..... neither of them particularly smiley! Normal January for Greyrocks means Goa, but of course neither 2021 nor 2022 can be regarded as "normal". Rather than a lotus-eating tropical sojourn we have been beset by obstacles and bad news, with nasty surprises and time spent on necessary but tedious tasks. Even this blog had to go well down the list of "to-do"s so that this post will be started in January and updated in calmer moments!
Muted Celebrations:
The month (and year) started pretty well, with a very Covid-aware New Year's Eve. In contrast with the previous one the town was very busy and the infection rate on the way up. We saw what happened last time around midnight, and had no desire to be anywhere near "that sort of thing". Also our favoured restaurant was not offering lobster, so we had dinner early and arranged to see in 2022 in a roof-top assignation between terraces with the nice neighbours. The meal was much lower key than normal - not least because in spite of our pre-order there was no lobster, so we had to have several cigalas instead, and we under-ordered :- a very rare event! Later we watched "Later" with Jools Holland, and then took our fizz up to the roof, which gave a great view of the fireworks
Spanish thoughts at this point turn to Kings, which of course was a trimmed back Covid affair, with the kids' visits to Their Majesties by appointment only and somewhat out of town. Our dealings with them were a surprise. Around midday on 5th we were resting at one of our regular haunts at the top of the High Street when there was hooting and general kerfuffle. It was the "procession" that traditionally travels round Corralejo and the villages. This year it consisted of a king in each of the open-top cars - no wives, no pages, no sweets, no camels!
Infection
January was the month in which the Covid story was rewritten in Fuerteventura. As predicted the numbers were up after all the festivities, but we somehow escaped the tightest level of restrictions, and indeed hospital pressure with the Omicron variant taking its time to arrive.
and Infestation
This is a sad story of wasted money, time and sleep, which will be followed up in due course. February has got to be better for Greyrocks....