News & Updates from Alyssuzi Creative Cards by Suzi Cooper · Page 6

Last week the Costa Blanca Bowls Association held its annual Championship of Champions event. The winners from each club go forward to it. This year my partner Allen qualified in the Mens Pairs competition with his teammate Keith.

They started with a match against the home clubs champions which they won by a comfortable margin. In all their matches upto the final they were always in control. The Final was played on Saturday afternoon against Country Bowls.

This proved to be their closest match.

It started of very even with first one team going ahead, only for the other team to pull back and go ahead.

At the halfway stage it was level but then Allen & Keith took control, managing to pull out a small lead which they maintained to the end. The photo shows them with the perpetual trophy & their boxed glassware which they get to keep.

Last week I mentioned that my partner Allen had received an award for having participated in the Easter parades in Torrevieja for 10 years.

This week I thought I would share with you a photo of their float being carried last Monday.

As you can see it is a large float but with 100 men they are able to carry it for 3 to 4 hours.

They do get to put it down during this time & perform a manoeuvre in order to change shoulders as you can imagine the pressure on their shoulders is a lot. They do look very smart in their green & gold outfits.

The Spanish people are very appreciative towards the International Cofradia who enable this magnificent Paso to be carried on shoulders rather than wheeled.

Amazingly, all the other Cofradias look to the Internationals as their target for excellance.

My partner Allen takes part in the carrying of the Easter floats in Torrevieja each year. Back in 2005 the then mayor contacted the head of the Foreigners office to ask if there was a possibility of getting enough men to be able to carry one of the floats.

It needs 100 men as it weighs 1100kg. An appeal went out & amazingly they got the 100 men they needed so that year instead of being wheeled around on an old car chassis the float was carried ?on shoulders? by the International Cofradia.

This has continued every year and 2014 will be the 10th Anniversary.

The average age of the 100 men who carry is in the 60s while most of the other floats are carried by the younger generations.

As they pass the Spanish applaud them & it is a very moving experience. Each year the floats are blessed in a mass held at the Easter museum where they are kept & is always followed by a meal.

This year was especially important for the ?Nuestro Padre de Jesús en el Huerto del los Olivos? (Jesus in the Garden of Olives) as they were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the first carry on shoulders.

Following the meal the remaining members of the original group of 100 were presented with a certificate & an Oscar type statuette depicting one of their Costaleros.

The picture shows Allen with his award together with Pilar, who is the Cofradia President & Graham Knight who was the man who was first approached by the Mayor.

While the UK this week is having problems with Sahara sand in the atmosphere I thought I would share with you what is a regular occurrence here in Southern Spain.

Normally in Spring when we get rain it is full of sand from the Sahara.

This means that after the rain everything is covered in brown sludge. The photo shows our car after the rain yesterday evening. Needless to say the day after the "brown" rain is spent cleaning everything down with the jet washer.

Here in Spain appointments for blood tests are always at 8am as they are done with no food or drink. After having the test done or after any early doctors appointments we always go to a nearby bar for breakfast.

We get toasted baguette which we have with olive oil, crushed tomato & tuna, but unlike some bars, in this bar he brings us a large dish of tomato & another large dish of tuna.

We also have 1/2 litres of freshly squeezed orange juice & large coffees. The whole breakfast comes to 8?. We are regulars so the owner knows what we want when we walk in.