October 1999 - the Canaries

Posted 11 October

Make sure you have a good look at Hannah's drawings - they are fantastic!

MORE FISHY FISHY

Today we caught two other fish. One was a rainbow runner, the other one was a tuna. A small tuna. When it caught the bait, the line went fizzing out. Then we pulled it in and Mark took all the gutts out. Yuck! The cockpit was full of blood but we washed it out. Now the tuna is in clingfilm and the rainbow runner is in my tummy!

STARS AND PHOSPHORESCENCE

Last night there was lots of stars. Mum let me stay up to see them. While we were looking at the Plough, (a kind of pattern in the stars) Mark pointed out the phosphorescence. It is food that provides for many sea creatures. In the night you sometimes see them in the sea. If you disturb the plankton, it gives off light that is called phosphorescence. It looks like little sparks swimming. We saw Venus and we thought it was a big boat behind us.

MADEIRA

We arrived in Madeira late at night. On the first day that we arrived, Michelle (Mum’s friend) came. She took me and Hannah to her house to stay the night. She had a dog called Sandy, and two boys, the oldest one called Mark and the youngest was called Daniel. Daniel was seven turning eight, and Mark was nine turning ten. I am eight turning nine. It is like a small pattern. I played on their game boy, played Zoombeenies on their computer, and programmes on their TV. I also rode on Mark’s bike. After having fun (for the night) a girl called Nicola came to her house to play too. She was really nice and we played camps, and other boys came to play too, and they pretended to be leaders and we were slaves. Not very fun. After that I realised that I was supposed to stay the night again, so I did. I had breakfast in one of their dad’s hotels. I had eggs and bacon. Yum yum. They played tennis with their dad in a tennis court. I watched. Then we all went to swim in the hotel pool. Me and Hannah swam in our knickers and the boys in their shorts. It was great fun. Then I stayed the night again. Three times! We went to the Blandy’s house. They had a garden. A huge one. It was beautiful. Then I went back to the boat and I slept there after a long time with Michelle and the boys and their dad. I set up a picture shop and got £7.50! Now we are off to the Canaries. We also went on go-carts with Peter and another time with Michelle. I rode there on the bike without falling off.

GREAT TIME

We said goodbye to Marie because she didn’t want to be sea-sick again. It was sad to see her go. Then we sailed to the Canaries. It took two days. The Canaries are lovely so far. Right next door to the harbour there is a swimming pool, a gymnasium, private showers and a bar. I went to the pool on the ninth of October. I made friends with a ten year old called Eva. She spoke good English even though she was Spanish. She was really nice. The pool was salt water, but I had a shower afterwards. On the same day it was mum’s birthday. We got her an almond cake with powder on top. In the middle of the cake, the powder surrounded a cross. It was delicious. For presents, Hannah and I got her a puzzle from each of us; Dad got her some earings and all of us together gave her some perfume. It was really great. The next day I wrote a song called TIME GOES BY. It is fab. Mark went on Mum’s birthday and now we are on our own as a family for a week.

Posted 24 October

FUN WORK

Yesterday I did comprehension with Mum. It took ages but it was ok. After that, I played on my CD. It was a work CD and it was fun. There was an alien called Adi. It showed you around. To play games you have to pass a kind of test. The subject I am doing now is maths. Adi stands by a chart that has a line of apples, ice cream and pears. Each fruit is a different subject. I have finished the ice creams and the pears and I am on my first apple: the weather. The more subjects I do, the more games I can play. I can’t wait to play them.

SEASIDE FUN

We went to the beach. To get there, we had to hire a car and drive for 20 mins on the motorway. The trip made me feel a bit car sick, but it was ok. When we got there, we decided to get wet and sandy after lunch so we went to a restaurant and I had a meat kebab. It was quite spicy. Then me and Hannah had an ice cream. I had a raspberry one, and Hannah had a chocolate one. Then we went to the beach. It was crowded but we found our own little space right next to the sea. The water was so, so clear. It was wonderful. I swam quite a way before coming back. I made a sandcastle with doors that go in and come out the other side. I also made walls around it and dug an empty moat around it. I also made a fishing boat with a seat that I could sit on. I fitted in perfectly with little spaces at the front and back. After about three hours of playing, we went home. We went a longer way this time. Over the mountains. We went windy, windy up the mountain and took THREE HOURS to get home. We went down the mountain and after a little way, we went into a cloud. We stopped to see if we can eat in a restaurant there but I was not surprised that the shops weren’t open in that gloomy place. It was quite cold too. Then we went back down the mountain. At last we got home and had supper at the club restaurant. One of the waiters gave us skittles each. Yum yum.

MRS BUSY BEE

I made a chocolate cake. It was a delicious one too. I helped mum make it and so did Hannah. I did the mixing and the whisking. I also sieved the flour. Hannah sieved the sugar and the chocolate. Mum realised she had put the wrong oil in. She put in olive oil and she said it didn’t look or taste quite right.

I learned how to backward dive and I backward flipped once but after that, I kept falling splat on my back and it hurt a lot. We now have Sarah and Nick to stay. It is very confusing but everyone calls me Sarah Jane because my second name is Eugenia. So it is not really, really confusing….. WEEEELL …

LORO PARQUE!

I went to Tenerife with Sarah and Nick. With Mum, Dad and Hannah too. We are staying here for two days. On the first day I went to Loro Parque. It is a place for dolphins, sea lions, parrots and big cats, monkeys and loads of things like that. First of all we had lunch in one of the restaurants. I had a roast lamb. Then I went with Dad and Hannah to see the sea lion show. It was cool. Then we went to the parrot show. That was funny. Then, at last, we went to the dolphin show. It was great. At the beginning, a pretend Charlie Chaplin walked around poking a stick at people and telling them funny things like he poked a man and said his short’s zip was undone but it was not true. He also saw a boy with no t-shirt and kept sending him away and beckoning him again. The boy looked as though he would burst into tears but at last he was let in. Hannah went on a tiny boat and the dolphins pulled her along and at the end, she patted them and kissed them. Boo hoo! But it doesn’t matter, I still had great fun!

MOUNTAINS

On the second day, we went off to the mountains in the same rattely car as when we were going to Loro Parque. We drove for a long time but then, Dad and Nick left us on a stony perch (where you could see almost everything) so that they can go back to get more petrol. We had a little walk then when they came back we set off again. When we got to the foot of a volcano higher than the clouds, we realised that the cable car wasn’t working, so we went to a restaurant to have lunch. Then we went to walk in a lava field! We climbed lots of rocks. When we got to the top, we had a few sweets and Nick found that sometimes when you break some lava, you sometimes get beautiful colours inside. I have one. Then we went home.

Now we are going back to Gran Canaria. We have seen a pirate ship. It was so long I couldn’t fit it in my photo. It has about four masts. I saw twelve people up the rigging! They were fixing things there.