A cheeky week

Already tired, we had a patchy night's sleep, up at a hideous 4.30 am, we were out of the house at 5 and Lorraine drove us off to Gatwick for a week of holiday. The motorway from Ashford busy at such an ungodly hour and was deeply impressed with Lorraine being able to stay awake, let alone negotiate the trucking traffic.

Amazing out of term experience... Through check in and security in minutes. Lengthy lurking about and breakfast before boarding the Polish based Enterair Boeing 737 on time. Lorraine and I had been given either side of aisle seats, but as there were few passengers  we were soon on a row together and I had the window seat so could, by sheer force of will, could avert disaster. Lorraine got busy with Suduko -- without trying to teach me it again as she did once to distract me from bucking and plunging on a plane once. Over the Alps the cloud cover below began to break up, and there was an excellent view of the mountains and Italy as we few down it then nipped across the Adriatic to Corfu. 

Annoyingly, I felt twitchy despite the pleasantness of the flight until a third of the way through the flight I was handed a small can of Zywiec lager. This transformed the whole experience from being one of anxiety into enjoyment. Sometimes, kids, alcohol is the answer. 

Landed at Corfu airport after a short descent over water onto a short runway. The Corfiots seem not to overdo the passport checking, and you don't have to show covid jab records or so on. And because this is a cheeky package holiday, there were people to greet us and drive us, and a woman travelling alone who was staying in the same apartments, in people carrier to take us to Kalami Bay. A pleasant bay where Lawrence Durrell once had a solitary white cube of a house at the southern end.  I walked through it 29 years ago, and it was still fairly empty. Houses and holiday apartments have sprung up since, but it is still very pretty. 

Once in our cheery room, in a little self catering holiday block overlooking the pool, the straight of Kerkyra and 'mysterious' Albania. We sauntered down to the village saw that there were a couple of mini markets, and paused at one of the restaurants, booked a table for the night and downed two icy beers in the sun, a few meters from the sea. A spot of shopping, then we returned to the room to stash it all away. 

Then back at teatime to the sea. Entered the bay in a less crowded part, full of huge slippery pebbles. The water noticeably colder than at Meganisi a couple of months earlier. Very refreshing slipping in -- which we managed without yelping -- and we had our snorkels.  Instantly we were among lots of fish, and almost immediately I saw an octopus, which pretended to be a rock, then it moved as neared it. Lorraine got glimpse of one of its tentacles, being used to tentacles these days. A brisk swim about, ogling fish. Then Lorraine and I tried to exit the water. Very ankle twisty and slippy business. Out, with our dignities not entirely intact, we mooched back to the room marvelling at how you can start the day in Ashford, and end it floating in a transparent sea looking at an octopus. 

Soon we were out again, down a twisty back passage that leads out into an empty car park and the Main Street. We had an evening meal in Thomas's place, a lovely Taverna, rammed full, and with a definitely different vibe to high summer. We were both very tired, but rallied magnificently to drink pink wine and eat giant beans, and moussaka AND baclava and talk about our plans for the future, and revel in the strangeness (for us) of being in Greece in October and look at the half moon reflecting on the sea. Almost cool in the evening, and I had my jumper over my shoulders.

Home up the twisty path, and booted into bed -- two single beds pushed together as is usual in these places. Lorraine asleep almost instantly, me not long after. 

Below a glimpse of the Alps, and two very tired people loving being in a taverna.