Recycling, but not cycling, pushing the boat out and a whale of a time

As octopuses watched their squids by night!

Returning to the island at the beginning of December we were greeted by the towns offering for the festive season - which begins with the "bridge" of 6th-8th. It is certainly "different" - consisting as it does of allegedly recycled beach debris. A designer was paid a goodly sum for this concept! There was speculation about the potential to survive our famous wind, but so far Greyrocks has seen no casualties. "More the pity" some might say!

The campaign to get Ruth back on the bike has dragged on through the month Her Slovenian physio became convinced that it is a balance issue and so there were new exercises for that and then one day Ruth was taken through to the proper gym and put on a spinning bike, which she managed well. The day came for the visit to the surgeon - now so popular that appointments are made months in advance. He was delighted with the X-rays, fairly happy with the flexing, and bemused by the cycling problem, He diagnosed very frequent exercise on the static bike, so that has been the regime with a month's subscription to the gym.

After the appointment in the capital we had lunch at El Bounty and then took a cab to Lidl on our annual tame goose chase. This time round the freezer had been raided before our visit (Germans like goose apparently!) so we came away with just a pair of goose breasts, which would be fine for the feast itself, but nothing beyond. Then we saw whole Canadian lobsters and couldn't resist so they went into the insulated bag with a cheap real French champagne and the goose, and we began the tedious homeward bus journey. Fortunately it was not too sunny and the bounty remained frozen!

A Cuvier's beaked whale in El Cotillo

Ruth spent three weeks without any booze and on a diet (5 kg lost!) with the prospect of nice things from Christmas Eve onward. Much temptation had to be endured, not least when we went on a bus trip to El Cotillo. This was a delightful day with a lot of sunshine and it was a very welcome pleasure for Ruth to be able to walk without pain, which had not been the case on numerous previous trips! We therefore got to see this fairly recent addition:- a real whale skeleton that is on the "Whale Trail" round the island.

The 24th December target was not quite achieved. The wagon was abandoned on 23rd when we went to Galera beach and excellent rock was being played in the afternoon sunshine, but a noble effort and then the goose was cooked for the Christmas Eve dinner for two! It has been slightly odd not hosting Chloë for either Xmas or New Year for the first time ever, but we have made the best of it, and there is more to come!