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San Jose Manor House, R.I.P.

San Jose has a ruined manor house, dating from something like the C16th. I’ve always dreamed of one day being filthy rich enough to buy it and restore it, because it must have been gorgeous once. It had carved balconies and wooden ceilings. For some time it’s been empty and far too dilapidated to live in. I heard that the owners couldn’t get planning permission to fix it, so it…

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Taking the Hump

Crater of St Antony’s Volcano. You can see people on the skyline at the right. The most recent eruption in the Canary Islands was Teneguía, in 1971 (see Thursday, 21 February 2008 Which Planet Are You On?). It’s a nice place to visit, but you have to be fairly fit. St. Antony’s Volcano (Volcan San Antonio) is nice in a completely different way. For one thing, it looks like a…

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Hot Stuff

We have the calmina – the wind off the Sahara again. This used to only happen a couple of times a summer, but for the last five years or so it’s been happening more frequently, and over more of the year. We even had calima in January this year. To be honest, that was rather nice for everyone except the farmers. We don’t often swim in the sea in the…

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Living in Ad Land

I cooked stir-fried beef for lunch. After the first couple of mouthfuls, my husband started making “yum-yum” noises and pointing at his plate. (He’s far too well brought up to talk with his mouth full.) I had my own mouth full, so I put my hand over my heart and bowed as best I could sitting down, then held my cheek out to be kissed. He obliged. Then our son…

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Cubo de la Galga

Cubo de la Galga is a very pretty walk along the bottom of the Galga ravine, between Puntallana and Los Sauces. By Palmeran standards, it’s an easy walk. “Walk! La Palma” is a good book, but the bit about the bottom end of the walk at Cubo de la Galga is out of date already. The Island Government (the Cabildo) have been busy. There is now a car park at…

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Flowers and hospitals

This morning Lou had a hospital appointment at 8:30 pm. Great timing! This is just when both our sons are supposed to start school. Fortunately little Sam was well enough to go for a while, so I left home with my own son early, then we picked up Lou and Sam, dropped Sam off at nursery, dropped Julio off at school, and got tot he hospital only a couple of…

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