JANUARY 2021

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 February 2021 05:49 Written by Paul Tassell Thursday, 11 February 2021 05:49

Happy new year to you all .

The year started in Tenerife with nice weather then we had a few weeks of torrential rain, wind and storms.

Tenerife had been put into extra measures before Christmas as our corona virus numbers were rising steadily making us the worst Island in the Canaries.                                                We had a maximum of 4 people allowed to meet outside at a cafe or restaurant and in houses. Curfew over the whole Island from 10pm till 6 am,  and obviously closing our borders to all but essential travel.                                                                                                 These measures reversed the trend and they were eased slightly 2 weeks ago to 6 meeting at bars and restaurants also allowing inside use and our curfew is now 11pm                             Our figures are now stabilised again and we are hoping that next week the restrictions will be eased again. The islands feel a lot safer again although we still have very few tourists and our borders are still closed.

The complex has been very quiet and apart from a few dog incidents and the covidiots who don’t think the regulations apply to them, it has been peaceful and  we applaud the owners and tenants who are following the rules to get rid of this terrible virus to enable us all to get back to as near normal as we can later this year.

The pool regulations are still in place and are very  strict,  we are liable to a 15,000 euro fine for allowing the regulations to be violated, so please read carefully the signage around the pool.

The AGM planed for May this year will not now take place as current regulations severely restrict the number of people allowed to gather for a meeting, we will monitor the situation and set a date later in the year if it is at all possible

Regretfully we learnt of the passing of Richard Legg who was an owner for many years and also the first President of The Heights Community. He had the task of setting up the community and putting the many procedures in place to run the complex. We owe Richard a big thank you for making the Heights the place it is today. Our thoughts go out to Jenny and their family at this very sad time.

We look forward to seeing a lot more owners later this year as things improve around the world and the travel restrictions are removed.

Again our thanks go out to all key workers around the world who are putting themselves at risk to keep us safe we know that a lot of our owners are key workers.

Keep safe  and stick to the rules and we will come through this.

Paul

DECEMBER 2020

Last Updated on Sunday, 3 January 2021 05:41 Written by Paul Tassell Sunday, 3 January 2021 05:41

I think that everybody will be happy to see the end of 2020. What a year and the crisis carries on to this New Year but at least we have light at the end of the tunnel now with the new vaccines being rolled out across the world.                                                                Hopefully by the summertime we will be back to some sort of normal and the island can start repairing it’s tourist trade which will allow the local businesses that are still trading get back to making profits again as they look after the tourists on the island.

The covid numbers have  remained higher on Tenerife than the government would like    but are showing signs of reducing at last, hopefully this will carry on and allow us to get out of the extra measures we currently have to abide by.

We are on curfew from 10pm to 6am, this means all bars and restaurants are closing by 9.30pm to allow people to get home, also bars and restaurants are only allowed to use the outside terraces with no public inside and a maximum of four people.

These measures are in force until 10.01.2021 when they will be reviewed and hopefully if the numbers are well reduced the measures could be removed. Also we have a ban on British tourists until 19.01.2021 due to the new strain. It would be good to see the numbers in the UK reduced then maybe the ban could be lifted.

The weather in December was mixed, it was warm but there were periods of rain and winds.

The complex was very quiet for the time of year owing to the flight situation from numerous countries especially the UK, however I think most people here made the most of the Christmas period and hopefully the children had an enjoyable time.

New Years eve was very similar with bars and restaurants closing at 11pm and curfew in place for 0100 hrs,  there were some private firework displays but not on the normal scale as generally we have a fantastic displays at midnight. I think a majority of people stayed in their homes, as I did with my family to see in  the New Year safely.

As a community we are thankfully starting this year in a good position financially and I must thank most of you for keeping your fees up to date thus allowing the complex to run smoothly. Unfortunately we do have a very small number of owners who have not paid their fees for some time and we do appreciate that it is hard at the moment but some of these debtors have their apartments rented out so they have no reason to withhold payments. The end of the financial year is the 31.03.2021. I ask you all to make sure your fees are up to date as debtors are posted on the notice boards after this date.

I hope you all have a much better year in 2021 and look forward to seeing you all this year,I also wish to thank Steve, Javier, Arthur, Etalina and Eladio for all their help during the tough year that was 2020.

PLEASE KEEP SAFE AND FOLLOW THE RULES and let’s get rid of this terrible virus.

Paul

NOVEMBER 2020

Last Updated on Thursday, 10 December 2020 11:37 Written by Paul Tassell Thursday, 10 December 2020 11:37

The weather was still very good for most of the month but the rains came at the end and it has been very unsettled since, although still warm we are experiencing light rains quite regularly.

New covid measures came into effect requiring all visitors to the canaries to have a negative covid PCR test up to 72 hours before arriving , however this has proved very difficult to many travelers getting the results back in time to fly as if you arrive here without your negative test you will be liable to a 600 euro fine on first offence, these rules have now been changed to allow the antigen test ,this allows you to get a quicker result and should be easier and cheaper to obtain in your respective countries, hopefully this will start getting the islands back to normal tourism eventually.

Tenerife has been put into extra measures and a curfew is now in force from 11pm till 6am, only 4 people are allowed to sit at a table in a bar /cafe /restaurant and on the terraces, no smoking allowed. Masks must be worn in all public areas, this includes whilst walking around the Heights complex as we are covered by these laws. Measures are being monitored and are subject to change at any time. We are hoping that the infection numbers will go down and the restrictions will be reduced for the Christmas period although there is no guarantee of that. You will find that at the moment most bars and restaurants are closing around 10 pm so you may have to go for your evening out a little earlier than usual.

We are still very restricted as regards to the swimming pool and I wish to explain to the few of you who don’t seem to understand that it is Spanish law that stops us using our sun beds at the present time as they would have to be cleaned every time somebody  vacated them and we are not prepared to pay to man the pool area for 8 hours a day. However we did agree to allow personal fold up beds to be taken to the pool area but they must not be left unattended and you must abide by the rules of the complex and Spanish law. We are only allowed 2 people per  red spot to a maximum of 16 at any one time, if that number is reached you MUST NOT enter the pool area,  you MUST put your apartment number on the list at the time you wish to go to the pool, this is in 90 minute slots and if busy you must leave the area when your time is up and take your sun bed with you if you have one.

We are hoping that the complex will be a little busier over the next few weeks and it is important to keep to these rules and keep everyone safe.

On a very sad note  we were informed this week of the passing of a long standing and very popular owner on the Heights Mr Mike Bullock from D510  we wish to send our condolences to his wife June and to all his family at this very sad time.

All that remains for me to say is we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible over the Christmas period  or if not in the New Year and hopefully 2021will be a better year than 2020 has been for everybody.

Have a good Christmas and New year and keep safe.

Paul and all the committee.