A Name Fitting Of A King

     

     Looking good at the age of 75 is hard work, especially if you are celebrating your birthday in the public eye. Things began to bulge, sag, and deep lines started to appear some years back. Out came the filler, and the bulges and sags were tucked away carefully by the hands of an expert. It is no different if you are a human or a building; we all need a little help sometimes.

    That is what happened to the Hotel Grand Mencey Santa Cruz some years ago: the professionals moved in. Restoring this prestigious hotel to retain its character and originality.
This fabulous hotel has been opening its doors to Kings, queens, musicians and film stars for the last 75 years and will continue to do so. Because its beauty and grandeur are unmistakable and unforgettable.

    Film greats such as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sophie Loren and Matt Damon have stayed there. The city of Santa Cruz itself is regularly used as a film location, and many undisclosed stars of all nationalities stay there or visit its fabulous restaurants.
A hotel worth the name Mencey, the title given to the Gaunche rulers of the separate kingdoms within the island of Tenerife before the Spanish conquest.

 

    To celebrate its 75th birthday, I wanted to share with you some photos I took on a visit a little while ago.

    I hope you enjoy.

New Year has Dawned

    

 

    A new year has dawned, and I decided it was time to unburden clutter from a cabinet that had been groaning and sighing for a very long time. It is where I keep notebooks, pens, in fact, most of my stationery. 
What I had forgotten about was a file buried under a pile of empty folders, which surprisingly contained multiple pages of A4 pads filled with outlines and chapters from two incomplete manuscripts.

    Now, I find this inspiring, especially when one of the outlines is for a sequel to the book I am writing at present, and another, which is a sequel to another book I finished a long time ago. A book that I submitted to lots of agents with no luck, so I filed it away, promising myself that I would do a rewrite at some point. Hmm, never did. 

    Therefore, once my current project is finished and edited, I will have plenty to get on with in 2026.

    Have a happy one, stay positive and productive in whatever you are doing and wherever you are.