Our holiday

Ian and I are off the France next week to see if we can find someone to build the house on the land and to spend some time getting to know the area where we may end up living. It's quite exiting. On the way back we are going to visit the llama breeders to see their llamas!

Best of times, worst of times

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

This is the opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, referring to the time of the French Revolution. My sister says it is like her life has been this year and she is longing for a time when it will just be normal.

Foot and mouth

One thing that I didn't know about llamas until today was that they can get foot and mouth disease. I had read somewhere that they didn't get it but was a little confused when the papers reported that llamas were susceptible to foot and mouth and that the Surrey hills llamas were being closely monitored for signs. (We currently have a foot and mouth outbreak in cattle in Surrey, possibly linked to the local drug company and agricultural research laboratory that produce animal vaccines for foot and mouth disease). I read up on it a little more and it seems that llamas can get foot and mouth and can transmit it but are not particularly susceptible, have few symptoms and recover from it quickly. They seem to have a natural resilience to most strains of the disease. I got to thinking about how awful it must be then to raise your heard of llamas over the years (these are raised predominantly as pets or breeding stock) and then have to face the possibility of them being slaughtered on your farm, especially as they are not likely to suffer too much as a result of the disease. I don't think I would be able to bear that and I can now understand how many farmers who lost their herds in the last outbreak became depressed and suicidal. I spoke to a friend this evening who lives near the area and we decided that in the Autumn we will go on a llama trek with the Surrey llamas so I will keep my fingers crossed that they are still there!

Aftermath of the fires

The fires on Gran Canaria encompassed all the areas and places that we cycled. It seems that they are now out but these are the pictures of the aftermath. They make sad viewing. One is of Ayagaures, one of palmitos park and one of St Bartolome de Tirajana.

View from Ayagaures

This was a picture that I downloaded from the Herald Tribune website taken of the view from Ayagaures yesterday.