under another sun

Up early in Kalami bay, in time to watch the sun creep over the Albanian mountains as we ate a small breakfast in the cool of the morning and then sauntered outside to be picked up and transferred to the airport. The eastern costal strip of Corfu quite built up, but still very appealing. To the airport in good time, and shuffled through security and into a waiting hall. I realised my specs case which had been in an outside pocket had gone missing. Probably in the taxi, where everything was stowed in the boot. I returned to security and asked if they had noticed a pair, but met with an infuriating woman who, speaking to me as if I were an idiot, demanded where I had lost them. In your hotel? In the taxi? In the airport? Perhaps the word lost was lost in translation. They were not at the security gate however. I felt very stressed this morning, and so about an hour before takeoff took a diazepam, which did the trick and I felt able to cope.  An EasyJet flight home, unfortunately. Her...

Our last full day. Much like the others, breakfast on our balcony, in the warm sun, and then we mooched down to the beach, armed with a couple of spanakopitas and read, and cross-stitched and listened to podcasts. A last big swim, although just as I was about to start swimming I was ambushed by a panic attack. Typical scenario for me -- anxiety striking when I am at my most relaxed. However it was all over quickly, and Lorraine and I headed back into the water for a lovely swim.   We saw two octopuses. one hiding between rocks watchful of us, and subtly changing colour and the second, brilliantly, over a sandy bottom and swimming and crawling along the bottom on its eight legs and inserting itself into the long seagrass. It was fabulous and strangely exhilarating to see it.  Back on shore, an older local guy crept into the water with an evil tripod tipped spear gun. He emerged some time later with a dead octopus -- which we felt quite sad about -- and two or three fish all bou...

Another beautiful and restful day in Greece. Here are some snaps... Waking up on a beautiful morning; Lorraine's cross stitch; a view of The White House (Lawrence Durrell's old house); the moon rising; Lorraine and I in the Taverna; and the view of the one day short of full moon from our balcony.

More energetic today. Still did writing and lurked in the room, but in the afternoon Lorraine and I went back to the beach and snorkelled, and relaxed on sun loungers listening to podcasts and reading, and eating tasty spanakopita pies.  Beth and James arrived in Italy for a wedding today. I had another long swim a couple of hours later. Feel so happy drifting about with fish, who seem unconcerned about human presence. Loving their abundance here. For the first time I did not see an octopus, but I have already seen more here than anywhere else. In the evening we went to The White House, where Lawrence Durrell lived, which is now a fine dining restaurant with a formality about the staff. I thought about the great writer a bit, and his Alexandria Quartet, which I have not read since I was in my late teens. His novels and poetry was published by Faber. His star has waned a bit in the UK at least. I wonder what he would have made of the restaurant. His travel writing is amazing too. We...

A supremely lazy day mainly lounging on our balcony and looking at the view. I got some bread and water and then mainly loafed. The day slightly overcast, but the temperature still lovely. As Lorraine worked  cross-stitching tiny ornate squares and I fiddled with a new poem about moths. We both slept in the afternoon too.   In the evening we sauntered down the path where the little lizard zooms, down to Thomas's taverna. The sky tonight unbelievably pink in the east, and it turned the sea purple. People from the taverna, including the staff, popping out to photograph the phenomenon. Utterly beautiful. Thomas himself came and talked to us, saying he had his taverna for 37 years, and the sweet natured woman who served us was his daughter.  Lorraine and I shared a Greek salad, and Lorraine ate chicken souvlaki and I had spaghetti with a vegetable sauce and lots of grated cheese, and then we both had orange cake. Lovely stuff.  Happily sauntering home. Below the purple e...

More relaxed for parts of the day than I have felt in a long time. Lorraine and I after breakfast, sauntered down to the beach and rented a couple of sunbeds and based ourselves by the glassy sea for the day. We bought spanakopita pies for lunch, Lorraine brought a noodle for swimming, and I spent much of the afternoon snorkelling in what is probably the best place I have ever been for it. The bay's mix of sand, pebbles, stones, rocks and fields of seagrass create a perfect environment for a variety of fish. I saw yet another octopus today, slinking across the seabed, and probing a long tentacle into a crack before pulling itself in and the eyes and body exactly mimicking the rock it was hiding in. So many moments of beauty, and although the water is distinctly cooler (and there are streams of cold fresh water entering the bay under the surface that make the water look blurry). There are a few short wooden jetties, on metal legs, that poke into the water, and the one in deepest wat...

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 ...