Getting on and going over the edge!

January comes to an end and Greyrocks looks back and senses that a great deal of time has been spent relating to the Canarian Health Service. Bob has been visiting the local Health Centre three times a week to have his blood pressure monitored, and Ruth made a visit to the hospital to report in on the knees. The latter was a pleasant surprise. The surgeon was so amazed at the weight loss that he called in his less-than-thin nurse to hear the news, then dosed one knee with cortisone, which he said can be repeated as often as necessary. No denying the advancement of years as we applied for our oldies´ travel insurance for Goa and had to declare it all!
Out on the streets of Corralejo, however, we don´t feel that aged! It is quiet, and the most numerous tourist group is grey Scandawegians behaving strangely (and not spending much money). There have been restaurant casualties. We went a few weeks ago to La Parilla, which is up on the top road so not on our radar. We were recognised by chef/manager Felice whom we met 20 years ago at Dunas Caleta, the steak was good and we got a discount. There was no hint of problems. Now it is gone! One of the oldest Chinese - Hong Kong - also suddenly shut and is being fitted out as a gift shop:- just what we need!
The most exciting event of this anti-climactic fortnight was the swift descent of a private car into the sea at the harbour on Friday evening. The Armas ferry has been out of action and so was in Lanzarote rather than at its usual berth, so there was nothing acting as a barrier, Rumours differ over whether this was a hand-brake-related accident or a suicide attempt. Either way the driver got to dry land!

 

That's Enough Festivities!

This post has been delayed by ****** Google fooling around with Blogger!

No Boxing Day Sales here in Spain! With children not getting most gifts until Kings Day on January 6th it is a long slog through till then, and we have just emerged. The Municipal Gym, for example, closed on 23rd Dec and re-opened on Jan 9th. Nor, of course, do the decorations come down on Twelfth Night as was traditional in Ruth's childhood home :- nothing has yet shifted on the streets of Corralejo! Chez Greyrocks there was a spot of irony on the decoration front. We grudgingly put up the same mean little coffee table tree ornament each year,  and wind lights round the stair rails. We were given these by a benefactor who thought we couldn't afford more! The latter look very good at night, but Ruth wants the whole lot packed away on Jan 7th. Bob has developed a fondness for the lights and refused to agree to their timely removal. On January 8th they would not come on and are irreparable. Oh Joy!

"The" Blue Rock

So how did Mr and Ms Scrooge get through it all? During Christmas Eve the girls started preparing the feast, and we went to Blue Rock to collect our gift of chocolate delights etc from Eileen.  This resulted in an invitation for the next morning for fizz and more. The sun was shining! Then it was back to finish off cooking and hunker down to eat it. There was a  life and death struggle with the avocados for the starter. They are grown here, and there always mounds of them in shops, but finding ripe ones is rare, so these had been bought five days early. Every trick on the Internet was tried bar the microwave, but two of the three refused, so the starter was a bodged one. Still the pre-ordered duck was delicious, and a pleasant family meal was had.

After traditional Christmas breakfast we went to see Chris and Eileen for more bubbly stuff, and Chloë had her hair cut! In another life Chris was a very successful hairdresser, and he was kind enough to deal with her substantial mop. Then back to Blue Rock for an afternoon of roasties and rolls. (Well not, of course, for Ruth!) A nap and then to La Tasca for traditional chateaubriand!

By the 26th (a normal working day) Chloë declared herself "meated out"  so we did fish:- both by jointly cooking a fish pie, and also by going together to Juan's fish spa for nibbled feet; and then on Thursday afternoon we put her on a bus, and she returned to Amsterdam for some 20 hour dance thing!

A brief respite with displaced "Moth" days and Ruth back on some sort of diet and we hit New Year! As usual we went "gastro" for the meal and were amongst the full house at Caracoles for their menu surprise, which this time was:

Chicken consommé and fish terrine 

Prawns, mussels and razor clam in a curried dressing

Fillet steak

Praline sorbet with figs in ron miel

New Years Day was rather windy so we didn't spend long at Blue Rock after our Round The Horne morning, then back home to cook a pheasant!

We had a few days of feverish administration of both a remortgage deal that has taken months, and the February Goa trip. We waited together for an age at the private GP's for our hepatitis boosters, and Bob - not exactly fluent in Spanish - has had fun and games seeing various nurses for blood pressure readings at the Health Centre, but the weather has been lovely during the day, and we have also got in some sunbed time.

Then into the final straight on Saturday 5th:

Kings passed quietly, and normality has resumed; and here is the weight loss bulletin for Ruth:

19.1 kg gone in 11 weeks of which nearly 3 weeks were festive!

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL READERS!