This afternoon will be one of the busiest traffic wise as an estimated 4.4 million people take advantage of the long weekend, ahead of tomorrows Bank Holiday - so be warned if you are on the roads. Most supermarkets will be shut (the smaller ones will have Sunday opening hours) and banks or any government run offices will be shut. This week coincides with the UK half term and the resort is already fairly busy with holiday makers. There will also be plenty of extra police on duty so clunk click and do not use your mobile!

La Nucia cemetery

The 1st November is All Saints Day and celebrated in most Catholic countries in Europe followed by All Souls Day on the 2nd - when family tend to visit the graves of lost ones. In Spain there will be floods of people heading to all the cemeteries during the weekend and shops close by will have huge stocks of flowers. Cemeteries here in Spain are totally different to those in the UK - instead of burying the coffin in the ground they are put into a niche above ground in a wall vault that stand 3 or 4 high. Burials in Spain tend to happen very quickly - usually 2-3 days after death, something that stems from years back and the searing Mediterranean heat so requirement to bury the body quickly.

One of many local events on

Today is Halloween - an event celebrated on the night of 31st October and the word is a shortening of "All Hallows Evening" or "All Hallows Eve". It is very popular in America and Canada and now spread to many countries including the UK.

Business wise its great as tonight many bars will be putting on Halloween themed events - as with all holidays it has become totally commercialised! Fancy dress competitions - awarding prizes for the best dressed etc and holding spooky quiz nights.... and it´s certainly not only the children which dress up!  Many younger children get dressed up and will go around "Trick or Treating" so make sure you have a supply of sweets to give them.... or just turn the lights off as I know some do!

Outlet Fair in Alicante

For those in Benidorm there will be a 3 day outlet fair - starting tomorrow until Sunday, in the square underneath the Town Hall. 40 local businesses have stalls and will be selling off end of season stock at heavily discounted prices. It is the first time that Benidorm have held such an event, taking the lead from Alicante which have held several successfully over the course of the last few years. Over the same weekend there is a massive market in Concentaina which has been held annually since 1346 and now has over 700 stalls and takes up a substantially part of the town.