November 1st is known as the saddest day of the year throughout Spain, as this is when people set aside a little time to remember their loved ones and relatives who have passed away. In all the tiny cemeteries in the parishes of the island, graves and niches (the 'slots' or small tombs in the cemetery walls) are cleaned, polished, and then decorated with hundreds of bouquets of wonderfully scented fresh flowers. It is also a public holiday, and many families spend the day together at a barbecue after visiting the cemetery, and there were certainly many in evidence in the beautiful coves and bays of the island on the warm sunny day that Friday was. The only blot on the horizon was some criticism of the island's florists who for some reason increase the price of flowers to astronomical levels at this time every year!