And then my friends phoned up to say the ferry from Cadiz was going to arrive late in Tenerife, and they’d miss the Fred Olsen ferry to La Palma. Since their cat, Tabby was arriving in Tenerife on Wednesday, it didn’t really make sense to come for one night.

So I phoned around and found a hotel for them – the Delfin in Bajamar. It was a bit of a trek from Santa Cruz de Tenerifewhere the ferry arrived, but I reasoned it would be easier to find than something in the middle of the city. More importantly, they had a secure car park. This was vital, given the amount of stuff in the back of my friends’ van.

They finally got to the hotel at 10:30 pm, only to find they had to park on the street.

I am not pleased with the Delfin Hotel at all. Still, nothing was stolen.

Since Helen and Theresa were goign to arrive late and go straight to Franceses, I went there on Wednesday morning. I took more of the stuff they’d left at my house, since they couldn’t come and fetch it for a while. I also took some food and bedding and made their bed. Hopefully that made arriving at midnight at a house with no electricity rather more bareable.

Antonio had cleared his stuff out, and left a bottle of wine for them, which I thought was rather sweet.

I went to check on the spinach I transplanted on Sunday. Most of the baby plants are doing well, so they should be fine from here on. And I saw poppies in the field next door, with bees buzzing around them. Since I’d just learned to use the motor drive on the camera, I took hundreds of photos.

In the afternoon I went round to my friend Farida’s. She has a new computer, which is the first one she’s had. I’ve been trying to help her learn how to use it. It’s uphill for her since she speaks Spanish fine, but reads it with some difficulty. (Well it’s a completely different alphabet from Arabic, right?) At the weekend we’d got her webcam working well enough to call Morocco and wave at her friends there – but there was no sound going in either direction. I spent another hour or so on it, and I’m beinging to suspect that this particular camera doesn’t work with Vista. Argh!

The girls duely arrived on the ferry, and I met them at the port with the keys to their new house. Tehn I went home and collapsed in a heap.

Posted by sheila

Sheila came to La Palma with a six month contract and has stayed 24 years so far. She used to work as a software engineer at the observatory, but now she's a writer and Starlight guide.