The best place to be if you need a reminder of why you love Tenerife
Sometimes events conspire to make me wonder why on earth I continue to live in a region of Spain.
A week or so ago I was chatting to my brother who lives in the UK and after my groans about the stagnant feel of the tourist market at the moment and the slowness of work, he said:
“Oh well, the World Cup starts soon so at least that’s something to look forward to.”
Except that it wasn’t. Well, it was…and it wasn’t, because although I love the World Cup and would happily watch every single game (in the unlikely event that deadlines permitted), Spain is one of the few countries in the world that is not actually airing all the games on free-to-view TV.
“But the World Cup is all about embracing nations in the love of the beautiful game! For God’s sake, Andy, get out of Spain and get back to Britain where you can at least watch the footie!” said my bro’.
I laughed and explained that the list of reasons in the ‘for living in Tenerife‘ column far outweighed the ones in the ‘against living in Tenerife‘ column, but a seed had been planted.
Only showing one live game a day and concentrating on Spain performances is indicative of a country that exhibits astounding levels of insularity. Hamstrung by outdated monopolies and an autocratic business culture, Spain has a complete aversion to looking outside itself for anything, and ‘best practice’ and ‘benchmarking’ are not just conspicuous by their absence – they’re an anathema to Spain. When the rest of the world saw the financial crisis looming and took damage limitation measures, Spain carried on with business as usual which is why it’s now facing financial melt-down. I could go on…
A couple of days later Jack and I walked the Chinyero Volcano route for a new walking guide we’re preparing and within 5 minutes of setting off I had mentally registered any number of things I loved about Tenerife. The smell of the pine forest; the fact that I could see the sea from almost everywhere on the island; the unrestricted ability to walk wherever I wanted; La Gomera and La Palma on the horizon…
Some time ago, when we first set up Tenerife Magazine, Joe Cawley wrote a short piece entitled ‘10 things I hate about living in Tenerife‘ and clearly it rung a bell with lots of people who added their own pet hates to the list. So when I got back from my walk, I compiled a list of ‘10 things I love about living in Tenerife‘ – mainly to remind myself why it is that I continue to live in Spanish territory. It’s not an exhaustive list, it’s just the ones that popped into my head and I’m sure others will have their own reasons which will be nothing like mine.
I just wish Tenerife wasn’t in Spanish territory and could sub-contract its World Cup coverage from the BBC. That’s number one on my ’10 things I wish about living in Tenerife’ list.
I love your list, but I also agree with almost everything on Joe Crawley’s. For some years I have kept two running lists – one pros and one cons, but I’m still here, for now.
Nowhere is perfect, of course, and there are times when England looks attractive, as it did to me this Spring, then I remember why we moved here.
I think it’s good to question, wherever we are, thus we don’t stagnate.
Wise words, islandmomma. One of my mum’s (many!) sayings was ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ and like all sayings, is clearly rooted in fact.
The difficulty I have is this: where else can I live that has such a beautiful climate, stunning scenery, family-oriented culture and personal freedom as the Canary Islands? If I can find all those and leave behind the insularity and incompetence of the Spanish, I’ll move tomorrow. But then I suspect that if such a place existed, I’d be killed in the rush!
It would be wonderful if we all had complete freedom of movement, wouldn’t it? I have a theory that different places are right for us at different times in our life. Nowhere is absolutely perfect, but some places suit our needs better at different stages.
For me, this was a terrific place to bring up children. They had a lot of the freedom I remembered having as a child, a “real” childhood, they always prefered doing stuff outdoors to sitting in front of tv for instance……still do! At the same time, the quality of their education was something always on the scales. Had we been in UK and solving an education problem would have been easier, then my son’s asthma would have been on the other side of the scales constantly.
I am also not quite sure of the extent to which living on a small island influences our possibilites and perceptions. When I use the word “Spanish” I try to stop to consider whether this is, really, a ‘Spanish thing’ as opposed to a ‘Canarian thing’. Oddly, Canarian friends seem to agree about the frustrations, whilst friends from the mainland seem to make more allowances.
But I agree, if the frustrations suck so much that one finds oneself complaining all the time, then it’s time to move on. Goodness but we have freedom of movement throughout Europe now!
Yes – the Spanish vs Canarios issue I’m also constantly aware of, particularly living in the north where there’s such a strong ‘somos Canarios, no godos!’ culture.
Unfortunately, when it comes to debilitating insularity, I fear that the mainland sets the bar and the Canario island mentality raises it…a double whammy!
I can certainly see how Tenerife must be a wonderful place to raise a family – a childhood filled with sunny days and laughter but, like you clearly did, I would worry about the lack of achievement ambition when it came to education standards. But it’s just as you say – swings and roundabout.
Different places for different times in our lives is a nice idea. Maybe I’ll abandon myself to the whims of the Gods and see where life’s tide washes me up next.
Wonder about the volcano? It’s come up recently on-line as potentially exploding and causing waves here in the USA.
>>>>>>Maybe I’ll abandon myself to the whims of the Gods and see where life’s tide washes me up next.
That’s the way I like to look at it :=)