Avenida Paris, Calle Paris or Avenida de Paris!

Sometimes you just have to laugh at life in Spain. Such is the reaction of some residents from Avenida Paris in Torrevieja. Three years ago this stretch of road opened in Torrevieja allowing drivers and buses better access from Torrevieja to La Mata. The new street; Avenida Paris is a continuation of Calle Paris and the two have lived side by side for many years but until the development of new urbanizations, the road was never completed. After  the road opened permanently,  many taxi and delivery drivers have had major problems finding correct addresses! Many would say that it can’t be that difficult in this day and age of satellite navigation systems plus Torrevieja has a number of excellent maps as a point of reference. So what’s the problem?

Miscommunication and that deadly word ‘assumption’ are probably to blame and with it, a few red faces at the Torrevieja Town Hall, as a couple of week’s ago new street signs were proudly attached to walls along the Avenue. Nothing wrong with that you may say. Well, you’d be wrong; as at the very top end of Avda. Paris there now is a sign for Calle Paris and on the other side of the road, not 50-metres away, is a completely new non-existent street for Torrevieja, Avenida  de Paris. So now one stretch of road, about half a mile or so in length, has all three street names on it; no wonder that delivery drivers, taxis and visitors have problems finding their way around! It should be pointed out that these are newly designed signs. There are others from an older generation that are incorrect too!

Now that local residents have had a laugh at the Town Hall’s expense, one must wonder how many different employees at the Town Hall managed to order these new signs, hand work orders over to the installers, who unquestionably installed them, within sight of each other, without even batting an eyelid or maybe questioning the reason behind it! Resident’s look forward to the new signs and possibly receiving their mail while developers at Tom Tom work to upgrade their Sat Nav systems! 

Notary Murdered in Torrevieja

On the Costa Blanca Monday, shock-waves were sent through the local Torrevieja business community when within 100-metres from the Town Hall, a well-respected Notary was murdered at work.  Guardia Civil are on the lookout for two individuals who shot to death notary, Juan Jose Martinez Roman, 54, at around 12.15 pm on Monday afternoon.

Latest reports indicate that two masked individuals burst into the notary's office, located at the corner of Ramón Gallut (74) y Marisa Parodi and demanded money from the employee on the front desk. On hearing the commotion, Senior Martinez exited his office to discover the disturbance and  confront the aggressors. Apparently, the attackers fired twice at the notary, mortally wounding him before fleeing the office.

Emergency services were immediately summoned but paramedics from Service of Atención Médica Urgente (SAMU) could only declare him dead upon arrival on the scene at 12.27 Monday.

Guardia Civil are now searching for the two individuals who they can only be described as being armed and dangerous. Any one with information about the crime can contact Guardia Civil in Torrevieja on 96 571 01 13.