Well, I know we've been back over a week now and that I should have posted this blog a little sooner but thanks to my notebook disappearing in the depths of my holdall I had to wait til I found it. Not that my memory fails me or anything but its better to have all the facts right than to be making stuff up as I go along.. ;o)
Wednesday June 27th
I woke up all giddy and excited. We were leaving the rainy gloom of London behind us and heading towards warmer lands. I had never before been to Greece even tho I was born not too far away from it in Serbia. I have met a few greek people throughout the years and always felt comfortable in their surroundings. Their mentality reminded me very much of what I was used to from home and I guess it was just a natural progression. That and the fact I'm Orthodox - the ruling religion in Greece - and altho I'm not practicing it I am very familiar with the stories and drive behind it.We got to the airport and after changing money, buying goggles and adapters we realisd our flight had already borded. In blind panic we rushed through the crowds as we heard our names announced through the speakers; "Will passengers D. Kreckovic and A. Jones please go to gate 19 immediately. Your flight is ready for take off." Narrowly escaping our plane leaving without us we struggled to catch our breath in the seats. Sweat was running down my forehead and I thought Arron was going to have a asthma attack - remembering that his inhaler was left on the nightstand!
We landed in Rhodes after a 4 hr flight. I was glad I brought Paul Burstons 'Star People' to keep me occupied otherwise I would have struggled to cope with the amount of crying infants and frantic teenagers eagerly waiting for their holiday to begin. The moment the flight attendants opened the doors to the plane we we're hit by a tremendous heat blast and suddenly I looked at my longsleved cashmere sweater and wondered what the hell I was thinking when getting ready this morning. We later learned that Grece was experiencing the worst heatwave in 10 years and with temperatures reaching as high as 52°C it wasn't hard to believe. It was already 8pm by the time we landed and we were taken on an hour long coach transfer to Lindos. Knackered we made our way to the reception by the pool and were greeted by Eleni, the owner and manager of Eleni Studios. She took us to our room, No 13, and told us that if we wanted aircon we'd have to pay 50 Euros to have it switched on between 10pm-9am. We didn't see much point in arguing with that even tho it came as an unexpected expenditure on our already limited travel budget.
While filling our fridge with breakfast stuff from the nearby supermarket we noticed that it was broken and couldn't be turned up to cool faster. We also noticed that for a Self Catering hotel they didnt really provide enough utencils for you to be able to cater for yourself. Ironic but we didn't let that bring us down. After all we'd gotten the trip at a bargain price.
We unpacked our things and finished the evening on the balcony taking in the sights of the clear starlit sky before turning in to a turbulent and sweaty nights sleep..
Thursday June 28th
I woke up early, excited about the day ahead. Arron needed a couple extra minutes to come to life so I strolled down to the pool area and relaxed til he joined me. The sun was baking hot and we later found out that it was 45°C and a lot cooler than it had been the previous couple of days. Apparently they didn't have any wind for a week and as the heat wave soared the city of Lindos was like a boiling cauldron. It looked as if we had arrived in perfect time, just as the heat was subsiding. We went to stock up on some more necessities and returned to catch the Thompson Rep Lynn in the middle of her introduction. She was a little Glaswegian lass that couldn't stop sweating. As she spoke, sweat beads were trickling down her face and neck causing her shirt to stick to her back and as a result we could barely understand her as she hurriedly slurred through her speech. We decided that whatever information she could give us we'd be better off finding out on our own from the locals and headed down towards the main beach. I wanted a lilo and Arron was more keen on a ring so when he'd fallen asleep in our plastic white sun loungers I sneaked off and surprised him.
After a little persuasion we headed off on a little mini adventure. The beach was within a bay and further out were two little islands guarding the entrance to the bay (as you can see in the top pic above). We decided to pack up all our things; water, phone, books, camera and towels and on the lilo and the ring paddle out to one of the islands.
After about an hours paddling we reached the volcanic rocks and climbed up on to the island. We suddenly realised that we we're in a very remote spot and that the wind and tide had suddenly changed. This meant that going back would prove quite difficult as the wind was blowing away from mainland and behind us was the open sea. But what's done was done and instead we decided to
enjoy the space we'd found It was an interesting landscape consisting of what looked like hardened lava, with holes and crevices scattered all around it giving plenty of opportunity for wild sealife to thrive. It wasn't as accommodating to our feet tho. I'm not sure just how many cuts we received out there. Arron's biggest attraction was a big rock reaching up to 15 meters above the sea that he decided to jump off from. My heart skipped a beat as
he lept off into the blue I was too chicken to try instead we went skinny dipping and even engaged in some sexual activity for good measure... ;o)
The journey back was gruesome. The tide was forcefully leading us out to open water but we were determined to make a shore. After almost 2 hours of struggling and gurgling salt water we finally reached land. We were exhausted and slowly made our way back to the hotel where we crashed for a few hours before freshening up and going for dinner in Lindos town. We were ushered in to Alexander's and I was delighted to see they had white bait on the menu. After the food arrived it dawned on us that we had ordered way too much.. Lesson learned for next time.
Needless to say we both slept like babies that night!
Friday June 29th
I woke up in a weird mood. I had already checked and knew that the full moon was just around the corner and by being prepared I hoped I could escape the effect it usually has on me. No such luck altho this time I was more aware of it and could deal with it accordingly.
We made our way through the town of Lindos to another beach that was slightly hidden compared to the main one. But the biggest surprise was their wooden sun loungers and straw parasols, a vast improvement from yesterdays.We spent most of the day just soaking up the sun and snorkeling in the sea. This time keeping a bit closer to the shoreline.
Making our way back through town we couldn't resist taking a donkey ride up to the
Acropolis (video). After all Lindos was known for its notorious donkeys and it seemed like a cool thing to do. I enjoyed it, not sure about Arron though.. lol They took us all the way up to the old ruins of the Acropolis where we were amazed by the extraordinary views. We found out that the locals have started a project where they are trying to restore the castle to its former glory or as close as they can get. I'm sure it will be a success.
After exploring the old ruins we descended down back through the shopping streets of town where I tried to haggle but unlike in Turkey where haggling is expected in everyday life the greeks get very angry. Lets just say I learned my lesson well. We returned to Eleni's to shit, shave and shower and decided to try the very first restaurant in the entrance to Lindos, called MedEast. To our surprise it was a very nice place. The layout of the restaurant was great with stunning views of the beach and the ruins, the service was friendly and the food delicious. With their main specialty being meats Arron was in heaven!
Before returning back to the hotel we passed a little tourist hut where we found out you can book excursions and cars and bikes. We decided to get ourselves a Quadbike for 3 days and also booked a lazy day boat trip for the following day.That night I could barely sleep; tomorrow was going to be an exciting day and we were picking up the bike in the evening. Arron on the other hand couldnt sleep cos he burned himself..
Saturday June 30th
The alarm woke us up at 8am. Even for holiday time that was waaaaay too early. But considering we were going on a boat trip for the day we managed to soldier through. A red Peugeot came to pick us up outside Flora Supermarket and took us to Vlicha Bay where Captain Stergios was waiting on his boat. When all 12 passengers had been collected we were off. As the first to arrive me and Arron got the whole back of the boat all to ourselves giving me enough space to lazyly lap up the sun.
Captain Stergios was in his early 50's and a very funny man with knowledge of several european languages as we found out during the day. He'd start by telling me and Arron in eanglish about any sights worth noticing then moved on to the front and repeated the same thing in German, Italian and French. It was funny 'cos there we're no french people onboard. Nonetheless, his efforts we're highly appreciated. He took us around the bay of Lindos main beach and we could see the back side of our 'Deserted Island' he then continued round through some rocky formations resembling a huge mushroom in the water and a lions head until we reached a strip of crystal clear turqoise water close to Pefki.
We stopped for a while so everyone could have a dip and cool down and then headed back
north towards Haraki (video). In Haraki we stopped for a bite to eat. Arron and I didn't like the look of the beach front cafe and headed towards the town centre til we reached Tommy's Taverna. A cute waiter with a monobrow served us and Arron wanted us to adopt him and take him home - but only if we tweezed his eyebrows! After finishing the mousakka and burger we ordered we left Mr Monobrow behind us and returned back to the boat. The captain told us with excitement about this secluded beach that noone can get to except for by boat and once we got there it wasn't hard to see why. It was a remote strip of sandy beach with a massive wave of a hill sheltering it from the rest of the island. The only way to get down to it would have been by rope or jumping down off the ledge and hoping for the best. The other passengers from the boat scattered themselves all across the sand and we tried to find some shade as Arron was deliberately staying out of the sun.
He was hot, bothered (video) and complaining about bugs a lot. None of wich bothered me...YET!
After about an hour and a half Captain Stergios honked the horn and we all climbed back onboard the boat. This time we were heading back to Vlicha Bay to disembark the vessel and head to Lindos Tourist Office to collect our Quadbike. I've never seen Ron so excited. Like a kid who'd just won his own amusement park. After going through the security and all the relevant information we needed to know we took the bike for a ride south of where we we're staying. It was great fun but as it was already dark we headed home to prepare for our massive roadtrip around the island the following day.
But before we got back to Eleni's I remembered an old story my nan used to tell me. She said that back in the day when they had been out working the fields, especially the men, they'd come back sun burnt and aching. And when they did the women would rub natural yoghurt across their backs and shoulders to draw the pain out and to soothe the skin. Well, after 8 hours on a boat, chasing the sun around and having the wind cooling me down you can just imagine what I looked like when we returned - so I decided to stop by Flora Supermarket once more and pick up a tub of Natural Greek Yoghurt. As I went up to the old lady to pay, she looked at the tub, then at me and said with a massive grin; AAAAH, YESSS, FOR FACE, HA?? and nodded knowingly. That gave me all the reassurance I needed.. :)
Sunday 1st July
After a great nights sleep, although with quite a lot of tossing and turning and definitely smelling of yoghurt we both woke up at the same time. We packed our backpack with towels, sunscreen and plenty of frozen bottles of water and headed on our first day of exploring the island on the quad bike. With a tiny beach map as only reference we took off from Lindos Town and headed North up the highway. I don't have a driving license and wasn't allowed to drive out in traffic - but I retaliated by refusing to drive at all. Instead I opted for the more relaxing role of the passenger (click link to see video). Apart from the slight banging against my lower back caused by the helmet box I didn't have many complaints. I just sat back and enjoyed the amazing views of the island as we drove by. For only having 80 CC's the quad bike did a good job getting up the hills with us on it.
Not really sure about just how far away everything was it took a while to find the right roads. Especially considering all the roads are marked in Greek. Once again that's where my Serbian heritage lent a helping hand - being taught in an Orthodox Sunday School as a child I could still remember Cyrillic - the alphabet used by the ancient Greeks - and could easily decipher the correct route (with a few stops and failed attempts of asking for directions).
We finally found the little side road leading to our first destination - Epta Piges - or Seven Springs. Judging from the guide books we had and after speaking to some locals we imagined a large spring welling out of a mountain and streaming down through caves and into a large lake where people could jump in. The reality couldn't have been further from our imagination.
We arrived to find a tiny little puddle welling up from underneath a couple of trees. Each 'spring' was marked with a number on a stick and some gees and ducks were cooling off in it. The water then ran down rocks and through a manmade tunneled canal, about 150 meters long. Still unknowing what awaits at the other side we mustered up the courage to go through the pitch black tunnel even though some local women refused to step foot inside point blank! It was a weird experience and I had to keep taking photos in order to be able to see anything - totally oblivious to the fact my sunglasses were still on!The end of the tunnel didn't have much to offer. What we thought would be a lake waiting was in fact a dried up canal containing nothing but mud and goose droppings.
Before venturing off towards our next destination we decided to have lunch at Seven Springs Taverna. Lucky we did cos the food was exquisite and dirt cheap for the portions we got. Highly recommended!
Somewhat more confident of the roads we decided to take what seemed a shortcut to Petaloudes through Arhipoli and Psinthos. Little did we know that we'd be traveling down a remote dirt road for miles until we finally got to
The Valley of the Butterflies (video). The valley itself was gorgeous and definitely worth a trip. It was a man-made haven for millions of Tiger Moths inhabiting even the tiniest of crevices. Massive clusters of moths hanging on to cliffs, tree branches and caves following the waterfalls from top to bottom. Apart from the moths there were also other forms of life there such as sweet water crabs and what looked like leeches but later turned out to be tiny black snails. We walked around and took photos and at times Arron tried to stir the moth clusters with handfuls of dust only so we could get a good shot of the magnitude of the insects.
After an hour or so exploring the woodlands we wanted to head back home. We were hungry and thirsty and starting to get a bit tired. Arron drove towards the airport and then we had to follow the entire highway all the way to Lindos. After a foodstop in
Faliraki (video), and purely to be able to say that we'd been there we continued home. Driving down the busy road we didn't anticipate it taking as long as it did and to make matters worse all of a sudden the quad bike slowed down and came to an absolute standstill. Not too far from Lindos but still a VERY steep hill away it wasn't an ideal situation. Luckily we'd just passed a petrol station and managed to fill the tank and return home safely.
By the time we'd returned neither of us was very hungry so we tried to drive back to one of the beaches we'd visited with Captain Stergios but once we arrived (at Lindos Memories Hotel) we noticed that the lovely turquoise bit was quite far away from the shore so we stuck round and tried to catch crabs and sea urchins before finally returning to Eleni's where we crashed for the night..
Monday 2nd July
I woke up very excited knowing that we we're going to explore Rhodes town today. I had been looking forward to it all week. So much history to experience and to see for myself what I had only read about in the past and to see the Sound & Light show that we'd heard so much about. But Arron wasn't quite where I was. He'd woken up in a bad mood and it seemed one bad thing only led to another. Before we'd even taken off he'd cursed the mosquitoes that bit him during the night, he managed to burn our breakfast (not his fault, I blame the crappy pans) and he burned himself as he got on the quad bike. By this time it had already been in the sun for a few hours.
We were finally on our way but as the journey progressed, his mood only deteriorated more and more. Stray stones hitting his face on the road we're swiftly followed by bugs flying in to his mouth. Holding on behind him I just kept my mouth shut and hoped for a miracle. After about an hour and a half we'd reached the entrance to the city but as we got closer the traffic turned nastier. All of a sudden we reached a set of traffic lights (one of 2 on the whole island I'm guessing?) and we were surrounded by at least 15 scooters tightly followed by an endless number of cars and trucks. With no signs indicating any directions we struggled to find our way around but finally reached the walls of the Old Town and knew we were in the right place. Arron was NOT happy and without stirring things up too much I suggested we go for a stroll through the ancient streets of Old Rhodes.
It was amazing walking down the cobbled streets and you can literally feel the history around you. It was really picturesque and I couldn't help but wish I had a castle the size of this.. lol One day!!! ;o)
With the bad mood unchanging I thought maybe some food might do the trick and we went down to the harbour to eat. I ordered a Greek omelet accompanied by my signature dish a Greek Salad and Arron had a pizza. I couldn't have anticipated that a pizza would only make matters worse. It turned out to be soggy and doughy and I chose to shut my face in order to keep the peace.
We walked along the water to Mandraki Harbour where one of the Wonders of the Ancient world once stood; the Colossus of Rhodes. A giant bronze statue that stood at the entrance of the harbor with one foot on each side, majestically guarding the ancient city. It is believed that an earthquake caused the Colossus to disintegrate and fall piece by piece into the ocean - although no parts of it have ever been found!?
We carried on walking til we reached a heaving beach full of tourists. Shingled, it didn't seem as nice as some of the beaches down south but it was by far one of the largest on the island. Following it round the northern most tip of Rhodes, past the Marine biological Museum we were met by a sight to remember.
Massive waves (video) splashing the turquoise sea up against the beach. Not many people dared to enter the wild waters as the current was extremely powerful but it was no match for me. I ran and dove in with my clothes on turning a few heads along the way. I didn't care. It was an incredible feeling just letting yourself go in the waves. Arron shortly joined me and his mood seemed to let up a little bit.. Just a little though! We spent a few hours on that beach swimming, chilling out and just watching the world go by. On the other side the mountains of Turkey could be seen and although we could have we decided to give that excursion a miss.
The sun started to set and after a change of clothes we went to explore the
Old Town (video) some more. We found the Street of the Knights of St John. There was a House of England with the traditional English rose as a symbol followed by the House of France, Germany and so on. But the thing that baffled me the most was the abundance of umbrella and fur shops!! Yes FUR shops!!! In a land that has more sunny days than they can handle it just seemed a little strange anyone would want to cover themselves up in a massive coyote fur coat! Is it just me or does that seem a bit wrong?? lol Passing through these shops we also came across a little mannequin of a boy - or more the
Seed of Chucky (video). It became a standing joke with us and I wish we could have brought him back with us.. ;o)
I had tried to keep my cool about Arrons rain on my parade and even suggested we give the Sound & Light show a miss as it was another 2,5 hrs til it was supposed to start but he wasn't having any of it, saying how it was one of the reasons we'd come in the first place. So we headed back towards the beach to get a glimpse of the famous Rhodes sunset. On the way we found an
Orthodox Church (video) and I couldn't resist entering. All the lessons from Sunday School as a kid came swooshing back to me and I recognized the many saints gracing the walls but even I couldn't answer Arrons question; 'Why does Jesus have 3 cardinal points in his halo?'
All I DO know is that they are NOT cardinal points!
Needless to say by the time we reached the seafront the sun had already set and we had to return back to catch the show. After paying 18 Euros for the tickets and a programme we expected something extraordinary but what we got was not even worth pissing on if it caught fire!! It was such a disappointment and I could just feel the blood bubble in Arrons veins. As people started walking out of the show I daren't speak a word and pretended to enjoy it (as much as I could)! What was meant as a recreation of the Sound & Light show in Athens was merely a nice garden with a few colored lights lighting up to a pre recorded dramatization of the Knights of St John. Trust me it SOUNDS nicer than it is and apart from a sore back and a sleepy bum we didn't get much more out of it.
So the journey home was about to begin. The wind had picked up and Arron was upset over how cold it would get on the bike so I gave him my spare shirt and vest top and fastened the rest of our stuff on the quad bike.We drove through the mental traffic only to time and time again end up in dead ends or one way streets. And to add salt to injury once we finally found an exit a small explosion scared the shit out of us and we swirled off the road only to discover that the bungee strap holding our bag to the bike had snapped and the bag had fallen off. I rushed off the bike to chase the bag but it was too late; it had already gotten run over and most of our belongings had been destroyed.At this point Arron was the calm one while I felt the temperature rise in my temples. I was about to have a fit and then I suddenly saw it. The moon. And it was RED! A blood moon is never a good sign and although not much it gave some explanations to all the wrong things that had happened today.
We continued the drive out of Rhodes town in silence. I didn't have much to say as I was holding on to Arron for dear life as we drove almost 2 hours through darkness. Along the way we stopped for some food but we couldn't wait to be in bed.
Once sat on our balcony with a spliff to calm our nerves we looked at the burned and run over remains from our backpack and just burst out laughing.At least we'd remember this day forever..
Tuesday 3rd July
We deliberately refused to get out of bed early today. Originally we were gonna drive down to Prasonissi, where the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas meet in one straight line. Apparently its a really beautiful place with lost of nice beaches and an interesting geological spot to visit. But not for us and not today!
I think we were still a bit shaken by what had happened during last nights return journey and we also didn't have a bag to pack all our necessities in anyway. Instead Arron looked through our burnt and mangled Berlitz guide book and found a nice sandy beach not too far away from Lardos, which was literally down the road. Determined to get one last use out of the ring and mattress I'd bought on our second day I held it over my head as I straddled the quad bike. It wasn't the easiest thing to hold on to at 80km/hr but we managed to get to Glystra beach all in one piece.
We paid for the sun loungers and I headed out to sea on the inflatable rubber ring and got swept out by the strong current. As I tried to paddle back to shore I noticed something BIG and DARK 'swimming' just to the left below me and I guess you could say that I panicked slightly.. Frenetically trying to side-paddle around this 'monster' from the depths I ended up getting swept out further out to sea. Finally I made it back to shore and Arron went out to do some snorkeling while I got lost in Paul Burstons 'Star People'. After about an hour I looked up and I couldn't see Arron anywhere. My heart slowly began to race as I was trying to spot him or his snorkel in the water. Each time I saw a snorkel sticking out I focused my attention on that person, til they came up and it turned out it wasn't him. All sorts of images clouded my mind. I saw him getting an underwater asthma attack or getting water in the snorkel and drowning or drifting far out to sea without even noticing it himself or worse still; he got eaten by that sea monster I saw earlier!!!I had visions of me having to call his parents and tell them I'd lost him somewhere in the sea and they'd hate me forever and ever..
And just as I thought things couldn't get any worse a German woman 2 sun loungers away started shouting at her husband. It immediately caught my attention that her son, who was about 6-7 years old, couldn't be seen anywhere. Both parents rushed up towards the water and started calling his name. It took several minutes for him to re-surface behind some bushes behind the backs of his worried parents.
Suddenly I panicked! I didn't know what to do!?? Should I start calling out Arrons name too?? Should I inform anyone? Or ask for help?I hid the camera and my phone and headed out towards the rocky formation where I'd seen him snorkel just hours ago. My heart was racing as I climbed the sharp rock and for every movement I noticed thinking it was Arron it sank at the fact it wasn't. Its weird to explain, but I felt like a parent loosing a child. The fear started to consume me from within when all of a sudden I saw him. He was strolling along the bank a few meters away, snorkel in hand and a big grin on his face as he noticed me and waved. I DID NOT wave back! The fear I'd felt swiftly turned into anger as I shouted at him that I thought he'd drowned and that he'd been gone for almost 2 hours. I made my way back to our chair with him miles behind as he was barefoot and I had the advantage of flip-flops against the rocks. He joined me on the beach moments later and I was still fuming, pretending to read my book when in fact I had to read and re-read every page twice as I kept loosing concentration. Then it dawned on me that he was fine and I didn't have to call his mother to tell her she'd lost a son and I asked him if he wanted an ice cream.. lol
As we munched away on our fast melting ice creams I told him about the 'monster' I'd encountered in the deep and when asked to point out exactly where I was told that it was just a patch of tall growing sea weed.. Oh well, how was I supposed to know?? It was huge and it was moving.. ;o)
A couple of hours later we were ready to head back to Eleni's. We had to return the quad bike and freshen up for our last supper on Rhodes.We decided to return to to MedEast after spending the last of the holiday funds in some of the shops. Great glass art and jewelry and I even got a hand painted, blessed Icon of Jesus for my multi religious Nan.
That night I couldn't sleep. Arron had already fallen asleep as I was laying awake thinking about how much I'd love to live a life of leisure like a lot of people on this island. Opening up a hotel somewhere and making enough money during the summer season that I could spend the rest of the year relaxing and enjoying a stress free life. I started thinking about some of the plans me and Arron had discussed. More dreams than plans I guess, about one day building our dream home, renovating an old castle and adding our personal touches to it. I fantasized about our future adventures and what the future may have in stock for us and I looked at him laying there, smiling as he dreamt and realised just how important this boy has become to me over the last 6 months.. I finally drifted off to La La land and I too had a smile on my face.
Wednesday 4th July
The alarm woke us up at 10 am and since we'd already packed the night before there was no need to rush. I washed the dishes we'd accumulated, with a sock and tidied up the mess we'd made. The key was returned to Eleni and we spent the rest of the day by the pool. I thought it would be a shame to throw away the rubber ring and mattress and asked a girl next to us if she'd like to take it. She was delighted and we got talking. That was the first proper conversation we'd had with any other guests at Elenis. It turned out they weren't as happy about their stay as we we're. They agreed to the fact that there wasn't enough toilet paper and that they'd always had to ask for it. Same thing happened to us though but we never realised that NOBODY had any loo roll at times.I asked how much they'd paid for their holiday and as I heard her reply my jaw dropped to the ground! The same trip that me and Arron only paid about £270 for (with flight, transfer and accommodation) set them back over the £1000 mark. I couldn't believe it! I would have been absolutely appalled if Elenis was where I'd end up for that kind of money. I mean, don't get me wrong - Elenis is a nice place with great views and nice friendly atmosphere but for £1000 I'd expect more than that. A LOT MORE!
On my way to the loo I managed to come across a very rarely seen bug but one that was making HORRENDEOUS racket! The
Cicada (video). It looked like a HUGE fly with vained wings and massive eyes. Apparently they make the noise to attract partners - not this one tho!!! Tee Hee.. ;o)
The Thomson coach arrived just after 4pm and took us to
Rhodes Airport (video). We went to pick up some bits and bobs from the tax-free. I stocked up on olive paste, cigarettes and some chocolate and spent the next 2 hours reading The Daily Mail that someone had left behind. That's where we found out about the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport and the failed attempts to bomb a nightclub in London and suddenly I started stressing again. I thought about all the work waiting for me when i get back, the crowded masses struggling to get to work in the morning, packed like sardines. I thought about all the bills waiting for me and I thought about the fact I'd have to give up doing fun and interesting things for yet another couple of months. I was ready to cry. Arron wasn't in a much better mood himself. We both traveled home in silence and when we got in there was yet another surprise waiting; Mon had a HUGE package waiting for me in our room and as I ripped open the paper a Samsung flat screen LCD TV that connects to the PC :o) - a belated birthday present from her and her boyfriend Ed.
As we lay down to watch our holiday snaps all the worries about going back to work disappeared...
Dan
