Out in the Midi sun!

 We flew to Barcelona for about 80 euros in total, and took the two trains to our pick-up point. On the first Metro we were mindful of both our own experience last year, and of information we had gathered from the TV ("Our man in..") about local policing policy, so could not relax, and did witness some very suspicious behaviour, and have a discussion with a young woman about it. We had a long wait at the connecting station and basked in bright sunshine, were transported back to pick up Yvette:- newly washed and ready to go!  We spent the night in Salt and then drove over the border - again in beautiful weather - to Lattes:- the new town on the outskirts of Montpellier where we stayed in October.
We just had time to unpack kit and bikes before going to get Chloe from the airport. She had a few days of leave to use up before the end of March, and had spoken of exotic places with guaranteed sun to help her recover from the rigours of exploitative employment in a famous UK chain of bakers! We persuaded her that there wasn't enough time for that, and that  it would be better  to meet us in the mobile home. After a few sunny days she was wishing her extra day's leave could be spent there too, so we changed the flight for a reasonable fee, and she managed five nights with us. (Easyjet are so much more reasonable than Ryanair in this respect!)

The weather was glorious! We spent time in a good range of the coastal towns - including one new to us - Carnon, where we shopped at the market. We hired a campsite bike and went together to Palavas, but it was very uncomfortable so later rides were just Chloe and Bob. We introduced Chloe to the delights of a degustation de coquillage, and she was unimpressed - particularly by oysters! On the day of departure we went quite early to the airport and waited for check-in, only to discover  that the French air traffic controllers' strike would mean a 5 hour delay. Asked not to leave the airport we bought a picnic lunch, found chairs from the car and sat in the sun in a car park. We received a lot of "Bon Apetits!" from the passers-by. Then we were bored, and lacking information. We decided to drive back the 10 minutes to the campsite from where we could monitor the flight online, so it was another game of Scrabble in the sun! Unfortunately we managed a navigational error on the way back to the airport, and Ruth did a major panic in trying to get Chloe to the gate on time.
Next day was our last one and the weather broke! No last sunny al fresco tables, no last bike ride, no last strolls round markets... etc etc, and that is how it has continued!

No Blues is Bad News

It's Easter Sunday and we are sitting in Ricky's warm bungalow in Oulton Broad looking out on a dull wet UK. We left Corralejo on March 27th, and blue skies are a thing of the past. Yesterday morning in Dunkirk Bob finally had to admit defeat and replace his shorts with trousers. (People had been looking at - and commenting on - the bare knees for several days as we made our Northern Progress - details to follow!)

So here is a review of Winter in the Canaries.
First it was the shortest stay for us since records began (i.e. 2007!). We got there later than usual, we took a long 65th birthday break in Gran Can, we spent a month on the Goa trip., and we left relatively early. Combine this with the reluctance to venture out in bad weather and we reached the end of the season feeling that we had missed out on beach, pool, day trips, time with friends and meals and music in some of our favoured places.
Second - the weather! The tourism wallahs wouldn't want this pointed out, but it was very disappointing! To be fair it was still probably better on average than anywhere else in Europe, but we are suffering our own version of climate change, with the main feature being that the famous almost permanent strong winds are now usually from the N to E quadrant and blooming cold! Typically in daytime the sky is blue, the sun shines and in shelter it can be a very good 30 plus temperature, but in exposed locations (like the seaside!) and everywhere after sunset it has been been seriously cold, with only the smokers lurking outside restaurants and bars, and the PR people ("whippers-in") wrapped up in Arctic gear! It is a testament to the insulated design of our duplex that we didn't have to resort to getting out the fan heater, but many did - especially in rural areas, and hats, gloves, fleeces, duvets and blankets have sold better than beach kit! At least it didn't rain much!
Finally the crisis! The Canaries are somewhat cushioned from Spanish austerity, and the island has many more flights now from the Peninsula bringing in Spanish tourists. (Ironically the demise of Spanair seems to have improved this!) The town has often seemed very busy; but the cry is much the same as last year:- "Plenty of people - no money!" Environmental improvements - especially round the old town - are the result of old EU money. The local council continues to ignore dog poo as the main bad feature, whilst doing strange things in and around the carnival.
Mystery surrounded the Blues Festival, which has usually followed closely after Carnaval. First it was to be in late April, but now it is officially off! No sponsor could be found. Lots of us think something cost-free could be done around the streets, but no-one rose to the challenge. With this, and the two English-speaking radio stations gone the music scene was already looking thin, then we heard that Castaway would close at the end of March, and - much more significantly - that so too would Imagine. This is a bit of a mystery in terms of the reason and what will happen to the gifted Eric!
But all is not bad news on the live music scene! Our neighbours Dave and Pete have been playing weekly at Pescaditos and have now increased the frequency to both Tuesday and Friday lunchtimes, and are really pulling in the crowds and getting rave reviews. The only trouble is:- the staff need to hand out blankets!

Austerity Carnival: No Queen but plenty of (Hello) Sailors!

 The local council was true to form and issued these barely legible posters about three days before the start of carnival! The theme was "Musicals" - which gave Claire at Blue Rock a headache, but the bar was decorated on time with references to ten different films.
The showground was prepared as usual, but there was no funfair, and the 3 Euro entrance price was a deterrent in this year of crisis - so not much attendance there - even Drag Night wasn't full! Furthermore we had no Carnival Queen because the necessary quality of costume was beyond the budget!
We missed the opening procession, but caught some glimpses during the week, and it was clear that the main troupes had made a good effort.
For the final Saturday we did our bit with an homage to South Pacific and ate at the American Burger (Chicken George). There were plenty of floats - perhaps a little less lavish than in some years - and too many went down the same Chicago route. Out in the street however there were a number of sailors saluting Bob, drag Sound of Music nuns, a couple of Phantom characters and a lot of Mary Poppins! Mix this with St Patrick's and a good time was had by all until very late.
Next day there was musical-related debris to be seen as we struggled out for the Sardine Funeral!
This year we decided to sacrifice the procession in order to better and more comfortably see the fireworks, so we revisited La Marquesina after many years. When we first started holidaying here it was the only place in the Michelin guide and was a clear favourite. Somehow it has gone off our radar except for the odd daytime tapa, and you will see it gets a bit of a slamming on Trip Advisor. The service was slow, but we had two fishy starters that we remembered as delicious from olden times (and they still are) and shared a half-lobster dish that was also mighty fine! We may have failed to see the late Senor Sardina itself, but we had a very good encounter with fish. The ceremony on the beach was so speedily executed that friends almost missed the fireworks. We had a ring-side position from our table.  After last year's pathetic effort they  were excellent:- perhaps because they were sponsored by our 5-star hotel.

Broadcasting News - some not so Hot!

When you land at 11 am in Fuerteventura and the temperature is announced as 16C you know there is something wrong! So it was on 15th February! We walked out of the airport and met someone we know. He told us the previous couple of weeks had been bad! We hadn't been checking the weather whilst away, so this was an unpleasant shock after UK. We also had Angelika and Katinka (Paleo pals) arriving a few hours later with our assurance that it would be nice for their week. Well they were happy enough with the daytime sunshine which got better through their week, but the evenings and nights have been bitterly cold with a North to North-East wind, and that continues. We have rarely been able to dine outside. Oh dear, what is happening to the climate?

..and something else is not so Hot! Regular readers will know that Ruth has been presenting a weekly show of themed music and a quiz on Corralejo's Hot FM whenever we are in residence. There has been talk of a legal difficulty for over a year, but whilst in Goa we received an email saying that the station had moved urgently to Internet-only. A later email said that it would go off air completely on February 12th. So we missed the farewell, and Ruth didn't know her last show before Goa was her last show forever. The reason is the Spanish authorities' decision on licenses. There is a lot of sadness about  it around town, and a need for a home for elderly frustrated DJ's!

All the more important, then, to solve the internet radio problem! We are avid listeners to BBC Radio 4, to Radio 2 on Saturday mornings, and to Radio Caroline. This has all to be done from the computer downstairs. Fed up with pointing speakers up the stairs, and not wanting to buy another laptop just for this we bought a WiFi internet radio. It works well picking up thousands of stations, being a good FM radio and also playing music from a USB stick, but it won't play anything from the BBC!  The software that comes with it makes great promises, but the dear Beeb only streams for Apple devices because of some very dodgy commercial arrangement. Grrrr! So it was "back to the drawing board" and this wonderful thing was found on sale from Radio Caroline. It plugs into a USB slot and transmits whatever sound is there as a FM signal on the frequency of your choice, so that you can listen on any FM radio within range. Magnificent!

Good News on the UK TV front too! Last year we subscribed to FilmOn in order to access a fair number of channels via the internet. This year we haven't bothered because we have been using TVCatch-up, which is free - though blocked to non-UK users. It has a very wide range of channels, including the "plus 1" versions. We have a VPN for which we pay a small sum monthly (through consult-here - recommended!), so we could receive this, but the VPN slows things down and we have had spectacular buffering especially in the evening.

Now FilmOn has announced that its standard quality broadcasts will be free within Europe - and no need for a VPN. It buffers much less and is good news. (To avoid interruptions register, and make sure you select the free low quality option!)

(You still do need a VPN for downloading from BBC i-player, streaming on-demand from other UK TV sites, and for some UK channels live or "plus 1".. but what an improvement!)

With these desperately cold evenings we have been watching far too much British TV - but    March 9th to 18th is Carnival Time,,,

What goes round.....

Brighton's latest feature!

Tuesday afternoon: 37 deg C, and a bathe in the warm Arabian sea!
Wednesday evening: a blizzard!
In between a fairly unremarkable journey largely the same as last year! We were picked up at 4am IST and took a domestic flight which was full - mostly with a party of Indian tourists within which most of the men were wearing stetsons - inexplicable! At Mumbai we knew the ropes -and were delighted to find that BA have improved the check-in service and we could go straight through to Departures. It was then a long wait,and then Ruth got frisked again (4 times since Goa!)  but the flight was almost empty and on a new 777, so we got in some good films and TV.


At Heathrow we were ready for silliness in getting to the Central Bus Station, but we got straight onto a bus that was free, negotiated  an early coach to Victoria and were ready for the streets. We had only to walk for 10 minutes to the railway station. Out there it was ghastly! There was a dramatic snowstorm and it was freezing cold; and we had no proper winter clothes. We had a couple of pints in the warmth of a Wetherspoons at the station and then braved it again with a train to East Croydon, and another walk in the snow to the hotel.

The Wine Tower - too expensive for us!

It was a cold six days in UK! We did some business things in Balham, met up with Pete, and spent a day in Brighton. This was so cold that all plans for wandering round were dropped and after haircuts we did little else outside. We then met Chloe after she had cashed up, had a very pleasant meal and caught the last train back. Next day we went for Lois' 50th birthday lunch at our usual family hotel in Hampshire. On Tuesday we took ourselves to Stansted airport and as a treat (on Valentine's Day?) we stayed at the Radisson. Shocked by the restaurant prices we went back over to the Terminal and had a disgusting (and pricey) meal at the thing they describe as a pub! Avoid!

We flew at 6.30 or so and so were well and truly ready for Canarian sunshine. We had had enough of British February. We were in for a shock!

Gone Goan Again Part 3: The inevitable slide-show!

Well, here it is!

Gone Goan Again Part 2

Strange times, indeed!

Still there on February 15th!

So - safely back in the Canarian sunshine Greyrocks gives some observations on Goa 2012 under the theme of peculiar timings. First - the Santa decoration hung from our balcony roof! When we arrived on January 17th there was also a larger and fully illuminated version, but that came down ten days or so afterwards. 

Second, the delights of the open-air cinema. It has been spruced up since last year with a stable screen replacing the bed sheet, a flash canopy and a self-supporting projector. It shows a good selection of films with BBC World TV before and after, and their varied menu available all night. Early on we went to see War Horse (well made and quite gripping, but over-sentimental especially at the end), then we had the night of the farce! There was a good turn-out for George Clooney's The Descendants. It starts with a dialogue-free dramatic incident, and then moves on to voice-over, so we were 15 mins or so into it before the serious lack of sound synchronisation was discovered. The projectionist started it again and the same thing happened, and then twice more, before two young Germans stopped him and made a public announcement that we were going have to choose between DVDs of The Debt (already seen) and (Oh Dear!) We Bought a Zoo! There was vote in which we abstained  and the latter was shown. We still had food to eat, so stayed. Mmm - at least it was free! 

We went twice more to The Steak House for films. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was superb but barely audible owing a noisy non-viewing party of (yes!) Russians; and we wondered if anything more suitable for Goa could be found after last year:- it was! Some bright spark requested Withnail and I. (Don't try the drinking game!) It was not well-attended. We sat next to Tracey and John from The Office, and Tracey left when the camera turned to the kitchen sink! Ex-copper John stayed the length, but possibly only to observe Bob in hysterics! At the end the guy who had organised came over to tell Bob that his enjoyment was greatly enhanced by said laughter. So apt!

In stark contrast were the goings-on at the Catholic church across the road from our guest house. Soon after we arrived a day was spent erecting a huge yellow and red canopy over the area in front of  it. Thereafter we had a week in which every evening there was a religious service with electric organ, fire-crackers on the patch below us and Bingo with numbers called in Indian English. Bizarre - but there was more to come! On Saturday evening a 5-piece Oompah band outside played such things as "Roll out the Barrel" and there were serious fireworks. OK, but they started playing again at 6.25 am next day. This went on for 25 minutes and resumed at 9.30, at which time the congregation started to assemble in great finery. Ruth tried hard to find out the nature of the festival and concluded it was something local.

Finally - the big Talking Point of Goan Tourism! With very little notice a ban on the sale of alcohol was introduced - first for 11pm and then 10pm. The logic of this - related to national elections in March escaped everyone! as there is a substantial body of tourists for whom nightly excess is the main purpose of trip, there has been tension - and threats of suing Thomas Cook! One benefit was improved Sundays at The Nest. In normal conditions it would be spewing out from early morning  the debris from the Silent Noise disco, but that event had to be cancelled. Shame!