Marbella! That had to be the answer. When I went to buy bread at the Shell garage just opposite, I asked about buses to the town and was told that they were every 30 minutes at quarter past and quarter to. The stop was nearby although not totally obvious. When I got back I hauled Mary from her reveries (no monkeys today!) and made sure we were ready to visit the shops in Marbella within the hour.

To cut a short story shorter, we missed the bus while trying to find the bus stop, discovered it took 45 minutes to get to Marbella, so went back and jumped in the Audi. Fifteen minutes later we drew up at La Cañada Retail Park on the far side of Marbella. There went the rest of the afternoon. We bought some clothes, did some shopping, had lunch and best of all, I finally treated Mary to highlights in her hair at a posh salon. The results were very impressive and I now have triple figures in Brownie points. Now, how should I cash them in?

Paul Barnett called as we were driving back and confirmed they were expecting us at 4 p.m. tomorrow for our tea down in Sotogrande. We have discussed all the possibilities and think we will probably drive right down to Tarifa on the point near Algeciras, settle in on site and then drive the 30 miles back up the coast to Paul’s house. It means I won’t be able to have a beer with them as I don’t touch a drop if I’m driving over here, but I can always have a glass or two when we get back to the campsite.

One disappointment about leaving Cabopino is that we now don’t have the time to drive up to Ronda in the mountains, a “must-see” for almost everyone. However Mr. Google has suggested we could possibly take the train from Algeciras to Ronda and back, a trip described as one of the ten best train journeys in Europe. Now, if that comes to be, we’ll be well pleased so watch this space for updates. This corner of Spain is going to be quite difficult to organize in terms of length of journeys, places to stay and avoiding missing the best tourist attractions. Cadiz, Jerez, Seville, Ronda and Cordoba are all waiting for us before we take off into the heart of Spain where Madrid awaits our arrival.

This morning, just before we drove to Marbella, I had an interesting short conversation in French with a Swiss arrival who turned out to be a Scotsman standing next to someone else’s caravan with a CH sticker on it! I almost fell over when I delivered my helpful advice in French to be met with “Sorry, pal, ah’ve nae idea what yir sayin’!” Consider me firmly put in my place! I also remarked on a wee boy in the arms of his Mum at the shops with a friendly “What a lovely smile!” to be turned upon by a totally affronted Mum telling me “My son does not smell!”

Is it me?

Back to reality – if you can call living abroad in a 2-berth caravan a kind of reality. The normal procedure for breakfast is now I get up, set the table and chairs outside and cook any eggs we may be having, while Mary does the teas. We sit in the sunshine, eat and drink, and slowly come to life. After a suitable time we may discuss what might happen that day but try very hard to keep things as flexible as possible.

This was to be a Sky Sports Super Sunday with 3 great games in the offing. I started to watch the first, a delightful helping of Scottish “up-and-at-’em” football as Dundee United strove to stop Celtic walking off with more silverware this season by knocking them out of the Cup. The first half was difficult to follow on a poor live stream so I persuaded Mary to come into the port area with me to find a pub showing the match.

A 10-minute walk took us there and we were soon seated in a pub watching the game. Suddenly the channel changed and it was Stoke v Man Utd! My enquiries revealed a group of English fans in an adjacent room who had changed the channel to see their favourites but had been watching the Scottish game beforehand. On my own there was no chance of me persuading them otherwise but I did get to see the last 10 minutes of extra-time during their half-time break.

Live Sex-Show!

Mary and I then walked around the harbour and back in the heat of the afternoon. We started by watching what appeared to be a strange spawning ritual by some carp-like fish which congregated near us just opposite the pub. That’s also where we witnessed a family of Scousers being loud and silly as only Scousers can be, but surprisingly none of them ended up in the water! We strolled to the far end of the pier to watch the anglers catch nothing as usual but we decided we would buy a fishing line for Mary to recreate her halcyon days at Wormit. We’ll look out for one when we visit Marbella tomorrow.

We parked here!

At five o’clock I returned to the pub to see the Chelsea v Man City FA Cup semi-final, but Mary went for a wander to the shops on her own just to keep her sanity. I as usual got into conversation with the local Brits, including a couple who have been here 7 years although he, a civil engineer, is a fitness coach while she, a professional accountant, earns her beer money as a cleaner. They have the same attitude as all the others we have met; they would rather be over here enjoying the little they have than working for the Man back at home.

There was still time for an hour’s reading outside the Magic Caravan before a late tea tonight after which we watched the telly then retired for the night. At the back of 11 it’s 28ºC in the caravan after unbroken hot sunshine all day. At one point just after midday it got too hot for both of us and we sought refuge indoors. It is the 14^th of April! Viva España!

Just us1

Crusoe!

I went back to the beach for my breakfast this morning but this time Mary came with me, fearful of missing a moment I had described as exceptional. And she was glad she did. We sat on a log, drank our tea, stared out into the western Mediterranean and let the sun do the rest. Exquisite may be close to the most accurate description but crank it up a couple of notches and you may find the word you’re looking for.

As we hadn’t put up the awning on this site, getting ready to leave was a bit easier than usual and a heck of a lot quicker. By 10.30 we were up on the clock, having targeted an 11.00 departure, but we simply hadn’t reckoned on the number of acquaintances who wanted to say goodbye. John next door kept it straight and friendly, the Swedish couple wanted to give us the coordinates of a pipe of mountain water they thought was the best in Spain and we were delayed by a big lad who determined to detail last week’s operation after he fell ill. Poor man clearly just wanted someone to listen and of course we did.

Eventually however we waved goodbye to the little gem that is La Garrofa and climbed the hill to the petrol station where we filled up before taking the Autovia del Mediterraneo in the direction of Malaga and beyond. The journey was incident-free but the a/c was on full blast the entire way and the Audi did some serious work hauling the Magic Caravan up and down the endless slopes of the road along the coast. We had a really nice lunch just after Malaga at which point the motorway moved slightly inland and became flatter so easier for me and for the car. Victoria did the last 2 kilometres in style and deposited us right on the doorstep of our latest site, Cabopino, just short of Marbella.

Places

In comparison to the one we had just left, this site is huge and there are hundreds of people spending the Spring in the warm sunshine of this part of the world. We were allowed to pick our pitch from a list of those still free and were soon set up although we required wee hand from the Englishman next door who used a hydraulic jack to help us even up both sides of the caravan on what was sloping ground. Tea was taken outside, a simple sausage and eggs for a change, followed by an hour reading. It was past 7 in the evening but I still needed my hat on to protect the bald pate from the heat of the sun which seemed not to want to give in and fall below the horizon.

Tomorrow we explore the local town and the beach front. Life can be so hard! By the way, here’s Mary’s new hobby!

Pole-Dancing1

Holding Cell, Marbella Police Station, Spain. Right now.

Statement of Mr. Wendall Strickland:

‘ My name is Wendall Strickland and I’m in a lot of trouble right now. The first question they ask me is where did I get the gun, when I tell them I lifted it out of an empty police car they get even madder as I guess it makes them look even more stupid than I know them to be. The next question is where did I get the gold fob watch that I’m holding tightly in my hand. I explain to them it’s my fathers and they seem to accept it. Any more questions must wait, as I want to tell this story MY way, in MY own time. So best I start at the beginning.

This paper they’ve given me to write my confession on is thin like the pages of those bibles you find in hotel rooms, the pen keeps popping through so I hope you can still read it ok? I’m a month shy of my thirtieth birthday and if what these pigs have told me is true it looks like I’ll be spending it and the next few birthdays behind bars. You want to know the sickest part? Because I stuck-up a yacht rather than a car they’re actually thinking of charging me with Piracy. PIRACY? What the fuck? What a prick I am, what was I thinking?

I don’t want your pity, I don’t even expect your understanding, but all I’ll say for truth is that desperation leads a man to do crazy things he wouldn’t normally do. That and being in love and being greedy and so full of how you THINK you deserve to be living. Ah hell, as you can probably tell already, I’m no good with words, so I’m just gonna tell it how it was, no fancy bumfluffery just the cold hard facts. It’s roasting hot here in the cells, my tongue feels like a slug that’s had salt put on it and my stomach thinks my throats been cut. But there’s fuck all I can do about it, so guess I better just get on telling my story. OK, here goes…

I’d been living here on Spain’s Costa del Sol for about the last three years: great life, killer apartment up in the mountains, beach parties and cheap booze. But all on the never never. The credit crunch hit around the same time I hit a losing streak at the casino, a run of bad luck you wouldn’t believe. By June this year I’d run out of money and was looking down the barrel of having to return to London with nothing but chewing gum in my pocket. For reasons I don’t really want to go into now London was not a good place for me.

Anyway. So I’m hanging with my mate Paul who works as projectionist at the cinema down near La Canada, he’s a good guy, I met him when I first moved out at a local poker game and we pretty much met up most Saturdays in that small smoky projection room to smoke weed and watch whatever film he was showing.  I can finally admit that he is a much better poker player than me. It’s taken me a lot of hard thinking to be able to say that. But in the early days we had a typical sort of male dick-swinging rivalry with our poker and casino, now I can see he’s simply a better player. I got into the online gambling whereas he always stuck to live cash games along the coast. I was losing badly. I’d think nothing of doing six hundred Euros a night yet go to the Supermercado the next day and buy their Value vegetables’ and cheap cuts of meat.

I always loved gangster films, you know? Casinos and even online gambling made me feel part of it all, that feeling of walking into a casino and being comp’t drinks, the atmosphere and promise of riches, dazzling glitz and glamour in the neon lights yet under the surface I could feel the shady deals and kickings in the back-alleys. I fucking loved it. I got sucked right in. Stupid huh? Guess I’ve always had a problem separating fact from fiction. I totally blame my dad. Compulsive gambler and all round shady character but to a young kid he seemed like the coolest guy on earth. You could say I had risk-taking in my blood – even my unusual name Wendall, chosen by my dad after winning a fortune at an Indian Reservation casino with the same name. That’s about all he left me though before fucking off and leaving me and mum to struggle on. That’s when I decided I wanted to be a gangster. To have the good things in life. Dad had always taken us out on holiday to Marbella, he had some business contacts out here, and when I say ‘business’ I mean gangster. He always looked so cool, sharp suits and sunglasses, always seeming to be mentally flipping a silver dollar in his hand when he entered a room. My mum said he looked dangerous in a sexy way- like he was always secretly carrying a gun even though he wasn’t. I’d tried to emulate him I guess as best I could. Gambling and a little hash running up and down the coast, no great shakes, sometimes I’d bring my digital camera to Paul’s projection room and video the new release, uploading it Online for a few bucks. VERY minor league stuff you understand, but just enough to keep me in wine, women and song… if you get me?

Paul had never met dad but the stories I told him made him laugh. He was always warning me to get my head in the game, that I was hero-worshipping and painting a child’s view of an adult, a two-dimensional character. He was right of course, looking back I realise now I was trying to live up to a two-dimensional character, like a film. Real life is always in glorious 3D, huh?

I guess what really swung it for me, what really stuck a bug up my arse to go through with this ridiculous two-dimensional plan was sitting on my balcony last Saturday, I remember it must’ve been about nine in the evening because I could hear the shit karaoke from the bar down the road, I sat on my balcony with my air pistol shooting the tails off lizards when I saw her appear on the balcony of the apartment block opposite separated by the swimming pool and a line of palm trees. Man she looked perfect. The sort of woman I’d honestly give my little-finger to get with.

Hang on, I can hear a guard opening the outer door, I want to try and bum a smoke – I’ve got a little rolling tobacco left but it’s so sweaty in here that my hands are dripping probably as much with nervousness as heat and my cigarette papers are all damp and stuck together. Useless.

Update: The guard was alright. He gave me his packet which had three left in it. I think I’m getting a kind of warped respect from them for what I attempted, ha, I’m a gangster at last. But how empty and stupid it feels now locked up.

Where was I? Right, oh yeah, so this girl in the apartment opposite is just killer. I see her pick up her swimming costume from where it’s hanging over her balcony. I figure she’s going for a swim. What must it be like to sleep with a girl like that, have her on my arm as I enter the casino? Anyway what I’m trying to get across to you is how desperately I wanted to stay in Spain and how crazy much I needed to make some fast cash.

That Saturday night in the projection room me and Paul are smoking and watching ‘Goodfellas’ of all films – a special midnight showing for the heads. One of my favourite films – even with De Niro speaking in dubbed Spanish. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: ‘Paul I gots to find a way to stay. Some sort of crime or fraud is all I can come up with.’

Paul reminds me last time I tried crime was stealing cables and metal to sell as scrap back in London. I told him the story myself when we first met. Me and a few lads busted into a large park and stole this big sundial sculpture thing. We got four-hundred pounds for it, then on the news later feeling pretty clever we saw it was by some guy called Henry Moore and was actually worth about half a million. This amongst other things facilitated my quick exit from England.

‘How about Football gambling? asks Paul, ‘Some big games this weekend, easy money’.

‘Fuck soccer.’ I tell him. ‘If I wanted to watch somebody struggle to score for 90 mins I’d take my friends to the bar. I’ve come to the conclusion I’m not very good at poker, least ways not as good as I think I am. Either that or I have the luck of a cursed Gypsy. Had a rare spare tenner so am playing a few two dollar cash games. The beats I’m getting you would not believe and couldn’t write in a story as it wouldn’t be deemed believable or true to life. I swear to ya. Also, when the stakes are so small I would argue that you can’t even HAVE a proper game of psychological poker because dickheads will call you all the way down to the river with rags on the hope of catching something exactly BECAUSE the money is so small. They’d never do that if it was a nifty. I despair.’

I stand up all stressed, knocking away the flies that were circling round my beer. ‘How long am I expected to go on living like this?’

Paul shrugged his shoulders. ‘Don’t ask me, how in the hell would I know.’

I  began clapping at the flies missing them all but looking like a nutter.

‘How’s your game anyway?’ I ask, ‘ You’ve got that big game coming up Saturday, hey?’

Paul had strained his head towards the air-conditioning trying to catch some of the icy-wind.

‘Say again?’ He moved his head back away from the whirring motor.

‘I said, you got that big game coming up Saturday?’

‘Yeah’, he put his face back to the air-conditioning.

I stopped clapping and sought solace in another cold beer from the fridge he had under the projector. That’s when I hit him with it.

‘Look, I got an idea. It’s a bit out-there, so hear me out before you respond, ok?’

Paul pulled his head back once again, ‘hey man, I can’t hear ya. What’s up now’.

I tried a different approach. ‘You know I’m desperate yeah… financially, I mean, you know I’m really up against it?’

Paul nodded.

‘The poker games a fat one isn’t it?’

‘Yeah, it’s on Pat Coons yacht down in Cabopino. Rich flounders, better angling for fat fish than the harbour. The buy-in alone is a thousand Euros so you can easily times that by fifty once they’ve had a skin-full.’

‘Exactly, there’s gonna be a lot of cash on that boat, hey?’

‘Yep and it all going to be mine all mine’. Paul laughed and knocked back the cold suds.

‘No, it’s gonna be mine.’ I say.

‘But you ain’t playing. Not with your luck…’

‘I know, but I’m gonna make my own luck…’ Bam, I lay it on him:  ’I’m gonna hijack the boat…’

I expected Paul to fall about laughing, but full respect to him he took me seriously. Perhaps it was Goodfellas showing through the projectionist hole, perhaps it was the smoke, but he went along with it, hoping I guess to let me work out myself in the nitty-gritty detail that it wasn’t such a swell idea.

Still we talked it through. Even though these big games are only Paul’s bag not mine, there’s still a chance someone might recognise me – it’s quite a small community of ex-pats here on the coast, everyone sticking their burned noses into each others business. So we decide I should use a fake accent and some sort of mask. The only accent I can do half-convincingly is American or Scottish. The American sounded so camp that even with a gun pointed at them these six dudes would still probably just laugh. I try the Scots, not much better, the Sean Connery sounds too stupid even for my tentative grasp on reality and so I settle for a sort of Billy Connelly drawl. Paul falls about laughing as I test it out:

‘Alreet, give me the fooking money’.

I waved my fingers around the room aping a gun, pointing at the projection console and saw a blister pack of blue diamond shaped pills. He told me he’d been staying at his uncle’s and found them in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Viagra, full strength, not the shit you buy online but the real deal prescription only. I’m always up for a new buzz so necked one washed down with a fresh cold can of Cruzcampo lager. Twenty minutes later, nothing. But my mind was racing with the plan. Paul could see my mind was made up and had to admit the plan was totally risk-free for him. We’d split the loot fifty-fifty.

Being a good friend he tried to put me off one last time. Did I listen? Did I fuck. I’d set my mind to the wheel. It was going to happen. But where to get a gun? I knew a couple of places along the coast, a few ex-pat bars who would know some people who knew some people. So off I went on my scooter. Any thoughts of how stupid I was being were pushed and stamped down under the boot of my excitement at finally living the life. How cool am I trying to get a gun to stick up a poker game on a yacht? Fucking idiot looking back.

First bar there’s no joy. Second bar fares better but the guy won’t be around for a week and the game was less than three days away. I took the back roads back towards my apartment feeling bummed-out. I remember there was a beautiful sunset that night, the orange light was streaking through all the half-built and empty complexes never to be finished now that the arse had fallen out of the Spanish economy. It looked like a post nuclear holocaust world with nothing left but empty husks of concrete with little oil drum fires competing with the sunset started by the Spanish kids with no jobs or money sat around getting stoned. Spurred on by the thought that pretty soon I’d be joining them if I didn’t get paid in full I tried the last bar that was rough enough to help. I hit my first bit of good luck, or as I should’ve seen it if I hadn’t been so whacked-out, major bad luck. Big fight breaks out in the bar over a pool game. Guardia Civil the local police rock up and launch out of their car as bottles are flying out the window, one cracking the bonnet. In the hurly-burly I walk past their cop car and what do I see through the open passenger window? Yep, unbelievably a gun in its holster sticking out the glove compartment. You couldn’t make this shit up, but there it was. I’m thinking this whole heist must now be sanctioned by the gods, so without having to be asked twice, in my hand goes and out comes the gun. Looking behind me, the two cops are totally engrossed in sorting out the punch-up, I quickly stuff the gun down the front of my pants where the barrel lays hanging to the right. Somehow it felt so right. Back on the scooter I skedaddle out of there faster than a shit-house rat.

Back at my apartment I cracked open a good bottle of Hennessey brandy, one I’d been saving for a special occasion like a big win at the tables, drank about a fifth immediately, then laid out the gun on the outside table overlooking the bright lights of Fuengirola. I know how shit it sounds but damn that gun felt sexy and powerful. Holding it and pointing it I felt anything was possible. Next I needed to get a boat. I figured that would be the easiest part of the plan. ‘Barry Armpit’ as he was known along the strip of Marbella had a small motor boat which he used to rip off tourists on dolphin watching trips. He owed me a few favours and wouldn’t miss the boat for a few hours I was sure. There’s the sound of banging music coming from that girl’s apartment and I can see figures dancing through the light mosquito screen. Again, she comes out onto the balcony and picks up her bikini. I swear she looks at me as she leans over the railing almost falling out of her tight top. This time I decide a moonlight swim would work for me too and leaving the gun on the table I strip down to my boxers and come down in the lift.

By the time I reach the edge of the pool she’s already doing lengths. The under floor lighting gives off a magical yellow and blue light through the water and the outline of her body moves as lithe and fluid as a dolphin. I jump in and stretch my arms out on the edge trying desperately to look nonchalant waiting for her to see me on her return pass. She does, she smiles, she pauses and then it hits me. An ancient and permanent wood. An erection so profound and final it’s like a Maypole with a hundred fertile goblins dancing round it. So brutal is the hard on it rips through my tight boxers like the Incredible Hulk tearing his shirt. Fucking Viagra. No warning, no stirring in the loins, just a nought-to-sixty length in under ten seconds. I look down at her pretty feet distorting in the rippling water. A girl’s feet are really important to me. I figure if a girl can’t keep her nails clean then imagine what her pussy must be like. But this girls feet were cute, no hammer-time. I imagine sucking her toes must be like tasting peaches and cream. Christ these thoughts don’t help the conviction of my length to remain undiminished. It is now so hard that you could hang a garden basket from it, or bang in a rusty nail. I’m silhouetted by the light and she looks down seeing the news. I figure I’m going to have to stay in the pool till dawn, but no. She smiles and winks at me.

‘We’re having a party Saturday night, I’ve seen you watching me from your apartment’ She looks down again at the broadsword, ‘And it sure looks like you know how to party. Wanna come? She drags out the word ‘come’ and brushes past me, softly caressing my tent-pole with her foot as she kicks off and begins swimming again.

There and then all doubt in my mind vanished. God damn I was going to get that money. Saturday it was to be. Take the gun, take the boat, get the money, get the girl.

Only things didn’t work out like that.

I’m breaking off again. The slat in my cell door has just been opened and I’m being watched. Keys turning, door opens. Ah food. At fucking last. The only good thing about a Spanish jail-house is the food. Fantastic chorizo and tortilla and even a small glass of watered down red tinto de verano. You sure wouldn’t get fed like this in a London nick. Now with a full stomach and a couple of smokes left things suddenly seem a little brighter and I’ve got enough focus to get this confession finished. So…

Borrowing the boat off Barry Armpit was no trouble at all. I found him stuffing his face down at a beach bar and I had the keys in my hand within the time it took him to order the bill. Stand-up guy. A real goodfella. I hopped on the scooter down to Cabopino and checked out the boat. Small but fast. I checked the fuel lines, the gas gauge and took it out for a quick spin around the bay just to quieten myself down, burn off some of the adrenaline that was starting to build up in my system. A dry run if you like. The boat handled like a dream and as I pulled back into the harbour I felt a surge of excitement that this was going to work. Carefully stowing the gun, a rucksack and a fancy-dress mask of a werewolf head that I’d picked up from a kids store, I literally danced back along the harbour wall waiting on tomorrow afternoon.

The stick up. Cometh the hour; cometh the cunt.

It went down like this.

Saturday morning I wake up and the sky is overcast, first day in about two months that it hasn’t been sunny. This gives me a slight uneasy feeling made worse when I scoot down to the harbour and see how choppy the water is beyond the break-wall. Quick phone call to Paul to check the game is still happening and all is fine. He’s already on board and using the shoreline as a compass he tells me where they’ve dropped anchor. The game is about to start and the bundles of Euro bank notes are sat on the table for all to see. I’m licking my lips already.

Pushing out beyond the harbour wall the boat starts bouncing around, it’s altogether so much rougher than yesterday’s test run. I instinctively feel for my dad’s gold pocket watch and take it out of my shirt pocket, resting it above the wheel to keep me focused. This is all I have to remember him by, and despite all the years and hardships I’ve never once considered pawning it, no matter how tough things got. It’s my only connection to him and I wouldn’t gamble or take any sort of risk without it. It’s a complicated one, the relationship with my dad. Part of me resents him for walking out on us, but part of me still wants to impress him and show him that I can be a cool gambler come gangster too. It’s a boiling mess of emotions, anger, love, jealousy, respect, fear inside me as the cold spray hits my face over the boat’s windshield.

All this bullshitty introspection goes clean out of my mind as I see the white fleck on the horizon of what I’m guessing must be the poker yacht. As I barrel towards it I can almost make out the six men sat at the table on the top deck. A couple of girls are wandering around too. I hadn’t planned for more than six people, more people to watch meant more chances of someone getting to a radio or phone to raise the alarm. I look at my mobile phone to check for any last messages from Paul. No bars, no signal. Too far out from shore. Fuck it. In for a penny in for a pound, I’m committed now, and if I can see them, they sure as hell can see me, so on with the werewolf mask, pocket watch back in shirt and shooter stuffed in the front of my shorts.

Let’s fucking have it!

I cut the motor before it can be heard and drift like a silent surfboard towards the yacht. I see Paul on his mobile as I pull round the side. He sees me and makes a cutting motion with his finger along his throat. He repeats it as I throw a rope round the yacht’s access ladder out of sight of all but Paul and one guy engrossed in looking at his cards. Desperately trying to keep the element of surprise I leap up the slippery white plastic steps wishing I’d worn shoes with grip rather than flip-flops. I take a quick mental photo of the layout. Paul and four other guys, mostly fat perma-tanned with silver back hair and gold-watches. I make a mental note to remember to take their jewellery too. Two girls are sunbathing to the stern, headphones on, eyes closed. This is good. Another lucky break.

Leaping the gunwale I take the card-players unawares, the first they know about it is literally this werewolf storming the deck brandishing a Heckler & Koch 9mm. In the mayhem that ensues I totally forget about the Scottish accent and just scream in natural broad Essex.

‘Put the fucking money in the fucking bag..! Do it..! Do it now…!’

The men literally freeze and just sit there not sure if this is some sort of joke. I squeeze the trigger aiming for the centre of the green baize where it shoots a stack of chips into the air. This has the desired effect on them and they realise I’m not fucking around here.

‘Don’t nothing move but the money…’ I’d always wanted to say that. ‘…and stick your fucking watches and pocket-books in too’. I throw the rucksack centre-table where the bullet has made a neat hole. Still nothing, no movement, just confused looks. It’s then I see why nothing is happening. Paul has all the chips and money on his side of the table like a gambling squirrel. What are the fucking chances, eh? He’d totally smashed the game. Why should he settle for fifty percent from me when he’d already nearly the whole hundred? Fuck, fuck, fuck!

My heart is beating out of my chest and the plastic mask is causing the sweat to blind my eyes. The eye holes are so small that I can only pretty much see straight ahead, no periphery vision at all. Something else I should have factored in before starting off. Fucking amateur night. I don’t even clock that there are only five men sitting down at a six seat game.

The sixth man must’ve come up from the galley having fixed himself a drink, got some ice or maybe even just gone for a massive great shit – I don’t know and guess I never will. But what I will always remember is him coming at me from my blind side and the smash of a high-ball glass on the back of my head. Stars and fucking stripes just like in the cartoons. The force of the impact causes my gold pocket watch to leap out of my shirt and skid along the smooth wet deck. Now with blood as well as sweat in my eyes I stumble dazed trying to grab the watch before it’s lost overboard. I can feel shards of glass wriggling through my skull towards my soft brain, but looking back I’m kind of proud that even in that moment of high anxiety I still put family connections over greed and went for the watch not the Euros. For all it was fucking worth though.

I catch the watch with my left hand just before it skids over the edge, my right hand still feebly trying to point the gun over my shoulder. Again, coming from the side I feel a well-judged flip-flop connect with my arse and hoof me over the side of the boat. A perfect shot delivered with animal force. As I somersault over the rope railings I have just enough time to see the foot that launched me before the water swallows me up. I recognise the foot. Definitely male, I pray it isn’t Paul’s having changed his mind now he’d got all the money and was fixing to improvise. But no, with the cold splash of the water on my sunburned face I realised the foot looked a lot like mine. I think of the girl’s foot in the shimmering blue pool as I swim up through the much darker seawater. As hard as I can I try to pretend I’ll break the surface next to her back in the pool but it all feels wrong, and this time my dick is as soft and small as a prawn.

Fighting for breath I surface, immediately pointing my left hand back up to the deck. The pocket-watch points at the owner of the foot, the gun descending beneath me into the slimy depths. The years may have added a few pounds and wrinkles to the body but the face is unmistakable.

‘Dad!’

He looks as shocked as me leaning over the rail, cigarette hanging from his tight-lips.

‘Wendall? Wendall is that you? It IS you! What the fuck?’

From this position we have the family reunion. Such is my confused state that the little hurt child I’d been repressing in me all these years comes out.

‘Dad. Why did you leave? I only did this to be like you.’ Salt water tears mixing with salt water ocean.

‘Bloody puff. Man up.’

His next words will stay with me forever, cutting deeper than these handcuffs ever could:

‘I left because you were growing up to be a right little cunt…. Seems I wasn’t wrong either…’

The cell lights have just gone out so I can’t even see what I’m writing anymore. Probably for the best, hey?

Wendall Strickland

Die Verbreitung von Immobilien in El Rosario in diesem ruhigen und teilweise geschlossenen Wohngebiet, reicht von brandneuen bis zu rustikalen, von sehr großen und opulenten zu bescheideneren Verhältnissen, und von ultramodernen architektonischen Stilen zu eher traditioneller Optik. Die ruhigen Straßen haben wenig Verkehr, führen direkt zu einem lokalen Einkaufszentrum, einem Supermarkt, eine kleine Sammlung von Läden und Büros, sowie einige Restaurants und Cafés die ebenfalls dazu gehören. Ein Teil dieses Zentrums ist die deutsche Bäckerei, die sich zu einem Bezugspunkt auf dem Gebiet entwickelt hat, während es auch Vereine gibt, die Tennis bieten, Paddle-Tennis, Schwimmbäder, Fitness, Pilates und ein Café / Restaurants.

Letzteres ist auch der Fall beim Marbella Golf Club, dessen stilvolles Clubhaus ein Fine Dining Restaurant mit herrlichem Blick über den Kurs bietet, so wie einen Pro-Shop, Golfschule, eleganten Lounge-Bereich und Einrichtungen für Konferenzen und soziale Funktionen. In der Nähe sind auch die Plätze von Santa Clara Golf und Greenlife Golf, von denen der letztere das sehr hoch bewertete Gourmet-Restaurant El Lago beherbergt.

Ein größeres Einkaufszentrum finden Sie in Elviria, ein paar Kilometer östlich, mit vielen Restaurants, Cafés, Lounge Bars, und auch Beach-Clubs dazwischen. Der berühmte Nikki Beach bildet den Beach-Club des Fünf-Sterne-Hotel Don Carlos, Sie können sich aber auch für eine bodenständige Erfahrung bei den vielen Chiringuitos, die die Küste säumen entscheiden. Dieser Bereich ist mit einigen der besten Strände in der Region Marbella begünstigt, und zwar in erster Linie mit seinem Fokus auf dem Meer.

El Rosario hat auch eine sehr gute Verteilung der Schulen, Kliniken und andere professionelle Dienstleistungen direkt vor der Haustür. Dazu gehören das Englisch International College, die Deutsche Schule und das Costa del Sol Kreiskrankenhaus – alle innerhalb von wenigen Kilometern zu erreichen.

El Rosario erfreut sich eines der klassischen Marbella-Stils mit Frieden, Ruhe und Privatsphäre und mit freiem Blick auf das Meer und die umliegenden Berge, vom Gebiet östlich von Marbella gelangt man auch bequem ins Herz der Stadt und mit all ihren Dienstleistungen.

Hier finden Sie eine Auswahl einiger Villen und Apartments, die derzeit in El Rosario zu verkaufen sind:

El Rosario Villa – Villa im spanischen-mediterranen Stil mit einer bebauten Fläche von 451m2, mit drei Schlafzimmern und drei Bädern. Der grosse offene Wohn-Essbereich hat eine hohe Holzbalkendecke und rundum Zugang zu verschiedenen Terrassen, überdacht oder offen. Das gesamte Haus ist unterkellert und bietet hier viel Platz für verschiedene Nutzungsmöglichkeiten. Die gehobene Ausstattung bietet unter anderem Zentralheizung, Klimaanlage, Sauna, Garage, eigener Pool, automatische Gartenbewässerung. Preis 695.000 euro.

El Rosario Villa – Mit fantastischem Blick über das Mittelmeer bietet diese Villa auf 440 m2 auf einem Grundstück von 1,700 m2, 4 Schlafzimmer, jeweils mit Bad en-suite, einen grossen geschwungenen Wohnraum mit Zugang zur überdachten Südterrasse, mit Grillecke. Der beheizte Pool ist sehr privat im gewachsenen Garten gelegen. Preis 1.350.000 euro.

Santa Clara Golf Villa – Luxuriöse Doppelhaushälfte mit 4 Schlafzimmern in einer geschlossenen Wohnanlage inmitten des Golfplatzes gelegen. Auf 314 m2 bietet diese Immobilie einen Wohnbereich mit offenem Kamin, separates Esszimmer, grosse Küche, vier Schlafzimmer, Terrassen und einen Keller mit Doppelgarage und viel Stauraum. Preis 625.000 euro.

Los Monteros Beach Apartment – Elegantes Erdgeschoss-Apartment, das sich in einer Urbanization direkt am Strand von Los Monteros, einem der besten Sandstrände in Marbella befindet. 128 m2 + 27 m2 überdachte Terrasse bieten verteilt auf drei Schlafzimmer, zwei Bäder, Wohn-Essbereich mit offener Küche eine gehobene Ausstattung mit offenem Kamin, Klimaanlage, Fussbodenheizung in den Bädern, Garage, Abstellraum. Zur Wohnanlage gehören 24 Stunden Sicherheitsdienst, mehrere Swimming Pools und direkter Zugang zum feinen Sandstrand. Preis 449.000 euro.

Marbella und die Costa del Sol bieten eine grosse Auswahl qualitativ  hochwertiger Immobilien und einige der besten Schnäppchen auf dem Immobilienmarkt der ganzen Welt. Von kleinen gemütlichen Häusern auf der Bergseite bis hin zu teuren Luxusimmobilien auf der Strandseite, über hübsche Wohnungen im Herzen von Marbella, es gibt Schnäppchen für jeden, der eine passende Marbella Immobilie sucht. Sei es als Ferienimmobilie oder als Investition.

Mit geringen Zinssätzen und einer grossen Auswahl an Marbella Immobilien, ist jetzt der richtige Zeitpunkt sich eine Immobilie in Spanien an der Costa del Sol in Marbella zu zu legen. Als Käufer können Sie diese Gelegenheit noch mehr nutzen, indem Sie in ein Gebäude mit bis zu zehn Wohnungen investieren und diese vermieten.

Wenn Sie eine günstige Immobilie in Marbella suchen, ist Information ein mächtiges Werkzeug. Suchen Sie nach Preisstatistiken beim Grundbuchamt, Rathaus, beim Notar oder bei anderen öffentlichen Einrichtungen. Sprechen Sie mit lokalen Immobilienmaklern, die Erfahrung nachweisen können und nicht nur den Immobilienmarkt Marbella kennen, sondern auch genau die Objekte, an denen Sie interessiert sind.

Versuchen Sie einige Objekte, die vor kurzem verkauft wurden und der Immobilie ähneln, die Sie kaufen möchten, zu finden und vergleichen Sie deren Preis. Wenn Sie die Immobilie zur Urlaubsvermietung oder Langzeitvermietung nutzen wollen, informieren Sie sich über die Mietpreise. Und erkundigen Sie sich nach erzielten Mietpreisen vom letzten Jahr.

Durch die Nutzung der Bilanzmethoden, dass Sie sich in Ihrem Heimatland verwenden, um Ihre Mietgewinne zu berechnen, können Sie planen, was für eine Marbella Immobilie Sie kaufen um entsprechende Mieteinnahmen zu erzielen.

Wenn dies nicht möglich ist, überlegen Sie wie oft Sie die Immobilie benutzen werden und wie oft und für wie lange, Sie die Immobilie pro Jahr vermieten können. Vergessen Sie dabei nicht die Zeit, in der Sie selbst die Wohnung nutzen und damit nicht vermieten können.

Durch die Gesetzesänderungen in Spanien, die den spanischen Immobilienmarkt positiv beeinflussen sollen, kann es gut sein, dass Sie eine Schnäppchen Immobilie in Marbella finden, sei es unten direkt am Meer oder weiter eine Wohnung weiter oben in den Bergen und mit einem schönen Blick zum Meer.

Heutzutage gibt es auch viel Immobilien von Banken und Notverkäufe unter den Marbella Immobilien, die nur auf einen Käufer warten. Viele dieser Art von Wohnungen müssen aber teilweise renoviert oder saniert werden und viele ausländische Käufer sind nicht bereit dazu, die Zeit und die Kosten zu investieren, die eine solche Investition verlangt. Ein Anwalt ist bei dem Kauf vom dieser Art von Immobilien Marbella unbedingt zu empfehlen.

Egal ob Sie eine Ferienimmobilie suchen oder ob Sie ein Investor sind, der die Marbella Immobilie später vermieten möchte, Sie werden feststellen, dass es heutzutage relativ einfach ist eine passende Schnäppchen Immobilie Marbella zu finden. Wesentlich einfacher als noch vor einigen Jahren.

Andere beliebte Städte mit Schnäppchen Immobilien sind Sevilla, Barcelona, Madrid und sämtliche Küstenregionen, da hier alle Objekte auch einfachst vermietet werden können und sich somit selbst tragen.

Die Zeit ist reif, um los zu gehen und eine Schnäppchen Immobilie Marbella zu finden. Beginnen Sie jetzt mit ihrem Ersparten Geld zu verdienen.

This is a stylish, luxury, original and unconventional villa, finely designed by an artist. Because all the living spaces are so centered, it breathes  a spacious but comfortable atmosphere.

The villa is located in the luxury residential area Artola Baja in Marbella, very close to the fine sand beach, that is protected by a unique area of natural dunes. It is also close to the luxury yatching harbour Puerto Cabopino, where you will find great beach lido’s, shops and restaurants to enjoy an unforgetable vacation.

The villa has 3 bedrooms for 6 persons to sleep, with an artistically designed garden with statues, full of plants and flowers, and a private swimming pool.

This is a stylish, original and unconventional villa, designed by an artist and because all the living spaces are so centered it breathes a spacious but comfortable atmosphere. This is the perfect place for families, couples or groups of people that want to enjoy a holiday in style. The golf courses Cabopino and Santa Maria are a 5 minute drive by car.

Accommodation

To check availability or contact the owner, click on this link:

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/s11430.htm

Dieser Preis der Immobilien in Marbella arbeitet zum Vorteil derjenigen, die Immobilien in Marbella kaufen, aber es kann riskant sein, wenn Sie sich selbst, beim Verkauf Ihrer Immobilien in Marbella zur falschen Zeit des Jahres beginnen.

Es ist richtig, wenn Sie die Immobilie zu einem günstigen Preis gekauft haben, können Sie es sich leisten, einen Preisabschlag in Kauf zu nehmen. Die Lebenshaltungskosten sind sehr niedrig an der Costa del Sol
und in Marbella, viele Menschen finden auch die laufenden Kosten für die Immobilie hier sehr günstig.

Sie sind in der Lage, einen angemessenen Gewinn ihrer Investition für eine Immobilie in Marbella zu erzielen, egal, welchen Preis Sie dafür bezahlt haben. Auch mit den verschiedenen Preisänderungen an der Costa del Sol und in Marbella speziell, auch wenn der Immobilienmarkt zu einer mit dem größten Wachstum in ganz Europa zu sein scheint.

Auch wenn Sie sich für ein Ferienhaus für den eigenen Gebrauch suchen oder sogar einen dauerhaften Umzug nach Marbella, Costa del Sol planen, stehen Ihnen hier einige wunderbar gestaltete Objekte mit erstaunlichem Blick auf Meer, Golf-und die Berge zur Verfügung.

Viele Menschen entscheiden sich dazu ihre Immobilien in Marbella zu vermieten statt sie zu verkaufen.

Sie sind in der Lage, einen netten Profit mit der Vermietung Ihrer Immobilie zu verdienen und den eines Urlaubs in diesem Bereich um Golf für eine Woche oder zwei zu spielen.

Mit den heutigen Möglichkeiten, für die Darstellung Ihrer Immobilie in Marbella im Internet, haben Sie keine Probleme diese Art der Ferienwohnung zu halten, denn für den Großteil des Jahres kann sie einfach vermietet werden, besonders während der Hauptreisezeit.

Sie werden entdecken, dass die Costa del Sol und Marbella eine freie und offene Marktwirtschaft haben. Investoren werden von der spanischen Regierung sogar dazu ermutigt, die zum Verkauf stehenden Immobilien auf zu kaufen.

Mit der Zunahme der Zahl der Touristen-und Marbella Immobilien Besitzer, die jedes Jahr nach Marbella kommen, gibt es mehr Arbeitsplätze für die lokale Bevölkerung in den verschiedenen Elementen des Tourismus.

Wenn Sie Immobilien in Marbella Online suchen, finden Sie viele schöne Immobilien in Marbella zum Verkauf, wenn Sie weitere Informationen benötigen so kontaktieren Sie uns und wir helfen Ihnen mit allem, bezüglich ihrer Reise nach Marbella, Hotels, Autos, Rechtsanwalt, Banken und natürlich zeigen wir Ihnen, so viele interessante Immobilien, wie Sie sehen wollen, bevor Sie sich entscheiden, welche Immobilie in Marbella Sie kaufen wollen.
 

There is an alternative if you don’t fancy the bus which is to walk along the beach which you can follow all the way to Marbella although in the other direction it isn’t so straightforward and you need to head inland at some places. Anyway, the beach itself is a narrow strip of sand that has LOT’s of beachfront cafes and restaurants and there were always lots of people walking the beach and using those cafes and restaurants when I went down there.

Marbella itself is a nice place with some lovely beaches right in the main area. It also has a couple of marinas of which the one in the centre of the city is the nicer as it too is surrounded by cafes and restaurants which give it a lovely atmosphere. The whole place did seem to have a very refined, relaxed feel to it.

So a nice time here but I was disappointed not to be able to cycle to Marbella and then in the other direction towards Torremolinos. You culd do it on the main road and I’m sure it would be OK but it felt a little too dangerous for me. I must be getting old!

Price: 2,195,000€

Detached Villa, Cabopino, Costa del Sol. 4 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, Built 200 m², Terrace 100 m², Garden/Plot 400 m². This spectacular villa overlooks the Cabopino port and has direct access to it. Downstairs there is a big lounge, kitchen with american style fridge and a guest bedroom with a bathroom. The whole villa is equipped with electric shutters. Upstairs are 3 bedrooms. The respectably sized master has a jacuzzi bath and shower and a dressing room. The 2 guest bedrooms have Jack & Jill shower room. Other features include electric gates for parking spaces, video phone, camera system covering the whole house and a BBQ area with bar. The villa also comes with a berth for a yacht.

View full property details and more photos

For more information or to arrange a viewing of this property please contact us using the details below.

Tel: +34 952 907 386 | Mov: 627 979 440
Property For Sale in Marbella
info@marbella-resales.com

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SLG Property Costa Del Sol Spanje

Like areas such as Fuengirola, there is archaeological evidence that indicates previous Phoenician, Carthaginian and roman settlements. Historically little of significance happened in the area until the 1940s.

In the 1940 an event took place which lead Marbella down the path to what it is today. Alfonso de Hohenlohe was travelling through the area when he experienced a problem with his Rolls-Royce. While in the area, he was so taken with Marbella, then a village of 900, that he decided to buy land and marketed the area as a tourist destination.

By 1954 Alfonso opened the Marbella Club Hotel. With his aristocratic ties, the hotel soon became popular with members of Europe’s ruling classes, and those privileged to socialise with them.

Another aristocratic person who had a serious impact on the area was Prince Fahd. Until his death in 2005 he was a frequent guest at Marbella, where his retinue of over a thousand people spent vast sums.

As with most cases, wealth attracts wealth and an array of millionaires and billionaires holidayed in the area.

But not until the 1991 election when Jesus Gil came to power did Marbella see its greatest change. He used, as an international spokesman for the city, actor Sean Connery to improve its international image.

The city went through a an era extensive building activity under the administration of Gil,  and although criticised  building without regards existing urban plan a this did not convince enough voters to oust him and Spanish celebrities continued to spend summers there.

By 2002 investigations of corruption eventually forced, Jesus Gil resign after being jailed for diverting public funds for to Atlético Madrid (his football club).

He was succeeded by Julian Muñoz, who was then replaced by Marisol Yagüe. All 3 mayors have been brought up on charges of corruption for which they have been found guilty. On April 8, 2006, the Spanish government decided to suspend the council, the first time such a course of action was taken in Spanish democracy. An unenviable first for any municipality.

For those looking to visit Marbella, the town offers a range of modern facilities as well as many cultural activities. It is famous for its nightlife, including the famous Puerto Banus and the myriad of Salvador Dali statues that can be found around the town.

Marbella information

Regards
Andrew Belles

Not only will properties be advertised on this site, but also the latest property news on infrastructure and development projects that will benefit the residents of the municipality of Marbella and that, in time, will improve property prices.

Regards
Andrew Belles

Eye Catcher Displays

Eyecatcher Displays offers a full range advertising paraphernalia to meet all your company’s display requirements. As the sole distributor for several leading European display companies, combined with their own production capacity allows Eye Catchers to provide your company with perfect and innovative solutions on the Costa del Sol.

Business website: www.eyecatcher-displays.com

Urbanizacion Las Mimosas
Centro Comercial Cabopino L.6,
Malaga, Spain, 29600
Tel: (0034) 951 310 395
Fax: (0034) 952 584 501

Dies ist eine ziemlich gute Investition, sowohl auf kurz wie auf lange Sicht, denn Marbella und die Costa del Sol ist seit jeher beliebt. Es wird von schönen Sandstränden des Mittelmeers umgeben, hat ein heißes Nachtleben, und ein gesundes Klima mit einer Kombination aus trockenen und warmen Sommern und milden Wintern für diejenigen, die dort leben.
 
Wo findet man die beste Unterkunft in Marbella an der Costa del Sol?
 
Die beliebtesten Immobilien in Marbella sind diejenigen, die am Wasser und an den besten Stränden sind. Die Ortsteile auf der Ostseite von Marbella sind Elviria, Cabopino und Los Monteros, und auf der Westseite ist die Goldene Meile, Puerto Banus, Nueva Andalucia, San Pedro und Estepona wo es schöne Objekte zu kaufen gibt. In den Bergen sind es Benahavis, La Zagaleta, El Madroñal und La Mairena.

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Eine andere Sache, auf die die Leute beim Kauf einer Immobilie in Marbella schauen ist, was gibt es in der Nähe an Nachtleben, Shopping-Center, Marinas, Wasserparks, Themenparks, Tierparks und andere sportliche Attraktionen. Alles dies und noch viel mehr können Sie in und um Marbella an der Costa del Sol problemlos finden.
 

Wie man eine passende Immobilie in Marbella findet, dazu gibt es ein paar gute Wege, die besten Liegenschaften, die zum Verkauf in Marbella stehen zu finden. Der erste Schritt besteht darin, per Internet zu eine Suche zu starten nach einer passenden Immobilie in Marbella, Marbella Immobilie zum Verkauf oder ähnlich Stichworte.

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Sie werden die besten Immobilien-Agenturen in den Regionen Marbellas finden und können ihnen mehr Auskunft geben über ihre spezifischen Wünsche und ihnen sagen was sie und Ihre Familie suchen, und sich selbst somit viel Zeit ersparen.
 
Denken Sie nicht, Sie werden ein super Schnäppchen in Marbella finden. Die Preise hier sind stetig, besonders an Top-Lagen, nur mit grossen Preisnachlässen in einigen Dörfern, in nicht ganz so beliebten Regionen.

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In letzter Zeit eine Angleichung, aber immer noch sehr hoch und gut. Einige der Gründe dafür sind, dass viele Familien und ältere Menschen, die nach Marbella und an die Costa del Sol wollen. Es ist eines der beliebtesten Gebiete beim Immobilienerwerb in ganz Spanien.
 
Die Zinssätze sind niedrig, weil die Banken in Marbella glauben, somit wieder mehr Investoren zu finden und damit mehr Menschen dazu bewegen zu können, zu kaufen. Und die Investitions- oder Kaufentscheidung für eine Immobilie in Marbella an der Costa del Sol wird immer eine gute Investition sein, da das Gebiet immer mehr und mehr beliebt wird als Ferienort und durch die sehr guten Fluganbindungen sehr praktisch für Menschen aus ganz Europa ist.
 

Wenn Sie kein Budget haben, um sich eine Immobilie in Marbella oder sehr nahe am Strand zu kaufen, können Sie sehr schöne und gemütliche Immobilien etwas weiter landeinwärts von Marbella finden. Einige der Liegenschaften, die mehr als eine 15-minütige Autofahrt vom Strand entfernt sind, sind viel größer, haben mehr Land, und oft fantastische und atemberaubende Blicke auf das Mittelmeer. Viele dieser Immobilien sind oft mehr gemütlich und warten sogar mit Obstbäumen oder Obstplantagen auf sie.