A three week Madeira blog

[Maggi Young]

"I would climb on his knee, but I'm scared of heights"

[alpines]

'What's Alan Grainger doing in Funchal"?   

I just saw that Mr. Buttercup!
Mocking the afflicted is against SRGC rules. Maggi.....sort him out please !!!!!
...and anyway, I've shrunk since you last saw me, so there !!!!

[daveyp1970]

Tuesday Final....

"Caption competition!"

santa its after christmas and your sac is still full(if this is to rude i apologise now SORRY)

[Maggi Young]

'What's Alan Grainger doing in Funchal"?   

I just saw that Mr. Buttercup!
Mocking the afflicted is against SRGC rules. Maggi.....sort him out please !!!!!
...and anyway, I've shrunk since you last saw me, so there !!!!

 To be fair, Alan..... those spectacles look very familiar.........

[alpines]

Mmmmm!!!! They do a bit Maggi......but that's no reason for you to side with Cliff.....at least you said the specs and not the stomach

[Brian Ellis]

Come on - is Cliff the only one to enter the caption contest?  I'll bring a lovely prize back from Madeira for the winner.   

John:  "I don't think you've quite got the hang of camouflage Santa"!

[Paddy Tobin]

Caption: "OK, Santa, where the f..k are the snowdrops?"

Paddy

[Martin Baxendale]

" I don't care how good you've been, I'm not bringing you half a dozen bulbs of 'E.A. Bowles' now f...ooh, look! It's John Barrowman hang-gliding in the nude!"

[johnw]

now f...ooh, look! It's John Barrowman hang-gliding in the nude!"

In Stroud or Funchal Martin?  High altitude frostbite can be quite nasty, in this case neither hot water or hair-dryer but carb heat. We await the cartoon.

johnw    

[KentGardener]

Monday 27th December

Woke to rain, drizzled for much of the day. Spent most of the day lounging around reading and using the facilities in the hotel complex. When the rain did eventually stop at about 3pm went for a stroll into Magnolia garden and back along the main road - took a few snaps to share.

Evening meal was Espetada (another of my favourites ). Came out of the restaurant to heavy rain which continued through the night - the window in the apartment leaked again  

[KentGardener]

Tuesday 28th December

Another night of storms. There was some flooding in the centre of town and a couple of roads were blocked by mud slides - but the authorities got these cleared by midday. Continued to rain until early afternoon so I spent most of the time in the hotel complex again. I am definitely getting good use out of the gym facilities here. 

2PM the sun came out and it was a bit late in the day to go far so I walked up to the Magic garden again and had a good look at the plants there. On the way back we stopped off in the supermarket and got some espada fillets to fry for our evening meal.

1 - busy bee
2 - ?
3 - Cristate Euphorbia (I didn't notice the sun bathing lizard until reviewing the photographs later)
4 - Great spider web
5 - Architectural Aloe
6 - Bright Euphorbia
7 - Love this but no idea what it is - looked like a little waterlily 
8 - Not sure what this was either but loads of flowers
9 - Spotted this interesting (cristate/multi headed) palm on the walk back - must have walked past it loads of times and never noticed it before!
10 - Our dinner!

[Paddy Tobin]

Storms and mud slides!

Good that you like the gym.

I can't see any lizard.

Good plants and flowers.

Paddy

[Casalima]

I can't see any lizard.

It's very tiny, Paddy!! (I have a reasonably large screen ...).

I have really, really enjoyed your photos so far, John, and look forward to more over the next few days.

um abraço

[johnw]

Is that the tiny lizard upper centre of the cristate Euphorbia?

johnw

[Paddy Tobin]

I can't see any lizard.

It's very tiny, Paddy!! (I have a reasonably large screen ...).

I have really, really enjoyed your photos so far, John, and look forward to more over the next few days.

um abraço

OK,  maybe there is a lizard there. A really, really, really small one.