Hierro the most westerly of the Canary Islands and has an area of about 109 square miles and a population of 8182
During the summer of 1956 this did not increase to 8186 as we did not visit Hierro choosing to holiday in Hove instead
I have never visited Hierro
We passed the Guayarmina Thermal Hotel (80 Rooms)
Superb location situation situated some 1400 feet above sea level and only 50 kilometres from Las Palmas
We were staying at the Hotel Madrid which was situated in the main part of the town
As I unpacked you ignored my employment and sat on the balcony
On the adjoining balcony another couple also enjoyed the sun
I was doing time in forty-nine
Why was that what was your crime?
Fraud
Abroad?
Yes in mainland Spain
I was easily caught
Oh what a pain
Why are hiding here in this hotel?
I am planning a robbery which I hope goes well
On the other balcony two survivors of Hiroshima sat quietly watching watching the sail birds circle
The man was aged about forty-five but looked much older
He handed me a monochrome photograph
It had been taken about ten kilometres from Hiroshima on the day the bomb was dropped and it caused me to detain my thoughts
The image was so ordinary with three men casually looking up at the bomb cloud as if it was a nearby storm
They seemed to be in the yard of a small factory
There was a tree to the left which betrayed the hint of a breeze
The telegraph pole was static
The three men you see in the photograph are now dead the radioactive cloud claimed them in the following years
I was on the outskirts of the city when the bomb was dropped
Are you ill?
Yes like them I am ill this is my last holiday
Is that your wife?
Yes we often travel to these islands
They are quite beautiful
And the other man?
He is a musical thief
I would like to meet him
Perhaps he can steal the life I have remaining to me and sell it back at a profit
We can share the proceeds one to one
Most of what is of interest in the northern half of the island may be seen in the course of a full day trip
The road from Arrecife passes through the village of Tahiche which is not far from San Miguel de Teguise
It was once the principal village of the island but is now of little account
The main church which was called Iglesia de San Miguel had been previously damaged by fire but had been rebuilt in the early part of the last century
The figure of the Virgin over the High Altar was once stolen by an impious Moor whose flight was intercepted by a large dog and the image was recovered
A small painting at the foot of the Virgin shows the dog at the throat of the Moor and the scar over the Virgins left eye is said to have been received during the struggle
The Moor was thrown from highest cliff and was smashed on the rocks beneath whilst the good dog was also murdered so that the church could hasten its sainthood
Why do you think they built two hotels on this beautiful beach?
Many strange things happened in the 1970s
One has a great vantage of the dunes
Fuerteventura is more sparsely populated than any of the other Canary Islands and is less productive
It is only separated from the Sahara Desert by sixty miles of sea
Shall we walk naked in dunes?
Are you not happy sitting here in the balcony?
The island although suffering from a shortage of water produces substantial crops of sisal tomatoes potatoes and wheat
Its hottest months are from July to September
I feel I want to walk naked into the sea
I want to visit the tiny drinks hut hidden in the dunes and share a glass of orange juice with you
I want to hold your penis as we walk and feel it grow in my hand
Do you think the survivors of the atomic bombing are still alive?
It is hard to tell
What about the musical thief?
It was so many years ago I would imagine that all the people in our hotel are now dead
I wish they were immortals like us
I could drink this view for eternity
An elderly couple appeared on the balcony next to them
Good morning
Good Morning
Are you English?
No just immortal
Would you mind if Jean fellates me as I do not want to disturb you or your lovely wife
She is my sister but please go ahead
I must say she has the most beautiful cunt so wet and moist
I like it as it serves my needs
Lanzarote is the most easterly of the Canary Islands and is separated from Fuerteventura by the Bocayna Strait
The dunes were more tiring that I imagined as the shifting sand made walking difficult
My sister and I sat on one of the higher dunes quite naked an watched the traffic pass along the road that interrupted our view
A survivor of Hiroshima was sitting aboard a German coach wondering whether the polite Englishman and his lovely sister were still alive
I could stay here for the rest of my days
You would soon get bored
A small group of Scandinavians passed us
Why is there a fashion for shaved genitals?
A passing whim I imagine I do not know
Possibly it is cleaner how would you like me?
Would you like me to shave my cunt?
It is of no matter to me whether your cunt is hairy or shaven
We ran and half stumbled down the dune and after a little searching found the refreshment hut that my sister had previously mentioned
There was a surprising number of people near to the hut given that the vacancy of the dunes
Camels are largely used for transport
Rabbits whilst providing a certain amount of food are a considerable nuisance
We found a small table quite near to the sea
Two nuns passed fully dressed in their habits
I wonder if they are naked underneath
Ask them
My sister rose and walked towards the two nuns
At first she seemed to be having difficulty in communicating with them but soon she was in conversation with both women
There was much laughter
Initially they did not want to talk to me as I was an immortal but I soon achieved their trust with my stories of the Holy Land and yes they were naked under their habits as they had just pissed together
I thought so
That evening the survivor of Hiroshima flew over the island of Lanzarote
He wondered why the cancer that had eaten away at all his friends was dormant in him
As the aircraft changed its course he saw the two hotels on the dunes and wondered what had possessed anybody to build in such a beautiful place
Do you want to share my bath?
I have a surprise for you
Just a minute I am watching a jet liner change its course
I feel that it is going to the moon
It is your favourite soap
Lavender?
Yes lavender
I ran and jumped into the bath causing a great deal of water to splash onto the mock marble floor
You liar it’s lemon
I thought it would be lemon
That was all they would sell me in the shop
They will not sell lavender to immortals even on this island
It will have to do
Lemon’s are an attractive fruit
Puerto de Arrecife is the capital of Lanzarote and in 1955 had a population of 9121
Shall we see the albino crabs in the vast vast cave?
As long as you do not swim with them
That’s a deal
I sat reading a Bible as my sister spoke to the tiny crabs
There have only been two atomic attacks in wartime conditions and both these happened in Japan during the summer of 1945
The musical thief said that another nuclear attack would finish off the world as we know it
Do not believe him my brother and I have fucked hard against nuclear weapons all our lives and there is nothing to worry about
He said that the eruption that created this cave were caused by a nuclear attack in the 1730s
That’s not true
What is your name?
I am my brother’s sister
He said that the blacks in Africa fired a missile at this island as they were jealous of our paradise
No it was a volcanic eruption the musical thief was just causing a mischief
What is your name?
Marmalade
And yours?
Gertrude
I can see right up your dress from here why are you not wearing any underwear?
I prefer not to
You might get bitten there a number of savage flies on this island
That is a chance I must take anyway you should not be looking
Does your brother wear underwear?
It depends on his mood I am not sure whether he is wearing underwear today
We do not wear underwear
I should hope not as you are crabs
Some crabs partake but only after the cave is closed to visitors
Apartado 334 Santa Cruz Tenerife
Grand Hotel Parque
Hotel Mencey
Hotel Santa Catalina
Hierro the most westerly of the Canary Islands has an area of about 109 square miles and a population of 8182
During the summer of 1956 this did not increase to 8186 as we did not visit Hierro choosing to holiday in Hove instead
Did you enjoy your holiday in Hove?
No it rained all the time
What did you do?
Played chess masturbated read books but not necessarily in that order
Did you visit the Royal Pavilion in Brighton?
Yes
Did you like it?
No I found it boring
Why?
I disliked its architecture
Did it serve a good cup of tea?
No it was awful
You should have rung me as I have a great list of hotels on these islands that I would have emailed to you
emails did not exist in 1956
Fuck
What did you read on your holiday that year?
Mostly Scott’s Historical Romances
Did you like them?
No they were fucking boring
Where did you go?
Nowhere
Why?
Because my parents were too tight to pay for a holiday but we were allowed to sit in the garden when the sun was high and pretend we were in Lee on Solent
Where was I?
Being immortal somewhere how I hated you for the freedom you were given
But it was shit for you also stuck in a fucking grotty hotel in Hove
The musical thief had joined the elderly couple on the adjoining balcony he was being fellated by the woman called Jean
I have given up my life of crime
all the blood all the grime
I am going to be good boy now
as long as I am fellated by this silly cow
The elderly woman glanced at my sister and I
Would you like me to fellate you?
No my sister has already done so
Are you sure as your cock is still erect?
I smiled at my sister who has a scar over her left eye
She was wearing loose virginal robes and was masturbating gently occasionally touching the tip of my erect cock
I had two Bibles in front of me and was reading both at once
My sister came quietly and took one of my Bibles from me and started reading it
The survivor of Hiroshima was waiting for his one surviving friend at an airport in northern Japan
But he learned that his friend had died the previous day from the cancer that had racked his body since the day of the explosion
After saying a short prayer on the rest room floor he booked a flight to Ivanhoe in Australia
Ivanhoe has a population of 200 souls
No one who was resident in Hove in 1956 had ever visited Ivanhoe
The musical thief had never visited Ivanhoe
The Virgin Mary made an appearance in Ivanhoe in 1961 but no-one took much notice so she left the small township and continued her journey along the Cobb Highway
She had hitched for nearly one hundred miles when a trucker stopped for her but as she climbed into his cab she slipped and cut her left eyebrow quite badly on his wing mirror
The generous trucker who was the son of Catholic immigrants took her to the nearest hospital (which was over three hundred miles away) where her face was stitched but due to the amount of time that had elapsed since the initial accident the wound left a scar which has remained on the face of the Virgin ever since
She often shared the scar with others and my sister was a lucky recipient
She was the only immortal to receive this honour
Little did my sister know (and I had never revealed this to her) was that I too had a scar which was hidden by my hair
This had been caused by an errant swing when that had been swung towards me by the Virgin
It was a complete accident but nonetheless the Virgin awarded me with a scar which I was allowed to keep as long as I did not tell my sister
She loved her scar so much that my truth would have diluted her admiration of her wound
To this day I have not mentioned my scar
As my hair is thinning somewhat my sister has on many occasions suggested that I shoud shorten it
I have always resisted opting to keep my hair long
We leave for Madeira tomorrow to comfort some of the people affected the dreadful floods in and around Funchal
I should think that the situation of Madeira is the most enviable on the whole earth. It ensures almost every European comfort together with almost every tropical luxury. The seasons are the youth, maturity and old age of a never ending still beginning spring.