Today we leave for Madrid. A nice few days of holidays with little Alex visiting the capital of Spain. We’ll be flying with Ryanair, so we’re in for some discomfort, but afterwards we’ll be ready to enjoy the three kings celebrations.
What to do in Las Palmas while you wait for that Santa Claus to arrive and you wait for the new year. Maybe there will even be a big apocalypse. Well, fortunately life here is not so complicated. We simply wait for the things to come eating some tapas, drinking some Tropical and a nice Mojito and enjoying a nice concert in the sun. Even the little once was enjoying himself.
From Spain we wish everyone a very nice Christmas!
Last sunday I could once again get my fold-up-bike from the garage.It was the day of the bike and the local highway, the GC1 was closed to all traffic except for thousands of bikes. I did not expect that the Canarian people would have so much bikes. They keep them well hidden.
It was a short distance of about 5 kilometers, but it was fun anyway. Gran Canaria suddenly resembled Holland, except for the sunny weather of course.
Lots of parents will recognize the situations that arise with a McDonalds. With a little guy it is sometimes difficult to avoid. If you are walking on the street and you encounter a colorful place he just needs to enter it. As a parent it is sometimes difficult to say no and at times you just give in.
Once inside you ask for a happymeal, but he does not want any happy meal. He wants to be supersized. A nice big cola, fries and a burger. This results in this photo.
We had it all. A new apartment and a nice parking space for our car underneath the building. But is was not meant to be. We can still park our car, but the elevator has broken down. We now need to go from -3 to +2 by stairs. Five floors and this is noticeable. The worst is going of with bottles of water (containing 8 liters each).
Taking the kid for a walk is also a bit more difficult,but at least I only take him down (and up) two floors. The good thing is that Alex seems to love being carried across the stairs.
The origin of the problems is a bit strange. On this very dry island the elevator shaft slowly filled up with water. Now we have a problem with all the water and for sure it will be solved in the Canarian way. At least one more month of taking the stairs.
Well, this is what you get with en enthusiastic kid, a stone floor and a father wearing glasses. Luckily I had the foresight to get me a set of spare glasses and contact lenses.
After living for quite a while in the green part of Las Palmas, Ciudad Gardin (right next to the worlds richest person, the owner of the IKEA) it became time to find a bigger place. Our new apartment is a bit more in the center of the city. The building is well knows as the old x-rated theater but now the building is change to have nice spacy apartments in the center of the city. We now have a garage and a lot of shops nearby.
Alex is very excited because of the move. He is very enthusiastic and sleeps with difficulty. For sure this new found source of energy is because he is now noticing a lot of moving activity around him. He now has two weeks to settle down in his new home and then there will be a big party. His first birthday!!!
Today we celebrate the day of the Canarians once again. A festivity on the Canary Islands that translates to a day filled with typical Canarian activities. Yesterday it already started with all the children going to school in a typical Canarian outfit. The outfit is not so difficult. Woman/girls wear an enormous skirt and men/boys wear dark pants, a white shirt and a long sash around their waist, worn like some kind of belt.
For us it is really a perfect day because our holidays start today. Tomorrow we will leave to Madrid and afterwards we´ll visit Holland! Even Alex is looking forward to it!
The Spanish bank Bankia has gotten into some problems. Just one week ago the bank has been taken over by the state and it has become public that since then more then a billion euros has been transferred by clients of Bankia to somewhere else.
I used to have a Bankia account (it used to be called Caja de Canarias), but I closed the account due to an extremely unfriendly attitude towards their clients. Now the rest of Spain is also closing their accounts. Probably not because of their attitude towards their clients but more likely because of the huge amount of properties that the bank owns. Properties that are almost impossible to sell and that keep dropping in value.
According to the bank there is (of course) no reason to worry. These are seasonal fluctuations in the amount of capital they have. Sure, what else are they going to say. Where is all the money going? Other banks, other European banks outside of Spain, or even farther away to different currencies or even valuables like gold? I just don’t know so I’ll just keep observing the situation from a safe distance. First see what happens and then I’ll figure out what to do.