Keep On Rocking

Good evening once again thanks for joining me. The weather here has been glorious once again and today i had an interview for work and I am hoping to here about that tomorrow. I also spent a couple of hours at the studio and the recording is going well . Not having a tv, music is my saviour at the moment but then I suppose it has always taken precedent. Something I have not mentioned is that I have sent a song i wrote in about 1984 off to a publisher for assessment, but have heard nothing back yet.

I suppose this would be a good point to introduce you to the band, By their nicknames:

From Top Left going Clockwise: Sick Note, Short Bloke(actually this isn't Short Bloke this is Ray, the previous Bass Player),Gadget, The Man from Argentina and Finally Outstanding musician and all round nice bloke. They are all a great bunch of lads and a whole lot of fun. Hopefully you will be hearing what they are capable of very soon. To give them their proper names in the same order you have : Steve, Colin (not Ray), Paul, Carlos and Kev. apart from the Band they all go out in the area as solo artists and duos. so if you get out here there is a goo chance you can see them live. they are all well worth seeing.

well thanks again for taking time out to read this. don't forget to hit the follow link if you haven't already done so. and your comments are always welcome.

cheers

Ro

As promised in an earlier Post here is the picture of My bonsai. Thanks to dad for sending it and to mum for looking after it.
Not much been happening here except the usual job hunting. Pleased to say that I have an Interview tomorrow. Its in a call centre (not really what I had in Mind but anything will do for the time being.)
We have set up the recording studio at a friends house and have already started to lay down some drum and guitar tracks for the bands Cd, so that's good. I have enjoyed that and have learned plenty as well.
Not much else to tell at the moment so I will Sign Off for now Thanks again for following the blog
Ro

A Shortened version

Good evening . thanks for joining me once again. This post was originally a lot longer but it failed to save before i had time to publish it , so i will give you a precise.
I pointed out that is Neil diamonds Birthday today and he was Sixty eight.
I also mentioned the local radio Station which you can find online at http://www.powerfmradio.com/ .
And that i had the unusual Privilege of watching a pair of Hawks hunting over the banana plantations below my terrace. unfortunately I was unable to identify them, but is was nice to watch from above instead of from below.
Tomorrow sees my first paid labour since i have been here. I am video recording a live Performance of the band, "It's Immaterial" at the Courtyard in Puerto de Santiago. I have also been asked to produce them in the studio so hopefully I can put a couple of tracks in the near future..
I noticed the Japanese banks are suffering in the credit crunch.
The Karaoke bank is going for a song,
360 Staff at The Karate bank are for the Chop,
The Sushi Bank has had a bit of a raw deal
And The Sumo Bank has gone belly up.

The original post was better but i could not be bothered to type it all again.
Thanks for reading, I will post again soon
Ro

Mobile Phone Fun

Hi Guys. Welcome once again. Thanks for joining me.


First The News.

Well, I am still here. Unfortunately the work situation is no better, although i have been asked to video a band on Sunday night, for which i will get paid so things are looking up. I have also been asked to produce the same band, which i am looking forward to, although i don't have any experience of the technical side of that. (should be Fun)


I apologise , because as yet i have done no research on La Palmar but I will brush up tomorrow.


I have made one friend, a ten year old french girl who seems to be having as much trouble with Spanish as i am. But i have been able to help with her English home work. and Papa seems most grateful.

A friend I have met ,very kindly gave me a Spanish Sim card for my spare mobile which seems to work , unfortunately he seems to have given me the wrong number for it. I am getting offers by text from the phone company for free texts and even had a phone call from them , unfortunately I could not understand them and the agent could not understand me.( A bit like calling a call centre from the U.K).
I will possibly be going out this evening to play for a second time in a folk evening. I will let you know how it goes.
It struck Me that I hadn't put any photos up for a few days so here are couple of my pals apartment earlier today. a bit like Spring.

Island Sunsets

Well here we are again. and at this point I have no idea what i am going to witter on about this evening. It has been a lovely day here today but although bright it was considerably chillier up in the mountains. I had a short trip up to Tamaimo with a friend to pick someone up and you could really feel the difference in temperature. surprising considering it was only a ten minute drive.
W e have had an absolutely fabulous sunset this evening, and for the first time i have been able to see the Island of La Palmar, some 59 miles away. I know nothing at all about this island ,so i will endeavour to do some research which I will put in a future post.
According to the weather forecast we can expect more of the same over the next few days, although the coast seems as if will get a bit of a battering with waves of up to five metres.
So I don't suppose the Whale watching boats will be doing much trade.
Dolphin and whale watching is a popular excursion here as it is one of the few places on the globe that you can get a glimpse of Pilot whales. The reason for this , I am told, is because of the depth of the water, which drops to Two Thousand Metres (That's Well Over A Mile),between here and La Gomera which is a mere 20 miles away. And I am told that it drops quite steeply from about 500metres off the coast. Well that's about it for this evening, I promise i will do my homework on La Palmar and let you Know More. Thanks for taking the time out to read this drivel hope you enjoy it. don't forget feel free to leave your comments

RO

It's A Brave New World

Good evening all. Thank you for joining me once again. Special Thanks to Russ for hitting the follow link nice to know your there. ( For Pete's benefit. Russ Is My Brother) Following My post from last night I decided to search the web for a picture of a Tajenaste , which you can see on this mornings post. I was delighted to find that when i put the word in the Google search box, my blog came up[ in the top three. So i am hoping for lots more followers.

Pete Fagalde I took a look at your profile and noticed that you enjoy Bonsai, as do I. I left one in the uk when i came here in early January and have been promised a photo of its progress in the near future. I will post it as soon as i can.

Today is a Global earmark day. The inauguration of , the forty forth U.S President, Barack Obama. So therefore it should not go unmentioned. so there you have it I have mentioned it.
A couple of us agreed yesterday, not to read any newspaper or watch any T.V today for the simple reason, that we would be bombarded with this story.

I pride myself in being an individual that holds no prejudice, except that is , for girls named Deborah. But that goes back to infant school, or as you would say in the U.S, Kindergarten. There lies another story.

Politics is not one of my favourite subjects so i will hold my comments for the future, to give us all a chance to give the man a fair crack of the whip. After all, there are hundreds of people , all over the globe, in bars and taxis that know how to run the world. perhaps we should give a couple of them the chance. you never know they might be right.

And so if He has not been assasinated by the time I pick up the news paper tomorrow we can look forward to a "Brave new World"

Please feel free to Leave your comments

Roland

Picture of Tajenaste

I found this picture on tinternet. Looks like Mount Teide in the background. but this is the plant i was talking about in my last posting.

Is Anybody out There?

Good evening all. And so starts week three. I wonder what could be in store!! Monday has seemed to evolve into laundry day, and before anyone passes comment , yes I can operate a washing machine and I do know how to use an Iron.
I afforded myself a bus ride up the hill to ristorante Tajenaste yesterday evening to see a rock band consisting of some of the local duos and solo acts that abound. They were great. The name of the the band , its immaterial! No that is the name of the band, "It's Immaterial". well worth a visit if you are on the island. Tajenaste, Is is a cactus like plant that grows in the mountainous areas of the island with a bulbous end that flowers quite beautifully at certain times of year. I will find out more.

A part from the house , work the usual job search ensued ,and i was very pleased to have a reply offering me an interview, alas they don't say when. Perhaps i am just a little impatient.

I am enjoying cooking, now that i have worked out the cooker, and was delighted to find that the bottles of wine here are larger than those at home, and considerably cheaper. (A Full Litre Of Red for about £1.15) BARGAIN

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you that have decided to follow this blog,namely Pete Fagalde. (who ever you may be). Its Nice to know some one is out there.
Please feel free to join Pete by clicking the "follow this blog" link on the Right hand side of the page. And any Comments would be more than welcome.
Thanks every one will post again soon
Ro

Left Hand Drive Cooker

Today is a special day for two reasons. For One, I have been here for 2 weeks and for number two I have been in the apartment for one week. It has been a busy fortnight not least because i have had a few issues with my cooker. Not that it doesn't cook, but it just takes so long to do it.
Until Today that is. I have discovered that the hob works in reverse, that is to say no.1 is hot and no.6 is cool. Which will explain while it took me twenty five minutes to fry an egg the other day. now I have worked that out , I managed a delicious Spag bog cooked with all fresh ingredients this evening.

While that was Cooking I took time out to sit on the terrace with a very palatable glass of Red. Incidentally that is the fist time i have been able to do that for any length of time since i have been here.
It was fascinating. Some miles to the west out there in the Atlantic Ocean but in easy view is the island of La Gomera. Its claim to fame being where Columbus set sail from before he discovered the Americas. Also a unique language where they communicate by a series of Whistles. ( a bit like the Clangers)
However I digress. It was fascinating simply because as I sat On the terrace with the sun full in my face, immediately above me, and not that far above me was a huge black cloud. Across the water I could only see the Southern most tip of La Gomera, as the rest of the island obscured by a huge bank of cloud.
It Struck me that nature has the most beautiful way of keeping balance. This Archipelago that millions of years ago erupted from the depths of this ocean had no sooner cooled before the ocean began to slowly erode the rock and create this magnificent landscape. But in some ways this happens on a daily basis. just watching the clouds this evening brought this home.

From a clear Blue sky this morning I have observed the birth of clouds and the gradual congregation of them as day progressed. As the infant cumulus made their way towards dry land some were undecided as to which way to go, always trying to follow the sun.
Running for the high ground they separate some making for Teide, hence the black angry clouds behind me, and some making for the next best thing,: La Gomera.

As the late comers opt for the easy option of La Gomera they create wonderful images on the sea, like a pathway of silver stepping stones between the two islands that mutates into a single path as the sun retires, bringing the island into full silhouette on a back drop of orange and purple.

During the night all of those clouds will jettison their load of moisture that the sun has sucked from the ocean, somewhere across these islands just to feed the land and provide for the vegetation. and tomorrow they will do it all over again. "HOW IS THAT FOR BALANCE"

Hello again. Yesterday was a bit of a long one. got up at 5 am went yet again to the police station queued once again from 6.30 till 9.30 but was lucky enough to get the last ticket issued for the day. great you might think,except that ticket only ensured that i would get seen that day and i was to return around midday . so i went for a wonder around los Americas for 2 hours ( not my kind of place) and dutifully returned a little early, to be on the safe side. A further 2 hours waiting and i finally left the Police station With My Nie number which is a pre requisite for me to have, in order to work here.

Today has been a little more relaxed haveing spent most of it trying to find work still with no luck as yet but you never know whats around the corner.
So allowed myself to go for a walk for an hour this afternoon took a few pictures which you can see below.

Hi everyone. was up early this Morning as I had to go to Las Americas to the main police station to Process my forms for getting my N.I.E number which is a requirement for me to work here legally. After waiting outside in a queue for an hour and a half they promptly opened the doors and began to usher the hoards in. where we were to receive a number and wait our turn to be dealt with. After a further half an hour of queuing and about twenty people from the front, they announced that they would be issuing no further numbers today. so will be doing it all again tomorrow, but going even earlier. The rest of the day has been spent on the web job hunting. and no doubt that will continue into the evening. I just took a little time out to post this.

As many will know ,Probably one of my biggest passions is MUSIC. Old and new popular and obscure, but even better if it is live. There is plenty to be found here and i am making myself known in the area as someone who is quite knowledgeable in this area , and am having some talks to a local Radio station next week to see if i can work more closely with musicians and publicisisng some of the more established acts in the area. my nerve in performing has not yet grown but i did step up and play guitar and play guitar at an acoustic folk night on sunday last, and nobody laughed so things are on the up. i will keep you posted

Lets see what its all about

Well I have arrived. It has been a busy week. running around trying to do things that need to be done so that i can legally work etc. I have found a very nice apartment. no pool but a large terrace with fabulous views, not that i have had much time to sit on it. The picture on the Right is just part of the view over the village of Los Gigantes which got its name from the huge cliffs that rise some 500m almost vertically from the sea that in the background.