First Day

Well, we made it to Tenerife with no calamities. I love that word. No-one forgot their passport, lost their purse, ended up on the wrong flight…and there were no delays, which you might think was a good thing, except it means you have to listen to the stupid recorded message as soon as you land. Those of you who’ve flown Ryanair recently will know what I’m talking about. *RECORDED FANFARE* “Yet another Ryanair flight landed ahead of schedule, that’s because, even though you might have thought we were shit, we’re actually amazing. We hope you’re flight wasn’t too uncomfortable, (it was) and that you enjoyed your £6 soggy sandwich. (I didn’t.) By the way, you’ll be charged for listening to this message. Please provide credit card details on the way out.”

I’m pretty sure that’s what it says. Anyway, as Ryanair flights go, it wasn’t bad. I passed a good amount of time painting my nails a new mint green colour. Very nice, though it did need 3 coats of colour to get a nice solid covering (the only time this is a bonus is when you’ve 4 and a half hours to kill on a plane) (I mean killing time, not 4 hours to get all your killing done. Obviously.)

I had a seat empty next to me, and in the window seat was some dude who immediately whapped out Nuts and Zoo magazines and proceeded to stare at pages full of fake tits for large portions of the flight. I sneered and called him a twat, not quite as under my breath as I’d though it would be. I hope he heard. I ended up chatting to him for the last 40 mins of the flight and his banter was alright, but I still thought he was a twat.

Then we arrived to pouring rain! It was mad, getting from the airport to the taxi, 30 secs away, and the taxi to the covered walkway of the flat, another 30 secs, left my shoes soaking! Luckily it didn’t last and we went out for dinner a couple of hours later. My granny was so disappointed when she saw the rain. She said, “That’s the first time I’ve ever arrived here to the rain.” Which, I pointed out, is pretty good going when you’ve been coming here for over 20 years! But she still seemed quite bummed about it, and she brightened right up when it stopped. (Maybe she’s somehow cosmically-emotionally linked to the weather? More likely she just fancied a stroll on the beach.)

So I’m the first one up this morning and it’s bright, clear skies. Doesn’t look like a belter of a sunny day, but no sign of rain clouds either.

Last night we had plans to go out to dinner to my granny’s favourite place, Roma’s, where she’s also been coming for 20 years. She knows the owner now, and his wife, and every time she goes she orders the same thing. Chateau Briand rare-to-medium and a bottle of Sangre de Toro red wine. She didn’t even have to crack a menu. But last night, we walked along there to find it all shut up. The owner of the restaurant next door said that they’ve closed for good now, thanks to the ever extending arm of destruction attached to la crisis, or the Recession. Sad times.

We ended up having a very nice Chinese meal (sweet ‘n’ sour pork, yums) and then to a lovely café at the bottom of the road. I wielded some influence and bypassed the empty cafes we usually haunt, and got my mum and my granny into this new place which was a bit livelier and modern. Maybe it’s people like me who help places like Roma’s go down the tubes, ha ha. So we had a couple of brandies and a good bit of chat. My granny told me all sorts of stuff, like where she met my papa (at Mass, I should have seen that one coming), and stories about all the houses they stayed in and the neighbours they had, her children (including my mum, of course) and mad nights with her friends.

I love getting to hear all this stuff, and I’m glad that my granny is still ‘with it’ enough to tell me! Her short-term memory isn’t great now but her long-term memory is as good as ever! She remembers all the details: names, names of children, where they went, who moved away where and when, who died, who married whom, etc. Makes for some good story-telling!

So that’s been our time so far, want to keep a note of it cause I always mean to keep a diary when I’m on holiday but usually fail. Better things to be doing! I think I’ll type these out quickly each morning, and then I can post ‘em on my blog when we get home or something. Don’t want to spend the whole week on the computer!

Coffee time and then *drumroll* Sunday market! Happy days.