The municipality of Guide of Isora produces about two kilos of rubbish per inhabitant per day, according to a statement by the mayor of Guia de Isora, Pedro Martín yesterday, during a presentation ceremony to unveil a new fleet of rubbish collection trucks and sweeping machines that are to be used by the sub-contracted FCC (Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas) firm which employs 16 workers. The unlying causes of strike action by these same workers earlier this month appear to have been resolved, as they lined up for a photo opportunity with Mayor Martín. (centre of the picture)

The exponential population increase due to the increased building of homes in the municipality, has meant a rise from 6 million kilos of rubbish produced in 1997 to a predicted 10 million kilos by the end of 2005. The Isoran Local council was second only to La Laguna in setting up eco friendly rubbish collection points that separate paper, glass, and cardboard from other general rubbish. There are currently two clean points in the municipality, one on the coastal area and another one in the centre of the county

Tougher sanctions
The Local council are to increase sanctions for the people who fly tip outside of the the clean collection points and for the inhabitants of the area who put out their domestic rubbish outside the scheduled collection days and times. Pedro Martín also pointed out that when the Abama hotel is fully opened this tourist complex will have an independent collection schedule and a separate rubbish truck run by the hotel under the auspecies of the local council.

Around 4.30 AM this morning 2 youths were seen on mopeds near the Los Gigantes Dot Com offices and are most likely the culprits responsible for the break in at the Casa Meco Sunflower Restaurant situated next door to our premises. Using some sort of crow bar they bent security bars enough to crawl through and gain access to the restaurant. Américo Dorta Gorrín proprietor of the Sunflower Restaurant said that the thieves were almost certainly youngsters because the gap forced between the security bars was "quite small" - "They did not take any spirits or the TV, or anything bulky - just cleared the coin float and tips jar - not very much money, but the damage to the bar will have to be repaired" said Américo or Meco as he is known locally. " I will not be reporting this to the police - they won't do anything" he said " it just isn't worth the bother. I have to loose a morning's trading while I go and make an official complaint, and then the insurance company will increase my premiums - more than the cost of replacing the damaged grill and the relatively small amount of money that they got away with". Whilst this attitude is understandable, on the part of already hard pressed traders, during this period of of ever declining tourist figures, it may almost certainly have a derogatory result to the future of local tourism. How many other "minor" break ins in the area have been left unreported, leading these delinquents to believe that if they can commit these acts of vandalism and theft with impunity, maybe they would get away with more serious crimes as well? Perhaps after all it is "worth the trouble" of making a report, or perhaps local police forces / or the local authorities who are their immediate superiors, should make the procedure for reporting these kind of incidents less troublesome

Local Police officers Jose Juan Casañas Vargas and Luis Alonso Pujol Padrón have been promoted to the rank of Lieutennant. The two men passed initial internal selection tests with flying colours and yesterday took their places as senior officers in the local force. Present at the ceremony were Mayor Juan Damián Gorrín Ramos, local councilor for Citizen Security and Traffic, Juan Yorgeni Socas Martín and Chief of the Local Police, Juan Agustín Martín Trujillo (shown on the left of the photograph). Both officers now go forward to the next stage of their promotion induction. They will have to pass a training course at the Academy of Security and also tot up 1,200 hours of practical experience.

The City council of Vilaflor has stepped in to close down the "Rancho de Vilaflor", a new tourist attraction featuring spectacles of horsemanship, which has only been trading a short time.

The reason given was a lack of the proper local authority licenses. According to the mayor of Vilaflor, Manuel Fumero, "The attraction will remain closed until the company obtains an opening license for the center". "Various municipal representatives have evaluated this activity and how it measures up to legal requirements for premises putting on displays or shows of this type, their findings have not been satisfactory and so we are unable to send a favorable report to the Cabildo of Tenerife enabling them to grant the necessary licenses." said Fumero.

250 written complaints about the centre from local inhabitants have been received by the local authority to date.

Thousands of bonfires will illuminate the skies of Tenerife tonight and its nothing what so ever to do with Guy Fawks!. The celebration of the summer solstice is as old as humanity, early man thought that the sun would never return to its former splendor, as the nights drew in and the days became shorter as the year went on. Lighting bonfires on the eve of the longest day of the year, perhaps symbolized the power of the star king and supposedly helped him to renew his energy.

The actual origins of the celebrations of the shortest night of the year, the 23rd of June, eve of the festivity of San Juan, are lost in the remote past. This pagan festival was integrated into the catholic calendar because of its proximity to the festivity of Juan Bautista (John the Baptist), which is celebrated on the 24th of June.

Bonfires are lit on every inch of available waste ground, creating an attractive and evocative site, around them groups of friends sit around and chat, sing and dance and generally enjoy the evening. Organized events are held in the towns of Puerto de la Cruz and Icod amongst other places

Make a wish!

At midnight, as a ritual handed down from generation to generation, many people make their way to the seashore and jump a certain number of waves, make a wish, which, with the arrival of the new season they hope will come true.

Some ancient superstitions
There are many beliefs that are related to this magical night, with countless traditions, the following are just a few:

Firstly: Believe that the Sun comes up dancing on the morning of SAN JUAN. and Make a bonfire!
Bathing or walking barefooted on the dew assures health throughout the rest of the year
Adorning doors and windows with pine and ash protects your house from lightning.
A carpet of herbs and flowers at the entrance to your home, and drinking herbal infusions protects from disease.
Setting light to a bunch of herbs protects crops from plagues.
Jumping the fire avoids aches and pains.
Those who have a hernia should be touched 3 times with a piece of oak

Entering the sea naked with your back turned whilst looking at the moon will grant certain wishes.
Anyone, who sits beneath a fig tree, with a guitar in his or her hands, will know how to play it immediately.
Those without a partner who look out of the window on the morning of the 24th will see the love of their life pass by.
If you write something you want to forget on a roll of paper, then burn it, you can achieve peace of mind for the rest of the year.
If a woman stands naked and looks in a mirror, in the middle of the night, by the light of a candle, she will see the moment of her death.

The Noche de San Juan has created all kinds of fantastic legends, which are best taken with a pinch of salt - thrown over the left shoulder if spilled presumably!!

Telefonica Announce Second Free Broadband Speed Increase in a Year.

The speed of Telefonica ADSL internet access will be doubled - completely free of charge - from the 26th of July, after the company received the green light from telecommunications sector regulator CMT.
It is the second time in less than a year that Telefonica have carried out this initiative, on this occasion, the increase will be applied not only to the speed of information downloading, but also an increase to upload speeds.
The process will be implemented gradually and it may it take up to twelve weeks for your connection to be upgraded. There is no need to to do anything yourself.

Small holding owner Lázaro Álvarez Delgado from the La Maleza (Acojeja) finca in Piedra Hincada, harvested a colossal 7,8 kilo cabbage yesterday.

The 58 year old horticulturist was said to be over the moon that his cabbage weighed in at over 3 kilos more that the previous record holding vegetable grown in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

María Ramona González Pérez local councilor for tourism has announced a five per cent increase on last year's hotel occupancy figures in the county for the month of May -producing a staggeringly bad 46% hotel occupancy in total!

The disappointing figure is broken down as follows; Puerto de Santiago with 54%, Los Gigantes with 51% and Playa de la Arena with only 32% - meaning over two thirds of the hotel accommodation available in that area lay unused during May.

Doña María, issued the following statement; “ These figures do show a five per cent increase on the same period last year, but in no respect can we be happy with these results, even though this trend is not isolated to our municipality alone - there has been a general fall in occupancy figures throughout the archipelago. This is not encouraging data by any means, but should be looked at in view of the expected annual drop in occupancy for this time of the year".

The tourist office situated in Playa de la Arena reports having dealt with around 600 visitors seeking local information during the same period

Pharmacies in the archipelago are under pressure because of the shortage of supplies of certain drugs, due to distribution problems by the laboratories. Substitution has been recommended to patients affected by the lack of drugs, which in some cases will necessitate a return visit to the doctor. High on the list is Tegretol (used in the treatment of epilepsy) , but pharmacists have assured that alternatives like Carbamazepina are available. The official line is that should a particular prescription drug be unavailable, patients should return to their doctor to have their treatment modified, but this writer has personal experience of the substitution by a local Pharmacist's assistant of one drug for another using the same prescription. However helpful the intentions of the employee, this can not be a safe or satisfactory state of affairs.

Other scarce medications are Teofilina, essential to asthma sufferers, Tranquimazin and some of the drugs used to deal with high cholesterol levels, which are the products of the Pfizer laboratory, who have experienced many distribution problems over the last months. Pfizer signed an agreement with Cooperativa Farmacéutica de Tenerife (Cofarte) on the 1 June in which "the problem of distribution of this pharmaceutical company with the Spanish cooperatives was solved". Pfizer accused the COFARTE of redistributing their products to other countries, in which the prices of drugs were higher, to make a profit, a practice which the law does allow . Because of this Pfizer ceased supplying the full quantity of drugs that was ordered from the COFARTE distributing cooperative, in turn causing the shortage of supplies of several drugs.

According to COFARTE the problem has been resolved by a very substantial increase in wholesale prices to be paid to Pfizer, and also they have agreed to hold lower prices on existing stock, whenever it is justified for a period of up to 45 days.

The pharmaceutical Cooperative of Tenerife, who distribute some 68 million packages every year to Canarian pharmacies, was at pains to point out that the shortage of medications is general all over Spain and that supplies do take15 days more to reach the archipelago than the rest of the country. In addition, Cofarte are aiming for a 45 to 60 day stock to be held so that that any further shortages do not have such a dramatic effect on the patient as recently.

The Mayor of Santiago del Teide and various other dignitaries including Jerónimo Fregel from the Canary Institute of housing, gathered yesterday evening for a formal ceremony to hand over the keys to the 20 new apartments located in Paseo Agustin Herrera in La Vigilia, Puerto de Santiago. The homes constructed by FALISA, S.A at a total cost of a 1,317,116.14 euros are part of a "Protected Housing" corporation scheme. The scheme allows tenants who are renting initially to have the opportunity to purchase at a later date. Built in conjunction with the Canary Institute of Housing (Part of the Government of the Canary Islands) this is one of a number of similar projects in the county. One is already underway in Tamaimo and land had been acquired in Arguayo for the same purpose

The 3 story building houses 2 four bedroom dwellings, 10 three bedroom, 6 two bedroom, a specially adapted 3 bedroom apartment for the disabled and a six bedroomed sheltered accommodation unit. There is also a 55 square meter meeting room on the ground floor. The building whilst clearly delighting its future occupants (picture right), has no garage space and at even a conservative estimate of one vehicle per household, 20 more cars in an area which is already over burdened because of lack of parking spaces may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back. The multi story car park being constructed in the La Hondura area in front of Vigilia Park will not be completed for some time yet.

Many of you will remember popular local entertainer Rob Andrews who returned to the UK at the end of last year due to ill health - local Lions Clubs and Entertainers charities clubbed together to help with his repatriation. Unfortunately on Saturday, May 28 Rob lost his long struggle with ill health and died at his mother’s home in Ipswich UK.
He was born Robert Chenery on December 19, 1950, in Stowmarket, Ipswich and was an only child. As a youngster he coped with diabetes and trying to live as normal a life as possible became a drummer, playing semi-pro for a group called Sapphire.
In those days he played many big venues and as a drummer with the group Hold Me Close earned a golden disc.
In 1989 Rob moved to Tenerife and got work singing solo, first in the south of the island and later in Los Gigantes, where he eventually settled. It was in Los Gigantes that he met partner Sandie Rostrom whilst appearing in the Playa Arena Bar that she owned in those days.

One of the problems with diabetes is poor circulation and loss of feeling in the extremities. Rob began to lose the feeling in his feet. and, in 1998, what started out as an ulcer on his foot turned to gangrene and he was forced to have a leg amputated.
It took many months of pain and suffering, and learning to walk again using a prosthesis, but with the help of his soul mate Sandy Rostron, he managed to get through it all. Rob felt he couldn't continue with the strenuous life of a cabaret artist, so he took to presenting Karaoke, which gave him the opportunity to have a sit down while the holidaymakers were up singing. This led to radio work with both Power FM and Waves Gold.
Rob was still dogged by ill health after returning to the UK, and unfortunately in January this year his doctors recommended amputation of his remaining leg.
Sandie remembers the good and bad times she shared with him. “He always said he wanted the John Miles song Music is My First Love, played at his funeral,” she told the Western Sun Newspaper

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