Loud and Clear – The phone call
IT was the phone call that you think that you will never get, and afterward pray that you never do again. Halfway through a nondescript working weekday my mobile buzzed into life.
Look who’s talking: Just when you thought it was safe, Giles Brown makes a post Xmas return
JUST when you thought it was safe to go back to the last pages of the Olive Press. I’m back. A combination of pre and post Festive season and New Year commitments
How to avoid Christmas: ‘Bah humbug’ thoughts from an expat in Spain
IF the thought of all this Christmas cheer is getting too much for you, then here are a few failsafe tips to avoid all the ho, ho, hoing. Start early by volunteering
Don ‘Pijote’ and the Year of Lunching Dangerously
MARINES in Vietnam used to deal with the insanity around them by imagining that it wasn’t real life. It was an acid drenched inversion of reality and they would count down the
Taking a break: Staying in Marbella beats flying to the Maldives, sort of
AS I write this gentle reader I am on the second day of my holiday. Now, before you all chime in, with me living in Marbella and working in the media it
Keep on moving: Marbella can be a dangerous drive
THE busy start to the summer, as tourists arrive in significant numbers, has already shown some worrying signs. The first of these has been online videos of idiots sitting on the sunroofs
As seen on TV: Giles revels in his newfound celebrity status after stint on Marbella exposé
It has been noted more than once, but I have the face for radio. Except for May, when the unsuspecting viewing public of Marbella and then nationwide in the UK were treated
The sounds of summer: Noisy nature and cacophony of humans mark the season in rural southern Spain
MAY is one of my favourite months in Spain. After the recent rains, the campo around the Casita has erupted into riotous full bloom. Naturalists such as Sir David Attenborough would no
Bucket brigade: Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the water
WITH the reservoir now almost full after the recent, much needed rains, and the Casita finally dried out after flooding caused by the aforementioned downpour, my next pressing task was to collect
It never rains but it pours: Giles sees the Costa del Sol drought break first hand
BE careful what you wish for. At the beginning of March, I was seriously concerned about the lack of rainfall in Spain. Specifically the lack of rainfall at the Casita as the
THE MADNESS OF WAR: Double tragedy drives home the insanity of conflict
IN my previous column, I wrote about the continuing conflict in Ukraine. Last week, the war became a much more personal thing for me. Mainly because of the incredible bravery of the
Slava Ukraini: Let’s stage a covert mission to take La Zagaletta back from the Russians
A Marbella journalist’s life is normally deciding which restaurant, club or new development lauch I should grace with my presence. The nearest I ever come to danger is the threat of being
The Magnificent Sevens: When HSBC International Rugby Sevens Series was held in Spain for the first time ever, Giles Brown was there to make a weekend of it
The HSBC International Rugby Sevens Series visited Spain for the first time in its history last month and, seeing as it was the weekend after my birthday, going to watch teams including
Olive Press columnist Giles Brown celebrates another year on the clock
THERE is nothing quite like celebrating a birthday in mid-January. As the rest of Spain pledges never to touch a drop, go vegan, enroll at the nearest gym or posts life-affirming quotes
The Christmas clear out – How Olive Press columnist Giles Brown spent the festive season
I HAVE always been keen on maintaining my Christmas traditions. Once again, I spent most of the Christmas and New Year period at the radio station, presenting ‘Best of Shows’, drinking far
It’s beginning to feel a lot like…Humbug!
I suppose that I should be getting into the spirit of the festive season by now. But as a famously frugal and splendidly single fifty-something with no children, my run up to
It’s a dog’s life in Spain!
I HAVE always been a cat person. With a lifestyle that is best described as erratic, cats, with their independent outlook on life have always been my pet of choice. If I
Most wonderful time of year – the perils of being a freelancer in Spain
THE last few weeks of November are the time of the year that I try and take a pause. It always feels as if this is your last chance to have a
Battle of the Planets
THERE are mix ups and there are mix ups. And then there are the kind of mix ups that leave even yours truly, with several decades of dealing with customer service in
OPINION: Never Mind the Boris
BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent break to Marbella – or more accurately Benahavis – seems to have divided the Press and public back in the UK. His supporters said that he
Learn the lessons: Devastating blaze on Costa del Sol is a warning to authorities
WE take it for granted we are surrounded by some of the most stunning nature in Spain. But the recent devastating fires in the Sierra Bermeja (Costa del Sol) proved just how
COLUMN: September scribblings on Spain’s Costa del Sol
Giles Brown muses on the end of summer, and admits a lost in translation moment. You can take a deep breath now. It’s September and they have all gone. It is fair
Motor mayhem: It’s that time of year on Spain’s Costa del Sol
SUMMER has long been the time of year when driving niceties fly straight out of the near side window. The roads are full normally of Madrileños driving their Mercedes at five miles
SPANISH BEACH?: You can keep it
SUMMER is here and like the much maligned and misunderstood lemmings of popular folklore most of Spain flocks to the shoreline every summer August is of course the high point and one
Get thee to a sluttery
‘Hello to Jason Issacs’. If you recognise that greeting then you are most probably a member of The Church of Wittertainment, aka the considerable audience of Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review. Thanks
Back on the paper round: Delivering the news in Spain
WHILE the boffins in the economic think tanks point to various trends, graphs and assorted factors that life in Spain is returning to normal, the clearest indication that the worst days of