Gibraltar Airport

An A to Z of Gibraltar 

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Gibraltar seems to be dominating the news a lot these days, so for those of you who don’t know much about this Rock which we call our home, here’s a little ABC…

A is for Apes

Our furry friends who live (most of the time) at the top of the Rock are perhaps Gibraltar’s most famous inhabitants. They’re the only wild apes in mainland Europe and rumoured to be the reason why Gibraltar remains British – legend has it that if the apes were to leave, the UK would lose Gibraltar. (Winston Churchill reputedly imported some extra ones during World War II to make sure the Rock remained under the British flag). Legend also has it that they first arrived on the Rock via tunnels which link Gibraltar to northern Africa… not too sure about that one! 

B is for border


Gibraltar has only one land border to the north of the territory and shares it with Spain. It is across this border (or Frontier as it’s also known) that thousands of Spanish residents travel to work in Gibraltar each day and also which Gibraltar residents cross to access Spain and rest of the European mainland. 

Under the Franco regime the border was closed between 1969 and 1985. Gibraltarians found themselves with lots of vacant jobs to be filled as the cross-border workers were no longer able to work here and resources like food and fuel had to be sourced via alternative means. During this period, the Rock’s relationship with Morocco flourished and resulted in the diverse community we now enjoy today.

C is for cable car

Gibraltar’s main tourist attraction is the Rock itself and there are a number of different ways of getting to the top, on foot and by car or taxi, but perhaps the most dramatic way (and certainly the fastest) is by cable car. It has been a feature on the Rock for decades and takes just six minutes from the base station to the summit.

D is for defence


Due to it’s strategic position geographically at the gateway to the Mediterranean, it’s no surprise that Gibraltar has been a key British military base. Though fewer service personnel are based here now than in it’s heyday, there is still a considerable Army, Navy and RAF presence on the Rock.

E is for Europa Point

At Gibraltar’s southern most tip, you can find Europa Point lighthouse, the only lighthouse to be operated by Trinity House which is outside of the British Isles. It’s been keeping watch over the Strait of Gibraltar for over 175 years. On a clear day, you can see across the Strait to north Africa and the Rif mountains of Morocco.

Europa Point is also home to Gibraltar’s largest mosque (the Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque) as well as the Roman Catholic Shrine of Our Lady of Europe.

F is for Festivals


In recent years Gibraltar’s cultural life has flourished with the creation of a number of festivals, the biggest of which is the Gibraltar Music Festival or GMF as it’s become known locally. 2017 will see the festival run for the first time by MTV. Other musical festivals include the Festival of Colours and the World Music Festival. In addition to music another large annual event is the Gibraltar Literary Festival.

G is for Governor & Government 

Gibraltar Parliament building

Although key defence and strategic decisions about Gibraltar are made in Westminster, day to day affairs on the Rock are looked after by Government of Gibraltar. 

The Convent, official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar
We also have a Governor, who is the Queen’s representative here. Our current Governor, Lieutenant General Ed Davies, like all his predecessors lives in the official residence known as The Convent.

H is for history 

Tower of Homage aka Moorish Castle

Gibraltar is steeped in history, from cave men to the Phoenecians, Moorish invasions and the Great Siege. Gibraltar is filled with historic buildings and sites. There’s even a weekly historical reenactment.

I is for isthmus not an island


Despite popular misconception, Gibraltar is not an island. It is an isthmus of 5.8 square kilometres. If you are looking for a diverse and challenging 10k route to run, Gibraltar is the place for you, it’s exactly 10km all the way round on the main roads.

J is for Jebel Tariq

Gibraltar is regarded as one of the Pillars of Hercules, Jebel Musa across the Strait in Morocco being the other one. The name Gibraltar is believed to have come from it’s Moorish name of Jebel Tariq, meaning Tariq’s Mountain or Tariq’s Path. Tariq lead the Moorish Invasion of Andalusia.

K is for Kaiane

Front cover of Gibraltar Panorama 5.4.17

Irrespective of your views on beauty pageants, Kaiane Lopez (née Aldorino) achieved something remarkable for Gibraltar. In 2009, was crowned Miss World. She was a great ambassador for Gibraltar during her year-long reign and has continued to fly the flag for the Rock ever since. Yesterday she became the youngest ever Mayor of Gibraltar as well as being the first ever Miss World to take mayoral office.

L is for lifestyle 

Gibraltar boasts a great climate, healthcare modeled on the NHS, schools which follow the UK system and a thriving community. Plus everything is within a short distance so activities/entertainment especially for children are more achievable than our experience in the UK. As an ‘incomer’ I’ve had a really positive experience living here and was welcomed by locals and expats alike.

M is for Mediterranean 


The Eastern side of the Rock is lapped by the tides of the Mediterranean Sea and the three Mediterranean beaches we have on the Rock are hugely popular in summer (Gibraltar has other beaches on the Western side too).

N is for Neanderthal 


The first Neaderthal skull ever to be found was discovered at Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar in 1848. The find, which is celebrated on Gibraltarian pound coins, has led to Gibraltar recently being granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

O is for ornithology


A hot spot for twitchers, Gibraltar is a haven for wildlife and, in particular, migratory birds. Volunteers from the British Trust for Ornithology travel to Gibraltar to study the migration of birds from the southern hemisphere where they have over wintered, up to northern Europe and Russia. Vultures, and eagles can often be spotted along with other smaller birds.

P is for port


Gibraltar has long been a stop off for seagoing travellers, from the Phoenicians who dropped anchor here before setting off into the Atlantic and up as far north as Cornwall. These days Gibraltar’s marine trade includes dry docks for maintenance, as well as bunkering services for ships which are mid voyage.

Q is for queues 


We do spend quite a while in queues here in Gibraltar at times, especially if you choose the wrong moment to cross the runway – you can get stuck waiting for planes to land or take off. 

We also have to queue to enter and leave Gibraltar at the border with Spain, which can at times be problematic. Thorough checks by the authorities across the border can mean long waits in rather uncomfortable conditions (like the height of summer) at it’s worst it can take several hours to cross. 

R is for runway

Gibraltar Airport is famous for it’s stunning backdrop and for the fact that the main road to and from the Rock runs straight across it. It makes for an interesting commute to work for those who live over in Spain!

S is for St Michael’s Cave

St Michael’s Cave
The Rock of Gibraltar itself is full of holes, with natural caves and manmade tunnels carved through it. The largest and perhaps most dramatic of which is St Michael’s Cave which as well as being a popular tourist destination is also a venue for shows and concerts.

T is for tunnels 

In order to get around the Rock we need to travel through a few tunnels. The World War II Tunnels (which include a war time hospital ward) and the Great Siege Tunnels are popular tourist attractions. 

There are miles and miles of military tunnels excavated through the Rock most of which are out of bounds to the public. They are used for military exercises and there was even a plan during World War II for some military personnel to be bricked into a tunnel so they could spy on the enemy in case of an invasion.

U is for Upper Rock

Windsor Suspension Bridge

The Upper Rock is a Nature Reserve, home to the Barbary Macaques and other native species like the Barbary partridge and national flowers like the Gibraltar Candytuft and Gibraltar Campion.

Gibraltar Candytuft

The Med Steps or Mediterranean Steps to give them their proper name, is a footpath and several sets of steps which lead from the southern tip of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, at the Pillar of Hercules monument and round the Eastern side of the Upper Rock before emerging at the summit. 

Med Steps

It’s a place of outstanding natural beauty and affords walkers stunning views across the Strait to Morocco, along the Mediterranean coast to Spain and onto the Costa del Sol on a clear day, and across the Bay of Gibraltar to Algeciras. 

V is for visitors


Gibraltar is a very popular destination for cruise liners and coach tours. At peak times in the summer, the population of the Rock can almost be doubled for a day, when several large cruise ships arrive all at once. Those are the times when it’s wise to give Main Street a wide berth, especially if you have small children and pushhairs to steer through the crowds.

W is for weather

We are blessed with pretty mild winters (although there was some snow a few miles up the coast this winter) and long hot sunny summers. Thankfully because of our location surrounded on three sides by sea we don’t get such high temperatures as they do further up the coast or inland in Spain.


We can get a rather large cloud developing on the top of the Rock called the Levanter. It’s formed by the easterly wind and just sits above us creating humid conditions below. Some people refuse to have their hair done on Levanter days and it’s been blamed for meringues failing to rise and paint from drying properly.

X is for BreXit (sorry couldn’t think of anything beginning with X)

Well this is the main reason why everyone’s talking about Gibraltar at the moment isn’t it? 96% of the Gibraltar electorate voted to remain in Europe and no one knows what Brexit will mean for us all here on the Rock (or the UK for that matter).

Y is for Yanito or Llanito 

Yanito or Llanito is the dialect which is spoken by Gibraltarians. Anyone wandering along Main Street will hear locals speaking a mixture of English and Spanish with a few Genoese or Maltese words thrown in too. 

Z is for zebra crossings (post boxes and red telephone boxes)

We may live at the very south of Iberian Peninsular and we can see Africa from our windows but there are a lot of familiar British sights around Gibraltar. There are often tourists posing for photos by the phone boxes and and post boxes trying to catch a little of Britain in the Med.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Gibraltar A to Z, if you only take one thing from it, can it please be that Gibraltar’s NOT an island? (I have read two articles today which described it as one) Thank you!

Sunday Sevens #77 2.4.17

~ Making Stitches ~ 13 Comments

I’ve just about managed to publish this in time to still count as Sunday Sevens, after 9 and a half hours traveling back home to Gibraltar today from beautifully sunny and springlike Suffolk.

So, this time last week it was Mother’s Day… feels like a very long time ago now!

Wisteria


I do love wisteria, such a gorgeous flower! I spotted a bumble bee climbing into this bloom as I walked past last Sunday morning. Despite weather forecasts suggesting dodgy weather for the weekend we were blessed with sunshine and, at times, clear blue skies – how lovely! Just perfect for Mother’s Day.

Scummy Mummies


I treated myself to a Mother’s Day gift this year and it arrived just in time. I listen to the Scummy Mummies podcast when I’m out walking, and can often be spotted howling with laughter like a mad woman as they regale tales of hilarious parenting fails and make their Scummy Mummy confessions of when things go awry… The book didn’t disappoint, I giggled away to myself as we flew out to England later in the week.

Ready for the off!


So Tuesday saw us swerving the school run and heading to the airport instead. The Little Postcards’ only cousin was due to get married this week and we couldn’t miss that! We left the cloudless skies of Gibraltar for the slightly cloudier skies of….

Southwold!

It was so lovely to be back in Southwold on the Suffolk coast again so soon after we our lovely holiday there last summer. If you missed my posts all about the beautiful seaside town and pier, you can find them here for Southwold and here for the pier.

Love is in the air…

We were blessed with the most beautiful weather and venue for the special family wedding we attended. I will share a few more photos of the day in a future post. It was perfect in every way, and the happy couple enjoyed themselves immensely, as did we.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside 


Oh I do love it in Southwold. It feels like coming home to be able to walk along the prom here. We have been visiting since long before the Little Postcards were born and it is just so familiar, like putting an old jumper on! It hasn’t changed that much in the years we’ve been visiting and it’s reassuring to repeat our ritual walks here again and again (they usually involve, chips, ice cream and a visit to the pier!).

Spring has sprung!

It seems appropriate to book end this post with pretty flowers, Gibraltar wisteria at the beginning and some Suffolk blossom at the end. Spring has certainly sprung in the corner of England that we visited, the hedgerows were greening up, there were daffodils by the roadsides and blossom trees galore. I don’t usually visit the U.K. at this time of year and I feel privileged to have been able to witness Spring in all it’s glory on our trip.

And now we’re into April already, the year is just whizzing by so fast! Here are a few pictures from last month, which included a trip to Spain, last week’s to Suffolk and the sad loss of our rescue bunny Snowflake.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins.

2017 Weekly photo challenge (Week 11) Spiral

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For this week’s photo challenge I have found four ‘spirals’; two man made and two natural. 

The first one is the staircase inside the lovely lighthouse at Southwold in Suffolk which we visited last summer. I wish I had a photo of the interior of the Europa Point lighthouse here in Gibraltar but sadly that’s not open to the public. 

For more on our visit to the Southwold lighthouse, you can read a bit more about it in my Sunday Sevens #45 post. 

Another man made spiral, and slightly less dramatic is this one on the engine of a plane on the runway at Gibraltar airport (you can just about make out the Rock in the background).

Now for the natural ones…


I tried to find a spiral shell when we were on the beach this weekend but failed, so here are a couple of ammonite fossils we have in our house. The Little Postcards got interested in fossils during their dinosaur phase.

I’m linking with Wild Daffodil and Nana Cathy for this weekly photo challenge. 

2017 Weekly photo challenge (week 8) Traffic

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This week’s photo challenge was a bit of a no brainer for me. Living in Gibraltar, a place where the only exit by road involves crossing a working airport runway, means you can get stuck in traffic every now and then. Whether you are heading north to get to Gibraltar’s second supermarket, the airport or across the border into Spain (as above) … or heading south and towards town (see below), as soon as you hear the siren and spot the lights flashing you know you are going to be waiting a little while before you can get to your destination.

You just hope that the red light is only for the FOD Squad (Foreign Object Detection Vehicle) to cross over and check the runway and not an impending landing or take off if you are in a particular rush to get to where you’re going…

Gibraltar is unique in many ways….

I’m joining with Wild Daffodil and Nana Cathy for this photo challenge.

Sunday Sevens #71 19.2.17

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

Hello there, this Sunday Sevens is being sent from sunny (well ok then, cloudy but dry) Manchester today as I am back in the UK on a flying visit to see my parents. Mr Postcard is back at home in Gibraltar with the Little Postcards and awaiting my return later today. It’s been such a luxury to be back in my childhood home again – just me, and to be spoiled by my Mum and Dad.

A new crochet project

Last Sunday really wasn’t up to much weather wise and we found ourselves sheltering indoors to stay dry. The highlight of our Sunday afternoon was a trip to Morrison’s supermarket café just so we could get out of the house for an hour! What else is there to do when you are house bound than start a new crochet project? 😉 I just can’t help myself.

This lovely yarn is Luisa Harding Pittura which I bought online a few months ago and was just waiting for the right project to come along for it. That project is the Spun Gold shawl by Kat Goldin of the Crochet Project. You can find it here: Kat Goldin’s blog. It’s working up really fast thanks to the quintuple trebles which pop up every six rows or so. It’s my first attempt at this stitch and so far so good, they are looking pretty even.

February weather

It’s been a bit grey and gloomy in Gibraltar all week, although it hasn’t rained all the time, it has threatened it for most of the week. This was the scene across the Bay of Gibraltar as we headed out to school on Monday, we rushed out and I rushed back home quickly in the hope of dodging the shower which was dumping it’s load across the Bay.

Whoops – spot the mistake…

So dressmaking class this week didn’t exactly go according to plan, last week’s faux pas is obvious above (note the extra bits which had to be added to the hem of two panels of my princess-line dress to-be). 

Can you spot the other mistake? Yes, I managed to sew both sides of the back of the dress the same way, so I have two left back sections instead of a left and a right….. Cue trip back to the fabric shop to buy some more gabardine (I couldn’t face unpicking the princess-line seam and the double row of zig zag I’d sewn to neaten the internal seam edge) and a good deal of catching up to do next week. Whoops!

Feeling virtuous

I don’t normally post pictures of food, but I am trying to be good at the moment, we have two family weddings coming up in the next few months and I really could do with shedding a spare tyre or two. This week I have been mainly eating salad and soup and lots of fruit and veg but no pasta, rice, spuds or bread. 

I got the chance to go out to lunch to Wagamamas in Ocean Village one lunchtime (my first visit) and I had this gorgeous chicken salad. It was soooooo nice and ticked all the right diet boxes too. 🙂

Off to a flyer


Thursday morning was looming ahead of me. I had an appointment and my watercolour class both at different ends of Gibraltar and no car so I set off walking in my wellies (it had been wet and was threatening more rain) and loaded up with bags containing everything I needed for the morning ahead. Imagine my joy when a friend pulled up next to me as I felt the first spit of rain and shouted ” Do you want a lift?” Thank you! I didn’t think twice. I made it into town dry and with time to spare for a coffee! Hurrah!

(There’s no watercolour featuring in Sunday Sevens this week as what I produced needs more work… I’ll share what I’ve been doing next time).

The weekend starts here…


On Friday evening I ran off and left Mr Postcard and the Little Postcards. I flew out of Gibraltar to Manchester to visit my Mum & Dad. I have never sat out on the viewing platform at the airport before, because I’ve usually got small people with me. This time though I was able to sit and relax with a G&T before take off… such luxury! 

Shopping!


I had a lovely time at the Trafford Centre yesterday shopping with my Mum. We don’t get the chance to do that kind of thing very often and we both really enjoyed it. We both had success and got most of what we’d gone for… hurrah!

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie from Threads & Bobbins blog.

A stroll around Gibraltar No. 18 : Moorish Castle

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After a long school holiday at home with the Little Postcards, I escaped for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon and headed out for a walk. Main Street was busy with bargain hunters hitting the sales so I decided to climb up out of the bustling town centre of Gibraltar and visit Moorish Castle.

The Tower of Homage, which can clearly be seen by visitors to Gibraltar as they approach from the airport is one of the last remaining buildings left by the Moors from when they controlled Gibraltar back in the 11th Century.

It’s a much visited destination on the usual Gibraltar tourist trail but, believe it or not, despite living here for so long, I haven’t been inside since our first ever visit to the Rock when we came for a look round and to find somewhere to live almost 8 years ago.

I climbed up higher and higher into the Upper Town leaving the shops and crowds enjoying the post Christmas sales on Main Street and found parts of Upper Town I’d never visited before. The street names refer to the Rock’s military past.

Wandering around the Moorish Castle Estate, I discovered great examples of community painting  projects from National Days gone-by.

I have to admit that I got lost a couple of times taking alleyways and paths assuming they would lead up to the castle and discovering dead ends! I have a feeling I will be visiting again soon as there are so many lovely examples of architecture which are crying out to be photographed… there are even headless men and children crossing the roads (see the sign below).

Never before have I seen such a festive washing line. I hope whoever the clean laundry belongs to doesn’t mind me sharing this, but wow what a lovely collection of Christmas table cloths, tea towels and aprons! Obviously being laundered to put away until next year!

As you walk up these roads and paths, you don’t realise how high you are climbing until you turn to look back at where you came from!

Nestled in amongst the post war government housing estate is an ancient structure which has a sign detailing it’s past. This building with battlements is probably the oldest building in Gibraltar. It was the original gatehouse for Moorish Castle and was occupied successively by Moorish, Spanish and British troops for over eight hundred years.

Just a little further up hill and there was the Castle.

You can completely understand why it was built in this position, what a great vantage point to observe our neighbours to the north. And just check out that cannon with it’s sight firmly set.

It was time to go inside..

The sign above the door reads:

When the Moors recaptured Gibraltar from the Spaniards in 1333 they rebuilt an earlier tower, ruined in the fighting, into this solid Tower of Homage, which has since withstood ten sieges.

After making your way through a steel gate, you reach the inner stairwell. Modern stairs lead the way up and down the tower now, but it’s clear to see what’s left of the original Moorish stairwell with arched sections left on some of the walls. The tower you see today was built at the same time as the Alhambra in Granada.

The first part you come to is an original Moorish bath house. The interlinking rooms are cleaned back to the stone and the subtle lighting means you can see the lovely brick work and arches which feature so heavily in the design.

A much larger example of a Moorish bath house can be found in the basement of the Gibraltar Museum. That is a truly atmospheric place and well worth a visit if you are over here.

Back into the stair well and this tiny window gave a great view of the town below. I wonder how many soldiers have stood with their weapons pointed out of there over the centuries?

These walls have stood the test of time and many attacks, in addition to the many sieges, in 1540, hundreds of people headed to the castle to shelter safely while Turkish pirates attacked the Rock.

Don’t look down!

I headed on up the stair well and up out of a little door at the top…

…to the roof and the most amazing panoramic view.

The Union Jack flapped in the breeze as gusts blew the clouds across the moody sky. In 1704 Admiral Rooke hoisted the British flag at this spot when he captured Gibraltar, one has flown here ever since.

Here’s Gibraltar’s famous runway which is bisected by the only road off the Rock, the Spanish town of La Linea lies on the other side of the border. Despite the fact many people mistakenly think Gibraltar is an island, you can clearly see we are well and truly attached to the rest of mainland Europe!

Down below the castle you get a good view of Casemates Square (bottom centre of the photo). In it’s heyday the Moorish Castle complex stretched all the way down to where Casemates is today.

Immediately below the tower is the remains of the former Gibraltar Prison. The Prison was still in use here when we arrived to live on the Rock, but it has now relocated to a purpose-built facility above Europa Point.

It wasn’t just me and a handful of tourists who were taking a moment to appreciate the view up there.

Can you can see the old building with scaffolding around in the centre of the picture? That is the orginal gatehouse which I mentioned before – it’s hard to imagine now, but the castle must have covered a really large area.

In addition to the town below, you get a brilliant view of the sea and the coast further north. It was looking a bit blustery on the Mediterranean coast up towards Santa Margarita.

In the Bay of Gibraltar, it was more sheltered, but this small group of yachts was making the most of the breeze off the western end of the runway.

I enjoyed my visit to Moorish Castle, I’m so glad I decided to forgo the joys of Saturday afternoon sales shopping in town in favour of this.

Goodbye for now Moorish Castle, I promise I won’t leave it so long before visiting you again!

 

Sunday Sevens #52 9.10.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

 

Despite the fact we are well into October now, it’s been very warm again here in Gibraltar. As I sit at the dining table writing this, I have steam coming out of my collar!!

This week has been a rather busy one for me, there’s been nothing in particular, just lots of different stuff going on, so there was no midweek post from me this week. I hope you’ve had a good week, whatever you’ve been up to. Without further ado, here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Across the Strait

This photo kind of sums up the weather we’ve been having for about half of this last week. I took the photo on Sunday afternoon when we took the Little Postcards to Europa Point park to let off a bit of steam on their scooters. You know when they are bouncing off the walls that you need to get out and exercise them like dogs!! The sky was crystal clear overhead but in the distance across at Morrocco there was a hazy mist which looked like someone had taken an eraser to the bit where the mountains touch the sea!

So for most of this week, in the afternoons  it has been clear, bright and hot (especially when standing outside the school gates waiting for the bell to go!) but the mornings have been misty and town was sitting under a heavy Levanter cloud with gusty winds whipping up the dust.

Dressmaking class


Sewing continued on the sample top I’m working on in my dressmaking class. The photo doesn’t show it to advantage as the back is still unfinished and open. Part of the exercise for this sample is to make up the front, then remodel the arm holes and neckline. This is before the remodelling takes place.

In addition to working on my sample top, I have also been making a skirt for my Mum who has been over visiting at the moment. A straight skirt with a small slit at the back and in a colour to compliment her new winter coat is underway. After several fittings and alterations, I am now about to machine stitch the side seams and hand sew the hem. Hopefully it will be ready for her when she returns before Christmas.

Watercolour class

After two weeks of pencil sketches, I finally got around to mixing some paint colours and worked my current project at my watercolour class this week. I just love the brightly coloured beach huts at Southwold, and wanted to work on a painting to reflect that. I’m working from a photograph taken by Mr Postcard of a stretch of predominantly blue and white ones, but have used a little artistic licence and injected more colour based on photos I took on our visit in the summer. I’m really enjoying painting this one. 🙂

Sea mist


We had everything crossed on Friday evening. After dropping my parents off at the airport to fly home, we returned to find our home had been engulfed by a real pea-souper of a sea mist. Just as their plane was due to land it got thicker and thicker.

Miraculously the plane landed. The two photos above were taken 30 minutes apart. The first one is of a tree about 100 metres from our apartment – there was no point taking one of the sea, it would have just been grey!

I’m very pleased to say that Mum and Dad made it back home safely and we look forward to seeing them again just before Christmas.

Autumn leaves


It’s October, and of course that means autumn. I do love autumn in the UK in a kind of bitter sweet way. It’s such a beautiful season with the colours of the leaves on woodland walks but it also spells the end of summer and all the fun which that season promises. Back when we lived in England, I kind of dreaded winter with the grey damp urgh kind of weather it could spell for weeks between the odd beautiful crispy frosty day.

One benefit of living here in Gibraltar is that although we do have seasons, they aren’t quite as noticeable as in England. Summer is undboubtedly hot and sunny and winter is often damp and grey but not quite as cold and depressing as I remember English winter days to be. That does mean though that spring and autumn aren’t quite as obvious as what’s experienced in the UK.

I remember feeling a bit homesick that first autumn after we moved to Gibraltar and I just couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was. Suddenly it hit me, the vast majority of the trees here on the Rock are evergreen and that meant there are very few leaves to crunch through and collect with little people. Autumn always used to mean Sunday afternoons spent at one of our nearest National Trust sites or parks collecting sticks, conkers and brown, red and golden leaves of all shapes and sizes to bring home. That just isn’t an option here.

In recent years though, a few new trees have been planted here and some of the ones in Commonwealth Park (which was built a couple of years ago) are deciduous. It was so nice to sit under the browning leaves on a bench for a while yesterday as the Little Postcards played football. We were all in T-shirts and shorts so it’s not really like autumn, but it was nice to pretend.

A new crochet project


After finishing my sixty million trebles blanket last week, I was free to crack open some of the lovely new yarn I bought at Yarndale a fortnight ago with a clear conscience. The gorgeous mohair and bamboo Louisa Harding Yarn I bought from Esgair Fibres had been calling me from my stash and really needed to be worked on as soon as possible! I’m using it to make a shawl/scarf for when the weather here turns a little bit fresher. It’s so lovely to use, the constantly changing colours which change even within just one treble stitch are gorgeous and it feels so nice between my fingers as I hook up another row.

 
PS : just one more thing…

A couple of people asked to see the finished picture that I posted two weeks ago from my watercolour class, here it is, mounted and ready to go to its new home in England.

 

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie from Threads & Bobbins blog.

(Natalie, if you’re reading this I hope you’re ok! You’ve been very quiet lately.)

Sunday Sevens #51 2.10.16

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Let the sewing begin!

Three weeks into our dressmaking course and we have finished with the pattern drawing and cutting and we are now in the process of constructing a sample top. Because it’s a sample, we are just using curtain lining material to make it, hence the rather boring photo. I’m eager to get this finished and move onto the next ‘real’ project.

Bunny bombshell

Bunny Postcard had a trip to the vets this week. We had been meaning to take him for months so that he could have some vaccinations to allow him to play out in our back patio. Now the weather is beginning to cool a little bit, we thought he might like to have a hop about outside. The first thing the vet said when she saw Bunny was ‘Oh what a lovely girl’. I thought nothing of it, thinking clearly she’s made a mistake…

Once the full medical was done, including checking his heart, ears, eyes and teeth, the vet cottoned onto the fact that we had never actually officially been told Bunny’s gender. Well the big news this week is that Bunny is officially a girl! It’s taken a bit of time for that news to sink in in certain quarters, but I’m thrilled to know that at last I am no longer the only female in the Postcard household!

Suspension 

When I flew back from Yarndale last weekend, not only did I bring with me a suitcase full of yarn and wonderful memories, I also brought my Mum and Dad with me too. They hadn’t been to see the Windsor suspension bridge yet so one afternoon this week, while the Little Postcards were still at school, we took a walk up the Rock and along the bridge. I have to say, since my last visit, a discernible creak has developed as you walk from one side of the gorge to the other which did put me slightly on edge. The view is still as stunning as ever from there though.

Not much painting going on…

Inspired by our summer holiday in Southwold back in August, I decided that my next paining project should include some of the beautiful beach huts you see along the seafront. Last week I spent the entire lesson trying to sketch out the huts freehand, and not using a ruler. Unfortunately due to the composition of the photo I’m using and it’s perspective, even when just one line was out of place, it made the whole thing look wonky and a bit rubbish.

This week after a quick refresher lesson on perspective, horizons and eyelines, my teacher very kindly gave me some tracing paper to get the skeleton of the picture down onto the paper so that at least next week I can start painting. Shhh, don’t tell anyone I cheated 😉

Interesting keyhole



I went exploring over the border in La Linea on Friday morning looking for yarn shops (not that I need to buy any more after Yarndale last weekend mind you). I had heard there were some and that they sold nice stuff. Thinking ahead to Christmas presents and such like I thought it was worth following it up.

Almost next door to a really lovely yarn shop, this most unusual keyhole caught my eye on the front door of an old building. There’s some really lovely architecture amongst all the late twentieth century and more modern apartments and shop fronts if you keep your eyes open. Next time, I need to take my camera with me….

Cake anyone? 

Yesterday, if you were in Gibraltar town centre there’s a good chance you were  ‘encouraged’ to part with your cash for raffle tickets and cakes for the Scouts. As two of the Little Postcards are in Scouts, there was a bit of baking going on this week for the annual cake stall fundraiser. My fairy cakes aren’t in this picture, they were hidden down at the other end of the stall… I photographed the pretty cakes instead 😉

Rainbow hope blanket completed


Begun on the last day of August (the very last day of the school summer holidays) and completed on the last day of September – it’s taken me a month to complete my contribution to the Sixty Million Trebles project. The blanket I made will join hundreds of others and be joined to make the worlds biggest ever blanket. It will be used to yarn bomb a site in London before being unpicked to make ‘normal-sized’ blankets which will go to charities in the UK and Syria.

The project is being run to raise awareness about the plight of the sixty million refugees who are displaced from their homes around the world at the moment. It will also raise funds for the cause too. It’s hoped that sixty million treble stitches will be crocheted to represent all the people who have been driven from their homes. Where ever my Rainbow Hope Blanket ends up, I hope it brings some hope to whoever receives it. This 36″ square blanket adds 10,656 trebles to the current count of almost five million.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Nat at Threads & Bobbins. For more information about it, and if you would like to join in, why not  pop over to her blog.

 


Sunday Sevens #36 19.6.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 12 Comments

Queen’s Birthday bank holiday

We had an extra bank holiday on Monday which you don’t get in the UK. To celebrate the Queen’s official birthday in June, we get a day off. It’s not just because it was a special birthday this year – we always get one. It also marked the beginning of summer hours at school. On Tuesday the little Postcards finished at lunchtime and will continue to do so until term ends in four weeks’ time – that means my crafting time has been severely depleted but the plus side is I don’t need to make any more packed lunches until September! 

Dressmaking class


The invisible zip is IN. I’m really enjoying making this skirt, firstly because it’s to be worn at two family weddings next year (nice occasions which are a long way off – so no pressure) and the fabric’s so easy to sew. It’s crisp and the seams look so neat plus it doesn’t fray. The lining on the other hand…. the less said about that the better!!

#7000 woolly hearts for Yarndale challenge


You may remember a few months back I hooked up some woolly hearts and sent them to a lovely lady known as @bonnies_little_crafts on Instagram. She lives in the town of Skipton which plays host to the Yarndale festival each September. This year she has set herself (and anyone else who wants to get involved) the task of crocheting 7000 little woolly hearts to give away to visitors to her home town when they attend the yarny festival this year. I started my second stash this week while the little Postcards were splashing about in the pool.

A prime ministerial visit


Thursday saw an historic moment in Gibraltar’s history, David Cameron became the first serving Prime Minister to visit since Harold Wilson. Sadly a huge rally which had been planned to raise the issues facing Gibraltar with regards to the EU Referendum had to be cancelled following the horrific events in Leeds which led to the death of mother and MP, Jo Cox. 

Security was extremely tight around town for the few hours he spent on the Rock with police officers stationed on most road junctions. This was the scene outside the Rock Hotel where the PM held talks with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo and other local politicians. I never knew there were so many machine guns in Gibraltar before this!

A bit of painting

It has been ages since I got my paints out and I had a spare few minutes on Friday before picking the boys up from school, so had a go at a few more freesias. This is going on a special birthday card for a very special lady. 

A weekend away


On Friday I did something I’ve been looking forward to for ages, I got on a plane on my own and came to visit my Mum and Dad. I’ve not been back to England since August last year and I’ve really missed seeing my family. The trip had been on the cards since January but kept being put back for various reasons. Finally the day arrived. It was worth the wait! It also coincided with Father’s Day. I am able to spend it with my Dad for the first time in years. 

Fish


Nothing says home to me like my Dad’s aquarium. It’s been bubbling away in the my parents’ dining room since before I sat at the dining table studying for my A-Levels. Once home to tropical fish and beautiful blue striped Neon Tetras (my favourites) these lovely goldfish are now in residence. The noise of the pump has been a constant soundtrack to mealtimes back in my childhood home. 

Wherever you are this Father’s Day, I hope it is a happy one for you.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series devised by Natalie at  Threads & Bobbins blog.

Sunday Sevens #4

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Time flies when you’re having fun, I can’t believe this is my forth installment of the Sunday Sevens series. I have linked up with Natalie at Threads and Bobbins to let you see what I’ve been up to during the past week. There was no watercolour class to share this week and my dressmaking class didn’t offer up any exciting photos so I’m craft free this week in Sunday Sevens.

1 Let’s go fly a kite

Last Sunday, we all jumped into the car and headed off up the coast to just outside Estepona. We had a great family day out visiting my brother and his fiancée who had just flown over to stay for a long weekend with her family at a beautiful villa right on the seafront. My boys absolutely loved playing in the huge garden there, and spent most of the day tearing around the enormous lawn. Although the weather wasn’t perfect, it didn’t dampen our spirits, the windy conditions were perfect for kite flying. We were also able to handover the frog & fox hats I’d been working on for a few weeks.

2 More rain!

The wet, autumnal weather of the last few weeks has continued here in Gibraltar. Thankfully it hasn’t been as wet as it was last week and the landslide I mentioned in my rainy weather post has been cleared up and the road reopened thanks to some frantic work. The rain brought this little chap out and was a focus of much attention on the school run by my own little bug hunter. He was fascinated by the snail, and we had to look out for him each day to see if he was still there, sadly he has moved on…

3 Lunch with a view 

I went for lunch with my parents to the Eroski supermarket café one day this week and had front row seats for the activities going on at the airport. We sat out on the roof of the supermarket and watched the comings and goings. This photo shows the EasyJet to Gatwick taking off and for those of you not familiar with Gibraltar and it’s unique airport arrangements, it also illustrates how the main road from the Rock to the border with Spain bisects the airport runway. The traffic is brought to a standstill with traffic lights and barriers each time a plane needs to take off or land. Well, almost each time, my in-laws were once on a plane which was forced to pull up at the last minute and take a brief detour as the pilot saw traffic still on the runway as he was coming in to land! That, thankfully, is a very rare occurrence.

4 Sunset at the marina

One evening this week, I found myself walking through Queensway Quay marina at sunset. It was really lovely and I couldn’t resist taking a photo.

5 Ocean Village Marina 

Another of Gibraltar’s marinas is Ocean Village, it’s the largest and busiest. I walked through on my mission to buy some more school uniform ready for the soon to come winter weather and thought it looked glorious in the afternoon sunshine.

6 Street art

This beautiful wooden sculpture appeared outside a frame shop in Gibraltar this week. The shop is called Face Frames, so it perfectly illustrates the name don’t you think? How refreshing to see something so beautiful to advertise a shop instead of the usual neon or plastic signage. It sits right at the end of a road off Main Street and has instantly become a landmark, dominating the end of the street. I love it!

6 Hallowe’en

Now, if you read my previous post Trick or Treat? Hallowe’en – bah Humbug!, you might find this photo a surprise. I am not quite the old misery I perhaps made out, so when my boys asked if we could carve a pumpkin, I couldn’t say no. Here’s our very simple effort. With more time I would have liked to make a more intricate carving but time didn’t allow. (The face was designed by my 8 year old, he wanted a cheeky face, not a scary one :-)).

7 Midterm getaway

  

It’s midterm in Gibraltar now, school broke up on Friday. We decided to go away for a few days so yesterday we reluctantly said goodbye to my parents who have been here for the last couple of weeks, we packed up the car and drove a short distance along the Costa del Sol to just outside Marbella.  This magnificent palm tree is right outside our home for the next few days. 

I believe strong winds and rain are lashing Gibraltar this morning, luckily for us the bad weather hasn’t followed us here. 
Have a great week all of you.