I’m in trouble with Dr. Deadpan again. I don’t know what it is about my kids’ current paediatrician. Either he doesn’t like kids or he doesn’t like mothers. Either way, it is quite likely he would be happier in another profession where he didn’t have to deal with either.
The last time I took my daughter to the clinic, he gad a go at me for being late. I wasn’t. Today, I was at the clinic early for an emergency appointment because my daughter was up in the night with earache. Usually there is a mob of sniffly, coughing or spotty kids to swap infections with but as school doesn’t start for another week, we were the only people there.
That didn’t matter to Dr. Deadpan, though. You would have thought that by presumptuously turning up for an emergency appointment I was kicking some more worthy or sicker child to the kerb. He grabbed a fluorescent green pen from his desk and slashed it (a little forcefully, I thought) over a set of papers. When he thrust it at me, I noticed that it was written in Spanish and presented in block letters.
I debated with myself whether to tell him it was RUDE TO SHOUT, but discretion got the better part of valour when I noticed him fiddling with his stapler. I’ve never been into body piercing and did not think today would be a good day to start.
So, any way, according to the good doctor, if your child wakes you in the wee hours in fever or pain, you can call 012 and be assured that you will get a cita for the very next day. I tried to defend myself by saying that anytime I’d ever phoned for a cita, the earliest I’d ever been given an appointment was three days hence. A goggle eyed doctor spat back at me that this would never happen with the Pediatric Clinic.
Dr. Deadpan has a lot more faith in the system than I do, but I wasn’t about to argue. He barked at me about receiving a Tarjeta Roja for the meeting and I had a fleeting image of him pointing me off a football pitch. I had no idea what he was on about but nodded soothingly and scarpered with my children in tow and clutching prescriptions for ear drops.
Later when I had a chance to look at the document he’d given me, it all made more sense. Apparently, if you are good enough to follow the system, you will receive a Tarjeta Verde for each arranged medical appointment. If you have made an appointment and missed it you will get a Tarjeta Amarilla. For every three yellow cards, you will lose one green card.
Finally, if you have the bare-faced cheek to turn up with no cita at all and a child in pain, you, you devil, will receive a Tarjeta Roja. For every Tarjeta Roja you receive, you will lose one Tarjeta Verde.
In December, if you have collected a lot of Tarjeta Verde’s you have a chance to win… something. It doesn’t say on the paper what exactly and I sure as gun’s iron am not going back to ask.
It is truly gob-smacking just how far the Siam Park management are taking this Thai theme as they announce and miss one opening date after another.
The latest date of September 15th is just another false lead as reported by Colin Kirby. No-one should really be surprised. As they say in Bangkok, TIT (This is Thailand).
Anyone who has stayed home waiting for a delivery can testify that TIT (this is Tenerife) works just as well here.
Galway News has published an interesting story about same sex couple Brenda and Maria who have recently celebrated their first year wedding anniversary after they got spliced in Las Palma last year. Sadly, their joy is tainted by the fact that their union is not legal in the eyes of the law in their home country. (Ireland, for those who didn’t guess from the name of the newspaper).
Frankly I am astonished that the pair managed to wed at all – same sex or not. My pal Sam who has lived here for donkey’s years is currently attempting to wed the man of her dreams. He too is a Tenerife resident and has been here for a long time.
The trouble is poor Sam is getting into a right paddy about the reams of paperwork and complications that seem to surround expat weddings in Tenerife. Having never done the deed myself, I am not much help on the matter.
If any kind reader could shed a little light on the subject of weddings in Tenerife – resident expat weddings – then Sam and her fella would be most grateful. So would Sam’s neighbours, the locals at the bar, the postman and the wee lady in the shop.
It is not. How else would you explain whole streets without one estate agents office. Not so long ago they were popping up like mushrooms.
Another indication of the sickly state of many property agencies on the island is the sudden lack of interest in paying for advertising or marketing on the internet despite that being one of the most cost efficient ways to get the word out.
Pages of internet content, highly relevant, mature and well ranked are left to go stale as incumbent advertisers slash their budgets to the bone. Understandably in times of trouble, its the little guys that get the pointy end of the stick. In this case, that means me. While rent on locales, staff, utilities, taxes etc must be paid, internet advertising is expendable.
And so, if you would like to pick up some prime internet property at rock bottom prices now is the time to do so especially if you are interested in reaching potential property buyers or golfers. Contact me for more details on info@etenerife.com with I’ll Pay Peanuts as the subject.
Technorati Tags: Tenerife, internet marketing, property market
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UPDATE: The helpline about this tragedy is +34 800 400 200
A Spanair plane overran the runway in Madrid and caught fire. At least 45 people are dead.
The plane was preparing to take of for Las Palmas.
For more information please see the following reports:
Spanair Accident on Associated Press
ARTICLEURL
Thank you to my old pal Fiona, who wrote me a lovely email to say she enjoyed catching up with me via my Tenerife blog ramblings “…but what’s with all the beigeness?”
Okay, you got me Fiona. I am not a great blog designer and am stuck with Blogger’s pretty boring standard templates. Word Press is a lot more exciting and easy to customise but I have found an exciting new green template to play with. Will that do?
Don’t know what I’m listening to Fiona for anyway. At school she was always the one with welly welts and crimplene trousers.
The Irish Independant has crowned Siam Park, Queen of the European theme parks. Coming in first of five, including Disneyland in Paris and Legoland in Denmark (I think I’d rather spend the day at the dentist than at a lego themed park, but to each their own).
That is pretty spectacular going considering Siam Park is so spanking new it is not even open yet. Pamela of Secret Tenerife reports that the latest opening date is September 15th though wryly comments that as yet she herself does not necessarily believe that date.
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