After my friend missed the ferry, we had a furry of looking up transport firms on the web. There’s a ferry from Tenerife on Tuesday. Plan B: she could leave here on Monday, spend the night on Tenerife, and get the ferry Tuesday night. Plan C: or get up hideously early on Tuesday and get through in one, 20-hour day. Or… All these ferries are much more expensive than the direct one.
In the end she got the plane back, plan D. Which, of course, meant that she had to leave her car behind, and hire one on El Hierro to get to work.
So off she went, planning to come back for the car next weekend. Pricey, but no help for it.
I had another idea. Helen was planning to go to El Hierro to visit anyway, so if she goes this weekend, it’ll save one return airfare. Helen liked the idea, too. Plan E.
Meanwhile, my friend set off, and I had a visit from two old friends whom I hadn’t seen for years.
And then my friend phoned from El Hierro airport. You need your driving license to hire a car, right? And hers was in her own car, parked outside my house. The hire car firm would take a fax, and would I mind?
I didn’t mind at all, but the places in Santa Cruz where you can send faxes all opened at 5pm, and the hire car firm closed at 5pm. And no, they couldn’t accept an email of a scan.
I looked for inspiration in a cup of tea. Thank you Tetleys. The Galileo telescope offices are just ten minutes drive away, and obviously they have a fax machine. As it turned out, they’re nice people, too.
Then Helen got worried about finding the house on rural El Hierro. Plan F: she’ll meet our mutual friend at the airport when she returns the hire car.
But that means the passenger seat has to be kept free.
Plan G: I was going to fly our for a weekend anyway, wasn’t I? So if I go this weekend and take the guitar, there’ll be room for two.
So that’s seven plans so far. Watch this space.
