Waiting in Godot's

One of the strange things about Luz is that although there are plenty of restaurants and pubs, there are few real bars open at this time of year. However, we discovered one that spoke to our needs at the time - Godot's. It's a bar that's just a stone's throw from the beach and it's owned by a couple of folk who have their roots quite evidently in music.

For that reason, there's music on Thursday nights (open mic) and on Saturdays (karaoke), and although the latter is not our drop, we had a good time listening to others struggling through some old standards. The Thursday night though is a different matter. There are usually several singers, but nearly always at least one or two who actually know what they are doing and sing pretty well!

Now, you'll think that Gabrielle and her old bloke would fit in well in this environment. The average age of the audience must be well into the 70's and when we arrived this week at about 8:15pm, there was a good sign that the crowd was beginning - a solitary mobility scooter parked outside. The guy who had arrived on it had three pints while we there and then drove it home. He was the only one in the place so, first lesson, don't arrive until about 9pm.

Then we succeeded in making our host for the night, Jo, smile - an achievement as she had given us a slightly frosty reception after we'd made some jokey remarks about "beating the rush" and "the crowds". She's actually really nice and she fills wine glasses fuller than her fellah - just sayin'.

So, by around 9:30pm the place is filling up nicely. An assortment of oldies, some bearing musical instruments, others with walking aids, stagger into the place and then set themselves going to provide their own entertainment. One guy we've heard twice plays electric guitar quite well and then sings challenging songs such as ones by Bowie and Floyd. He stumbles through them and everyone is very appreciative. The atmosphere is good and the drink is excellent.

OK - the drink. Get this: a pint of San Miguel and a large glass of red wine - €4.50. The wine is €2 a glass and it's excellent, whether white or red. To the extent, that a certain lady who shall be nameless got quite blatted after enthusiastic samplings of the wine and staggered home, much like the other members of the audience!

Then there was the French Australian blondie who plonked herself down next to me at the bar, inappropriately close, ordered a large whisky and ice and then discovered she'd forgotten her money. Once she returned - she'd evidently been practising - she proceeded to rabbit on incoherently, whilst draping herself over me and apologising! However, to cap the evening, she said, "So what do you do? Are you hairdressers?"

Not surprisingly, our response was shocked, then horrified and then amused. Drinking up rapidly, we beat a hasty retreat and left her to hit on some other helpless old bloke - preferably one without his missis in tow!