This morning we were both up by 9am and on balcony to look at the weather or rather the Calima. We both concluded that we thought it looked better than yesterday and so decided to risk a walk along the promenade to Matagorda. How wrong we were to be proved to be.
After another healthy breakfast of Lidl porridge I was ready to go. As ever Karen tricked me by saying she was ready and I fell for it. The routine is that I go and stand by the door and ready to leave then wait for another 10 minutes whilst she has that one really final toilet stop, sorts her shoes out, finds her handbag, then checks she has her phone and purse is in it before a further contemplation of whether she needs another shirt to cover up in case she starts burning. By this time I have then lost both the desire to go wherever we are going and the will to live. Its the same if she is cooking a meal. I get called and told that it is ready and so rush away from whatever I am doing to find that what she really means is that she is now thinking about dishing up. I then sit down ready and then have to wait sometimes a further 20 minutes for it to be really ready. If I am preparing a meal, I call her when it is dished up and on the table. She then frequently turns up 15 minutes later, by which time I have usually eaten mine and hers has gone cold. Women – can’t live with them and can’t live without them.
As we started the walk the weather started to look worse. The sand in the air made it look as if there was heavy rain in the air. Visibility was poor and the wind started to get up further. We learnt later that many flights were unable to land and were being diverted all over the place. Having had that happen to us on more than one occasion we knew how disruptive that could be. I was cheered up though when we passed someone wearing a Norwich shirt who was looking for somewhere to watch the match later. It’s nice to know that I am not alone, although I would never wear a replica shirt, apart from perhaps at Wembley to see City win the FA Cup.
We stopped at a coffee shop about a third of the way on the journey on an open area for pavilions that had been built using EU money. Many of the tiles are cracked and missing and it was already an eye sore despite not being that old. It always winds Karen up that it was constructed so poorly considering it was using funds she says she contributed to. Not only that but the drinks we bought were small and very expensive for Lanzarote. Whilst there we both read Ellie’s blog for their first day of their trip to Amsterdam. I like her writing style and the way it flows. We also learnt that everyone else here with us were also walking to Matagorda but were some 20 minutes behind us. We thought that they would catch us up before we got to the destination though.
Carrying up with the walk we eventually got to O’Shea’s Irish bar in the centre of Matagorda on the promenade. We had been before and although it was not the cheapest place we could have chosen we knew the quality was really good. For our lunch we both ordered breakfast, Karen the English and I had the Irish. The difference being hers came with Chips, whilst mine had Saute potatoes and Black Pudding. They were both very acceptable. Whilst waiting for our order, everyone else caught us up. They went to the cafe above for coffee and cake.
The walk back passed by very quickly with everyone chatting away. By now the skies were yellowish/orange again with all the sand. It looked like the end of the world was happening. Yet it was still 24c and the wind which was getting even stronger was still warm.
Back in Puerto Del Carmen, Karen & I left everyone else to go into a pub that was showing the City match. We had timed it perfectly as the players were lined up in the tunnel. I was full of optimism that this could be the point in the season that we started on a fantastic run and hauled ourselves out of the relegation places. Sadly that wasn’t to be. We were poor in every department apart from Krul in goal. There were some Wolves fans watching the match as well and they left once it got to 3-0 as they knew that City would never come back from that. Karen had left at half time and so I was left to despondently walk back to the apartment on my own, thinking it would have been better if we had just stayed in the Chamopinship.
By now the sand was so thick in the air that we couldn’t really sit on the balcony and Karen started to get irritated by the situation but there was nothing we could do. At least the forecast for the next few days was better and hopefully our flight home in 4 days times will not be impacted.
As usual we met up with everyone in Reception at 7.45pm and this time headed left to Napolentia restaurant. We had really enjoyed meals here previously and yet again they did not let us down. Karen & I both had spaghetti which was fresh and delicious. Those that ordered a large beer had it served in a glass boot shaped glass which again caused some amusement.
After this, everyone else decided to get a taxi to old town to go a music bar there. I was not keen, not an r consecutive night in a music bar and certainly not the hassle of going to one so far away. Fortunately, neither was Karen and so we went back to Cafe La Ola for a drink on our own. This was really nice. It was quite full of what we thought were sophisticated people who had dressed up to go somewhere ‘posh’ for the evening. Karen said she felt underdressed but I genuinely thought she looked good and fitted right in. The service was impeccable. Between taking our order and it being served, we had three separate waiters all come up and try to take our order. We sat next to the small swimming pool, which they starting to drain to try and clean it of all the sand that had settled on the bottom. Karen enjoyed both her Kir Royale and Irish coffee, although as the latter contained caffeine she was up for some of the night. We sat there far longer than we had intended putting the world to rights. We left once we had a message from Barry to say that his and Ellie’s delayed flight home had landed safely into Norwich.
