r.bartlett

Bitter sweet victory

Day 1 of our new normal. Tourists are now able to return. Shame as most here apart from the income have grown to love the lack of Blackpool in the sun coming here ruining the island. We have been approximately 350,000 people down at any one time which has made it a ghost island in one respect but so much nicer to be here Heyho fun while it lasted

The various matches I've seen all seem like a reserves match

Apart for a complete lack of atmosphere (I think this is damaging the game more than cancelling the season or giving the title to poo would have ) we are really poor ..

On the subject of Black pudding.. Over here in Tenerife we have a sweet black pudding with almonds. If you're ever this way I do recommend it

Hi guys Lockdown and I mean a proper lockdown is here till 26th April. Then a slow release. However no tourists till October so the island is basically fooked. Last year there was a conversation about Tenerife shedding it's Blackpool in the sun image. Being cynical with no tourists now would be an excellent time to wipe out all the tacky bars and restaurants in one foul swoop. The Spanish well I won't say too much but most Brits here think they are lovely and some genuinely are but we are hated here in the main. Or at best very reluctantly tolerated The island was built by gangsters thugs villain's etc in the 80's it was like the wild west, there was massive corruption and most of the mayor's enjoyed a very nice lifestyle thank you very much..it got so bad Madrid sent over special forces to deal with it. But what's left they don't like either. It's pretty tacky bars Sure they love the money but if you haven't got an income you're not losing anything so it's all to gain And Tenerife like Spain is economically stone dead. So why not start with a clean slate. The g.ment has said it will support businesses and employees but the Spanish have buracracy down to a fine art. I have for example, applied for a new licence for work. I am using a local lawyer and my accountant is Spanish. Every t and I have been crossed or dotted. They have every document they need. No problem 14 months later I am still waiting. My mate went to court against a fine by the Guardia. The judge agreed it was a mistake and awarded him the money and damages. 5 years later he still hasn't had the money. It's not even the police's money but they still keep coming up with delays and excuses.. and all you get it the Tenerife "no se" shrug ( I don't know) So today I hear the 200 billion the president said would be made available is now deemed not to exist. A fantasy said to appease the people. I am expecting carnage here and all the other Brit resorts in Spain as people realise whilst you may love Spain, Spain doesn't love you It's going to be very tense over the next 12 months .. more as it comes in

I went to Russia in 1976 and having been to over 15 european countries by then they were by far the nicest people I'd ever met. Genuinely lovely people. It was there I learnt to distinguish between state and people. My partner holiday rents out her property here for the last few years via FB & AirBnB the customers are from all over Europe (Uk too) She said only 5 minutes ago after getting off the phone from one of them, "not one tenant from another country messaged if I was alright, not one Russian tenant hasn't messaged if I am alright."

My partner was born and grew up under the old USSR regime, I said weeks ago the Chinese seemed to be lying about this stuff. Her response "of course, all communist governments lie, it's in their DNA. Russia lies constantly as it cannot be seen to be weak or inferior to the west" (she does have a lot of positives about the old regime so it's not an anti communist rant)

The forecast for the UK economy is for a 12 to 15% contraction . unemployment expected to double Basically the world is fooked. As it stands we are in the phoney war once out the g.ment will stop all aid and that's when the s will really hit the fan Winning the war is the easy part. Winning the peace will take years

Lockdown in Spain was extended last week to April 12th.. Now our President is floating the idea of May before we are released.

Morning guys Tenerife calling ! Been in full lockdown for 13 days now. We haven't left the house since week last Sunday The gf decided when it first kicked off to ensure we we had sufficient stores not to need to go out for around a month so we haven't.I laughed at the time but she has an inane ability to judge situations. No work no income so living off savings. What didn't help was I committed to buying a new van just before the lockdown and some building works so my outgoings have risen right at the wrong time However life goes on but whilst I know we will win the war I'm not so sure we will win the peace. Tenerife is highly dependent on tourism so it's going to decimate a huge part of the island which a lot of the bar owners have yet to factor into their futures Tough times ahead

how bad are we? :-)

umm bit of a slow start shall we say

It's inexperience rather than bad (although tbf he hasn't done anything to convince anyone he's a great or even very good manager as yet, has he?) and he should not have been appointed.IMHO.. too much too soon . It was a just a sop to the fans who wanted it.. Now at least the board can say STFU when Frank is moved on. That said since his appointment I have said we are a mid table team and if we finish there then that's fine. Next season is his make or break one UNLESS we are in a relegation battle this season.. (which we won't be obvs)

Against a very poor team.. and we lost. well done us.. :-)