General

Mediterranean Cruise 2006

It is almost one year since our trip on the Voyager of the Seas. A seven night cruise from Barcelona to Marseille. Visiting, Pompeii, Florence, Rome, Monaco.

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Tips for Visitors and Hosts

Rule One. Never, ever arrive between the hours of 20.00h and 08.00h. You may save 50 pounds on the flight, but your will be off to a bad start. Oh, and hire a car, don’t asked to be collected from the airport. Rule Two. At the first opportunity, go to the local supermarket and stock the fridge and larder of your hosts, with all that you will need for your stay, beers, wines, brandies, meat, bread, butter, your favourite snacks…everything! Rule Three. Your hosts are not on holiday, you and your family are. You could go off on a day trip with your family, on your own. Don’t just wake up, shower, eat breakfast then ask your hosts, ‘Where and what have you arranged for us to do today?’ Rule Four. Your hosts may not want to stay up until three in the morning drinking wine and then lie in until midday, your hosts live here all year, you and your family are on holiday. Rule Five. Take your hosts out at least twice in a week, for a special meal, no, not a 7 euro menu at the local Chinese. Remember cooking for you and your family every day is hard work. Rule Six. Never, never ask for a box to take home all the food and the drink that you didn’t use during your visit. This will guarantee, the end of the friendship or family relationship for at least 5 years, if not forever.

Tips for hosts. Encourage your guests to read these six rules, one week before their visit. If they don’t arrive or cancel their holiday…..you would have fallen out anyway!!

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Myspace Javea

Hi, If you are thinking of buying a property in Javea, please contact me on this web site or here, Find me on MySpace!

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Christmas in Javea

Happy Christmas to everyone in Javea, Moraira and Denia. During this festive time of year, not too many people will be thinking of buying or selling their villa or apartment in Javea. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that we have worked with in 2006 and we look forward again, towards a good working relationship in 2007. My feeling is that the property market is picking up and we can all brace ourselves for a better year in 2007.

Javea and Moraira property has always been popular with people from Spain, Madrid and Valencia and obviously the northern European countries of Germany, Holland and the U.K. Again a big thank you for your co-operation, helpfulness and professional attitudes. So, here goes….Andres of Javea-Si, Brian of Dolphin Estates, Ian & Diane of Sunsell, Gary & Shay of Denia Developments, Emma, Rebecca and Nicole from Villas-Plots, Pepe and Vanessa of Giuliano Villas, Victoria of Promociones Javea, Manolo and staff at CFXMB, Ant & Sally at Spanish Property Sales, Matt of Infovisionsoftware, Stewart & David from Villa Shop, Monika & Danny from Villalux, David, Lisa and Javiar of VillaMia, Joan of Cam Bank, Lucy, Brian, Carmelo, Amanda, Daniela, Kevin of Vicens Ash, Miguel, Roca, Jaime from BankInter, Felix, Juan Carlos and staff at Sol Bank, Miguel from Inmoart.

All the members of the Sunsell Group, Lia, Tex and Mandy from Javea Homes, Paul, Chris, Laeti and staff at GoinSureit, Pablo and Rosa of BBVA, all the staff at Hamiltons of London, Bingley’s, Inmoexpert, Javea Invest, Premier Homes, House Detectives, Remax, Jay, Debbie and Ashley, Mark & Gemma and Jasmine, Thomas, Jo, Tony, Daniela, Hans, also everyone at Euphony and many, many more who have shown us that 2006 was a good year to work with you all, advise us all and assist each other.

If I have omitted anyone that, may feel that they needed a mention, sorry. It’s my age and there are three good things about getting old, 1st, You can sleep upright, 2nd, You can watch ‘Inspector Morse’ over and over again without knowing the end and I can’t remember the 3rd thing. Happy Christmas and a Safe and Prosperous New Year to you all.

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Poble Nou de Benitatxell, BBQ

It all started with a ‘Welcome’ letter we found in our post box from Jaume, a young man from Benitachell village. He stated in the letter that he would like to start a forum for people new to the area. Jaume and his business partner Miguel Angel would assist new residents with tax, NIE applications, public health care and educational issues, etc. From this introdution letter, we contacted Jaume and he invited us and some of his friends to a traditional Valencian style bbq.

We all met in the Mas y Mas car park at 12.00h on a sunny Sunday in Benitachell. We were introduced to Keith and Sheila, Rolf and Erika and also our party of six, Ian & Diane, Hilary & Nick, Dawn & Steve. The drive to Jaume’s casa de campo was only 2 minutes away and we were all soon sampling the home made sweet wine made by Jaume’s father and the raisins, made from their own grapes and dried in the summer sun.

It was a mixture of 70% sweet muscatell wine and 30% red wine. Jaume pointed out that everything we were going to eat was made with organic produce, chuletas de cordero (lamp chops) home baked bread and locally made chorizos, morcilla or botifarra in Valenciano, (liver and blood sausages). A wheel barrow was loaded in the front garden with wood from grape vines, orange trees and the protected carob tree. Normally there is a hole in the ground, where a wood fire is prepared and a large calderon (pot) is placed filled with lamb, chicken or pork. Left for many hours to cook slowly over the fire and to absorb the smokey flavours.

Another oven in the casa, was also filled with the same types of wood and then both of the fires were lit. We sat in the warm December sun as Miguel Angel arrived to assist Jaume in the preparation and cooking.

The lamb was rubbed with salt and the onions, artichokes and chorizos were cooked in home made olive oil. When the fires were glowing nicely, the food was cooked to perfection. The home made bread was broken into pieces and the feast began. Large slices of onion were filled with anchovies and olive oil, cooked over the fire, perfect dunking the chunks of bread into, a Benitachell specaility. The artichokes hearts were flavoured by the smoke and the taste and texture was wonderful.

As we enjoyed the food and wine with Jaume and Miguel Angel, we chatted about the various topics on the Valencian culture, diet and laungage. Many people living in Benitachell were forced to speak Castellano during Franco’s dictatorship and they are now unable to read or write in their mother tongue. Benitachell or Benitatxell, spelt the Valenciano way, used to be in the region of Javea, however some 300 years ago, the villagers decided to create their own region and town so they founded the ‘Poble Nou de Benitatxell.’ We retreated to the large family casa’s naya room, as the winter sun lost it’s warmth, to end our enjoyable day with melon, desserts and glasses of Baileys.

May we all say a big thank you to Jaume and Miguel Angel, for their hospitality and for giving us the opportunity to sample and taste the flavours of Valenciano life. If you would like more information on the services provided by these two enterprising men, you can contact them by telephone, email or go to their offices in Benitachell.

MG Economistes.

Miguel Angel Garcia Buigues,

Assesorament comptable, fiscal i laboral.

Avda Lepanto, 34 2.n-4

El Poble Nou de Benitatxell

03726

Alacant

Tel-fax: 96 649 3061

Miguel Angel’s mobile: 653 067 401

Email:miquel_gb@hotmail.com

Jaume’s mobile: 636 541 817

Jaume’s email: jpedros81@hotmail.com

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Javea Music

Another day in paradise. A visit to some friends house at the weekend, they were clients, but have now become good friends. We were celebrating two birthdays and a bbq and a jamming session was the order of the day.

Warm, sunny weather greeted us on the 3rd December in Javea. We started eating some great garlic chicken wings, pork fillets and a home made paella, accompanied by sweet sauce and salad to add that special extra. All prepared and cooked by our hosts.

The lads have all played guitar, on and off over the years, so we decided to have a bash altogether.

Ant warmed up the crowd with some great solo’s playing Bowie, Paul Weller and some Oasis. Ant is excellent on vocals and guitar, Steve on lead a bit rusty and Ian on bass, had to struggle with the keys we were playing in. He managed very well, considering it was his first time that he had played any of the songs before.

The girls wore wigs and danced and sang chorus, guest singer was Diane and a ballet dancing queen entered the room and performed the Dance of the Butterflies. .

Gerry really going for it!

Great food, fun and great company!

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Blog Search

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3 Must Read Books for Bloggers

3 Must-Read Books For Bloggers by: Jim Estill

A lot of bloggers read blogs, but there are also some very valuable books out there on blogging. The three books that I recommend for bloggers are “Blog!” by David Kline and Dan Burstein, “The Corporate Blogging Book” by Debbie Weil, and “Naked Conversations” by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble.

“Blog!: How the newest revolution is changing politics, business and culture” by David Kline and Dan Burstein.
This book talks of the power and influence of blogs. It uses political examples. Through these examples we can learn what good blogging is (honest, open) and what it is not (poorly written, blatant marketing). It talks about freedom of the press and countries and companies that try to suppress blogs. It also warns and gives examples of blogs that share insider or confidential information and what happens.

To quote from it: ‘most people or at least most of the media’s coverage of business issues in blogging are missing the fact that the real excitement here is not how much money business can make from blogging, but how dramatically blogging will reshape the world of business from top to bottom and create new sources of competitive advantage for firms that learn how to use this new medium intelligently… Bloggers not only tend to be more passionate about their interests and hobbies than other people, they also have marketplace influence far beyond their numbers.’

This is a highly inspirational read for anyone who blogs. We live in revolutionary times and as bloggers (and blog readers) we see history being made. We are truly cutting edge. The world is changing before our eyes.

As A. J. Liebling, a great 20th century journalist, said: ‘Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.’ With blogs, anyone can.

‘The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get it Right’ by Debbie Weil.
Debbie is one of the pioneers of corporate blogging. She is not only an advocate but she explains the pros and cons of corporate blogs.

A section from the book: ‘Blogs are a key enabler of this new way of talking with customers, employees, the media and other constituencies. Packaged, filtered, controlled conversation are out. Open, two-way, less-than-perfect communications with your customers and employees are in….Listen, learn, debate, be willing to change, admit mistakes, be equals, with your children, be fair to others with whom you have an adversarial relationship. Acting like a dictator will get you nowhere.’

She has top 20 questions about corporate blogging and in one of those she talks about the three most important things to know before starting blogging. The book also has good examples of blogging policies. One of her points is savvy bloggers read other blogs. My advice is the simplest way to do this is to subscribe to them.

One concept that she talks about is citizen journalist and citizen media. Blogs are a new media and it is run by the citizens. Blogger Halley Suitt explains, ‘The word PR will be gone; the word blog will be gone. Your employees will be your ad agency and your customers will be your back-up ad agency’

‘Naked Coversations:How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers’ by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble
This is an excellent book. I am passionate about business blogs. I truly believe they have value for a business. The book re-affirms this. ‘Naked Coversations’ is easy to read, fast and well organized. It combines advice on blogging (and why blogs help companies) with stories of real bloggers.

Blogs have dangers but those dangers tend to be overrated. Not blogging is a greater danger. As I have said many times, blogs are a new media. Companies that ignore it do so at great peril. At the same time, blogs cannot be blatant self or company promotion – readers (and other bloggers see right through that and can decimate a company).

How do I know if a book is good? If I make a change as a result. I turned off word verification on my blog to make it easier to comment (I still review all comments and don’t let spam through but am trying to make it easier to have a conversation). I get twice as many emails as comments on my blog as a result of my blog. The book drives home that comments and conversations are good.

I also know a book is good if I buy multiple copies for people that I think should read it. And in this case I did.

All three of these books, ‘Blog!’ by David Kline and Dan Burstein, ‘The Corporate Blogging Book’ by Debbie Weil, and ‘“Naked Conversations’ by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble should be read by anyone who has a blog or anyone interested in blogging.

About The Author

Jim Estill is the CEO of SYNNEX Canada. He is an active blogger at http://www.jimestill.com

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Questions & Answers

If you are considering moving to Javea, write your comments here and we will endeavour to answer them.

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Welcome to Javea

Welcome to the upgraded Javea Casas web site. We have included a few extra features that we hope you will find useful. Please feel free to enter your comments on the site, how it can be improved and any other suggestions that you may have.

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