News that the sun was shining yesterday in Tenerife, with not a cloud in the sky and it was hoped that the more rain and strong winds forecasted for the islands hold off for the New Year celebrations.

Seemingly, that wish was granted and, we have  it on authority that the latest forecasts indicate that the rain intends to stay away for at least the next week.

Airports across the Tenerife province were all operating normally yesterday after many flights had been cancelled or delayed and, access to Mount Teide via El Portillo on the TF-21 road has been reopened after it had been closed on Tuesday, due to rockfalls caused by  the last few days' rains.

Canary Islands' First babies of 2009

Were, first a little girl, born at 2 minutes past midnight in the Hospital Universitario Materno Infantil in Gran Canaria. Lucía Kresic weighed in at 3.93 kilos and measured 53 centimetres. Her mum is Slovenian and her dad is Croatian and a cousin of Sergio Kresic, the former trainer of UD Las Palmas football team.

The second birth in the archipelago, took place at 1.30 a.m. in the Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), in Tenerife. A boy, to be named Samuel, who was born to a German mother and Spanish father. Ironic that both new babies also had foreign parents, given the following item ...

Institutional Racism raises its ugly head again

Antonio Castro, President of the Canary Islands Parliament, is reported to have opined that if they don't wish to consume more land on the islands, then other measures will need to be implemented, such as "prohibiting immigration or controlling the birth rate" (via Miguel at Canarias Bruta, who entitled his post "Happy 2009 with condom to hand.")

How exactly, Sr. Castro thinks he might control the natural urges of the entire population of the Canary Islands, I've no idea, but the message that words like prohibiting immigration sends out to the public is an appalling one.

My opinion, based on experience, is that this statement will be like a red rag to a bull in inciting more fear and loathing and increasing the perceived "threat" of the islands being overrun by outsiders. And, whilst I know that we European citizens are no longer "officially" foreign, if you think that makes any difference to the attitude of some ignorant individuals, then you're being very naive.

We're relieved the year's first [foreign] babies weren't born on incoming flights.

Direct flights to Miami will commence in the Spring, LosGigantes.com report that the Air Europa direct flights between Tenerife and Miami are to start at the end of April or the beginning of May, not at the beginning of the year as was first planned and, the weekly flight will operate from the North Airport, not from the South. (Photo: Ken DeJarlais)

La Orotava points the way

The town centre shopping streets in  La Orotava are to get improvements, thanks to government grants, for street furniture and signage.

And you don't get much for 100K these days as the money is for the installation of 5 posts (on which there'll be tourist information signs, we must assume), pointing out to the visitor where to find things like the town hall, the municipal library, small hotels, gardens, plazas, cultural centres, artistic monuments, museums and other places of interest.

New Year Price rises in detail

Price increases in basic services, effective today, are, it's reported, above the inflation target of 2 per cent, except in the case of butane and natural gas (not that there's any of the latter in Tenerife yet, other than in Siam Park), where tariffs are being reduced, by 1.88% and 3.6% respectively.

However, electricity prices are rising by 3.5% and postal services by 3.22%.

Ordinary letters (up to 20 grams) within Spain rise to 32 cents, while those to Europe (and your postcards to the UK) will cost 62 cents. To other international destinations, the price has been frozen at 1.66 euros. Parcels sent nationally will cost 3.31% more, whilst the cost of sending them abroad is rising by 2.84%.

Elsewhere, it's reported that a 4% rise in water prices approved by the council in La Laguna has been criticized as being disproportionate. At least it wasn't the 5.3% rise they'd initially announced, but I suppose this means residents can expect rises in the price of water passed by other town councils [sic].

And the worst news comes for drivers with news that the infamous Tráfico is increasing its tariffs from January 1st, between 20 and 68% in most cases.

And in my first whine of the year at the British press' totally divorced from reality treatment of Tenerife (it's no wonder "the UK is the least trusting of information in its newspapers"), The Telegraph yesterday published an interview with Darren Gough (who apparently is a former England cricketer and Strictly Come Dancing champion), who says of his worst holiday:

"One place that I wasn't too keen on, if I'm going to be honest, was Tenerife. If you go on a lads trip there it's not so bad but, unless you're going to spend thousands and thousands of pounds, it's not private enough for a family holiday. There's lots of younger people there drinking and it's not really for me. When I go abroad I like to try the local cuisine but the restaurants in Tenerife seemed to only offer British food. It wasn't my cup of tea and I'm not in a rush to go back there."

What is patently obvious from what he says, is that like the vast majority of package holiday Brits, the eminent Mr Gough, clearly didn't break his balls to go tripping the light fandango around any part of the island outside his resort, where he would have seen that it is not at all as he describes.

For 9 years of my stay in Tenerife, I almost never came across an English speaker, much less British food, but that aside, there's a plethora of rural houses  that don't cost thousands and would certainly be private enough for a family holiday. Gough is clearly bowling the island a googly and it's just not cricket!

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