Spain 1999 - Day 5

Early start for Gibraltar. Up at 7 am. We have a ten minute walk to the coach pick up point. Coach arrived at 8.25 am.

Emma’s feeling travel sick and it’s an hour and a half journey. The coach stopped for a break and we got some sick bags. During the rest of the journey Emma was sick a few times but by the time we got there she was just feeling generally under the weather.

Before entering Gibraltar we have to go through customs control but all that entails is an official walking down the aisle of the coach glancing every now and again to see if everyone has their passport. We’re told that we are not allowed to spend more than 28,500 pesetas (about £110) and are only allowed to bring back one bottle of booze and 200 cigarettes. As soon as the coach had driven through customs control we drove straight across Gibraltar’s one airplane runway and made our way to a huge car/coach park. There we transferred to a small minibus for a guided tour of the Rock. The tour was only scheduled to take about 30 minutes so that gives you a good idea of how little there was to see. The highlight of the tour was the stop-off to see the famous apes. It was only a highlight because the rest of the tour was so boring.

The monkeys were remarkably tame and although they could look vicious they weren’t aggressive. Good job too really, seeing as they were strolling around your feet and above your head as you walked by. It’s not surprising that they were tame considering they spend all their lives following tourists around hoping they might be fed even though there were signs saying ‘Do Not Feed The Monkeys’. I was wandering around carrying an empty plastic bag because Emma was still feeling queasy when it was suddenly snatched out of my hand by a cheekeh monkeh who ran off with it. He doesn’t know how lucky he was really. It could have been sloshing around with sick for all he knew. Still, he probably would have eaten it anyway.

After the tour we had a few hours to wander around. Basically this involved walking along Main Street which is a very long high street with shops and shops and shops. It further involved me carrying shopping bags and sitting on benches every now and then while Pauline and Emma disappeared into shops and shops and shops.

We bought a bottle of brandy for £1-90p, a bottle of gin for £2-50p and because it was so cheap, 40 litres of petrol for 42p a litre. On the walk back to the coach Emma kept complaining about how heavy the petrol cans were but when I explained how much we were saving she strapped them back onto her shoulders and stopped complaining. She stumbled a few times under the weight but I promised her some water once we reached the coach and that seemed to spur her on. Mind you she wasn’t the only one struggling. My bag of two bottles of booze was beginning to take its toll too you know.

The heat. The damned heat was getting to us all.