08 Jan 2015 6:58 PM:

Greetings friends,

We looked with little hope at the parched mounds of earth and the faded sign on the roundabout which had been announcing for years the ‘Coming shortly’ of the town centre and I guess in terms of the longevity of planet earth this assertion must be accepted as subjective.

Time passed and we watched with renewed hope as the supermarket moved to more suitable premises and large signage told us Coppola´s bar and restaurant were onsite. We waited, occasionally wiping dust to peer in the windows of Coppola’s Restaurant, which, although fully equipped remained unopened with imagined shadows of the good ladies of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union diligently protecting the layers of dust.

There were whispers at the pool that Coppola’s had been opened for a short time earlier in that year but disheartened we dismissed this as urban myth propagated in the interest of selling properties.

It became a pilgrimage; each time we visited our apartment we made our way to Coppola’s to perform the ritual of dirtying our hands on the glass and making peeping Tom eyes at the imagined temperance ladies.   Then it arrived, the email with the news that the temperance ladies had been evicted and  restaurante Coppola's abre el 25 de mayo, our excitement was tempered by the fact our next visit wasn’t planned until 21 June and we feared we would miss the opening *and* perhaps the closing ceremonies.

With eyes alert for the slightest glimpse of the temperance ladies we made our approach on 21st June and there it was, an oasis in the parched earth, doors flung open with tables and umbrellas for alfresco dinning. There were two pots of tall spiral topiary trees growing to attention either side of the entrance door, at their base colourful bedding plants worshiped.

It was open, La Terraza de la Torre had come of age and Rafael was there to greet us. Finally we could enjoy a drink and a meal onsite, we blew raspberries to the overpriced taxis we had previously begrudgingly used to visit local watering holes.

There were teething problems but the food was good and the prices reasonable given that we were a captive audience if we wanted a drink within walking distance of our apartment. For us it was our first port of call on each visit, then things began to change, no doubt there were many reasons why the staff became apathetic and in many cases the price increases made it either prohibitive or it was more cost effective for families to share a taxi into Roldan where the local dining establishments offered considerably better value on both food and beverages.

I held out hopes of improvements but there was the niggle that tenure may be similar to my experience of Yacht, golf and other clubs where the caterer usually survives three years going from ´the best thing since sliced bread´ to ´why were they ever engaged in the first place?´. Sadly Rafael’s story took a similar path and he has moved to pastures new leaving the good ladies of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union to once again take over Coppolas.

The sign at the roundabout has faded to white, it would take some forensic examination to detect the original promise of a town centre and we are back to window wiping and peeping Tom impersonations.

People pass with New Year´s greetings but little news of the plans for Coppolas in two thousand and fifteen. I do hope in the very near future we will once again be able to enjoy food and drinks in a community environment, to greet old and make new friends.

Happy New Year to all at LTDLT.

QB

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Community thread: Coppellas

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