Weird and Scary

 

Being fans of neither religion nor North American sentimental commercialism Greyrocks has little time for the Halloween thing; but that date in 2020 will be remembered! As one correspondent to the Guardian wrote: this time round it's the ones without masks that are really scary!

Here in the Canaries we were experiencing that mixture of relief and fear that came with the return of British, German and Dutch tourists. Plenty of British families and others have been out and about in town:- not all obeying rules on social distancing and masks! And none will have been subject to any Covid testing, as the scheme based around the certificates needed for check-in at holiday accommodation has only just been publicised for a start up to two weeks from now. It seemed far from perfect, but we saw it as a serious attempt at reviving the local economy, whilst safeguarding the precious status of the archipelago as the only safe place in Spain. We just had to get through this interim phase of "loose canons". Fingers crossed and stay away from Brit-focused bars and restaurants!

Experimental vaccine?

The council banned "truco o trato", but on Friday 30th children from the primary schools were out and about during the day in fancy dress, and there were pumpkins in windows. Greyrocks went out for the evening on 31st, caught the tail end of Eric playing at Anno 2011, confirmed that our favourite Chinese buffet had never re-opened and were welcomed effusively by the friendly woman who had moved over to the pan-Asiatic Oriental across the road. This could be an excellent substitute for Slow Boat Wok. We had a great meal, seeing a few rogue instances of trick and treating; then headed for home and in passing through the "music square" (that hasn't had music) we saw kit on the stage, so settled at Florita. Two Italians performed some decent rock without much interaction. At one point the neighbouring table was occupied by two women - one of whom was in fancy dress - and we had a chat! They are Colombian and great fun!! 

But that was Saturday night, and the full impact of Johnson's "lockdown" for England had not struck us! We have been keeping an eye on the flights between then and Thursday morning, and been urging friends and family to use one to escape to some safety and freedom. For people in town dependent on tourism this is a disaster that will last all month. For Greyrocks it raises the possibility that Chloë and Jack may not be able to join us for their festive break. What a mess! Greyrocks is right behind this editorial.

But we do have some fizz chilling in expectation of the demise of Trump!