A New Start

I have decided to start afresh with the blog for this year.

So to start with here are some of my aims for the year:

Lose weight
OK I have been trying to lose weight for the last couple of years and actually since I have move to La Palma I have in fact lost some weight, but however I would like to loose more.

Take More Exercise

Again I do tend to get a little more exercise now but still I do not get enough, so I would like to go for a walk at least once or twice a week.

Eat More Healthily
Again we do eat a little better than we did but I would still like to do a little better and try not to rely to much on frozen or tinned produce.

Finish Web Site

I have been trying to work on the web site for a number of years but never really getting anywhere but hopefully I should be able to finally get something done this year.

Do More Astronomy

I came to live out here with the intention of doing more astronomy and brought a new telescope, mount, CCD, and software to enable me to do more but so far with all the work on the house and other things I haven't been able to do as much as I would have liked

A Grand Day Out

Today we took a day off and went out for a bit. It is very hard to take a break when there is so much to do, but we do need a little downtime now and then. So we drove up to the reservoir just outside Barlevento. Around the lake is a picnic area with barbecue pits and a cafe. We had a wander round followed by a coffee then drove along the old road round the north of the island this road is very narrow and winding, but some of the views are spectacular. We had a spot of lunch in Santa Domingo which is the main town in the district of Garafia where we live. Got home and sorted out a bit but later on I felt a little low, couldn't really put a finger on why.

Here at Last

Well here I am I have been here living on the island of La Palma for a little over a week now. It has had it's ups and downs getting here has been a lot more stressful than I would have liked but I am slowly begining to relax a little. I haven't had much time to blog recently due to moving and now I am here I can only get online once in a while.

A House At Last

Yesterday we finally did it. We signed the final contract which means that the house is ours Lock, Stock and Barrel. We don't have our copy of the contact due to the fact that we were running a little late and they wanted to close the office for the afternoon. Well it is Spain and the siesta comes before business! So we will have to pick that up on Monday from the estate agent. We don't have the keys either but we can collect those from the owner on Sunday when we are having a little barbecue to celebrate, and buy the sounds of things we may end up with half the village invited. So last night was down into town with Helen & Sheila for a little pub crawl. We started the crawl at a place that serves German sausage and chips by the meter so after a 1 Meter sausage between 3 of us we were well stuffed. Then it was a trek round the bars, finally getting a taxi back home at around 1 am.

Sick Again

Well guess what?

I have come down with another bug this one started yesterday afternoon with aches and the shivers, last night was a full blown fever. I feel a bit better today but still very achy. One the house front things still haven't moved much but we now expect to sign next week

Tasteing the Talc

Here in the Canaries for 51 weeks of the year everything is slow, sleepy and all together normal. Then Carnival hits and the place goes nuts. The biggest night of Carnival in La Palma is known as Los Indianos. This is a celebration of all the people who left La Palma to make there fortune in the new world. When they came back they were stinking rich and one thing they had was Talc which was very expensive at the time. So on Monday night people take to the streets of Santa Cruz to dance the night away, drink rum, and throw talc at each other. This generally goes on until about 4 in the morning.

So that's where I was last night. I can still taste the talc.

More pictures on my friend Sheila's page.

Feeling Better

Just a little note to say that I'm feeling a little better. Things have been going slowly here, still waiting for the house to go through. On a better note I have brought the parts for the scope mount once I have built the observatory. I have brought a EQ6 top and an adaptor plate from Epsilon Telescopes, this is part of there modular pier system.