January 2008
The fourth calendar year of the project gets underway and still everything is on hold because of the ongoing problems with paperwork.
The 15th and Russ gets a call to say that Francisco (Hilario's brother) has had word that we have an important letter in our post box regarding the project. He flies out a few days later and hot foots to the post box in Puerto Lumbreras only to find ....................... yes, you guessed it, NOTHING !!!!!
He goes to Francisco's Office and they go straight to the Town Hall where they speak with Monica, one of the stars of the Town Hall who has worked extensively on our behalf. She gives us a copy of the letter that we should have received and to our disbelief it is the Informe from Medio Ambiente !!! Russ takes the letter to Hilario and they go through it in detail. True enough, and much to Hilario's disbelief too it is a full and complete go-ahead from them. It does come with conditions though, which we have become used to throughout our quest. Firstly, that we must obtain from the Town Hall a large wheelie bin for our rubbish, secondly, the area we designate for cleaning the bikes must contain the water, not allowing it to run into the ground and thirdly and most critically, that we are only permitted to use the circuit between the hours of 7am and 11pm !! We certainly think we can cope with all of that. Also a noise test will be made on our first day of operation and upon investigation with noise levels and restrictions in the UK we cannot see this being a major issue.
This news is a massive boost to the team as we were concerned that the Informe would not be prossessed until the Rambla permission was obtained. Also we were unsure as to whether Medio Ambiente would want either us to do another study/project or carry out one themselves and we had already been told that if this was the case an Environmental study could take up to a year to be carried out and that would definately be the kiss of death. We are now just ONE signature away from completing all the required paperwork and wonder if, at long last we could be on our way to the final push towards completing and opening the Circuit.
Russ returns buoyant to the UK ready to start work for good friend Steve Ribbons and enable him bring in some much needed money only to find that the lorry he is to drive is still in Stoke on Trent awaiting alteration. Determined not to sit around idle he contacts his father and arranges to fly back to Spain to carry out some work on his property, after having recently had a very disappointing experience with a Spanish decorator.
Russ flys out and begins work straight away, making good progress through the week enabling him to take an afternoon out before he returns to drive down to Huercal Overa. Thankfully all is secure at the site and he catches up with Hilario. He has so far had no feedback from Bartolome and tries to contact him but to no avail. Russ also drops in on neighbour Bob Coles to find that he is returning to the UK within days for an operation on one of his knees.
The month draws to a close with Russ still in Spain and Claire back at work but only doing 3/4 days as she is still not recovered fully from her illness. All said and done the month sees the biggest boost to the team for a very long time so we must look to the positives, we just hope and pray that we can maintain the momentum and obtain the final piece of the paperwork jigsaw and push the project on towards a possible opening before the onset of the summer.

February 2008
Russ returns to the UK and finally gets to start work full time, this will pay dividends not only financially but also from a self worth perspective for him having been technically out of work for over two and a half years and relying on Claire for an income.
Hilario tries repeatedly to contact Bartolome again to no avail, we find this very strange as it was him that expressed the interest in helping us!
The month comes and goes and absolutely no progress is made. Hilario is given times to ring the office when Bartolome is due in but it never materializes and our frustration grows. We find it unbelievable that a Government Department can be so innept as to be so far behind with processing applications and despite being some four months behind back in October when we presented our project, still, some five months later we are no nearer having ours looked at by the engineer and then it taking its place up on the wall of the building before finally being signed off in Malaga.
The problem we face now is that as time ticks by and another month is wasted our window of opportunity is beginning to close. Our target, paperwork permitting was to open in late May or even early June but as the situation is now and considering the abuse and grief we took following the cancellation back in May last year, we are not prepared to take anymore gambles after being let down so badly before. We have all agreed that no decision will be taken until we are in possession of the very last piece of paperwork and unfortunately come September, two of our already secured permissions expire due to only being valid for twelve months. This would mean that if we took the decision to go ahead with the project we would have to reapply for those permissions and potentially run the risk of more delays or even a possible complete change of heart. March is now an extremely critical month for us as if there is to be the tinyest of possibilities for us to open, we must make some progress in the next four or so weeks.

March 2008
March begins and the fruitless calls to Bartolome’s office continue in vain. It appears that he has dropped off the face of the earth ! Calls to the Rambla Office also come to no avail.
Russ receives a call from Chris Popple, who would have been one of the tracks first customers back in October 2006 should we have been up and running, coming over with some friends for his Stag Do. During the call he tells Russ that he and his wife are going to be opening a bar in Benidorm and that it’s going to be a speedway themed bar. They talk about the possibilities of working together and it appears to be a timely boost to the team just when moral is at a real low.
Hilario finally obtains an update from Ramblas, we are buoyed by the news that we are at last on top of the pile for processing, however, as usual there is bad news not far behind as he is told that the Engineer (the only one for the whole region) is leaving. Further investigation finds that a replacement is lined up but won’t be taking up the post for 2-3 weeks. We receive confirmation of the new Engineer’s start date but that gives him only three days in the position before the office closes for Easter week TYPICAL !!
Throughout the month and with the domestic speedway season now under way Claire and Russ have been keeping their hands in helping out at both Southern Track Riders and the newly formed Dragons Amateur Speedway Club meetings. There is still very much support around for what we are trying to achieve in Spain and many people and friends alike pledge their help should we ever get a final go ahead to bring the project to fruition.

April 2008
It is now twelve months since we first met with the Rambla Department of the Government and despite doing everything that was required we STILL do not have our approval from them. This could well be the one part of the jigsaw that undoes all the effort and money put in to date as the teams patience is well and truly wearing thin. Situations in the U.K. with Russ having been back some ten months are starting to offer up viable alternatives for abandoning the project in Spain and setting up in this country instead. Some three years ago this was never a consideration as with Claire and Russ giving up everything except the formers job to pursue their dream, it really was succeed or bust, however, following all the delays, the lies, the robberies, the false starts, the illness’s, the deaths, and the general lack of help and interest on the Spanish’s behalf part from the very few who have been out of this world with their support it is now beginning to feel beyond our reach and alternatives have begun to come into the picture, not only offering Plans B and C but almost another Plan A and a Plan A- !! As agreed following the abandonment of the Opening Meeting back in May last year, no decision on the future of the project would be made until we are in possession of both our Works Licence and Opening Licence. This is still the case and with almost a year passing since then and no real progress being made we are all beginning to look to the alternative options available to us.
April 9th Claire and Russ travel to Spain to check over the site and to have catch up meetings with people involved. They journey down to Huercal Overa the day after arrival stopping off at the Post Box on the way. They are shocked to find contained within not only two tax demands for Russ’s business that was closed down in 2005 for him to move to Spain but a fine for 3,700 Euro’s for the Water Deposit that was dug out beside the motorway !! Will we EVER get a break? They hot foot to see Hilario who goes over the fine from Carrateras (Road Department) and he says that they are saying that although the hole was put back to its original state as required we did not inform them that we had done so and in due course have been fined. Russ is incensed by this as he categorically remembers, as does Hilario himself that with the help of Paco, Hilario’s brother Francisco’s friends Dad who works for the Carrateras in Huercal Overa a letter was drafted, printed out and Russ took down to Carrateras in Almeria to present and get his copy stamped. They contact Paco again and he too remembers drafting the letter. He speaks to Isidro who is Huercals representative at Almeria. He confirms that following receipt of that letter he was instructed to inspect the work done and he fed back saying that it had been returned to original state satisfactorily and yet they are saying they never received our letter, Spanish bureaucracy strikes yet again !!!
Francisco sets up an urgent meeting with Paco who is joined by Isidro. They ask for our stamped copy of the letter as this would prove the key to an appeal if we are able to make one but unfortunately we do not have this to hand. Isidro suggests that we travel the following day to Almeria for another meeting with one of his colleagues there. They had already planned to travel to Almeria to see if any information could be gained from the Rambla department so this will kill two birds with one stone.
The following day and the pair set off at dawn down from Russ’s Dads to Almeria bearing in mind that they fly back to the UK at 5pm. First stop is the Rambla Department, they speak to Fermin, the receptionist who informs them that he visited the site on February 26th and is happy that all is okay with what we have done and what we plan to do. He has prepared the paperwork and now it is just down to the new Engineer to look over it and if he’s happy, issue us with the letter that as it turns out, must be put up on the wall of our Town Hall and not their office as we were led to believe. Fermin tells them to telephone on the 24th/25th and he should have some further news. This is an enormous step in the right direction and the pair report the good news back to the rest of us. They swiftly move on to the Carrateras Department as time is of the essence and meet up with Isidro. They meet with his colleague who informs them that everything that happens in all the Carrateras Dept’s around the country is fed back to Madrid and it very much looks like our letter was never sent to them and they have issued us with the fine as we should not have dug the hole there in the first place. He suggests that we find the letter and as we still have no licences that we obtain a letter from Miguel Bertrand, Head of Planning at Huercal Overa Town Hall stating that we are genuine in what we say and that they have almost all of our necessary paperwork that we have amassed so far in trying to open the Circuit.
Coupled with those we need to do a covering letter stating the exact circumstances of the hole being dug, and why we were unable to fill in back in immediately as we were on stop by the Town Hall, but once that was lifted it was filled within three days of the ten they gave us. He says that although he cannot guarantee the appeal being successful, any attempt has to be better than none at all and another huge outlay of project money that is rapidly running out.
Claire and Russ speed back to Huercal to fill Francisco in on what had happened. He suggests that we go immediately to the Town Hall and see if we can obtain the letter needed. They speak to Monica who is one of our stars there, she listens to our dilemma and fills out an instancia (request) for a letter of authenticity and says it will be ready for when Russ returns in ten days time. This is brilliant news as we had been given thirty days to act on the fine from the day it is received. One of the quickest journeys back to Torrevieja is made, bags are packed and they make it to the Alicante Airport with minutes to spare before check-in closes. Despite the shocks that the Post Box threw up it was nonetheless a successful and worthwhile trip.
Within a week of being back in the UK Claire receives fantastic news that she has been given a massive double promotion at her company. As Financial Controller of a multi-billion pound company her workload will increase dramatically but that comes with a considerable pay-rise that will help tremendously towards clearing some of the debt the pair have accumulated in pursuit of the project.
April 21st Russ returns to Spain armed with the stamped copy of the letter that is needed. Paco is over the moon with the letter and tells us that if we return with the translated covering letter and the letter from Miguel he will check it over then pass it to Isidro who will take it back to Almeria and forward it to Madrid.
Russ proceeds to the Town Hall and is met on the stairs by Monica. She tells him that the letter has actually been written by the Mayor, this is even better than we could have imagined. Francisco translates the covering letter and takes all the paperwork to Paco. We receive confirmation that all has been sent to Madrid so we must now await the outcome and keep everything crossed that they look on our appeal favourably as having to pay the near four thousand euro fine could seriously affect the possibility of continuing.
April 25th Hilario telephones Fermin at the Rambla Department but is told that there has been no progress with our paperwork and to ring back the following week when he has had chance to gee the Engineer up.
The month ends on a very low note as during a meeting of the Dragons Amateur Speedway Club at Sittingbourne we receive news that good friend and Newport Speedway Promoter Tim Stone has passed away unexpectedly. Tim has always been massively supportive of what we are trying to achieve in Spain and his advice has been priceless. Having enjoyed some fantastic meetings at his Queensway Meadows Circuit it is such a shame that after all his help and support we will not get to repay the same. R.I.P. Tim from all of us, you will be sorely missed.
As far as the project itself goes we have no choice but to abandon all thoughts of opening in the summer and just roll with the continued quest for the final piece of paperwork and see where we stand if we ever receive it.

May 2008
May begins with some devastating news from Fermin at the Ramblas Department. The new Engineer has indeed looked at our project but upon investigation of the surrounding area it comes to light that the Northern most rambla (3rd/4th bend end) that edges the site originates from a mountain in the Murcia region. Our site itself is just 500 metres inside the border of the Almeria/Murcia Regions and in light of the new information it transpires that Almeria will not be able to give us their approval as the rambla in question is the predominant one and thus the paperwork must be dealt with and processed by Murcia !! To say we are devastated has to be the understatement of the year so far, it indeed means that the whole period of time from October 2007 to the present time has been a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. Before Russ has the chance to throw a mental fit, fly to Spain and crack some heads news follows that Fermin, who is as frustrated as we are as he has done his best to process our project as quickly as he could will personally ensure that it reaches the correct department in Murcia and will oversee its progress. Although a terrible blow to us all Hilario goes on to explain that it may not actually be as bad as first thought as the Regional Government in Murcia is a much smaller operation than Almeria and coupled with the fact that what we are trying to set up is not ACTUALLY in their region it should in theory be a formality. (like we’ve not been here before and think we’ll believe it when we see it !!!!!!) All we can do now is wait once again and hope & pray that Fermin is true to his word and does his very best to get the paperwork in place and pushed through the system, although as we have been told on numerous occasions, there is no love lost between the two regions, so who knows !
Back in the UK Claire and Russ help to run Southern Track Riders first ever multi seven man team meeting. The idea was hatched between the organisers and two teams made up from riders in each of the Open, Intermediate and Novice Classes, making for three separate meetings on the day. The end result was a complete success with all involved thoroughly enjoying the chance to ride on track with a partner and amass points towards a proper teams total. An exercise that will surely be repeated and the idea will be taken to Spain and hopefully used sometime in the future when there are sufficient riders available in the Southern ‘Spain’ Track Riders Club !!
May 13th Russ and Claire fly to Spain for a five day break to check up on the progress of the paperwork and spend some time with their extended family (the bunnies!) They travel down to Huercal Overa the following day to see Hilario. He tells them that Fermin has confirmed the despatch and receipt of the project to/at Murcia. He attempts to speak to the person that will be dealing with it and after being transferred several times is finally given the name of the person in question. He tries to contact her but surprise surprise there is no answer, (like there would be !!!) He tells us that he will continue trying and keep us posted of any developments. There is no news re: the appeal against the fine from Carrateras so they hope that no news is good news. Lastly they visit Francisco to see if there is any news from Paco re: the expired Carrateras permission but he has heard nothing.
With strong winds ravaging the plastic sheeting that covers the painted safety fence at the site the couple spend the rest of the day stripping back the tattered remains of the previous sheeting and replacing with new, this time encasing the three stacks separately as opposed to all as one to see if that will offer up anymore protection. That done and the rest of the site secure they pay a quick visit to neighbours and close friends Jonathan and Jackie Taylor. They have been looking after a considerable amount of the Academy equipment and for their help and support we are indebted. All is good with them and they are absolutely gobsmacked with the lack of progress and how much we have been messed about. Anyone of sound mind would have given up the pursuit a long long time ago, Claire and Russ are told once again in the nicest possible way !!! A testament to the teams resilience and determination or a blatant disregard of common sense, who knows ?
Friday 16th Claire and Russ travel north from Russ’s dads to Benidorm to track down Chris & Danielle Popple and the newly opened Speedway Bar. A walk from one end of the front to the other, almost three miles proves fruitless and the element of surprise goes out of the window as they have to telephone for directions. Still some way away a short taxi ride sees them arrive at the bar in all its glory. The couple have acquired some superb memorabilia that adorns the walls along with Chris’s Jawa that takes pride of place just outside on the terrace. Meeting them at last and seeing what they have achieved in a relatively short space of time, along with the interest it has already generated does Claire, Russ and the rest of us involved the world of good, and reinstalls a certain amount of belief that maybe, just maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel and it is worth pushing on. The four talk at length about their respective plans and in conclusion hope that at some stage in the future they will be able to work together and push speedway in Spain from opposite ends of the spectrum.
The following day the pair return to the UK and continue the everlasting wait for news. The Southern Track Riders roadshow moves on to Scunthorpe and upon completion of another successful meeting Russ is able to grab his first few rides at the circuit thanks to the loan of a bike from good friend Wayne Dunworth.
Another blow is never far away and this time its for Russ alone as he has to suffer watching his beloved Leeds United lose their Play-Off Final at Wembley and spend another year languishing in the third tier of English football, nothing like kicking a man when his down as they say !!!
As the month draws to a close Russ gets a call from Hilario. He tells him that he has finally made contact with Irene at Medio Ambiente in Murcia. She confirms that she is in possession of the project and that he is to ring back the following week when she hopes to have some news.
With August now only two months away it already looks very doubtful that we will obtain our approval letter from Ramblas to go up on the wall of the Town Hall, get cleared AND returned to Murcia to be signed off before the country closes down for the month. This scenario was our biggest fear and it now looks like a distinct probability, which goes without saying is extremely gutting to all those involved.

June 2008
Hilario continues his attempts to obtain some news from Irene in Murcia, ringing back as instructed but there is nothing concrete other than that an Engineer named Blas will be dealing with the project. He has been relentless in his efforts to help us to the best of his ability but we have to remember that he has his own job to do as well and all agree that if it wasn’t for his help to date the project would have been dead and buried a long time ago. It has to be an absolute miracle that anything is ever achieved in the country judging by the infrequency they ever answer a telephone.
As a result of the lack of progress Russ flies out to see if there’s anything he can find out. He should have been flying out with his best friend Mark Harrington who is yet to have visited the site, however following a weekend of stomach pains put down to his and Russ’s excesses in the gym a couple of days earlier he gives in and visits the hospital on his Doctors advice. In hindsight it’s a wise decision as at 6pm that evening he is on the operating table having a burst appendix removed ! Needless to say, despite being released the following evening (and asking if it would be possible to fly!) Russ ended up making the trip alone.
The day after arriving he travels down to Garrucha, near the holiday resort of Mojacar where Hilario works. He makes more calls and gets the address of the office where Blas is based. Russ turns on his heels and heads back up North to Murcia. Putting his lorry driving talents to use he heads into the centre of the city and finds the office in question. On arrival he is told that he is in the wrong place for Blas and is sent 500 metres up the road to the Agua (Water) Department offices. As is par for the course he is told once again he is in the wrong place and is sent back to the original office, Medio Ambiente (Environment). He explains the full scenario to the receptionist who makes umpteen phone calls trying to get to the bottom of the situation. She speaks to Irene who confirms that she did indeed have the project in early May but it was then forwarded on to the Consejeria de Hidrografico, where Blas actually works. It turns out that this is a totally different office on the other side of the city and as it was rapidly approaching 2pm the office would be closing to the public before Russ could get over there. This is just a typical example of what we have had to put up with when dealing with these authorities, the left hand very seldom knows what the right is doing. The receptionist tries the number that Hilario has been trying to contact Blas on but never gets an answer and true to form receives no reply too. She then tries an internal number and after being on the phone for some considerable time is able to give Russ some very helpful information. It transpires that Blas is not dealing with our project after all, another Engineer named Fernando (no Abba songs please !!) is and she also gives him his extension number. AT LAST something positive and although there is nothing more that Russ can do on this trip it puts Hilario in a strong position chasing up the progress of the paperwork.
Russ returns to the UK and back to work as Claires days start earlier and earlier finishing later and later, the joy of responsibility !!
Thursday 19th Russ receives a call from Hilario to say that he has spoken to Fernando at last. He informs him that he is finishing up a project the following day and will be starting on ours on Monday (23rd). He tells Hilario that he will go through the project, visit the site for himself and call him on Thursday with either the news we have been waiting for for so long that they are producing the letter for us to take to the Town Hall or that, god forbid, they either require us to do more for them or even god, god, god forbid they are not happy full stop. Yet more positivity and we are all buoyed once again by this progress but still realise that it is now a year and two months since our dealings with the Rambla Department began and we STILL do not have the one piece of paper that will see all of our paperwork complete and the issue of our Works and Opening Licences.
The following week Russ errs on the side of caution and leaves his call to Hilario until Saturday (28th) morning, however the news comes as no surprise that he has received no call at all from Fernando. They agree to give him a couple more days and if no call is received by Tuesday (1st) then Hilario will make a call to his office.
So another month creeps by and although some progress is made we can now forget any possibility of getting our letter up at the Town Hall and cleared before the August shutdown, so all we can look to now is taking possession of it, getting it to them and seeing what happens from there.

July 2008
July begins as per usual with Hilario trying to contact Fernando at the Consejeria de Hidrografico. He never appears to be in the office despite telling Hilario that he was commencing work on our project in the last week of June. The calls continue and messages are left but to no avail until the engineer calls to say that he has looked over the project and is happy with its content. He plans to visit the circuit on Tuesday 22nd and Hilario should call him a couple of days later when he should have the news we have been waiting so long for. Hilario calls Thursday but he is out of the office for the day and likewise the following day, this is frustrating to say the least as having confirmed his visit to the site earlier in the week we are teetering on the brink of taking possession of almost the final piece of the Licence jigsaw (providing of course, we experience no hiccoughs when it goes up on the wall of the Town Hall!)
We enter the final week of the month and more tragically the last week before all Government offices close to all sense and purposes for the whole of August. We still cling to the hope that all is good with Fernando and that he will issue us with the all important letter so that we can get to the Town Hall before shutdown. Monday 28th and Hilario is back on the phone only to be told that Fernando is not in as he is off sick, GREAT!!!!! WHY NOW!!!!!
A call Wednesday and a further call Friday get the same result, however in the latter call he is told that the engineer will definitely be in on Monday (Aug 4th) as he has stuff to do before he begins his holiday on the Wednesday, yeh, don’t we know he has!!!
A whole month and the sum total of our progress in that Fernando has visited the circuit, its now beyond a joke, the country is a joke, the system is a joke and the people who run the system, well, I think its best not to comment on what we feel on that subject!!
As per usual August arrives at a seriously bad time and we can write off yet another month. When the offices return to work in September it will be an unbelievable seventeen months that we have been after this final piece of paperwork, which is absolutely beyond belief. That fact, coupled with events currently taking place and in the pipeline back in the U.K. are now seriously beginning to spell the end of our interest in continuing with the project in Spain. The worsening Euro exchange rate will also play a major part in the decision taking on the situation, as more money will now need to be found if we were to decide that we would take that final gamble and press on with it.

August 2008
Monday 4th and our relentless helper Hilario calls Fernando once more. To his disbelief (or not, in our case!!) he is told that he is STILL off sick and that his receptionist doubts now whether he will be in tomorrow before he begins his holiday the following day (Really!!!!). In a final act of desperation he calls again the following day on the off chance that possibly the engineer may have had an attack of conscience at leaving us hanging, came into work, finished off our project and produced the elusive letter, but in our absolute wildest dreams this was never gonna happen. True to our suspicions there was no sign off him and that is that for the month.
More bad news for the project filters through mid month as we here that our friend and ally in bringing speedway to Spain Chris Popple, has been forced to close down his speedway themed bar in Benidorm. This is a real blow for us as to have such a fantastic advertising outlet in such a busy resort we were sure would pay dividends for us, alas it wasn’t to be. Yet another subliminal nail in the coffin we wonder.
As this news update goes live Claire and Russ are booked to travel out to Spain on Wednesday September 10th to try to get to the bottom of the Rambla situation and get a face to face meet with the elusive Fernando. That could prove very interesting indeed as their patience has now been stretched beyond comprehension and sooner or later someone will feel the full force of that frustration, watch this space!!

September 2008
With the August shutdown now over Claire and Russ fly out to Spain to try and track down the Engineer, Fernando Martinez, for their first face to face meeting. They begin their search at the original offices that Russ visited in June, and are redirected to offices in the south of the City. They find these easily enough in the forty degree heat only to be told that he is not there but across the road and round the corner in other building. The receptionist takes them and informs them that he will be found on the second floor. At last they think, only to be told that he is not on the second floor but the fourth. Up they go and sit and wait in a queue of people (that are hopefully not waiting to see him too!). Some thirty minutes later they get seen and are promptly told that he doesn’t work on that floor at all and can be found one floor down on the third!! The person concerned takes them down and points Fernando out, Yeeeeee-Haaaaaaaaaa, they find him at long last! He locates the file and they go off to a meeting room. He proceeds to explain that in principal he is happy with all thats happening at the Circuit, though he does have one major concern. Due to the excavation work that took place to prepare the site for the constructing the track, the three metre high bank that runs down the length of the start straight Fernando thinks could be a problem. He says that sometime in the future should we have for example, three weeks of continuous rain there could be the danger of the bank collapsing becoming dangerous for the riders. This is absolutely typical of what we have continually come up against with these Departments. They simply do not understand that just one day of rain would render the track unsuitable for use, so to talk about the possibility of three weeks of continuous rain, (something that we don’t even have here in the UK) is just plain ridiculous. Despite being somewhat baffled and bemused Claire and Russ take on board what he has to say but are then extremely deflated when he tells them that he is looking at needing another thirty days to complete the project and get it passed by his boss Blas. That now finishes any hope whatsoever of opening the track this year and strings out the agony of being so close and yet so far to the completion of the paperwork needed to obtain the licences.
While in Spain to pair travel down to the site where thankfully all is okay and secure. The track itself is somewhat overgrown but this was to be expected and the thorough work they did previously on re-covering the safety fence panels paid dividends as is still perfectly sound.
With nothing more they can do they return to the UK and continue to wait on Fernando, this piece of documentation has now been sought for seventeen months believe it or not, so what does another 30 days matter!!

October 2008
As the ‘thirty more days’ that Fernando, the Hidrografico Engineer needed to complete the project approaches an end Russ takes the opportunity to fly out and chase it/him up. Before that however, he takes the opportunity to visit Hilario for a catch-up. Russ fills him in on what happened during his and Claire’s visit the previous month to which he replies that he has not made any contact with Fernando as he has been a bit pre-occupied with another problem. It turns out that we had received notification that our ‘appeal’ against the 3,700 Euro fine for digging the original water deposit too close to the motorway had failed, although the fine had been reduced to two thousand. Rather than contact us and heap more misery and frustration on us, Hilario became a man on a mission and pulled in the big guns. Firstly he contacted his brothers best friends Dad, who works at the Carrateras (Roads) Department in Huercal-Overa, he in turn contacted the Regional Head of the Carrateras, who in turn contacted the head of Carrateras in Almeria. Hilario also contacted the local police to obtain their support against the punishment. Numerous other calls were made and yet another bunch of letters were sent off to Madrid. As it turned out, just two days before Russ arrived in Spain, Hilario received notification back from Madrid that the fine has been waivered and the matter is now closed. Understandably he is overjoyed as is Russ, who thanks him for his fantastic efforts on our behalf. He really has been our trump card throughout the second half of the quest for the elusive Licences. Could this now, at last, be the turning of the tide that things could now start to go our way, this, we can only conjecture at and cross everything we possess.
The following day Russ travels down from his Dads, near Torrevieja to Murcia where, at the first attempt (much to his surprise!) he locates Fernando and gets the latest news. He tells Russ that he has reassessed the issue with the bank, takes on board our thoughts and is happy to let it go. He has more or less completed all the relevant paperwork and now only needs to take a machine out to the site to undertake some GPS plotting. When these figures are added to the project it will be complete. He goes on to say that the machine is due back the following week, failing that it will definitely be back the week after. So, another two weeks at least, this is seriously getting beyond a joke, a sick sick joke at that and none of us are laughing. Russ does take the opportunity to lay on the line the overall situation to him, telling him that this has been going on for almost three and a half years now and that this piece of paperwork alone has been sought since APRIL 2007!!! He asks what other paperwork we need to complete the overall project, to which Russ replies NONE!! just this one, to which he gulps and runs his finger across his throat with a wry smile. Maybe now he understands the gravity of the situation, but then again, no-one else has, so why should we imagine that he does!!!!!
So, yet again the waiting goes on.
Not tempting fate Russ leaves it until the middle of the second week before contacting Hilario. There is no surprise, he has heard nothing from the Engineer but says he will call him on the Friday. This he does but is unable to make contact with him. He calls Russ to let him know the situation and vows to try again on Monday (27th). Monday – no joy, Tuesday – no joy then at last Wednesday he is able to speak to Fernando. He apologises to Hilario for not returning his calls and that he has been away on another project. He also tells him that the all important GPS machine was finally returned to the office on the Monday, two days previous and that although he will be unable to get out to the Circuit that week he will make plans to go down the following Wednesday (Nov 5th) and do what needs to be done. These figures we are lead to believe will be documented and then remeasured at a future date to see if there is any movement of the land over a period of time. All this seems extremely bizarre when you consider the fact that the circuit and in deed the entire site is some 500 metres inside the Almeria border and should not come under the jurisdiction of the Murcia Authorities!!! Nonetheless, who are we to reason why!
ANOTHER MONTH disappears into the ether and is consigned to history, month forty-two no less of the Motospeedway Academia de España project!!!
How much longer this is going to go on for God only knows, we just wish he would give us some kind of clue!!
In a recent update meeting between all those parties involved in the project both Claire and Russ spoke of their resentment towards the Spanish now and how we as a whole have been treated throughout this journey of discovery. The disbelief at how badly the Government Departments are run knows no bounds, and if anything is to be learned from this then it is DO NOT TRY TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT IS GOING TO DIRECTLY BENEFIT A COUNTRY LIKE SPAIN AS THEY WILL MAKE IT NIGH-ON IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO SUCCEED, SHOULD YOU EVEN BE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET TO THE STAGE WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY OPEN YOUR DOORS.
The time it has taken to get the paperwork through even to this stage is an utter joke. How this country runs and survives is totally beyond us and it is seriously nearing the time when we have to make that ultimate decision of, do we actually want to be part of this ridiculous lunacy that is the 'wonderful' country of Spain. Only what happens over the next few weeks will determine that.