under another sun

Up in our rented room in Catania, and we had to be out by 10:30. Trundled the cases down to the place we stopped at for a cheeky beer last night by a crossroads. Very hot of course. We had breakfast, me choosing a panini full of french fries and hotdogs. Tasty, of course, but morally reprehensible. A table nearby of English people being rude to the staff. We trundled through the lovely Piazza Duomo to a hateful bus station where we were hounded by unlicensed taxi drivers. We headed back to the Piazza where we found a taxi rank. A high-speed exhibition of Italian driving dodging about the road and hooting people you were tailgating, we reached the airport. Our plane was delayed by hours again, and we spent the rest of the tedious day waiting for the plane which none of us felt was in any way guaranteed. A pretty lousy way to spend eight hours. EasyJet are rabble. But once we were flying, it was easy to prioritise the nice memories of our time there. The flight eventually took off at...

Barely heard Toby and Romy creeping off this morning at an eye-watering 4AM. I had a nightmare about a brother that disappeared, and woke up in a strangely Toby and Romy-less place. The rest of us got up early, finished packing, and all had a last dip in the incomparable pool. Tina arrived at around 9:45 as we were zooming around. I was ironing one of Lorraine's tops, and she took it from me and finished it. We all really liked Tina. Then final things squeezed into the car, and we set off for a last mooch about in Noto, where we had granita breakfasts, and looked at a few places. Another swelteringly hot day. As we were making our way back to the car to drive up to the airport, Lorraine got a message from EasyJet saying our flight had been cancelled until tomorrow. This all a bit horrible, and under some stress we managed to book a room in a hotel in Catania urgently for tonight using our phones. Trying to get everything else sorted was hard, and Beth and John were great at mak...

Up at ten past three after a despicable night's sleep, and L and stumbled around getting dressed. Out into the heavy rain in Zombie mode and drove off to Gatwick airport's summer special car park. L handed over the key to the car, and correcting the number of our numberplate for their records. Then to the Easy Jet check in, mostly automated. We got to the automated check-in, and the computer said no. Wranging a check in staff member, who allowed us to check in, but said the aircraft that had been supplied was smaller than the original one, and there were too many passengers.This led to hellish scenes standing in queues for hours not sure if we would be able to fly, and then sitting on the plane for hours while they finally got the chosen ones on board, and took all the luggage out of the plane and sorted through it for the bits belonging to the losers. Lorraine and I were not sat next to one another either, and both in middles of rows. Flight a bit choppy but not too bad. I h...