Benidorm Nights! (Or: A Star Is Born….)

So anyhoo, here we were in Spain (in Benidorm – yay!), found a local, met people and made friends….
I had decided earlier that I was gonna come to Spain and ply my trade as a diving instructor: not so! Apparently there is a local Valencian by-law (nowhere else in Spain, just the province of Valencia!) which says that in order to work in the diving industry, you have to go to one of the local universities and do a two week course (in Spanish) in order to obtain a ‘Certificado de Deportivo de Bucear’ (close enough…) which is basically a Sports Diving Certificate – at a cost of approximately €2,500! Not going to happen….
However, all was not lost: remember Tony B? Wellllllll, turns out he was doing six or seven nights per week doing the quiz/karaoke at the “Pud” (like it? Great name, huh?) and was looking for someone to share the workload. Dunno what it was, but all of a sudden there appeared a hand in the air in a kind of “I volunteer” sort of manner…. I looked around to see who was responsible for this errant and wayward hand: Oops! It was only me, wasn’t it? (At this point it seems appropriate to tell you, dear reader – I have never done anything remotely like this in my life! However, I just thought “well, how hard can it be?”)
Two weeks later – and duly “trained up” – I made my (inauspicious) debut at the ‘Coco Cabana’ bar and, whilst I may not have gone down a storm, I will freely admit I didn’t make a complete twerp of myself either! I subsequently did their Halloween karaoke party night – dressed in character, I may add – and (though I say so myself) – a good night was had by all!
At this point, Tony 1 (re-christened by the customers at the “Pud” on account of there being at least three Tonys there) decided I was now ready for my debut at said “Pud” and I was given regular nights there (these nights are so ‘regular’ that they have changed – and do change – many , many times since!). So, re-christened ‘Tony 2’, my new life as a karaoke DJ extraordinaire had begun (and a star was born!).
More on the “Pud”: There are 3 Yorkshire Prides in Benidorm – Yorkshire Pride I, II and III (c’mon, keep up!). As well as Bar Why Not and The Queen Vic they are owned by a Castleford “lad” called Tad. Ours is the Yorkshire Pride III and is situated in the Rincon area of Benidorm – as mentioned in instalment 3 of this missive, an area away from the town center catering mainly for British ex-pats. The “Pride” bars – and especially the “Pud” (my knickname for the Pride III) – are very famous for not only the quality of the homecooked food served up, but the portion sizes too. All this coupled with British staff and karaoke and quiz every night makes for a jolly old time for the not-too-demanding Brits!
My new life, it seems, had begun in earnest, and It wasn’t long before we were all off to the Old Town for our ‘Staff Christmas Do’ – it was really nice to feel like I belonged!!
Next time: the “Pud” comes alive, and Tony 2 takes up a new sport….. Watch this space!

Posted by sirrahna

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *