"Bearing gifts they travelled afar"

Greyrocks is in Goa and wrestling with some pretty dreadful internet speeds in order to get published before the end of January a post to cover the first two exciting weeks of 2014 in Fuerteventura. Somehow after hair being rapidly and lengthily torn we have it:- Kings night/day and the Infanta's visit!

We saw in the New Year at Caracoles as is now traditional. It is always a delightful surprise to discover what Carlos has dreamt up for the gourmet occasion, and this time included half a bogavente (small lobster). After the meal we wandered around a bit until midnight, went to Blue Rock, caught some fireworks and tht was it!

"The Kids" arrived on the 4th. It was Matt's first time on the island and Chloe has never experienced the delights of Kings Day, so the morning after they came we encouraged them to get up and go to see the Three Kings come in on the ferry from Lanzarote. Later on Greyrocks decided they had seen the procession enough times over the years, and delegated attendance to them. It was a good one apparently, with some fairy tale characters, stilt walkers and dramatic soap bubbles. With the traditional early closure of restaurants we all had an evening in with the delayed festive family feast of duck and raspberry sauce.

The weather was generally kind for their nine day stay. They had a day down near Flag Beach, and a day on Lobos. Surfing conditions have been ideal for months, so plenty of opportunities for the man with the  expensive camera. Here are some of the images - courtesy of Matt:-

We ate our way round a carefully selected set of restaurants, and all were good, although less so El Anzuelo, for which Greyrocks wrote a Trip Advisor review.

On 13th January they went back to London with C due to start her apprenticeship the next day, and Greyrocks having a day to prepare for Goa. Our Last Supper together was at La Tasca:- local sausage, huge prawns and a Chateaubriand to die for!

This post has almost caused a loss of the will to live, however! Back to the sunbed!

Culture in Corralejo: - well nearly!

As the year ends Greyrocks looks back on some cultural highlights of the last two months- in music, cinema and stage.
The island doesn't feature on many significant rock tours, but we did have a gig by a Dire Straits tribute band called Overbooking - who hail from Gran Canaria. They played at the Corralejo Auditorio, and this was Greyrocks' first visit there. An impressive line-up and very competent performance to a rather under-sized audience!
We have also made international news as the setting for filming of the new Ridley Scott spectacular:- "Exodus", causing some excitement and some (rather constrained) temporary employment.

And last - as the nadir or zenith - there is the panto! (Notice the acronym for the company!) Greyrocks tried to rouse interest for a coach party, but it it ended up as them plus Mel and Elaine. We nonetheless had a whale of a time. It was very well-produced, had beautiful costumes (of course!) and there was animated audience participation. The Phoenix Bar was closing for good the night after we went, so watch this space for news of Kennie (Sadie) rising from the ashes!

Greyrocks wishes all readers a Very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful 2014!

Gringos Tontos and Felices Fiestas Round 1

One of many seasonal sand sculptures in town

One of the benefits of being ex-pats retired  to a non-Anglophone country is the humility meted on otherwise competent folk when best efforts with language and local custom just aren`t enough. The  past month has seen a series of "doh" moments:
First there is the Big Toe:- how dumb to have imagined Ruth would walk in off the street and have the operation done there and then, but we did think this resulting in us making arrangements based on that assumption. It was, in fact, just a fairly brief X-ray inspection and consent-granting visit, so Greyrocks continues to wait for the call, and now it can´t be done until after Goa.
Second, we have the saga of the (extortionate - don´t they want visitors?) Indian visas. For three consecutive annual applications Greyrocks has traipsed down to Puerto del Rosario by bus to send off the passports to Madrid by the specified courier. Its office having moved south to beyond the airport we were distressed. This would mean an even more tortuous journey, which we reluctantly pencilled in until we were talking about this with a friend who asked why we didn´t have the package picked up from home. We rang the couriers and asked how much extra this would cost. The answer:- nothing - all included in the extortionate price! The nice man called round next day!
Feeling relieved but stupid we waited to find out what was wrong with the visa application as there always is something! Sure enough the phone call came through from Madrid:- we had left out some documentation and would have to send it by e-mail. This interchange is taking place in slow simple Spanish. The attempts to spell out the e-mail address numbered six! This is because it includes the letter "k" - a late entrant to the Spanish alphabet and pronounced in a most peculiar way. Very embarrassing! In further pre-Christmas acts of stupidity Ruth has fallen off the bicycle, stabbed one finger on the sewing machine and chopped into another with a vegetable knife, but we did manage to complete the re-decoration of the whole duplex just in time for the festivities. (About time, after over eleven years!) The swimming pool and sea remain untroubled by Greyrocks`presence, and we have had some "interesting" weather:- notably between 9th and 13th when the whole archipelago was hit by a tormenta. Our island got off lightly compared to - in particular - Tenerife.

"Not Frosty the Snowman!"

Claire's inspiration 2013!

Aftermath at the Rock

Normality on the climatic and domestic front resumed and by Christmas Eve afternoon we were able to sit outside Los Pescaditos in bright sun with a bottle of Prosecco listening to neighbours Dave and Pete, who - to our disappointment - added three festive numbers to their repertoire, and British tourists attempted to whip up Xmas jollity. Ah well:- the Bah Humbug hat came out next day for the traditional afternoon with roasties and meat rolls at the Blue Rock! Greyrocks had done its festive meal by then, finding the Spanish practice of cooking for the previous eve a more restful thing. After a glorious sunny time there we lurched down to La Tasca for a beautiful Chateaubriand, and that was Xmas - done and dusted!



Yarmouth Boy presents the new Fishwife

The plinth outside Blue Rock has yet another occupant! Regular readers (or indeed visitors) will recall that a water feature, an urn and a peculiar cartoon figure have been there and been removed!  A couple of weeks ago this statue  - in remarkably good taste - suddenly appeared. Greyrocks almost organised a proper caption competition, but didn't. Some suggestions have included:
There's a plaice for us
Gotta whole lotta sole
Found it at last - I wondered what the smell was!
etc!



Meanwhile today Greyrocks is off to the pantomime. "Oh, yes we are!"










Two breaks, two (missed) wakes, a knees-up, Big Toe issues and a thousand tissues

"Ahhhh!"

Well, November is probably the cruelest month in Spain with no bank holidays after All Saints on the 1st and the double festivo whammy in early December, plus the effects of the hour change! We did our best but it was not our happiest time! Halloween largely passed us by because we took a three night break further South to the Barcelo in Caleta de Fuste, which is a tourist rather than residents´ location. The justification was two-fold: to celebrate a year of weight loss for Ruth (37 kilos at the time) and in anticipation of her immobility following the toe operation seemingly scheduled for the 9th. It was not as good a stay as in 2012:-  the tariff structure meant Greyrocks didn´t run to a Superior Room, the place was over-run by badly behaved Brits (both children and adults) and there was a lot of cold wind. Ruth - having relished a pain-free walk to the hotel - twisted something, hence:- no swimming, no cycling, little walking and not much sunbed time, but we knew what we were doing on the dinner front, and along with one Barcelo buffet (for which they forgot the wine making it a reasonable deal) Greyrocks got in two excellent meals. Read about them on their Trip Advisor.

Just after the return home the hospital rang to say the appointment was changed (with no other options) to 29th. A cat amongst the pigeons! We would be in Gran Canaria on Trip 2! Hasty rearrangements took place to get a flight back booked to be on time, and we would also lose 3 days of paid-for accommodation. Unfortunately on top of this Ruth had started a head cold in Caleta, so spent two days bed-ridden, and Bob was three days behind. This was a bad week! We hunkered down, and - as a result - missed the wake for Boat Mike whom we knew fairly well and would have liked to toast! A few days later there was a second wake for a Brit we barely knew:- Clive! A bad run!



"Not bad for 65!"

RIP Mike and Clive

 

Fortunately we did not miss the do (a week later and also at Rogues´ Gallery) for the 65th birthday of Greyrocks´ friend and hairdresser Elaine. It started in the afternoon, featured food from Casbah Mike and a flash cake and there was jolly music, singing and dancing. It´s a shame all the party frocks were hidden beneath fleeces:- a chilly wind!










 



"That`s Playa del Ingles! - think 3 characters from Pugwash!"
 

The filthy colds lasted for three weeks and there were too many cold spells, but we struggled through and went off on our Birthday Bash trip to Gran Canaria (albeit truncated).  We started with three days in Las Palmas. On the first afternoon we sat at a bar on Las Canteras prom with a chilled bottle of wine and thought all was well. Suddenly the wind changed and we got inside just before the rain started! It rained everyday after that - most notably on Sunday when we went to see "The biggest TransAtlantic Regatta in the World" and ended up wandering round the administrative area of the city in a downpour. We found a bar and lurked there for hours. Having suffered appalling drunken noise until 4am this was probably a sound outcome! Anyway, we then went for four nights at the lovely Vista Flor in Maspalomas. Not such bad weather, but nothing to write home about! Bob did a good walk, Ruth swam once, we went to the market and we sat on a very windy and eroded beach!

 

Of the whole week the best thing was some good meals. For details look at the Trip Avisor reviews!

We got back on a morning flight, were seen early at the hospital for both X-ray and surgeon consultation, discovered surgery was never envisaged for that day (but will be soon!), and went by cab to despatch our passports for Indian visas. The couriers had moved! Grrrrr! So we end the month with a pile of washing, a package of passports to go to Madrid, a layer of calima on the terraces and an intact - if defective - big toe! Read on!

 

 



 

 

 

Gone to rust!

 So October comes to an end and Greyrocks marks three weeks back on "Fraggle Rock". It was an easy, uneventful and cheap transit from Barcelona, and Windows Dave met us and by the time we reached Corralejo he had responded to questions and told us most of the openings and closures of note.
We were soon back into the swing, but when we moved the bikes from the kitchen we found a level of rusting too gross to show to the Bicycle Repair Man. There was nothing we could do:- a brand new Spanish bike for Ruth, and a re-conditioned one for Bob (against which he was given an allowance)!
Greyrocks wallowed in renewed access to the Health Service, with Ruth seeing the sainted surgeon and discovering the need for a small operation. (More on this follows). Bob did his verucca thing with the (paid) podiatrist in Puerto del Rosario.

Last weekend Corralejo hosted the Blues Festival. Greyrocks had been very disappointed when the 2013 event did not happen in the Spring, but suddenly there were posters, and plans wewre made to make the most of it! It was more low-key than previous ones, with no "big names". On Friday we lurked behind the stage at one of the German bars, and on Saturday seven of us booked a table at La Plaza and were delighted most by something barely Blues at all:- The Big Band de Gran Canaria. There wasn´t so much "Street Blues", but we did encounter a scratch band at Africa,s. Nice!

The weather has been glorious, with just a couple of days with cloud and spots of rain.

On the gastronomic front we have been back to La Luna (twice), Slow Boat Wok (twice) La Tasca (change of personnel) and Caracoles and all are still up to scratch! Our only new venture is Boa Vida which has opened in the old Pancho Villa premises near Avenida. It is a Brazilian "rodizio" such as we have encountered in Rio and Las Palmas. Very noisy, variable meat quality, disapponting salad... but definitely a positive addition to the Corralejo scene! We have also been to the re-opened Cafe Lounge near chez nous. Not bad - see how it goes!

GOOD TO BE BACK!

The Surreal Thing!

The last phase of the Migration comprised a three-day stay in sunny Roses on the Costa Brava. We went back to the hotel used in the Spring. It was hot and sunny with little wind, and we had a jolly time! We also at last made it to Figueres  for the Dali Experience. This was the most "touristy" thing Greyrocks has done for a very long time. The Museo  was heaving and there were many Russian elbows and giggling German students. Having failed to collect a plan at the outset we performed the tour fairly shambolically, but perhaps that is fitting! What a genius! Worth every (pensionista rate) euro!

(Greyrocks, camera died the day before the trip, so the mobile phone has been in use since. Hence the photos are even worse than usual!)

 

La Rentreé

"We're in the wrong bit!"

 

It seems inevitable that the posts about the Autumn Migration are late each year, so Greyrocks is only now covering late September and the languorous progression through the South of France. We were having such a great time at Lattes that we decided to stay on there rather than have the second week in Agde. The decision was also the result of close scrutiny of the Meteo, which kept predicting and then re-scheduling a serious storm. Eventually it happened, and it was indeed dramatic! On many days it was very hot and sunny. We mastered getting into and around Montpellier by tram, and we cycled a lot. Here is a flavour of our 13 day stay: