Sep 2023 – Page 2

Of course I was hungover and very woolly headed on Saturday 8th July. I vaguely remembered getting involved in tequila shots the previous night, which meant I should have gone home 3 hours previous to that. While Steve and Michelle were up and about, and even quite sprightly compared to me, my day was a bit of a right-off. I actually did nothing but loll about with some of the cats and Xena, the dog. I was in bed by 10pm on my last night in Rhodes, tomorrow I was off back to Turkey.

Having had a quiet Saturday night, I was awake early on Sunday 9th July. Steve and Michelle had commitments until late so came home after I’d gone to bed. The weather was still sunny in Rhodes and the forecast showed it was hotting up in Dalyan, where I was going back to tonight. A weather warning due to the wind, had meant a lot of boats had been unable to sail so I hoped my ferry was still going.
By 1.30pm Steve, Michelle and I were in Rhodes town, wasting a bit of time before I had to pick up my ferry ticket. We decided to have a Macdonald’s which was not one of my best choices. I’ve not eaten a Macdonald’s in years and, looking back, it was not the right time to reintroduce a Big Mac meal into my diet. I was convinced that I would be able to keep it down if I had a sea sickness tablet for the journey and didn’t worry too much as I shovelled it in. The Big Mac meal in Rhodes Town cost €8.85 (£7.58) so wasn’t cheap but it was one the nicest I’ve ever had. The last one I’d had in the UK had been cold and cost me less than £4 – I have no idea how much they are now.
I said my goodbyes to Steve and Michelle, outside the ferry port, after another great holiday in Lardos. I wheeled my luggage across the road a little sad but we had already arranged that I would be back again in early September so it wasn’t too traumatic a goodbye.
There were no sea sickness tablets left in the shop as it was so rough, they had all been taken. It was Sunday so all the pharmacies were closed, I would have to chance it. As I got on the ferry, my sister and her family were already having a relaxing first day in Dalyan with my parents. The ferry crossing was very choppy and I was lucky to be given the middle seats by a couple of kind Turkish ladies, who also offered me a lift to the bus stop when we arrived. I decided I had far too much luggage to chance a bus journey after over 2 hours of trying not to throw up a Bic Mac.
The taxi was charging €70 to go from Fethiye to Dalyan which was 2,000 lira (£59), a massive increase on the 1,100 lira (£32.47) I’d paid on the way out.
I got home and was absolutely knackered, there was no internet at home and my Turkish phone had run out of credit so I went to bed – tomorrow the family fun would start.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up at 6am on Friday 7th July, was that there was no internet. I didn’t particularly need it as I wasn’t scheduled to work today but it was unusual, given that Steve and Michelle work from home. On entering the living room area I saw the problem, there had been an incident involving cats, a basket from the shelf and the router getting knocked off. None of the cats were forthcoming but Trixie looked like she knew what happend and was keeping quiet. Lulu and Bella were particularly hungry today and were quite impatient for their biscuits this morning.
Steve and Michelle messaged to say they were on their way so I stripped the bed and had a general tidy round. I was just getting the hoover out when they arrived back from a lovely jaunt over to Crete. Xena was beside herself with excitement that mom and dad were back, Trixie was also very happy but tried to play it cool by napping on Steve’s bag and pillow. I had a chocolatey croissant-like pastry for breakfast then it was all systems go.

Life is always more lively with Steve and Michelle around so we went out for a lovely lunch at Alabama bar. Steve and Michelle took the healthy options and had wraps which looked great, I had a very good chicken burger with chips. We all had a cheeky beer and I gave people a headache by chatting on too much, not realising we were in a rush to get back.
That night was the Greek night in Lardos and I was looking forward to my first one, having not drank much alcohol this week, I was about to make up for it!

We started the night in Cuckoo’s Nest cocktail bar, my drink of choice was red wine. The measures were large and I seemed to get quite plastered as more of Steve and Michelle’s friends joined us. By 11.30pm the Tequilas were out and we were on that slippery slope to extreme drunkenness. I was tired and tried to have a little nap in Cuckoo’s Nest but Steve and Michelle’s friends were having none of it and proceeded to encourage more drunken antics over at Memories bar.

By 2.30am I had made some new friends, including a cute little dog. Michelle and I got in at 3.45am to a passed out half naked (thankfully the top half) Steve on the lounge sofa bed. It was good to have them back in Lardos and, as far as I can remember, we’d all had a fantastic night.