# The Obamas visit...and we get new roads!!!



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

We live on the edge of our village, the campo begins at the top of the road and the roads leading up to it and beyond are rather ropey, to say the least.
So we were pleased to notice great activity - road resurfacing, pavements for a few hundred metres......Could this be yet another Plan E scheme, we asked?
Now all is revealed. Michelle Obama is to stay at a posh hotel in a neighbouring village and the President Himself may be joining her for his birthday celebrations.
I find it a bit strange that the visit has been so widely publicised. Every terrorist, lunatic or general nutter has plenty of time to plan all sorts of mischief.
But presumably security will be at the highest level.
All this will cost millions of euros but at least we'll have a decent road into the campo and a nice bit of pavement to walk on for a few hundred metres after they've gone.
I remember when the Queen visited our little town in the UK. It was like something out of an Ealing comedy. Weeds were removed from pavements, gutters were swept, cracked paving stones replaced, road surfaces relaid....all for a visit lasting thirty minutes.
She came to open our new Council Offices (built at huge cost to the tax payer and abandoned six years later when the Council HQ relocated to another town) and we presented her with a portrait of her (younger) self which, bizarrely, she gave back to us to be hung in the new Council Chamber.
I was a Councillor then, Group Leader, and was invited to meet her Maj and take part in the sumptuous repast provided - the Queen didn't stay for lunch!
It all cost a huge amount of money and the experience kindled republican sentiments in my breast.
At least here local people will benefit from the Obama visit.


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I wonder if these "bigwigs" know all the trouble that everyone goes to and I wonder if they know what these places look like normally??

Jo xxx


----------



## Caz.I (Mar 21, 2009)

Well I'm probably one of the locals who is losing out rather than benefitting. One of my students cancelled his lesson the other night and muttered something in Spanish about cancelling due to work he was doing for Michelle Obama. For a moment I was totally confused (he is a driver rather than a politician) then he explained that he was involved in the visit next week and would have to cancel next week's classes too! But I had to give him credit for such an original excuse.


----------



## AfroSaxon (Jan 23, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> We live on the edge of our village, the campo begins at the top of the road and the roads leading up to it and beyond are rather ropey, to say the least.
> So we were pleased to notice great activity - road resurfacing, pavements for a few hundred metres......Could this be yet another Plan E scheme, we asked?
> Now all is revealed. Michelle Obama is to stay at a posh hotel in a neighbouring village and the President Himself may be joining her for his birthday celebrations.
> I find it a bit strange that the visit has been so widely publicised. Every terrorist, lunatic or general nutter has plenty of time to plan all sorts of mischief.
> ...


That's a nice unexpected bonus. 

I remember when the G8 Summit was held in Birmingham back in 98'. The brownish patchy grass along the Coventry Road wasn't to pretty so it was sprayed green at the last minute. A woeful waste of money, of benefit to nobody and so embarrassing!


----------



## country boy (Mar 10, 2010)

It's a strange quirk of human nature don't you think, I wonder why it happens? Is it good for public morale. It certainly is a hideous waste of money and resourses. All countries do it though.


----------



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

When Obama came to Cairo the security frenzy was second only to the clean up.
I was out on my morning walk the day that Obama was here and I could see the massive clean up... garbage normally lies in the road plus the paint job that was applied to everything he could see from his car was funny and they must have been told that he sits on the right hand side of the car as it was only the right hand side of the roads that had been painted and cleared off rubbish..and of course it was easy to see the route he was taking.
My apartment overlooks the route and a helicopter landing stage and I was told not to be near my window from 11am... of course we looked out and state security kepts banging on my door telling me to get away from the window... now that is what you call a dictorship


----------



## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

I wish he'd come and stay near us, we need some of our roads re surfacing. I'd even offer to put him up for the night, and take him for a menu del dia!


----------



## Guest (Jul 31, 2010)

He eats only hamburgers


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> I wish he'd come and stay near us, we need some of our roads re surfacing. I'd even offer to put him up for the night, and take him for a menu del dia!


Our thoughts exactly!!!! The road and pavement outside our house is unswept, the pavement is uneven, rubbish in the gutter when it's windy......and we're a five minute walk from the new road. They've even painted the old zebra crossing and added a new one and painted yellow lines along each side.
Maybe we should create a diversion.......
I suppose Spain's image gets a boost from the fact that the Obamas chose Spain rather than anywhere else.
But I wonder why they're coming to such a small village and not to Marbella itself?
Although the hotel they're staying at has been described as the poshest in Spain.


----------



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Our thoughts exactly!!!! The road and pavement outside our house is unswept, the pavement is uneven, rubbish in the gutter when it's windy......and we're a five minute walk from the new road. They've even painted the old zebra crossing and added a new one and painted yellow lines along each side.
> Maybe we should create a diversion.......
> I suppose Spain's image gets a boost from the fact that the Obamas chose Spain rather than anywhere else.
> But I wonder why they're coming to such a small village and not to Marbella itself?
> Although the hotel they're staying at has been described as the poshest in Spain.




Security... I would imagine it is easier to make a hotel in a village secure rather than the very busy Marbella.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

MaidenScotland said:


> Security... I would imagine it is easier to make a hotel in a village secure rather than the very busy Marbella.



Ah...yes, of course
I should imagine that the route to the village will be lined with wall-to-wall security. I foresee problems getting on to the A7 on Wednesday......


----------



## Iron Horse (Apr 10, 2008)

Allow me to take a different view on the visit. While a lot of money is being spent for the visit, there are now jobs being created and the income those workers receive will be spent back into the economy. So it's not all a straight expense as the money gets recirculated. Unfortunately, there are some sacrifices everyone must pay from time to time.

I'm just jealous that I can't go back for a visit or find work there, as I do speak Spanish too.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Iron Horse said:


> Allow me to take a different view on the visit. While a lot of money is being spent for the visit, there are now jobs being created and the income those workers receive will be spent back into the economy. So it's not all a straight expense as the money gets recirculated. Unfortunately, there are some sacrifices everyone must pay from time to time.
> 
> I'm just jealous that I can't go back for a visit or find work there, as I do speak Spanish too.


I don't disagree with you. We will have better roads and new pavements as a result of this and money has been put into the local economy in terms of jobs and materials ....although the money spent has come from the taxpayer in the first place, of course.
But when the Queen visited our town more was spent unproductively than was gained by the community so recirculation was, alas, zero....


----------

