Living in Tenerife is great, arguably one of the best places to live in the world according to a journalist from the Guardian newspaper. No matter what you love about a place, there can also be things that you…let’s say…don’t love so much. I don’t like to use the word ‘hate’ because that is really too strong a word, especially for a place that you love to live.
Of the things I love about living in Tenerife, probably I have to start off with the weather. It’s a bit odd, because although I’m not actually a sun worshiper, so to speak, I do love to see the sun out, it tends to bring out the best in people. The fact that you don’t have to consider whether or not it’s going to be raining when you want to arrange a BBQ, or go out for a walk with the dogs. Now, I’m not saying that it’s warm all the time, in December through to February can be cold and it can also rain, but even during the coldest of nights, it rarely drops below 15ºC on the coast.
Next on the list on my list of love for living in Tenerife is the food and wine. I just love to stop off at one of the better Spanish restaurants or tapas bars and have tapas and wine on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. There is really nothing better than a couple of hours relaxing eating nice food and drinking a couple of glasses of cold red…yes, cold… that’s how they serve it here…glorious…!!!
Fiesta…!!! Yes, I like the fiestas too, who doesn’t? It’s currently carnaval time here, so that’s an obvious fiesta, but all through the year towns have their own annual fiestas both religious and traditional.
Dustmen hanging from dustcarts while the cart is driving along the road…!!! I used to see this as a boy, but now with the Health & Safety rules in the UK, it’s something that you don’t see anymore…just watch them as they go about their business in the mornings…brilliant.
There are many more things I love…the language, the people…well most of them, the coast and mountains, views, sunsets…sunrises…I could go on.
There are however, a few things that really annoy me. How about fly-tipping? Walking to my car the other day I saw a deep fat fryer dumped on some land by the pavement.
What about the amount of dog poo left on the pavements? As you’ll have noticed earlier, I am a dog owner, but I never leave poo on the streets…I couldn’t even contemplate it.
Drivers never using the inside lane of the roundabout, drivers never indicating…oh and drivers that just love stopping in the middle of the road and letting out their passengers.
Final one for now…flyers left under rocks and getting blown about in the wind making a real mess of the towns…!!! I’m not blaming any company in particular, but the amount of brochures, flyers and so on blowing about in the streets on a windy day is amazing…maybe that’s why they call them flyers.
Now please don’t think that I am a Victor Meldrew character, it’s really not true…it’s just that there are a few things that are a tad annoying…but…and this is a big BUT…the beauty, history, diversity, culture, food and drink that living in Tenerife offers far outweighs any annoyances that I can find.
What do you love or not about Tenerife? Add your comments below.
