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.

Ah Thats Better

All

Just a quick update to say that things are a little better here. Went to the Doctor yesterday and have a tonne of pain killers and antibiotics to take each day, but I am starting to feel a little better and most of the time can at least get a good night's sleep.

On the house hunting side things are also looking up. I don't want to spoil things to much so I will just say at this point that it is good news. EDIT: OK I can now reveal things.... WE HAVE A HOUSE!! .... See here for details

Having been here in the Canaries now for 2 weeks I am starting to relax a little. It has been tough for the last week or so with looking at houses and not feeling to well for the latter part of last week. There has been a few times when I have either been very depressed about the whole thing of moving here or I have been very ratty and angry at people for not real reason.

Estoy Enferma. Tengo un infcción de mi garganta

As the title says here I am in the Canary Islands with the most stinking sore throat I have ever had. It seems to be going round the island and almost everybody here has had it. On the plus side we went to look a house yesterday that we really like, the only trouble with it apart from all the work that needs doing, is the price. The agency has it listed at 60,000€ but when we went round the place the owner said he wanted 65,000€. My big worry is that he has just upped the price because he saw to foreigners coming and thought

hmmmmm rich foreigners.....

So now I have a bit of a dilemma do I pay the 65,000€ and buy the house or try to negotiate which he didn't seem to be interested in yesterday.

An Exercise in Frustration

Well here I am in the canaries to look for a house. I have been here almost one week and how many houses have I seen.... ONE. Yep one and only one, We should have been to see some others but the estate agents haven't been back to us yet. One of the places we wanted to see we think has been sold already. The place we did see wasn't to bad but does have a few problems, See my other blog http://casa-estrellas.blogspot.com/ for details.

Today we went for a drive to go look at a few estate agents and to talk to them only to find that they are all only open from 10 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon..

Going to the Chapel

From a sad occasion to a very happy one.

Today was the day when me and my partner Helen put our relationship on a formal footing by registering our Civil Partnership. The setting was Lambeth town hall registry office in Brixton. While not the most glamorous of locations it was just right for the number of people we were inviting.

While the service was short and fairly full of legalese I was very happy to finally have some substance to the relationship. Part of the reason why we are doing it is because were are moving out to La Palma in a few months time and having the legal grounding to the relationship might make somethings easier in the long term.

I will have some photos of the event at some point but for now try these ones from one of the guests:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47422705@N00

Goodbye.....

Today was a very sad day for me.

This morning my Smart ForTwo was picked up for its return to Smart. I have had the car for 2 years now. It was sad to see the car go we have had lots of adventures and met lots of people just as crazy about the cars as I was. Some of these people have been very good friends and I shall also miss them as much as that car. My partner has prommised me that we will get another but in the canaries they may be hard to find.

Lazy Days

If only the above was true. Since I finished work on Friday I haven't had a chance to stop. I have been rushing backwards and forwards getting things ready for us to move permanently to the Canary Islands in March. This time next week we are going over to La Palma for 6 weeks house hunting. I am hoping that after the initial rush is over and we have a house purchase going through I will be able to relax and de-stress a little.

The End

Today is the end of an era.

I am leaving the telegraph after 6 years. While my time here has not always been the best I am sad to be leaving. As to what the future holds well the is a different matter. We will shortly be leaving the UK to go and live in the Canary Islands. We are going to live on the island of La Palma. You can follow our adventure on our other blog at http://casa-estrellas.blogspot.com/

Winding Down

Well, Things are starting to wind down at work now as it is my last week before I am made redundant. While I am looking forward to having the freedoms of working for myself and the challenge of going to live in another country, there is a little bit of me that is scared stiff. We at least I have managed to stay of the cigarettes.