Easily confused at the best of times, my head has been spinning like that girl in The Exorcist as christmas has crept up on me. There´s been some good stuff going on, keeping me busy for Canarian Weekly so I reckon I owe you all a catch up before the madness of sprouts, beer, and desperate loitering under the mistletoe takes over.

Wandering is never far from my plans so it was good to do a double whammy, the green Titsa bus whisked me up to San Miguel and Granadilla, mainly to check out the christmas decorations but there’s always a few surprises along the way. Checking down the back streets of San Miguel I could hear a band tuning up and was hopeful of a live show, especially when the guitar burst into the opening bars of Sweet Child Of Mine. It was coming from inside a school, not bad for a christmas concert, all we ever got was All Things Bright And Beautiful. The detour gave me the chance to admire the citizens statue put up to mark the towns 200 year celebrations in 1998. The christmas decorations were pretty good too but not as many as last year. The day was young so I hopped on the next bus up to Granadilla, another favourite of mine.

I thought it was a little chilly but a digital read out pegged it as 21 degrees. The buildings of Granadilla in the narrow streets always impress me with their slightly austere look but the giant murals at regular intervals add a splash of history and culture. The church decorated in a minimalist way but a council crew were loading some imitation wrapped presents up high in the branches of the trees as I dribbled my churros with chocolate.

December means the Walk For Life, I’ve witnessed it evolve and grow into one of the best events of the year. Pink is the colour for the fight against breast cancer and I was swept away by the sheer enthusiasm and upbeat spirit as always. The route was shorter this year, from Compostela Beach shopping centre to the Magma Centre in Playa de Las Americas, better for some of the older walkers on another scorching morning. It’s like a glorious assault on the senses with so much music, drumming, costumes, and wonderful people who have lost loved ones but celebrate their lives in the best way, by helping to raise awareness and funds to spare others the same pain. Here’s a link to my collection of photos from the morning.

With the earlier finish I was able to dash across to see the second half of CD Marino v Union Puerto. I must have been a curse, 0-0 when I started prowling the touchline but within minutes of the restart they had let in a soft goal and ended up losing 0-2 and had a penalty saved.. The festive break always leaves me hungry for the return of football so it inspires new hope in me, CD Tenerife had lost 1-0 at Levante the day before so i´m hoping for better from both teams in 2017. Hopefully I will be a bit more regular with my blog posts but stick with it I have plenty of plans among my resolutions.

A floating library might seem an odd setting for a stage performance of The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe but the Logos Hope is an extraordinary ship not bound by frontiers, languages, or conventions. The converted car ferry was on a 10 day stopover in Santa Cruz, and I got to meet just a few of the 400 crew members drawn from 60 countries.

Even among a bumper crop of luxury cruise ships, the fourth ship of the GBA (good books for all) christian charity organisation made a big impression and had a steady stream of visitors treading up the gangplanks. I made my way through the visitors section with video histories in Spanish and English playing on the screens, and strolled through the ranks of 5,000 books for sale. There were a lot of religiously inspired books, well they are a missionary project, but also lots of modern thrillers, travel tales, and childrens books. Sales of these books go towards funding the ships voyages, volunteer crew members also pay for their passage by raising sponsorship, there are only 10 paid full time crew.

Captain Chris Hughes, originally from Bristol,gave me the full tour, after 40 years experience with tankers he retired and has served on two of the earlier GBA fleet since 2006, he´s also an experienced north sea pilot. There was an unmistakable pride in his vessel and crew and it was noticeable that the crew we met on the tour were very relaxed, no salutes and even the uniform is functional rather than  formal. They all seemed young to me (well who doesn´t) but the skipper pointed out that they even have an 80 year old on the crew.” They all have to apply to join us and need to have a basic fitness level but they undergo on shore training for health and safety before even stepping on the ship.” There are other basic boxes to tick. “We are an evangelical movement so they have to be committed christians, we segregate male and female crew, the two or three bunk sleeping quarters are single sex, there´s no alcohol, smoking, or drugs allowed on board and the ships working language is English. Once on board they get allocated specific duty groups like books, galley, cleaning, engine, and deck.”

Whilst admiring the view up on the bridge, the captain told me more about the 40 year old ship. “It used to be a ferry between the Faroe Islands and Denmark, so when it was bought and converted in Germany in 2009, new stabiliser sections were added and a new upper deck. There are 4 engines, two propellers with variable pitch for better manouvering, and we normally travel at a fuel saving 10 knots although it can go at 15 knots.”

The bridge seemed very uncluttered and minimalistic but it was deceptive, the computerised navigation system zoomed in on their next course to Guyana picking out every fine contour and detail of the sea with a light touch of the captain´s hand. Continuing the tour downward, the 400 seater theatre was being prepared for the show, big screens would translate it into several languages. Passing the galley, the smell of freshly cooked bread tweaked my nose, and we had a peak inside the hospital the dentists office, and at the engine room from a safe distance.

A chart on the wall of another area showed details of one of their main missions, supplying water purification systems, they also supply eye glasses and clothes, and do some teaching, painting, and anything they can do to help at their ports of call. Since 1970 the organisation has visited 160 countries. Captain Chris stressed that they have to be invited, they don´t just impose on destinations, they have even visited some muslim countries. It was time for me to swap the gentle lapping of the ship for dry land as the crew prepared for another long spell at sea. With so much to do I´m sure the time must fly by but if the crew ever get bored they can always read a book, they have another 800,000 in a warehouse to back up the on board library.

Even with a disasterous start and a weak finish CD Marino should have been able of beating a poor Union Sur Yaiza team but they left it to late to show their true form and lost 1-2 at home.

Compensating for injuries is going to be tough with a lack of experience in depth, goalkeeper Cicovic was missed, his commanding prescence and solid distribution inspire confidence. Replacement Petar had a nightmare start when a cheeky long lob from Victor caught him out in the second minute, 0-1 down and he hadn´t even got a feel of the ball. A soft clearance out to Yunes could have doubled his suffering but the Lanzarote striker didn´t make the most of the chance.

Rami was full of running for Yaiza but their hit and rush style was frustrated as Fran Delgado closed him down. Marino found their own momment of inspiration to draw level after 12 minutes, Mendy picked out Fran far up on the right and he worked the ball inside for Kevin Castro to make it 1-1. That should have been the springboard to a victory charge but Marino were not firing on all cylinders, Too many high and hopeful balls left attacking players with just shadows to chase. At one stage Marino skied the ball over the side stand, a nice surprise for anyone walking by.

Alberto and Facu didn´t work well as a pair up front and Kevin Castro out on the left wasn´t able to make his normal big contribution to the game. Facu showed some of his clever tap backs in build up play but Marino were crying out for the dominant Adan or Amed who were on the subs bench. Yaiza were looking to grab their lead back, Piñeiro got round the back of the home defence but couldn´t get the ball to the waiting Dani, and the half ended with Mendy doing well to snuff out Exposito as he bore down on goal.

The second half got worse before it got better. Petar made a good save to deny Yaiza but they kept pushuing. Aridane headed over but the next attack bore fruit as Rami powered through the defence to plunder a goal. Petar prevented the damage increasing as he plucked out more high balls and took Kamara´s shot full in the stomach. Home changes were long overdue, Facu and Alberto were replaced by Adan and Amed in a double swap and it almost brought an instant response with Amed winning the ball deep and surging towards goal before defenders crowded him out. Kevin Castro got a new lease of life by coming in off the wing to get more involved.

There was a lifeline after 73 minutes when the ref sent off Victor for Yaiza. Adan and Amed both tested the away goalie, and Coly headed wide. Adan was getting frustrated by the constant offside calls but not as wound up as the visitors defender Ignacio and his goalie who spent most of the last 10 minutes arguing. Fran Delgado sent in a late cross that third sub Akshi got his head to but couldn´t hit the target. The first home defeat of the season and a drop to 6^th place, there´s a lot of work to do if Marino want to make up ñost ground on the battle for a play off spot.