WHERE ARE WE ANNE?: THEY'LL NEVER FALTER ON GIBRALTA

I GOT THE MONKEY OFF MY BACK BUT SPAIN HASN'T

BARBARY MACAQUE

5th NOVEMBER 2013

All good things must come to an end. We drove the 40kms to Algeciras near Gibralter to hand the hire car back after one week that seemed to pack in a lot of fun, miles and experiences.

About the time that Australia stopped to watch the Melbourne Cup, we were waking up and thought seeing the Rock was so handy, it seemed like a good idea to visit for the day. Getting in through passport control was a breeze. Getting out was very, very different.

We climbed up on an English double decker bus only to wait at the lights for a jet to land before we crossed the runway. At the end of the ride we stepped off into an English Theme Park. It was more English than England. A very quirky time warp on a little tiny bit of 2.6 square miles of disputed territory at the end of a peninsular. English accents abounded and the menus were in English. It was a culture shock because all of Spain was a stone's throw away. Something the Spanish have noticed too.

We walked up the mountain. Most take a bus or a cable car but this way we got to see a lot more and stop whenever, plus we got some exercise plus we're cheap. The Rock is home to Barbary Macaque monkeys and has been for an awful long time. We explored the rock and then came back down to a lower part where the younger monkeys were playing. One monkey eyed me off for a climb, I stepped back but that didn't stop him, in two leaps he sprung onto a fence and onto my hat. Not quite sure what to do with a monkey on my head, I spun him around for the ride. He jumped off but enjoyed it so much he jumped back on. I took some photos over my back of an out of focus monkey riding on my backpack until he decided the game was over and leapt elsewhere. I'm just glad he didn't bite me.

While I managed to get one particular monkey off my back, it's not so easy for Spain. Gibralter is a hotly disputed territory which explains the "We shall never surrender" Churchill slogans one sees about. Gibralter is an exquisite problem for Spain. It's a low tax territory making it a haven for online gambling and finance companies. All the passing shipping can buy cheaper lower taxed diesel from Gibralter, residents get free education and airfares to Britain twice a year, cigarettes and booze is cheaper etc. etc. This makes Spain very cranky and it is a matter of national pride that Spain gives Gibralter as hard a time as it can.

Five days ago there was in 'international incident' when a Spanish Guardia Civil patrol boat gave a Gibralter Defence Police boat a nudge. Because Spanish people earn a shitload of low tax money in Gibralter they then buy expensive houses in wealthy enclaves in Spain and the government gets annoyed. They continue to squeeze and niggle Gibralter as they can. Recent plans in August 2013 are to introduce a 50 euro border crossing fee for people going to and from Gibraltar. Many people commute across the border for work. Plans to close Spanish airspace to Gibraltar bound flights are also reported, as are plans for an investigation by Spanish tax authorities into property owned by around 6,000 Gibraltarians in neighbouring parts of Spain. The Spanish Foreign Minister also mooted plans to changes in the law meaning British online gaming companies based in Gibraltar would have to base servers in Spain, meaning that they would come under Madrid's tax regime.

You get the picture. It was against this backdrop that we saw first hand the squeeze Spain is maintaining. At the end of the day when tourists and commuters all head for the border gates to Spain, there is only one person checking passports for the pedestrians meaning a 35 minute queue in our case or a one and half to two hour wait for cars as they do thorough searches. They now have limits on grog and cigarettes and are looking to bust people.

Tensions in our line of people were palpable and the entire line of about 200 cars would periodically burst into mad horn honking complaint. In the last pic, look for the guy with blood on his forehead with the bobby and the guy in the green T shirt who just punched him being arrested by plain clothes. After that queue jumping rage incident, later, when another bloke nonchalantly did it immediately behind us, the crowd was right on to him and shamed him back in to line.

A top day out in Gibralter followed by DIY dinner and tipple on the roof of our 'hospedaje' back in Algeciras.