The neighbours are revolting in Costa Del Silencio.

Current roadworks and refurbishment of the CDS area has caused much upheaval in the last 18 months. Where once pushing a toddler’s pram along the path was risking death by car or getting hobbled by the cobbles now one could easily drive a JCB up the centre of the pedestrian walkways.

Walkers, cyclists, roller skaters, pram pushers … all can now skip along the pedestrian walkways arm in arm if they feel like it because the paths have gone from non-existent, ankle breaking road verges to great swathes of feet-friendly concrete. This is great news of course for those who didn’t enjoy taking their life in their hands when nipping to Hermusa for a pint of milk but in order to achieve this rambler’s nirvana there has been a bit of land grabbing going on resulting in great bites of garden being snatched off the local residential complexes.

Oddly, although in certain areas  the contractors appear to have finished, tidied up and sodded off all is not as it seems. A peek over the wall at the tennis courts at the corner of Poliferno and Calle Diana shows that despite work being apparently finished foundations have been laid for a new wall bout seven feet in from the current one.

Something similar must be going on at the Chayofita end of Costa Del Silencio because the residents of block 10 are up in arms about a new wall that is scheduled to bisect their garden.They have made formal complaints to the appropriate governement departments (which  shows the usual triumph of hope over experience) and no doubt expecting their petition to fall on deaf  ears they have also been in touch with the newspapers. The Diario de Avisos reports that the nighbours will not stand to have their gardens shredded and are willing to stand in front of the spades.

Ooooh. While it all sounds a bit ‘pitchforks at twenty paces’ tempers are running high. Watch this space.
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The Tenerife Design Festival (TDF) is dedicated to fusing the ‘current trends of design with the main features of the Canarian identity’ and focusses on the three key concepts of local identity, landscape contrast and tourism.

Expect the unexpected during that week as designers from around the world get together to turn Tenerife into a ’seething mass of creativity and design’.

Oooo er. I’m not so sure about the seething mass bit. Whoever wrote the English blurb on the TDF website has done so in that annoyingly arty-farty nonsensical wittering beloved of those who think design concepts have to be drowned in a bucket of words before the rest of us plebs can get the point (or lack thereof).

Here slighty toned down are the descriptions of the TDF sections taken from the Tenerife Design Festival website.

TDFSigno – designers, industry and craftsmen collaborating on new products and ways of development which involve both fresh  ideas and traditional Canarian concepts.

TDFAtmósfera – ominously threatening to ‘involve the public’, TDFAtmósfera promises to bathe Santa Cruz in a wash of exhibitions and urban interventions. If you venture into large spaces within the city during this week in October such as the TEA, La Recova or the port itself expect to be pounced on by a creative installation or two.

TDFLab – three-day workshops for professionals, students and general participants to experiment with different ways to  generate new objects, graphics and interventions in different spaces with a focus on the interaction between design and the Canarian environment.

TDFAward cunningly sponsored by Turismo de Tenerife proposes Tenerife Design Paradise, an international prize, which encourages designers to work on elements that will make up a dream beach of the future.  Based on the idea “Design Paradise” the aim is the creation of products that may be further developed later by the sponsor to enhance the tourism experience.

TDFSolution brings together different professional approaches to spread and support advances in culture, innovation and design. The Symposium will consist of the presentation of works by businesses, local, national and international designers, stirred into action by a critic or analyst. The point of departure will be TDF’s three central concepts: nature, local identity and tourism.

See the Tenerife Design Festival website for more information including a Programme of Events and a Registration page which showing fabulous international creativity is only available in Spanish. According to the translation it seems registrations will not be open till September:

Inscriptions

To participate in various workshops and activities of TDF, you can simply register by filling out a form. In September the program will be more detailed for you to decide which section is more suited to your interests …

But you should be aware: the seats are limited!

Costa Del Silencio is only 10 minutes from Reina Sofia airport in Tenerife South, sitting together with Las Galletas on the coastal corner of on the island before it tips up towards Los Cristianos and Las Americas and on to Los Gigantes on the southwest.

The whole small town has been receiving a bit of a face lift recently with footpaths widened and upgraded and a new one way road system. The new pavements are roomy and pleasant – a vast improvement on the narrow and bumpy kerbside trails that made walking from the Hermusa supermarket down to Las Galletas an ankle-breaking adventure rather than a gentle promenade.

Work has been completed in the stretch of Avenida Jose Antonio Tavio much to the relief of shop and bar-owners in the Chapparal and Tre Bol complexes and also from Ten Bel up Calle Diana as far as Maravilla and Desimar while it has just begun in the area of De La Te just past Club Marino and on past Alondras Park to Coral Mar.

Over the next few months I’d be recommending holiday makers look towards the self catering and hotel complexes of Palia Don Jose and Palia Don Pedro as well as Eureka and Maravilla as these properties are in locations where work is completed or not likely to start for the forseeable future.

Alborada is no longer a tourist option as it has turned 100% residential and discourages holiday letting.

The Consejería de Sanidad of the Canary Islands Government is investigating two new cases of suspected H1N1 (otherwise know as swine flu) report Diario de Avisos. The article roughly translates to say that one person is a youngster who is being treated at Hospital Universitario de Canarias in Tenerife and was recently in Mexico and the other a 58 year old man who has recently returned from the US and is currently being treated in Gran Canaria.

Both previous suspected cases of this new strain of influenza A in the Canarias proved negative. Results for these latest cases will take a minimum of 48 hours.

Those tourists with disabilities who visit Tenerife are invited to present themselves at authorised issuing centres and after paying a €15 refundable deposit pick up a Eurokey which will give them access to adapted and protected facilities.

This is part of the greater Eurokey scheme which was launched in Germany with a view to providing guaranteed and secure toilets, emergency telephones and lifts to those mobility or visual disabilities. Eurokey support is now also available in Switzerland, Austria and Spain.

Though there is no mention of emergency telephones according to the Arona ayuntamiento Barriers Free Tourism Guide Book the Eurokey guarantees access to toilets at the following places:

Los Cristianos

Las Americas

Safari and Americas Plaza shopping centres
Las Americas beach Tourist Information Centre (EK required)
Public WC between Playa de Las Vstas and Playa del Camison

Las Galletas
Las Galletas Cultural Centre
Las Galletas beach

The Eurokey scheme seems like an excellent initiative which would guarantee clean and safe facilities to those with mobility or visual impairment. Unfortunately of those listed in the Barrier Free Tourism book by the Arona council only three are marked as requiring the EK and the only facilities that are included are toilets. The other toilets being public access cannot be considered part of the EK scheme and may or may not be safe,  clean and working depending on who was in there before you.

As the council is happy to boast in the book that the area’s 7 km coastal stretch is ‘Europe’s largest Barrier Free Pedestrian Sea Promenade’, and together with SINPROMI have made Playa de Las Vistas completely accessible you would think they would be willing to throw a little more effort into providing Eurokey secured facilities than three measly toilets, would’nt you?

Still, it may well be that more EK facilites have been added since that book went to print. If this is something that may be of interest to you, I think you might be best to contact the Tourist Information Offices for more details about the Eurokey on the email for accessible tourism which is turismoaccesible@arona.travel

The Feria Flores y Plantas is a regular event in Las Galletas held along the Rambla at the front of the Cultural Centre. It is on  a little earlier this year with the opening at 5.00 pm on Friday 22nd May. The official inauguration is at 7.00 pm followed by a musical performance.

On Saturday 23rd May the flower festival stalls open at 10.00 am with the beautiful plants and flowers available for sale. A photo exhibition called III Maratón Fotográfico de Las Galletas opens at the same time and the children’s play area opens at 10.30.

The  flower arranging class which was very popular last year is at 10.30 and later in the day there is class in Infusions and Canarian Remedies which I bet would be very interesting.

The day is rounded off by another musical performance at 7.30pm.

On Sunday the stalls and kids’ play area open at the same times but this time the 10.30 class is about growing salad vegetables, the musical performance its at 6.00pm and at 7.00 pm there will be a presentation of prizes and certificates for the photography exhibition participants.

Here is a post about the  Las Galletas Flower Festival 2008 .

I don’t think Wilson Pickett is in town so if you have no prior committments why not indulge in a bit of pure nostalgia and belt out all your favourite hits from the classic movie The Committments at the Tenerife auditorium.

Scary to think the movie was released in 1991! I would have been about … ahhh… never mind. Anyway, tickets cost €20 from the box office or you can visit the Auditoria de Tenerife website for more information or groan along with Tenerife Matters in the pun-filled announcement of The Committments which they published way back in February.

In the meantime  just to get you in the mood here is a trailer for the Alan Parker film.