible to think that we British moan all the time. I like to think that we express an opinion and are not ashamed to let people know what we think.

What about this? Today I have tried to book two flights from the UK for my parents at Christmas. They are both fast approaching 70 and travelling up to London is a bit much for them, so we’re limited to flights from Bournemouth or Southampton (but no-one flies from here on the day we need) so we’re left with one company, Thomson …the self proclaimed “Low cost airline that goes further.”
Trying to book with Thomson leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth. They claim to be a low cost airline yet I’ve just been asked to pay the most expensive price ever for a “low cost flight” £445 in total for two people to fly Bournemouth/Alicante. They add extra charges for baggage, then another charge for a credit card, also included is some “other charge” in the taxes section.
I am saddened by this rip-off and as of today consider Thomson in the same way I do Ryanair. A rip-off airline masquerading as low cost. Customers beware. If you are limited to a smaller airport in the UK and restricted on dates. Don’t expect low cost! Good grief. What a high price we pay!
Nick Smith
Orihuela

Dear Editor

I am writing to you to inform you of a plant that has caused the death of three of our dogs. We had a plant called Adelfas (oleander) in our garden, and our dogs started to get sick, it turns out that this plant is highly toxic and causes Kidney failure.

Unfortunately we have lost 3 pups within 10 weeks, each dying within 2 weeks of their illness becoming apparent. It has been a terrible loss and we would like others to become aware of these plants and for nobody to suffer the same loss.
Sophie Rodriguez Fitz-Henry.
Eds note:
Below are listed two websites with information regarding poisonous plants.
The first website http://www.costablancaworld.com/wildlife.htm lists toxic plants found in this area.
The second http://www.sniksnak.com/plants-toxic.html lists plants further afield as well.
Please read them carefully and make sure your garden is safe for your animals to avoid the same fate as Sophie’s poor pups.

Dear Editor

Hi,
I love the new web format. I am giving the address to everyone that is visiting my partners villa this summer and telling them the month before they arrive to be sure and check out the What’s On section.
Now if you could just add a Fiesta guide section it would be fantastic..........!
Thanks - Roberta Etter

Dear Editor

Dear Editor,
I received the following as an e-mail recently and thought it very funny and thought also that you and maybe your readers might find it amusing.
Yours,
Dave Tolhurst

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days
interesting.

Well, for example, the other day I went into Torrevieja and went to a shop in Calle Ramon Gallud. I was only there for about five minutes.
When I came out there was a Policia local writing out a parking ticket.
I went up to him and in my best Spanish said “Come on, mate, how about giving a senior citizen a break?”
He ignored me and continued writing the ticket.
I called him a Fascist.
He glared at me and started writing another ticket, this time for worn tyres.
So I called him a piece of crap.
He finished the second ticket and put it on the windscreen with the first.
Then he started writing a third ticket.
This went on for about 20 minutes.
The more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote.


Personally I don’t give a monkey! As I came into town by bus.
But I try to have a little fun each day now that I’m retired.
It’s important at my age.

Shirley