20. Best New Person ‘09

New person. She came into your life and turned it upside down. He went out of his way to provide incredible customer service. Who is your unsung hero of 2009?

That would be a whole lot of people; collectively the best new people I met this year, starting hanging out with, getting to know a little, was the gang down at Frankie’s Bar on Hotel Street at Vera Playa.  It’s an “English” bar inasmuch as the clientele is 95% English-speaking - - not a good way to integrate into Spanish society given that I live in Spain full-time but, hey, I need a bit of something familiar in my life too.  Mostly they’re local, ex-pats, from the UK; although loads of tourists drop in during their holidays; and it has a very fine bar-staff and kindly owners.

Popping over for a glass of wine gets me out of the house, away from behind this computer, gives me a nice walk, and when I’m there I’m in conversation with people; real-life, in person, not on-line, conversation. Besides chatting there’s lots of fun to be had - - what with the golf team, darts night, quiz night, music or karaoke on occasion, poker night… I don’t participate in all of those, often preferring to sit back and watch – it’s more entertaining than TV. The food’s good too.

Click on the logo to jump to Google Maps Streetview.