What Comes Around, Goes Around

The crescent and the circle are visual emblems of Lanzarote. It is an island with little rainfall but it still manages to cultivate vines by harvesting the heavy dews within semi-circles of volcanic stone. These provide each vine with its own windbreak and reservoir. Similarly, some of the beaches have windbreaks built up from the ample supply of volcanic basalt.

But it is a different type of circular movement that will stay in my mind. Each evening our hotel would put on entertainment in the large open, vine-clad atrium. On the first day we noticed that the show on stage that evening was a reptile show, featuring a cast of lizards and snakes. Now the GLW is not fond of snakes, but I assured her that fortified by a good supply of the free alcohol on offer and seated well away from the stage, she would be safe. So we carefully chose our seats near the rear of the atrium and collected our first free drinks of the evening.

The lay-out of the atrium was interesting and you can get an impression from this photograph. The stage is just hidden by the staircase and vegetation on the left of the photograph whilst the beach-hut thing was the bar (and the supply of free drinks). We were positioned safely in the area on the mid right of the photograph well away from serpents of all kinds. It wasn't until we were well into our first drinks that I became aware that something strange was happening : the whole auditorium was slowly rotating around the central bar. The movement was so slight that you wouldn't notice it normally, especially after a drink or three. However, by the time that I went to the bar 15 minutes later to replenish our supply of alcohol I noticed that we had rotated by some 90 degrees : and that was 90 degrees nearer to the stage - and the reptiles on display. Pretty soon. the GLW had also noticed our circumnavigation  and drawn the appropriate conclusions. that as sure as eggs are eggs and 20 foot pythons are 20 foot pythons, within 15 minutes we would be rubbing shoulders with the pair of rather large snakes that were the highlight of the show.

I tried to calm her nerves, I tried to logically point out to her that once we had skirted the stage we would  thereafter be transported further and further away from the beasts in question. I tried to calm her with more alcohol. But what comes around, goes around, and she eventually jumped from her seat and fled - somewhat unsteadily and using language that surprised even me - back to the safety of our room.