It
was nice to hear from James of Living in Spain TV again. But he
brought bad news. There had been a hitch with the interview we had
had several weeks earlier on location in Marbella for the Personally
Speaking with Dave Jackson show and it all had to be done again,
this time at the TV studio in Fuengirola. Although it would be good
to see James and the rest of the crew again, we were not looking
forward to the inevitable rocky sea of nerves that would go with
it. After all, we had done it once and, as enjoyable as it had been
in the end, that seemed quite enough.
In fact we had done it more than once, Dave having pointed out at
the time that they had never had so many stops and starts before,
the interview having been interrupted by a nagging reflection in
a pane of glass, a power cut and then two visits by a curious and
determined member of the public who peered in through the window
behind the set. When, minutes before we were due to leave home for
our second appointment, James phoned us again to say that a bout
of flu had put paid to the latest attempt, we began to wonder if
it would ever happen.
The news that things were running a little behind when we presented
our shaking selves at the studio the following week was softened
by an invitation to have lunch in the tapas bar opposite while we
waited to be called by James to the slaughter. Happy enough, we
sat at a pavement table in the sun and enjoyed the most superb gambas
pil pil (chilli prawns) we had ever encountered, but after an hour,
with an uncharacteristic black cloud bearing down on Fuengirola
from the mountain range behind the town, accompanied by a very chilly
breeze, not the idea of living in Spain at all, we began to worry
and we crept back into the TV station reception room.
They must have seen us coming. The place was deserted, except for
one very friendly soul, British television actor and forthcoming
presenter on Living in Spain TV, Alan Bond-Ballard, or ‘Bondie’
as he is better known (see www.alanbond-ballard.co.uk ). Smiling
broadly, Bondie emerged from an adjoining office, introduced himself
and then fascinated us with details of his new show, a tongue-in-cheek
look at the way Brits spend their money in Spain. Having seen his
face so often on the box back home and having heard him in countless
voice-overs, we obviously had no idea that he had once played the
body part for one of our all-time heroes, Roger Moore. He also had
us in stitches about some of the early special effects in the legendary
Dr. Who, having played a small part during one of the series.
The next moment the reception area was full again and Richard, the
Production Director and Editor, came up and introduced himself,
his manner so informal and friendly that to begin with I had no
idea I was talking to the boss man or jefe of the whole operation
himself. We steeled ourselves as we saw Dave approaching. The beginning,
or perhaps the end, as a bit of local graffiti put it, was f...ing
nigh. Actually not, in the event! The couple due to go on after
us were short of time and James very politely and most apologetically
asked if we would mind hanging on a bit. For some strange reason
the start of a brilliant U2 song kept shrieking out in my mind:
“uno, dos, tres, catorce” (one, two, three, fourteen).
How many more times? Actually, nerves aside, we were having the
time of our lives, yet again. We were living with Living in Spain
TV and loving it.
James had a sweetener for us though. There was a very bad girl in
the cafe across the road he felt sure we would want to meet. You
bet. Running between the cars as the heavens opened we joked about
the havoc the sudden shower would play with our rustic hairstyles
just before our international television debut. And there she was.
Rich bitch, bad girl Claire King, household name in British television,
famous for her countless TV roles, particularly Kim Tate in Emmerdale
Farm, her own personal favourite part, and Wing Governor Karen Betts
in the very popular Bad Girls.
She was lovely, both in appearance and personality. On the point
of rushing off for another film shoot after having just been interviewed
by Dave Jackson, she spared us a few moments and we chatted. Claire
loves Andalucia as much as we do and coincidentally owns a home
inland, not very far from where we live. Keen on horses and of course
the good weather, she admitted to inching ever closer to coming
to live permanently in Spain, although her extremely active television
career in the UK is understandably holding back the move.
“So are you also here to be interviewed by Dave?” she
asked, who together with Richard had also joined us and was smiling
wryly in the corner.
“Yes,” we said.
“And what was your fee?” she joked, adding that she
had managed to negotiate a case of wine.
I turned round towards Richard to enquire about mine, but he was
too quick for me and had already escaped through the door, my eye
being caught instead by a uniformed policeman at the bar. Quickly
looking away I found myself standing next to none other than Johnny
Gates, one of the world’s leading celebrity photographers,
whose subjects have included, among many others, Elton John, Robert
de Niro, Rick Mayall, Cilla Black, David Beckham and Renaldo. Also
having hosted his own television show, he was famous for having
always brought out the best in his guests with his reputed ‘cheekiness
and wit’.
I was cheeky. I tried to be witty. I was wearing my sweatshirt with
beautifulyoo.com emblazoned in bright yellow on the back and I had
noticed the logo on the back of Johnny’s jacket moments earlier
while talking to Claire, www.johnnygates.com
“Since we’re both dot com guys,” I said casually,
turning slightly and arching my shoulders to let him see www.beautifulyoo.com
on my back, “let me give you my card.”
I did. He smiled and accepted it.
As Claire and Johnny said goodbye, promising to look at our website
when they had the chance (they did, I swear), a barrage of banter
broke out from a group of hombres on the other side of the room
who had been watching the comings and goings in the bar as keenly
as any of Claire’s worldwide television fans. Marching straight
into the lion’s den, I asked the police officer if he would
pose with me for a photograph with the hombres, specifying first
to everyone’s great amusement that I would prefer not to end
up in handcuffs. The policeman agreed readily, but the tough men
were too shy and so beautifulyoo.com had their first ‘singular’
brush with the law, fortunately in the nicest possible way.
We joined up with Dave again and he led us to the production and
filming area in the basement, his talent for putting his guests
at ease once again being proved from the very start. Cameramen Paul
and James made us feel like old friends and before we knew it the
interview was over. Yes, we had all agreed, Andalusia is a beautiful
place. And no, there was no dispute, it was not easy to make a living
in Spain, very hard work, usually for very little, often being the
only chance of survival. Dave told us about a millionaire friend
of his who said that you could easily make a small fortune in Spain,
which, after no time at all, was all that he had been left with.
Worth it though? Absolutely. None of us had any plans to go back
‘home’ just yet, not without being dragged there.
On the train back to Alora we felt exhausted, once again hardly
able to remember anything we had said in front of the camera, hoping
against hope that we had presented ourselves well. Now that it was
all over we had to admit that the ‘bad news’ James had
brought us had in fact been very good news. We had enjoyed ourselves
tremendously. And Dave had said that we would be invited again some
time. Will he remember that? Was he on camera when he said it?
“Dave! Dave?”
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