Passport Control

I have to say that I didn't believe anything about the delay in receiving my passport was because the Passport (dis)Service had to get my details from Brussels. Ten weeks? Come off it. We live in an age of rapid communication. If the excuse was true, then it is an indication of the poor state of the service (my details should be electronically stored and accessible; if they're not, then they should be retrievable in a matter of hours, not weeks); if the excuse was untrue, then somebody needs to be removed from the service for telling porkies to a member of the public.

Anyway, progress at last, for this afternoon I received an email from DHL:

The following 1 piece(s) have been sent via DHL International GmbH on
10/08/2009 on Shipment Number 4600619542.

Notes:
Dear Sir/Madam
DHL inform you that your documents from the British Consulate General will be delivered tomorrow (11/08/09) before 12 pm.
Regards

[etc. with details of receiver, sender and package reference]

Exactly when 12 pm is remains a mystery. I've heard of 12 noon and 12 midnight; I've heard of 12.00 and of 12 hours, but 12 pm is a puzzle. I'd guess 12 midnight (12 hours post meridian is, after all, 12 midnight), but why then a specification of time?

Generally when someone has to deliver a package on the urbanisation where we live, they are unable to find the address. The urbanisation is new and there are many little roads; there is also no street map at the entrance to the urbanisation. The passport renewal request form I filled in foresaw this sort of problem (good marks!) and asked that delivery instructions be provided. With my renewal request, then, I included very detailed instructions and a street map, indicating the exact position of the house.

I wonder if DHL received this information (or did it go to Brussels…?).

We'll see tomorrow.

Before 12 pm…

UK Passport Service (or is it?)

We UK citizens do not enjoy the luxury of an identity card, more's the pity. Having lived in Belgium for 35 years and in Spain for three, I realise just how useful an ID card is, as I was able to use one in Belgium and can now carry one in Spain. Unfortunately, these ID cards are limited in their usefulness, as I remain a "foreigner" and so cannot use the ID card to cross borders. For this I still need a UK passport, which is far too big and far too expensive simply for travelling through the EU. Being islanders (I assume that's the reason), the British still seem to consider "international" travel as something really special. Heck, when we lived in Belgium, Elise and I would often do the shopping in the Netherlands -- the "border" (blink and you missed it) was only some 20Km from us, so it required no planning to do so. And a trip to France was equally easy, with Lille only some 50Km away and even Paris just 300Km.

Anyway, as a UK citizen (for whatever that's worth), I am required to carry a UK passport when I cross borders. Such a passport has only a ten-year validity and so I recently had to fill out a renewal request form (together with two photos, signed by a fine and upstanding citizen, who has known me for at least two years -- I ask you! Presumably this is part of the high tech battle against international terrorism) and return it to an address in Madrid. This was done by registered mail, sent on 4 June 2009; it arrived at its destination on 6 June and within two days the exorbitant charge for the renewal of my passport (some 150 euro) was charged to my Visa account.

After a few weeks of hearing nothing, I phoned the "help line". (Bear in mind that the help line is located in the UK and that a further exorbitant charge of over 1 euro a minute has to be paid in order to use this service.) This was on 7 July and I was told not to worry, as it was quite normal to have to wait so long, but that I should soon receive my passport. Do you know at what stage of the process my passport is? I wondered. No, that information was not available.

Two weeks later, on 21 July, having still heard nothing about my new passport, I phoned the help line again. The pleasant Scottish young lady with whom I spoke agreed that this was a long time to wait and promised to get in touch with Madrid to see what was wrong. She took all my details again (all the details which were already on the passport request and which she, apparently, could see on her computer), thereby costing me about 15 euro in phone costs.

Another week passed by with no news. Back to the "help line" and another Scot, though this time of masculine gender. Yes, indeed, most strange that the passport has not been delivered, as the charge has been made. Can you see if the passport has actually been sent? I asked. Er, no, that information isn't shown. Tell you what, I'll copy all your details and email Madrid again to ask them to get in touch with you. And, of course, I had to give all my details again, even though they obviously could be seen on the computer that Michael (the Scot) was using. Anyway, old Mike assured me not to worry and that Madrid would soon be in touch with me and, in case not, he gave me a case number which I should use in future enquiries (like many Scots, I suspect Michael to be a tad clairvoyant).

Madrid remained silent.

Yesterday, 4 August, I phoned the help desk again. Surprise, surprise, it was old Michael again. Aha, I thought, use the case number and this time I won't be so much out of pocket spending time giving my full name, date of birth, full address, etc. Foolish me. Michael was most surprised to hear that I had heard nothing from Madrid (Er, Michael, can I phone Madrid myself? No, no, that's not possible -- that would be too much like offering a decent customer service (that's my comment, not Michael's)). He said that he would email Madrid again, but would, of course, have to fill out another request form to do so. Oh, and the new computer system had a new template layout that he was not yet familiar with, so this might take a time, but stay on the line and bear with me. (Here you might ask why a button hadn't been scripted to copy the basic information required in every such request -- I asked that very question, but only to myself, as I figured that Michael already had enough on his mind, copying field by field.) Right, Madrid should get in touch with me very soon and I should also have my new passport in the shortest delay.

By now, I'm over 30 euro out in phone calls.

Still, bully for Michael, as today I received an email from the "Passport Support Office" located in Madrid, here in Spain. It read:

Dear customer
Further to your previous phone call to Passport Advice Line, just to let you know that your passport will be issued shortly. Then DHL Express will contact with you to arrange the delivery.

You have to note that the renewal of a lost & stolen passport take more than 10 working days because it needs extra checks. This situation has delayed the issue of the new passport.

Best regards

Hang on! My request was not for the renewal of a "lost & stolen" passport. Heck, I returned my passport with my renewal request, so it was hardly "lost & stolen". So a quick email back to the Passport Support Office to point this out:

There seems to be some confusion.

My passport request was not for the renewal of a lost or stolen passport. It was for the renewal of an existing passport, which was included with my request, sent by registered mail on 4 June 2009 and received in your offices (according to the Correos) on 6 June.

And lo and behold, a reply within the hour:

I am sorry for the confusion.

Your previous passport needed extra checks because it wasn't an machine readable passport instead of a lost & stolen passport. So, we had to request the previous file to Brussels where it was issued in 1999.

I hope that your new passport will be issued shortly.

If I read this correctly, it is quicker to get a replacement for a "lost & stolen" passport than for a standard passport issued outside the UK (in Brussels -- now that really is exotic).

At least the Passport Support Office "hopes" that my new passport "will be issued shortly".

So do I.

But this is hardly a Passport Service. Pathetic.

Man of Mystery

I've been an Elvis Presley fan for over fifty years and have my own set of Elvis-related sites, including one about Elvis books, another about original versions of songs also sung by Elvis, a catalogue of Elvis fan clubs around the world, and a list of Elvis events, as well as a few other subsites. Here, however, is something that doesn't fit into any category, but perhaps you can help.

A long-term Norwegian Elvis fan recently visited me and one of the things he brought with him was a photo of Elvis taken in about 1969. The photograph also shows a fan who looks very starry-eyed, meeting his idol. Just who is this man? Looking at his dress and the noticing that he is wearing an Elvis badge on his lapel -- the type of Elvis badge sold by fan clubs in Europe -- I would suggest that the fellow is a European on an early trip to see Elvis in Las Vegas. I might be way out, of course, so are you able to identify this mystery fan? If so, please reply using a comment to this blog.

Many thanks.

Moros y Cristianos

The Moors and Christians fiestas (Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos) which take place each year in Guardamar, date back to 1973. Francisco García Viudes, the mayor at that time, decided that Guardamar, too, should celebrate these fiestas, as did other towns and villages in the vicinity. He invited representatives of each neighbourhood to attend an inaugural meeting, but only four of these decided to attempt to organise the event.

None of the four knew much about Moors and Christians, but they had sufficient enthusiasm to arrange for an initial parade of four groups that first year: Rosario Aldeguer was responsible for Los Marineros (to become Los Piratas in 1974); Carmen Aldeguer Verdú set up Las Mosqueteras; Soledad Navarro García began Los Moros Musulmanes; Vicente Aldeguer Palomar, with the help of his daughter Mercedes, created Las Brasileñas, who were more a carnival group than a Moors and Christians outfit, so this was the only year they paraded. Still, Vicente remained part of the organising committee and continued to play an active part in all the local fiestas.

During the first few years, the parades started from the Plaza del Rosario, but they soon grew larger and moved to the longer route, which is still used, incorporating the Calle Mayor and the Avenida del País Valenciano. (This route is one of the great attractions of the Guardamar Moors and Christians fiestas, as it is unusually straight, long and wide, allowing groups to parade in full splendour to a large and appreciative audience.)

The Moors and Christians fiestas in Guardamar have grown from these very humble beginnings (the first groups had little money for costumes and there was only one band!) has grown to a huge week-long spectacle. The undoubted highlights of the week, however, remain the two nights of parades, when the now eight groups bring out hundreds of members to parade in strict lines through Guardamar, accompanied by tens of bands from both Guardamar itself and surrounding towns and villages: three hours of stunning costumes and thrilling music. ¡Fenomenal!

This year's parades will take place on Friday, 24 July and Sunday, 26 July. As a teaser, you might wish to take a look at some photos I took during last year's parades.

PS And here are some photos taken during this year's Moros y Cristianos parades.

Looking High, High, High

Guardamar will soon have the tallest structure in the European Union. Nothing new is going to be built, however. Indeed, the structure that will merit this praise has existed since the early 1960s, when it was built by the US Navy: the Torreta de Guardamar, a guyed, low frequency, high range radio mast situated just outside the town of Guardamar, in the hamlet of El Campo de Guardamar. Construction of the mast was started and completed in 1962 and the mast served the US Navy until shortly after the first Gulf War. It was then transferred to the Spanish Navy, who has since been operating it under the call sign of "Radio Estación Naval - Antena LF 380 metros - Guardamar". Its main function is to keep an eye on marine traffic in the Mediterranean, with particular attention to the submarine activity (the major submarine base of Cartagena is close by).

So why will this almost fifty-year-old structure suddenly become the tallest in the EU? Well, according to a report in the Independent, the current holder of the record, the Belmont Transmitting Station, in Lincolnshire, is to be reduced in size in order to support a new digital aerial. Belmont is 385.75m tall, but will soon see itself reduced by some 36m. The Torreta measures 370m (the Americans left a notice stating that it is 380m., but Americans tend to see things big and know little of the metric system of measurement, so the mistake is understandable).

Like Belmont, the Torreta de Guardamar is largely ignored by tourists. It is not in the tourist heartland of Spain, of course (though is reasonably close to the overcrowded beaches and urbanisations of the Costa Blanca); furthermore, its huge size is not immediately apparent, as there are few buildings in its vicinity to offer a comparison of scale. Nevertheless, it is an imposing structure if one cares to study it, and can be seen from a great distance (it can be relatively easily seen on a clear day from the El Corte Inglés store in Elche), especially at night, when it is adorned with red warning lights.

I have posted several photos of the Torreta de Guardamar to this Picasa Web Album.

Who will buy…?

In the film adaptation of Lionel Bart's "Oliver!" there is a magnificent song-and-dance scene based on Bart's number, "Who Will Buy?", depicting the various street merchants of the nineteenth century. Guardamar is one of the few places that still has its own street merchants and the only place to have so-called sarandas.

Saranda refers to both the traditional form of selling wet fish in the street and the special form of net, rather like a flat circular basket, on which the fish are placed. The saranda is then carried on a sort of wheelbarrow that the seller pushes through the streets of Guardamar. Unfortunately, the last saranda maker has retired, so one of the saleswomen has now had to resort to a more "normal" form of barrow.

Just three saranda women are left: Gloria Palomar, Encarnita García and Teresa Carreras. They learnt the trade from other family members many years ago: Gloria has been selling fish on the streets of Guardamar for more than forty years. Nobody shows any interest in following in the footsteps of these women, nor do the women themselves have any desire for their own descendants to do so. The sight of this traditional form of fish-selling is therefore destined to disappear within the next few years. Another part of old Spain will go.

The women collect the fresh fish from the Guardamar fishing quay every morning from Monday to Friday. With their sarandas full of fish that is often still alive, they return to Guardamar, where they call out their wares as they walk through the streets and stand for a while at their preferred corners. They have magnificent voices; they call, rather than sing or shout. Exactly what they call is difficult for the foreign listener to understand: I am sure it is a mixture of Valencian and whatever the local dialect might be, with a bit of Castilian thrown in here and there ("de todas las clases" seems to be a well-used phrase). It doesn't really matter, for everyone knows the sound of the saranda women and its significance: who will buy my fresh fish!

39 and holding

It was Elise's birthday yesterday. I'm not allowed to reveal exactly which birthday it was, of course, but the name of the picture file might give an indication and I can give a hint: it was somewhere between 59 and 61. Some friends came around in the evening to celebrate the auspicious occasion with a barbecue, followed by the obligatory piece of tart and the ceremony of the blowing out of the candle. A bit of a cheat, really, as we started the barbecue at gone ten o'clock in the evening and didn't get around to the tart until about one-thirty, which was officially the next day, so rather late for the birthday itself.