Mellow yellow: the Canary Islands
In the Canary Islands, time is anything but of the essence, as Tim Pile discovers on a stroll through Fuerteventura and Lanzarote
Several months ago, just as the weather was turning bleak and wintry, Norman locked up his house in England and set off for Fuerteventura. And he's still here.
The sunburnt senior citizen has transformed his poolside holiday apartment into a home from home. Shelves are stacked with well-thumbed paperbacks, he has accumulated an impressive inventory of kitchen equipment and his cupboards are filled with "a few little treats my sister sends".
I'm booked into the apartment next door and after tea and chocolate cupcakes with my new neighbour, I'm ready to explore Fuerteventura. Norman isn't tempted to join me but as I head to my hire car, he looks up from his newspaper and grins.
"Minus two in London. I know where I'd rather be," he says.
As any pub quiz aficionado will tell you, the Canary Islands were named after dogs ( canis being the Latin for dog), not small yellow birds. In fact, the canary was named after the islands. Situated a hop and a skip from Saharan Africa, the Spanish-owned islands - there are seven main ones - are ideal for a multi-centre holiday. Flights and ferries between them are plentiful and each landmass has its own distinctive scenery and personality.