Happy Holidays

I went away to Greece with a sad and heavy heart.  There were a couple of reasons; firstly I was worried that something would happen to mum and dad and we wouldn’t be able to help them.  And secondly I was very concerned about Sue.  Her dad was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and further tests showed that it had spread to his bones and unlike George, he was in great pain. I don’t suppose there was much that I could do for Sue’s dad but I would have liked to have been there for her if she needed me.  But Phil needed a break and we flew away on the basis that if anything happened we would fly straight home.

I was pleasantly surprised by Mareblue Beach Resort in Agios Spyridon.  TripAdvisor reviews were not favourable but unbeknown to us, the hotel had been bought out and the new owners had done a complete makeover during the winter months. The room was basic but clean and comfortable; it even had tea making facilities which is always a bonus for me.  If I was to have a tiny gripe it would be that our balcony hardly got any sunshine during the day but we have a good view of the ocean.

As all-in buffets go, then I’d probably say that the food at Mareblue was some of the best I’ve experienced.  We managed to find something to eat every day although I’m not sure I could have hacked it a second week.  The entertainment was cheesy but good in a strange way and surprisingly enough, we went out every single night.  I particularly enjoyed the Greek Night and I rather think that we were the entertainment on some evenings! 

Phil thoroughly chilled out and spent every day, bar one, in bed.  He came out for breakfast, lunch and dinner but not once did he don a pair of swimming trunks or sunbathe by the pool.  It was just as well we hooked up with Holly & Shane who were great fun and didn’t seem to mind me gate crashing on them.   Quite flattering really, that a couple of 25 year olds were happy to hang out with us mad wrinklies.  We have swapped email addresses and have promised to keep in touch.  Holly said she will create a ‘drop box’ so we can swap photographs although I have no idea what this is.

I had a couple of mishaps whilst on holiday and troubles with technology.  One night I left my handbag in the pool bar, I realised as soon as we left and Phil went back down but it was nowhere to be seen.  I was up at the crack of dawn the following day and thankfully someone had handed it in behind reception.  Phew, that was a relief as my bag contained all of my money and credit cards.  I was very lucky but not so lucky was a bloke that I got chatting to who had lost his passport.

For some reason that even I cannot fathom, I didn’t take my little laptop away with me.  God knows why because I’d rather take my laptop over holiday clothes any day.  This meant a severe lack of internet access and also meant I couldn’t write a blog.  Phil reluctantly lent me his iPad on a couple of occasions but I don’t get on very well with it, give me a keyboard and a mouse any day.  I also forgot to bring my mobile phone charger and my Nokia died on our second day in Corfu.

Three days into our holiday, my new kindle paperwhite stopped working and I’m reluctant to reveal it was because of my own stupidity.  Phil brought me a kindle cover for Valentine’s Day but I’m forever taking it off.  One morning I was in bed reading my kindle and dozed off and my kindle fell out of my hands and onto the ceramic tiled floor.  It would have been fine if I’d had the cover on but when I picked it up, the screen was frozen.  I was so cross with myself and was buggered for reading material.  Luckily I managed to get some books from the reception library although they weren’t really to my taste.  Not much of a selection and most of the books were in German. 

This was a cheap break away for us and well worth the money. Being all inclusive made it very cheap although I have to say I do have to question all-inclusive deals.  Our hotel was in the middle of nowhere which wasn’t ideal and I couldn’t help but spot the number of signs for bars and tavernas.  When I looked they were nowhere to be seen and I did wonder whether it was because it was so early in the season.  But on further investigation, I realised that these places were ‘has beens’, obviously shut down because of hotels offering all-inclusive.  There is no doubt that A-I saves you money but what a shame it is at the expense of the local communities.  This goes throughout Europe.  I particularly noticed this in Tenerife although I didn’t give it a thought at the time.

But all in all, the holiday was a success.  My best day was the day we hired out the quad bikes which were great fun.  Personally I would have liked to have seen more of Corfu but that’s just me.  Coming home was not so much fun; late night flights and hanging around all day don’t do it for me.  It took an hour to get to the airport and once our bags were checked in, there wasn’t much to do. We had a drink in a bar outside and to be honest there wasn’t much time before we boarded. A courtesy bus picked us up at Stansted in no time, we collected our car and got back to the flat at half past midnight.

I felt sorry for Phil because he had to drive down early to mum and dads on Tuesday morning; he had a quick shower and was on the M1 before half past seven. The reason he had to go early was because he had arranged a meeting with the social services and they were due to arrive at half past nine.  I woke up on Tuesday morning with a really swollen eye lid.  In fact, the right side of my face was also swollen.  My eye was painful and I felt very peculiar.  At first I thought that maybe a mossie had bitten me on the eye but then I remembered having suffered the same thing a few years ago when we lived in the kebab flat. 

On that occasion, over the course of a day, my face puffed and the right side came out in deep bruising.  Thankfully this time I didn’t have any bruising but my eye was painful and I could hardly see out of it, not only that I felt really unwell. One minute I was boiling hot and the next I was whacking the heating up to 30.

Slowly I made my way through the washing, drying and ironing but it took me hours.  When I’d finished I popped over to Sue’s for a catch up over a cup of tea.  Poor girl had a rough week with her dad and her dilemma was whether to go away on holiday the following day.  My advice to her was pack your bag and go.  Her dad is in good hands in the care home and if anything happens she can always fly home.  I could see that she was struggling with her conscience and it wasn’t helped that on Tuesday evening, the carers, fearing her dad might have pneumonia, called out the paramedics.  Thankfully all was fine and Sue and Brian flew to Fuerteventura as planned.

On waking on Wednesday morning my face had swelled even more so I decided to call the doctors to get an emergency appointment. Phil thought it was hilarious that I looked like I’d been in a fight but it was no joke I can tell you.  I had to wait ages in the surgery but eventually I was seen by a very nice doctor.  He examined my eye and took my temperature which was high.  My eye wasn’t infected but apparently the condition that I am suffering with is called Edema.  He said also that I had a virus.  I came away with an antihistamine and some ibuprofen.  Funnily enough Holly took a funny turn on the way back and Phil said he wasn’t feeling great so I wonder if they too had the virus.

Jan phoned me and invited me (and Sue) over to supper on Wednesday night but I reluctantly had to decline.  At teatime, after taking 2 lots of pills, I was feeling a little better but then I dipped and went to bed at 8 o’clock.  Thankfully I was feeling ten times better this morning. Not 100% but the hot and cold feeling had gone and so I think had the temperature.  The swelling had gone done tremendously, not quite back to normal but my eye wasn’t painful and at least I could see out of it. At least I was able to go out to get some shopping.

I expected a big battle with Amazon when I phoned the help line to see if I could get my kindle replaced.  Luckily I’d been on the website and done a bit of research which served me well when they asked me if my kindle had been dropped, to which I emphatically replied that it certainly had not.  Liar liar, pants on fire Clairabella, but I don’t care.  My new kindle should be arriving sometime tomorrow.  Result!

Well I feel well enough to try out the gym whilst Phil is going to meet up with the agent that we are not so keen on and do the final check out on one of the Oldbrook properties.  These Australian tenants have been great and we have not had any problems with them over the last 4 years.  I wish all tenants could be like them but sadly they are not.  Hopefully the flat won't be in  too bad condition but of course I need to see for myself.  

The plan is to go to the caravan tomorrow and stay for a couple of days but if the flat needs work then I shall be tempted to stay in MK and get stuck in.  Time is money as they say and the sooner the flat is ready to market, then all the better. And so for my next project but I make no complaint. I think it’s high time I got up off my backside and did something useful for a change.