50 ALTERNATIVE REASONS WHY GIBRALTAR SHOULD NOT BE BETRAYED

OR

50 GOOD THINGS JACK STRAW DOESN’T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT

by Gill Smart & friends

1. The lady shop owner on Main Street who cried because 2 English people were interested enough to stay and hear her story of the last Siege and the difficulties now caused by Spain to her (and everyone else’s) daily life
2. Lourdes Galliano who took the time to write a nice message in her book before sending it
3. The Saturday market and the wonderful meat, fish vegetables and fruit you never see in Sainsburys
4. Camp Bay in the rain in February
5. The calm remembrance of the regiments, soldiers and sailors, and the women and children of the Rock in King George’s Chapel
6. Dolphins playing in the waves
7. Walking back into Gibraltar, across a runway, under the flags after a day in Spain
8. Gibraltar Crystal
9. Casemates Square
10. Queensway Quay
11. The Lottery Draw with its excitement and joyfulness
12. John and his Embassy
13. The Nimo in rough seas and smooth ones
14. Denis from Blands who made one English couple’s wedding day so very special
15. The Museum with the Moorish baths and the pretty garden
16. Rock Tours - different every time
17. The Art Deco Fire Station
18. The cool, green respite of Trafalgar Cemetery after shopping and dodging the traffic all day in Main Street
19. The gravestones in Trafalgar Cemetery
20. The Rock Tour driver who terrified us to death for 2 hours and then so firmly and kindly tended to a little Spanish child who’d been injured by an ape and calmed a chaotic situation
21. The old streets and their names and the reasons why
22. Always being surprised when you come out at the crows nest thing at the end of The Great Siege Tunnels
23. The view from the crows nest thing
24. The Great Siege Tunnels
25. Sitting on a sunny afternoon at the top of the Rock with the sea below, the sky above and the seabirds wheeling around and not a cloud in the sky
26. The top of the rock engulfed in a grey mist - no sky, no sea, no view - just you and the seagulls
27. The Old Signal Station and its view
28. The tanker that’s permanently (it seems) moored off Europa Point
29. The Silver Shop
30. Bianca’s
31. The Wisteria Terrace at the Rock Hotel
32. The harbour
33. The buses - and the passengers who tell you where you ought to go and where you should get off (that doesn’t sound right does it?)
34. Every single landing with the sea inches below the plane and the Rock just feet in front of you - and you know you’ve arrived
35. The Admiralty Tower
36. Jim for his News
37. The Gibraltar Bookshop
38. The Old Naval Hospital
39. The Tower of Homage with its treasures inside and its battle-scarred exterior
40. And the view from the top of it
41. Walking up the Mediterranean Steps
42. Watching The Changing of the Guard while having a drink - where else can you do this
43. The cottages at the Victualling Yard - such a country of contrasts
44. MacGhoulies Galleries
45. House of Saccarello
46. The diaries of Betsey Wynne, Sarah Fryer and Susannah Middleton
47. The Alameda Gardens on a Sunday afternoon
48. Marina Bay at night
49. The sunsets
50. The history
51. The people - the Muslims, the Jews, the Hindus, the Catholics, the protestants and all who live amiably on the tiny piece of land without conflict - ALL The Gibraltarians

Jack Straw - you have no idea of your treachery