NICOLE KING : 400 TODAY

Tonight’s show is the four hundredth week of recording Marbella Now TV with RTV Marbella #MN400.  I nearly let this landmark slip by as with many things and many of us, we don’t stop often enough to appreciate the moments.

I didn’t start out to be a television producer and presenter; my intention was to help a friend legalise his English broadcasting network.  As like with all other international stations he was being faced with potential fines by the Junta de Andalucia as at the time no licences were being granted to foreign broadcasters.

My plan was to hook him up with the official Town Hall station which had the benefit of legalising the broadcast but also bringing public awareness to the existence of the Town Hall and some of the basic decencies that we foreigners should respect, as guests in a foreign country.

Having lived in Spanish Spain, Madrid, for over twenty years it was just par for the course that we all signed on the padron and were aware of who the mayor was and what was going on in general.  Here on the Costa most people are living in the sun, not in Spain and have no thought to there even being a local government, let alone getting involved.  We can miss out on so much and so can our international children.  They deserve a well-rounded life and yet after the age of playing in the sand there is still much to be done to keep them safe and help them integrate on a social level, with aspirations for a worthy career and a future within the community.

On a lighter note and something organised by the Town Hall you may miss if you who don’t live in or visit Marbella centre this week is the Feria of San Bernabé.  Festivities kicked off with an amazing firework display on Tuesday evening and continues through until the 12^th of June.  This is a must do experience, whether you ladies get yourself a traditional flamenco dress to participate or not.  (You can get dresses at really cheap prices in the charity shops and I can but highly recommend you do at least try one on, they’re so very flattering!)  The fair is held in the town centre during the day with food and drink, song and dance and in the evening, they open the fairground (behind La Cañada) which offers a more lively and familiar experience, but Spanish style with children up at all hours enjoying the festivities “en famille”.

The whole concept behind my TV show is to help us create community, communicate within our international community and the Town Hall and support one another in our endeavours, between us all there are a lot of cool happenings going on!

I could never have imagined or anticipated how much I would grow personally and professionally throughout the process of making a television programme like this; I feel a strange mix of humbled and proud; it’s been a quite a learning curve but one I’m certainly so grateful to be living.  Thank you all for making us #bettertogether