Briton in the Sun

Much is made in Gibraltar of it being a financial hub, and great place to do business. I get the impression that Gibraltar is trying to model itself on Hong Kong. Sure Gibraltar has a World Trade Centre, and tax incentives, but I'm not sure it has the infrastructure to do this. Yes, Gibraltar actually has a World Trade Centre! I've already mentioned the awkward roads, and difficulty driving in Gibraltar (Chapter 11). Mopeds are the transport of choice in Gib (hardly ideal for riding to a business meeting). You can't use Amazon or eBay properly here, and I've also mentioned the postage issues (Chapter 16) and the lack of stock on shelves (Chapter 15). In addition to this, a few recent experiences have strengthened this belief. Not a viable business in Gib. However, I found out that the real world can be a bit limited (at least in Gibraltar), when Diego and I went out for food last Sunday. Admittedly we had left it late, it was 9.30. However we went into Ocean Village, an...

Have you ever got on an empty bus, and the person behind you comes and sits right next to you? Out of all the many seats they could have chosen, they sit right next to you. Then not content with invading your personal space, they start shouting on their phone, coughing, or generally making a nuisance of themselves. Have you experienced this dear reader? Irritating, isn't it? Well something similar happened to me at the Lord Nelson bar tonight. The Battle of Trafalgar was less jarring! My mate Diego and I went out to watch the rugby, and chose Lord Nelson's (a bar in town) because it's supposed to be a rugby bar. Lord Nelson's is named after Vice-Admiral of the British Royal Navy Horatio Nelson, who won the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 against the French and Spanish Navies during the Napoleonic Wars. A bit of history for you dear reader. The bar has paintings of the battle, of Nelson's ship the HMS Victory, and even Nelsons quote "England expects that every man w...

One of the many peculiarities of the UK, is it's currency. While the UK has one currency, the pound, different nations/regions have different notes. Scotland has notes from the Bank of Scotland, England has notes from the Bank of England, and Northern Ireland notes from the Bank of Ireland. Other banks also produce their own notes, such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Clydesdale Bank. "Loadsamoney" Wales has no separate bank notes, and uses Bank of England notes. As Gibraltar also uses the pound, I expected it to use Bank of England notes too. Surely a place as small as Gibraltar wouldn't have it's own bank notes. However it does! Gibraltar has also got in on the act, with it's own bank notes, produced at the Gibraltar National Mint in Gibraltar, by the Government of Gibraltar. The pound, but not as we know it! However, like some UK national/regional notes, there is a stigma attached to Gibraltarian notes. Scots are used to trying to use Scottish notes in E...

Last time on Briton in the Sun: I explained how I find difficult to convey the scale of Gibraltar to friends back home. Recalling road trips down the east coast of America, and Australia, I decided to drive down the east coast of Gibraltar, and film it. How big is it? In the video of my trip, you can see how long it took me to drive from the top to the bottom of Gibraltar. You may be saying, dear reader/viewer, "that was a bit of an anti-climax", having expected an epic and long trip. Or you may be asking "it only took you 10 minutes to drive the whole length of the country". Well no, because Gibraltar isn't a country, it's a British Overseas Territory. There are no other towns or cities outside Gibraltar, the town is basically the whole thing. The next town outside Gibraltar is in Spain! It's a tiny place, that feels like an island stuck on the bottom of Spain, where a rock takes up most of the real-estate. All this considered, it's amazing how much...

When friends from the UK, or abroad, ask me about Gibraltar, one of the things I find difficult to convey is the scale of Gibraltar. Unless you've been here, it's difficult to picture just how small it actually is. A big rock, but a small place. Some of my friends think of Gibraltar in similar terms to Luxembourg. So a small country where the capital city is called the same name as the country, and where there are other towns outside the capital. Gibraltar however is very different. For a start, Gibraltar isn't an independent country, it's a British Overseas Territory (BOT). Like many British arrangements, it's a bit difficult to get your head around, particularly for outsiders (such as the four separate UK nations: Scotland; England; Wales; and Northern Ireland, being part of one country). What BOT means though (nothing to do with robots or computer programs!), is that Gibraltar is semi autonomous, but linked with the UK on areas such as defence and foreign affairs...

Last time on Briton in the Sun: I was explaining my theory that New Year is the closest thing we can get to time travel. It had been a warm day, and the evening was comfortable, so I was quite looking forward to checking out Gibraltar's New Year celebrations. New Year 2023 Advert The event had been advertised well in Gibraltar's various media (of which there seem to be two daily newspapers, a tv station and radio station). My experience in Gibraltar, has led me to a policy of don't believe it until you see it. However when I was in town the previous day, I saw the stage for the celebrations being assembled, so I knew it was going ahead. Keeping with the time travel theme, I had also saw a parade of red coat soldiers, walking up Main Street, presumably to commemorate a battle. Possibly locals knew what it was all about, but I didn't. Where's the battle? Anyway back to New Year's Eve. I drove into town, and was able to park 5 minutes walk away from the celebration...

I've never been a big fan of New Year. Call me cynical but it's just another day. Also the move into January isn't really something worth celebrating, particularly in Scotland, where it's a long cold, wet and bleak month. The words of Pilot (an Edinburgh band from the 70s) sum up how I feel about the first month of the year: "January, sick and tired, you've been hanging on me". Maybe I'm just jaded, after spending too many a New Year's Eve cold and wet, waiting for the fireworks in Princes Street. I was therefore interested to see if Gibraltar could change my mind on New Year. Midnight, 31 December, Gibraltar Some of my New Year's Eve was fairly similar to a day in Edinburgh. A trip to: Morrisons; M&S; a tourist shop; and a restaurant for Sunday roast. My mate Diego said that the Sunday roast reminded him of Toby Carveries (a roast dinner buffet restaurant in the UK). There was background music in the restaurant by British bands like the Be...