Original photo: Turismo Canarias. 12 April: What do vaccines, the Grand National and the Eurovision Song contest have in common? HERE‘s today’s Canary Cast! 5 April: Today’s CanaryCast is HERE, with Clio and me discussing Easter excesses and vaccine progress, among other chat! 29 March: Today’s CanaryCast from Clio and me is HERE, quite a serious one looking at rules and regulations as they are now, and over Easter, and thinking about Easter as a time of great meaning and emotion here in Spain, and especially right now … 22 March: Today’s CanaryCast from Clio and me is HERE … restrictions, Easter, and not theREAD MORE

Photo: Puertos de Tenerife Updated 11 April: A cayuco containing 23 migrants, four of whom had died, was located some 200km from El Hierro earlier today. The survivors in the craft have been evacuated in absolutely dreadful conditions. The 16 most seriously ill have been taken by two helicopters to Tenerife (TFS) and El Hierro itself: ten of them are said to be in critical condition, so badly indeed that they were initially counted among the dead, and the other six gravely ill. In Tenerife, some have been taken to Candelaria Hospital and others to El Mojón. Updated 9 April: A patera with 13 maleREAD MORE

State system patients: you will be contacted in due course by your local surgery for an appointment to receive the vaccine. You can expect to be contacted by phone or text message 24-48 hours before your appointment which you are asked to attend unless absolutely impossible. You will probably be vaccinated in a local hospital (generally with AZ for younger patients) or in your local surgery (generally Pfizer/Moderna, older patients) Private medical insurance patients: the vaccine is only available through the state system but is arranged through municipalities (council areas). It cannot be bought or acquired in private centres, but Spain wants everyone who wantsREAD MORE

If you feel at risk or infected first use the online test HERE then for further help if needed ring the free multi-lingual helpline 900 112 061. For general info use the Canarian authorities’ websites/official social media. Use 112 only for emergencies. For the restrictions in place due to the pandmic, please see HERE. The official Canarian Government website for the outbreak with detailed breakdowns of areas at all levels in all islands is HERE. The post below is a daily breakdown of data from that site and other information released by the various Government departments dealing with the outbreak. The original post from the startREAD MORE

Photo: Chris Young. As messages of sympathy poured in from around the world yesterday following the announcement of the death of Prince Philip, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain have sent their commiserations to the Queen in a familiarly and sympathetically warm manner, calling the Duke “Uncle Philip” because the Spanish King’s own mother is Greek and shared forebears with the Duke of Edinburgh. Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, for his part said “On behalf of the Government of Spain, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the entire British royal family on the passing ofREAD MORE

At times it can sound a bit like Mongolian throat music (niche Frasier reference … ) but most people know them as the wacka wacka birds because their call is actually manic, and quite amusing if alarming when first heard! There’s a short video below of their call. Reason for posting it right now is that the last few nights we’ve had a few come up the barranco, as they do, starting at this time of year. Summer’s coming …READ MORE

The Canaries are under regional restrictions defined by “levels”: Tenerife is in red level 3, and the principal rules in place are:  Curfew of 10pm to 6am, and although travel around the island is not banned, the public is asked to restrict movement as much as possible  face masks must be worn by everyone of 6 years of age and above at all times and places outside the home regardless of distancing, though exemptions exist for medical conditions (medical proof required – in Spanish because it will be Policía Local who’ll stop and fine you), working or exercising which makes wearing a mask impossible but maskREAD MORE