The Spanish Adventure - a temporary pause

Thus is the post I was hoping I would never have to write.

Sadly, after 7 weeks I have not been able to secure enough work here in Benidorm and I must return to the UK.

During my tie here I have made several useful contacts and I will continue to pursue them though text, email and phone calls from the UK. As soon as I have an offer of enough work to cover the rent on an apartment, I will be on the next plane to Benidorm.

Most importantly, I do not consider that I have failed. If I had not even come out to Benidorm in the first place than I would have failed. By taking the plunge and coming out her I have laid the foundations for a possible future so it has certainly not been a waste of time or by any means a failure.

I've booked my flights back to the UK for next week so look out Essex, I'm coming back!!!

The Spanish Adventure - 7th July

I had a bit of a body blow today as one of my proverbial "irons in the fire" was taken away.

Without saying too much, one of my contacts was hoping to do a sort of job share with me but his bosses won't allow it. I got the impression that he was getting tired of working 6 nights a week so he was as annoyed about their decision as I was! Not a lot either of us can do about the situation. He did offer to try and get me some cabaret work but I've told him not to worry at the moment. I may have to return to the UK at the end of July if I can't find enough work to cover the rent and I'm not going to mess people about by cancelling shows because I'm not here any more.

I have contacted my one remaining hope for regular and decent work on the pretext that I am letting them know that I have all the relevant paperwork to allow me to work legally in Spain. I've told them I will have to return to the UK soon but would be able to come back at short notice if needed. I still have almost four weeks for something to happen so I'm not looking for flights back to the UK just yet.

The most annoying thing is that I'm really enjoying presenting the radio shows - even though it is a lot of work to prepare them and equally hard work presenting them. It would be a real shame to have to give them up but I suppose it will look good on my CV if I have to come back to the UK.

Adios

The Spanish Adventure - 2nd July

I've just realised that I haven't written anything for a while - essentially because things have sort of stagnated at the moment.

I've done about 3 hours of filming for a TV documentary about ex-pats who have made a new life in Benidorm. They have been talking to a variety of people and were interested in me as I'm at the other end of the spectrum as I'm only just starting out here. They filmed me auditioning for an entertainments manager at a caravan park (miles better than any of the caravan parks I've seen in the UK) as well as a second night in my working suit performing close-up magic for the residents at the caravan park. I have no idea when the program will air or how much of me will make it to the screen but when I do hear I'll let you know. I'm fairly sure it is a series so you may have to watch several episode to even et a glimpse of me!

I have a couple of irons in the proverbial fire but, as entertainment jobs are rather cut-throat out here, I don't want to say too much at the moment.

I thought I'd try and get myself hired to perform close-up magic in a Chinese restaurant so went across town the other day. There are three restaurants side by side and with similar prices so I picked on the busy one as the other two were virtually empty. The "tourist" menu started at 5 Euros for a three-course meal - that's about £4 - and you get a drink with it as well! I pushed the boat out a little and got the 5:50 Euros meal as I fancied the beef chow mein as my main. Anyway, I managed to make two of the ladies who worked there a flower and a dog. The place was too busy to talk to the staff properly and their English was not much better than my Spanish so I gave up. I might try one of the other two restaurants this Sunday and see if I have better luck. If they are not busy than I can use the angle that I can attract customers when people see me entertaining at the tables - assuming the management can speak English in the first place.

Best news of all so far - my wife is coming out for a week before she has to go into ospital for an operation and can't fly for three months afterwards.

Adios

The Spanish Adventure - 21st June 2015

Today has been a very emotional day.

I woke up very late (for me anyway) at 9:30 so I must have been really drained from yesterday.

Had some bad news last night. A bar where I had a karaoke try-out had told the regular host that I had done a good job but, five minutes later they told me that they didn't want me and were going to use somebody else! When I told a friend this they said that they wouldn't want to work for that particular bar anyway! Did I have a lucky escape? Only time will tell.

Seeing all the Father's Day posts on Facebook made me very tearful. My father died many years ago and I can never be a father, Time like these hammers home how much I long for silly things like a hand-made card or present that I will never get from my child.

Missing my wife has also made me emotional today. To show just how much in tune we are with each other, I called her this morning as she was picking up the phone to call me. We both have to keep telling ourselves that I am trying to make a better life for both of us instead of sitting around and expecting her to provide for me like some husbands who are not even bothering to try and find work.

The emotions spilled over into my appetite as well today. I had a small cake with my instant "tea" this morning but at 5:30pm I hadn't eaten and wasn't really feeling hungry. I looked at a few restaurants with their "menu del dia" (3/4 courses for about £10) but nothing really grabbed me. I was walking past a supermarket on the seafront that I had been into several times before and decided to go in and get a large bottle of something cold. While in there I saw small cooked chickens and that was it. I got a small, cooked chicken, a bag of salad, some rolls and a bottle of rose wine for 10 Euros which was what a meal would have cost me. So that was today's picnic folks. Only problem was everything was very dry. I don't have oil or seasoning so I had to eat it as it was. Never mind, I'll live.

I'll probably pop out for a couple of beers later as it is so hot and I haven't had a lot to drink today - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Can't be too late to bed as I've got work in the morning. Listen in on www.coolfm974.com between 9am and noon UK time if you can.

In the words of the song - who knows what tomorrow brings.

Adios 

The Spanish Adventure

Things really move quickly when they want to here in Spain.

Following the meeting with the TV people on Wednesday, I got a call yesterday (Friday) afternoon. They wanted to film me at the caravan park that I was at the other day at 11:30 this morning (Saturday). Needless to say I had trouble getting to sleep last night and was awake early this morning.

I carefully selected about six tricks as I didn't know exactly what was going to happen, Best bib and tucker - well I took my new "star" jacket from the suit anyway - and headed off.

When I got there the filming took about an hour and I was exhausted from being so mentally active for all that time - as usual. We started off with a one-on-one between myself and the interviewer. Then we moved on to an interview between myself and the man I met the other day and finished with a one-on-one again for me to summarise the meeting.

During the interview I managed to make a bead dog and a balloon flower as well as performing my signature magic trick which amazed the TV people as well as the man I was talking to. He has suggested several places that would be interested in me but, unfortunately, a lot of them are out of town and I can't get to them.

He wants me to go back on Wednesday evening and do some close-up for the customers so he can get an idea of how well I will go down for an evening show.

On the downside, he really wants a children's show on a weekly basis and I have left all the children's magic back in the UK!

I had a missive from the bosses about my radio show so the rest of today will be spent planning my shows for next week with their guidelines in mind.

No news on the hotel job yet but I'm not writing it off just yet,

Adios for now,

The Spanish Adventure

Well, yesterday was a very productive day.

After I finished my show I was taken by the boss to a caravan park on the outskirts of town to meet a man who runs the entertainment there. He is currently talking to the the owners of the caravan park to try and get them to agree to two presenters sharing the seven days of entertainment as at the moment there is only one person working seven nights a week! If it works out, I could be in line for a job there. Although it is a little way away from where I am currently staying, I would finish at midnight so I'd get to bed at a sensible hour.

I got some bread, meat and special "fruit juice" on my way back to the hotel so I had a a little picnic in my room while watching episodes of "Rab C Nesbitt" which gave me a good laugh. A quick snooze followed by a shower and change of clothes and I was off to an informal meeting of one of the Benidorm Facebook groups that I'm on. This is when things got really exciting. There were two researchers there form the television company that made the "Benidorm ER" series. They are currently working on a new series of the "Benidorm Seriously" series which shows ex-pats who have moved to Benidorm and made a new life for themselves. I was in there like a rat up a drainpipe! It turns out they have talked to loads of entertainers and karaoke hosts and so on but no magicians. They seemed especially interested because I am at the start of my journey and want to film me working close-up magic in a restaurant. The end result it that today I put out a couple of please during my show for restaurant owners to contact me if they wanted their place t be on TV in England. No response so far but I've also asked a couple of friends if they can ask around as well so I'll just have t wait and see what happens.

Found a laundry as I was running out of undies (was that too much information?) and the lady in there did a great job so I'll give them a brief mention on the show tomorrow.

Final piece of good news arrived today. When I finish my show, I take the trouble to set up the studio for Ash who follows me. When he arrived he told me about a job as a host/compère in another hotel in the group that he works for. He has worked at this hotel previously and his opinions are regarded by the management so before I even left the studio I was sending off an email for that job and casually mentioning Ash had told me about the vacancy! This could be a 6 nights a week job and my foot in the door to the permanent move out here.

Keep you fingers crossed for me.

Adios

The Spanish Adventure

I forgot to give a little praise to Easyjet in my first missive. When Pam and I flew out to Benidorm in January we had a brilliant captain and he was also on my flight out here last week. I don't want to spoil things for you but if the captain comes out of the cockpit before take-off, listen to him and it will be worth every second of your time! I also had one of the same stewadrs on my flight as before and, with very little prompting, he remembered me as well. He even took the trouble to come and talk to me to wish me well as the plane began to descend into Alicante airport.

For those who didn't see my Facebook post yesterday, I had my first crisis. The lead on my mobile phone charger broke so I had a dead battery with no way to charge it. I got out early this morning to try and get a new lead so I recharge the phone in the radio studio but Benidorm isn't really into mornings so I had to wait until I had finished work to get the lead. Then came the real kick in the teeth. The man in the shop showed me that I could have used another charger lead as it would fit the phone socket and work even though it was a different size and shape! Apparently the design has now been changed so newer phones can't do this but at least I know I have a backup should my or the wife's phone lead go loopy.

The radio show was a nightmare today. For some strange reason the computer decided to shut down in the middle of a song. Total silence. It threw me completely and, after making  quick announcement, I dived for the magic book which told me what to do. I didn't quite get it right as the show for the following presenters was put on auto-pilot but at least I got throgh my show and the guy after me knew how to sort everything correctly. I had a few other funnies with the equipment during the show but I won't bore you with the technical stuff.

I started promoting my first sponsor for the show today and have told the listeners that I'll be at the sponsor's bar this evening so it will be interesting to see how many people come to meet me.

I was told about a karaoke host job for a couple of nights a week but the venue is way out of town. I could get a taxi there but the chances of getting one back at silly o'clock after I finish work are likely to be very slim at the best. As I don't fancy the walk of an hour back to town, I think I'll give this one a miss. I'm sure something will come up soon. There is a regular meeting of one of the Benidorm Facebook groups that I belong to tomorrow night so something might come up there. Think I'll make sure I have some magic tricks on me - just in case.

The karaoke try-out went well. A few technical issues at the start but otherwise everybody had a good time. I was shattered yesterday morning though as it has been a long time since I did a 9pm to 3am shift! I managed about 4 hours sleep before I had to go and meet the legal people to sort out my papers so I can work officially and got to the studio about 30 minutes late but they were expecting this and had set up the auto-pilot for the first hour anyway.

I'm glad I am using the services of a "gastor" as they don't make it easy for foreigners to work in Spain. All the forms are in Spanish for a start. I had to go to the police station, get the forms, fill them in, go to the bank and pay the administration fee and then go back to the police station with proof I had paid before they would look at my forms. Two minutes later and it was all over - well I've got to wait a week as they are busy but I didn't need to do anything more until I get the paperwork back anyway. I say "I" but it should be "WE" as I was accompanied by a lovely lady who works for my gastor and she guided me through the entire process. A new political party has just been elected here that are more foreigner-friendly so let's hope they make substantial changes in the system to make life easier for everybody.

By the way, Spanish banks are a nightmare! The queue was about 6 or 7 people in front of me and the speed of the cashier would make a snail look supersonic! Lack of job security seems to have had a massive effect on the bank staff.

On the nice side, I got take out by my boss yesterday. He had some things to do in and around town so he offered to let me ride shotgun and get a tour of the area. He even bought me lunch at a brilliant beach-side bar. The picture I posted on Facebook does not do the view justice and, unless you go there, you could never get a feel for the completely relaxed atmosphere of that area. If I could drive, I would move there in a breath but it's too far away for me to commute with public transport - especially if I don't finish work until 3am or whatever.

Right, that's all for now as I need to get ready to meet my adoring fans!

Adios

The Spanish Adventure - week 1

I've just realised how much I have neglected to blog about the things I have been doing and now I need to start giving regular updates as I am not in England.

A brief history for those of you who don't know. The wife and I came out to Benidorm for a long weekend early in January. We both liked the atmosphere and decided to look into moving out here permanently. I found a local English speaking radio station, sent them some audio of shows I had done on UK radio and arranged a meeting as I was coming out to perform in a showcase with the magic act. The showcase was a waste of time as only 1 agent was there and they only booked acts for shows out of the main Benidorm town - no use to me as I don't drive. However, the radio was a very positive situation and on 7th June I moved out her to present the 10am to 1pm slot (Spanish time) every Monday to Friday.

This entire week has been very emotional. From the farewell dinner at the restaurant to the final hug with the wife to the bad news from home during the week to the nerves of being left alone in control of the radio station. No wonder I have been adopting the siesta tradition and sleeping most afternoons! The siesta did catch me out on the first day as I tried to get some things from the supermarket to find they were closed but I'm used to it now.

I'm happy to say that, right for the start, I have been getting very positive feedback from the management and listeners at the radio station. One lady said that she used t turn off the radio at 10am but not any more as she love the music and chat from me. Listeners have commented on little features I've tried to bring to the show and the bosses seem to like it as well. All in all, a great start nd I'm going to do my best to continue in the same style.

My biggest problem is earning enough money to keep going ut here. I had hoped to get the close-up magic act into some restaurants but the big ones tend to have multi-national diners and the small ones with mainly English speaking diners are too small to afford me. As a result, I've sort of put that option on the back burner and I'm hoping a friend out here who has lots of good contacts with the hotels can manage to get me in front of one or more entertainments managers so I can either host evening shows or perform my magic cabaret (or both).

My other avenue of attack is hosting karaoke at pubs and so on. I've got my first try-out tonight (Sunday 14th) and this could lead to several nights a week of work so fingers crossed. I've done some hectic karaoke jobs in England so I should be OK but I'm not letting my guard down as I need to gte used to their sound system before I can relax a bit.

So there you have it. A week of highs and lows. Tomorrow I'm ff to the police station to sort out some official paperwork - nothing nasty it's just that's where they do it over here. I'm using the services of a legal person and it is going to cost but it means everything will be done right first time and I can work legally before the week is out. This will makes finding work much easier as they have been clamping down on illegal workers out here for a while now. Cash in hand jobs are few and far between.

If anything major develops in the next seven days I'll try and blog about it straight away, if not I'll issue another missive next Sunday.

Adios from blisteringly hot Benidorm for now.