Wow! Look at those Numbers!

Greyrocks has been concerned with a lot of numbers over the last couple of weeks with joy and despair alternating!

75 was the age attained by Bob last week. We had hosted a pair of parties for our Paleo pals back in September which was about midway between Ruth's 70th and this major birthday. So now it was time to invite our closest Fuerte friends for an afternoon in the sun. At the time of planning the island was in Covid Level 1, so an exterior table of twelve was the limit and tapas-centred catering was ordered accordingly/ Then came the news on levels, so it became two tables of six - and in practice two tables of five as two invitees dropped by the wayside. Greyrocks sat one per table and rotated, the food was excellent and the sun shone brightly throughout. 

A few days later - and including the Big Day itself - we took a  three-day trip away from home. In pre-Covid times this might have been to another island, but we decided the risk and hassle weren't worth it so it was a bus and a taxi to Caleta de Fuste, but to a classy joint! We have been unable to swim indoors since the Bahia Real closed without notice on 24th January 2020, leaving us with nine pre-paid sessions. It is due to re-open tomorrow, but after being sold, so future prospects are an unknown. Hence the choice of Caleta, where the Barcelo Thalasso Spa offers hotel guests a reasonably priced deal on some of the facilities including their indoor "pool". It is not as big as it looks and the intrusive bubbling makes sustained swimming difficult, but we did go twice, the room we had was very good and the three meals we had as half-board guests were remarkably pleasant in spite of the huge number of guests in a buffet format! The plan to go again to the spa on departure day was abandoned in the face of rain and very cold weather. We got an earlier bus back than planned!

Huge efforts have been made to improve the holiday offer of Caleta, and there are some very nice bits! The beach is now very welcoming and ideal for children, but as a recent poll in UK shows that a serious majority of over-65s still support Brexit and did vote Tory in 2019 it is hard to feel enfolded in a warm embrace there when you are ex-metropolitan liberals and enthusiastic Europeans. Small doses and carefully selected bars!!

Two more of the numbers are the names of good restaurants in Caleta de Fuste. 15 is an old favourite where the number reflects a menu construction policy. We ate there for Bob's birthday dinner and found it as good as ever. There might be a fuller critique on Trip Advisor in due course, but we were glad to have honoured them on an important occasion. We have no idea why 555 is so-named, but we went there because they do Moroccan dishes. One tajine was well up-to-scratch but the lamb one less so. A good wine list, though!

Now we are back home and the data is not good! This week we have seen an 18th death from Covid, the island has the worst numbers in the archipelago: 232 active cases cases on Friday, a 7-day IA rate of 264 in our home council area when risky starts at 50, and there is every possibility that we will move to Level 3 in the review on Thursday.  Today it was reported that of the six people in hospital in Puerto del Rosario three are in Intensive Care. That's bad news!!

Even so, the record value of 50,000 for daily new cases in the UK last week is testimony to several of PM Johnson's personality traits that make him unfit to govern. Shall we count the ways?

A speed bump in the road to recovery

 Greetings from the "Sick Person of the Canaries"! Having been the last island to get back into Level 1 of the Covid restrictions we have become the first to leave! Last Thursday the announcement came that we would be back in Level 2 from this Monday - just a calendar month since we were last there! Our data was slightly better in some respects than (much smaller) La Gomera and they stayed in 2, but justifications have been abundant since - based mostly around the figures for the over 65s.

 The worrying data:

Greyrocks lives in La Oliva!!

and the following Thursday (yesterday) Lanzarote and little La Graciosa suffered the same fate!

Greyrocks casts around for the reasons! The nasty racists (of which there are a good few here) blame the "illegals", but they are tested and vaccinated and not mixing with the population as a whole, and incoming tourists are either tested or vaccinated, so is it residents? 

This month there was yet another puente with the All Saints bank holiday falling on a Monday. That long weekend was remarkably busy in town with masks and social distancing barely seen. British and Irish tourism is booming. The weather is beautiful for November (although out of range for outdoor swimming as far as Ruth is concerned), and the hospital is not overwhelmed with Covid cases. The "fly in the ointment" is the data, which justifiably leads to the seesaw in restrictions. (Greyrocks' planned party with a table of 12 now has to be two tables of 6!) With today's number of active cases on the island standing at 160 there must be the possibility of moving to Level 3, which does start to adversely affect us and our circle!

Ever mindful of risk and eager to exploit our residency we spent last Friday in and out of the Health Centre. We had three appointments in four hours: blood extractions and ECGs -results of which we see this afternoon - and vaccinations in both arms, these being a Pfizer booster and this season's 'flu jab. All very efficient and cheerily executed, as was our trip to the municipal offices to sort out our entitlement to travel discount, which we feared had disappeared thanks to Brexit, and had caused such grief in Barcelona airport as we returned here! It seems we are still entitled to this generous perk, but it cannot be issued via the website as our new TIE cards must be physically inspected. This will be a nuisance in terms of autumn returns for Greyrocks (they only last 6 months at a time) but another bouquet for the Canaries! 

We are glad and lucky to live here, but don't forget the mask! 

 

Normal and New!

 Here on "Fraggle Rock" it's Bonanza Time for many as tourism resurges with a vengeance and  well-off  residents benefit from the re-opening of bars and restaurants: some with live music! Walking round town in the early evening it would be difficult to see signs of the pandemic other than the compulsory wearing of masks by staff. The island moved to Level 1  - the last in the archipelago to do so - on October 15th, so the maximum table size is 12 diners, inside space can be used,  closing time is 3 am, and - to Greyrocks' delight - the smoking restrictions remain.

This has revealed what might be "the new normal" in terms of restaurants and bars. What has been closed and still is will likely never re-open. Casualties include Cordon Blue, Tuxedo, Slow Boat buffet, Pizza/Co near Duna Club, big Italian behind Playita, El Sombrero, Casco Viejo, Sushi Bar, Sanus and the eyesore thing next to Fazz,  not to mention Italian coffee bars which resemble musical chairs in management and nomenclature.

Of the rest quite a few stayed open throughout the various levels even if that meant tables in the street, others re-opened without a fanfare and are catching less discerning tourists when the good ones are full! Worthy of note as new ventures are:

El Anzuelo expanding into the premises of El Sombrero with a fancy grill area in-between

La Bolada doubling in size

Da Uli moving to the premises with roof terrace formerly a burger joint between music squares

El Cobijo de Carlos opening as a tapas bar at the top end of Grandes Playas next the closed Loft: (the staff having moved from El Patio Andaluz, which now opens only in the evening)

Jacque Mate located a block back from the Health Centre with a chess theme, and doing BBQs with music and aimed at surfers.

On the shopping front we have lost Zara and an unmemorable trainer store, but gained in the place of the latter a bundle of fun near Hoplaco. Bob returned from a ride to say there was a second model cow in town (the other is outside El Anzuelo)  and Ruth had seen an outbreak of carrier bags bearing the name of a store on Cantera beach in Las Palmas. In fact a branch of Ale-Hop has opened with its eclectic range of gifts, toys, knick-knacks and gadgets. 

Also offering something a bit different - and actually open since shortly before we left in May is Epicure:- a "deli" specialising in French and Canarian delicacies. Greyrocks has bought a few bottles there!!!

Will it ever look thus?

The harbour is undergoing a major expansion and some land-based prettification. The long-term plan is to adapt so that small cruise ships can dock. This was proposed over ten years ago.

During Greyrocks' absence work began on doubling of the number of berths for fishing and pleasure boats. This involves taking heavy tubes out to their position and driving them into the sea-bed, then placing pontoons. Fascinating to watch!

And so to three leisure pleasures for Greyrocks that have been denied by Covid:

A bus trip to El Cotillo. We have nervously been on a bus on the island to do business in Puerto, but this was the first time since March 2020 that we have been for pleasure. It was whilst Neil and Maggie were still with us. En route we stopped at Lajares for the craft market. The village was heaving with traffic. We were unexpectedly asked to show proof of vaccination at the "entrance" to the open-air site, and our visitors struggled to get UK passes accepted. All the stalls had novel items for sale, and the music was good. We managed to pick up the next bus onward. (This is made complicated by an up-and-back route and no timetable on display)

El Cotillo has been much beautified in 17 months, and the bus arrangements changed! But after seeing the sites and a great lunch with Lanzarote wine we got back safely!

Then there is the live music! The blog tells of Bulgarian rock in Cyprus, and Greek rock/pop in Paleo, but not much of it! We have - since returning - caught some unamplified and percussion-free offerings, and we have been twice to the Paradise Friday jam sessions.. but what we craved was to sit in comfort to some Classic Rock from a proper band! This remained a dream until ten days ago, We can now go to both Retro where Straight Ahead play on Fridays, and the Rock Café  where the house band play in some configuration every night. Hugs all round!

Finally we celebrate the return to near normal of the Corralejo Blues Festival! It was back to the usual square, but because of the "vaccinated and seated only" policy there was tall fence of obscure netting all around, and the plastic chairs were carefully spaced, We chose to forgo the visual experience (other than poking our noses through gaps!) and listened on both nights from Domingos with very nice tapas and wine. Unfortunately we missed out on Madeline Bell and Friends by trying to get in when it was full! Hey ho!

Go Cristobel, go!

 

Pausing to note that Spain has a colonial history with much to be ashamed about Greyrocks sends greetings from Fuerteventura on 12th October.  This year it is a Tuesday, which makes it possible for some workers and all schoolchildren and students to have a long weekend or puente. Today is a national holiday.

Corralejo has been heaving over the period. English is dominating the languages spoken amongst tourists as much as it did pre-Covid, but there are also many visitors from the mainland. Bar and restaurant owners are delighted, and the traffic is bad! Normality may be in sight!

As the day is celebrated throughout the Spanish-speaking world (and as Columbus Day in USA) here is a little quiz about the flags of 21 such nations. 

Enjoy!

"It is better to travel than to arrive"

.. but not like this!

Greyrocks is in Puerto del Rosario as planned, and the idea of having a couple of days here to relax seems prescient, as we suffered a lot of stress in the preceding 37 hours! The previously unspoken suggestion that we might be getting too old for this has been uttered!

We started with a 4am taxi to Chania airport with the driver who regularly does the anti-social hours run, and who told us how dead the airport would be. It was indeed with very easy check-in and ages to kill. The flight to Athens was full but arrived early, so we simply walked through the labyrinth of the airport (Schengen arrival so no checks) to find the Vueling check-in. There was hardly any queue at the desk but an employee was checking Covid status before allowing people to get there. We proffered our "Fast Control" QR codes and had trouble identifying the problem, then realised the date on them was today - not yesterday! (It was Ruth that had made the error with the confusion arising from two consecutive days of travel, but Bob had checked it before submission). She said we would have to do new ones and there was plenty of time for that!

We found some space in an increasingly crowded airport and spent an age trying to start again with no success. Communications defaulted to the original. We tried to find Vueling's agent but they would not be there until it was too late, then with the check-in queue now growing alarmingly Bob got past the "filter" and was told we could check-in from the main queue provided we took the risk of not being able to enter Spain. (This would have been disastrous as we were on day 90 of the wretched 90-day allowance) So we joined the queue and from this point were just another two passengers in it. This lasted at least an hour with folk trying to butt in and a distinct lack of social distancing, but we made it and reached the gate with ten minutes to spare until the revised closure. An entire apron bus-full was even tighter in boarding, so we did indeed take off late. 

In Barcelona things were looking as if we might not need the paperwork as we were triaged, but they caught us and the QR codes were declared invalid, so we had to stand with a dozen other sinners and fill everything out again but manually, and were then waved through nicely. From there to Baggage Reclaim which had still not yet started - even after all this! It was late and slow, so we began to get messages about our pre-booked taxi having arrived, and then having gone as the waiting time was exceeded. Twenty WhatsApp later we eventually found it, having been at the wrong exit!  The driver was remarkably pleasant about it all and sped us to the Best Western, which we had selected over our usual hotel, because that no longer had a shuttle during the afternoon. - only for us to discover too late that this one didn't either - hence the taxi! The evening was pleasant and we were knackered, so an early night, with the shuttle booked for 7.30!

Our flight to Fuerteventura was at 10.30 so we thought we had plenty of time to sort the known issue of residents' discount. Brexit has put an end to this sizeable perk of a 75 per cent discount on such flights. We had claimed months previously but had failed to obtain the certificates, which had hitherto been easy to get from the website of the council. We knew we would have to pay the balance and went to the Customer Services desk to join another queue. This one took until 9.20 to clear and give us access to a very helpful person from whom we could only buy a new full ticket. There was seriously anxiety about missing the flight, but she arranged a special check-in desk and we made it to the gate and even had upgraded seats. Out of control small children adjacent meant it was not the most restful flight, but we were elated and relieved to be on it at all! 

On arrival we were once again shepherded by originating airport and our certificates were not inspected. We got a taxi swiftly to the hotel.

We anticipate a good night's sleep!

In the News

 For those waiting with baited breath for this account of Greyrocks' final weeks in September it is here at last! 

The theme of this post is the ways in which we have been touched by world events:

1.The effect of Climate Change

Firstly the the general warming, for we enjoyed what most agreed was the warmest September in living memory! The sea was a little cooler than earlier in the season, and the evenings became chilly, but there were maximum temperatures over 30 degrees on over half of the days in the month.

Forest fires remained a worry. Chloë and Jack arrived with further tales of the devastation on Evia that they had seen during their short stay with friend Tim and his γιαγιά. On our rare trips outside Paleo we would see swathes of scorched land.

Yet more dramatic has been the volcanic eruption and tremors on the Canary Island of La Palma, which began on 19th September.

 We have been following unfolding events in the Canarian press, and there are appeals for financial help for the victims, but as yet there are no discernible effects on the eastern islands. The national paper El Pais has full coverage in English, and - of course there is plenty on YouTube. We await ash cloud and acid rain.

Eight days after the volcano so close to our home there was a serious earthquake in Arkalochori whilst we were still in Crete. It happened at about 9.15 am and several friends said they felt it. 

Through our final days in Crete there was consternation, sympathy and some anger! The last at a policy whereby only vaccinated homeless could use the emergency shelters and the weather was deteriorating!  (Greece continues to have much ant-vax stuff going on!)

An update is that on October 12th there was a 6.3 earthquake at sea, off of Sitia threatening a tsunami!!

2. Migration

The Canaries has - throughout the summer - been the destination of numerous "pateras" with  refugees from conflict and destitution in many third world nations. The migration crisis is the source of much argument between the autonomous region and central government over the process of transporting them to the mainland, as only a few wish to stay on whichever island has received them. The statistics are striking. 24th September was the day with the most arrivals at 340 in 8 boats into Gran Canaria and La Graciosa. The figure for the year at that point was over 11,000 and that does not include those lost at sea, which is estimated as 785 including 50 children. The authorities expect the high numbers to continue into the autumn.

Crete in general and in particular Paleochora has over the years seen some irregular migration by boat, but on 24th September an incident involving 150 migrants in a "stand-off" took place in the sea off of Paleochora.  Chloë and Jack, who stay on the "stony side" witnessed the action.

And - still on migration and from the tragic to the absurd- Greyrocks performed its annual migration from Crete to Fuerteventura as September ended. It needed to be done without landfall in any "third country" and take no more than two days. Details of the complications are in following posts. We also needed to clear all belongings from the rooms we have used each of eight summers to our new place. Our usual driver was not around so we were joined by Chloë and Jack in an attempt to shift it all in one trip on foot. Bob "borrowed" a supermarket trolley. When he returned it empty an employee came out to assist the old man with retrieval of the euro!

3. Covid data and restrictions

In Paleo there was a sense of "recovery" as more tourists arrived, the kids went back to school and curfews were eased, but there was little music beyond the street musicians and masks were still needed in the supermarkets. Fuerteventura, conversely, found itself the only island still on Level 3 restrictions, and that was what we expected to find on our return. We downloaded and completed the special form for entry into Level 3 islands, giving "return to regular domicile" as our justification. It went into the large folder of documents for travel, but it wasn't needed as on the day before migration the level dropped to 2. (Update: two weeks at Level 2 - as of 14th October Level 1 with all the other islands!)

4. Pulling down statues

Not as in Bristol etc the unseating of colonialist, racist slavers, but the loss of an iconic statue in Paleo. The silhouette in brown sheet metal was created by a Dutch artist, and based on a contemporaneous sepia photograph of early visitors, which has been on sale in postcard form for many years. He donated it to the village, but this was not universally welcomed and it has been located in several places - the most recent of which has been near the Palm Tree forming a pleasing addition to sunset shots!

But sometime in September it disappeared! There is a rumour that it was seen beside the road on the way to Chania. We hope it is there for repair (as it was getting a bit worn and vandalised) and no other reason! What did the guys do wrong - let alone the donkey? 

Waves

 

It's looking as if the fifth wave of Covid is over in Spain, and particularly in the Canaries, where Lanzarote has startled onlookers such as Greyrocks  with its speedy and dramatic reduction in active cases. Meanwhile on Fuerteventura it has been a mixed picture, with this week a new death (now standing at 17)  a drop below 100 in the active cases followed by a resurgence (currently 112) and the highest 7-day IA of all the islands. The good news is that as of yesterday there are no cases in the hospital. As Greyrocks sees their migration looming there is a sigh of relief,

The nome of Chania has also continued to see  much better numbers for daily cases, although there is a blip for yesterday at 56.

September has seen the third wave of tourists as far as Greyrocks is concerned. Older, child-free, deeply loyal to Paleo and determined to find a sunbed and umbrella - which is very tricky this year if they want to be in the naturist zone! The September thing has been recorded elsewhere in the blog, but what is striking this year is the shortfall of umbrellas. In charge this season is Yiannis' stepson - Boris (Bobby) from Northern Macedonia. He gets a hard time over this, as there are swathes of sand without any kit, and there are piles of unused beds. The reason is that erosion of sand has left so little on top of rock that further umbrellas cannot be buried sufficiently. There is also the issue of spacing for compliance this season.  He has also - in spite of it being well ultra vires - defended our tree spot and explained our situation to angry folk!

The heatwave is now a distant memory! But there has been a run of days with high and forceful marine waves! This has kept Ruth - at least - out of the sea for fear of being knocked over. We have seen several falls of this type, but some people never learn! Hassan was back after quite an interlude and produced a sand sculpture with two of his favourite subjects: a lion being cuddled by a young woman. It was destroyed overnight by the waves, and he is now unlikely to create any more this season! 

And finally a tribute to The Wave taverna (To Kyma) which hosted a party of 23 for Ju's 65th birthday. Many of us went for the fresh fish for which in Greyrocks' opinion this place is top of the pile (with some real "sharks" around)!

During the meal the strolling players came onto the terrace to sing and dance, and after it we  were entertained by Rainer's boys, and then Charlie. A lovely warm gathering of friends of long standing, taking place on the coldest evening this season!