This Week's News Items from Local Press

Comment centres on three topics this weekend all of a varying nature:

1.Spain to tighten public spending.

Prime Minister Zapatero decides to cut civil servants wages by 5% this year and freeze them in 2011 - could lead to uproar and protests from Unions. Zapatero also added that members of his own administration will see their wages cut by 15%.

Re-evaluation of pensions will be suspended except for non-contributory and minimum pensions.

The "baby" cheque of 2,500 euros given to the parents of a newborn child will no longer be available after 1st January 2011.

An estimated 45,000 public employees and 280,000 pensioners in Alicante Province will be effected by the Government's measures.

2. Volcanic ash continues to threaten tourism.

The volcanic ash cloud continues to dent hopes of the tourism sector recovering from a disastrous 2009. Hotel chains are reporting that cancellation of advance bookings are increasing due to the uncertainty being caused by the continuing eruptions. Tourists are naturally concerned that if they travel out of their countries they may find themselves stranded abroad. If people are refusing to take the risk there is little that can be done BUT losses being experienced by the sector will have a knock on effect leading to more unemployment.

3.Valencia Region tops unsold properties list.

A total of 688,044 new-build homes remain unsold in Spain.

Housing Minister Beatriz Corredor presented the figures at a press conference last week. She revealed that the Valencia Region tops the league table with a stock of 119,793 new properties on the market. Of these. most fall in Alicante Province with 49,342 homes - more than any other province in Spain. Sra Corredor said she was optimistic that the national figure would now start to fall. "More houses were being sold at the end of 2009 than at the beginning of that year", she explained, "we think that the stock has reached it's highest level".

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More from the papers next week.

Geraniums and their Care

There is nothing more visibly striking than deep red geraniums in full bloom against a bright white terrace wall.

In my experience I have found that a crop of geraniums will give a mass of strong colour throughout the year with a little care and attention.

Three aspects to bear in mind are: watering, feeding and the African geranium moth. Water sparingly over the growing season so that the soil or compost does not become too wet (or the plants will rot from bottom upwards). Feed a general fertilizer in pellet form which releases nutrients slowly over a long period. Spray with an appropriate insecticide every two weeks to keep away the geranium moth.

Blooms from last year:

To propogate I find the best time to take cuttings is between February and May before the temperatures rise. I normally take 12/14 cuttings from the parent plants with a view to a success rate of 75%. Invariably 3 or 4 will not take for one reason or another.

Cuttings should be left to dry out for 3 or 4 days before potting. If possible dip the cut end in cigarette ash or ash from a wood fire as this stimulates root growth. Any flower buds should be removed because cuttings cannot make roots and flowers at the same time and, initially, it's the roots that are important!

Cuttings potted in February should begin to flower mid-May. This one is 3 months old:

Also beware hailstones because only last week we had a dramatic surprise hailstorm which devastated my plants - all the soft petals and leaves were just blasted away as if peppered by a shotgun! They are now in recovery:

You are not going to believe this but as I write (14th May) we have another hailstorm - I'll just go and take a photo to add to the end of this blog. What weather - when will it settle down!!

For more information about the area where I live please see www.discover-alicante.com

LOGGING ON THE COSTA BLANCA - SORT OF!

Up until the winter of 2008 I used to search the woods in the foothills of the mountains

near La Nucia on the Costa Blanca to collect broken branches from fallen trees - my source of

fuel for our wood burning fire.

THEN on 24th January 2009 high winds brought down a pylon close by and the whole mountainside became alight - my supplies went up in smoke literally!

Shortly afterwards my wife saw an advert for a "BRIQUETTE MAKER" in a magazine. "That's the answer", she said, "from now on you must make your own logs".

So that's what happened - I bought a BRIQUETTE MAKER and since then friends and neighbours have accumulated newspapers for me and I now make my own logs. Here's how:

Crumple 32 sheets of newspaper (Daily Mail size) or 22 sheets (Daily Telegraph size) in a standard washing up bowl and cover with water. Stir and leave for 24 hours.

Give mixture another good stir effectively making papier mache and transfer to BRIQUETTE MAKER.

Press down hard on arms to extract water

Turn over and release log.

Dry in a warm place (easy to find in Spain but not so easy in Britain).

I told a friend of mine about the log maker so he bought one. But he told me later that living in South Wales was not condusive to drying the logs so they were spread all around the house as close to radiators as possible!!

Each log burns for at least 2 hours and provides a clean, odour free flame.

My aim is to make at least 200 during the next few months to have a recession beating warm winter.

To learn more about the area where I live please refer to www.discover-alicante.com