Spain area guides

As you've probably noticed we never seem to sit still for very long.

We've been working on a new project for Eye on Spain and we're looking for your input during this development stage.

As the popularity of the website increases week on week (currently around 9,000 people visit the site every day) we are always looking to provide more and more content for the site. It's a big job!

One of the areas that we've always been lacking in is in having information about the different areas of Spain, towns, villages, cities, etc. So, I recently had the big idea that we should do some area guides covering as much of Spain as possible.

But I wanted to do something a bit different to what's already out there.

So we've started putting together some guides which include videos, photos, maps, hotels, weather and news.

However, the idea is that you, the users, will be able to add to these guides. You will be able to add your own comments, videos, photos, etc. The guides are for YOU so you should have a hand in what's in them.

In essence the area guides will grow dynamically the more that people contribute to them.

So today I wanted to show you where we're at with it and ask you to give us some feedback.

Do you like the idea?

Do you like the content?

Would you like to see other content on there?

What about a reviews section for restaurants, hotels, etc?

Do we include local businesses, clubs, societies, etc?

What about a "I'm in this area, let's be friends" section?

Rental listings, property listings?

I'm really just looking for some ideas before we finally open it up to enable you to contribute to the guides and make them public.

I would really appreciate your feedback. I want these to be the best, most informative, interactive and up-to-date Spain area guides on the Internet. With your input I think we can achieve that.

OK, see where we are now with this:

Spain area guides (www.eyeonspain.com/areaguides/)

You can leave a comment by clicking the comments link below.

Thanks and look forward to your input.

Wind in my hair

We've had relentless wind for what seems like an eternity now. It's just been non-stop for days and it's quite fierce too. I think the whole coast has been suffering with it, it must be what it's like to live in Tarifa all the time. No thanks!

I went up to Jerez on Tuesday to watch the formula 1 testing and it was gloriously sunny there and even managed to burn my head....serves me right for not having any hair!

Nice to see there weren't any racist idiots there whilst Lewis Hamilton was on track. There's just no need for it really.

I'll try to post some pics and videos of the visit later if I'm not expected to do too much this Valentine's evening!

Don't buy a new car in Spain

I think my blog needs some loving! I've abandoned it for a couple of weeks and it's been crying out to my fingers to get typing away again.

I've been "underground" for the past couple of weeks working on a couple of projects for Eye on Spain which I am anxious to get finished. We're going to be launching these next week and I'm really excited about them. All will become clear very soon....

Anyway, I was having a bit of a moan to myself today about our new car, a black Golf GTI (yes, I'm a boy-racer at heart). We've had it for about 4 months now and in that time it seems to have attraced the attention of other cars. In fact they like it so much that they all seem to want to "kiss" it.

Four times our car has been hit now. That's an average of once per month which is surely outrageous? It hasn't even been our fault. Twice the knocks happened when we had left the car parked somewhere and the other two led to arguments and getting insurance papers out, etc.

The worst one by far was a German guy driving along in his Suzuki Vitara with his wife. He was driving really badly and cutting the bends really tight on the dual carriageway. Then, on one bend he cut it so much that he actually hit and smashed the wing mirror of a camper van that was in the inside lane. Having seen how badly he was driving I had already backed off but because I had backed off my car got hit.

You see, when he hit the camper van its mirror flew up in the sky and....yes...it hit my car!!

Look what he did to my front wing (yes, the car is a little dirty in the picture!)




He tried to deny that it was his fault but as he saw me getting redder in the face he seem to back down and agree that perhaps it was his fault after all.

So my advice is DON'T buy a new car in Spain. Bumpers here are used for just that...bumping. If someone hits your car they'll keep on driving or if you've seem them do it they'll try to deny all knowledge of it....I should now, it's happend to me twice now in 4 months. Ouch, my poor car.