This short piece in The Sunday Times Travel section (The World’s Twelve Sexiest Cities) reminded me of my own experince in the city of Seville – which promted the creation of the post Confortel Seville 3 Star Hotel – Three Cats Arses More Like follwing the rejection of my laterooms full review – you can see the edited version here – January 2008

Late nights, flamenco beats, Moorish palaces and sultry heat: Seville has a stunningly sexy side – and there’s not a polka dot in sight.

Seville is served by its own airport – Ryanair flies from Stansted to Seville, but most visitors from the UK take cheap flights to Spain arriving at Malaga airport and travel on using well serving public transport or picking up a rental vehicle form the many desks offering car hire in Spain although be aware – Spanish Cities weren’t built with car usage in mind and Seville tries to be car free in the centre.  Some travellers claim to enjoy the autobus services from Malaga bus station – however like Jimmy Saville encouraged many years ago – Take the Train!

What has Seville to offer for romantics

The Alcazar palace Patio de Banderas is tourist central, but beyond the building, there are impressive gardens with tiled gazebos, gangly palm trees, even a maze, so you can easily find a quiet corner.

Hire your own motorboat from the Pedalquivir bar (on the east riverbank, midway between Puente de San Telmo and Puente de Isabel II; £14 per hour) and sail together down the lazy Guadalquivir river.

The cathedral area gets packed at sunset, so cross the river to enjoy a more intimate aperitif. Abades Triana  is a swish bankside restaurant and bar. Order a beer on the quiet terrace as the sun sinks and the landmark Torre del Oro watchtower glows pink.

On the fashionable Alameda de Hercules promenade, Al Aljibe  is the antidote to Seville’s traditional rough-and-ready tapas bars. Modern Andalucían dishes (try slow-cooked lamb smeared with apricot purée and sticky prune sauce) are served in minimalist-yet-jazzy surroundings.

End the evening in the Arab baths of the Aire de Sevilla (advance booking essential). The crimson-walled, lantern-lit salt baths, whirlpool tubs and hammam are open until 1.30am.

Finish the weekend with a flourish at the bar (there’s also a restaurant and pool) on the roof of the terribly cool Hotel EME (00 34 954 560000, www.emecatedralhotel.com). The music’s chilled, the atmosphere’s relaxed and the prices reasonable, but it’s the view – you’re (almost) within touching distance of the cathedral – that will seduce you.

Hotel Alfonso XIII  has Moorish arches, glittering tiles and a central courtyard for intimate evenings. Casa Romana is one of Seville’s few modern hotels. Expect bright rooms, airy courtyards, sundeck and a whirlpool tub on the roof.

England team talk – remember the fat fella from Gavin and Stacey – Hardon was it – he did deliver a hilarious team talk to the England football squad for comic relief.

What would your team talk be? Follow the links, work ou how to work your way round the site and add your England team talk to enter the competition.

• http://www.englandteamtalk.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/englandteamtalk

If your team talk is judged to be the best in the competition, you get to meet some England players at a VIP day at Wembley Stadium, also watch the England team train

Blimey what a prize – watch the England footy players train…priceless.

England Football Chants

How about – “write an England Football Chant” competition with the top prize being having your words produced andpromoted for sport relief – James Hardon Cordon – chant on that fat boy.

If you’ve fitted a Solar Panel (to be correct PV panels – photovoltaic panels generate solar electricity) or small wind turbine to your house and you are using your own generated energy and feeding power back into the grid you are now being told how much money you’ll be paid.

The government’s Energy and climate change department has released some figures for what they call the feed in tarrif which will come into effect in April.

Will PV Panels in Devon earn money from the new feed-in-tariff scheme?

Above is a simple PV Panel fitted to house roof – pv panels fitted in Devon will soon earn you money for the electricity you generate and use.

Being blessed with a temporate climate in Devon there has been much discussion about the potential to earn money from the feed-in-tariff  Devon.

On first hearing the idea that by installing solar pv panels in Devon you would be paid for what you generated AND used sounded too good to be true – like filling up with petrol and the cashier running out to give you fifty quid for doing so

Leoni Green from the renewable energy association intervied on BBC  Radio 4 You and Yours explains:

Renewable Energy from PV Panels Explained

Lets establish what we’re talking about here this is power above and beyond what we use in our homes if we ge it from a renewable source?

Yes that’s right – if you are going to invest in renewable energy in your home or in your community under this scheme what will happen is you will be paid a fixed premium payment for up to 25 years depending on the technology for every unit of renewable energy that you generate.

Just to be clear its for every unit of power that you generate not just what you export back into the gri so whether you consume it on site or export it you will be paid back a clear fixed premium price

And do we have a figure on that now?

We do yes – we’re analyising the figures that have come out today for example looking at pv photovoltaic photovoltaic (solar electric) looking at 41.3p/kWh for generation kilowat hour so a typical 2KW peak system that might cost around £9000 to install but you’ll be looking at receiving £900 every year from the frip ?? payments so the payback is looking pretty good.

The onus is going to be on the home owner to make a claim?

Yes you will have to register online.  All the technologies that qualify are approved technologies – so you can be confident in their operation and it will be the Energy Saving Trust that will be running this scheme for domestic householders for businesses they will want to contact the Carbon Trust

If we have a PV solar panel – photovoltaic panel or small wind turbine in our house already doing what it is supposed to be doing is there  a way that us the householder can find out whether it’s feeding power back in or not?

Well it will be feeding power

Sure but beyond what were using?

Yes when your out of the house – the sun shining at the midle of the day under this scheme is and export bonus so n

ot only do you get paid for what you generate and use there will be an export bonuse for every kwH that goes into the grid.

The thinking behind this is that you can be more energy efficient so the less power you consume in the home the more you can return to the grid and the more money you can make withh the feed-in-tariff.

Wider thoughts about the overall costs solar PV panels are clearly expensive we are told somewhere between eight and fourteen thousand pounds depending on the size of the panel – you do get a grant that will take a small portion of that off but it’s only a relatively small portion – now we’ve heard the figures today – when you put it all together does it make this look more worthwhile finacially?

Yes this is a proven scheme internationally and incrediablly successful – you’re talking about millions of homes now across

Europe investing in this scheme.  This replaces grant schemes and I have to say for investors and the industry thats very good news because what we had in the past was stop start grant schemes – often very over subscribed.  What we are seeing with this scheme is long term commitment over 20 or 25 years.  What should happen is that the banks should come forward with all kiinds of products so you should be able to get a very good upfornt loan to pay for the capital costs and you should be able to recoup those costs – looking at around ten years – we think it’s going to be less given that fossil fuel price is going to rise far more than the govenment assumed under their calcluations

Could they have pushed this further? I’m reading what the “We support coalition” said – they would have like the per unit to be 10 pence more and there are concerns that this is not as good for businesses as it is for householders.

That’s fair yes – I think we would have liked to seen a more ambitious scheme  – its going to work very nicely for homeowners – when you look at the interest rates paid in the bank you are looking at returns on this of 5 – 8% clearly a better return.

Where we are concerned is the business and commercial sectors because these are typically looking for a higher return on investment so looking at that closely.  Another thing to stress is that this is just a start so if you like this is wave one PV panels and domestic wind turbines, next year we get wave 2 where you will also ge trenewable heat technologies added so in addition to pv panels and hydro and wind people will be able to invest in wood burning boilers and heat pumps and geo-thermal so there is really going to be a really wide choice and I think this has to be a very good step forward for the industry and consumers.

Clarify – the feed in tariffs we’ve been talking about is coming into effect from the begining of April this year.

Naked Gary Lineker Game – Gary’s In the Chud

Walkers BakedBoy is a platform game that lets you control a naked Gary Lineker, keeping the population happy by delivering the right crisps to those who reveal their favourite flavour. For an audience over 16 years of age

How do You Play This Blasted Game?

Perhaps the most sought after marathon around the world, the London Marathon brings both professional runners and charity fundraisers together in this remarkable event. The first London Marathon was held in 1981 (number one single – - Call Me | Blondie ) and this years Marathon 2010 is the 30th anniversary of the race. 2010 – 1981 = 29 30 !!

The event has grown to include 30,000 runners and is perhaps the single most important fundraising charity event for even the largest UK charities.  News today that this years marathon is expected to take the total since 1981 to half a billion pounds in fundraising revenue from sponsiorship and charity donation.

The marathon, a charity itself, has become the world’s most successful fund-raising charity events, working with two thousand charities.

Running the London Marathon

Entries for each years event open online in April immediately after that years race.  With a one in six chance of beign lucky in the ballot successfull applicants hear the good news in September – just as the evenings start to draw in.  Training for the London marathon begins

An example of dedicated training is Sir Jog Alot who has offered a sponsor this block opportunity on his site – good thinking – hope it works.

Fundraising by not running the London Marathon

A chap simply called Bob has had a bright idea. His application was unsuccessful but undeterred he plans to raise a few bob by not running the London marathon and has set up fundraising page to which <towoo> he hopes to drive sponsors.

London Marathon Costumes

One advantage of not running the London marathon states Bob is to avoid the jostling crowds and bumping into giant Rhinos.  The costumes are becoming more and more elaborate – who can forget the chap in the deep sea diving costume and a jogging Elvis/Santa/cross dresser never fails to bring a smile to TV viewers and a cheer of support from the crowds that line the entire route.  Heres 50 London marathon costumes.

The small Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera is the home of sherry, Flamenco and some of the world’s finest horses.

If you wander the tangled streets of the old town you can follow the scent of sherry to track down a bodega, where you can take a tour to learn about the sherry-making process – and enjoy a bit of tasting. The rolling landscapes outside of the city produce grapes for the sherry, and you can stop off along the way at numerous Pueblos Blancos – pretty, white, hilltop towns.

We had the fortune to visit and write about the Flamenco Museum in Malaga but to get a full flavour of proper job flamenco what better city to visit than Jerez?

You can enjoy Flamenco year-round, with regular shows hosted at more than a dozen small flamenco clubs (peñas flamencas) that keep the tradition very much alive – including Spain’s second oldest peñas flamencas: Los Cernicalos.

The city also makes a great base from which to explore the wider Andalucian province of Cadiz.  Flights are available from regional airpots to Jerez but many visitors find it easier to get to the main airport in Andalucia, Malaga. Car hire is readily available and the drive to Jerez would be a few hours through the stunning Andalucian countryside alternatively you could take the fast train from Malaga via Seville to Jerez and pick up a hire car on arrival.  Car hire Spain is particularly good value during the low season – when the Falmenco Festival takes place.

Nearby on the coast there are sandy beaches such as Tarifa on the Costa de la Luz, where the strong winds off the Straits of Gibraltar create the perfect conditions for kitesurfers and windsurfers. The typically Andalucian seaside city of Cadiz has a wonderful old core, with a network of narrow winding alleys linking large, open plazas. Dotted about the old centre there are well-preserved historical churches and other landmarks such as the remains of the ancient city walls.

There’s stacks to do year-round in and around Jerez, but many tourists time their visit to coincide with the annual world-famous Festival de Jerez, sometimes called the Flamenco Festival, every February

Festival de Jerez – The Flamenco Festival

26 February – 13 March 2010

Jerez is arguably the best place in the world to experience one of Spain’s most passionate and vibrant cultural expressions: Flamenco.

Many people are under the impression that Flamenco is part of the culture of the whole of Spain, but in fact it is only native to the Andalucian region. Jerez itself lays claim to being the birthplace of the tradition, and each year the city erupts with music and dance – representing one of the most important celebrations of Flamenco in the world.

In addition to lively ticketed shows featuring some of Spain’s most famous Flamenco dancers and guitarists, the festival also attracts dance students to its many training courses and workshops.

Venues include the Palacio de Villavicencio and the Villamarta Theatre.

www.festivaldejerez.es

The one rule of Valentine’s Day is that you should never forget. The rest is up to you, whether you treat your loved one to traditional Valentine gifts such as Valentine flowers or a surprise slap-up dinner- check out this magnificent Valentine pasty, or push the boat out with a romantic rural weekend retreat. A card is the bare minimum, but let’s face it, there are few (women in particular) who would honestly be happy with the bare minimum. If you’re out to impress, you’ll need to do better.

Here’s our Valentine’s inspiration to help you make the day special for the one you love.

Homemade over Hallmark

Many people think Valentine’s Day has become too commercialised -  little more than a ‘Hallmark’ holiday with rip-off gifts. It needn’t be meaningless or expensive, however, if you make your own cards and gifts. Something that’s obviously been made with love means more than something easily bought. You could make chocolate-dipped strawberries, or a homemade card – and if you’re no artist you could buy reasonably-priced supermarket flowers then re-wrap them in your own choice of paper and ribbon, giving your gift a personal touch.

Valentine’s flowers

There’s nothing quite like receiving dozen fresh red roses  to make a girl feel special.
many people chose to have flowers delivered from leading florists such as Interflora who really should reconsider their pricing structure, however better options are available with businesses such as Bunch O’ Fives and high street womens fashion lingerie and dresses emporium M&S offering flowers year round both in store and online
If you’re spending Valentine’s Day together, you could hand deliver the flowers – giving you the chance to personalise the bouquet with your own wrapping.

Novelty Valentine Gifts

Careful with these – althought the idea of giving novelty flowers that turn into nasty knickers and badly fitting  bras you might as well have kept the pink  goscrewyourself screwdriver yourself.

Love and Peace my fellow munchers

David Cameron is Munching for you

This post is best read whilst listening to Rofl ‘Arris’ Tie Me Kangaroo Down

Australia Day is the perect opportunity for our friends down under to blow huge raspberries to us miserable pommes and gloat about the quality of life they enjoy.

Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia.

The Australia Day celebrations in Sydney are befitting of Australia’s oldest and biggest city with events and activities spread far and wide.

Taunting the British with remarks about the high price of flights to Australia our Antipodean cobbers certainly have the upper hand in online arguments which are often started with simple jibes – what are the aussies celebrating? they lost the ashes again – which quickly escalates into our country is better than yours and chanting

What are the Australians Celebrating

This question was posed by a reader on an article about the claim that Sydney had let off the New Year fireworks early merely top pip the Kiwis to be first to get the 2010 celebrations off.  The visitor had been searching for flights to Sydney and came across the scandal that never was – Sydney it was clarified hold two displays on 31st December – an earlier one for families with children and those who like to get their head down before midnight.

Look at the pictures mate and eat your heart out. I was at the bridge and it was a stonking show.  Maybe we were celebrating the fact that 1.5million people were there in shorts and tshirts, picnics on the parks in the lovely warm weather,on one of the most picturesque and recognisable pieces of real estate in the world, looking forward to a year of endless sun and beaches, beaut women, rapid economic growth and a likestyle envied by many who are unfortunate enough not to live in God’s Own Country.

I could carry on, but you know the rest. Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

Aussies seem hopelessly unaware of the fact that their epithet  ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ which they tend to cry out at any given moment (just in case you don’t know which country they’re from) was coined by Max Boyce with his ‘Oggie, Oggie, Oggie’ call. I could go on and on… but I’ll leave that tendency to the Australians.

And Aussies bowl underarm too

Thoughts were posted soon after the catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti now we look ahead and share hopes for Haiti.

What  needs to be answered is how Haiti will operate for the future when some order has been restored following the Haiti earthquake.

Will it be a “We need aid” beggar or allow free enterprise to work?  There was a very good article comparing Haiti to Mexico City a while back. Same situation in terms of government: Inneffective and corrupt. In Mexico City, the people rebuilt without long-term aid and got the job done. Haiti is in worse condition though, so some direct aid will be needed to at least get Haiti on it’s feet. But after that, a decision will need to be made. Will the rest of the world need to continuously provide Haiti a pair of crutches, or will Haiti stand on it’s own feet?

I hope that this horrible event will turn into something good for Haiti and its citizens. I hope that the leadership and the local and global community will show wisdom, integrity, and care as they make very important decisions in the future. Haiti take hope.

I’d hope we would get some commitments from Haiti, such as a promise for better government or to set up a free trade zone of sorts.

It would be great to get these folks started in manufacturing so that we can diversify ourselves from China. I can’t imagine that they would be more expensive than the Chinese and would appreciate the opportunity.

Charity Donations for Haiti Earthquake Disaster

Charity donations are still needed to continue essential aid and restoration work in Haiti – please give again.