This is from the local pizzeria. (A very good pizzeria, I might add, Il Tonello.) The sign says: The Lemon GamePut a coin on top of the lemon without touching it. If it stays on top for 10 seconds, you take all the coins.As soon as the coin touches the lemon, you have to let it go.Good luck! And I did it, first try! It was only about 4.50€ but…
I got very tired and I had to stop everything non-essential for a while. The English version of my new book is taking longer than usual at the printers, because it landed in the middle of a reorganisation. Meanwhile, I’m still working on the translation. And I’ve just found out that I’ve been doing it wrong. In Spanish, you punctuate the dialogue in a completely different way. So I’m going…
A very Merry Christmas to both my readers A very Merry Christmas to you all. (The William Herschel Telescope has a laser to measure atmospheric turbulence, in order to correct for it. But really, it’s very low powered and no danger to flying reindeer. Santa is quite safe.)
The Big Dipper over Santa Cruz de La Palma I got up early to try to see comet ISON (which is low in the east just before dawn). There was only one cloud in the starry sky. Yup. Right in front of the comet. Since I was up anyway, I decided that I may as well practise a bit of astro-photography. I need the practice after all. So here is…
Yesterday I had my first private customers. I got an email: “Our friend went on a cruise, and you were the guide for her excursion on La Palma. She says you’re great. We’re coming on Nov 10th, please can you tell us which excursion you’ll be doing because we want to be on it.” Obviously this did my ego no harm at all, but I can’t control which bus I…
I went back to the dentist yesterday. Much better! I now have a temporary filling that hopefully won’t need to come out. If all goes well, the dentist will put a permanent cover on it in three weeks. Meanwhile, it’s sensitive to hot and cold, but doesn’t hurt otherwise. The children’s anthology is coming on nicely, too. I’ve started writing the last story in English, nine of the stories have…