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Monday, December 19, 2005
Storm Brewing in Tenerife?
It's a curious thing, but the British have a (deserved) reputation for only ever talking about the weather. It is our preoccupation. What you probably don't realize is that we are far from being alone.
Canarians talk about the weather too, they always have, but the incidence of conversations about the weather has certainly grown over the last few years, as the weather has become more varied and less predictable on these islands. And when one realizes how much more dependent upon the climate we are here, for the fate of crops in particular, then you see why it becomes a justifiable concern.
Depending upon which forecast you consult, there is a chance of thunder storms either tomorrow, Wednesday and/or Thursday. The wind speeds forecast are not particularly high and certainly do not indicate the likelihood of a seriously bad storm. Don't panic!
But, this morning, although fairly clear, the winds did get up - in gusts - with pockets of warm air that are characteristic of a brewing storm and conversation with folk one meets out walking turned to the weather and the hope that the electricity would remain working.
(I'll avoid a long rant, but the reason why a tiny bit of bad weather can cause the electricity to fail here is because the installations are basically third-world. My late father was an electrical engineer, so I am speaking from a position of being "informed" on this.)
What was of interest this morning was in learning that the valley of El Palmar has only had electricity anyway for approximately 35 to 40 years. (I understand they have only had roads that long too.) Prior to that, they had only candles and camping gas lanterns for lighting.
To think that this is within my lifetime is, well, a revelation.
The lady I was chatting with this morning said that one man eventually figured out a way to generate electricity using an old car engine and her dad went out and bought a TV right away.
That too is characteristic of developments on these islands. One day you are ambling along in the 19th Century, the next you run slap-bang into the 21st. There is no gradual development.
Likewise, when I came to the island only 13 years ago, there was no mobile phone network at all. Once it was installed, every goat herder and his dog had a tiny mobile phone on his belt.
They did not live through the gradual development of car-phones to lugabble huge mobile phones, through those chunky Motorolla's that were a good security device - not for phoning for help but for thumping attackers with - to eventually arrive at the minute mobiles of today that take pictures, surf the net, sweep the floors and make the coffee. (Well, maybe the last two are wishful thinking :)
(Please, will someone make one that makes phone calls and has buttons that middle-aged folk like me can actually see!)
When you think about it, the Canarian people have an unique ability to assimilate new ideas and adapt quickly to new inventions.
However, this lady, like me, said that the only thing there is to do here, once the electricity goes off, is to go to bed. What you've never had, you don't miss, but once you've become used to the "luxury" (and it still is here), there is no going back.
