Slightly Doolally

There is a point in any holiday where hopefully you reach the bliss out point.

Val and I hit that around Sunday

I suppose that needs some explanation .The bliss out point is where the normal work vs life tipping point is replaced by a balance between relaxation and being asleep… this is bliss out.

It is testament to the restoration power of our friends on Alonissos and the island itself that we get so relaxed so quickly. I as a professional geek live in constant state of communication with the rest of the world don’t get me wrong I enjoy it … most if the time , but it does make you a bit frazzled. I chill at home walking by myself on the shore or in the country but this is very transitory and true bliss out is seldom found.

It is the same for Val. Keeping Niall and I on the straight and narrow is hard enough but there is ample stress and stain in her day to day doings for an entire team of geeks!  Well done Dote! 🙂

The hardest decision of the is what to eat for supper .Work although creative is constrained by rules and specifications but when I paint here I paint what I want in the way I want there is more relaxation in that alone than in a year of walking. Kudos to Bessie and Kosta the owners of The Paradise Hotel for letting me paint unmolested in the bar day after day it REALLY is appreciated!

As I sit here blogging in the Anais taverna by the harbour sipping hot strong sweet Greek coffee the world I live in for the other 50 weeks of the year is a two island ferry ride and 2 flights away do I miss it? ….. not at all!

More later gentle readers and we hope you reach bliss out yourselves at least once a year 🙂

Friday was a change day … Mark and Dave our new chums from England left on the 2pm ferry and old chums Roger and Anne from devon had just arrived on the late ferry Thursday

Pool side conversation will be all the quieter without “the lads” for added colour and pithy bon mots. Safe home chaps look after the stones and each other.. same again next year?

Roger pointed out at breakfast that the 6th Alonissos marathon was on Saturday and I should consider joining himself and Anne for a “bit if a wander”

Being a dutiful hubbie I of course bounced this idea off Val before agreeing. I am sad to report she found the idea a subject of much hilarity ! Even so It Is good to have the support of your loved ones in such endeavours even if that support includes much laughter

With my “note from SWMBO” I hastened to the harbour and signed up as a “50-60 year old 10k walker” I have to add here that the Alonissos” marathon is an all terrain event. The elite athletes do a full marathon mostly off road and on some very steep gradients. These people wear Lycra. Since  my wardrobe was sadly lacking in the aforementioned material these modern day Adonises and Hermeses would have to exhaust themselves without me on purely aesthetic grounds.

After some pre dinner drinkies with Roger and Anne in the Corali I felt that since all the other atheletes were noshing down on pre event pasta I should do the same this being my first official event since I were but a lad. The new fangled science malarky has seen fit to endorse pasta as a good thing for athletes. So I had a big plate of the special spaghetti with extra cheese ,beer, ouzo, walnut cake with icecream, custard tart and another ouzo or possibly two. Val was most impressed with my adherence to a scientific preparatory regime!

Saturday started early with application of factor gogoplex sun cream on my white bits ,breakie and adjustment of a very fine head scarf.

Even Val passed comment as to my enhanced level of satorial elegance … but  I may have misheard as there was orange juice coming out of here nose at the time, teach her to laugh and drink at the same time !

I dutifully lined up at the start only to and myself surrounded by Lycra l. I was reminded of the wise words or obi wan buchan “when surrounded by 6 packs remember YOU are the one with the keg” … certainly words to live by!

Relocating  my self with the walkers I felt much more at home and shortly thereafter we were off thru the arch and on our way accompaned by the cheers and applause of the assembled crowd and Val

The walk itself was much fun and deserving of a post and piccies all of its own, which I will add when I return. All I will say for the now is It was a grand day out and …. I got a medal!!

More later as I see a beer with my name on it

Hangover x 2 …. that is all

Yippee!
Seamus his holy fluffy cloudiness is a mama mia fan and has buggered off to Skopelos (the island next door were the aforementioned film was shot)  it is quite disconcerting to hear a transcendent divinity singing Waterloo while waving a picture of Meryl streep in one hand and a bottle of metaxa in the other

This is made all the more surreal because it is 7 miles away over the azure waters of the aegean.

Did 2 stone paintings today for our new chums Mark and Dave from suffolk.

We attended a fashion review meeting this evening and as a result of an attempted revival of the 1950 knee socks and shorts look by some American fashionistas new hi stress ceramic brakes were fitted to Coco Chanel’s corpse to stop her spinning in her grave

Such was the blood sugar loss caused by this satorial disaster we had to take on emergency calories toute suite, and this we did with the help of Victor in the nearby Anais taverna … a mixed plate of meze (including a new favourite .. red pepper stuffed with tuna and mushrooms and topped with cheese) was consumed and disaster averted!

Holiday makers please be aware long socks, sandals and floral terelyne shorts can damage those around you please please please be considerate of others! If you have been affected by Passive crap fashion exposure there are support groups you can join and I will be launching a help line as soon as I get back home.

And so to bed…..

Ye gods and titchy piscean entities! Awoke this morn and on checking the view discovered a new deity had taken over from Helios and Spiro.. Seamus the Irish god of clouds was lying on a sunbed in Quicksilver shorts and matching wellingtons!

A quick high level conference over breakfast resolved that regardless of his sacred whitefluffyness currently chatting up the bar staff things would commence and proceed as normal. Viva la stiff upper lip! A trip to the fruit shop was planned and executed to perfection … the fridge now groans with nectarines.

A wander on the town beach provided stones for the painting thereof and by Mythos time 2 had been painted

Evening saw us hard at work in the pre nosh ouzo and lemonade quality control department I am happy to report that everything is n order although restesting may be required just to be sure

Grant beans in red sauce, roast feta and lamb kleftiko were consumed with much relish. We ascertained that licking the plate was socially acceptable … how civilised!

On the way back to the paradise hotel I purchased a mom mug thus enabling the same amount of coffee to be consumed for less trips to the buffet at breakfast … and I supported the work of mom with the monk seal preservation … a win win if there ever was one!

A late nite with Bessie and Kosta discussing things of great import, and so off to bed

Up early again, what is it with holidays and arising early? I suppose it is some form of “don’t want to waste it” subconscious thingumydoodah.

Breakfasted & swam, then down to harbour for a metreo coffee and a spot of “spot the tourist with sunburn” Foolish foolish people who take perverse pleasure in going lobster pink and glowing in a totally shameless way… and in public too!

Back up to Val who has now found her sunbathing stride even though it is a lot warmer than we were expecting.

Did my first stone painting mainly to get my eye in and then some sketching in the afternoon. Val  and i held a high level meeting after lunch and it was decided that tea may or may not contain pumpkin croquettes.

Spiro, Helios’s asbestos clad donkey, much in eyyvidence today. one does wonder does his tail get shinged? Helios being a god and can quite happily be in 2 places at the same time, noticed a shoal of bluefin tuna and nipped off for a spot of fishing. So nice to come across a divine being who isn’t off deflowering virgins or making stuffy commandments about what orifices are on or more usually off limits.

The pumpkin croquette conundrum was successfully resolved come tea time with the addition of dipping sauce and a tomato and cucumber salad for val and an enormous plate of sardines for me

Several ouzos sealed the deal and all participants declared themselves both satisfied and replete.

And so to bed ….

Awoke early and watched the The God Helios hitch his  heavenly but asbestos clad donkey Spiridon to the flaming chariot and together they plodded upward from behind the “2 brothers” a duet of uninhabited islands some 4miles away.

After a spot of breakkie on the terrace SWMBO and I headed to the pool area to collect our thoughts and prepare for the ardours of the days hectic schedule.

Having been frequent if irregular visitors to alonissos  we felt it may be a good idea to go to the welcome meeting just once. Val and I drew cocktail umbrellas and I lost. After a long dander of some 5 minutes I arrived at the Anais taverna  were after several ouzos, a double Greek coffee and a plate of meze I discovered that the fruit shop lady had indeed retired and the big hyper yacht in the harbour had a crew member whose only job was the cleansing of the owners bottom post morning rest stop , a cheeky boy so speak.

Repairing to the Paradise hotel laden with nectarines tor val, I set up for a busy afternoon of snoozing and painting …. bliss

Managed to paint 2 wee piccies on blank postcards  then felt rather guilty about not supporting local shops but assuaged the guilt with beer and the thought that the recipients would enjoy hand crafted cards more than shop bought ones

Showered and bouffonted (??) V and me headed out for some tea in the Anais. Victor the patient and very excellent matre de remembered us!  We had a hearty end entirely veggie meal eased down with lashings of ice cold mythos beer

…. a slow dander back to the hotel, a nightcap and off to bed.

Odd how some places reasonate at your own frequency and you fall into a state of contentment very quickly.