Ronda, Spain, Spanish, Themes, and Everything Else

This morning I glanced at a headline on the BBC, "Pet bunny's ears prompt 999 call" and immediately thought something terrible had happened to a child's pet rabbit and that all was going to end well when the fire service or paramedics arrived, you know, one of those feel good stories that seem to be so rare in today's press.

Sadly I was mistaken. Some woman bought a rabbit from a newspaper classified ad, and then rang 999 (the UK's emergency number) to complain that it's ears aren't floppy.

Yup, you read that right, it's ears aren't floppy. Would someone tell me which genetic flaw in her DNA is responsible for this kind of stupidity? The BBC also report about a woman who phoned because she was splashed by a car that drove through a puddle, or the guy who called 999 to get a postcode so he could write to Grangemouth police station.

Stories like these make me wonder whether the human race really is the best choice to be at the top of the food chain. At least animals do things from instinct, but we're intelligent (or so the theory goes) and more than that, people are educated from a young age to prepare them for adulthood.

Now I could offer the trite observation that people in the UK are just stupid, but that wouldn't explain stupid people in other parts of the world, so I'm left with the feeling that maybe government sponsored discrimination and segregation is actually the right way to do things. But not like they did in the past where they segregated based on color, religion, or language, nope, how about we segregate based on levels of stupidity.

The kind of people who ring an emergency number with these sorts of issues should simply be rounded up and dumped on an island. What do you think? Am I being unnecessarily harsh?

Living in Ronda, which is a very small town, you miss the big city shopping like Carrefour hypermarkets, MediaMarkt, Saturn, especially when you want something electronic and don't want cheap junk from China.

A couple of years ago I was really excited to have got myself a set of Sennheiser earbuds for my iPod, unfortunately they now seem ready to be replaced due to the number of times the buds have been yanked out of my ears as I pass door handles, or the cable gets snagged some other way.

You can imagine my delight then when I discovered that Sennheiser are actually available in Ronda. Yup, we were walking past a tourist shop a week ago on Calle Arminan and decided to go in for a quick look. We stood there for an hour chatting to the owner about walking and cycling around the campo. Then I happened to notice a discreet logo behind the counter and blow me down if they don't stock an almost complete range of Sennheiser headphones and earbuds. Read More

Over the last week the media in these parts have been in a frenzy over a series of drugs crimes; stabbings, robberies, beatings that seem to have been caused by drug abuse or disputes in trafficking.

Just last week a riot in a small town was started over a dispute about the price being charged for a small quantity of dope, which led to a man being stabbed to death. Nobody knows exactly what triggered this marijuana related crime but it's certainly shaken one small town, and made it's citizens feel quite unsafe. Many didn't even know that marijuana and crime were an issue in their area.

Similarly, with the end of the summer holidays we've heard of many alcohol crimes involving high speed motoring accidents which have thrown a spanner into the works on the government's program of education to reduce driving under the influence of alcohol.

Alcohol has in fact been a major concern for the government as they try to eradicate domestic abuse of women, the overwhelming majority of which has been attributed to abuse of alcohol by men.

Given the success of programs that treat drug abuse, and make no mistake, alcohol is a drug, I'd really like to see more people being referred into care to overcome their addictions instead of just being jailed. Drugs crime is a serious societal problem which doesn't just affect big cities, and I think professionally dealing with the addicts will make a dramatic difference.

I've written in the past of being a writer, in fact apart from blogging, writing is my other main source of income. A Shakespeare or Goethe I am not, in fact the vast majority of my writing tends to be fairly short, between 250 to 1,000 words, however my clients are only requesting blocks of writing this long.

What do I write I hear you ask? Well quite simply, anything I'm asked to write about, but typically my writing is for people who need content for websites, you'd be surprised just how many people have great ideas for websites, and I really mean that, but for whatever reason they don't seem to be able to put together great content.

This is where I can help, and I'm sure many of my readers feel the same way. Breaking into the writing business isn't the easiest in the world, often clients need to see portfolios or positive written references.

So, here's where I'm going to go out on a limb and try to help any of you who plan to get into writing. I was lucky when I started this career, a few people really helped me out, now it's my turn to help someone else.

If you're interested in building your profile, and getting a written reference, I'm looking for content for this blog (www.carlgallowa.com) and for the Serendipity Users blog (s9y-users.com). I can't pay for content but I think some of you might be interested in a written reference to get you started in the industry. At least I hope some of you might be interested.

Write me two or three posts of 400-500 words on one of the following topics, just leave a comment below and I'll email you to get your details, then when the posts have been published I'll write up a reference for you, sign it, and pop it in the mail to your place of residence. Yup, I'm talking a real signed reference you can use in your CV.

Speaking from experience, getting an independent reference for your writing skills is very difficult to do, so, what are you waiting for? Here's the list of subject areas I need posts on.

DIY solar powered items for around the home
DIY energy self-sufficiency
Local customs where you live
Learning to write in English for non-native speakers
Top 10 downloads for learning to speak [any language]
Interesting Italian phrases
Basic tips for travelers, backpackers etc
Getting to know Wordpress
Backing up Blogger or Wordpress blogs
Basic HTML or CSS for bloggers
Using social networks to build traffic
Top 10 list of social networks
Making money with affiliate programs

That's just an idea of what I'm looking for, but if you have any other ideas feel free to suggest them. Remember, this is about you getting a written reference in the mail. Thanks, and good luck.

I tend to stockpile Entrecard credits, my strategy for getting my 125x125 on other people's blogs is to use the cheap or new filter since I find these are more effective for me than the more established blogs.

As a consequence, I always seem to have a lot of credits just sitting there doing nothing. I'd like to do something with them, either sell my excess credits, or use them to promote my site, however the endless Entrecard competitions that people organise makes me despair of these ever working.

So, in lieu of any good ideas, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to sell or give away my EC credits; here's the breakdown
1,000 EC for $3 using Paypal
2,000 EC for $5 using Paypal
2,000 EC and you write a post linking to one of my posts

I think that seems reasonable, just use my contact form if you're interested in any of these offers.

When it comes to general care of the environment, which includes reducing waste across all aspects of society Spain leads the way in environmental statutes, but falls far short of the mark in actually implementing change.

This is really apparent when you look at the amount of litter on the sides of streets, illegal building on green land, treatment of animals etc. However there have been some encouraging signs recently of things finally beginning to change.

Statistics though rarely tell the full story and can easily be fudged or misinterpreted, but what can't be denied is actual money Spaniards spend, because after all, the average person is not going to spend money on a service that benefits the environment unless they also benefit. Read More

As you know, I sold my car in favor of an Electric Bike, which is really going well, and I'm loving the almost zero carbon footprint that comes with it. Being responsible in the 21st century means taking care of our environment, and I believe doing everything we can to reduce our dependency on oil.

Of course a full size bike isn't for everyone, so you should definitely check out the foldable electric bikes that are coming onto the market. These make it a lot easier to take a bike on the train, or just to store around the house.

With winter approaching we're wondering how well we'll cope with bikes and this led us to thinking about a Battery Operated Electric Car. They are available for road use and aren't that expensive, and our needs are mostly for running around town, getting our groceries, catching up with friends at a local coffee shop, none of which requires a big gas guzzler.

Top Ten Imports have been providing electric cars for several years and their new range of vehicles are the best yet, they look like a small car, operate like a small car, yet have the advantage of running on batteries. Two door and four door models are available at prices that compare very favorably with traditional manufacturers.

Starting at just $9,995 including free shipping, buyers and dealers alike would be crazy not to check out these cars. Electric vehicles with no exhaust fumes are gaining in popularity and in some places like California or London are being actively encouraged by local government.

Top Ten Imports are looking for dealers nationwide for their NAPCAR range of electric battery operated cars. The cars take less than 5 hours to charge, and will drive 60 to 100 miles per charge. If you're like me and your average drive is just a few miles per day, well then one charge might last you all week.

You recall I've been rabbiting on just a bit about getting out and cycling the Serrania de Ronda? I've been feeling really good from a motivational point of view.

Two of our neighbors are keen cyclists, one of them is very good and can make the trip between Sevilla and Ronda in almost the same time as a car, OK, a little slower, but seriously, if it takes 90 minutes to drive, this guy will arrive 15 minutes after that on his road bike.

He's super fit, and our other neighbor who is also a keen cyclist regularly goes out into these hills for much much longer distances than I can manage.

Anyway, I hadn't really thought very much about their fitness or skill with two wheels, I just know that at some point I've been saying things like cycling is wonderful, it's great for fitness, and other things like yeah, give me couple of months and I'll be as fit as you guys.

They would snigger, good naturedly, and just look at each other. I took this to be friendly banter and nothing to be concerned about. Then the other day I noticed one of them coming back from his ride wearing the full outfit of the local cycling club, which is the same club that compete in the Tour of Spain and other big cycling events.

Then last night the other half is chatting away to the other neighbor and it slips out that in his younger days he broke a world record, he was a world champion cyclist, that he is still a professional cyclist who earns his income from prize money.

I'll give you three guesses how I feel after having been the bigshot saying I'd be as fit as them soon, something deep inside me is now saying it might take a little longer, perhaps a lot longer.