Darrell Is True To His Word …….

Darrell vouchsafed that he would have our Greek Odyssey 2023 sorted within a week or so of our return home  and he did not disappoint …….  because by Sunday he had us BOOKED!

He had his trusty check list by his side,  no more than 100 yards from the beach, modest kitchen facilities, a swimming pool and a short walk into town with a choice of supermarches, we don’t really ask for much ………. 

….. and he came back with everything and more ……….

……… a private beach front beach with waiter service overlooking the Kassandra Bay, which sounds just too impossibly romantic for words…..

…… plus two swimming pools, a restaurant  ………

…… a buffet breakfast AND for 10 days!!!!! Did I mention a small kitchen area too? What can I say, except that there were a few tears!

The boy dun gud, six months before we would ever normally even dare to look at making such a considered booking.  I have promised to treat him to a brand new pair of budgie smugglers, but not of an eye adverting nature, a little nearer the time  as a small “thank you” for all his valiant efforts.  Where would we be without him?

Dettol At The Commonwealth Games

We were a little remiss  in not saying in our post of last Friday, that the hygiene levels as furnished by Dettol, our own personal disinfectant  of choice (with many other cleaning products available)  at the Commonwealth Games in the NEC Arena, certainly did not pass us by.

We couldn’t have been in cleaner or safer hands, it was exemplary. Their/our handwashing  technique is certainly the stuff of gold medal winning!  Sadly, we missed out on a goodie bag, but there again we already know how good Dettol products are anyway…….

….. although Darrell did remark that with his robust and rigorous flat cleaning regime, he’d have looked pretty darned cute brandishing his beloved Dettol Anti-Bac Surface Cleanser Spray in one of their t-shirts!  What is he like?

Commonwealth Games Weightlifting!

With all the excitement of returning home from our odyssey, we’d almost forgotten we were due to go  the Commonwealth Games, as it’s been at least a year since we entered the ballot for local people get the first tickets.

Thank goodness Darrell got an email reminding us to download our tickets, otherwise it might just have passed us by. 

We’d applied for all manner of sports, really pinning our hopes on any of the diving competitions …….

…… but we must have been up against some stiff competition as our application was sadly unsuccessful ………

……. however, we did get weightlifting, which was a bit of an after thought, instead, a discipline, quite obviously, we are very much strangers too, but “open” to all it’s pleasures (if that’s the word?), particularly Nigel, who once we got into the hall and arena got very, very excited.

Unfortunately, (or perhaps not ……) we were there a little too early in the morning for the little fella to avail himself of  a quick, supervised snatch and jerk on one of the demonstration stands ……..

…… so he had to be satisfied with watching the competitors limbering up and going through their paces in the warm up area via two discreet “watcher” windows, making sure he put no one off by pulling sympathetic strainful faces.

Our seats were brilliant, affording us a magnificent view, sat directly behind a group of members from the Samoan Weightlifting Team, we felt honoured to be in their presence, especially as Samoa sounds such a romantic country.

Once sat down, our excitement continued to grow as the rest of our fellow spectators slowly gathered to take their seats.

The audience was rampantly warmed up, despite the early hour, with our best foot stomping and rhythmic clapping skills honed to perfection and robustly encouraged. We  were told to raise the roof, the louder we were helped intoxicate the competitors in to lifting heavier and heavier weights.

Let’s just say Nigel certainly did his bit, as we saw the Commonwealth record after Commonwealth record shattered by a diminutive gentlemen from India lifting 26st flipping stone!

Unfortunately, our guy (below) was beaten into fourth position in the very last few lifts of the competition ……..

….. but we have to admit our allegiance went to the lovely lifter from Kiribati, who was very smiley all the way through, but sadly was unplaced in the end.

Despite initially not knowing a single thing about weightlifting whatsoever, it was sooooooo exciting, awe inspiring, tense at times and above all, emotional, very emotional ….. in fact, as Nigel so succinctly put it, it was like a hefty emotional rollercoaster, from which he left totally exhausted, barely able to lift his backpack onto his back afterwards.

We found ourselves fully invested, groaning loudly when the bar failed to be lifted, to jumping up and down and screaming like banshees  when extra weights were added and said records toppled.

However, it’s not a pursuit, we think we would follow ourselves, not even Nigel, as he is, surprisingly, quite protective of his gentleman’s under carriage region, if you know what I mean! 

Our full admiration also went to the weightlifting crew who didn’t stopped all morning, running back and forth to the lifting area after every lift to add more weights at the behest of the next lifter, which could change several times during the run up to a lift, even after they sat down, not to mention carefully cleaning the bar and ensuring everything was perfectly positioned for when each competitor came out. They really earned their (large) lunch ….. it was all Darrell and I could do to stop Nigel running over and asking them to sign his ticket when we spotted them after in a restaurant over at Resorts World.

It was a wonderful experience, something we’d never have gone to or are likely to go again, but we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Waitrose Comes Up Trumps, But Not In A Donald Sort Of Way!

To help blow away our post holiday blues Darrell and I decided to go all unnecessary and just this once, order our weekly shop  from Waitrose!  Variety being, they say, the spice of life.  What are we I like?

Waitrose did not disappoint ……..

….. as it proved to be considered choice that we certainly did not regret …….

…… because, as it was our first ever shop with said store, they also delivered a magnificent jute shopper filled with the most wonderful things in appreciation of our custom.

There was a bottle of pomegranate and lime presse, hydrating watermelon and apple hand wash ………

…… a pack of Belgian Triple Chocolate Chunk and Butter Cookies and a bar of No.1 Milk Chocolate with Feuilletine & Salt.   We didn’t have a clue what Feuilletine was, but according to Darrell’s research, and I quote, “It’s a crispy confection made from thin, sweetened crêpes. The crêpe batter is baked for a few minutes, and the crêpes are allowed to cool; as they cool, they become crisp. In French, these crispy crêpes are called crêpes gavottes or crêpes dentelles; but when crumbled into small shards, they become feuilletine.  Here endeth the lesson for today Mr D!

Let’s say, they have since both gone down very well.

Needless to say Darrell also devoured the Waitrose Food Magazine from cover to cover, who knew that peas could be quite so interesting!

…… and then he said that since Waitrose had been so generous to us, it wouldn’t hurt for us to pay them back with a couple of photos and a bit of influencing ………. What can we say Waitrose, but “Thank you and we’ll be back!”

The World Kept On Turning Without Us …….

Well, we’re back on terra firma and although our hearts although are still a little in Elounda, normal life must be resumed and be embraced once more with our usual gusto, just as much as any Greek Odyssey……

However, Darrell says he’s not waiting until our official customary holiday bookings day of 27th December, no, he’s decided he’s going to cut us a deal and get next year booked as soon as he can, by, and I quote, the end of next week ……….

…….. to keep our spirits buoyed and give him the incentive to loosen up his budgie smugglers, which, I have to say, got more than a little snug towards the end of our holiday, the result of a few too many kebabs and huge slabs of Greek walnut cake me thinks.

And, in our absence the world did not stop turning …….. it seems we’ve missed that the UK are going to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, OMG, OMG, OMG, Boris being ousted, quickly followed by hustings, whatever they are and a continuing political knock out competition going on, then there was a heatwave when the UK was even hotter than Greece, the railways went on strike, the cost of butter has gone astronomically impossible and Monkey Pox had continued to spread  ……….

……. and talking of poxs …… our beloved neighbour across the hall, Kata has had rampant chickenpox!  We’ve certainly come home with a bang!

Antio Sas (Farewell) Our Beloved Elounda

Our last wake up in Elounda and it was looking just a tad overcast ……..

…… which somehow made our last few of hours before leaving not cut quite so deep and easier to bear. What are we like?

With a time to kill before our luxury mini bus (which we had all to ourselves) was due to whisk us away to the airport, we decided to sit awhile to bid a quiet farewell to “our” beach with Spinalonga in the distance ……

…….. each lost in our own thoughts and wonderful, wonderful memories.  I think I may have heard Darrell try to stifle a sniff or two, but ignored it, as I knew exactly how he was feeling.

Adieu, Adieu sweet Elounda …………. Ο αποχαιρετισμός είναι τόσο γλυκιά θλίψη (parting is such sweet sorrow).

Our Last Hurrah …….

Sadly, our last "proper" full day in Elounda has come ……….

……. and with heavy hearts we know our suitcases need to be packed.

While still embracing every single second we have left by the throat, but not in any sort of murderous way obviously ...........

Darrell’s non negotiable holey stone was finally found and put away safe ……….

……. before we were back at our apartment where Nigel finished the last of  his beloved Greek yoghurt and honey that was in our fridge and then change into a clean shirt when he missed his mouth.

Then we shared our traditional small bottle of Asti Spumante to toast this years odyssey and hopefully, Greek Gods willing, the many, many more odysseys to come ……..

…….. before hitting the town for one last time to blow the last of our holiday money on one or two (or three or four…….. possibly five) commiseratory cocktails before our last Greek sleep!