Since the last posting we have been around! We left a very sunny Corralejo on 20th November, flying to Stansted to arrive late at night, so we had booked into the Holiday Inn Express. . It was desperately cold, and all we wanted was a warm room, comfortable bed and a warm shower in the morning. First two OK but the boiler had broken down and there was no hot water. We only learnt this after Bob had spent 15 minutes wrestling with the controls and drenching the floor! We were given a compensatory voucher , but we ventured forth on our 4 hours coach journey in a disgusting state! The trip (via Heathrow and Gatwick Airports) was quite fun and we had a very comfortable and conveniently located hotel on Brighton seafront. It was just very, very cold, and were barely equipped on the clothing front! One of the coldest places was up on the downs at Falmer on Chloe's campus (see summertime photo left above). We met up three times - including for shopping and a Sunday roast. She is very happy at Uni and shares a flat with 7 other 1st year girls. She is the consultant on cooking and a nag about recycling.She had politely told us that she would not be available on the Saturday evening so we went to the Theatre Royal (lovely place!) to see for the third time a performance of Round the Horne Live. Some improvements on the London ones, and a great night out!
Then we took a 3 pound sterling each pre-booked train to East Croydon and stayed as before at the Travelodge. This time we were given a room so big that the heating was insufficient and we had to move! In icy South London we visited both rented properties and the estate agent, did a little shopping and consumed some real ale and an Indian meal. We didn't linger in the local pub, though, as their heating had broken down. Bob did a GP and dentist visit and we spent far too long in building society branches getting bad information from people aged about 16! On the Tuesday we went by train for a day in Hampshire including lunch with the parents, sisters and partners. Cold down there as well!
At 4.30 am on Thursday we checked out to go to Gatwick for an early and fairly cheap Easyjet flight to Gran Canaria. The sun was shining when we arrived, but there was a cold wind - and so it was for the rest of our stay on GC! We stayed in a similar complex to the one in Feb. but Bob had gone down with a heavy cold so with that and the weather we only made the briefest visits to Maspalomas beach (windswept) and never got round to hiring bikes. The icing on the cake was when the laptop stopped playing DVDs and during attempts to solve the problem Windows siezed up, leaving us stranded.
After 8 nights we transfered to Las Palmas and the Hotel Astoria. We think it is good value and so well-located that its faults - including the cat pee smell - are worth tolerating; but others take a different view! http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187472-d506816-Reviews-Astoria_Hotel-Las_Palmas_Grand_Canary_Canary_Islands.html#
This was the two-Bank-Holday weekend in Spain. There was no rationale to what was open on each of the Sat, Sun and Mon, but a nice computer specialist told us we would need to completely re-format the hard-disk of the laptop. Fortunately he didn't have time to do it!
To hide from the cold wind and occasional rain we went to the Elder Museum of Science and Technology, which is a slightly strange selection of exhibits, but interesting. There is a Maths section with puzzles and displays. This failed, however, to inspire Ruth to go back to work. The best exhibit is the Maquina de Betancourt - a sort of simulated perpetual motion mechanism with 30 balls, see above and http://www.museoelder.org/maquina_sp.htm.
Other highlights were a return visit to Galia - the French restaurant - this time with Beaujolais Nouveau - and a Brazilian rodizio.
We flew back on Monday in one of Islas' new luxury planes and were back to Corralejo by bus remarkably quickly for a Bank Holiday. Aswe walked back from the port we dropped into La Luna to see if Computer Dave was there. He was, and took a look at the laptop right away. This was the beginning of a series of daily consultations with him as he worked away on rescuing the situation. The man is a saint! We have lost very little, and there are some improvements in performance; but that week was odd - terrible weather and no computer!
Chloe arrived on Tuesday from Birmingham. We borrowed Mike's car for the day and went round the out-of-town shops of Puerto del Rosario. She brought a foul British end-of-first-term cold and needed nursing for a few days. Meanwhile the weather was poor for five days or so.