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!