Fish and quips

Recovery from the trauma of our return journey took a few days! During the three weeks up until Chloe's arrival we have mostly doing very little - Bob renewed his gym membership and Ruth has been a guest on Fridays on Eileen's show on Hot FM. There is even a risk that she will learn about the knobs and go solo. As it is she has been taking in and talking about her themed playlists. Great fun!

Whilst talking to Eileen one day we mentioned that we liked mackerel and next day her partner Chris turned up at Africa's shack with two shiny caballas. (not caballos - which is horses!) As our resident "Chris the Fish" he knows a thing or two about such things and had just caught three. He stood in the shallows to gut and clean them, as all the fishermen here do. They were very tasty baked in foil for twenty minutes with lemon juice and plenty of pepper!

Meanwhile Corralejo's street refurbishment is nearly complete, and we have our first ever wind turbines - two of them near the desalination plant. If they had been in service they would have been busy over the last couple of weeks.! The weather changed on 29th November and we have had some funny weather - including the unusual South wind, and some downpours. There have been a lot of converstions around "Yes, but look at the UK!" Quite so!

The Joys of Travel - Not!

After our jolly family day things went rapidly downhill! The next day was Bob's birthday so we were meeting Chloe in Brighton. Bob had arranged an eye test with Specsavers as he needed to order new galasses. He turned up for the appointment, but was told the NHS wouldn't pay for it because he had been examined earlier in the year in Fuerteventura. The weather was atrocious with wind and driving rain, but we traipsed round every optician in the city looking for someone who would do one, and fuming about unhelpful regulations. Eventually we returned to Specsavers and used the Spanish prescription. Lunch was to have been fish and chips on the pier. The pier was closed because of the huge waves lashing. So that was off, and instead we sat in Harry Ramsden's watching the weather!

Eventually we met Chloe in the supermarket and bought her some supplies, then went back to her house for introductions to house-mates. The evening with her and new beau Ben was fun but we stayed late in the Italian and when we reached the station (long wet uphill walk!) the last train had already gone. A helpful employee said there was a solution - so we took it! This meant a long wet downhill walk to the coach terminus and a depressing wait until the 1 am service to Gatwick Airport, where we had another miserable wait for a night train to East Croydon.

Next day we went to Balham to do some business and then abandoned any plans for activities in Central London because the weather and our spirits were so damp. We got ourselves to Victoria Coach Station and eventually boarded a coach to Stansted Airport, after an argument on behalf of ourselves and a number of foreign tourists with a driver who maintained our tickets were for the previous service (which had never turned up!). This is,in fact, a very useful, efficient and cheap service, (there is even a half-fare for the over-60's), but it doesn't feel like it as you crawl up through North London. We had an early supper in the Irish pub at the airport, then took the shuttle to the Holiday Inn Express. This is also useful and cheapish, as well as comfortable.

We were up at 4am for the shuttle back to the airport, and a quick Easyjet check-in with no baggage weight problems:- straight through security, the day's papers and a coffee - so far so good! There were warning notices about the time time taken to get to some gates, so when ours was put up we set off, only to to discover that we needed to use the shuttle. This runs every 3 minutes and should have two coaches, but mostly there was only one, and Bob had a severe attack of claustrophobia when he saw the crowding. (A huge number of flights leave between 7 and 9am!) Ruth went on ahead without passport or boarding card. Eventually, after a great deal of frustration trying to deal with both Easyjet and BAA staff, Bob was brought in a vehicle, but 5 minutes too late. So.... we missed the flight! Bags were off-loaded but lost somewhere in the system and we were told to wait to be accompanied back to Arrivals. This took ages and meanwhile we saw that there was a virtually empty Thomas Cook flight going to Fuerteventura, but unavailable to us!

We were led back through staff doors and onto the (empty) shuttle, and found the bags. Easyjet declined all responsibility (as did BAA) but could sell us a ticket for the Saturday (3 days on!). We opted to go back to Gatwick on a three hour coach journey to catch an afternoon flight to Gran Canaria. This worked but was very stressful! Fortunately we know Las Palmas airport so went straight to the right area for inter-island flights and got ourselves onto the 19.30. Buses worked except that at this time of day they don't go down to the ferry, so we had a bit of a trek from the bus station. We were home by 10pm - just 18 hours since we started (and a few pounds and euros the poorer!)

GC and GB:- roving again!

We left Furete on 6th November - bound for Gran Canaria on a cheap residents' air ticket. The plan was to stay on the island for two weeks before going back to UK for Ruth's Mum's 80th birthday party. With clients in the Corralejo apartment and a bargain accommodation deal for us this was virtually a free holiday!


We spent 11 days in what has become a regular haunt in Maspalomas. The weather was very good indeed. We swam in the pool at the complex and had two beautiful days down on the dunes including dips in the sea. Our little bungalow was basic but comfortable - so much so that we had daily visits from a very affectionate local cat! In general GC seemed less adversely affected by a drop in tourism. Certainly the main beach was heaving when we were there, with no spare sunbeds and busy beach bars. On a couple of days it was too windy to be pleasant on the beach, but we "did" the Maspalomas market with bratwurst lunch, and Bob hired a bike for assorted rides.


We think, however, that the dreaded All-Inclusive deals are as devastating to small businesses as in Corralejo. Over in the tourist mall near us there was desperation to drag in diners, and even more empty premises than last time we visited.



In "Holiday World" - a fairground and amusement arcade nearby they lit the lights and ran the rides, but punters rattled around.

On the second Sunday we took a northbound bus to Bahia Feliz, so that Bob could take out a sea kayak. He had done so in Corralejo harbour in October - complete with falling in the water when trying to get out! The resort itself is totally forgetable:- minimal beach, uninteresting restaurants and no Spanish visitors or residents! Bob a had a good ride out though in both directions. We gave up on finding a "charming little Spanish spot for something tasty for lunch", and walked back down the coast to a better spot before taking the bus back to Playa del Ingles.


By the next day all the talk was of the looming storm! Tenerife took the brunt on the Monday itself. GC had cloud and wind. As we checked out of the complex next day the receptionist said that Las Palmas was suffering badly. There was evidently some disruption to transport as we had to wait a long time for a bus, and when we eventually arrived there was a lot of standing water. It seems we missed the flooding of one of the Las Palmas bus stations by a matter of hours.

We stayed three nights in our "usual" hotel just off of Carateras beach. The weather was absurdly changeable;- at times around 32 deg C, and then suddenly heavy cloud cover with the threat of rain, which barely happened. Sun umbrellas went up and down, whist chair cushions went in and out! Out on the delightful promenade we encountered again the fisherman cleaning his catch. He could easily have been one of the "live statues", but is in fact a very convincing inert one. The plaque speaks of the need to be always living near the sea:- a sentiment we share!

We spent time up on the hotel's top floor following weather developments on the laptop, and researching Fiat dealers in the city. We will soon have to decide whether to buy a new car in UK or GC. The ins-and-outs of this are tortuous, but we thought we might make some progress if we visited a showroom and discussed prices and procedures. (It is said to be more complicated to buy a car than a property in Spain!) We looked up where to go and which urban bus (guagua - pronounced wahwah!) we needed. We waited a long time at a bus stop where it was stated one would stop, but then we decided to check on this by looking at the network map pasted in the bus-shelter :- completely different from the one we had picked up from the bus station the day before! Grrrrr! - especially as we could not find a stop for the alleged service.We walked and walked in hot sun and as the 1pm watershed loomed. At a bus interchange we asked and found out that our map was right and the one on the shelter wrong. He recommended carrying on walking! As time was no getting critical we abandonned for the day! Next day we got to the premises (on a tiny bus that first did a circuitous route round the residential heights). The bus driver said it was a SEAT place, but there was a also a large FIAT sign to lead us there. Rejoice! Except that it didn't sell Fiats - just repairs and service! The salesman showed us a map of the city and pointed out another place at the other end of the city. (Las Palmas is the 5th largest in Spain apparently) Off we go on more buses - thankfully at only 68 centimos per ride. The traffic was so bad as lunchtime approached that in the end we got off and abandoned our plans! We went for a walk in the San Telmo area and saw an exhibition promoting Gran Canaria's plans for a high speed train. One can only hope that the information on its services is more efficient than for the guaguas.

After a pleasant three days including dinner at Galia - the magnificent French restaurant - but the discovery that the Brasilian rodizio we also wanted to visit was gone without trace, we set off on an evening Easyjet flight to Gatwick. The fear had been of the cold:- we don't have many winter clothes in Fuerte! In fact it was quite mild for the five days we were in UK. It was just very, very wet and windy!

We stayed four nights on the 10th floor of the Croydon Travelodge. From there we visited the properties in Morden and Balham, consumed plenty of real ale (one of only about three things we really miss about England!) and stocked up on teabags and sauces. On the Sunday we went by train to Hampshire, with Chloe hopping on the train at Hove. There were 13 people from four generations at the restaurant for Viv's 80th birthday celebration - including four boys under six. This was a total attendance of all offspring and partners, and worth the journey! (House policy means no family photos posted :- if you know our e-mail, ask and ye shall be given!)