I’ve escaped for 10 days before the summer guiding rush. On Sunday morning I flew to Tenerife and spent a pleasant afternoon and evening, mostly in the hotel room. I took a nap and caught up with email. For lunch, we found a nearby Irish bar called Grandee O’Donnell that was serving Sunday roasts. It was damn good! So we went back for dinner (also good) and a little karaoke….
Some time ago I was asked to keep June 11th free for an excursion with a VIP visitor. Then on Monday I saw on the internet that Stephen Hawking was coming to La Palma on the Britannia on Saturday June 11th. My heart started pounding. After a bit I decided it was silly to eat my fingernails, so I phoned the travel agent. Well the plan had been for me…
I boiled some water to cook broccoli, turned the kettle off and emptied it into the pan. About 5 minutes later I noticed that although the switch was in the “off” position, the little light was on. So I picked it up and looked inside to see an ominous red glow. Eek! I hastily filled it from the tap to cool it, but the bottom started dripping anyway. It stank,…
A friend held a yard sale today. Since she lives only about half an hour away, I went. I arrived just after another friend called Isa. She was a bit worried about her van, because it started to overheat just before she arrived, and she was waiting for it to cool before she checked the radiator. So we both bought stuff. Then Isa poured water into her radiator and immediately…
I had to get up early today to work at the observatory. The two visits went well, although I had to modify the second one because the telescope was taking delivery of a new scientific instrument called EMIR. EMIR is huge and it weighs 5 tonnes, and I was quite excited to see it. I was also pleased to see the project manager briefly, because I’ve known her for 25…
I’ve been rather overdoing it, just for a change. On Sunday afternoon I took delivery of a hire car so I could meet an English travel agent at the airport on Sunday evening. She was really nice, and interested in organising a spring nature holiday for UK clients. I had a very long day with her on Monday, from 9 am to 8:20 pm. We went to Astrolapalmna (not planned,…