Well, Bonfire NIght went off without a bang (or even a Wimpy) down here . I've decided to give up on any attempts to introduce this funfilledest of festivals to Andalucía. In a country, autonomous community and province that uses the flimsiest of excuses to have a party and a few days off work, I would have thought that Bonfire Night had everything going for it. After all, death by burning was a popular public entertainment here for many years until the supply of Jews and Muslims ran out and heretics were always in short supply. It's possible that the high fines and prison sentences for causing forest fires here may put some people off, but who doesn't like fireworks, and a big bonfire with an effigy of a catholic freedom fighter on top? not to mention parkin, black peas, potato pie and treacle toffee? (apologies to people who have never heard of these festive northern taste ticklers).
Parkin
Black Peas
Treacle Toffee
Well........everybody here, apparently, ....except in Coín. (pronounced coh-een). I have it on good authority that Bonfire night is very popular just a few miles or a few more km. down the road from here but, to be fair, it is a bit near the coast where all manner of ex-pat activities go on.
One or two (OK: both) of my regular readers may remember the highly successful but inexplicably short lived BBC soap called 'El Dorado' which was like the Archers but set on the Costa Del Sol. It was so unpopular that it only attracted 10,000,000 viewers for the last episode and is still the most popular Costa Del Sol based British soap in Mauritius.
Well, it was all filmed in Coín at a specially built urbanización (housing estate).
When the plug was suddenly pulled on it all the actors and crew were stranded without jobs, money or accommodation ( the actual buildings were just shells) so they stayed on and pretended nothing had happened. Most of them are still there, making a living signing autographs, doing building and plumbing work and running or working in English bars. Of course, they all look a bit older now.
The El Dorado Cast in happier times
Polly Perkins (who played Trish Stringer) is still very popular down in Fuengirola. She did escape to England once to star in Eastenders but returned by popular demand. She was on at The Salon of Varieties recently doing songs from Eastenders and does requests, I believe.
Anyway, it looks like the Bonfire Night goings on down in Coín are being organised by Polly and the rest of the cast .I hear it differs from the traditional British version only by using an effigy of Alan Yentob/Botney instead of Guy Fawkes. This satisfies the sensibilities of the local Catholic population and sends a message to the BBC Controller who was responsible for scrapping the show.
To add insult to injury it turns out that the whole village of Los Barcos may have been built illegally, as were thousands of houses round here during the property boom and could face demolition. This would be a pity as plans are afoot to revive El Dorado as a daytime soap in the UK. Honest.
November. 7th. 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment