Down but not out!

Well:  - as we approached the UK House of Commons' third vote on May's ludicrous Brexit proposal  we were out and about in Corralejo - and without access to a news bulletin. We watched Spanish TV news and it gave us the result but using the the verb rechazar which defeated us, as did a series of double negatives in the subtitles. Bob had to leap on the bike and go home to sort this out! So, as expected, we get a stay of execution!
We caught up with each other at Paradise - a renamed establishment in the refurbished Hoplaco Gardens area, where on Friday afternoons there is now a jamming session that has replaced the old Pescaditos event. Greyrocks enjoys it, and it is generally poplar with players and punters alike. 

On this occasion it really was only fit for players! They were huddled in the roofed area playing for each other, as the demolition of the aged apartment block on the street reached a critical point, and the noise and dust was barely tolerable in the outside drinking area. Great company as ever, but not a place to linger!

By today it is just a compacted heap of rubble (the apartment block. that is:- not the bar, and watching the UK go that way is only funny if you aren't a Brit ex-pat in Europe!

Note: rechazar translates as "reject"

March 23rd 2019: A day of two rather different marches

On Saturday afternoon Greyrocks was glued to various UK channels and websites to follow the progress of two aspects of a cause very dear to the heart: the swelling number of signatures to the petition to revoke Article 50, and the million-plus strong march through London. We had both signed the former days earlier, and we were there in spirit at the latter, and indeed in live contact with "fellow-traveller" friends who were there in person, or - like us - just too far away! We really need these confirmations that our home country is not the xenophobic and regressive place that the referendum result suggested: particularly being - it seems - surrounded by Brexiteers: both tourist and ex-pat!! We reached 7 pm feeling a lot better.

(There are wonderful photos of banners, placards and personal adornment on the New European's site)

We were then off to witness another parade, for it was the big night for Corralejo's carnival. The two events are not unrelated. The theme this year was "Cities of the World", and until a week before the plan for a costume - which Ruth at least has always donned - was to pay homage to "Bruselas" with  blue and gold clothes and a specially-created hat rather like this one worn by Lizzie Windsor!. The hat had been bought at the Chinese shop, and the stencils for stars partly made. Then we reflected on the poisonous atmosphere between the two Brit factions and decided against it.

The bodged offering of some Indian clothes a la Mumbai was so weak most people didn't notice. making it the most unimaginative  of the eleven Greyrocks has done over the years, Another casualty of Brexit!

Nonetheless we enjoyed the evening - with the main part of the parade viewed as usual from the inside of American Burger. The floats conveying the various "queens" were as beautiful as ever, but barely "on theme", and after that something had gone wrong at the top of the street as there were enormous gaps between floats, and there was very little interesting going on upon them (only on on-board barbecue, for example). Eventually we decided it must have finished unceremoniously and left! Out on the streets there was plenty of fancy costume, but mostly general purpose, plus a lot of Mexicans. We dropped in at Blue Rock where - as usual - Claire and Jules really had made an effort and were "Turning Japanese".

On Sunday we had a very good supper at Marquesina - in part for the view there would be of "The Funeral of the Sardine" with its attendant fireworks. All pretty good this year and now "The Carnival is Over".

Also on Sunday at the Rogues' music session a drunken German tried to engage a group of Brits over Brexit. Whoops!

A Bumpy Journey Home

Not the finest in the fleet!

Today we received from BA a dismissive response to our complaint, so it's weapons drawn and time to catch up with this blog where we had hoped to record a victory. Resolving this may take some time!

We left Palolem by taxi at 4 am, so the road was clear and we arrived at the airport in good time, but had to mingle for entry with passengers for at least two Russian charter flights, so ended up with no long wait. There isn't much to say about Dabolim airport these days. It is a lot better than it was! Our Air India domestic flight was pretty full, the "breakfast" was a joke, and we were seated behind an Israeli new age family, which was a bit of a challenge to the patience! In Mumbai everything was easy and having reached the BA check-in we were offered the chance to be processed early. This was in very welcome contrast with an appalling experience last year, but we eschewed it as we had a cunning plan involving a bottle of wine in hold luggage and a discreet carrier bag! We killed time and then cadged paper cups, opened the wine and killed some more! At check-in we waltzed up to an empty desk and were away in five minutes. The clerk didn't seem to understand why we were amazed. So far, so good, BA!

One last Kingfisher - at a price!

All the other stuff - immigration, security, tediously complicated route through duty-free shop, eye-wateringly expensive beer  and lengthy boarding passed off without mishap and we settled in to our special seats - for which we had paid GBP 100 extra. They were the "twin" pair at the back, so no neighbours, near galley and loo, and a great place to spend ten hours or so watching films and TV! The expectation was that the selection would be better than on Qatar coming out! On came the safety film and Bob had nothing on his screen! Nor did he for the whole flight! Unlike the treatment six years previously when - unlikely as this might seem - the same had happened he had to manage without. No offer of a seat move, no champagne, and just a bit of sympathy from one crew member in the closing stages of the flight and some better wine! We were also given a case number - which as we see today was a complete waste of time and effort!

The flight was not improved by being both extended in time and extremely bumpy. It was Day 2 of the stand-off between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and Pakistani airspace was closed, so the usual route up over the Caspian Sea and into Central Europe was not possible.  Instead we headed over the Arabian Sea, Egypt and the Med. Whether the re-routing itself or some other cause is to blame barely matters: we had the worst and longest-lasting turbulence we have known - complete with spilt coffee and wine. Still, we made it to Heathrow over an hour late, but were still able to catch our coach round to Gatwick - and it wasn't too silly to be in cropped trousers and sandals. We spent a very comfortable night at the Premier Inn, caught some rain crossing the road to the terminal, and had an uneventful flight back to Fraggle Rock with Easyjet. Dave met us as usual and told us of the great weather there had been in our absence.

This week it's Carnaval time in Corralejo! Bring on the clowns:- such as those in BA Customer Relations!

Exit pre-Brexit and at last a "touchdown"!

Talpona Beach

The last ten days in Goa were notable for the weather. Those in the know said it was more like March than the second half of February, as the days would warm up to levels like 38C, then the evenings turn chilly and the nights humid. Greyrocks made a day-trip to Agonda, which made a change, and feeling that we hadn't done enough strolling at the south end of Palolem beach set off on a very hot day to walk - at the optimal tide time - to the Sundowner bar with its glorious view, Having waded waist-deep across the river and manoeuvered round the rocks we discovered it was closed for a wedding! So we never did get there! But we did get to see a beach new to us, when the six of us (as in Beer O'Clock and The office) were invited for coffee at the "new" home of The Nest's Mohan and Ellie, which is not far from Talpona Beach. we were all enchanted by their house (in Portuguese colonial style), their garden and their plans. Rather less fun was the rapid descent of a large coconut which just grazed the arm of Harvey, making that the second close encounter of the coconut kind in a fortnight! We then went to the beach itself where there are two shack restaurants, and no beds or umbrellas, and we had an absurdly cheap and fresh lunch. As with Galgibag further down the coast it is only a matter of time before this lovely little spot is developed!

Beer O'Clock happened almost every evening and the setting of the sun was watched with interest! Bets (suitably small in size) were sometimes even made as to whether the base of the sun would be seen to touch the horizon. For many weeks it never did - being obscured by the layer of "pollution" that is a regular feature, and then on Greyrocks' penultimate evening it did, Was this a sign that we could now depart?

In the final few days we were lucky to be offered spice shopping in Chaudi by our restaurateur friends and the package was one of the few things we brought back, having a loathing for the haggling entailed in clothes and gift shopping!
It was a truly great holiday, and some advance plan were made for 2020.

Movies: Goalposts ahoy!

Last year: ten movies in two different venues. This year: fewer but..

Over the years the DVD has almost died! This means a change of merchandise for our friend Harry, who still discreetly does his thing on the beach, but with other stuff (like Valentines roses!) and that any bar can consider showing a rip-off film projected onto a sheet! We have a new entrant in TATWAS and they do much better than that! We know the owner and she has encouraged us to visit - both for films and live music, It is an outstanding venue for either. Newly opened this season with stunning decor. good food and well-trained staff  it should do well, but is a little of the beaten track and not well-publicised! Our first evening was to see the Goa-Ts, with Irish guest set, and plenty of dancing. But it has shown films at least weekly since then and the sound and screen are great!

Meanwhile. El Diablo next door to our rooms picks all the right films, but suffers from intrusive noise and other tech problems, and Steak House shows a lot of films - including classics - but is tricky to reach, Rockit also shows films, but we have never been! So here is the summary matched to the Oscars which happened in our last few days:

Not bad for free and good food alongside!

The story of the showing of The Favourite is worth sharing:

We turned up at the appointed hour and there was a small crowd of people including a Brit couple eating. We ordered food and soon Simon addressed the audience by saying that someone had deleted the copy and we could choose to watch some other film or wait for a new download, which he optimistically said would take about twenty minutes! We all opted for the latter, so he set off the process on the laptop, which was right next to us, and he started to show YouTube comedy sketches to amuse us. His selection was not far off Greyrocks' list of favourites, but clearly not to everyone's taste and as the download speed reduced and the wait extended folk left until only five or so were left. This included a German-speaking regular, to whom Simon made an apology as he played the famous bit from Fawlty Towers! We kept asking between clips for a status report on the download, and it wasn't good news, but another sketch was played ,,,,The film eventually started around 100 minutes late, which meant tiredness, excessive wine and the growing noise from bars and street conspired to detract from the brilliance of the film, and Greyrocks will have to watch it again!

"Love Boat" on Feb 14th!

Last Valentine's was marred by the only tummy bug of the entire stay and a Greyrocks celebratory meal at Dropadi was postponed. As plans emerged for the next "Office Outing" we realised we would be on board during the day of the upcoming 14th and unappreciative of a good meal on the evening that followed! So as we walked off for a lunchtime stroll down the beach a few days before we made an impromptu decision to go there then - in spite of Bob being bare-chested, and there being no special occasion. It was, as ever, a wonderful meal with good wine, attentive service and a lovely view!  The crab masala came served thus, so in paying the bill (expensive  for India) we declared it a Valentine substitute.

What did happen on the day itself was a near-annual day out on Betty's Boat Trip. Greyrocks has done this around six times - but not since 2015! The other four Office regulars were keen to repeat and back in Benaulim Nick and Theresa and friends were not averse, so we booked two taxis to transport us, Kay, John, Pat and Norway Dave (all veterans) up to Mobor for a 9.30 start. There we met and made introductions and three went upstairs on the boat and the rest of us made an impact on the lower deck! The nature of the trip and its amazing value has been described here before, but this TripAdvisor review does it well! .. except to say how lovely the prawns and then the fish are!! And the women were given a rose in recognition of the date!

We were disappointed that the silting of the river mouth, the tide and the wind meant we didn't get out to sea for dolphin spotting, and that the bird reference books weren't evident this time (nicked??) , but Nick had a very good one of his own, there were other twitchers amongst us and binoculars were supplied.  We were shown the fish to be cooked for us and it was not a kingfish. Our restaurateur fellow-traveller declared it to be a "reefer"; leading to a lot of silly remarks about smoking it! (The booze had already started flowing!) Even with only an average wildlife viewing the chugging down the river, the wonderful food and the sociability makes this a "must-do" for Greyrocks and friends, but if considering it have a look at this other perspective.

On the way back bets were made on who would fall asleep, but no-one did (even Ruth), and we adjourned to UTI for daiquiris and wine, followed by supper of a ten rupee packet of crisps.  Memories are made of such days!

Species various of Goa: ox, frog, flying ants, amorous poultry, hermit crabs and Goa-Ts

.. just a way of bundling small anecdotes!

Some time ago we left our delightful property and were confronted by - and passed - a begging woman leading a white cow. A minute later Bob commented on - and Ruth realised she had missed -  the fact that it had a full juvenile hoofed leg protruding from its shoulder. What was that all about?

We have had a near daily meeting with this frog that has taken up residence in the bathroom. It seems quite tame, but does eventually go back behind the cistern in an impressive motion up the wall!

Last Wednesday and Thursday the evenings we marred by huge flocks of flying ants attracted to light (and humans). There is not much you can do to deter them! We encountered them on the beach in neighbouring Patnem, where we were enjoying another session by the Goa-Ts (read on!). It seems such invasions are a known short-lived seasonal feature. There were thousands round the stage light and Matthew of the band said that another unnamed shack had had to close because of them.No problems since!

Our nearest neighbours -apart from the Germans upstairs - are the occupants of a basic enclosure based on an old bath. When we first arrived we had a rooster and three hens - same as last year! After a couple of weeks of standard early morning crowing it was All Change! First we saw one hen being extracted, and then the rooster! They both put up a fight and they have not been seen since! Then along came two manky ducks. and our mornings are now blessed with one of them attempting to mate with the hens, It is a very noisy business, during which the hens try to get through the netting! It does not appear to be consensual, and the drake doesn't seem to learn!

Some guests did but we still have plenty!

Until this Wednesday Greyrocks suspected it had caused an ecological disaster! Last year a daily beach task was the collection of shells.  There were plenty to be had, although in reality they did not figure prominently as planned in the wedding party. and are in both Fuerte and the car awaiting some craft project! This year we have just looked casually on the shore on our less focused walks and have seen very few. Had we eliminated hermit crabs from the whole area by removing their homes? Guilt was felt, and then overnight they were back. Bizarre!


Finally, we have had three very pleasant evenings with South Goa's finest on the rock and blues front! The Goa-Ts won our affection last year and now with added drummer it makes an experience of note for Greyrocks! Unashamedly aged (well two of them anyway!) they have this on their website. We went first to a session with dancing at TATTWA (see later post) and then on two occasions we went Tantra at Patnem. We also come across The Professor (Mark) at quiz nights. Last week we asked for  a dedication of "Sea Cruise" as we would be off next day on one! But more of that later!