“Everywhere you go,” sang Kiwi warbler Neil Finn, “Always take the weather with you.” Travelling to Lanzarote, I appear to have done just that, taking with me the weather from Bristol! Oh well!
Actually, that’s not totally fair. The temperature has consistently hovered in the low to mid twenties, so it’s not exactly cold here. But it’s those clouds that get in the way.
I cannot pretend this is exactly how we wanted things to be. My loyal reader will be well aware that my holiday preference is a leisurely snooze on the sun bed, books to read and music to listen to. At the moment, I console myself with the thought that two out of three ain’t bad!
That said, I am not unaware that I am a lucky man indeed to be sampling the distant clouds of the Canary islands. I am still able to sit on the balcony in considerably less clothing that I might require at home (not a great image, I know), I can write turgid copy like this, read Bruce Springsteen’s wonderful autobiography (nearly finished) and listen to Ken Bruce on Radio Two. For a week, this is home.
Costa Teguise is a pretty decent place, actually. Yes, there are the usual Canarian “British” pubs, full English/Sunday roast eateries and late last night we did pass a bar where bingo was the order of the evening but there are plenty of places where the Spanish go too. Actually, I am not in any way a snob about Britishness abroad. It is not my own personal pint of of Strongbow, but I have visited some bars which are plainly not Spanish establishments and I have enjoyed the beer as much as my fellow British travellers.
After a few fallow weeks and months, the local business owners are gearing up for a bumper Christmas, with most of the hotels booked up well in advance. I can certainly see the attraction of getting away from the British gloom for a week, especially with the family in tow, although no way without! My source tells me that some very large groups are soon to board the economy flights from the UK! Christmas Day, with the family, by the pool and on the beach. Yes, I could get to like that one.
But for today it’s – OMG, as young folk put it – shopping. My lily-white flesh can remain lily-white as we wander through the shops of Costa Teguise. I can wait.
