I am just a poor boy though my stories seldom told.
Writing this blog has often made me think about the adage that everyone has a book in them. Mine is supposed to be Mum & Dads story but I am making slow progress with that. No-one to blame for that but me. I am not finding it easy though. Faced with your own mortality I do wonder if I should also write down my own story. What it has been like to be me. I do also often wonder what it must be like to be someone else – taller, more athletic, without scoliosis, without having had a road accident, without a speech defect. Any of these things would certainly made my life very different.
Lists are another thing I wish I had made throughout my life. Names of all my school classmates, same with work colleague’s, Christmas presents, birthday presents, expenditure etc. All this would be great to look back upon and generate such reminders of my past. We do have a long list of every holiday we have been on, along with every Christmas Radio Times since about 1988. I hope the latter will either be useful or valuable someday.
Today was our day for walk by turning left and going to Matagorda which is the resort next to us in that direction which almost touches upon the airport.
The sun was out, and it was a perfect temperature for a long walk. I set out happy that I hadn’t managed to flood the bathroom this morning by using the shower curtain correctly. Easy going Karen had barely mentioned this mishap yesterday despite my best efforts in trying to mop it all up using what must be the supplied world’s thinnest bath towels. Her last remark on the subject had been ‘Bet this won’t make it into the Blog’, she was right but I thought I would make up for that today.
Not far on our walk we came across the crazy golf course that is the traditional setting for the Lanzarote Open. Not that we would have recognised it as it had had a major facelift. Actually, it was more like the previous course had been condemned on health and safety grounds. This was a completely new course. Gone were the plastic evil looking animals you must navigate round or through. In their place were plush greens and interesting twists and turns. The cost of playing had increased, and the number of holes had decreased to 15 (not sure why as there was plenty of space for 18). The bar area looked quite respectable and will probably be the venue for the winner’s drinks afterwards. I had been informed by Glenn that if the holder of the trophy was present then the tournament could be held regardless of how many other participants. As the current holder we decided we would try and play this week. Karen was pleased as she thinks she has a better chance of winning with fewer players and on a new course. We shall see…
We carried on around the large bay and came into Matagorda itself. It was all rather pleasing as the road had been pedestrianised since our last visit. This gave it all a rather nice feel.
As part of the changes there was a bike track also marked out. Now I am all for that but not if it includes the electric scooters which were passing us almost constantly. These are actually big machines and everyone on them seem to be going full pelt. If they kept to the designated path, it wouldn’t be so bad, but they don’t, and they are silent so you cannot hear them behind you. Some of the cyclists were even worse. At least when it was a road and with cars you could see and hear them. I would love to know how many accidents there have been with the track. In fact, going in the other direction towards the harbour it had been even worse. There the cycle track had deteriorated and had potholes so that both Scooter riders and cyclists actively avoided the track and rode either on the brick weave edge or the path. This means that much of it for pedestrians is quite deadly.
Anyhow rant over. Matagorda is a much quieter resort and so the type of people staying there or who make the effort to walk there are as Karen put it ‘much nicer’. It was all rather lovely, and it did feel like we were on holiday. Someone had built one of those rock gardens which consisted of lots of large stones all cleverly balanced on top of each other. I rather liked it.
After 2 ½ miles we reached O’Shea’s, a rather pleasant Irish Café which had some nice tables outside overlooking the sea. This was a favourite stop for us and we were very pleased it was still there.
It was the first place where we had shown our Covid passports before we could order. Not that we minded at all, but another table of Brits got up and walked out when they were asked. I don’t think they knew how to access them on their phones
We ordered some traditional ‘Barry’s’ Tea which always makes Karen smile. We followed this with some scrambled egg on toast for Karen and an Irish Breakfast for me. As usual they both hit the spot.
We sat there probably far longer than we should enjoying the sunshine and playing on our phones. I have got Karen into doing Wordle with me and we managed to crack it in 3 today.
Messages were sent to the boys. Unsurprisingly we got no initial response from Neil but had a dialogue with Barry who was worried about one of his cats who seemed to have injured himself somehow. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing serious.
After checking whether the PM was still the PM for now, we headed back to base.
Our balcony was back in full sun and so we sat for a while, and both read our Kindles. That is after I had spent another wasted hour trying to get the hotspot on Karen’s phone to work. As her phone is still with Sky Mobile and we have over 100gb in what we call the Lily James Piggy Bank we wanted to use that for the laptop to hotspot off. Whatever I tried I just couldn’t get it to work. Of course, none of this would be necessary if the La Penita Wifi was working, not that I mentioned that at all. It did mean I was not able to publish these Blogs as I wanted. On top of that, Photos from iCloud were not appearing on the laptop which meant I had to come up with a way of getting them into the Blog. Whilst I sometimes like solving technical challenges, I don’t when it means eating into my holiday.
Just after 7pm we headed out for dinner. We both fancied a Pizza, so it seemed silly to go anywhere else other than Pinocchio’s. We got a prime table outside and were again greeted like old friends.
As we were having Pizza’s we decadently decided to have Canarian potatoes as a Starter. They were delicious. We had both ordered the Tipica Pizza and they were fab. We had forgotten how good they were. Karen followed hers with another Irish Coffee and we were also brough complimentary Baileys to finish off the meal. Sometimes we wonder why we bother even considering eating anywhere else. The food is always good, the service is great, and the prices are extremely reasonable.
Rather than going straight back, Karen fancied another drink at La Ola on the way back. We ordered a glass of Cava each and then somehow ordered another. Now its unlike me, especially as I had a hoodie on, but I was feeling the cold coming off the sea. So, we headed back. Karen was pleased that we were locked out of walking through Reception as it had gone 10pm so we had to use our key for the first time to go through the side gate.
We had a quick cuppa before bed. I think I was asleep before I hit the pillow. It had been a good day.
