Brollies and raincoats were on most peoples christmas wish list here in Tenerife, the Canary Islands were lashed by storms with heavy rain and strong winds. I had the lovely Pam over for the week and felt very bad that the sun only made fleeting appearances. At the worst, on December 30, La Palma was cut off with ferries and flights cancelled, here in Tenerife, we had between 40 and 60 litres of rain per square metre with falling rocks blocking the main motorway and many places losing electricity. I felt very sorry for the families that had brought the kids over for christmas, and the local business’s hoping for a bumper cash boost over the festive season, many people will return to the UK with stories of rain and gloom-not good for tempting future tourists. It wasn’t all bad, even after a downpour at dinner time on christmas day, it cleared enough for a couple of hours on the beach in the sun, and since yesterday it has been sunny and hot again.

A new year is now upon us, crowds flocked to the beach area and the main church plaza (see pic) in Los Cristianos to welcome in 2009 with the usual impressive firework displays, I took it easy and spared my head from a hazy start to the year. The La Noria bar area in Santa Cruz made an ominous move, introducing a 20 euro ticket to get into this popular zone, hope it is not the start of the ticket only do’s that ruined much of the New Years Eve fun for revellers in the UK years ago.

Only Reyes (kings Day) to go now on Jan 6, and we can get back to a bit of routine and start to eat into the year. CD Tenerife resume their football season on sunday with a home game, hopefully the players wont have over indulged and can start the big push for promotion. Happy New Year.