Calentita

Me se pusieron los bellos de punta

.Oh, que bien la pase on National day, dear Cynthia, I am ringing to tell you porque I didn't see you - no te irias a Sotogrande?
If you didn't see me it's because you must be colour blind, dear Cloti, porque yo y mi Charlie we were there dressed in red and white.
Okay, don't suffocate yourself. Comprendo que yo soy mas gorda and better to see, porque tu y tu Charlie parecen ustedes dos palos de misto.
Blimey, ya paso el National day y empiezan las peleas otra vez, even between you and me.
Es de esperar my dear, el mundo es asi. Si yo no me peleara con mi Juan, no seria mundo, caramba. 
El Simon de los Lib Dem no tiene nada de simple, como se dejo caer el tio, saying that if the Spniards don't behave like democrats to us, how can they claim to be democrats?
Me se pusieron los bellos de punta. Y el Mackinlay le tiro un torpedo a su propio chief, Antonito, y al Cocinero, este las habla clara wherever he goes.
Te dire que I missed al Pina y sus compadres, porque ponian al Spanish Governation de lindo trapo.
Marine textile tiene el tio. Y el Pita mas duro que El Bigote, que por cierto no hablo porque in our National day solo habla el Chief Ministron.
Y como sigan quitando gente, termina el Pita hablando solo, if you ask my husband.
Ahora se dice que without self-determination there is no democracy, yo que me crei que Gibraltar was a democracy for 300 years.
Anda mujer, in 1704 no habia democracy ni en el mother of all democracies.
Del submarino we will say nothing porque ya se ha dicho todo, y lo que queda por decir. Donde venden esos iodate tablets, my dear?
Un tablet le mandaba yo al Spanish Governation que tienen tantas ganas que se arregle aqui ese torpedo de submarino. Say goodbye antes de que me enfade.
Goodbye.

Armando Lagrande

Some stuff
I hope you don't read Spanish papers because you would be so confused! They have been coming up with all sorts of reports about the Tireless, enough to tire anyone. Where do they get all this stuff from?
Someone actually said last week that the submarine had been repaired and was out at sea on trials!
Another report said that the carrier that stood out there ready to carry the sub to UK was a Royal Navy tug!
Another guy has read a special report that said the repair base was permanent. Since I also read the report he had read, it is obvious he did not know what he was reading.
It is as if they print what they hear, and then everybody else repeats the same thing, with nobody knowing where the information came from in the first place.

Like losing the lottery twice over
My, oh, my. The cost of the Gibraltar office in Madrid! Did I hear well, and why wouldn't I hear well, that it is costing us over £230,000 a year.
It's like losing the first prize of the lottery twice over.

Missing out
The MOD lost no time to invite the new Miss Gib to the Tireless - where else would they invite her to?!
The Tourist Board accepted and prepared the photo-session.
As soon as No.6 got to know, the whole thing was cancelled.
If the MOD had intended to use the photo session as a publicity gimmick, the whole project collapsed.
Question: Does No.6 own Miss Gib?

Night follows day
Troubled GBC are to scrap their early daytime programmes. Were they not part and parcel of that excellent re-launch promised to us all just over a year ago? So, now it doesn't matter!
Since Night follows Day, some cynics will be asking if the costly Corporation will now axe what follows...
Come on, Charlie boy!

Where to?
Where have al those anti-submarine letters gone to?

No longer Main
If you ask me, and you don't have to, Main street has long ceased to be Main street.
I will explain, if I may.
The street is supposed to end at referendum gate, but for all intends and purposes it ends half way down from Casemates, don't you agree?
Should we now have Main Street One and Main Street Two, with rents etc at Two being less than at One?
It's only obvious.

Slum areas
Take my advice and park your car for a while and take a good walk around Gibraltar. You will be ashamed!
Some of the buildings haven't had a coat of paint since they were built. Slum areas, here and there.
And not only buildings. Many streets are ever so dirty. And those broken pavements here, there and everywhere. 
Get back to the car quickly!

Not even the apes...
Those were the days when the military were in charge of the apes...and what a good job they did of it.
The apes were kept at the right levels to avoid an invasion of town.
The civvies have taken over, and despite trips to Switzerland and other places I presume, what we have is an ape nuisance problem.
If we cannot manage the apes, how can we manage ourselves?
Is that not a jolly good question?

Town Topics

Gibraltar football teams to play in Spanish league for first time

A row is simmering over the decision to enroll two Gibraltar football teams in Spanish leagues.  This is the first time this happens.
  The teams are made up of youngsters, from 12 to 15 years, and will play in the Andalusian junior league as if they were Spanish teams.
  Last week the Andalusian football federation accepted the two teams, known as Calpe, to take part in their leagues, which made Calpe's president Jose Luis Bonavia a happy man, according to Spanish reports.
  The same reports said that Eduardo Herrera, the Andalusian football president, was also very happy by the agreement, which will allow Calpe to participate in official Andalusian league matches held in La Linea.
 He hoped that Calpe would be the beginning of more Gibraltarian clubs taking part in the Andalusian league, "subject to their always accepting our legal framework" and "that there is no other question that complicates it."
  Following the Spanish press reports,  a press release was issued by Calpe football club last Thursday saying that it had been formed "by a group of enthusiastic individuals in order to help our local youngsters further their career in football."
 It adds: The players are to be responsible, disciplined and determined to reach the ultimate goal.  They also need to be fully committed and supported all the way by their parents who should not intervene in whatever decision is made by the board of the club."
  However, established football sources were expressing concern that "it is one thing for any footballer to play in any team of his choice that requires his services, but it is another to have a Gibraltar team play in a Spanish league as if it were a Spanish club."
  When Calpe say that in the 1960s Gibraltar could proudly announce its football selection to play matches against top European opposition, that is precisely the opposite to what Calpe are doing - it is not the Gibraltar Football Association that is playing European opposition. It is a local club playing outside the British jurisdiction of Gibraltar in a Spanish league. 
  Sources said that the Calpe move could undermine the efforts of the GFA to have Gibraltar football recognised at European level, through membership of UEFA which, ironically, the Spaniards themselves want to stop for political reasons.

Unsung Heroes

Part 4

At the outbreak of the First World War the Gibraltarian once again stepped forward to do his duty for King and Country. On 15th November 1914 a Grand Patriotic Meeting was held at the Theatre Royal which was packed to such an extent that the people had to remain in thousands outside, the Gibraltar War Relief Fund Committee started its duties. The 3rd July 1915 saw the enrolment of the Gibraltar Volunteer Corps, being the first time in Gibraltar's History that such a corps had been officially recognised and enrolled. Addressing the Volunteers at Wellington Front on that historic day, the Governor, General Sir Herbert Miles, reminded them that the Corps had come into being not because of any official demand but as a result of their patriotic fervour and of their love and respect for the crown. A force of 400 men was mustered which made up 4 Rifle Companies, drill was carried out with wooden rifles borrowed from the Boys Brigade. There were no uniforms, no pay and only the poor got free boots. The Corps was initially based at Orange Bastion, with the Headquarters on the ground floor of what is now the City Hall. Later they all moved to Wellington Front.
The 3rd of August 1915 the Colony of Gibraltar presented an aeroplane named "Gibraltar' to the Royal Flying Corps, which was immediately despatched to the Front. It would be very interesting to find out what happened to our War Contribution, did it go down in flames or perhaps it could be in some museum?
By 18th December 1915 things were looking much better for the Volunteer Corps and we see the first Guard of Honour ever mounted by a body of Gibraltarian soldiers, with brand new cap badge and all. The Guard was 100 strong and commanded by Captain A Gonzalez. During the war, the Corps provided a substantial reinforcement to assist in the defence of the Rock. The Corps was disbanded after the war on 1st February 1920. We must not forget those who opted to join the regular forces and left Gibraltar for the front line. A list of Gibraltarians serving at the Front was published on 20th October 1916 and a list of those who never came back can be seen in the lobby of the House of Assembly.

The Gibraltarian

Population At 22,000

A census was taken in 1921, and showed 18,540 civilians, 3,478 services, a total of 22,018. Although the total was higher than that of 1911, when the overall total was 25,367 persons, of whom 19,583 were civilians, there was a decrease of 138 Natives, and 78 Maltese due to emigration, and stagnation of shipping in the port. A decrease of United Kingdom natives of 356 was due to decrease of English workmen in the Dockyard, and the giving up of local businesses by several large British firms. The census returned those born in Gibraltar as 6,649 males and 7,225 females, and in the United Kingdom as 817 males and 527 females. The occupations giving most employment were as under:

General labourers 387
Living on own means 386
Commercial Clerks 309
Coal labourers 183
Merchants 152
Telegraphists, etc. 144
Storekeepers, etc. 128
Cart and Transport Drivers 114
Shipwrights and apprentices 111
Skilled labourers 109
Domestics of all kinds 1,042
Seamstresses 109
Laundresses and ironers 102

Trade, including cruising, was affected by the Italian Abyssinian war, but the real death-blow to cruising was the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. Apart from witnessing naval battles, plane attacks and a bombardment of Algeciras, the people of Gibraltar were deeply affected by the struggle. Some had relatives and very many friends beyond the frontier and this naturally caused them great anxieties. Commerce between Gibraltar and Spain was naturally much disturbed and curtailed. It was a time of great uncertainty. Thousands of refugees, most of them practically destitute, fled over the frontier into the already overcrowded Rock, raising a number of serious problems. Many remained for a long time, and even in 1949, some of the refugees were still in Gibraltar. With them came many British residents from the area round the bay.