A very merry Christmas from La Palma to all my readers. On Christmas Day there’ll be the usual Tall Ships Meeting in Santa Cruz harbour, with a market from 9:30 am to 6 pm, live music, and the chance to visit ships from 10:30 am to 1 pm and again from 4:30 -6pm. I plan to get the turkey in the oven and then visit the market before going home…
Spain has a national lottery every Thursday, but they also have two special ones for Christmas. Today was “the fat one”, with a top prize of 400.000,00 € per decimo, meaning a tenth of a ticket which costs 20 €. I presume the 10th of a ticket goes back to the days when most people couldn’t afford a whole ticket. As usual I won nothing. I knew I wouldn’t, because…
In the Canary Islands, Los Divinos are groups of amateur musicians who sing Christmas carols. The tradition is to go around the town or village carolling for nine days before Christmas – 1 night for each month of Mary’s pregnancy. The groups are usually fairly large and very, very good.
I’m writing this in the Parador on El Hierro. Yes, I sneaked off for a weekend visit to my friend, quick, before she moves to a much smaller house with no room for guests. It was a squash fitting it in. Last week I was translating for the tourist board, doing the paperwork to get paid for the translation, buying Christmas presents, tour guiding at the observatory and writing blogs. …
If you were shopping in Santa Cruz last week, you might have seen a road train full of infants, grinning and waving, and shouting out “¡Feliz Navidad!” The road train belongs to the local bus company. It’s available for hire all year, but it seems to be pretty solidly booked in the last week of school term. The school where I used to work had a regular routine. We put…
Something Wicked have published my story “Breathing Space“, together with an interview with me, here.