DON’T use couriers to the Canaries

Friends of Helen and Theresa decided to send them one big Christmas parcel instead of lots of small ones. They sent it via courier, thinking that it would be cheaper, and I agreed to do all the phone conversations. The first time the courier company phoned, it was to say that there was a charge of 50€ to clear customs. “What???” Consumer tax here is 4%, and I really didn’t…

December 20, 2007
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Music in the street again

December 15, 2007

Today was the Ruido 4 launch party for Santa Cruz. Again, I didn’t really have time, but I went – and anyway it was a lot closer to home this time.The first act had to cancel at the eleventh hour, which left my friend Norma with a mad scramble to sort out the sound equipment. She managed.And then the students from the Mareando Association did us proud.

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Winning – slowly

I’m getting there. I’ve finished both jobs for the Tourist Office, and got the bills in. I caught up with critiques in time to get my own story critiqued. And the house is a whole lot less grubby, although it’s still very disorganised. I even got some Christmas cards in the post, and made a good start on updating the Ruido website. We had a weather alert yesterday, but all…

December 14, 2007
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Ruido issue 4

December 6, 2007

Today was the Los Llanos launch party for Ruido 4. This time they held it in the street at midday. I didn’t really have time, what with the tourist office job and the state of the house, but I went anyway.I was glad I did. We had music from local musicians, Jonny Acosta, Tomimoto and Aida, followed by a jam session. And I even found a good birthday present for…

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The dentist again

Well my son now has a brace fitted to half his top teeth. 200€ please, and that’s just for the first month. Which explains why I’ve taken on another rush editing job for the tourist office, even though I’m absolutely shattered after finishing the last one on time (and the fiction edit and all the critiques.) And the house is still grubby and the ironing pile is even higher. It’ll…

December 5, 2007
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Poor kid

It’s getting near the end of term, and my son’s having his coursework marked. How times change! Last year it meant a panic as he tried to catch up on missed work in every subject at once. This term the only problem was French. So a good bit of the weekend went on that, and I helped as best I could, being almost recovered from the lurgy. The one thing…

December 3, 2007
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