Another blog hiatus – good reasons this time, though!
One, holiday. We went to Lanzarote for a week in April – blummin’ lovely. The weather was nice and toasty all week – topping out at a positively sticky 38.5C! Really very hot – especially for Aimee, who point-blank refused all week to wear her sun hat. She only accepted the sunglasses too towards the end of the holiday, and even then only because we’d managed to convince her that they were ‘cool shades’, with us demonstrating to her multiple times that mummy and daddy wore them, so she should too!
Never been to Lanzarote before – been several times to Tenerife, another Canary Island, but never to Lanzarote. It’s often been said of Tenerife that “it’ll be nice…when it’s finished” – a nod to Tenerife’s non-stop redevelopment, with more building sites and construction cranes than actual holiday resorts, and that downtown Playa Las Americas is a bit of a haven for lager louts and clubbers – and this is true, but there’s also some very nice parts of the island and the year-round summer climate is certainly welcome.
So, when we touched down in Arrecife on Lanzarote, I was braced for more of the same. As it turns out, I was quite wrong.
There is very little construction and building work going on, it seems – at least not any you’d notice, since there is allegedly a local rule laid down which says that no building should be erected on the island which is taller than a Canarian palm tree. This rule was apparently effected by the influential local artist and architect Cesar Manrique – whose works can be found all over the island.
There is only one high-rise on the whole island, the seemingly towering 14 storey Arrecife Gran Hotel. Local folklore says that the hotel was knocked up in the 70′s whilst Mr Manrique was off the island, and he returned back, disgusted. It has sat there ever since, ever more looking out-of-place, a giant tower amongst two and three-storey buildings. The guidebook we had described it as a burnt-out wreck, blotting the skyline, but thankfully it appears to have been restored, and remodelled in a more sympathetic and upbeat design. It still, however, sticks out like a sore thumb.
The other big difference on Lanzarote is something which took me a few days to actually register. I could fathom that something was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it…. the island seemed ‘cleaner’, almost, less commercialized, less touristy… but then I’d look at the resorts like Puerto Del Carmen and see the lines of English ‘Fun Pubs’ and think again. It was only after a few days that the penny dropped. Advertising. There’s no prominent advertising on the island. No giant road-side billboards promising X, Y and Z. Really – their non-presence really does make that much of a difference.
Whilst we were there we hired a car (a Seat Ibiza, mercifully with working aircon) and toured around the island. There’s some spectacular sights to be seen around Lanzarote, if you venture out of the tourist resorts. The Timanfaya National Park is a place of stark, barren volcanic lands – with the landscape littered with razor-like shards of solidified magma, with the molten core bubbling away under your feet. Inside the park they give demonstrations of the temperature just a few feet below – most spectacularly by creating a walk-in oven, containing a grill perched over an open fissure into the lava below, cooking chicken – Volcano BBQ, anyone?
Another highlight was the Mirador Del Rio – an outpost built into a cliffside overlooking the island of La Graciosa. The view is stunning, and the walkway across the face of the cliff is quite taxing if you’re at all acrophobic. I’ll put up some photos at some point, I will!
When we told everyone we were going on holiday, and that 18 month Aimee was coming, everyone said “Oooh, you’ll have a lovely time” whilst at the same time looking at Aimee with a ‘knowing look’ thinking “But you’re mad taking an 18 month old on a 4hr flight”. I’m pleased to report, they were all wrong. About the flight at least. Aimee was a little restless on both the outbound and inbound flights, but nowhere near as bad as we’d expected. Her first few days on the island, however, were a different story. She’s learnt the ancient womanly art of ‘stropping’.
For the first couple of days, we were quite concerned, as Aimee was being very, very difficult, but after the third day she seemed to be more herself, and I think she enjoyed her little holiday. Gorra watch her with those Spanish waiters in the future though, she’s going to be a right bugger, I can see it coming.
And – the other reason for the delay – work.
To cut many long stories short – my previous employers have decided to relocate. This was not a move universally accepted by all, and a number of people have taken voluntary redundancy. I, however, decided to contract for them for a while, until they get back up to speed.
So, I’ve been busy beavering away, speaking to bank managers, accountants and generally networking – the usual new business things. I’ve also bought another car – I’ve no intention of committing financial suicide by using the RX8 to commute the circa 100mile return-trip every day – so I’ve picked up an R-reg Peugeot 306 DTurbo from a University student in Huddersfield. The seller had it listed at nearly £1100, but I picked out some (easily fixable) faults and got him to accept £875 – I’d like to think that I out-bargained a desperate student needing quick cash, but I guess if it turns out to be a lemon then perhaps it was I that got the bum-deal.
Anyhow, it seems a nice motor, and it’s ran ok for the last few days, so far. Fingers crossed it makes it through the next three months, then I can flog it on.
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